Chocolate Pools and Crazy Curls
Almost fifteen year old Tony meets three and one half year old Ziva in Israel.
"JUNIOR!" Anthony DiNozzo called out for his son upon entering the hotel suite in Tel Aviv. "JUNIOR!"
Fifteen year old Tony, well close enough to fifteen since his birthday was in two weeks, shifted slightly from the chair on the balcony where he was watching the bikini clad Israeli girls on the beach. "What, Dad?" he tried to sound annoyed. Most likely his father was going to tell him that he would be on his own for the day again and to stay out of trouble.
"Oh, there you are, son," Senior popped his head out to the balcony. "I need your help. I'm trying to get a property deal finalized for my client and he has his three year old daughter in tow. I need you to babysit the kid for a while so we can close the deal."
"Dad, you know I don't babysit…" Tony whined; he would much rather watch the hot chicks on the beach instead of a snotty nosed brat. What on Earth does one do with a three year old anyhow?
"Let's go. I told Eli that I would bring you back to his apartment to watch the girl. You can bring your swim trunks; they have a pool at the apartment building," Senior wasn't giving his son a choice. "Should be two, maybe three hours tops."
Tony sighed and grabbed his wallet. He put it with his swim trunks into his backpack and put on his shoes. Senior would owe him big time for this one. Maybe he could get the kid to watch a movie and leave him alone. He hoped this girl was not a pest like his last stepmother's kid.
Father and son arrived at the David apartment. Eli answered the door and gestured for them to follow him inside. "This is my son, he can watch your daughter while we close the deal, Eli," Senior introduced Tony to his client.
Eli looked the teen over from head to toe, "He will do." Tony felt that he had been inspected. Eli turned and called to his daughter, "Ziva, please come here!"
The girl appeared in the room. She had dark curly hair, the curls rather unruly. Tony noticed her eyes almost immediately; they were a chocolate brown color. She had the eyes of an old soul, which is what he noticed most.
"Yes, Abba?"
"I have some business to attend to; this is…" Eli turned to Tony.
"Tony DiNozzo, sir."
"Tony. He will be watching you while his father and I complete our business. Please do not cause him any trouble."
"Okay, Abba." She turned to Tony, "Hi, I am Ziva."
Eli and Senior left the apartment to conduct their deal. Tony looked at the kid. There was something about her that drew him in, even though he did not like kids in general.
"Are you a grown up?"
"No, I am fourteen," Tony answered. There was something about her that kept him from lying. When her face fell, he added, "But I'm almost fifteen."
"Well, I am three years, seven months, and twelve days old. I will be four in November. My Ima is in Be'er Sheva with my grandparents. Saba is in the hospital." Ziva looked at the teen who was to babysit her. "Do you like the beach?"
"Um, yes. Do you?" Tony was surprised at the conversation with the young girl. She seemed old for her age.
"Oh, yes. Ima has a house in Haifa at the beach. We go there when Abba has to work a lot." Ziva decided she liked Tony. "We could go there, if you want."
He looked at her, "How would we get there?"
"You can drive. I know where the keys are for the car and I know how to get to Haifa," Ziva stated confidently. "I also know where the keys are for the house, or I can pick the lock."
Tony didn't know what to make of this kid. Was she yanking his chain? "How about we watch a movie? Do you have any VHS that we can watch?"
"I would rather go to Haifa."
"Um, well, okay, if you think your Dad would be okay with that," Tony was all for an adventure. It beat sitting in the apartment being bored, not that he could be bored with this kid. She intrigued him. "Since we are going to the beach, do you have a swim suit? I have mine in the backpack I brought."
The girl smiled at him and went to her room, returning a minute later with said swim suit in hand. "Here; I will put it in your pack." She reached for his backpack.
"Um, let me put it in," Tony quickly grabbed the pack. He didn't want to her to see the Playboy magazine that he had hidden in the bag. He had taken it from one of his father's clients in Rome. As he unzipped the main compartment of the pack he felt curls tickling his arm.
"What do you have in there?" Ziva tried to look inside the backpack. "Do you have any knives? I like knives. Do you speak Hebrew?"
"Um, no to the Hebrew. I speak a little Italian," Tony tried to keep the little girl from looking inside the back pack. "You speak pretty good English; where'd you learn?"
"I learned from the television and from the tapes that Schmeil gave me. I also can speak some Spanish and I want to learn French and German. I want to be a ballerina someday. What do you want to be?"
"I want to play basketball professionally. After that, I don't know. I guess it depends on how much money I make," Tony hadn't really thought beyond playing ball. His first hope was to get a scholarship to a Division One school and plan from there.
He was surprised at how easy it was to carry on a conversation with this kid. She was nothing like the five year old brat who had been his stepsister for seven months and a few days.
He looked up and the kid was nowhere in sight. Great, she had disappeared on him. He was about to call out to her when she reappeared, startling him. How the heck did she do that? She held up some keys, grinning at him. "Here are the keys we need."
"Are you sure we can drive to Haifa? Wouldn't it be better to just swim in the pool here?" Tony was still unsure if Ziva was yanking his chain or if she was serious. The last thing he needed was to get both his dad and the kid's father angry at him.
Ziva put her face into Tony's, her brown eyes locking on his green ones. "I want to go to Haifa. If you will not take me, I will find a way to hurt you with this!" She held up a paperclip between their faces. He gulped; for some reason he believed that she could very well inflict harm on him with a mere paperclip.
"Okay, we'll go. Show me where the car is," Tony took the keys from Ziva and let her lead the way. When they got to the car parked on the street, he was relieved to see that it had an automatic transmission. He could drive both manual and automatic, but he preferred automatic with a strange vehicle. The times of sneaking out and driving his nanny's car or the dorm leader's car at school paid off.
Ziva sat in the front passenger seat and told Tony where to turn. He was glad the street signs were in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Once they were on the main highway towards Haifa, Ziva relaxed a bit in her seat. Tony watched the road but kept glancing sideways at the little Israeli girl with fascination. She said that she was three almost four, but she acted more like seven or eight. He was amazed at her English, her sense of direction and her conversation skills. Heck, there were kids at his boarding school who would be left in the dust by this kid.
Once in Haifa, Ziva directed Tony to her mother's house. Tony pulled into the driveway and shut off the engine. Ziva ran towards the house, and disappeared under the wrap around porch. She emerged with a triumphant smile on her face, holding up a key for the door. "I found the key!" She handed it to Tony who unlocked the door.
"Wow, this is a nice house," Tony exclaimed. "Why do you stay in that apartment? I'd live here if I could."
"Ima wants to live here someday. Abba has to work in Tel Aviv and we have to live there for now," Ziva explained. "I want to go to the beach."
"Where is that?" Tony looked outside, not seeing any beach out the windows in the room they were currently in.
"We have to walk on the path that is out the back door," She pointed towards the back of the house. "We also have to cross one road to get to the beach so we can swim. May I have my swim suit now?"
"Uh, sure," Tony dug in his bag and handed the clothing to Ziva. "Where do we get changed?"
Ziva pointed to a door, "YOU can change in that bathroom. I will change in my room." She disappeared down a short hallway and he heard a door slam. He went into the bathroom she had indicated and changed into his swim trunks, folding his jeans, shirt, underwear and socks and placing them in his pack. He opened the door to see Ziva sitting cross legged on the floor watching the door he had just exited.
"You can leave your pack here," she motioned to a chair in the kitchen. "We can get towels and beach shoes on the back porch." She led him to said porch and pointed out the items they needed. Then she opened the rear door and he followed her down a well-worn pathway.
When the pair got to a roadway, Ziva paused until Tony caught up with her. She slipped her hand into his, "I have to hold a grown-up's hand to cross the road." He wrapped her small hand in his and she grinned at him. They looked both ways and then crossed the road. Ziva kept her hand in his as she dragged him towards the beach.
Once they had crossed the roadway, Tony realized that they were being followed by two men. He glanced over his shoulder as he and Ziva walked through the sand to get closer to the water. Ziva noticed him looking back. "Do not worry about them, they are Mossad. They work with Abba," she stated matter-of-factly. She waved at the men and laughed.
"OH!" Tony wasn't quite sure what to make of this bit of news.
"Abba says that one day I will be a great asset to Mossad," Ziva stated with pride. "I have an IQ of 197."
'YIKES,' Tony thought to himself. "Wow! That's impressive, Ziva. Don't tell anyone, but I have tested at 145 myself. My Dad thinks I am some dumb jock."
"What is a jock?"
"Someone who plays sports, an athlete," Tony explained the term. "It's an American slang term."
"Will you teach me the American slang?" Ziva asked him and made eye contact again. Tony nodded as she locked gazes with him. Those chocolate brown eyes mesmerized him. He could feel himself being drawn into their depths. "But not right now; I want to swim." She tugged him in the direction of the water.
Once in the water, Ziva swam like a fish. She paddled around Tony until the water was deep enough for him to swim as well. Suddenly she ducked under the surface. Tony looked around for the little girl, but couldn't find her. "Hey!" her voice behind him startled him. She was about ten feet away. "Catch me, Tony!" She giggled and slid underwater.
Tony swam to where she had been and surfaced, looking for the girl. He turned around in the water and finally realized that she was behind him when she made the slightest of splashes. "I know you are behind me," he laughed, "Want a piggy back ride?" The armpit high water was too deep for her to stand. The next thing he knew, she was on his back, her arms around his neck.
"GO!" she yelled in his ear. He obliged by churning through the water to her peals of laughter. When he glanced towards shore, he noticed the two men sitting near where they had left their towels and beach shoes. One of the men appeared to be on some sort of communications device, talking and gesturing with his hands.
"Ziva, why do those men watch you?" Tony was more curious than anything.
"They are Abba's, um, hashomerim," Ziva pronounced the Hebrew word deliberately and slowly as if that would help Tony understand. "I do not know how to say it in English."
"Bodyguards?" Tony suggested. Ziva moved around him like a monkey on a tree and looked in his face with a questioning look.
Tony explained, "They make sure he or you are safe and not in any harm."
"Yes, that is it. Bodyguard?" she repeated the unfamiliar term.
"Yep. What does your father do anyhow? Where does he work?"
"Mossad," Ziva replied. "I told you that already." She got in his face again and locked her brown eyes with his green ones in a gaze that neither tried to break.
"Yeah, you did. I forgot." Why did this kid's eyes fascinate him so much? "Um, do you want to go sit on the beach or something?"
Ziva looked around. "Let us sit at the edge of the water. I like you. Would you stay and be my big brother? Abba could pay your abba to let you stay." She moved to the edge of the waterline, sitting in the wet sand. He sat next to her. If his stepsister had been anything like this kid, maybe he would have given her a chance.
"I wish I could. I have to be back at boarding school at the end of August. Do you go to school?"
"No, but I want to go. Abba says that I have to wait one more year. I want to go now. I can read Hebrew and some English. That is better than the two boys across the hall in Tel Aviv and they have been going to school for years." Ziva had a fiercely determined look in her eyes. Tony didn't doubt that she could outperform the older boys. He knew kids at his school that she could run rings around.
"Tony, what is boarding school?" Ziva was curious about this type of school.
"It means that I live there when I am taking classes. Dad put me in boarding school when I was eleven. I have been at three schools so far. He dumps me there for the school year. Last year I never left for the holidays." Tony stared out over the water. He remembered having Christmas dinner with the cook and a janitor at the school and one other boy who stayed. "But enough about that…" he splashed Ziva with the sea water and moved into deeper water. She squealed and followed him, splashing as she ran after him.
Tony stopped running and turned to splash her again. She ran into him and knocked him backwards. He sat back up sputtering to her laughter. Her wild curls were stuck to her face, standing out at angles to her head and in general unruly. He reached over to move a strand out of her face and tuck it behind her ear. He grinned at the little girl, staring into her brown orbs.
Suddenly he picked her up and tossed her into the water. She laughed and came back for more. Six more times she came back and he tossed her out into the deeper water. They were getting ready for round nine when one of the bodyguards came to the water's edge.
"It is time to go back to Tel Aviv," he announced to Ziva's pout. "Your father's orders." Ziva stomped her way out of the water, dragging Tony with her. She tugged at his hand as they headed to their towels and shoes.
"I want to stay here. I do not want to go back to Tel Aviv," she grumbled. "I was having FUN."
The bodyguards took the two kids to the house to change back to street clothes and then put the two into the back seat of the car they had driven to Haifa. One guard drove the David car back and the other drove the car with the kids. Once on the highway, Ziva scooted next to Tony and pulled his arm around her. She leaned on his side and fell asleep with the motion of the vehicle. He pulled her protectively to him, watching her as she slept.
Back in Tel Aviv, the guards flanked the children as they all walked to the David apartment. Senior and Eli were waiting for them after spending five hours closing the land deal in Chile. Both were satisfied with the outcome.
"Abba, Tony drove to Haifa with me. We had fun at the beach. Can he come live with us? I like him!" Ziva started telling her father about her day. "I want him to stay with me. Please?"
Senior gave his son a look as if to say, 'What did you do?' Tony just shrugged. He liked the kid and wasn't about to get her into any trouble or complain about their day.
"Ziva, I am sure he has to go back to America with his father. Be a good girl and tell him thank you and goodbye." Ziva frowned at her Abba. She was not happy about losing her new playmate.
"Toda, Tony. That means thank you in Hebrew," Ziva grinned in his face. "Ad shenipegash shuv."
Tony grinned back at the little Israeli who fascinated him, "Toda, Ziva. Maybe we will meet again someday." She moved closer and wrapped her arms around him.
"I will remember you," she whispered to him. "Remember me!"
"Always," he whispered back.