Ziva had been expecting many things when she was in Israel - Michael being annoyed about something, her father being cold and distant, the weather being lovely and warm and perfect. What she had not been expecting was a message from people back in America. Correction, she had not been expecting a message from people in her Scrabble group, of all things.
It had been from Francisca, who had left both a text message and a voice message. The latter of which had to have been accidental as her voice was very distant in it and cut off mid-sentence. But Ziva could catch enough to hear her friend exclaim "Yes! This website will work!"
She knew giving Francisca her number would be a bad idea. Granted, she hadn't used it until now but still. Now she would not stop messaging her! Thankfully her phone was always kept to silent or her father or Michael would wonder what on earth was going on and be even more sneering of Americans.
Ziva did not get a chance to look at said messages until late in the evening. She couldn't bear to do so until then. The last she checked there had been seventy-three messages and the aforementioned voice call. A god two thirds of those being from Francisca.
The first message was from Amelia. The only sensible message in the conversation today.
'Did you arrive in Israel okay?'
That got an immediate response, verifying that yes, she had.
The rest of the messages were Francisca excitedly telling them that she found this online Scrabble website on which they could all play, they just needed to sign up and it was all free.
Pamela shot down that initial website, claiming it was full of flashing ads and it gave her computer a virus- Ziva was glad that she had not been quick enough to check on the site first.
Eventually they figured out a site that would work, sounding very pleased with themselves. Ziva pointed out that there was a seven-hour time difference between her and them and she would only really be free in the evening. Maybe at that depending if Michael wanted to do something.
That sparked a lot more arguing about times and who could participate. Eventually they did figure something out.
[xxxxxx]
For the first time in what had to be years Ziva woke to the sound of her alarm. Normally, she woke before it - the alarm being the latest she could sleep without running late.
She groaned and turned it off, very tempted to bury herself under her covers but she knew that was not an option. Being mate was never an option for her, unlike a certain partner of hers. A certainly not an option for her father. Urgh, she was going to have to deal with him today. At least she would get to see Michael.
Not that any of that mattered when she was still feeling so tired. A very late night would do that to you. But she hadn't even felt this tired when on a several days mission with minimal sleep! She was definitely getting soft.
It turned out that playing online Scrabble when the participants were in very different time zones was a bad idea. A very bad idea. She definitely should not have agreed to it. But she had so she had to play.
It hadn't started out too badly - only Amelia and Francisca could play because of time zones and they were the only ones who did not have work on a Friday afternoon. The game was supposed to have started at two o'clock back in the States - nine o'clock over in Israel, an acceptable time. Dinner had been eaten and it was the perfect time to relax.
Of course, it didn't start at two. Of course not. First Ziva had connection issues that turned out to be caused by a loose wire of all things and then Amelia had connection issues. Once all that was sorted it was ten o'clock with her and she was in no frame of mind to play properly but Ziva was too stubborn to admit it so play they did.
And she supposed the game was a good game. The fact they could play at all was good but Ziva hadn't realised that much of the fun of the game was having banter between other players. The website they used didn't allow for messages to be sent to other players and their messaging on their phones kind of drifted off once they got into the game. Texting was a lot of work when you were trying to figure out what words you could make.
So, it was a very silent and lonely game for her. It hadn't been clear if Amelia and Francisca had ended up at one of their houses or if they were also separate. Either way, Ziva thought that if she was ever out of the country again, she would just have to miss out on the Scrabble game. It just wasn't as much fun as being around people and talking to them.
Ziva didn't even win the game which was even worse. Amelia did, much to her delight and completely inappropriate bragging via their group chat. It had been a long time since she had won so maybe it was only fair that she got to brag - they all certainly did when they won. A bad habit, yes, but oh so satisfying.
At least Ziva was not in the same room as Amelia this time. The woman always had this strange dance that she did whenever she won. It involved a lot of waving of her arms and repeated chants of "Go, Amelia! You're the best!"
Quite unnecessary. And dangerous too - Lucas almost got smacked in the face by her arms once.
The next game she would be playing will definitely be back in America where there would be proper taunting and banter. And Ziva would just have to ensure that she won the next time.