Who Said They Couldn't Agree...

Penny pushed the door open and stepped into Nick’s office. “Whoever you are, you better have a really good reason to be in this office…oh, Bossman.”

“Shut the door…shut to door,” he whispered frantically, waving his hands and making Penny smirk.

“What’s going on…why the whispers?”

Nick looked to the side, then smiled and leaned over.  He fussed with something that softly clanked before sitting up with the sweetest little face she’d seen since a week ago when she’d brought Ziva coffee from Java Joe’s, her work laptop and diapers.

“Ooh, hunny bunches,” she almost squealed, rushing to the desk to take the violet-eyed alpha from her daddy.  “And Coo, too!” she whispered looking across Nick to the still sleeping boy in the stroller.

The little girl looked right at her and grabbed a lock of colorful hair.  “Wow, for one so young she’s doing great at keeping her head up and using those hands.”

“Yeah,” beamed the proud daddy.  “She’s alpha.”

“And shifter.” Penny added.  “It’s a good thing we have a safe town to raise our young in since our babies tend to develop faster at first and appear darn near unbreakable.”

“Thank  Lupa for this town, that’s for sure.”

Penny smiled and tickled the beautiful girl in her arm, warming as the little sweeting smiled up at her.  Yep, faster development than a human baby, that’s for sure.  “So, Bossman…,”
Nick’s grunt as he shuffled more papers into his bag made Penny shake her head.  “Have you and
Ziva named this darling girl yet?  And speaking of Ziva, does she know you have her pups at the office with you?”

Nick stopped what he was doing and looked up.  “No, she doesn’t know…and don’t you be calling her with it.”  He waggled his finger at her.  “She was so tired she finally dropped into a sound sleep.  I thought if I took the twins, elsewhere for a time, she could sleep.  And, yes,” he grinned.  “We have finally named the little princess there.”

The princess in question shook her fist at her daddy and garbled an “ah” sound that Penny figured one day soon would turn into an alpha howl.  She was too excited to know the name they’d finally settled on to scold Nick for his misstep in taking the twins away from their mom without telling her.  Nick was going to learn about the mistake the loud way, when Z couldn’t find her crew.  Penny just hoped Ziva understood that Nick was trying to help.

“So don’t keep me in suspense…what’s little beauty’s name?”

“River Raine McMahon.”  Nick smiled as he said it, making it clear there was a story there.

“River Raine, oh Nick, it’s beautiful…just like her.  How did you guys finally agree?”

Nick sat back and crossed his arms behind his head.  “It’s actually owed in great part to Elly.  While her bone-headed boys don’t thrill me, she has been there for Z and I in so many ways.  My pops a smart guy.  Anyway, Elly and Pop dropped in to see the twins and Z and I were at the growling at each other state.  We hadn’t slept, hadn’t fu…ah,” Nick mumbled and waved a hand in front of him.
“Anyway, moving on.”

“I got it, you hadn’t connected in some time.”  Penny interjected.

“Right, connected.  And Ziva hadn’t shifted and run since early in her pregnancy.”

“She still hadn’t shifted?”

“Yep, which appeared to be the crux of the problem.  She was afraid.  Terrified she would run and never come back.”

“Oh Z.”

“I know, Penny, where could that thought have come from?”

Nick looked defeated and in need of a friend.  Penny knew that at any other time he never would have divulged Ziva’s secrets and as far as Penny was concerned, he still hadn’t.  Some secrets between friends were take it to the grave secrets and this was one of them.  “Nick, all women have fears.  And while I’ve not yet become a mother, I can imagine the fears that come with that gig.  Ziva’s fears are totally normal and the best thing she can do is express them to someone she trusts, explicitly.  Like her mate.”

“Yeah, she did once we returned from running.  I had to force her to shift, but once she had she ran herself to exhaustion.  You know, the funny thing was, she never told Elly what was bothering her, but Elly knew.  She whispered something to Z before we ran that brought tears to my mate’s eyes.”

“Ha, go Elly.  You know, she is also a woman and a mom.  She’d probably had the same fears at one point and was able to reassure Ziva that it would all be okay.”

“Anyway, once we came home, we were better able to discuss name ideas.  We took a step back and assessed what we wanted her name to mean.  We both wanted it to be strong…”

“Oh, River.”  Penny nodded.  “Like the current.”

“Yep, and to also mean refreshing and change since she’s the first ever female alpha in the position to lead.”

“And Raine.” She smiled.  “Oh Nick, I love the symmetry of that, it’s perfect.”

“Thanks.  She sure seems to like it.”  Nick laughed.

Penny turned the baby toward her and smiled.  “Hello there, River Raine McMahon.”  She was treated with another baby “ga” and “ah.”  So when are you going to announce it?

“NICOLAS TAGGERT MCMAHON!  Where are my babies!”  Ziva’s voice carried through the paper’s newsroom and Penny watched Nick grimace. 

“I should have let her know where we were going.”

“Yep, start with that, after you say you’re sorry and you might keep some skin.”

“I’m sorry.  I should have told you I was taking them out.  I was trying to let you rest.”

Penny watched the new mom zero in on her twins before taking a deep breath and then looking at Nick.  “Thank you for looking out for me.  I panicked when I woke and couldn’t find them, but I trust they will always be safe with their daddy.”

Ah, her little birds, Bossman and Z, were growing up.  Becoming parents was the best thing to happen to them and it seemed to Penny as well.  She looked down at little River and swore she would do her part in making sure this girl was loved and supported.
~~~

Oh, well, it might have been me that said Nick and Ziva had agreement issues.  At least I know I yelled that at them the other day when they still had not pulled it together enough to name their daughter.  I may have even threatened them with the "I'm going to make her all a dream" tactic that many a TV show has employed in the past.  Yeah, I was getting fed up, but they finally did good, huh.  At first, they wanted River Song, but that was a blatant rip off so I sent them back to the drawing board.  I like what they came up with though.  Hopefully, they wait awhile before having more and putting their author through this again!


Have a warm and happy weekend!


Serena