Title: Staying Focused

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on NCIS, I'm just borrowing them for the story.

Warnings: Corporal Punishment of an adult in this story. If it's not your thing then don't read this story, you have been warned.

A/N: I usually try to avoid writing several stories at the same time, but I had an idea to a story that just wouldn't leave me alone so I hope you'll be patient with me. This story was inspired by the father/daughter relationship between Gibbs and Ziva in the beginning of season 7, though I'm not sure now that I've actually written the first chapter if I'm going to proceed the way I had planned with this story. I am planning on writing a sequel to it though and I think there will be more of Gibbs there.

This story takes place when Ziva is still fairly new to Gibbs' team on NCIS, somewhere between season three and four.

Please let me know what you think of the story and this idea.


Ziva David crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. How long was he going to continue his instructions before letting them get to work on the body? She was feeling extremely restless and was quite anxious to do something other than stand there and listen. She loved Ducky but sometimes she really just wished he would be a little less long winded.

It was Monday morning and a group of twenty two NCIS Field Agents were gathered around an autopsy table, watching Ducky show them how to take the liver temperature on a dead body to estimate time of death. The problem, according to the brown haired impatient former Mossad Officer, was that they had been standing there listening to instructions for the past hour. She glanced around at some of the probies who were eagerly scribbling down notes on sheets of paper as they kept a close eye on Ducky, afraid they would miss something important during the few seconds it took them to look down at their piece of paper to write. As if he hadn't already covered all the important parts, she thought.

She had stayed up a little too late the night before and lost a few hours sleep because of that. She hadn't thought it would matter as soon as she got to work anyway because she seldom lost focus while in the field or in the bullpen because of a little lack of sleep. But she had forgotten about their orders to report to autopsy at 0800 to attend a lesson from Ducky and was quite surprised when Gibbs growled at her to get her butt out of her chair and down to autopsy at 0805. Rushing through the doors to autopsy five minutes late had earned her a glare from Ducky as he pointed to a spot between Tony and McGee and she hurried to plant herself there.

Ziva sighed again, this time more deeply. She didn't want to offend Ducky in any way but enough was enough. Another fifteen minutes had now passed and he was still going on and on. She felt herself drift off in deep thoughts as she fixed her eyes on a spot on the white wall on the other side of the room. Her mind was certainly not focused on liver temperatures when she heard someone call her name from far away. Suddenly she felt a sharp elbow in her ribs and she snapped out of her mist with a jerk. Only to find herself face to face with an agitated Doctor Mallard.

"Officer David!" he repeated in a sharp tone of voice. "What ever frivolous activities you were up to last night I suggest you get your mind off them and back where they belong – which is with the rest of this group, listening to my instructions."

Her eyes did not leave Ducky but she could hear Tony snicker on her left side and wanted nothing more than to give him a piece of her tired mind. She could see some of the other agents looking at her. She figured they were the ones that dared do so. Some of them were grinning and others frowning, looking as if they wanted to show her how much they disliked her behavior. That made her angry. What business was it of theirs what she did during work hours? She mumbled a sorry to Ducky who held her stare for a while but then looked away and continued the lesson. She made a good attempt to get back to focusing on what the M.E was saying but he seemed to never want to stop talking. How much information could possibly be worth delivering on this topic anyway? After an additional fifteen minutes she sighed deeply again and rolled her eyes as Ducky began telling them of previous cases he had handled where establishing time of death had been quite essential to later solving the case.

Would this nightmare ever end Ziva wondered. She was bored and very tired and desperate to get back to work. Ducky had gone back to briefing them on vital things but she could feel herself start to relax her senses again and her mind start to focus on other things in her head. She could feel her eyes widen like they usually did when she chose to think about something else but wanted to make it look like she was still focusing.

A loud bang! brought her back to reality and she looked up. Ducky had slammed his palm onto the autopsy table and was glowering angrily at her. "Officer David!" he barked, louder this time. He put down the instrument he had in his hand. "Would it be too bold to accuse you of not paying ANY attention what so ever to my lesson?"

Ziva wasn't sure how to answer that question. She opened her mouth but no words came out so she closed it again.

"I think not – because it is a bloody fact!" he yelled but then quickly calmed some before he continued speaking, though keeping a very strict tone of voice "My dear girl, I have taught people at University level. Therefore I have worked up my ability to spot the ones who think they can fool me into thinking they are paying attention." he stepped around the table, forcing a few Agents to move out of his way in the process as he approached Ziva. "Now, I usually only give them one chance to get their heads back into the game, so to speak, and you just had TWO." he locked eyes with her and when she made an attempt at speaking to defend herself he just held up a hand. "Not a word, please." he said. " I'm going to be so kind as if to give you one last chance though. And I had better not catch you doing what you just did again."

She nodded and stared at the floor in front of her. She had never been good at forcing herself to take interest in something that she saw absolutely no point in, and she obviously hadn't gotten any better at it since she arrived at NCIS either. She tried to glue her eyes to Ducky and that damn autopsy table and decided on not letting any distractions enter her mind. There would be NO distractions. Definitely not. None what so ever. She would listen and pay attention and not let her thoughts wander off and...

"Officer David!!"

Oh boy.

To be continued