Title: Once Upon a Summertime

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from NCIS, I'm just borrowing them for the story.

A/N:There is one thing I love about movies and television that books and stories don't have, and that's music, soundtracks. An idea came to me while writing this story that I would like to try out and I would like to ask you who are reading this story to please let me know how it works out. Every now and then along this story I will add a title of a song that for some reason is playing in the background at the location where the characters are. Like in this chapter Mrs. Tapps will be listening to Yes sir, That's my baby by Lee Morse. If you want then I would like you to play the songs I mention at the place where I mention them in the story, to get the feeling which the song will provide for the story. Please let me know what you think of this idea.

CHAPTER 19

One unique old woman

Ziva's POV:

We entered the house of the woman Abby called Madame White. I entered last and closed the door behind me, shutting the rain out. We could still hear the rumbling thunder and occasional lightning. It looked like there was going to be a real storm.

The house was bigger than Gibbs' and Jenny's but not as big as mine in Israel. Then again none of the houses on Pineroad were, I guess. Mrs. Tapps lead us into her hall which was small and had a window next to the front door. We took off our shoes and followed her through a narrow and short passageway and into the living room. I could tell it was the living room but that was pretty much all I could tell due to all the lights being off and the blinds being down. The entire room was dark. We walked close to the wall, headed towards the kitchen where we could see the lights were on. The kitchen had light yellow wallpaper and the furniture was white. The kitchen was average sized with kitchen benches in maple along two walls and a big window with view of the garden outside.

Mrs. Tapps steered Tony to the round kitchen table and sat him down there. The table had a tablecloth with cherries on and Tony rested his arms there and leaned forward slightly, finding a comfortable position.

"Take a seat all of you, please. Make yourselves comfortable."

We did as we were instructed and sat down at the round kitchen table as Mrs. Tapps went to a cupboard and retrieved plasters and something to clean the scratch with. It was amazing how easily she moved around in her home despite the fact she was blind. She did not fumble her way along at all but seemed completely sure of where every piece of furniture was and every object in the room. She was completely without fear of stumbling over anything.

There were only four kitchen chairs and I decided to offer mine to Mrs. Tapps when she would find a moment to stop moving around the kitchen. Before I had the chance to offer it though she had easily squatted down next to Tony instead. She felt along his arm again until she reached the scratch and then started to clean it.

"It'll be all better in no time, Tony, you'll see."

"It really isn't a big deal, Ma'am," Tony assured her as he watched her clean and put a plaster on the scratch.

Abby jumped and Timmy gave a little squeal as a crash of thunder was heard outside and the kitchen was lit up by lightning.

"Hm, that one was close," Mrs. Tapps said and stood up.

"How long until that goes away?" Abby asked in a shaky voice.

"I am not sure, Abby," I answered. "It could last a while or it could go away soon, we do not know which." I looked outside at the pouring rain. It looked like the sky had just opened itself up and let all its rain down at once. "But one thing is for certain – it does not look like it is going to stop raining any time soon."

Mrs. Tapps clapped her hands together and grinned. "Well, then! How would you kids feel about some hot chocolate and some home baked cookies?"

Just as the question was out Tony's stomach made a loud rumbling sound itself which pretty much answered the question. Mrs. Tapps chuckled.

"I think I just got a clear answer there," she joked and patted Tony's head before moving over to a cupboardbehind Tony and Tim's backs.

Tony laughed too, "I guess I am pretty hungry."

"Me too, "Tim concurred.

Mrs. Tapps stopped dead in her tracks and turned around facing all of us again. "Wait a moment now, dears. There are four of you? I thought it was just the three of you here, " she said with astonishment. "Who is the fourth little boy I just heard speak?"

Tim looked a little bothered. We had all forgotten to tell Mrs. Tapps about Tim's presence earlier when he hadn't spoken up in the garden.

"I…I…uh, I mean, sorry, Ma'am that I didn't…you know since you can't, uh…see and all that…"

"Tim!" I exclaimed annoyed at him.

"Oh no no, Ziva, please don't get upset with him. There is no need for admonishment. It was simply a mistake made by me not to notice him." She walked over to Timmy and extended both hands to him. "So you're Tim, huh? Nice to meet you."

Tim blushed but took her hands. "Yes, uh, likewise. It's Tim or…uh, Timmy McGee, Ma'am."

Mrs. Tapps smiled warmly and nodded. "That's a very nice name." she said and turned back to the cupboard to take out cups. "Is anyone interested in tea instead?" no one answered as we just glanced at each other. "Silence means hot chocolate then."

I could not see her face, because she had her back to us, but I could hear she was smiling. How Tony could have been afraid of this wonderful woman was a mystery to me. He really needed to get better at reading people's intentions.

"So, kids, you must tell me about yourselves."

We all looked up. "Huh?" Abby uttered.

"Well, I mean who you are, where you live. You do live here on Pineroad do you not?"

"Yes," Tony answered. "For the summer we do."

Mrs. Tapps placed five cups on the table and I started handing them out to the others and put Mrs. Tapps cup next to mine.

"Mrs. Tapps." I started. "We are not exactly from around here. We are living with Agents Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Jenny Shepard for the summer."

"Oh!" she slapped the side of her head a little, "Of course. I heard fromthe Karow family up the street that they were taking in four kids this summer." She clapped her hands together excitedly again, "How lovely! And you all seem so nice and well behaved. Be sure to give my regards to Jethro and Jenny when you get home. They are such sweet people. Jethro even fixed my blender last month. It works perfectly now." she beamed. "Such a gentleman that one. Indeed." She poured some milk into a saucepan and put it on the stove. "So tell me where you are from then."

We all looked at each other, wondering who should start. Finally Tony did.

"I'm from New York. I live there with my father," He said in a tone of voice that made it clear he would prefer if he did not have to elaborate.

"I'm from New Orleans, Madame White. Have you ever been there?" Abby piped up. She seemed to have forgotten about the thunder for the time being.

"No, actually I have not. Perhaps someday I will though," she said with a secretive wink into the air. She never focused her stare directly on our faces when she spoke, because she could not see us.

"Oh, it's great there ! You can go –"

"I am from Israel," I interrupted before Abby took over the entire conversation. "Tel Aviv."

"Oh, really, Ziva. I suspected because of your accent that you had travelled quite far away from your home this summer."

"Yes, you can say that," I said with a sigh.

Mrs. Tapps left it at that and turned her head towards Timmy. "And what about you, my quiet friend?"

"Alameda, Ma'am," Tim answered quietly.

"Where is that?" Abby asked.

"California. I live there with my parents. And…and my grandfather used to live there too."

"Did he move?"

"No, he died," Tim said sadly and looked down into his empty cup.

Mrs. Tapps put a sympathetic hand on Tim's shoulder. "Though it is something we must all face it's always sad when the life of a loved one ends. It's usually even more sorrow filled for the ones we leave behind than the ones who know they´re leaving. Especially when the one being left behind is as young as you are, Tim. "

Mrs. Tapps returned to the stove and poured cocoa and sugar into the hot milk in the saucepan. She stirred a while and then poured the hot chocolate from the saucepan into a jug. She reached for Tim's cup on the table and found it almost instantly. She touched the spout of the jug to the edge of the cup and carefully began to fill it. "You go ahead, please, and tell me when it's enough."

"Thank you," Tim said politely when she had poured almost up to the edge.

Mrs. Tapps filled all of our cups with hot chocolate before going to retrieve the cookie jar on a shelf. At the metallic sound of the lid being taken off the jar my stomach started making sounds too. We all took a cookie. They were chocolate chips.

"How old are you, Madame White?" Abby asked with her mouth full.

"Abby, you don't ask old people stuff like that," Tony whispered.

Mrs. Tapps laughed and took her cup over to a bench next to the sink. She put it down and placed both her hands on the bench behind her and then suddenly jumped, taking a seat on the bench with her feet dangling beneath her. She took a sip of her hot chocolate and looked perfectly content where she was.

"How old do you think I am?"

Abby shrugged, "Uhm…"

"She thinks you're forty," Tony quickly interrupted before Abby had time to say the wrong thing.

Mrs. Tapps laughed again. With her stare focused into space she wagged her right index finger. "No, she doesn't, Tony. Please, let her speak. There is no way for any of you could possibly offend me."

Tony and I glanced at each other, neither of us sure she was right about that.

"Please, Abby dear, go ahead and guess."

"You're probably very old, Madame White. When I pictured you in my head I thought you'd be a lot younger and not have quite so many wrinkles, but I guess no one is perfect. "

"Abby!" we exclaimed at the same time.

"Yes?" she cocked her head to the side and looked at us with big innocent brown eyes. "I'm not being rude. I'm just telling the truth. No one is perfect." she turned to . "I think you're beautiful though. Even though you're old. You have pretty white hair and your eyes are like the ocean and I love your long white dress."

Mrs. Tapps ran her hands over her long white cotton dress on her slender form, smoothing it. She looked down and I was pretty sure I saw her wipe a tear away. Great, I thought. Abby made her cry.

"Oh, Abby, that is just the sweetest thing anyone has said to me in years," she said in a hoarse voice. "You are indeed a sweet little thing." She took another sip of her hot chocolate.

Abby grinned at us in triumph. "So, how old?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot." Mrs. Tapps wiped her mouth with a piece of a ripped napkin. "I'm seventy four in a couple of weeks."

"Really? Are you gonna have a birthday party? Are we invited? Is Gibbs and Jenny invited?"

"ABBY!" Tony and Tim and I all exclaimed at the same time. Tim even managed to knock his cup off the table at the same time.

Mrs. Tapps laughed so much she almost fell down from her place on the bench. When she finally was able to stop she said, "Oh, my they say a good laugh makes you live longer. I think I just became destined to live until I'm a hundred and thirty years old thanks to the four of you." Everything was quiet except for Mrs. Tapps jingling laughter. "Oh, do not worry about the cup, Tim dear. I have lots of those." she continued to giggle while she drank her hot chocolate.

"A birthday party sounds lovely, indeed. But I think I will take some time to just think over the practical details first before I decide."

"We can help you with the shopping if you want." Tony offered.

"That's kind of you, Tony. But I handle all my shopping myself. I love going shopping. I always go to Fergus little store down the hill."

"Well, we could help you carry the bags," I said. "You would probably bring home more supplies than you usually do, Mrs. Tapps, if you were to have a party."

"That is true of course, Ziva."

We sat at Mrs. Tapps kitchen table eating cookies and drinking hot chocolate for at least an hour. I had three cookies, Abby also had three, Tim four and Tony, who of course had to top everyone, had eight cookies. Afterwards we got to move around the house as we pleased and look around.

Her house was not fancy but she sure owned a lot of things. The living room was ample but not huge. Small three foot tables stood in corners and on top of them stood big old fashioned lamps and vases with Daisies, and roses and even an occasional sunflower in wallpaper was light green, which I liked because it gave a feeling of nature surrounding you.

However, that was not what really caught my eye first. For what really drew attention to it was the tree in the middle of the living room. I caught myself just staring at it with my mouth slightly open. The treewas growing right through the floor, coming from underneath the house. Its roots spread out across the area surrounding it, and we had to be careful not to trip over one of them when moving around in the room. The tree was multi-stemmed and its leaves bright green. Its branches stretched about half way to the ceiling.

I felt someone tug my hand slightly.

"Ziva," Abby whispered. "She's got a tree in her living room."

"Uh huh."

"Uhm, why?"

"I do not know, Abby. But I think it looks…nice."

Tony stroked the slim tree stem as if patting a dog or a cat. "Yeah, it does, but it kind of makes you wonder what she has in her bedroom, right?"

"I am fairly sure it is a bed, Tony."

"Yeah, yeah."

There was not a lot of feeling that you could move freely in the living room because of all the furniture and things that were kept there. The furniture was red oak and looked old, not antique, but not modern either and was randomly spread out in the room. There were two sofas, one that looked more like the kind you watch TV from and a wooden one that kind of resembled a park bench, that stood along one wall. There was a coffee table and next to the terrace door stood a wheelbarrow in steel that was filled with dried rosebuds.

There were several cabinets all around the room. Some were filled with wine glasses and jugs and another had teapots and cups inside. Next to a stairwell to the second floor stood a round dining room table with matching chairs. The fire place was lit and I could hear the fire crackling in there. Next to it was a rocking chair with a white sheepskin covering it.

"Do not get too close to the fire, my dears. I don't want you to get burned," Mrs. Tapps called to us from the kitchen.

"We won't!" Tony called back.

Tony headed for the stairs, seeming unable to quell his curiosity. Tim, Abby and me joined him. It was a wooden staircase that turned in a slight spiral to the second floor.

Up there were three rooms and a small bathroom. One of the rooms seemed to be Mrs. Tapps bedroom and had a 19th century bed with the back of the headboard against the wall. The curtains in there were white and there were green plants placed in the window.

"You were right, Ziva. It certainly is a bed," Tony said as we stood in the door staring into the bedroom.

Before we could stop her Abby had run over to the bed and climbed into it and started jumping up and down.

"Abby, no! Don't do that," Tim whined. "Mrs. Tapps will be mad at you."

"No, she won't. Madame White never gets mad. "

"I'm starting to think she's adding to my story a little," Tony grumbled.

"What story?" Tim asked.

Tony shrugged. "I told Abby a story last night about a woman called Madame White. She had a bad dream and was scared and I did it to help her go back to sleep."

I could not help but smile at the image of Tony telling Abby a bedtime story.

"What are you grinning at?" Tony snapped at me.

"Nothing," I said, trying to hide my smile with my hand while coughing slightly."What happened in the story?"

"Well, it wasn't really a story. It was more me telling her about Madame White and what she was like. Like her being good and the protector of the neighborhood and the children there against Madame Black, who's sort of the bad element."

I sighed and shook my head. "Tony, you have seen too much television."

The second room was a study and in there was a sturdy Mahoney desk with a wooden desk chair and a few bookcases with a broad collection of old as well as new books. There were books about gardening and cooking, baking, making jewelry, exercising, classic fairytales etc. A comfortable looking armchair stood in a corner and next to it was a small glass table.

"That is strange," I said and scratched my chin. "Mrs. Tapps is blind, so why does she have books?"

Tony's eyes immediately stuck on the bowl with toffees on the table next to the armchair.

"Help yourselves! It's lovely to have the house full of people who appreciate candy!" Mrs. Tapps voice coming from downstairs made us all freeze. It was like she had read our minds. "Whenever I offer my guests candy they always turn me down. I can never understand why on earth anyone would say no to candy. So, please go ahead now, dears!"

Tony looked puzzled but seemed to shrug it off as he went for the bowl with toffees. After having taken some he passed it to me who passed it to Tim who at last gave it to Abby. Who could say no to free candy anyway? We all had four pieces each.

The third room was locked from the outside. We were all curious as to what was inside and disappointed we would not have the opportunity to find out. For a moment I contemplated taking out the fake, blue credit card out of my pocket and pick the lock open but I decided not to. I did not want the others to find out I could do it. It did not seem like a good idea to share that information with them.

When we came downstairs again we went into the kitchen where Mrs. Tapps was sitting at the table with the radio in the window playing an old song. When we entered she looked up right away and smiled.

"What's that song you're playing, Madame White?" Abby asked loud enough to be heard over the music playing.

"Oh, it's an old song called Yes Sir! That's My Baby by Lee Morse. She sang it back in 1927, I believe." She said and looked like she was daydreaming about something that happened a long while back. "No wait, it was indeed in 1925. Yes, that's right. 1925 it was.

"Please lower the volume just a little for me, Tony, so that I can hear you all better."

We all glanced at each other. If she had trouble hearing us because of the radio playing too loud, how could she know we had entered the kitchen? It was beyond strange.

"I use other senses, remember," she added with a wide grin.

I nodded. "Yes, Ma'am, you really do," I said as Tony scurried over to the window and lowered the volume on the radio some. We could still hear the song playing in the background though.

"The thunder stopped," Mrs. Tapps said.

Then I remembered that we should have been back at the house a long time ago. I looked around for a clock but then remembered that it would be very strange if Mrs. Tapps actually had had a clock on the wall, since she could not see it anyway. So instead I started to excuse us.

"I think we should leave. Gibbs and Jenny are probably back now and worried. I do not know what time it is but…"

"Oh, it's twenty minutes past eight, dear one. And you're so right. They are probably worried about you so it's best you hurry on home now. If they're upset with you just tell them it was my fault for losing track of the time and enjoying your company too much to let you go."

We all just stared at her in awe.

"But…but..," Tim stammered.

"But what, Tim?" Mrs. Tapps asked with an almost worried expression. "Is something the matter?"

"No, no, I just…well how is that possible? You telling the time, I mean."

She laughed and waved her hand in the air. "Oooh that. It's just something I've always been able to do since I learned to tell what time it was as a child. Probably very similarly to the way you've learned."

We all wanted to object and say that it was not exactly the same thing. But neither one of us did. Tony and I shared a look of silence and Abby did not seem to care too much about that particular wonder.

We all ran and got our shoes from the hall and Mrs. Tapps let us out the terrace door.

"It's been lovely having you lot here. Please come back and see me again soon. It's wonderful to hear some noise around here."

Just as Mrs. Tapps had said that we heard a croak and a flapping sound from the tree in the middle of the living room.

"Go away," a voice said, coming from up the tree. "I will eat you…I will eat you."

We all stared at the tree in disbelief.

"What was that, Madame White?" Abby asked with eyes big as saucers. "It came from the tree in your living room."

Mrs. Tapps nodded. "That's just my dear friend, Quincy. He probably just woke up now. He's the laziest parrot I know, indeed. And he doesn't like rain so he sleeps when it rains outside."

We all stared from the tree to Mrs. Tapps. This was one unique old woman.

"You have a parrot?" Tony asked. "Can we see him?"

"Oh, sure," Mrs. Tapps assured us."But not right now. I think Quincy needs to become a bit more familiar with you all before he will show himself to you."

Tony looked disappointed. I felt a bit disappointed too actually. I had never seen a parrot before. But my guess was we had not seen this house for the last time.

We thanked and Abby even hugged her, then we hurried outside. We ran through Mrs. Tapps overgrown garden filled with blue and white hydrangea bushes and out on Pineroad again.

To be continued

Please take a second to let me know what you think of this chapter.