So, this might be ridiculous, but guess what? I can write whatever I darn well please.
(But please read it and tell me what you think, I'm a lonely writer desperate for attention)
;)
"Good morning, Caitlin, you're up early."
Kate paused in her work and turned to her grandfather. She smiled as she answered. "Good morning, Ducky. I know, I just wanted to start everyone out on the right foot, first day of school and everything."
Ducky's eyes twinkled as he gazed at his granddaughter. He had known exactly why she was up and dressed so early, though he wished she didn't think it her responsibility to make sure everyone had a good first day of school. He was the adult, the guardian, the caregiver. He should be the one getting up at the crack of dawn to make breakfast for a house full of teenagers. But Kate wouldn't hear of it. Ducky did enough, she always insisted. He should be spending his retirement in peace, and instead he was teaching teenagers how to cut open dead animals and identify their innards all day.
As Kate looked into Ducky's eyes, she knew what he was thinking, and her smile softened. "It's okay, Ducky. Here," she grabbed a plate and heaped some freshly scrambled eggs onto it. "You should eat up before the stampede." Ducky chuckled.
"Right you are, my dear." He took the plate and set it down on the kitchen table, not bothering to take it out to the dining room. Kate noticed this and knew he was in the mood for an early-morning chat, so she decided to start the inevitable conversation.
"How do you think Ziva will do today? Her English has gotten better since she got here, but the other kids might not be as inclined to help her as we are." Ducky nodded as he swallowed.
"That's true, but I've seen your schedules, and the only class she has without any of you others in it is gym, and she can certainly hold her own there." Kate put her spatula down and turned.
"You've seen our schedules?" she asked skeptically. "Shepard let you look?" Ducky nodded again with a smile.
"I told her I was concerned for my exchange students and wanted to make sure they had familiar faces to turn to if they needed help in class." Kate raised her eyebrows, impressed at her grandfather's scheming.
"I'm sure Clayton will be touched that you were so concerned for him." Kate said mock-seriously. "Well, that's good." Kate started cracking new eggs into the frying pan. "If she's with one of us, she'll be okay."
"I will be 'okay' regardless." Kate whipped her head around to look at the source of the new voice. Ziva David was standing in the door, her face expressionless.
"Ah, good morning Ziva! Would you like some breakfast?" Ducky said from his seat.
"Yes, please," Ziva answered briskly, and took the plate Kate handed her. She sat down across from Ducky, and Kate picked up the pace with her egg scrambling. She dumped the finished eggs into a bowl in the barely-hot oven to keep them warm and cracked some more eggs. If Ziva was awake, Kate knew the others would soon follow. Ducky, also aware of this fact, quickly finished his own eggs and put his plate in the dishwasher. As he started to gather his things and put his coat on, Kate heard clunking steps bouncing down the stairs, and prepared another plate.
"Oh, Ziva, could you get the orange juice out?" Kate said over her shoulder. Ziva swallowed and nodded before standing up and walking to the fridge. "Thanks. Good morning, Abby." Kate held out the plate just as her younger sister all but ran into the room.
"Morning Kate. Morning Ziva. Morning Ducky, are you leaving? Isn't it early?"
"A bit, but it is the first day, my dear," Ducky answered warmly. "I've got a few things to sort out before my first class. I'll see you all later." Ducky walked around the room and gave them all a quick kiss, even Ziva, and bustled out the door. Ziva put her plate in the dishwasher, poured herself a glass of orange juice, and leaned against the counter next to the stove as Kate handed Abby her plate and finished up the rest of the eggs.
"Here, Abbs." Kate poured a glass of orange juice and handed it to Abby, who had to put her fork down and stop eating where she was standing to take it. "Go out to the dining room, I hear Tim and Alex coming." Abby nodded and obeyed. As she was walking away, Ziva handed Kate another plate. Kate loaded it up with eggs and handed it to the next person who came through the door.
"Thanks, Kate. Morning, Ziva," Tim said as he took the plate and the glass of orange juice Ziva offered him.
"Good morning, little brother," Kate said as she piled more eggs on to another plate. "Were Tony Clayton stirring?"
"Nope," Tim said cheerfully. Kate shot him a suspicious look. "Don't worry, they will be soon." Tim walked to the dining room almost jauntily, and Kate and Ziva were so preoccupied with watching him leave they didn't realize that they weren't alone until Alex cleared her throat.
"Uh, morning," she said questioningly. Ziva jumped, and Kate blinked and turned to her best friend.
"Oh, good morning, Alex," Kate said with a smile. She handed her the plate and Ziva handed her juice, and Alex took them to the dining room.
Kate heard the front door open and close, and Ziva handed her another plate.
"Hey, Nick," she called.
"Hey Kate. Hey Ziva." said Nick Torres as he walked in to the kitchen. "Are Tony and Clay up?"
"No, Nick, your best friends have not yet crawled out of their nests and graced us with their presence," Ziva responded snarkily as she poured another glass of juice.
"Woah, Miss America," Nick said, his hands up in mock surrender. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. You know, you should really talk to someone about these irrational bursts of anger-"
"Oh, shut up, Nick," Kate said and handed him the plate with an exasperated huff and a barely concealed smile. Nick grinned and took it, and took the glass Ziva was handing him. He left and went to the dining room, and Kate heard everyone greet him.
Kate looked at her watch and pursed her lips. "They better get up soon, or they're gonna have to rush to be ready on time."
"Tony excels at not getting up until the last minute," Ziva answered, without a hint of sarcasm. "They'll be ready." Kate laughed.
"You're right. My twin has a talent for getting as much sleep as possible." Kate poured herself some orange juice and took a sip. "Are you ready for today? Is your bag set and everything?"
"Yes Ima," Ziva answered teasingly. "I'll be fine." Abby darted back into the room and Kate gave her some more eggs without even waiting for her to ask.
"You all packed Abbs?" Kate asked before her sister could disappear back into the dining room.
"Yep," Abby said through her eggs, which she was already shoving into her mouth.
"All right," Kate said in a satisfied tone. Abby started to walk away again. "Oh!" Abby stopped. "Tell your twin that whatever he planned better happen soon or Tony and Clayton are going to be late." Abby nodded, her mouth already full of egg again, and went back into the dining room. Hardly a second after her black pigtails whipped out of the door, her task was made unnecessary. An ear-piercing, heart-stopping sound blared through the entire house, and upstairs, Kate heard someone heavy fall out of bed.
"TIM!"
"Tony's awake," Ziva said easily, as though she were commenting on the weather.
"What in blazes was that?"
"So is Clayton," Kate responded, and started dishing out more eggs. Two minutes later, two pairs of feet descended the stairs and Tony and Clayton stumbled into the kitchen looking rumpled.
"I'm gonna go kill Tim, 'kay?" Tony slurred as Kate handed Clayton his plate and glass.
"Fine," Ziva answered with a sweet smile. "But take your eggs first so Kate can finally eat."
Tony gazed at Ziva, his sleep-fuddled eyes narrowed in suspicion. After a moment, he apparently decided that the request was not too outlandish, because he took the plate and glass Ziva was holding out to him and slouched into the dining room. Ziva handed Kate one more plate, and Kate filled it with almost all of the rest of the eggs. Ziva raised her eyebrows.
"I suppose you are hungry this morning," she said questioningly. Kate smiled.
"Not really," she replied, and poured another glass of orange juice. Just as she topped off the glass, the front door opened and banged shut, and Ellie Bishop flew into the kitchen.
"Hi, Kate! Hi, Ziva," she said breathlessly. "I saw that Tony's car was still out front, so-"
"They haven't left yet, Ellie. Here," Kate held out the egg-laden plate and the glass. "You probably have fifteen minutes before the boys leave, go and eat with Tim." Ellie took the plate and glass and whisked into the dining room.
Kate scraped the last of the eggs onto the last plate, accepted a glass of orange juice from Ziva, and finally walked into the dining room. The dining room was in a flurry of activity and somehow was completely filled with noise, even though Nick and Tony were the only ones really talking.
Tony and Nick were arguing about last night's football game, which Nick had dropped by to watch, and Clayton was listening with confusion. Ellie was snarfing down her food while Alex ate much more sedately next to her, and Tim had finished his eggs and was on his phone. A minute after Kate sat down next to Abby and Ziva sat next to Kate, Tim grinned satisfactorily and put away his phone.
"I've got three jobs after school," he told Ellie. Tim fixed people's computers in the afternoons, he was a whiz with programming.
"I bet Fielding has five," Abby yelled across Alex and Ellie between gulps of egg.
"Oh shut up," Tim retorted as Ellie and Alex snickered. Delilah Fielding was Tim's sole rival in the computer world of their suburb of D.C. Wherever he put his posters, she put hers right under them, usually with some statistic about girls being smarter than boys printed on them. Tim had never met her, but he was convinced she was either an evil spirit, a master criminal, or just a horrible person. Ellie was always the model best friend about Delilah, and always sat through Tim's rants about her, but Kate knew that Ellie secretly admired the rival computer-geek. Abby and Tony, on their part, took never-ending pleasure in needling Tim about her every chance they got.
"What do you mean, clumsy? He's the best receiver on the team!" Tony yelled indignantly. Nick swallowed before responding dubiously.
"Yeah he is, and that's sad, man."
"He got the goal, though," Clayton interjected. Nick gave him a withering glance and Tony facepalmed.
"Touchdown. It's a touchdown, Clayton, this isn't soccer," he said.
Alex glanced at her watch and jumped. "Kate," she said, and pointed at the clock. Kate's eyebrows jumped up, and she scarfed down the rest of her eggs.
"Dishwasher!" she yelled over the din. Instantly, everyone stood and filed into the kitchen, Tony and Nick still arguing, and put their dishes in the dishwasher. It was the system, Kate cooked, the others tried to clean up after themselves. Most of the time, anyway.
"Tony!" Kate yelled when she finally got to the dishwasher and saw Tony's dishes on the counter. "Get back here and put your dishes where they're supposed to be!"
"Sorry Sis, gotta roll!" he called back before running out the door. "C'mon, Timmy!" Tim grimaced and yelled from the front door.
"Kate, do I really have to ride with him?"
"Unless you plan on walking to school," Kate yelled back as she grudgingly loaded Tony's dishes and started the dishwasher. "It's not my fault you totaled your Camaro."
"It's not mine either," Tim shouted.
"Yeah, the jury's still out on that," Ellie said as she brushed by on the way out to Kate's Taurus. Tim groaned, hoisted his bag over his shoulder, and walked out to Tony's car like a man going to the guillotine.
Kate was the last one out, and she turned out all the lights and grabbed her bag before realizing her keys weren't on their peg, but Ziva's had been left. Kate rolled her eyes, grabbed Ziva's keys and used them to lock up behind her.
"Ziva!" she yelled. "Absolutely not!" Ziva, who had been about to get into the driver's seat of Kate's car, froze.
"Oh, come on, Kate," Abby pleaded. "I like riding with Ziva!" Alex and Ellie cast each other desperate glances.
Kate strode down the driveway, and her expression did not invite argument. She stopped in front of Ziva and held out her hand. Ziva rolled her eyes and dropped the keys into Kate's palm. Alex and Ellie sighed with relief, and Ziva stuck her tongue out at them as she got in the back. Ellie got in next to her, and Abby squeezed in on the end. Alex got shotgun, like she always did. Alex had called rights for eternal shotgun as the driver's best friend since she and Kate had first started talking about getting cars, and no one had ever bothered contesting her. Once Alex claimed best friend rights about anything, no one ever tried to argue. No one had argued when Alex moved in three years ago, no one argued about Alex (occasionally) copying Kate's notes, no one even argued about getting the last of Kate's cookies when Alex staked a claim. It was an unspoken rule, one that even Nick followed, if only because Alex and Kate united against him freaked him out.
"You know I have to drive sometimes, correct? I need 65 hours to get my license," Ziva grumbled from the back.
"Correction," Kate said as she pulled out of the driveway. "To get your license back. You got it revoked, in case you've forgotten, which the first reason you're not driving. No wait, it's the second reason, the first reason is the fact that your brother hit me with a car, remember that? I," she continued when Ziva opened her mouth, "know it wasn't your fault, but still, Davids in cars make me nervous. And there is no way that someone without a license is going to drive a car that has my little sister in it."
"I'm sixteen, Kate," Abby said indignantly.
"And I'm seventeen, and we have the same parents, which make you my little sister," Kate retorted. There was a pause, during which Ziva and Abby stared sullenly out of their windows, and Ellie sat awkwardly between them mentally begging someone to say something. Everyone knew Ziva didn't like when anyone mentioned the Incident, as they called it, and she was surprised that Kate had even brought it up.
"You could drive Tony places," Alex offered suddenly. She looked at Kate inquiringly. "Right?" She twisted around in her seat to face Ziva in the back. "He could use a few near heart attacks." Against her will, Kate felt her mouth twitching up into a smile, and she felt a laugh bubbling up in her chest. A glance in the rear-view mirror confirmed that Ziva was suffering the same thing, and a moment later the car was filled with laughter. Alex did not join in, in favor of continuing the joke. "It might mellow him a little bit," she said, restraining her own laughter with difficulty. Her face cracked into a smile as she looked around at her handiwork. Abby was leaning on Ellie, Ellie was leaning on Ziva, and they were all shrieking with laughter, imagining the look on Tony's face if he were forced to ride with Ziva and the jumpy wreck he would most certainly be afterwards.
Eventually the laughter faded into a comfortable silence, and Ellie and Abby apparently did not feel the need to move, because they stayed pretty much on top of each other and Ziva.
"I'm sorry, Kate," Ziva said suddenly. Nobody said anything, but they all knew what she was talking about. The Incident. Ellie and Abby glanced at each other, and Alex looked at Kate. Kate's knuckles whitened on the steering wheel, she was obviously momentarily reliving it. Ziva's brother Ari had delivered her to America at the beginning of the summer, and he had stayed with them for a week to make sure Ziva settled in well. Throughout his stay, he had flirted relentlessly with Kate, driving her to an almost constant sense of discomfort. She had not returned his advances, and had been glad when his visit had drawn to a close. No one could definitively say that what had happened was not an accident, but all Kate remembered was walking across the street while running errands, when suddenly she had felt Ari's dark eyes on her, and then everything had been black.
She had woken up in the hospital with a concussion, four broken ribs, a tearful Abby leaning over her and no memory of what had happened. Traffic cameras had later confirmed that Ari had been driving the car that had hit her, but by then he was back in Israel, and Kate hadn't particularly wanted to bring him back to send him to jail in town when he was already across the ocean.
"I don't blame you, Z," Kate said quietly, before continuing in a more businesslike tone. "But I assume that the same person taught you two how to drive." Ziva frowned in confusion.
"I taught myself how to drive," she answered as if it were obvious. Kate and Alex glanced at each other, and Kate fought to keep her laughter back.
Alex turned and said seriously, "Don't ever become a driving instructor." Kate snorted, and Ziva looked between them in bewilderment.
"Did I miss something?" she eventually asked, but by then they were pulling in to the school parking lot.
"Look, we're here," Kate said hurriedly, without acknowledging Ziva's question. Everyone got out, unloaded their stuff, and started walking towards the school.
"All right, after school I have to drop off Alex and Ellie at work and still get home before Mrs. Watson drops off Sandi, so try to be out here by 3:15, okay?" Kate said before the girls could scatter into the crowd surging into the school.
"Yes ma'am!" Abby yelled seriously, before scampering off to join her science geek friends.
"Sure, Kate," Ellie said absentmindedly as she frowned into the crowd, probably looking for Tim.
Ziva and Alex stayed close to Kate anyway, but they both nodded their understanding. The three of them hung back until the crowd dissipated, then they went inside and headed to the office.
The receptionist, Cynthia, looked up and smiled as they entered. "Hello, girls. Did you have a nice summer?" she asked, entirely too cheerfully for 7:30 in the morning. Kate smiled back politely and nodded.
"Yes, Cynthia, thank you. Do you have our locker numbers?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice. Alex rolled her eyes and Ziva shot Kate a disturbed glance.
"I do indeed," Cynthia replied with equal sweetness. "Here you go." She handed each of the girls a slip of paper with their locker numbers and combinations. "Have a nice day!" she called as they left the office.
"You, too!" Kate answered before the door swung shut. Ziva glanced at her numbers, memorized them, and slipped the paper into her pocket.
"There was entirely too much-" she struggled for the word.
"Sugar? Eyelash fluttering? Sickly smiles?" Alex suggested. Ziva considered.
"All of those things."
"Okay, one, I did not 'flutter my eyelashes,' and two, I was just being polite. It worked didn't it?"
"What worked?" Ziva asked as they made their way through the halls.
"Everyone else has to wait until homeroom to get their locker numbers," Alex explained. "But now we can unload our stuff before everyone else." Ziva raised her eyebrows and shot Kate an impressed look.
"And how did you manage to establish such a rapport with Miss Cynthia?" she asked.
"In freshman year I told her her boyfriend the security guard was cheating on her. Since then Alex and I have enjoyed certain privileges, like getting our lockers and schedules first every year. Here's mine, what are your guys' locker numbers?" They stopped in front of locker 296, and Alex quickly read her slip of paper.
"287."
"And I have 283," Ziva said without taking out her own paper. Kate smiled brightly.
"You guys are right across the hall," she said happily. "Now it'll be easy to meet up after school."
"C'mon, Ziva, our schedules are in our lockers," Alex said before dragging her across the hall. Ziva opened her locker, again without getting her paper, and pulled out her schedule.
"I take it this is also courtesy of Miss Cynthia?" she asked. Alex nodded.
"Yep. Kate, you okay over there?" Kate appeared to be struggling with her locker, but she waved off Alex's question.
"Yeah, it's just-" Suddenly the locker flew open and Kate stumbled back, straight into a man walking by. "Sorry," she said quickly, and looked up at him.
"Don't apologize," he said gruffly, and Kate was taken aback by his tone.
"Well I did run into you, I just wanted-"
"Never apologize, it's a sign of weakness," he growled, his eyes boring into Kate's, and even in the midst of her growing indignation Kate noticed that his eyes were a gorgeous shade of blue. He strode away without another word, and Kate stared after him, eyebrows raised.
"Well that was weird," Alex said slowly.
"Who was that?" Ziva asked. Kate stared at the man's back as he got farther away and eventually walked around a corner and out of sight. He walked briskly, and even through his shirt Kate could tell that the muscles in his back and shoulders were taut. "Kate?"
"What?" she said suddenly as she thumped back to earth. "Oh, I don't know, I've never seen him before." She grabbed her schedule out of her locker and walked across the hall to Alex and Ziva, who had watched the exchange with bewilderment.
A/N: Well? What did you think? Is it too weird? I have so many ideas for this it's ridiculous. Please review, and thanks for reading!