Here's the 11th story in my series. If you haven't read the other stories, then I advise you to not proceed until you do. This is a series. It runs in sequence. To understand certain things (especially where Jamie came from), it's best to just start at the beginning. This series is kind of like my very own NCIS season 4. As of this point, the series consists of: story 1 A Link to the Past (comes in 3 parts)… story 2 Wrong Place, Wrong Time… story 3 Second Job… story 4 Daughters… story 5 A Personal Vendetta… story 6 Bless the Children… story 7 Eyes of the Condemned… story 8 Disturbing Affection… story 9 No Man Left Behind (story that introduces Chioke; aka Kid)… story 10 Finger Swap… story 11 Imperfect Heist (current story). Hope you enjoy it.
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Author's note: My surgery was cancelled because the anesthesiologist wanted medical clearance from my doctor, but my doctor didn't give it to him. I have a medical problem that my doctor is trying to keep under control, so I'm taking a medication that drastically lowers my white blood cell count. So, I can't get the surgery done until I get off that med because an infection would send me to the hospital. Figures! This sucks! Oh well! Let's start the next story.
Before I begin, the symbol " is used to help represent what a person/character says. Since Chioke doesn't speak, because he has no voice, I'll be using the symbol ' to help represent what he signs in sign language. In the first 2 or 3 chapters, after whatever Chioke signs, I'll write; Chioke signed. But eventually, I won't always write that, so hopefully you'll get used to the single symbol ' as being whatever Chioke signs.
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Wednesday
Chapter 1
With running a little late, Tony and Chioke step off the elevator. Chioke is holding Tony's hand as they walk. As for Tony, is other hand is holding a bag with breakfast for him and Chioke because he woke up late and didn't have the time to feed him. In Chioke's free hand, he's holding a Curious George stuffed animal. They walk into the work area where Ziva and McGee are at her desk working on a computer problem. As the two of them look up, Chioke waves to them.
"Hey Chioke." Both Ziva and McGee greet him.
Chioke lets go of Tony's hand and walks over to Ziva and McGee. He holds up his Curious George stuffed animal in order to show them. McGee begins looking at the stuffed animal after Chioke handed it to him. Tony finally sits at his desk.
"Nice monkey, Kid." Ziva said. "Does the monkey have a name?"
"That's Curious George." Tony stated. "Curious George is his second favorite movie."
"How can you not know Curious George?" McGee asked.
"Everybody in America…" Tony begins to say.
"Last time I checked, I'm from Israel. Not America."
"Well… Maybe you should be deported." Tony grins.
"Deport me for not knowing Curious George… Yeah, good luck at trying to make that happen."
"Chioke…" Tony tries to get his attention.
Chioke looks over toward Tony.
"Breakfast." Tony holds the bag up for him to see.
McGee hands the stuffed animal back and Chioke runs over to Tony. Tony stands up and Chioke sits down in his chair and puts the Curious George stuffed animal on the desk. From the bag, Tony takes out an egg and sausage bagel and a carton of chocolate milk for Chioke. As for himself, he takes out a burrito and a can of soda.
"I'll be right back." Tony said.
Tony walks away in order to go to the bathroom. After Tony leaves the area, Chioke looks at the shiny can of soda. He's unsure as to what it is, so he grabs the soda-can. He remembers seeing Tony drinking from a can the other day. Chioke imitates what he saw Tony do. He examines the top of the soda-can and sees where the soda comes out from. Then he puts his lips to the soda-can and tilts his head and the can upward, in order to start drinking. Nothing comes out of the can.
Chioke is confused as to why the soda won't come out, especially since he's doing the same exact thing Tony did the other day in order to drink what's inside. He pokes the top of the soda-can. Then he tilts the soda-can upside-down. With thinking the soda is stuck, Chioke begins shaking the soda-can.
After shaking the soda-can for a couple seconds, Chioke becomes frustrated because he wants to try soda, since he's never had it before. He pounds the top of the soda-can on the desk. He then holds the soda-can up so he can see if anything is coming out yet. In confusion, he scratches his head. He pounds the top of the soda-can on the desk. Chioke finally begins shaking the soda-can again. After a minute of shaking the can, he places it on the desk and tries poking the top again.
With seeing Chioke is having difficulty opening the soda-can, McGee walks over in order to offer his help.
"Do you want me to open that for you?" McGee asked.
'Need no help. I can do it.' Chioke signed.
"I'm sorry, I don't know sign language."
Chioke then shakes his head to let McGee know he doesn't need or want help. McGee walks away. Still being confused as to why he can't get the soda out, he takes a deep breath because he wants to be able to do it by himself, or at least have Tony do it for him since Tony is who he depends on. Chioke begins shaking the soda-can again.
When Chioke sees Tony coming back, he stops shaking the soda-can. As Tony approaches the desk, Chioke puts the can of soda on the desk. Tony pulls a chair over and sets it at the edge of the desk. He then sits down.
'I want try.' Chioke signed. He then points to the soda-can.
"That's right… You've never had soda before." Tony stated. "If you have my soda, then what will I drink?"
Chioke looks to the desk and grabs the carton of chocolate milk. He holds it up to offer it to Tony in exchange for the soda.
"Deal." Tony said with a smile.
Chioke puts the carton of chocolate milk down at the edge of the desk, near Tony. Tony grabs the can of soda in order to open it.
"Tony, wait, I wouldn't…" McGee tries to warn him.
Tony flicks the top open and the soda explodes out at him. The soda explodes into Tony's face and onto his shirt. Tony is now slightly soaked with soda. Chioke is startled as he doesn't know what happened, while Ziva and McGee bust out laughing.
'Why it attack you?' Chioke signed.
"I… I'm unsure as to what you just signed." Tony said.
Gibbs walks by, along-side the windows.
"He asked why the soda attacked you." Gibbs stated as he breezes by in order to go up to MTAC. Chioke nods his head as Gibbs is correct.
"The soda didn't attack me." Tony said as he grabs some paper-towels and begins wiping himself. "It's just… When you shake a soda-can, it…" He stops as he tries thinking of a simple way to explain it in terms that Chioke can understand. "I don't know why. It just happens when anybody shakes it. Just don't shake the soda-can next time."
'I sorry.' Chioke signed as he has a sad facial expression because he thinks he did something wrong.
"Look at me." Tony said as he gently places his hand on Chioke's chin in order to gently push his head upward a little bit so he can look in his eyes. "Don't worry about it. You did nothing wrong." He paused for a couple seconds. "There's still some soda in here, you want it?"
'Yes.' Chioke signed.
Tony hands Chioke the soda-can. Chioke begins drinking as Tony continues cleaning himself. Tony gets up and goes to the file cabinet in order to get a new shirt. After drinking the soda, Chioke then grabs his breakfast. He un-wraps it and takes a bite. Chioke then leans over the desk and begins spitting it out. He holds the food up to his nose in order to sniff it. Tony turns his head and sees the chewed-up food on his desk.
Chioke puts the food down and takes the top bagel piece off. He takes the sausage off and places it to the side. Tony begins cleaning up the mess as Chioke puts the bagel piece back on top and begins eating the food, without the sausage.
"At least I now know you don't like sausage." Tony said.
Suddenly, Jamie steps off the elevator. She walks to the work area and immediately over to Tony's desk.
"Good morning!" Jamie stated in a cheerful tone.
"Hey Jamie." Ziva and McGee greet her.
"Is he ready to go?" Jamie asked.
"He's almost done." Tony said.
"I'm taking him to Gallaudet University today." Jamie notices Tony has a puzzled look on his face. "The university has the special school, Kendall Demonstration Elementary School. Remember? We had a discussion about it."
"Oh yeah, that's today. It slipped my mind."
"You're looking forward to going to school and learning more, right Chioke?" Jamie asked.
'Yes.' Chioke signed.
After finishing his breakfast, Chioke stands up and gets ready to leave.
"Soon, you'll know a lot more sign language then I do." Tony said.
"He already does." Jamie stated. "Abby and I have been teaching him down in the lab for the past couple of weeks."
"I can tell. I'm gonna need to learn more in order to keep up." Tony said.
'Tony a Probie.' Chioke signed.
"Yes he is." Jamie said and also signed.
"Wait… What did he call me? What did he just say?" Tony asked.
"Dad taught him how to sign the word, Probie." Jamie laughed.
Tony looks to Chioke.
"So I'm a sign language Probie?" Tony said.
'I not mean it.' Chioke signed. 'I love you.' He steps to Tony and hugs him.
"I love you too, Kid." Tony said as he hugs him back.
"We should get going." Jamie stated. "I need to go to the bank first."
Chioke grabs his Curious George stuffed animal and places his hand into Jamie's hand. Jamie leans forward and gives Tony a quick kiss.
"Love you." Jamie said.
"I love you too." Tony said.
Tony grabs the carton of chocolate milk from the desk. He hands it to Chioke.
"You can have this. I'll get you a full can of soda later."
Chioke hands his Curious George stuffed animal to Jamie so he has a free hand to hold the chocolate milk in order to drink it. Jamie and Chioke leave the area and walk to the elevator. From in front of the elevator, Chioke takes his hand out of Jamie's hand and waves to Tony.
After Jamie and Chioke step onto the elevator, Tony notices Ziva and McGee are just staring in his direction.
"Awww!" Both Ziva and McGee exclaimed.
"Both of you… Shut up."
"It's weird to see the warm, caring, sensitive, loving side of you, Tony." McGee said.
"Don't forget to mention, it's scary." Ziva added.
"True. It can be rather scary." McGee said. "It's good to see you've been learning sign language so you can communicate better with Chioke. How's he adjusting to life in America?" McGee asked.
"He's coming along, slowly." Tony stated. "He doesn't cling to me as much as he used to." He said in a slightly sad tone of voice.
"You miss it, don't you?" Ziva asked.
"Yes, in a way." Tony said. "But I'm glad he's becoming more used to life here."
"Besides a soda-can, does he have much trouble with anything else?" McGee asked.
"He loves his movies, The Lion King and Curious George, as I told you a couple weeks ago. He finally learned how to turn the TV on, to change the channels and work the volume level. But he hasn't quite figured out how to use the DVD player, yet."
"What did he do?" Ziva asked.
"He shoved the DVD into the VCR." Tony laughed. "Over the weekend, Jamie took him to the grocery store. It took them seven hours cuz Chioke looked at everything single thing. He especially loved the lobster tank and thought they were being sold as pets. Jamie bought one for a recipe she wanted to try, but… Well… Chioke wanted the lobster for a pet…"
"I can't believe you guys have a pet lobster." McGee said.
"Yeah, I know." Tony agreed. "My dad was over for dinner, so while we were explaining that a lobster isn't a pet… He was encouraging it by offering to buy a fish tank to put the lobster in. Chioke had the biggest smile on his face and we just couldn't say no. So my dad bought a 300 gallon fish tank, which costs a lot. Then he bought a whole bunch of accessories for the tank. I think he still feels guilty about not showing up to my wedding. But I've forgiven him."
"That was nice of him to pay for it all." Ziva said.
"How are things between you and your dad?" McGee asked.
"Things have definitely gotten better." Tony stated. "He loves Jamie. And Jamie loves his Civil War stories. So it's perfect."
"Does the lobster have name?" Ziva asked.
"Chioke named the lobster after a character from the movie, The Lion King. The lobster's name is, Simba."
As the conversation continues, Jamie and Chioke make their way to the bank.