HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Peace to everyone who's reading this.
Two Weeks Later (Its early October instead of September)
Ziva stared timer on her cell phone only a few minutes remaining. Her dark brown eyes perplexed with complete and utter worry. She had locked the bathroom door, just in case. Thankfully the boys knew better than to barge into the bathroom when the door was shut. Tony did too. Ziva sighed for once she didn't know what to do. DiNozzo Senior was in town.
The timer beeped. A hesitant Ziva went over to the sink and did something she thought she'd never do. She gasped. This cannot be right. That + sign is wrong! She can't be…pregnant. How will she tell Tony? He seems content with the life they have.
A knock on the door startled her. "Mom, dad says he's ready to go" Johnny said miserably. Ziva understands why he sounds so miserable. They're all going to an NCIS banquet; the kids are being forced to come too. DiNozzo Senior said he'd meet them at The Cheesecake Factory after.
Yesterday Johnny and Luke got caught 'stealing items' from Sister Kathy's desk. Sister Lucy is understanding and decided they will miss recess for a few days instead of a suspension. Right when they got home, he got a spanking. He also got grounded for the rest of the weekend because he threw the biggest tantrum Tony and Ziva has ever seen from their youngest child. Ziva thinks Luke might've gotten a spanking as well, but can't be too sure. Abby tends to coddle him.
Ziva drops the pregnancy stick into her purse and threw the box into the trash bin. "Do I hafta wear this?" Johnny whined, following her into the living room.
He has mud on his black dress shoes. Ziva ignores his question. "How did you get mud on your shoes?" she demanded angrily.
"I was kickin' the ball around" Johnny lied. He really only went outside to get himself dirty enough not to wear the dress shoes.
"After I specifically told you, not to go outside" Johnny puts on his best guilty looking face. His eyes blink innocently up at her.
He shrugs, like he can't help it, but get into trouble. Ziva closes her eyes and tries not to get annoyed with the eleven year old. It isn't his fault, she's so upset. "Put on another pair of shoes" she sighed.
"I don't got anymore dress shoes"
"Any shoes will do Jonathan" Ziva inwardly snapped at him. Tony, who has been sipping his beer; blinked, Ziva hardly ever snaps at Johnny.
Johnny's smart enough, not to smile at this victory. He grabs his favorite pair, which are perched on the staircase; his blue ones with green laces. "I wonder how those got there, John" Tony said mockingly.
"I dunno" Johnny mumbled, his face red.
"I'm sure, put them on in the car. Kyle, come on" Tony said his temper beginning to diminish. Ever since Kyle has gotten this new Modern Warfare 3 game; he's been addicted.
"One minute" Kyle said, he's in the middle of a game. Can't his dad see that video games are the future?
"NOW" Tony boomed sounding too much like Gibbs. He shudders and stares at him self in the mirror. Thank God they only have two kids. Tony thinks he'd go completely nuts if he had more than two. Of course; he and Zi will have more lately on, but right now two is plenty.
Kyle reluctantly switches the game off and goes downstairs. He doesn't really mind what he's wearing. It isn't as bad as Johnny's whose wearing black dress pants, a red polo and…are those sneakers? Tony got mad when Johnny didn't decide on what to wear and chose for him.
"I'm coming. I'm coming. Jeesh, I'll bet you guys ave' been to millions of these things. Missing one wouldn't hurt" Kyle
"This is very important; for mom and me. I want you both on you're best behavior" Tony said wagging a finger at both of them.
Tony suddenly flashes back to when his father brought him to a banquet. He was twelve and caused lots of trouble. Tony DiNozzo didn't want to go to the banquet. Instead of making the best of it; he put vodka in the punch, set off fireworks, and even put a fart cushion under the boss's seat. To say his dad was mad was the understatement of the century. That was the first time his father ever belted him bare.
Even to this day, Tony winces whenever he sees his father's belt. That thing hurt like a bitch. Johnny snaps him out of this childhood memories. "Why are you lookin' at me for? Kyle causes more trouble than me" he moaned. For some reason, he has it in his head that his parents think he causes lots of trouble.
"No, I just don't get caught" Kyle is starting to think he's a big-shot, just because he turned fourteen and Johnny turned eleven two months ago. He's technically three years older than Johnny. That and the fact being he's in ninth grade and Johnny in sixth grade.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ziva asked peering suspiciously at her son.
"Nothing" Kyle murmured; his smile brightening up the entire room. Ziva shakes her head and decides not to press to hard on it.
"I'll bet, now you two get into the car before do something you'll regret" Tony threatened his hollow threat.
"I'll race you" Kyle offered. He's faster than Johnny, but sometimes he'll let his little brother have a head start. And every once in a blue moon he lets him win.
"Okay!" Johnny loves it when Kyle does anything with him. Kyle may be bossy and annoying, but when he isn't. He's the coolest brother in the world.
"Dad, can you say go. I don't want the squirt to cheat" Kyle said in a polite way. He's only ever polite when he wants something.
"Fine, but by the time I get out there. You two better be in the car or else" Tony said with a playful smiling on his lips. If they're late, they're late.
"One…two…three…three and a half…three and three quarters…GO" Tony said slowly, sounding out each letter of the word.
Both boys race out of the house, like they're tails are on fire. "Thank God there's on two of them, right?" Tony joked, but Ziva can tell by his tone that he's serious. Her hand touches her stomach and she nods her face pale.
"Zi, are you alright?" Tony asked nudging her gently.
"I am fine" Ziva said looking aggravated. Tony scratches his chin wondering what he, or Kyle or even Johnny did this time.
"You look a little sick. Do you want to stay home? I'll look after you" Tony offered his face saddened with concern.
"I said I am FINE and I'm fine. What you do not trust what I say? Is it that you believe I lie to you?" the look in Ziva's eyes are taunting and glaring dangerously at him. Tony steps back into the wall.
"I trust you…I-I do not think you lie. Unless you do, but you never do so…uhh the boys are waiting for us" Tony rushes out of the house. Being alone with a pissed off ninja wife is like having a death wish.
"How do I look?" Thalia twirled around, her chest looks somewhat visible. Gibbs doesn't want her to go out wearing that. Sure the dress is a nice purple color, but her…her…you can see her chest for goodness sake.
"Beautiful" Julie commented she wipes her eyes. Thalia sure is growing up.
"Put something else on?" Gibbs growled at her.
"Gibbs!" Thalia shrieked.
"Thalia" he warned.
"This is the third time" she stamped her foot, Julie grins. Thalia still acts like a child which is a good and bad thing. Julie doesn't want her too grow up too fast.
"Put on something more appropriate, then" Gibbs said taking a sip out of the Starbucks coffee cup.
"Auntie Julie, do something" Thalia begged. Her teenage hormones suddenly coming into play with everyone.
"Thalia, listen to Gibbs" Julie said trying to sound firm. Thalia glares at each of them for a good few minutes.
"Fine. I can't wear anything around here" she huffed, storming back into her room and slamming the door. Gibbs starts up the steps, but Julie grabs his forearm.
Julie shakes her head. He's so prude. "This is to be expected with a teenager"
"I don't know what her problem is, these days" Gibbs groaned. He runs a hand over his face. Thalia just seems cranky and moody all of a sudden.
"What do you want her to wear?" Julie asked jokingly.
"I don't want her to show any part of her body. Maybe we can send for a few of those beautiful nun dresses" Gibbs said his silvery blue eyes filled with innocence.
"I think Thalia would kill you Gibbs. Which brings me to this, Thalia well Thalia got a gift yesterday" Julie said trying to make things as simple as she can for the poor guy without saying its Thalia's time of the month.
"What? What'd she get? It better not be one of those damn push-up bras or a thong. If she has a thong I'm going to burn it. I swear I will" Julie shakes her head. For a trained NCIS agent he sure is stupid sometimes, especially with teens.
"No this 'gift' is different. It means she's becoming a woman" Julie said clearly looking uncomfortable with this entire conversation.
"Jules, what is the gift? How can a gift help her become a…oooh. You mean she…she got THAT. But she's only thirteen years old!" Gibbs protested.
"It happens with all girls, Gibbs. I got mine at twelve. Ally will probably get hers in about seven years or so. I read that even eleven year olds get it" Julie shrugs her shoulders. She doesn't think this is that big of a deal.
"NO WAY IN HELL IS ALLY GETTING HERS AT ELEVEN" Gibbs shouted defiantly.
"Mommy, what am I getting when I'm eleven?" Ally asked naively. She's so cute in her red dress and black shoes. Her red dress matches her red hair and temper.
"Nothing baby, you're not getting anything when you're eleven" Julie replied smiling down at her little girl.
"Damn right nothing" Gibbs muttered under his breath.
"How come Gibbs gets to say damn and when I say it. You hit my hinny" Ally complained angrily.
"Because six year olds aren't allowed to say damn" Julie answered simply. She has her eyes on the staircase.
"Can I say it when I'm seven?" Nor Julie or Gibbs can answer that question because Thalia's door opens.
"I'm ready to go" Thalia said, now she's wearing a short dark blue dress with flats. Julie sort of forced her to wear pantyhose.
"Oh she is NOT wearing that! Did you see how short that was? I don't want that DiNozzo boy staring at her butt all day" Gibbs shakes his head. Julie can't help but smile. Gibbs is taking over the overprotective father very well.
"I thought you liked that DiNozzo boy" Julie mimicked, causing even more distress for Gibbs.
"I do, but not when he flirts with Thalia" Gibbs commented dryly.
"He's your agent's son and a teenager" Julie pointed out.
"My point exactly" Gibbs said grabbing his extremely large gray NIS sweatshirt and stalking out of the house.
He chucks it at Thalia. "Here, put this on" he ordered in a no nonsense tone. Julie rolls her eyes, but get into the car not wanting to see how this turns out.
"Are you serious?" Thalia asked, looking into his cold blue eyes. She groans and reluctantly puts the sweatshirt on. It goes down to her knees.
"Now you look beautiful" Gibbs said ruffling her dark brown hair. He wonders where she got those dark locks from. Thalia tries hard not to smile, but does anyway. Ally starts colouring a dragon blue.
Abby glared at McGee. How could he have done that to Lucas? Tim turned the corner into NCIS parking lot. He sneaked a peek at the pissed Abby and sighed. How long was she going to be mad at him? Luke waved at the DiNozzo's who were parked right beside them.
"Lucas, walk with the DiNozzo's. Your dad and I need to talk" Abby cooed sweetly, her tone so sugary. It makes Luke's ears hurt.
"Okay!" Luke said eagerly. His butt still hurts from yesterday and besides that his parents are fighting. Only he can't figure out what it is. It might be the fact that his dad forced him to wear a penguin suit. Nobody else hasta wear a penguin suit. Luke takes note on how Johnny's wearing sneakers! He looks back at his parents and trembles. You could cut the tension with a butter knife.
The second Luke closes the car door; Abby turns and glares even harder at Tim. He didn't think that was possible, but it is. The skinny man nervously shrugs his shoulders, sometimes Abby scares him. "Abby, don't you give me that look. Luke deserved a spanking" Tim said rewarding her with a different look. It's a look that says 'please stop being mad at me' or 'I don't care, but I sort of do.' He only gave him eight smacks and they weren't that hard.
"He did NOT!" Abby shouted her arms folded over her chest.
"He stole from his teacher, lied about it, blamed another student, and wasn't at all remorseful about what he did" Tim explained.
"Don't you love him?" Abby asked her eyes wide and angelic.
"I love him more than life itself, but what he did wasn't just wrong. It was mean and a horrible thing to do" Tim pointed out.
"It still doesn't make it right" Abby said opening her car door and storming out. Tim gets out of the car too and watches as she stalks into the banquet. Abby can sure walk fast wearing platform black high heels.
Luke walks in with Johnny and Kyle. All three of them instantly walk to the snack table; it's unhealthy food galore. "My mom's really mad at my dad" Luke said through a mouthful of cookies.
"What did your dad do?" Johnny asked curiously. That's really weird; Luke's parents hardly ever fight. Auntie Abby is always so forgiving.
"I don't know. But they're ignoring each other" Luke said looking extremely sad with this apparently terrible news. Kyle rolls his eyes.
"Parents fight all the time, no big deal. Tony and Ziva fight tons and look at them" Kyle said stuffing a brownie into his mouth.
"They do not!" Johnny countered. Kyle clenches his fist at him. Johnny looks down and pretends to be interested in the green grass.
"That's different, mine haven't talked for a day" Luke said sounding stuck-up. Kyle glares at the ten year old and then an idea hits him; a most certainly wonderful idea.
"Oh that can't be good. I shouldn't tell you this, but…nah I can't tell you. It's just so bad that I shouldn't" Kyle said wistfully. He puts down his 2nd brownie and pats Luke on the back.
"What do you mean?" Johnny and Luke asked at the same time. Kyle can tell by their overly anxious looks that this is going to be awesome.
"Do you really wanna know?" Kyle asked pretending to solemn and serious.
"Yeah" the practically screamed, Kyle puts his finger to his lips. They instantly stop fidgeting and squirming to hear what he has to say.
"Don't say I didn't warn you, but that spells out divorce; plain and simple" Kyle explained making his face look confident and sad.
"No! NO it doesn't" Luke screeched. A few adults look over at the three of them; Kyle glares at Luke who looks down sadly.
"Does too, before Mattie's parents got he said his parents stopped talking to each other and then they got divorced" Kyle looks around for Jared. Anything is better than talking to a bunch of ten year olds.
"What should I do?" Luke begged.
"Matt said that if he knew sooner. He would've tried to make his parents fall in love again, but Mattie is fourteen. He's much older than you, so I don't know" Luke lied, he oughta become an actor. If Mattie had known sooner, he would've thrown a damn party. He hates his mother.
"Hey Kyle, wanna play some football. We need a linebacker" Jared called. Kyle smiles and instantly runs over to the other older kids. His conversation with Johnny and Luke all but forgotten. Johnny starts to follow, but Luke stops him.
"Don't believe what Kyle says. He likes getting to you, yah know?" Johnny asked. He should know. Kyle practically torture him with the non-stop pranks.
"We need to be sure. I may need back-up" Luke said, his ocean like eyes set and match.
"I'm your man" Johnny offered. As much fun as he knows he would have playing football and getting his clothes ruined. He hasta help Luke. This is his family after all.
"Johnny, Lucas, stop eating those sweets" Ziva ordered leading the boys to the dinner table and applying large helpings of 'healthy food' to their plates.
"Eat this, after you both can have some sweets" Ziva compromised. In her honest opinion she thinks this is very fair. Her father would've whipped her for eating sweets before dinner and then she wouldn't have been allowed lunch at all.
"I don't want it" Johnny whined. A look of annoyance flash through Ziva's eyes, she's starting to wish Johnny would quit his whining and grow up. Then again she doesn't want him to grow up to fast.
Luke 'accidentally' drops his plate in the garbage bin. "Oops my bad" Luke lied; he shouldn't have to listen to her. She isn't his mother. Johnny follows suit. He beams for a few seconds and quickly realizes this is a mistake.
Ziva knows can't do anything about Luke's behavior. She can do something about Johnny's though. Ziva grabs his upper arm and leads him back in line; giving his butt, a hard whack on the way. "Oww, that hurt. Lucas did it too, not just me" Johnny whined trying to rub, but Ziva takes his hands.
"I do not care what Lucas did. You are my son, not him and this behavior is unacceptable, is that understood?" Ziva asked calmly, applying the same healthy foods onto another red plate.
Johnny glares at her; defiant and unwilling. When he doesn't give a verbal answer, Ziva holds the plate in one hand and lands another smack onto his hinny. Johnny, being eleven years old is livid that his mom keeps hitting him in public; smacks the plate out of her hand. Food falls to the ground, everyone in line is staring at them now. That's a big mistake.
Ziva takes a few moments to register this. When she does, she grabs his arm and brings him over to the table. Ziva sits Johnny into her own chair and glares at him. "Your father will talk to you when we get home. For now, you better stay at this table until I return. Is that understood?" she asked evenly.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it" Johnny said softly and meaningfully. Ziva pulls a chair in front of him and takes a seat.
"What is bothering you?" she asked. Something must be bothering him, considering he risked getting spanked.
Johnny looks over at Kyle who makes a great catch. "You're gonna spank me when we get home, aren't you?" he whispered.
"Do you think I shouldn't?" Ziva asked; she wants to hear his point of view. Then she has decided to make her decision whether to spank him or not.
"I don't want you to" Johnny said in a barely audible voice. He wouldn't have minded so much if it wasn't for yesterday.
Ziva asked calmly and very coolly, "Then why did you disrespect me?"
"You hit me in front of my friend!" Johnny groaned at her. Ziva winces she remembers being spanked in front of her friends; ooh the shame. She tousles Johnny's hair and sighs.
"I shouldn't have done that" Ziva remarked. "I apologize, but you need to know when I tell you to do something. I expect you do it."
"You're mad" wow he's a real genius hu? He's going to be a brain surgeon no doubt about that.
"That is correct and for you're insolence. I want you to sit here and think about what you have done while I get you a new plate. After lunch instead of a spanking you will not receive dessert, but I do expect for the rest of the day you must behave" a grin seeps onto Johnny's face. He can't believe that his mom is letting him off with a warning.
"You broke a rule mom" Johnny pointed out shaking his head at her. Ziva grins down at him.
"Did I? What rule would that be?" Ziva asked playfully. He's so much like Tony; he acts and looks so much like him. It's adorable.
"Never apologize it's a sign of weakness" Gibbs said from behind. Ziva jumps up; startled and frightened. Julie mischievously head-slaps Gibbs; Abby who was coming over to say 'HI' eyes widen. Tim who was following Abby, Tony who came over to see why Johnny was in trouble and Ziva's eyes all widen with utter shock.