Her Way of Having Fun
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Summary: In Road Kill Tony told Ziva that she didn't know how to have fun. Well, that is not the truth. Ziva does know how to have fun. It's just that nobody knows about that… not everybody, at least.
Ziva David does know how to have fun; it just happens that she perceives fun in a different manner than Tony. Yes, she loves reading; Tony was right. But Tony was right in something else, too. Everyone has to let loose once in a while. So, while Ziva finds reading an extremely enjoyable and relaxing activity, she has a completely different way of letting off steam… and no, she doesn't go to the shooting range as one may suspect… that is for another time. And she definitely doesn't find making faces on the internet amusing.
She likes dancing and singing, however. These two things have been her passion ever since she can remember and even her father couldn't make her give them up. She could never give up that freedom and joy that she feels whenever she lets herself get lost in a song or a dance…
Not long after she had moved to DC, she found an amateur theatre group which puts different musicals on stage. They hold performances on a regular basis in schools or as a charity event. Ziva knew instantly that her place was in that group, and they welcomed her with open arms. She had found a group of incredible people there… a group of friends from every area of life… and she found love…
And that is where she is heading now. It is Thursday afternoon and the group has a rehearsal. They are putting A Chorus Line on stage.
After parking the car, Ziva quickly makes her way into the building but on her way to the dressing room, she bumps into a woman.
"Hey, Mama!" She greets the large African-American woman with a warm smile and a kiss on her cheek. "How are you?"
"Hey, baby. Everything's just fine." The woman kisses her, too, while she squeezes Ziva's petite body to her stronger one. Trisha Washington is a single woman in her early fifties and she treats every member of this little theatre group as her own child. Especially Ziva; she knows that poor girl has no family in the US so she assumed the role of a mother figure, which Ziva doesn't mind at all. Plus, Ziva is the girlfriend of her best friend. "You missed your singing class on Tuesday." She admonishes Ziva as if she were a little child.
"I had work to do. I am sorry. But I will make it up to you, I promise." Ziva really doesn't like missing those lessons. She had already had a trained voice when she began singing with her help, but Trisha taught her such techniques that made her improve even more.
"I bet you will, Ziva." The woman laughs. "And don't apologize, it's…"
"A sign of weakness. I know." Ziva finishes the sentence for her, rolling her eyes. "I will see you later." She places a peck on the woman's cheek and in the next instant she is on her way to the dressing room with a large smile on her face. She turns back, though, and calls after the woman. "Mama! Is he here?"
"No, baby. At least I haven't seen him yet." Ziva nods in understanding then both of them are on their separate ways. Ziva doesn't get far once again, though, because a lively African-American man is coming her way with a grin that has the size of Africa and when he's close enough, he grabs Ziva by the waist and spins her around laughing merrily.
"Hey, my princess. Aren't you looking stunning today?"
"And you are your charming self, Jesse." Ziva laughs out as they continue on their way, both of them walking backwards for a little while. Then, after winking at the man, Ziva spins around and within seconds she enters the dressing room. Some of the girls are in there. Chrissy Lombard, a blond girl around eighteen, is humming the tunes of "One Singular Sensation" under her breath while Meredith Hannigan, a mother of two, is pulling up her long auburn hair into a bun.
"Hello, Ziva." She greets the entering woman. Ziva nods at her smiling then looks around the room.
"Where are the kids, Meredith?" She asks her friend as she brushes her hand over Chrissy's shoulder as a greeting then puts her bag down.
"My mother took them so they won't be in the way."
"That is a shame. I love having them around." Ziva says as she opens her bag and begins to change.
"Yeah, but the boss-man isn't that thrilled when he's the one running after them." At that all of the three women break out laughing. Yes, the last time was unforgettable. This is the moment when Annie Harper walks in hastily. She is a woman around Ziva's age but she is shorter than the Israeli woman and a little rounder, too. Her raven black hair is in sharp contrast with her white skin. She looks to be in a hurry as she makes her way towards the toilet. She is stopped by Meredith, though.
"I wouldn't go in there if I were you." She tells Annie, still occupied with her hair.
"Why?" Ziva raises an eyebrow at the urgency in Annie's voice.
"Let's just say that Lizzy is in there… and she's not alone…"
"Oh, shit." Annie turns on her heels and all but runs out of the changing room.
Ziva smirks and she can hear Chrissy muttering 'gross' under her breath. Slowly the dressing room gets empty and Ziva is on her way to the dancing room where she begins her warming-up.
She is in the middle of her stretching when somebody pats her butt. She straightens up and gives a warm smile to the man standing behind her.
"Hey, Charlie." She greets the tall man who is grinning at her cheekily.
"Ziva honey, where did you leave that charming knight of yours?"
"Well, I kind of hoped that he was already here." Ziva shrugs.
"Nope." Charlie shakes his head a little disappointed. "I certainly haven't seen his gorgeous butt around here." At that Ziva laughs out wholeheartedly while she shakes her head in disapproval.
"Now, Charlie, I hope that John does not know about you checking out all the guys' sixes here."
"Honey, John and I are in an open relationship." Charlie informs her while roaming his eyes around the room taking in the forms of the others who are still warming up. He, then, turns back to Ziva. "And anyway, I'm just checking out your man's… if you don't mind."
"Check out all you want." Ziva tells him chuckling then steps closer to the man and stands on her tiptoes to whisper in his ears. "But do not forget one thing: you can look but not touch." She winks at him playfully and pats his ass just for the fun of it.
"I hope you're not planning on stealing my girl, Charlie." They can hear a deep voice speak up. Charlie's eyes light up as he looks at the man.
"Your girl? No…" He replies as he runs his eyes up and down the man's body suggestively.
"Good." The man answers satisfied then pulls Ziva into his arms and kisses her. "Hey." He greets her finally.
"Hey yourself."
"What were you two up to?"
"Oh, we just discussed our shared passion." Ziva answers him with a mischievous smile while Charlie winks at him.
"With your hand on his ass." The man adds, however his tone is more amused than annoyed.
"Alright, I'm out of your way now." Charlie states then leaves the pair deliberately making his way so that he can take a good look at the man's rear part. Ziva catches him doing so and laughs out wholeheartedly.
"You are insufferable, Charlie." She calls after the man, who just waves back at her without turning back. Ziva looks back at the man who is regarding her with raised eyebrows. He is good at acting; she has to give him that. All these years and he's not cracked once… he faces all of Charlie's shameless flirting with the perfect mask of oblivion. And this has given Ziva and Charlie many a good moment ever since Ziva joined the group. And Ziva has a suspicion that it gives just as many good moments to her lover as well.
After Trisha Washington led Ziva into the room, the young woman ran her eyes around with a little smile on her lips, then finally she rested her gaze on the stage. It wasn't a large one but it was big enough to give room for quite a few people. On the far wall, opposite to the stage, there was a huge mirror hanging and the other two walls were lined with chairs.
She felt so excited.
It seemed that people were working on the set… or at least most of them. She noticed a guy who was just standing idly, clearly fascinated with something. Ziva followed his gaze and almost laughed out loud when she realized that the object of his fascination was another man's rear part. Actually that was the only part of that man that could be visible as he was crouching under something, which looked like a car.
"Yes, honey." Ziva could hear Trisha chuckling next to her so she turned to her. "That butt is our beloved director. And you can take that literally. He can be an ass sometimes." Ziva chuckled.
"Well, he sounds much like someone I know." And on second thought, Ziva pondered, looking at the man again, that butt really looked like the one she liked to check out so much at work. She was snapped out of her thoughts by the ringing of her phone. With an apologetic look, she stepped aside to answer it.
"Charlie, for God's sake, quit checking out the man's ass and do something useful." Trisha spoke up as she rolled her eyes exasperatedly. The man huffed a little but turned and went off and the woman stepped up to the director shaking her head about the younger man's antics. For a few seconds she just watched the man with a smile and when she heard him swear under the car, she began to chuckle.
"Damn it, Trish!" The man spoke up still under the car and as he moved, the woman could hear a loud thud when he bumped his head into something. By that time she was laughing and when the man, after a long round of swearing, emerged from under the car, looked at her, and he was clearly not amused.
"You need any help, sweet cheeks?" Trisha asked with a straight face. It was clear, however, that she hadn't come to help. As an answer, she just got a snort from the man as he stood up. "You look stressed out, honey." She stated as she patted his cheek.
"You think, Trish?"
"Stressed and grumpy, I can see. What's bothering that beautiful mind of yours, honey?"
"You mean apart from the fact that we are three weeks away from our opening night and the set is still a heap of garbage and I'm short a girl?" Trish raised an eyebrow. "Everything's peachy, Trish." The woman laughed out heartily at the man's distress. "You know, Trish, at the moment I'm seriously considering putting you in the role of Victoria." The large woman gave him a funny look, not really appreciating his joke. Little did she know that he wasn't joking. "What?"
"Honey, don't be like that with me. I'm here to help you."
"Unless you have a girl with you who can actually dance and sing, I don't think you can help me."
"You're so negative, Leroy." The man raised an eyebrow. "Am I not always the one who saves the day?" She looked very self-assured as she looked at her friend.
"You do have a girl." The woman nodded satisfied and Gibbs looked around looking for said girl but he couldn't see anybody new around, except a figure walking up and down in the far end of the room. Gibbs narrowed his eyes as the woman looked vaguely familiar to him even from behind. From her posture and curly long hair down to her tight cargo pants and boots she looked exactly like… Ziva. Gibbs' breath got caught in his throat as the woman shut her phone and turned around to walk up to them.
He smirked a little when he could see that Ziva, too, finally realized to whom she was walking.
"David." He greeted his young agent when she stopped.
"Gibbs." Ziva answered clearly surprised.
"Oh, you two know each other. Sweet! Then we can skip the introduction part… oh, wait, you are always skipping that part, Leroy. You know, honey…" Trisha turned to Ziva. "…I always wonder why people keep on coming here at all."
"Why, Trish, not everybody has problems with my charming personality."
"Whatever, sweet cheeks, but bear in mind that if I had any problems with your self proclaimed charming personality I would not have even bothered talking with you in high school." Gibbs just chuckled at that but Ziva's eyes bulged out of her head.
"You have known each other since high school?"
"Actually, she was the only one back in home, besides Shannon, whom I liked." Gibbs admitted with a shrug.
"Ha… Honey, try rather I was the only one in Stillwater, besides Shannon, who could actually tolerate his sorry ass."
"I love you, too, Trish." Gibbs smiled at the woman then kissed her on the cheek. Ziva was flabbergasted at that open display of affection on her boss' part. She thought that Abby was the only person who could bring out this side in him.
"Alright, let's get to work. We have a lot of things to do. You have a whole choreography to learn, Ziva."
"Wait! You do not want to see if I can dance at all first… or sing?"
"You wouldn't be here if you had no voice. Trish isn't very shy about expressing her opinion and if you say that you can do something, David, I'm sure you can do it. So get your six to the changing room and we meet in 10 to warm up. The group is working on the set now but I'm sure they'll be glad to join us." With that Gibbs left and Ziva couldn't help but stare after him with open mouth. She was about to learn the choreography of the musical Cats from Gibbs. Who would have thought?
"It's a piece of art, isn't it?" Ziva was snapped out of her thoughts by a male voice.
"Excuse me?" She turned to the tall man standing behind her. That was the same man who was so enthusiastically checking out Gibbs when she had arrived. "Oh…" It dawned on her what the guy was talking about and couldn't help when she turned back to take a look at Gibbs' rear part. "Absolutely." She agreed absentmindedly.
"Looks like we have a common subject then, baby face." Trish rolled her eyes observing the scene in front of her while Ziva narrowed her eyes trying to decide how to react. "I'm Charlie, by the way." The man offered her his hand with a smile.
"Ziva." She finally decided that she liked the man.
"Alright, Charlie." Trisha chimed in. "You can continue talking about your shared interest on the way to the changing room… and seeing that today you are unlikely to do anything constructive, you can warm up with Ziva and Leroy."
"Oh, Trisha, you know I'm always happy to warm up with him." Ziva laughed out at that then they made their way to the changing room.
"Come on, Boss-man." Ziva puts a light kiss on the man's lips. "Let's get to work."
"So I am the boss-man now." Gibbs looks at Ziva amused. "Why is that I'm not the boss-man at work?"
"You are the boss, Jethro. Everywhere." Ziva gives him a mischievous smile as she turns away to walk up to the others. "As long as we are not at home. There, I am the boss-man." Gibbs just looks after her as she takes a few steps then turns back with a raised eyebrow. "Coming or what?" She asks in a tone that usually Gibbs employs when his team is not fast enough to follow him. Gibbs chuckles to himself as he, too, starts towards the group.
"Alright, people. Let's start with the line-up." Gibbs smirks as he takes his seat next to his friend with a smirk. "I really want to see how Trish is chewing out your asses… seeing that most of you don't deem it important to attend her classes. So, let out your voice."
The rehearsal goes on in a relaxed manner. Joey still doesn't know the steps of his character and keeps on improvising but it's alright because he's just that way. Chrissie still has some problems with finding the correct tune sometimes and Maggie is still too hard to be heard. Charlie tends to zone out even while dancing, and Ziva is quite apt for bursting out laughing while singing her lines. Sometime Gibbs laughs along with her just because he loves seeing his always on alert agent so relaxed and carefree.
Usually there is somebody to crack a joke about one of these mishaps and after some comeback remarks and laughter, the group goes on. Next time it'll be better. The chorus dance, too, is falling apart at places but fortunately this is the place where Gibbs doesn't need to be a perfectionist… he lets everybody be because finally everything will just work out and why not have a good time getting there?
Ziva doesn't have one thought about the world outside this little group during the rehearsal. And that's why she loves being here. For that short time they spend together, nothing else matters. She knows that in the group everybody has their own demons to face… there are studies to be completed, children to be raised without a father, criminals to catch, and there are rents and bills to pay and so many other things. But for now, none of these are important. They are joking, laughing, dancing, singing… they are having fun.
Because everybody needs to have fun.
After the rehearsal is over, for a while there is happy chatter to be heard while people linger for a little while or are on their way to change but as it's getting late, the noises die away as everybody leaves for home.
This is the time when Gibbs goes to Trisha's office to have a few words with his friend and while Ziva's waiting for him, she goes to do some stretching in front of the mirror.
When Gibbs returns Ziva is still in front of the mirror with one hand on the bar while the other is pulling her outstretched leg closer to her body. In the mirror, Ziva catches him staring at her and gives him a beaming smile. Gibbs smiles back at her then makes his way towards the stereo and not long after that, music fills the silent room.
Gibbs walks up behind Ziva, who is again standing on two legs, still facing the mirror, and sneaks one hand around her waist while the other runs down her arm and grabs her hand. He gently kisses her neck and in the next moment, Ziva finds herself face to face with Gibbs.
"Tango?" She asks smiling and Gibbs just shrugs. She knows that Gibbs loves dancing tango with her. And she loves it, too. With its sharp and definite steps it symbolizes the strength both of them possess and with its sultry rhythm it makes it all so exiting and sexy… It's the perfect dance for them.
For a while it is just the two of them in the world as they move to the music and let not only their legs make the steps but their hands, too, have their own dance on the other's body.
"Having fun yet, David?" Gibbs whispers into her ear, echoing Tony's words from earlier that day, with a smile and Ziva laughs out heartily as the man leans her back.
Yes, Ziva David is definitely having fun.
THE END
And now, I owe a whole bunch of "thank you"-s to Zivacentric! No kidding there! :-P She had the idea of Gibbs building the set and she let me use it, however, I suspect that I did it quite differently than she imagined it. And she did my beta-reading, too! Isn't she great? Thank you, my friend!
Thanks for reading!