I re-wrote the summary to better explain how I've envisioned this story. I've been meaning to do that for several months now.
Guest reviewer that left three reviews, pretending to be three different people: I actually completely respected your opinion until you started lying about being other people. People have opinions and I respect that but after that show I really don't have a lot of respect for you which is why I suspect that even though you said that you weren't coming back, I reckon you will. Anyway, I'm sorry you feel the need to review like that and your opinion has been received. If you want to log in we can PM about it. I'm always looking for other ideas on how to develop the story. Just remember, you don't need to pretend to be someone else just for your opinion to be heard :)
Jack wasn't exactly sure where he was taking Ziva but he brought her out to his son's car anyway and unlocked the door. At the sight of the car seat, he steered back to help his young charge into it and clip in the seatbelt for her. He wasn't sure why an almost-five year old would need such a babyish seat however he didn't comment. If LJ had decided she needed it then she probably did and he wouldn't go against his son.
He decided to take her to the park to begin with before they chose something to occupy them for longer. As he'd never met his granddaughter before, he hadn't known what to get her for her birthday. Maybe he'd take her round the shops as well so he could get a better idea. Right now she was kicking her feet up and down so they bounced off the seat and every now and then she'd turn to her left, mumble something incoherent and laugh.
"Who're you talking to?" He called back as he stopped, looked both ways and made a right turn.
"Tali." Ziva replied without placing much emphasis. She turned again and whispered something. "She's my sister."
Without missing a beat he said, "Well that makes her my granddaughter too. Hey, Tali."
Ziva smiled gratefully at him, a small smile that very quickly grew to cover her entire face. She now knew, for an indisputable fact, that she really liked her grandfather.
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When they got to the park, Jack took a seat on the bench and watched Ziva fly towards the climbing apparatus. She started by climbing up the fireman's pole instead of the ladders and then she swung along the monkey bars. He couldn't help but think that the drop was more than twice her height however he didn't comment. She would probably be ok. He was frustrated with his son, though. Ziva had been so excited that morning and while he'd been good with the breakfast in bed-though to be honest, who wouldn't?-he had shortchanged the girls a bit afterwards. He pulled out his phone and dialled Gibbs' number.
"Dad? Everything ok?"
"Yeah, when I bring Ziva back later I'm going to head out for a bit." Jackson told him, shifting the phone to the other ear. "You and that little miss should spend some time together."
He hung up before his son could to make a point. Looking back up at Ziva, he noticed her balancing precariously on top of the apparatus with her arms stretched out to aid her balance. Shit. Jack sprung up from his seat and found himself standing where she was bound to fall to.
"But I'm fine." She called back, pushing herself onto her tiptoes.
"Now, please."
Ziva let out a long, discontented sigh before bending her knees to leap down onto the floor of the frame. She landed on her feet with a solid thud before looking him in the eye with an I-can't-believe-you-made-me-do-that sort of look. It shook him back to when LJ was a child and shot him that exact same look. God, he'd wanted to beat that look out of him. When his granddaughter sent him that look, however, he just smiled. He wasn't going to be the one to have to deal with years worth of insolence. Besides, he'd rather get to play the loving grandfather. Within a few seconds, however that look was gone and she had joyously moved to swing down the frame. She hit the ground with another hard thud and ran to the roundabout.
After half an hour of trailing after Ziva-who after he had told her to get down had insisted that he play with her-he was utterly exhausted. When his son was around the same age he'd done this but he had never been a particularly young father and it had been tiring even then. Now, he felt like he could have a heart attack if he kept up the pace. Ziva hadn't seemed to notice, however, and was ready to play. Instead, he made her another offer.
"How about we go to a coffee shop?" Jack bribed in between breaths. "You can get a hot chocolate?"
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Ziva's eyes grew five sizes when the waitress brought over their drinks. Her hot chocolate was topped by at least two and a half inches of whipped cream. Jack laughed when he noticed her, thanking the waitress for bringing them over. The child tried to lift up the drink however some of the liquid sloshed over the side. Instead, she leaned in to sip from it. When Ziva pulled back she had a cream mustache with a dollop on her nose. She managed to wipe most of it off with the back of her hand.
Still with an essence of a smile, Jack said, "what're you learning in school?"
"We're reading poems by Emily Dickinson." She informed him before taking another sip. "And Lewis is teaching me Russian."
"Wow, that's very impressive."
Ziva shrugged her shoulders. "I do not even think I'm the smartest person in the room most of the time. Maya has Pi memorized to over three hundred places and she can tell you what day something was on just by hearing the date. She said I was born on a Monday. I tested her by asking what day my eighteenth will be and she said Wednesday. I looked it up, she's right. Spencer can talk about physics and maths forever. His tutor has him learning really complicated stuff."
Jack nudged her lightly on the shoulder. "You're never gonna be the best at everything no matter how hard you try. Your dad said you speak ten languages. You know how many I speak? One."-Ziva smiled slightly-"But d'you know what I can do? I can fly a plane an' I can paint an' I can shoot, pretty decent might I add. Don't let the other geniuses get you down, kid. You're gonna meet thousands of 'em."
"Is daddy upset with me?" She looked up at him with those huge eyes and a pouty face and he couldn't help but melt.
"No, Ziva, of course he's not. His mother really liked birthdays and I don't think he really celebrated his much after she died." Jack tried to excuse. One lie wont hurt, "But, tonight your dad's asked me to head out for a bit so you can spend some time together."
"Really?" And with that her face lit up and she began bouncing on her seat a little bit. "How old was he when his mother died?"
"Almost seven." His gaze dropped in the memory of Ann. Sure, they had been going through some rough times towards the end however he had still loved her and he always would. You can't love someone and spend that much time together and just be able to switch off those emotions. Sadly, it didn't work like that. He shook those bad feelings off for now. "Anyway, drink that up and we'll see what you might like for your birthday."
They had a gentle conversation while they sat at the café. Jack managed to learn more about his new granddaughter however he didn't hear anything about her former life. Infact, she didn't seem to be purposefully leaving it out either. He couldn't imagine returning to the age of five and having nothing to say about his life before. Was it unimportant to her? She certainly seemed like a normal five year old. By the time he was at the end of his coffee he was beginning to question if she could even remember it.
"Do you remember Stillwater?" He asked as it was the only place he knew she hadn't been since her regression.
"Erm...a little bit." She answered, unsure of herself. "You have a shop and there're pictures up on the wall. The man daddy was named after is up on it. Can I come back sometime?"
"Sure." That hadn't been particularly conclusive. Gibbs should have told her anything about Stillwater. He made a mental-note to ask his son later about it. "Come on, little miss."
Ziva slipped off her seat and followed him out of the shop. It was the same shopping centre she'd managed to get herself lost in before but at least now she knew the way to the security desk.
"So...what do you want for your birthday then?" He asked, expecting a type of toy or something along those lines.
"A cat. A real cat."
Damnit. Not quite along the right tracks. "Maybe something that's not so alive."
"Ok." Ziva seemed to accept that just fine. "A dog then."
"You want a dead dog?"
"No." She drawled out the word as though he were stupid. "Like Stitch."
"Stitch?"
"Yeah. From Lilo and Stitch. They said 'he was dead earlier'. I mean, he's not a real dog. He's an alien but they thought he was a dog. They got him from a shelter." She explained. "I think it's my favourite movie. It was the first movie we watched at movie nights."
"With Tony?" Jackson enquired.
"Yeah and it's Disney." She said quickly, taking herself over to the Disney shop without consultation. He followed her in without protest into the shop packed like sardines with children between the ages of 3-9 pushing and shouting, buggies with babies screaming in them and parents looking like they wish they'd grabbed their kids faster.
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Jackson escorted his charge into the house, calling upon entry. Ziva immediately sprung onto the couch, lifted the remote and switched on the TV. Jack left her to it to seek out his son. It took him a whole seven seconds to find Gibbs in the basement working on a music box. He didn't go down the stairs because it would hurt his back and knees only to have to reascend in a few minutes anyway.
"Son, that's us back. Ziva's watching cartoons in the living room. I'll be back after dinner."
"Right, dad." With that, Gibbs returned the music box to a space out of direct view of the door. So long as Ziva followed the rules, he wouldn't need to hide it any better than that. He got up the stairs and found Ziva sitting as described. He sat down beside her. "Was thinking we could order some Chinese and watch a movie?"
She nodded emphatically. "Which one?"
"Dunno, just pick your favourite."
"Lilo and Stitch?"
"Sounds good." Gibbs kissed her head and pulled her in for a hug. "Usual Chinese?"
She nodded again and he left her to go and put in the order. Ziva shouted through, "I was telling Grandpa Jack about Lilo and Stitch earlier. He said it seemed interesting."
He tried to nod along attentively while balancing the call to the Chinese. Somehow he managed it. When he hung up he sat down beside his daughter and wrapped an arm around her shoulder while the cartoons played.
"So, what else did you do?"
He rarely allowed her to eat in the living room for this very reason. Way too much of the food always ending up either in the couch, on the floor or both. Tonight was one of those 'both' days. But she was happy, which counted, he supposed. He reckoned they were about a third into the movie which had seriously elevated Ziva's mood. Before it had started she had gone to put on her Stitch t-shirt which she often wore when they watched the movie. Tim had noticed it once when he was out shopping and had picked it up for her. It was up-there on her favourites as well.
"I'm sorry I bit you...and pulled your hair...and punched you in the face." Ziva mimicked in a whisper as Lilo apologised to Myrtle.
While she didn't know the entire movie, she could quote a good portion of it. He saw a lot of similarities between Lilo and Ziva. Perhaps that was why she was so fond of it but he didn't comment that out loud.
Her head shot round in his direction. "Abby brought round cake. Can we have some...or is it not allowed because it's birthday cake?"
Gibbs wasn't exactly sure where she had got that reasoning but he said anyway, "Course not. I really liked the breakfast and the card this morning and I appreciated the cake from Abby. Thanks, sweetpea."
She lit up. "I'll bring it through."-Ziva paused a minute-"after this scene."
The second the desired scene was over, she jumped up from the couch and through to the kitchen where the cake was sitting on top the island counter. Before collecting it, she fished the birthday candles out of the cutlery drawer. They had appeared after their last big shop, presumably in preparation for her birthday. All of them were stuck into the cake. The match box was placed protectively in her mouth so she could still carry the delight without dropping it. As soon as Gibbs saw her, he took the cake out of her hands and placed it on the coffee table. He oversaw her lighting the matches and light the candles, having to remind her to bow out the match before she burned her fingers.
"Happy birthday, daddy." Ziva grinned.
He kissed her crown. "Help me blow them out."
The sheer joy in his little girl's face made him wished he had let them make more of an effort earlier. Then again, it wouldn't be the same if it weren't just the two of them. Abby would have gone overboard and he would feel awkward with his dad there however it was easier with Ziva. It was easier to be sweet and compassionate and loving with her because she was just a little girl he had to protect.
So they sat with their birthday cake watching the movie that Gibbs had been forced to watch several times since she had come to stay permanently. With his arms around her shoulder and icing covered fingers stuck in her mouth they finished the film. It shot him right in the heart when she recited her favourite line.
"This is my family. I found it all on my own. It's little and broken, but still good. Yah, still good."
Lilo and Stitch is one of my all time favourite films. I actually see a bit of a similarity between Ziva and Lilo too. Thanks and REVIEW.