Note: I don't have a proper intro for this story (yet). Some random ideas popped into my head over the summer when I was lockdown depressed and missed new NCIS episodes. – I hope you like it and please let me know what you think of it.
A small intro
The team and old team members (Ducky, Tony, and Ziva) are gathered at Gibbs's house for some summer relaxing time. Abby was invited too but couldn't make it. She lives in London now. The team decides to gather because the little DiNozzo-David family is coming to DC for a 3-week summer vacation. It was Ziva's idea to gather the whole family at Gibbs's house. At first, Gibbs hadn't liked the idea, but little Tali's disappointed look at him had convinced him.
Tali-ism
"Tali, is that the David star you got in your necklace?" Jack asks.
"no." Tali says quickly with an angry look at Jack, to Jack's and everyone's big surprise. "my name is Da-veed. Not David" Tali corrects Jack with great emphasis on how to pronounce her name right. Now everyone around the table understands Tali's reaction.
"Hey, Sweetie." Tony says and lifts Tali on to his lap. "she was asking you about your necklace." Tony clarifies for his little girl.
Tali lights up in a big smile while she takes the little gold David-star hanging from her necklace in between her fingers.
"it is Imas. Abba gave it to me." Tali explains with a big smile before she gets shy and hides her face in her dad's chest.
"ima?" Jack asks, a little confused, looking from Tony to Gibbs and back to Tony.
"it is Hebrew. It means mother." Tony explains.
"no, Abba," Tali says and looks up at her dad's face.
"yes. Tali. We have talked about this before. Abba… means Dad in English. Ima means mom." Tony explains.
"no." Tali insists.
"yes." Tony persists. "I am Abba." Tali nods confirmative. "that is Ima." Tony says, pointing to Ziva sitting at the end of the table where she was having a conversation with Delilah. Tali nods confirmative.
"In English, I'm daddy, and Ima is mommy." Tali shakes her head. "no." Tony's earnest attempts to teach his daughter some English words amuse everyone around the table
"Hey, Victoria?" Gibbs says, and little Victoria comes over to Gibbs.
"can you tell Tali who your dad is and who your mom is?" Victoria nods and runs over to her dad.
"This is my daddy." Victoria says and then continues to her mom. "and this is my mommy."
"you see Tali. Jimmy is Victoria's daddy, and I am your Abba, and Victoria's mommy is like your Ima." Tali looks from Jimmy and Breena back to her dad. She looks at her dad for a moment before she makes an odd expression and wrinkles her nose, and shakes her head. She then jumps down from her dad.
"silly, Abba," Tali says and signs in surrender, and walks away from her dad. It makes all the grownups around the table break into laugher.
"well, work in progs." Tony says quietly, looking back after his daughter to make sure she didn't hear him. "it has taken me over ten years so far teaching Ziva some proper English." Tony says, turning his attention back to the table while he takes a sip of his beer to avoid Ziva's shocked look, which is about to protest when Ducky comes out from the house.
"proper English, my dear Anthony." Ducky says with his Scottish accent. "is something you will never know with your American English. With all your contractions and double-negatives."
"thank you, Ducky," Ziva says.
"Yeah, you are right, Ducky. Those double-negatives they aren't making no sense to me either." Torres joins into everyone's amusement.
"what about you, Agent Sloane? Don't you use doublet negatives in California?" Tony asks Jack. Jack looks over at Gibbs, who is sitting right next to her. He is clearly not in on joking with Ziva, but Jack is going to play along.
"Nah, we aren't using nothing like that." Jack jokes. Ziva is just looking at them.
"I do not understand a word of what you are saying."
"I don't either, Ziva," Gibbs admits honestly.
"It is an abuse of the English language," Ducky argues to the amusement of Tony, Torres, Jack, Bishop, and McGee.
"see, at least Gibbs and Ducky understand me and don't make fun of me." Ziva states, and it makes Tony, McGee, and Jimmy laugh to utterly confusion for Ziva. "what is so funny?"
"Gibbs and Ducky not making fun of you?" Tony asks in disbelieve. "if anyone has made fun of you over the years, it is Gibbs." Tony jokes.
"no, he does not. He actually helps me or corrects me. You two, on the other hand, constantly make fun of me." Ziva says, directed at Tony and McGee.
"Gibbis." Tali has come over and is standing right next to Gibbs. "can you help us? we kicked the ball away." Tali asks and puts on her most adorable persuasive smile she possibly can manage. Gibbs immediately melts into a smile and walks with the little girl to where she lost the ball she and Victoria played with.
"cute kid," Torres says with a smile as they all watch Gibbs assisting Tali finding the ball.
"yeah, adorable except at bedtime," Tony says and sounds exhausted just by the thought of Tali at bedtime.
"she has a lot of energy. You can not blame her for that." Ziva defensively says, almost as if it was here Tony was talking about.
"Yeah, she is a mini-you. she is a little ninja."
"I am not a ninja," Ziva says defensively.
Tony doesn't get to respond to that before Tali and Gibbs come back. Gibbs retakes his seat next to Jack.
"merci, Gibbsi," Tali says.
"Tali. It is "Thank you," Tony explains to his daughter. Tali just looks confused at her dad and then wrinkles her nose. "Nah."
"Tali." Gibbs says, and Tali turns her attention to Gibbs. "like this." Gibbs shows her how to say thank you in sign language, and Tali eagerly mirror Gibbs's movement.
"that means thank you," Gibbs explains, and Tali nods in understanding. It creates an uncomprehending look on Tony's face. He doesn't understand why Tali is so eager to learn from Gibbs but not from him.
"Tali, how many languages do you speak?" Jack asks the little girl. She starts counting on her fingers. "3, I think," Tali says, a little uncertain.
"you speak English," Jack says, helping the little girl to catalog her linguistic skills. Tali nods.
"and Hebrew with Ima and French with my friends in school." Tali seems very proud of her skills.
"so, you know three different languages." Jack says, impressed and Tali nods proudly. "and also, with my hands with Gibbis:" Tali explains. "right." Tali looks up at Gibbs for confirmation, and Gibbs signs "yes," and Tali giggles.
"so, you actually know four languages?" Jack asks, and Tali nods. "wow, and How old are you?"
"I am 6 years old," Tali says proudly and holds up six fingers to show.
"do you speak other languages?" Tali asks Jack.
"I speak English and French," Jack says.
"Parlez-vous français?" (do you speak French?) Tali asks with almost perfect pronunciation. Jack nods.
"Oui," Jack answers, and it makes Tali giggle. Tali climbs up to sit on Gibbs's lap, so she sits next to Jack to have a conversation with Jack. It turns out Tali is a bit confused about her language skills, so some of the sentences are a mix of French, a few Hebrew words, and some English words mixed in, but it is mostly understandable to Jack. They talk about where Tali and her parents live and that she goes to school in Paris.