thanks for the views again! and yeah sorry i haven't uploaded in ages, next time i will do a brief summary to remind you what has happened.
After they had had breakfast and gotten dressed, the doorbell rang. They had been discussing how soon was "too soon" to organise another meeting with Rosalie and Casper, but to Tony's surprise, it was Rosalie at the door.
"Rosalie!" Tony exclaimed loudly enough to catch Ziva's attention in the kitchen. "did we leave something at yours last night?"
"No no," she replied with her velvety soft voice, "I was just wondering if Lisa had anything planned for today?"
"Lisa honey," Tony yelled towards the kitchen. Sure enough Ziva quickly hurried towards the door wearing a pink swirly patterned apron, having just finished the washing up. She flashed a bright smile at the guest who had appeared at their doorstep.
"Rosalie, oh it is great to see you! Sorry about my messy appearance, i have been doing the washing up."
"Oh nonsense Lisa, no one i know would be able to pull of an apron, let alone with that cute skirt, is it Valentino?"
"No actually," Ziva replied, "I got it from an adorable boutique when we were travelling in Paris this summer, do you remember that dear?" Ziva turned to Tony who was starting to look bored. He grunted in reply before shuffling off. Ziva and Rosalie both chuckled at his reluctance to talk about women's fashion. Ziva was quickly reminded of her manners and moved to the side to let Rosalie in. As she stepped in the doorway Rosalie continued,
"Back to the reason i came round, I assumed that since you have moved to the new place, you might want to get some new clothes too? I happen to know a few boutiques down-town that have some sales on..." Rosalie grinned as she flashed her credit card in Ziva's face. Ziva grinned. Back in Washington she didn't have many girl friends so she only went shopping if it was necessary or if she was with Abby.
"Give me a second," Ziva hurried off to find her bag. Before she could enter the bedroom, Rosalie replied,
"Oh and tell Tommy that Casper might be looking for a golf partner later on this morning. I assume he knows how to play?"
"Of course, we spent two months in England last year. He became quite fond of it."
"Great." Ziva grabbed her Chloe handbag before heading outside to where Tony was now sitting on one of the loungers.
"You have a couple of hours to learn how to play golf. Casper is coming by later for you." Tony looked at Ziva with a mixture of worry and confusion, but only got a quick kiss in response as she ran back inside. Ziva slowed down as she arrived to where Rosalie was sitting on the couch. She noticed she had picked up one of the photo albums off of the mantelpiece and was now slowly flicking through them. It was the one of their fake wedding, and Ziva noticed the distant look in Rosalie's eyes. She slowly sat down next to her new friend before staring at her until Rosalie answered Ziva's silent question.
"You are so lucky," Rosalie said quietly, "When i married Casper, it was a quick ceremony in Barcelona. We had none of our family with us and i didn't even get to have a white dress..." Ziva was shocked at Rosalie's openness. She slid the album out of her friends hands before placing it on the table and saying,
"It was not that exciting do not worry, too much hassle. Now how about that shopping you mentioned?" With an encouraging smile, Ziva and Rosalie exited into the midday heat and made their way towards Rosalie's white Range Rover before driving off towards the shops.
Tony waited till he heard the car drive off before he hurried inside. He hadn't played golf since he was a young boy and he had forgotten mostly how to play it. He sat for a while exploring tutorial videos on YouTube before he heard the phone ring. He waited a second before he picked it up and answered.
"Hello?"
"Tommy?" A rich, thick accent answered through the receiver. Even though Tony was alone in the house he still jumped slightly when he realised who it was.
"Casper, hi. So I heard something about a game of golf this afternoon?"
"Yes, i thought it would be a nice way to get to know each other considering we are to be neighbours. You play?"
"Oh yes, i played it a bit when my and Lisa were travelling to England last year."
"Good then," Casper replied suddenly, "Come round to my house at 2." And with that Tony was left sitting rather perplexed on the opposite end of the phone. He sat pondering at the sudden abrupt ending of the conversation but decided to ignore it and carry on watching the videos.
Ziva moved quite quickly along the clothes racks lining the boutique they were in. She wasn't really paying much attention to the exquisite garments that draped on the hangers before her, but instead was running the earlier events of that day through her head. She had not expected Rosalie to open up that quickly to her, and the situation made her seem as though she was genuinely unhappy for some reason.
"I think this would really suit you" Ziva turned around to see Rosalie holding up a pair of white jeans. They are gorgeous Ziva thought. She took a look at the price tag and sighed. $263. That was a large amount of her weekly pay back at NCIS. But she was undercover and was permitted to use as much money as necessary so she could afford to try them on. After all, they would probably just return them when the assignment was over.
She took them off Rosalie and headed to the changing rooms. Rosalie followed and waiting outside. When she had them on, Ziva spent a couple of minutes contemplating her figure in the mirror. The perks of having to keep a high level of fitness for her job meant she had a very attractive figure, but she sadly didn't get a lot of opportunity to show it off.
"Let me see, Ziva" Rosalie called from the other side of the curtain. Ziva pulled the curtain back to let her friend see. A large smile grew on Rosalie's face and she brought her hand together by her chin as she tried to hide her pride at finding the perfect trousers for Ziva. Suddenly she had an idea.
"Wait there."
"Okay?" Ziva watched her hurry off before turning back round to look in the mirror. Just as she turned around again she felt something land on her shoulder. She picked it up in amusement to see Rosalie had picked out a floral lace top. She looked at the price and smiled. $53, a price that seemed much more reasonable. She pulled her top quickly over her head and slipped the camisole like vest on. She had to admit, they went perfect together.
"What did I say?!" Rosalie said with a triumphant smirk on her face.
"Okay," Ziva replied with a sigh, "I guess I have to take them both."
She changed out of the clothes and watched as Rosalie clicked towards one of the shop assistants who took the clothes off her and began wrapping them up in tissue paper before placing them in a box, then into a bag. Ziva was amazed at the extent to which they went to protect the clothes, but she certainly was not about to complain.
"That will be $316." Ziva placed her card into the card reader and quickly typed in her pin. When her card had been registered, she picked up her bag and waited for Rosalie to pay. She had managed to pick up a nice pair of brown suede boots with a sheepskin fur rim around the top. They left the shop carrying their bags, and made their way to the coffee show on the other side of the road. They sat down and ordered their drinks, before Ziva noticed Rosalie looking at her with and inquisitive look.
"What are you looking at Rosalie?"
"I was just wondering," Rosalie started, "how of all places did you pick here to settle down?"
"Well," Ziva replied slowly, trying to think of a logical answer, "Both I and Tommy come from sunny climates and this is about the best it gets in America."
"Yes but," Rosalie questioned, "Would you not rather be in your homeland or Tommy's?"
"I think the best part of my country, is the excitement I feel when I return home. If I lived there permanently I feel as though I would get sick of it."
"Really? I would do anything to go home…" Rosalie quietened as she stared out of the window. Ziva stared at her friend for a while before answering,
"What is stopping you?"
"Well Casper is not very fond of my home-town, he does not get on well with my parents."
"Why do you not go and visit by yourself? You are perfectly capable."
"Oh no," Rosalie shook her head vigorously. "Casper would not have that, especially with his job."
As they sat in silence sipping their caramel lattes, Ziva started to ponder over what Rosalie had just said. Maybe she wasn't so heartless after all.
The sun had reached the highest point in the sky by the time Tony and Casper had arrived at the 5th hole. The first four had been alright for Tony, apart from the awkward moment on the first hole when Tony was about to hit the ball in the wrong direction.
"So what made you choose here to settle down?" Casper said, but the way he was looking towards the green, which was a good 200 yards away, made Tony think he wasn't really interested in that.
"Lisa and I are fans of the sun, and this is about the best it gets in America."
"I suppose you also have good business ties around here also?" Casper threw a small, interested look in his neighbours direction and Tony realised it had been leading to this.
"Well naturally yes, but it's only the big shots around here with all the money. All the real stuff happens abroad."
"But money is good yes? Doesn't it make you mad that they get all the money?"
"Of course it does!" Casper replied with a humorous smirk, before turning back to his golf ball. He stood for a minute before taking a swing and landing the ball almost on the green. Tony let out a gasp of astonishment at the accuracy, before saying,
"So do you travel much?"
"Well I travel a lot for my job" Casper replied. Oh I know you do Tony laughed to himself, before looking at Casper in a sign to continue.
"Most of my work is based in south America, Asia and Europe"
"So I presume that means you get to visit home quite a bit too" Tony added, he was trying as subtly as he could to get Casper to reveal more about him but so far he wasn't having much luck.
"Oh no," Casper replied, "I do not have time to visit them. Family just becomes an inconvenience in a job like mine."
Tony was shocked. He had not expected such a reaction from him.
"But what about Rosalie? Doesn't she want to see her family?"
"Rosalie does not mind, she married me after all. She does what I like now."
Tony tried to hide his disgust, but that changed to embarrassment when he realised that women must have thought of him with the same amount of disrespect his entire life.