XXXIII. People Discuss My Art And Pretend To Understand It As If It Were Necessary To Understand, When It Is Simply Necessary To Love.
"McMonet, if I leave you and Abby to do this room, will it end up with skulls and spiders and other weird things covering it or will it be perfect?"
"It will be perfect, Tony. We know how much this means to you." Tim nodded and looked at the scribbles of drawings Tony had given him.
"And you remember to use solvent free paint?"
"Tony, we have everything under control. It's gonna be fine." Abby hugged him in what he reckoned was supposed to be a reassuring manner but really only served to make breathing a really big issue. "Go and sort out the furniture." She rotated him and pushed him into the first floor landing area. She turned back to McGee and grinned. Her pigtails seemed even more…bouncy today and she was wearing old, washed-out jeans and one of Gibbs' oversized NIS t-shirts, one she had borrowed when she had redecorated her apartment and covered in paint. Tim was dressed similarly, although the NIS t-shirt was replaced with an old button down shirt. They surveyed the empty room with the blank walls.
"Where do we start?" McGee looked to Abby as she walked over to one of the walls and started sketching poppies onto it.
"You can start with the stars on the ceiling." She pointed up and then to a stepladder. "Then you can help me with the forest on the other wall."
"Don't you find it strange that Tony is gonna be the first one of us to settle down and start a family?" Tim said after a moment of silent sketching.
"No. Not really?"
"You don't?"
"Well, I'm not ready to settle down, are you?"
"Well, no, but…"
"Tony is, McGee. I think he has always been the most likely."
"Abby, Tony's idea of commitment usually means a four week fling."
"You really thing that, McGee?"
"I've seen the proof. I've had to listen to him go on about it for years." McGee looked at her incredulously.
"That's not the real Tony, McGee. Much like the ice cold killer isn't the real Ziva. Inside they're people, with feelings and emotions."
"If you say so, Abby." He said sceptically, turning back to the ceiling and outlining another constellation of stars.
"Tony!" The little girl squealed and ran into his arms.
"Hey, Kiddo. How're you doing?" Tony picked her up and spun her around.
"Good." Elsie grinned. "Where's Ziva?" He sighed and sat on the park bench with her, nodding to Alison and Dave as they hung back with Mina.
"Ziva's still not very well." She gasped in horror. "She's gonna be fine, though. She's just at the hospital for a little bit."
"Does that mean we can't see her?" The child's voice was small and despite Tony's reassuring eyes, she had a hard time believing she was going to be okay.
"For now." He smiled sadly and picked up one of her small hands. "Elsie, I want to ask you a very serious question, and I want a very serious answer."
"Alright." She nodded solemnly.
"When we saw you last, you said you wanted to live with us."
"And you said we weren't allowed."
"I know. But life is all about compromises."
"Yes. What is a compromise?"
"It's kinda like going for something in the middle because no-one can decide on just one thing." He tried to explain.
"I have to compromise a lot when Mina's upset." She nodded and Tony grinned.
"I'm sure you do."
"What are we compromising?"
"Well, I have been talking to a lot of people."
"What about?"
"You and your sister. But, I realised the one person who I really need to talk to was you."
"Why?"
"Because it concerns you." He ruffled her hair. "Would you still want to stay with us even if we had to compromise a bit?" She looked at him, wondering whether he was tricking her.
"How much compromising?"
"Well, me and Ziva have to work, don't we?" He looked at her.
"Yes."
"So, we only get weekends off every couple of weeks, which means that you can't live with us full-time."
"Mmhm."
"But, how would it be if every couple of weeks you and Mina spent the weekend with me and Ziva?" Elsie looked up at him, uncertain, and then grinned.
"You mean it?"
"You will have to share a room with Mina, are you alright with that?"
"If I can stay with you and Ziva it's fine." Her smile was the widest he had ever seen it.
"Yeah. Abby and McGee are painting your bedroom right now."
"Can I see it?" She started bouncing up and down on his knee, laughing.
"When it's done you can." He picked her up and they walked across the park to Alison and Dave. Tony placed Elsie down and she ran over to the swing-set.
"So she's happy with the arrangement?" Dave asked, handing Mina over.
"By the looks of it." Tony laughed, pulling funny faces at the infant in his arms. "Hey, baby." He stroked the soft tufts of blond hair on the top of her head. She gurgled and stuck her little pudgy fist in his mouth. "Is that so?" He removed her hand so he could talk and smiled at her uncoordinated waving. "Shall we take you to have a look at cots? Would you like that?" He kissed the top of her head and grinned when she squealed with delight.
"I like this one!" The child ran over to the next bed.
"Elsie, you said that about the last five." Tony sighed as Mina started to fuss in his arms. A couple across the displayroom glared at him as the baby began to wail and he tried to soothe her. "What's wrong, huh? You hungry?" He cooed.
"I'm hungry, Tony." Elsie pouted.
"Well, the sooner you choose which bed you want, the sooner we can go and get lunch."
"I think I like the first one best." She bit her lip and he tried not to groan.
"Okay, the first one it is then." He turned to the assistant who had been trailing them round. "Can I get the first one that we looked at sent to my house please?"
"When would you like it delivered, sir?"
"When's the earliest?"
"Three hours." The assistant droned, as if reciting from a script.
"Can my friends sign for it, they're gonna be there and I'm not?"
"That is fine. It was just the bed and the cot?"
"Yes."
"If you'll just come with me sir and we can fill out the paperwork." Tony nodded and took Elsie's hand, following the assistant to the checkouts.
"I'm still hungry."
"I know. We'll go for lunch once I've completed this paperwork."
"How long will it take?" She complained, pulling on the straps of her dungarees.
"I don't know, Sweetheart. I'll get through it as quickly as possible." He sighed. He filled out the paperwork he was handed as quickly as possible whilst keeping Mina in one arm and making sure Elsie stayed in his line of sight. He should have taken up Gibbs offer to help.
"These friends that are signing for the goods, what do they look like so we can tell the delivery drivers?" The assistant took back the papers.
"One of them's a Goth – dark hair, tats, quite energetic. One of them's an old Scottish man – he'll talk you to death and then do your autopsy if you let him. One of them's a youngish nerdy looking guy who probably looks scared half to death, and the last one's an older gentleman with silver hair, a glare that makes you wish you'd never have been born and a headslap that really smarts." He grinned. "Are we all done here, 'cause they're hungry?"
"Sure. We'll deliver them within the next three hours." He nodded and Tony sighed in relief.
"Okay, kiddo. Where do you want to go for lunch?"
