Wow, it's hard to believe I'm writing for NCIS again. If we're being honest, I lost a lot love for the show when Ziva left, and I lost even more when Tony left. Even back then, I was working on a rough draft of this story, but his departure left such a bad taste in my mouth that I almost gave up on it. Then I read these wise words from my friend Mechabeira: I was hurt, then I was insulted, then I was angry. And now the best 'screw you' I can think is to just keep doing what I do.
So, here's my "screw you" - the ending that I wanted for Tony and Ziva. I have at least a few more chapters planned, but I can't say for sure how far I'll take this. It feels a little weird to be back in this fandom... I hope I've still got the touch!
For my own reference: 109th fanfiction, 37th story for NCIS.
February 2014, team-centric
The view outside the window is typical for DC in February - cold, gray, and growing even colder as darkness falls - but inside Tony and Ziva's house, the rooms are full of light and warmth. In the living room, Levi sits beside his father on the couch and leans his head against his shoulder as they scroll through a list of Shirley Temple movie titles on Tony's phone. Levi isn't put off by the decidedly feminine-sounding ones like The Little Princess or Little Miss Broadway.
"She played an orphan a lot, huh, Dad?" he asks.
"Yeah," Tony nods, "that was kind of her thing."
"You two are supposed to be picking up in there," Ziva calls from the kitchen. "Leyla and Amira are on their way over."
There's a buzz of excitement to Tony and Levi as they spring off the couch and move around the room, clearing off the coffee table and end tables, gathering up a few stray dishes and old newspapers. McGee, Abby, Leyla, and Amira are all coming over tonight for dinner and a movie. Their family has dinner together at one of their houses at least once a month, but tonight is unusual - held on a Monday, rather than a weekend, and accompanied by a movie. It's a sad occasion, but a special one.
"Have you finished your homework?" Tony asks, as Levi folds up his schoolbook. "You know you need to get that of the way before we can watch a movie."
"I finished it," Levi nods. He pulls a worksheet out of his folder and holds it up for Tony to see. "The only homework for tonight was vocabulary, and that's easy." He pauses for a moment, then smiles and adds, "Easy. Simple. Straightforward. A cinch. No problem."
"Okay, okay," Tony laughs, waving his hands. "Enough! I get the picture."
The doorbell rings, and Ziva comes in to answer it. The weather outside is dark and chilly, but Leyla and Amira's smiles are warm and bright. They're two of the most frequent visitors to the DiNozzo-David household; Leyla and Ziva are close friends, and Amira is Levi's favorite playmate.
"Leyla," Ziva says, a bit chidingly, as she ushers them inside, "I keep telling you, you do not have to use the bell."
"Yeah!" Levi pipes up. "Just walk right in, like you do at Gibbs'."
Amira takes off her coat and hangs it on the low, child-sized coat rack handmade by Gibbs. She has one exactly like it at her apartment. "Where is Gibbs?" she asks, looking around for him.
"I'm not sure if he's coming," Tony shrugs. "I texted him and invited him, but I never heard back."
Levi and Amira meet each other's eyes for a moment. "Don't worry, he'll come," Levi says confidently.
"Well, maybe, but I think watching Shirley Temple sing and tap-dance might be a little too schmaltzy for a grumpy old guy like Gibbs."
The kids both look horrified and leap to Gibbs's defense. "He isn't grumpy!" Amira exclaims, at the same time that Levi huffs and says again, "Dad, he'll come," as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
McGee arrives a few minutes later, toting a bag from the deli. "I figured since you guys are hosting, the least I could do was bring some food." He sets two platters - one of sandwiches, one of sliced fruits and vegetables - on a side table, and Ziva reheats some pita bread and hummus from the refrigerator. "Ooh, look at all this delicious healthy food," Tony says, with a feigned excitement that doesn't fool Levi or Amira one bit.
"You know what's funny?" Amira asks Levi as she tears off a piece of pita bread and swirls it through the hummus. "I didn't know Shirley Temple was even an old lady now. I thought she was still a little kid, like me."
"Well, you're not the only one," McGee smirks. "I think Tony thought so, too. You should've seen his reaction when he heard the news."
The team was in the bullpen that afternoon, finishing up some paperwork on a case, when the anchor on ZNN made the announcement. "We've just learned that former child star Shirley Temple died of natural causes earlier today. She was 85." Tony's head jerked up from his computer, and he'd stared at the screen, his mouth hanging open a bit, until Gibbs had to head-smack him to get him back to work.
"Hey, I knew she was old," Tony argues. "I was just surprised to hear she'd died. She outlived so many of her contemporaries. Elizabeth Taylor. Gloria Stuart. Joan Fontaine. I guess I was just starting to think she'd never die."
Tony and McGee sit on the couch, munching sandwiches, while the kids sprawl out on the floor. Ziva and Leyla have moved into the kitchen for more adult conversation, and their soft, Middle-Eastern-accented voices talking together creates a background noise like foreign music.
"This is the movie we're watching, see?" Levi tells Amira, picking up the DVD case of Bright Eyes from the coffee table. "Because this is the one where she sings On the Good Ship Lollipop, and it's an iconic movie scene. That means it's something everybody knows. And she has a dog in it who's the same dog who played Toto in The Wizard of Oz."
"How come you know so much about it?" Amira asks, tilting her head to one side.
Levi knits his brow, slightly affronted that his own cousin could've forgotten something so crucial about him. But he just answers patiently, "Because me and Dad are movie aficionados. That means experts. When I get older, we're going to have a YouTube channel where we do our own movie reviews, and we're going to call it Levi & Dad at the Movies, just like Siskel and Ebert."
Amira smiles and rolls her eyes. "I know that. I meant, how come you know so much about Shirley Temple? She made girl movies."
"Nuh-uh," Levi argues, "there are no girl movies. Or boy movies. Good movies can appeal to anyone, no matter who their target audience is." Amira simply nods; she's gotten used to Levi's big vocabulary, and to the way he can switch so easily from talking like a kid to talking like a grown-up.
Tony's face splits into a proud grin at his son's words. "Hey, McGee, who's got two thumbs and is raising his kid to appreciate movies?" he asks, then points to himself and answers, "This guy!"
Abby arrives just then; they hear her platform boots clomping up the steps, and then she swings the door open, letting in just enough cold winter air to make them appreciate the warmth that they had been taking for granted.
"Hi, guys!" she announces cheerfully, before anyone even has time to say hello. She sets a grocery bag down on the floor and takes off her coat and hat, talking excitedly the whole time. "Guess what? I brought all the ingredients to make Shirley Temples! Did I ever tell you guys when I lived in Louisiana, I used to work as a bartender at my uncle's bar? I made Shirley Temples all the time there for the designated drivers. I hope I've still got the touch. It took me forever to find maraschino cherries, but then I told a clerk at the store that I just had to have some to make Shirley Temples 'cause, you know, she just died today, and - "
"Abby!" Tony interrupts, but he's smiling. "We're glad you could make it."
"Of course, you know I never miss a team movie night." She picks up her bag and heads for the kitchen. "Come on, kids, I'll let you have the extra cherries."
Levi and Amira spring to their feet and follow her. The kitchen is warm and bright, rich with the smell of the Turkish tea that Ziva and Leyla are sipping. The kids crowd around Abby as she sets her supplies on the counter. There's a bag of ice, a liter of lemon soda, a tall bottle of cherry syrup, and a jar of cherries. Ziva frowns, a bit disapprovingly, as she looks it over. "Don't give them more than one each, Abby," she says. "I don't like them having sugary drinks on a school night."
"Got it," Abby says. The kids watch attentively as she combines ice, soda, and cherry syrup in a cup, then gives it a quick whirl with her hand blender. Abby smiles at their curious faces. With their dark eyes and black hair, anyone would think that Levi and Amira are brother and sister, rather than cousins who aren't even biologically related. She lets them take turns plopping the cherries on top as she mixes up a few more.
"Why do they call these Shirley Temples?" Amira asks. "Did she drink them a lot?"
Levi shakes his head. "My dad says it's because they're real sweet, like her movies," he explains. Levi can never talk for very long without quoting his father. "But they weren't saccharine. That means too sweet."
They all gather in the living room - the kids on the floor, the adults across the couch and armchair - and raise their glasses in a toast to Shirley Temple. Ziva dims the lights, and just as Tony is about to start the movie, there's another sound from outside - the slow, heavy tred of an old man walking up the front steps. Levi and Amira meet each others' eyes and grin delightedly. "I knew it," Amira whispers, "I knew he'd come," and she and Levi race to the door.
It is Gibbs, of course, and the kids let him in and chatter excitedly - "Gibbs, look, we're about to watch the movie where she sings On the Good Ship Lollipop!" "Gibbs, look, Abby made Shirley Temples for all of us!" - as he takes off his coat. He smiles at them, but all he says in his gruff voice is, "Brought these," and he produces a bag of lollipops.
"Ooh, what a good idea, Gibbs," Abby compliments, as the bag is passed around the room. "Lollipops are the perfect thing for Shirley Temple night."
They're all impressed, but nobody is as surprised as Tony. He can't quite get over the sight of his grumpy old boss, the functional mute, sucking a lollipop and sitting down to watch a Shirley Temple movie. Not very long ago, he would never have believed it, but Levi and Amira, his surrogate grandchildren, have brought about such a change in Gibbs. They softened up his hard old heart just like Shirley Temple did to all the crusty old millionaires in her movies.
Levi sat on the floor beside Amira and watched the movie, but his thoughts swept a wide arc around the dimmed room. He thought about the cold, dark February evening outside the windows, and he thought about the food and company inside their house tonight. He thought about what he'd read in the Shirley Temple obituary that his father had showed him, about how her movies had made people feel better during the Great Depression. A warm, safe feeling spread through his chest, and words began to arrange themselves in his head, as if of their own accord.
Once upon a time, a little princess named Shirley
lived in magical kingdom called Hollywood,
and in the darkest times of our nation,
she reminded us of how to feel good.
She died on a cold winter day,
even though we thought she never would.
She brought us together in spite of the weather,
and still reminded us how to feel good.