120A/N: Hi, guys! So (finally), here's chapter 10! It took me a few weeks to write, as I have had to do it all at school because I have no other free time. It ended up being just over 5 pages and I'm pretty happy with it. And I'm happy with the fact that I have 2 days left of school, and then 4 days of finals, and then move-up day and then that's it! It's probably a combination of all of that. My sophomore year is almost over and I don't know if I could be more thrilled about that. So much has happened this year, both good and bad, and I'm just ready for the drama to end.
Okay, on with the reading! Please review guys! Thanks!
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything else recognizable in this fic. I do, however, own this story line, Rachel and Max Shane, and anything else that is not on the show!
One more thing: this chapter is dedicated to my mom. She inspired some of this without even knowing. Thanks mom! I love you (even though I know you won't see this because you don't read my fics)!
O.o
"Okay, so we have everything all worked out?" Rachel asked, putting her pen down on top of a piece of paper covered with notes and reminders.
I ran a verbal checklist while Rachel checked things off as I went. "We have people, food, place, and time. Okay, that should do it. Now, we just have to figure out who will bring Max. It needs to be someone who will not let anything slide, but it cannot be Abby or me because we are setting up at her apartment," I said.
"First, it's 'slip', not 'slide'. And what about Tim? He could bring Max," Rachel suggested.
"Noted. And Tim could bring him. Good idea," I said.
"Great. Um, I'm having trouble figuring out what to get him. Which sucks because I'm his sister and I should know, but my mind is blank," she said.
"Tony and I were having a similar problem. We got him some new clothes and some books, but what kid wants that for a present? We were hoping that you would have some good ideas," I said.
We sat in silence for a little while. It was quiet tonight, with Max asleep in his room and Tony at work. Gibbs had called him in a few hours ago for something. Tony ran out the door, stopping to hug Rachel, kiss me, and promise that he would be back as soon as he could. Rachel and I were holed up in the living room, planning a surprise birthday party for Max. His birthday was in two weeks and we wanted to do something special for him.
We planned the party to be the day before his birthday, a Sunday afternoon, at Abby's apartment. Besides us, she had the biggest place. We would have planned for it to be at Gibbs' house, but since Abby and I were doing the cooking, we figured it would be easier to do at her place where things were more accessible. We were inviting the whole team, some of Tony's friends, and the kid's social worker, Ms. Tyler. For food, Abby and I were making Max's favorites: pizza, chicken fingers, and cheeseburgers. We figured it would be cheaper than ordering in, since we would have a good-sized crowd. It was also all easy to make. For cake, we were going to get an ice cream cake, because Rachel said that Max wasn't a huge cake fan.
When we'd finished finalizing everything, I looked at the clock that sat on top of a table in the corner. "Rachel, I think it is about time you go to bed. It is almost eleven," I told her.
She yawned. "Yeah, I'm pretty tired. See you in the morning."
We both got up and I hugged her, stroking her hair a few times, and then let her go. She closed her bedroom door behind her and a minute later her light was turned off. I returned to the kitchen, got myself a glass of water, and took it with me into the bedroom.
O.o
I was just starting to fall asleep when I heard footsteps in the hallway. They were heavy. A second later the door of the bedroom opened and I was just reaching for my gun, which was now secured in the bedside table because of the kids, when I noticed the familiarity of the figure. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Tony," I said.
"Did I scare you, Zee?" he asked.
"A bit. I am sorry," I said, settling back on the bed.
He walked over to me. "Zee, it's okay. I don't blame you. I know you're still getting used to this, hell, I am too. Don't be sorry," he said, putting his hand on my cheek, pulling himself closer and kissing my forehead.
"You missed," I told him, smiling.
"I did, didn't I?" he said then put his lips on mine. "Forgive me?" he asked after he'd pulled away.
"There is no reason to. I missed you tonight," I admitted. That was the thing about Tony, he got me to say things that I always thought I would never say to anyone. And it did not feel forced, it felt natural.
"Are you okay? Did something happen?" Tony asked, assuming the worst because, though I did occasionally say these things, it was not a daily occurrence. For him to hear me say that I missed him, let's just say that I do not say it as much as I actually feel it.
"No, everything was fine. Rachel and I finished planning Max's surprise party," I told him. "I am just used to having you home at night. It feels odd when you are not here."
"Well let me get out of my work clothes and then I won't be going anywhere," he said, smiling. He kissed me again before going over to the dresser and grabbing a tee shirt and some sweatpants. He went into the bathroom and was back out a minute later, clad in his old college tee shirt and black sweats.
Instead of climbing onto what was dubbed his side of the bed, he stepped over me as he got in on my side and then rolled so that he was lying under me, my head resting on his chest. He studied me, his head propped on a pillow so that he could see me. "You look tired," he said.
"Long day," I said.
"Same," he said.
"What did Gibbs want?" I asked. He hadn't told me before he left and I wanted to know.
Tony shrugged it off. "Paperwork. Apparently I didn't get everything in that I needed to and blah blah blah I had to get it done," he said. "Crazy old man."
"He is just trying to make you a better agent," I told him.
"Yeah, well, I don't see why I couldn't have just done it tomorrow," he complained.
"Complaining about it will not change anything. Besides, now it is over and done and you will not have to worry about it tomorrow."
"Logic is meaningless to my brain. I would have much rather spent the night with you girls," he said, stroking my hair.
I smiled. "We would have liked to have you home as well."
O.o
The next morning was hectic. Somehow, we all over-slept, which is not something that happens often to me. I have to be out of the house by ten minutes to seven if I want to get both Rachel and Max to school on time, as I bring them both to school each morning. It gives Tony enough time to finish getting ready and get coffee for himself and tea for me on his way to work. Rachel is at school by ten past seven in the morning, Max by seven thirty. Tony and I usually show up at work around eight.
This morning, however, both Rachel and Max were late to school, and I was late for work. I hadn't dropped Rachel off until quarter past eight and I had walked Max into his school at a quarter to nine. Thanks to my driving skills, I walked into the Bull Pen at ten past nine, feeling extremely guilty. I was almost never late to work, and over-sleeping was a bad excuse.
I caught Gibbs walking by the elevator as the doors opened. "Gibbs," I called out, and he turned around.
"Morning," he said as he walked back to me.
"I am sorry about being so late. We all over-slept and-" I started, but Gibbs cut me off.
"Ziver, it's okay. Tony told me the whole story. You have kids, it's understandable," he told me.
"Over-sleeping is no excuse though. We set our alarms, we should have been up," I said.
"Ziva, I don't want to hear it. It's alright, stop apologizing. I know what kind of schedule you and DiNozzo are on. A little extra sleep isn't a bad thing," he said.
"Thank you, Gibbs."
"You don't need to thank me. You're a mother now, things happen, people over-sleep. It's not your fault," Gibbs said, then started walking again to our desks, ready to start the day with all of us here.
O.o
Gibbs got a call around ten. We had a case; dead Marine in Fairfax. Gibbs called Ducky on our way out and gave Tony the keys to the truck when we got out of the elevator, telling him to take McGee. I went with Gibbs.
The crime scene was about forty minutes away, but it took us close to an hour to get there because of traffic. Gibbs and I beat Tony and Tim by about ten minutes. When they showed up, Tony said they'd gotten stuck because of an accident and had to put the siren and lights on to get though. Gibbs said nothing, but walked over to the ME truck where Ducky and Jimmy were both getting out, Jimmy in the passenger seat, having been demoted from his driving duties.
We all walked in silence to the body. He was male, in his mid-twenties, dressed in his Class A uniform. Tim took his right index finger and put it on his scanner.
He had a name in less than a minute. "Lance Corporal Jacob Hernandez," he told Gibbs. "Lives in DC, home on leave. Why would he be dressed like this, though? I didn't think there was anything big going on."
"There isn't. Okay, family?" Gibbs asked, not taking his eyes off the body.
"He has a sister, she lives in DC too. Her name's Eva. Same address," he reported.
"Okay, Ziva- pictures, DiNozzo and McGee- bag and tag."
O.o
Half an hour later, we had finished everything. We found nothing out of the ordinary, besides the body, of course. There were no witnesses, we had gotten an anonymous call, but the person did not give us a name, nor were they here.
When we got back to the office, I brought the evidence down to Abby while Gibbs put McGee to work tracing the anonymous call. Stepping off the elevator on Abby's floor, I could hear her obnoxiously loud music. I still, after all these years of knowing her, did not understand how she could stand it being that loud.
"Abby!" I attempted to shout over the singer's voice, but I could barely hear myself speak. "Abby!" I shouted again, walking closer.
She heard me that time. She turned around and smiled at me, then reached for the remote that controlled the stereo. "Hi, Ziva!" she said, once we could hear again.
"Here is the evidence we collected at the crime scene," I said, handing the plastic bin to her.
"Thanks," she said, taking it and putting it on her table. "So, how are you doing?" she asked me.
"I am-" I started to say 'fine' when she stopped me.
"Ziva, if you say 'fine', you're lying. Abby's number one rule is 'Don't lie to Abby'. So, how are you really?" she asked me, reading me as though I was an open book.
"I am tired and worried about the kids and I feel horrible that I was late today and a million other things," I told her honestly. I knew she would probably tie me up in a corner and force me to tell her if I didn't just come out with it.
"You were late today? That's not like you," Abby said.
"None of us woke up at the right time. I did not even get my usual run in this morning. Everything is just off today," I said.
"I guess that comes with being a mom. Sometimes, there are just those days," she said.
"But those do not usually happen at our house. We have a set schedule that we always stick to. We get up, we get ready, and we leave at the same time every day. Otherwise, the house would fall apart, like it did this morning," I told her.
"Maybe a little chaos every now and then isn't such a bad thing," Abby said, a little slower than the way she usually talked, as though she was afraid to voice it aloud. She backtracked. "What I mean is, is that it's not horrible to stray from a schedule. Sometimes you need a little change."
"It is just difficult. Max moves very slowly in the mornings and it is hard to get him up and dressed and everything else. Rachel does what she can, but it is not solely her responsibility. And Tony is the worst; he stays in bed until the last possible moment and then he rushes around," I said. Abby's smile had gotten bigger and bigger as I kept talking. "What?" I asked her.
"You just sound… like a mom," she told me. "It's how my mom always used to be, trying to get my brother and I out the door every day. Of course, she would be signing, not talking, but it was always very close to that. But she was a little more relaxed than you. She always told me that life isn't a race to get somewhere and to stop and smell the flowers. I remember when my brother, Mikey, and I were little, whenever we were in the grocery store with my mom, she always stopped at the flower section and we would take a few minutes to smell them and pick our favorites. My favorites were always the roses and mom's were lilies." She smiled at the memories.
"My mother was also a bit more laid-back. She would always join the tea parties that Tali and I held. We would always get dressed up before having tea, wearing all of her pretty jewelry and dresses and everything. That would only be when my father was at work, as he did not approve of us doing that. He wanted to raise us as soldiers. The only thing that shortly stopped him was my mother. When she left when I was ten, I was given the joint duty of raising Tali and training for Mossad.
"I did not know then what I know now, but if I did, I do not know what I would have done. In some ways, Mossad get me to where I am now, here at NCIS, with people I consider my family, but it changed me. I do not feel like that little girl who used to have tea parties with her sister. I cannot channel that part of me anymore. And, sometimes, I feel like Tony would rather have that me, rather than the me I am now and I just…"
Abby pulled me in for a hug. "Ziva, of course Tony loves you for the way you are. If you two had met when you were kids, he probably would have loved you then too. That's the deal with soul mates; they love each other for who they are. Let me ask you a question, if the roles had been reversed, and he was the one brought up by Mossad and you were from here, would you still love him?"
I didn't have to think about that answer. "Yes," I said.
"There you go. I think you should be getting back upstairs. You have a murderer to catch and my favorite niece and nephew to pick up in a few hours."
O.o
A/N: Okay, so what did you think? I know I'd said that I'd be updating more frequently, but my life thought it was funny to turn upside down on me and my teachers thought it was a riot giving me end of year projects and stuff. I have 4 days to study for 6 finals and I'm pretty nervous about a couple of them.
Again, please review guys! Tell me your favorite part/line/something that made you laugh/anything! Make me smile! Thanks!