Twin Trouble

Beth and Rivka get in trouble at school which uncovers something much darker than simple pranks. Mid-November 2030.

A/N This story is much darker than most of my other stories. Just a warning that there is emotional abuse to children in this work.

Chapter 1: The Girls' Version

Ziva listened to the voice message on her phone for the third time. The elementary school principal was calling regarding the twins getting into trouble: "Mrs. DiNozzo, this is Larry Benton, please call me back at your convenience to schedule a parent conference with Rivka and Beth's teachers. It seems these two are taking up their brother's legacy." Had the message been about LJ getting into trouble, she would not have been surprised. The twins had never been in trouble so far in elementary school and they were now in the third month of grade five.

Ziva made a mental note to have Tony listen to the message at home after dinner. She sent a text message to her husband, Gibbs, and Tali that she was leaving NCIS and headed home. Her work today had been all at the Navy Yard and she had left right after the kids got on the school bus that morning. As she started out of the parking lot, she had messages back from Tali and Gibbs. Tali was home with LJ and Anthony, and Gibbs was getting the twins from gymnastics practice.

Ziva pulled into the driveway at home just behind Tony. Gibbs' truck was already there. Tony waited for her to get out of the minivan, and kissed her. "Long day, sweetcheeks?"

"You do not know the half of it." Ziva had to deal with an ornery computer as well as a sick coworker for most of the day. "Then, I listened to my messages."

Tony nodded, "Rivka and Beth?"

"Yes," Ziva sighed, "I guess you got the message as well?"

"Yep; I wonder what they've done. Of all the kids, those are the last two I would have expected to be in trouble in school." Tony, like Ziva, would have not been surprised if the troublemaker had been Anthony, Tali or LJ. Anthony often was in trouble with his cousin John McGee. The twins had never had any trouble at school.

Ziva and Tony went inside to the smell of food; Tali and Gibbs were making meatloaf, mashed potatoes and salad for dinner. "Hi, Ima and Abba," Tali hugged her parents and then went back to slicing vegetables for the salad. Ziva hugged Gibbs, "Hello, Abba."

Gibbs gave Ziva a one-arm hug, "Hey, Ziver; the other kids are doing homework in their rooms. There's a note from one of the twins' teachers on the counter."

Tony picked the paper up from the counter. "I got a message from the principal, as did Ziva. I wonder what they did."

Gibbs looked at Tony and shrugged, "They wouldn't say anything when I asked them individually if they wanted to talk."

"Thank you for trying, Abba. I guess we will have to wait until after dinner to try to get their version. Until we set up a conference at the school, we will not have the school's version." Ziva planned to call first thing in the morning to schedule a meeting at the school.

Gibbs went to LJ's room to let him know it was time to set the table for dinner, and let the other three know that dinner would be ready in about twenty minutes. Rivka and Beth didn't make eye contact, but acknowledged his message, "Thanks, Grandpa.'

At Anthony's room, Gibbs knocked and asked if he could come in. "Sure, Grandpa. What's up?" Anthony turned to his grandfather.

"Do you know anything about Rivka and Beth getting in trouble at school? Did they ask you to help them or anything along those lines?"

"Nope," Anthony shook his head and made eye contact with Grandpa. "They really got in trouble?"

"Seems so." Gibbs turned to go back to the kitchen, "Dinner's in fifteen."

The family gathered for the meal and both Ziva and Tony asked the kids about their days. Anthony's project for the science fair had been set up and he had done one demonstration for the judges so far. His eighth grade football team had a game on Thursday after school against one of their long-time rivals.

Tali's classes were going well, and her first term of joint enrollment classes with the local community college was probably her favorite term of high school so far. She was hoping that by planning her schedule carefully for the next two school years that she would have both her high school diploma and an Associates' degree completed at the end.

LJ reminded his Ima that he needed to by some paint brushes for his afterschool art class. Gibbs offered to take LJ to the art supply store on Saturday to pick up the supplies. "Toda, Grandpa," LJ was looking forward to a trip to the store with his grandfather.

Neither Rivka nor Beth said much during dinner, only answering questions asked directly to them by one of the adults, and with short responses. Tony met Ziva's glance. Something was not right with the twins; usually they were talkative and full of smiles and stories about their day. Hopefully, one of the parents would be able to get them to talk after dinner. Both girls had load the dishwasher chores tonight, so Ziva figured that she and Tony might get something out of them while in the kitchen.

As the girls cleared the table, Gibbs steered the other three into the family room and suggested they watch a movie or play on the Xbox. "Grandpa, will you play a game with us?" LJ asked.

"Yes, what game will we all play?" Gibbs nodded at Anthony's selection of the bowling game. Anthony and LJ both knew that was Grandpa's favorite of the games they had and he even played the bowling with Abba, Uncle Tim, and Aunt Abby.

In the kitchen, Ziva put away the leftovers and Tony sat at the counter with the note from the school in his hand. The twins looked at their parents and sighed. "When you are done with your chores, we will sit down and discuss this, understood?" Ziva made eye contact with each of her daughters as they nodded their heads. Neither one looked very happy, and Tony almost felt sorry for them. However, he had learned with the other three that empathy and sympathy were not always good traits when parenting a misbehaving child.

The dishwasher was loaded, the food was put away, and Ziva directed the girls to the breakfast nook table. Tony followed and all four sat down; neither girl would look at her parents.

"Do you want to tell me what this is about?" Tony looked at Rivka and then at Beth.

Ziva took the paper and added, "We know that Mrs. Griffith is one of the teachers that both Tali and Anthony seemed to get in trouble with a lot." She looked at her twins, waiting for one of them to start talking.

"She made us mad, Ima," Rivka spoke up first. "She said something mean to Beth and I lost it."

"Yeah, Riv, but I also got upset and then lost it, too." Beth wasn't going to let her sister take all the blame. "Ima, it was so not fair that Mrs. Griffith was mean to me. I tried to explain that to Mr. Benton, but the old witch wouldn't shut up."

Tony looked up at Beth. His number three ninja didn't have a mean bone in her body; she was always the first to forgive others and to look for good in any situation. He wanted to tell her not to be disrespectful but Ziva gave him a look that made him bite his tongue.

"Abba, I know I shouldn't call her bad names, but she really is an old witch." Beth looked at her parents, and continued. "I called her the b word to her face. She got really mad at me and just about dragged me to the office. Rivka tried to get her to let go of me and she bit the old battle-ax on the hand."

Ziva looked at Rivka, "You BIT her?"

Rivka nodded, "But I didn't break the skin. I just left red marks on her hand. She tasted nasty and I wanted to spit after I bit her."

"What did she say to Beth that got you both so upset?" Tony had to know what the woman had said about his girls.

"I won't get in trouble for saying bad words if I tell you?" Rivka asked her Ima. Ziva shook her head. "Somebody tied her chair to her desk and she grabbed Beth's arm. She said that she knew that the prankster was either Beth or me or both of us, because we are DiNozzos and DiNozzo children are sneaky, conniving hellions."

Ziva took a sharp breath in, and Tony placed his hand on hers to calm her. He was probably as upset as his wife, but tried not to show too much emotion until they heard the full story. He had a feeling there was more.

Beth spoke up, "But when Rivka came over to see what was the matter, that is when Mrs. Griffith said the really mean thing and Riv lost it and then I did. She saw Rivka coming over to me, and she looked at me and asked me if I was the evil twin or if my sister was. Then she laughed and said that we were both evil, and so were Tali and Anthony and Ima. I asked her why she said that, and she called us spawn of a terrorist. Ima, what did she mean?"

Ziva was seething, "I intend to find out as soon as possible! What did you do when you lost it, Rivka?"

"I kicked her and told her to let go of Beth. I told her that I would have her arrested by Uncle Tim for being a mean old bitch." Rivka was not proud of how she had acted, but she felt the need to defend her sister, especially after being called evil and being accused of something they had not done.

"And then I lost, it, Ima and Abba. I saw her grab Riv's arm really hard and she was hurting my twin. I punched her arm, trying to make her let go. Then I called her a nasty old bitch."

Beth continued, watching her Ima and Abba, who she could tell were getting angry, "Another teacher came in the room at that point, and she told him that we had attacked her. I yelled at him that she was a damn liar, and that I hated her."

Ziva had to control her temper, and she could see that Tony was having similar issues with his temper. "What happened after that?"

"Two of the special ed aides came into the classroom and pulled us apart. We were walked to the office and Mr. Benton talked to Mrs. Griffith while we waited outside. Then he talked to the other adults, and finally called us in with everyone else there. He asked us what happened, and we tried to tell him, but Mrs. Griffith kept interrupting and telling him that we were lying." Rivka was crying and she held Beth's hand. "He called your cell and then Abba's and we heard the messages he left. We were both crying because nobody wanted to hear our version of what happened."

Beth picked up the next part, "He finally sent the adults out and asked us to tell him our side. I think he finally believed us when one of the special ed aides said that he had overheard the mean comments. How much trouble are we in?"

Tony took a deep breath, "Ima and I will have to discuss this and also talk to the school. While your language was disrespectful and not appropriate, we need to know more before we can decide what happens next." Ziva nodded as Tony spoke, glad that he had been the one to answer. She was still quite angry.

~Twins~

After the twins and the other kids went to bed, Ziva told Tony she needed to cool off and went for a run with Asher. Tony took Daisy for a walk to cool off as well, after letting Tali know that he and Ima were out of the house for a bit. They met back in the yard, and Tony let the dogs off their leashes into the front door. Ziva sat on the front steps with Tony. Neither one said anything for several minutes, both lost in thought at what their daughters had told them of the day's events.

Tony spoke first, "I am going to take a personal day tomorrow, so that we can get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. I am still angry, but I want to hear the school's version of the events."

"You sound like an investigator, Tony! I agree, though, that we need to meet with the principal and the teachers as soon as we can. We can call first thing in the morning and set up a conference at the school." Ziva was also still angry and wanted answers. "Did you see the bruise on Rivka's arm?"

"The one that is the shape of a hand? Yes." Tony wanted answers, "I intend to find out why my daughter was grabbed hard enough to leave a bruise. Did you take a picture?"

Ziva nodded and pulled up the photo on her phone. "I did not think to check Beth for a bruise. We should remember to do that in the morning."

"Good idea. Let's go inside and try to get some sleep, Zi." Tony stood up and reached out his hand to help Ziva up. He pulled her to him, and wrapped his arms around her. "Ani ohev otcha."

Ziva leaned her head on Tony's chest and listened to his heartbeat, the steady rhythm calming her and soothing her anger to a low simmer. She sighed, "Let us go inside before Asher wears a hole in the carpet worrying about us coming in."