Summary: Tony and Ziva bring their children Christmas shopping. Companion piece to "How Far We've Come".
Disclaimer: I own Christmas? No. I own NCIS? No. What do I own? Lila and Ben! (And yes, I know that was totally cheesy. I'm in a rush; forgive me :P)
Spoilers: None, except to "How Far We've Come".
Warnings: Contains elements of Christmas (duh) and Chanukah (Hanukkah). Kid-heavy fic - I'm not kidding. If you don't like children, you might want to consider skipping this!
Dedication: To Jaidy, whom I'm going to marry on Tumblr and have 22 kids with (2 of them will be named Tiva and Zony, respectively).
Notes: Nasich - prince (Hebrew). Nesicha - princess (Hebrew). "Li" in this case is pronounced "Lai", not "Lee" (btw, they're all Chinese surnames rofl - I just noticed that). In this fic, Lila is about four-and-a-half, and Ben is two-and-three-quarters.
Enjoy; please review!
-Soph
Christmas Shopping
Ziva fidgeted nervously as Tony pulled into an empty space, and he laughed as he parked the car and cut the engine.
"You look like Lila when she needs a potty break," he told her, and out of reflex they both turned to glance at the children in the booster seats at the back. Lila and Ben were, as they'd taken to doing lately, chatting a mile a minute in a baby-fied language that their parents couldn't begin to understand. Satisfied that her children were happy and well, Ziva turned her gaze back on Tony.
"You know I hate Christmas shopping."
"We've been doing it for years! Didn't they have crowded malls in Israel?"
"They did, but that was why I bought everything I needed to long before Chanukah. I don't understand why we can't do the same for Christmas."
"Because, Ziva, Christmas shopping is part of the American experience. You know, pretty lights and Christmas trees and all. Even the crowds. The crowds are very important." She groaned. "And the little tykes love it."
"Ben has only been Christmas shopping once, and he slept through most of it."
"That's why we're bringing him along this year."
She groaned again. "I still think we should've left them with Abby, but I see your point. Okay," she sighed. "Let's do this."
xoxo
The mall was, thankfully, less crowded than Ziva had expected; and Tony could see his wife breathe out her nose, as if sighing with relief, while she surveyed the area. He felt a stab of sympathy for her. It was her training—large places with throngs of people always tended to put her on high alert. He placed a hand on the small of her back as he kissed her cheek, and she shot him a small smile.
"Alright, where are we going first?" he asked her, and she tilted her head and thought about it.
"I need to get the children's gifts," she said in a low voice so that Ben and Lila couldn't hear her. "Perhaps you can take them to the electronics store; get that … thingy … that McGee has been wanting. Oh! And Abby needs a new lunchbox."
"Why, what's wrong with her old one?" Tony tightened his hold on his young daughter's hand as she squealed suddenly, ready to take off towards the Christmas tree she'd just spotted. "Just a minute, Li. I'll take you when Mommy and I are done talking."
"Nothing," Ziva replied, "It's just getting old. Her skulls are fading."
"Huh."
"Get her something else nice too."
He shrugged. "I'll buy her something with a lot of skulls."
Ziva snorted and shook her head. "Give me the car keys: I'll put the presents in the car when I've bought them. Are you okay with taking both Ben and Lila?"
"Yup," he answered as he handed over the car keys. "I'll take them to see the tree first. Don't worry, we'll be fine."
She bent down to tell her children that she was going to look for some Christmas decorations, and then hurried off towards her actual destination. The sooner they got the shopping done, the better.
xoxo
"Uh-uh. No touching, Lila," Tony warned the little girl as she reached out her finger to poke the large golden bauble that hung within her reach. Lila's eyes widened and she stared at Tony in incomprehension, until he explained, "You can touch the ones at home, but these ones aren't ours, so we can't touch them."
"If we ask permission first?"
"If we ask permission and the owner says 'yes,' then we may touch them. But there's no one to ask here." He knelt and stroked his daughter's hair. "I bet Aunt Abby would let you play with her Christmas ornaments, if you asked her. She has pretty awesome decorations."
"O-ne … o-me…" Tony heard his son mutter from the stroller, and he turned in amusement to meet Ben's eyes. "O-ment?"
"Or-na-ment."
"O-ma-ment."
Tony laughed. "Close enough. We'll try again when we get home. Li, come here." He tugged on Lila's arm and drew the three of them into a small circle. "Can I tell you guys a secret?"
Ben nodded excitedly and Lila squealed her approval at the top of her voice, so Tony took that as green light to proceed. "You know how we're going to buy presents for Uncle Timmy and Aunt Abby, because they're big and Santa won't bring them presents anymore? Well, Mommy's big too, and Santa won't be bringing her presents either. But I think Mommy needs Christmas presents. She's Jewish so she celebrates Chanukah, but since we celebrate Chanukah with her, she should celebrate Christmas with us. Don't you agree?"
"What is Cha-nu-kah?" Ben asked, furrowing his brows (in a very Ziva-esque way); but Lila recalled something and questioned, "Like last year?"
Tony grinned. "Exactly. Like last year. Ben, I'll get your mum to tell you about Chanukah when we go home. But for now, let's talk about our secret: we don't want your mother to know what we're getting her for Christmas, so we need to buy her presents now and then keep quiet about them. We aren't going to tell her what we're getting her. Can you do that?"
"Like a su-pwise?" Ben piped up, and Tony nodded.
"Yeah, a surprise." Both children gave their agreement. "Okay. C'mon, let's go look for presents for Mommy."
xoxo
Present-shopping for "Mommy" turned out taking so long that by the time Tony had picked out presents for Abby and McGee too, Ziva had bought presents for almost everyone else.
She sat waiting for them in a café, a coffee on the table before her and a smirk on her face as she watched Tony approach. Ben (who had been let out of his stroller) and Lila ran ahead, the younger child scrambling into his mother's lap and the elder pouting until Ziva drew up a chair to allow Lila to sit next to her.
Tony gave her his most charming grin as he settled into the chair opposite her, pulling the somewhat gift-laden stroller up beside him. "In my defence, I had two kids with me."
"I asked you if you could take both of them," Ziva retorted good-humouredly before kissing the top of Ben's head. "So, nasich, how did Christmas shopping go?"
"We bought oments," Ben replied solemnly, and Ziva gave Tony a confused look.
"He means 'ornaments'," Tony clarified as he held back a laugh. "And we didn't buy any. We bought some stuff for you an—"
"Daddy, it's a secret!" Lila cried in dismay, a horrified expression on her face.
"We can tell Mommy we bought her presents," he answered, laughing now, "but we can't tell her what we bought."
"Oh." Lila pondered that for a moment. "Can I tell Mommy about the kit?"
"Sure, if you want to."
Lila turned her pair of large eyes to her mother. "We bought a—a Christmas card-making kit! Daddy's going to help me make cards. For everyone."
Ziva grinned. "That sounds like fun. Do I get a card too?"
"Yea, with sprinkles on it."
"Sprinkles?"
"Er … er … the shiny things…"
"Glitter, nesicha?"
"Yes! Glitter." Lila beamed. "With glitter on it."
"I am hungwy," Ben told them sadly, and Ziva kissed his head again.
"Let's eat, then. What do you want for lunch?"
xoxo
Their next stop was a store selling Christmas decorations, as Ben decided that the tree they had set up at home required more "oments" than it was already wearing.
"One each," Ziva said firmly as they set foot into the shop, and Lila squealed and pointed ahead of them.
"Baubles, Daddy!"
"Yeah, I see them," Tony said, chuckling and allowing his daughter to lead him over to the baubles.
Ziva shifted Ben further up her hip. "Well, nasich, anything catch your eye?"
Ben glanced around the store and contemplated. Then he shook his head slowly. "No."
"No? Well, we can look around. Maybe you will see something you like."
She took Ben through the store, strolling and allowing him to peruse the items he appeared to favour. He shook his head at each one in the end, though, and sighed frustratedly. "All the same as home."
Ziva smiled. "We do have quite a lot of ornaments."
Ben simply blinked his Tony-looking eyes. "But I want decwate."
"We have already decorated the tree this year, nasich. We will decorate it again next year; perhaps you can get your ornament then."
"Next year is far away," he informed her, and she swallowed her surprise at his unusually perceptive knowledge.
Shifting on her feet, she wracked her brain for an acceptable alternative. "Okay. How about a Chanukah decoration?"
His face lit up. "Cha-nu-kah! Mommy, what is Cha-nu-kah?"
"Chanukah is a Jewish holiday; we celebrate it for eight days and eight nights. When we celebrate Chanukah, we light a special menorah called the Chanukkiyah. It has eight places to hold eight candles, and a ninth place to hold another candle called the shamash. We use the shamash to light the eight candles, one for each night. You understand, nasich?
"When we get home, I will show you the Chanukkiyah and tell you the story of the Jews and the Syrian-Greeks, and the miracle of the Chanukah oil. It is part of your heritage, Benjamin: it is important that you know it." She pressed a kiss to the top of his head, like she was very fond of doing. "But now, let's go look for some decorations, hmm?"
xoxo
When they met up with Tony and Lila again, the father-daughter duo were wearing identical grins on their faces, and a pack of large baubles sat on top of the pile of packages in the stroller. Ziva held back a sigh, feeling torn between exasperation and laughter.
"And where shall we hang these?" she asked, inspecting the baubles.
"On the tree, Mommy!" Lila answered, running up to her mother and wrapping her arms around Ziva's leg. "Daddy said he will make space."
Ziva looked up at "Daddy"; Tony smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "C'mon … you said 'one each'—you never said there was a size limit on the items."
She grudgingly conceded that he was right, and took up Lila's hand. "So, are we done shopping?"
"Yes, Mommy," her daughter chirped.
"Let's go home, then."
Tony sidled up to her as they walked back to the car and whispered into her ear, "Not so bad after all?"
She smiled guiltily. "No."
"Told ya it was a good idea to bring the babies along."
She looked down at Lila, who was busy singing loudly to herself, and at Ben, who was starting to nod off against her shoulder; and she had to agree. "Yes, it was."