Tony took a deep breath and checked his watch for what had to be the tenth time this morning. It was six o'clock in the morning which meant that it was one o'clock in the afternoon over in Tel Aviv, actually all of Israel. He thought so anyway. Or, at least, the internet thought so. Because there was no way he was going to trust himself to calculate time zone differences. Not when so much was at stake. And, ah, no je heard kt. Maybe McGee was right, he was being a little bit dramatic about this. Whatever. It was one o'clock in Israel. Lunchtime or just after it. Which should be the perfect time to phone someone, right? Right.
A yawn split his face in two and he felt like he strained his face if that was at all possible. He hoped someone would appreciate all the effort he put into this. He was awake, showered and dressed all before six o'clock. He didn't do that on just any old work day. This was partly because he didn't want to risk running out of time to get ready for work while talking to Nettie but mainly because for some reason it felt wrong to phone her when in his nightwear. His boxers. He slept in his boxers. And yes, he knew that she's wouldn't be able to see him on the phone or anything but he would know. And God knows, he didn't need to feel even more awkward about this whole thing.
And yes, this was starting to feel awkward. Not that he was going to tell McGee that. Nor was he going to put a stop to this whole plan, he'd come too far for that now. But was it really that weird to phone your partner's family? Outside of life-threatening situations? When they were on the other side of the world?
Afraid that the answer to all of those question was yes, Tony pushed all of those thoughts away and tried to make himself focus again. He had to focus or he wasn't going to get anything done.
Right, it was now or never. Or more like now or another day because he wouldn't be able to do it at work. Nor did he want to. And who knew when he would be able to persuade herself to do all this again.
Okay. It was now. Instinctively, Tony looked around him, checking for eavesdroppers and Ziva before remembering that he was very much in his own apartment so why on earth would Ziva be here? Then again, she was a ninja and he really shouldn't take any chances.
Now paranoid, he set down his phone and did a quick sweep of his apartment just in case. You know, Gibbs' rule and all - always double check. Though it probably wasn't supposed to be applied this way but whatever. Okay. There was no one in his apartment except for him and Kate the fish. It was safe. He could carry out his plan.
He took a deep breath. And then another one because that one didn't do the trick. And then another one for luck. And a fourth because he was just avoiding the task at hand now. His hand hovered over his phone and uncertainty swirled in his gut. Was this a good idea?
That thought was dismissed instantly (Of course it was a good idea) and he grabbed his phone.
He was doing this. He was doing this now. No more deep breaths. No more waiting for the exact right moment. No second guessing himself. He was doing it and that was that.
Lifting the piece of paper with the phone number up, he started typing. Yeah, he didn't save it to his phone when McGee gave it to him because there was no way he was going to risk having Nettie David as a saved contact.
Triple checking to make sure he had typed all the numbers in correctly- and just as well because he had managed to swap two numbers around - Tony nodded to himself. That was it. The number was typed in.
Not even giving himself time to think, he quickly pressed the call button and brought it to his ear.
'Ring, ring'. 'Ring, ring'.
It was ringing an awfully long time. Had he dialled the right number? Was she even available? What if he was interrupting something? What if-
"Shalom? Nettie David speaking."
Tony didn't know whether he should be relieved or disappointed that she answered.
"Shalom?" The voice came again.
He almost dropped the phone in shock. Oh, yeah, he hadn't responded yet.
"Hello?" He said hesitantly and he could have given himself a head slap. "I mean, shalom."
A chuckle came from the other end. "I do speak English. Who is this I am speaking to?"
He really wasn't good at this whole talking on the phone thing, was he?
"Sorry, this is Tony. Tony DiNozzo," he greeted her properly this time.
There was no response to that though he could still hear her, which was a relief. She hadn't hung up on him.
"I think we spoke before?" He continued talking, trying to make the older woman feel at ease. And make sure that she knew that he wasn't some weirdo calling her. "I'm Agent DiNozzo, from NCIS. I am-"
"You were my Ziva's partner," Nettie said in realisation. "Yes, we have spoken before. I remember. You helped me with my Mahjong partner."
He winced at the memory of that particular incident. Though, the bewildered look on Ziva's face when he had hung up had been fantastic.
"Still playing Mahjong?"
"Oh, yes. Of course."
One of these days he was going to have to look up what exactly Mahjong was. He wondered if Ziva knew... no, no distractions.
"Are you and Ziva still partners?" He was now being asked.
"Yes. Yes, still partners. Still have each other's sixes. Backs. J mean backs. We have each other backs," he rambled nervously.
His free hand made a twisting motion like it wanted to fiddle with the non-existent phone cord. Why was he even so nervous? It wasn't like Nettie could do anything a way I've ton Israel. Except perhaps tell Ziva that he had called her...
Dammit, that wasn't something he had planned for. They were Aunt and niece. Close Aunt and niece, it seemed. Which meant that they talked, right?