Grandma Ziva
"Alex, "I don't think we should be down here," A young seven years old boy said to his older brother, "Grandma will be really mad when she finds out we went through her stuff."
"Calm down Nicky," Alex said to his little brother while he moved aside some of his grandmother's boxes in her basement. "We aren't going to get caught, alright? So relax," He looks back to Nicholas, "and will you stop looking over your shoulders."
Alexander is your typical nine years old boy. Always breaking the rules to get what he wants. Knows when people are hiding something and goes searching for the truth. Nicholas on the other hand, is nowhere near his like his older brother. While he loves a good mystery and discovering new things, he isn't one to disobey; not his parents and especially not his grandmother. Their grandma may appear like any sweet old lady in her late sixties, but from the stories their father has told them about her, shows her in a very different light.
"What are you looking for anyways?" Nicholas asked Alex.
"The last time we were here, I passed by the basement and I saw a very big, green box," Alex said to his brother. "I asked grandma about it, but she said it isn't for little boys to look through." He moved the last box out of the way, "So you have to ask yourself Nicky, 'What is grandma hiding that she doesn't want us to see?'"
"If she didn't want to tell us then we shouldn't be snooping around," Nicholas said then looked up the stairs.
"Finally," Alex said after finally reaching the big green box.
Nicholas turned his attention back to his brother saw the box, "It's a treasure chest," He said with much enthusiasm.
"It's not a treasure chest genius," Alex said, "It's a military footlocker." He tried to lift it, but to no avail, "I need your help Nicky."
"What for?" He asked.
"It's too heavy for me to move by myself," Alex explained, "Just help me slide it over to where there's more light."
"I don't know Alex," Nicholas said with a worrisome tone, "Grandma is going to be mad at us for nothing staying upstairs and she'll get even madder when she finds out we went through her stuff."
"Five minutes," Alex said holding up his hand, "We look through this for five minutes and I'll put everything back by myself while you can go back upstairs with Grandma."
"Really?" Nicholas asked.
Alex nodded his head, "Really. I'll even take the blame for both of us if we get caught." Alex might break the rules, but he cares for his little brother, "Please Nick."
"Okay, I'll help," Nicholas said and walked over to Alex and the footlocker.
"Great, now we'll push on this end, okay?" Alex said as he and Nicholas placed on their hands on the left side of the footlocker.
"Ready?" Alex asked.
"Ready," Nicholas responded.
"1…2…3…Push."
The brothers slid the footlocker all the way to the middle of the basement under the ceiling light. "That is really heavy," Nicholas commented on the footlocker. "What do you think is inside?"
"I don't know," Alex said wiping the sweat from his forehead, "but we are going to find out." He tried to lift the lid, but was stopped when he noticed a combination lock on it, "Great, now how are we going to get in this stupid thing?"
"Have you tried asking for the combination?" A voice said to him.
Alexander and Nicholas looked to the top of the staircase and saw the woman they heard so many stories about; the one who has a rifle placed over her fireplace, who can twirl a knife between her fingers and who cleans her handgun once a week, Grandma Ziva.
She made her way down the stairs; with every step she took, the more scared her grandsons were becoming.
She finally reached the bottom, walked up to her grandsons and looked them both in the eyes, "Alexander, Nicholas, do you mind telling me what you two are doing down here?"
Alex and Nicholas shared a look with each other and then stared at the floor.
Ziva kneeled down to the floor to make better eye contact with them. She placed her hands on their shoulders, "You were about to look through my stuff, weren't you?"
The brothers nodded silently, not looking their grandma in the eyes.
"You were willing to take the fall if you were both caught, right Alex?" She asked her older grandson.
Alex looked up from the floor, "How did you know that grandma?" He asked, astounded that she knew that.
"I've been listening from the top of the stairs," Ziva said to him.
"You mean you knew we were down here the whole time?" Nicholas asked. "When did you notice we weren't upstairs?"
Ziva thought about it, "I would say the second you told me two would be in the backyard playing. I knew you were lying to me Alex."
Ziva walked over to the footlocker and sat upon it, "So, what do you have to say for yourself?" She asked her grandsons.
Alex and Nicholas looked back to the floor. "We're sorry Grandma." They said in unison. "Are you mad at us?" Nicholas asked.
Ziva took a breath and then let out it, "I'm not mad Nicky; I'm disappointed."
Alexander and Nicholas felt even sadder than they did before.
"I'm disappointed that you two decided to invade my personal property and that you lied to me," Ziva said to them. She took another breath, "But, I'm more disappointed that you couldn't make me believe your lie and that I was able to catch you."
Alex and Nicholas looked back at their Grandma, a stunned look on both of their faces. "You're more upset that you didn't believe my lie?" Alex asked. "I thought I was convincing."
"Alex sweetie, I been alive a lot longer than the both of you combine, I can tell when somebody is lying; I was trained to," Their Grandmother said to them.
"You have?" Nicholas asked.
Ziva nodded her head, "Yes I have and if I wanted to go through your stuff, I wouldn't have made so much noise."
"Now can one of you two please tell me, why did you want to go through my stuff? Tell the truth," She asked Alexander and Nicholas.
"I only wanted to know what's inside Grandma," Alex said, "I dragged Nicky down here so he could help me. I know you said I wasn't supposed to look inside, but I couldn't help myself, I needed to know what you are hiding."
"What do you think is inside worth hiding?" Ziva asked.
"Grandma, you have to think about," Nicholas said began, "You have a rifle over the fireplace and other times, you have your handgun with you. So one has to think 'If she keeps her firearms somewhere else, what would she hide?'"
For being only seven years old, Nicholas could analyze anything pretty quickly. Ziva give a small chuckle, "You two really want to know what's inside?" She asked tapping the top of the footlocker she sat on.
Alexander and Nicholas nodded enthusiastically.
Ziva let out another small chuckle, "Well I'll tell you right know, what's in here is very valuable. But, it's not money, gold, jewelry or rare paintings; it's history."
"History?" Alex asked, "How can history be valuable?"
"History can be very valuable and it's everywhere," Ziva said to Alex. She looked around the basement, "Like this house."
"This house has history?" Nicholas asked.
"A lot of history; this whole house once belong to somebody else," Ziva said.
"Who?" Asked Alex.
"A man described as strong, confident and fearless. He was a leader, taking charge and who people had faith in," Ziva said. Hs looked back to her grandsons, "You know that rifle over the fireplace?" They nodded. "It once belonged to him and down here in this basement; he would spent some nights building boats."
"He would build boats?" Alex asked.
Ziva nodded, "Yes he did. His name was Leroy Jethro Gibbs and he was considered the patriarch of my family." She got off the footlocker and began to turn the wheel of the combination lock. Alexander and Nicholas got closer to see what they been longing for.
Ziva popped the lock and lifted the top of the footlocker. "I haven't looked through this in a long time." She reached in, took a pile of books out and handed to Nicholas, "Nicky, since I know you love to read, why don't you look through this."
Nicholas looked at the book on top "'Deep Six'," He read out loud and moved on the next book, "'Rock Hollow, The Devil's Gun, Law of Blood, Peace by Death and The Shield Lineage' by Thom E. Gemcity." Nicholas opened to the book's back cover and got a look at the author's picture, "Is this Mr. Gemcity, Grandma?"
Ziva looked over to the picture, "That's him. He had such a passion for writing; he could always been seen behind his computer or his typewriter typing away. It was like he was in a trace and nothing could disturb him."
"What's a typewriter?" Alex asked his Grandma.
"It's like an old computer, but without the monitor, hard drive or mouse," His Grandma said. "In fact," She reached inside the footlocker, "I knew it was in here. This was the very same typewriter that belonged to him," Ziva placed the typewriter carefully on the floor next to the books.
Alex looked into the box; he saw a red hooded sweater, a baseball cap with the letters 'NCIS' written across it, an orange jogging cap and a black leather jacket with a white stripe around each sleeve. He picked up the jogging cap and found a cigar box underneath. Alex placed the jogging cap back down, picked up the cigar box and opened it to find many photos.
The one on top is of a man with gray hair, wearing a suit minus the tie. The next photo is of an older man wearing a lab coat and glasses standing next to woman wearing a short red checker pattern skirt, a black shirt with skulls and bats on it and her hair in pigtails. Alex could see a spider web tattoo on her neck.
He came across the next picture, which took his breath away. It is a woman with honey-colored skin lying on a pool chair, reading a book, wearing a blue bikini with white spots over. She is looking right into the camera.
Ziva looked over from what she was doing and saw the photos in Alex's hands. "I forgot all about this picture," She said as she took them from her grandson, "I think it's very lovely. Don't you?"
Nicholas joined over placing the books next to the typewriter, "Grandma, is this you?"
Ziva sat next to Alexander and motion Nicholas to sit at her left. She grabbed the first picture Alex looked at, "This is Leroy Jethro Gibbs; the man who owned this house." She moved to the second picture, "The older man is Dr. Donald Mallard; they used to call him 'Ducky'. The woman dressed like a Goth is Abigail Sciuto and was the Chief Forensic Specialist at NCIS."
Alex grabbed the third photo, "But Grandma, is this you?"
Ziva took the photo back, "What makes you think this is me?" She asked with a smile.
"She looks like you," Alex said.
"Alex is right," Nicholas said, "She looks a lot like you."
Their Grandmother laugh, "Boys, this is Ziva McGee," She said, "She was my Grandmother." Alexander and Nicholas looked at the picture again and then back to their Grandma.
"My dad used to say she and I looked so alike," Ziva said with a small grin.
She grabbed the rest of the photos and went to one in particular, "My dad considered them all his family." Ziva pointed to the first person in the picture, "His 'Grandfather' Gibbs," She moved from left to right, "His 'Aunt' Abby DiNozzo, 'Uncle' Tony DiNozzo." Ziva arrived to the last two people, "His Mother and Father, Ziva and Timothy McGee."
"They were your grandparents too, right Grandma?" Alex asked.
"That's right. That makes them your great-great grandparents," Ziva said.
Nicholas looked at Timothy, "Wait a minute, that's Mr. Gemcity."
"Thom E. Gemcity is an anagram for Timothy McGee," Ziva said. "He didn't want anybody he worked with to know that he was an author."
"Why didn't he want them to know?" Alex asked.
"From what my dad told me, the characters in his dad books are based on the friends and co-workers; of course Tim would denied it all the time," Ziva said.
"Did they ever find out?" Nicholas asked.
Ziva nodded her head, "Yes they did and they were not happy about it."
Ziva moved to the next picture; Tim and Ziva McGee, their arms wrapped around each other, smiles on their faces and looking into the camera.
Alex and Nicholas saw the look on their Grandmother's face, "They mean a lot to you, huh grandma?"
"They do," Ziva said. "He may not look like it, but Timothy McGee was one the best NCIS agent in his time. He could hack into any computer belonging to the FBI, CIA or ICE. He was a good man with a good heart. Many people believed he didn't belong in law enforcement, but he proved them all wrong."
She directed her eyes to the woman whom she is named after, "There are stories about her before she came to NCIS and meet her future husband." Ziva looked at her grandkids, "I heard she was a spy and an assassin. She fought 50 men single handedly," She could see Alex and Nicholas hanging on to her every word; "My Grandpa told me she knows her to kill a man 18 different ways with just a paper clip."
"Whoa," Alex and Nicholas said together slowly.
Ziva smiled and moved to the next picture. It was a young man with honey-colored skin and green eyes who appeared to be in his late teens sitting on the hood of a car.
"Who's that Grandma?" Alex asked.
Ziva cleared her throat, "This is my dad, Matthew McGee."
Alex looked at the picture, "He looks cool."
"He was cool," Ziva said. She went through the other pictures, "That's him, Captain of the swim team." She moved to the next picture, "Him graduating from high school." "The day he joined the Navy."
"Your dad joined the Navy?" Nicholas asked.
Ziva nodded her head, "Yes he did. He stayed with them for six years before he came back home; but it was for a short while."
"Why?" Alex asked.
"While he was home, my dad decided to join the police which he did, moved to Baltimore and moved up the ranks to be become a Homicide detective," Ziva said.
"Why did he decide to become a cop?" Nicholas asked his grandma.
"I asked him that too when I was a little girl," Ziva said, "He told me because he wanted to be different and that his 'Uncle' Tony was his inspiration."
Ziva moved to one particular picture, "After Baltimore, he moved back to D.C. and transferred to the local police department where he met his future wife as well as the people I would call my family; just like he did with NCIS."
Alex and Nick looked at the picture in their Grandmother's hand; It was Matthew McGee except much older. He stood between two women; the dark haired woman to his right and a light brown haired woman to his left. An older man sitting on a desk and a much younger man to the far left.
"What was great-grandpa like, Grandma?" Nick asked.
Ziva laughed a little, "He was brave, honest, loving, strong, smart and considerate." She took a deep breath, "He is my hero. My mom too."
"How did they meet?" Alex asked his Grandma.
"It was a long time ago. In the beginning, they didn't even consider themselves getting married or dating one another. When they first met, my mom didn't want my dad as a partner," She looked at her grandsons one more time, "Would you like to hear the story?"
"We really do," Alex said.
"Are you sure? It's bit of a long story. It involves laughs, sadness, crime, love, heartbreak, lies, truth and the near collapse of our government into anarchy."
"Grandma, we aren't going anywhere," Nick reassured her with a little smile.
"Okay, just making sure," Ziva said. She moved to the front of them. "Like I said before, it was a long time ago and it all begins on a sunny Monday morning…"
The Beginning…
Author's Note: I know some of you thought the Ziva in this story was the wife of Timothy and the mother of Matthew. I have taken too long with where I wanted the 'Next' Universe to go, so I had to skip a couple of years; which means a couple of my planned stories had to be skipped. I don't know when or if I plan to post my other stories; I want to focus on H.N.C. for now. This is what I have been building up to. The 'Next' Universe still continues, just in another 'book', titled H.N.C. and like I mentioned before it's an AU crossover and with what show it crosses over will finally be revealed.
Hopefully, my readers are still faithful and give this shot. Please forgive the extreme lateness of this story, I couldn't write down my thoughts on paper.
Reviews are always welcomed and hope you leave one.
P.S.: I'm Back.