A/N: Thanks to Faye444 and MindFullofStories for reviewing. I really appreciate it. Also, thanks everyone for all of the favorites and follows. It means a lot to me. This may be the last chapter I get to publish before I go on vacation for two weeks. So enjoy!
Even the creak of her apartment door was too loud for Ziva's ears after her long, tiring day. "Alright, you can have my bed for the night and I will take the couch. We will call Eli tomorrow morning and maybe he can arrange for a flight back to Tel Aviv for you quickly. He has a bunch of connections."
Kinsey looked shocked. "You call your dad Eli?"
Ziva just gave a small laugh that was as dry as the desert. "Eli is as far from my father as someone can get. The only thing we have in common is our last name and hopefully that will not always be the case."
"I don't agree with that. He is your dad and always will be. You should respect him." Ziva almost laughed again but noticed that Kinsey was serious.
"Kinsey. You do not understand. Someday you will, but not now. And you should not worry about things like that anyways. You are 15! Enjoy your youth! Besides…I think we have argued enough for a lifetime, so I think we should call a truce for the night. Agreed?"
Kinsey smiled, not quite ready to let the subject drop, but knew better than to push it with her older cousin. "Agreed."
"Well, it is a bit late to order in pizza or anything. Is macaroni and cheese okay?"
"Maca-what?"
"Do not tell me you have never had mac and cheese?" Ziva almost yelled, unbelieving. "Well, then let me be the first to introduce you to an American classic."
Kinsey just looked on, amused. "You are really embracing this whole America thing, huh?"
"I AM a citizen now." Ziva dramatically bowed.
"I thought I had heard that, but I thought maybe it was just a rumor. Y'know, things can get a little mixed up between America and Israel."
"Shh! I need to concentrate while I cook."
"You cook now?" Kinsey was shocked. She had heard multiple accounts of Ziva almost burning a house down.
"You see. THAT, my friend, is the beauty of macaroni and cheese. You just pour the noodles into a pot and boil the water! VOILA!" She turned on an Italian accent and skipped off to the kitchen to put her boiling water skills to the test. Kinsey just watched her cousin with big brown eyes not knowing what to think.
"What has happened to you?" She finally got the nerves to ask.
"Whatever are you talking about, Kinneret?" Ziva continued with her (bad) Italian accent as she pulled a knife from her hip holster and sliced open the macaroni and cheese box.
"Okay, well the knife thing was the same old Ziva I remember, but you seem a lot different."
Ziva dropped the accent and looked at her younger cousin curiously. "Different? How do you mean?"
"I can not really place it, but something about you is just really different. Changed."
"Is that a good thing?"
"Well, I do not really know. The Ziva I remember was sharp, straight on. She did not joke or laugh and she rarely even smiled. You were more of an aunt than a cousin to me because you seemed so distant and mature and mysterious. When I was born, you were already training for Mossad and you were about to enter the IDF. I had no idea what either of them were, but I knew that Uncle Eli always bragged about you and your natural talent. That is the same Ziva I saw today at NCIS. To the other agents, I mean. You engaged yourself in conversation and all, but you were so serious and defensive. Don't think I could not hear you guys talking just because I was in the car. Those two guys…what were their names?"
"McGee and DiNozzo?" Ziva offered.
"Yes! Them! They would make jokes and tease each other and you and everything and you would just roll your eyes or ignore them. Like you did when we were all in Israel."
"What is your point, Kinsey?" Ziva said, becoming impatient.
"Well, now that it is just us…you act different. More care free and relaxed. You act like you are walking on sunshine or something. Nothing like I have ever seen you act before."
"Well, Kinsey, if you do not remember…you were only 5 when I left."
"I know that, Ziva. But that does not change anything. I can remember those five years like they were yesterday. And I have heard storied, Ziva. When I was born, Aunt Rivka had just died. So had Tali. The family was starting to fall apart, but my mom always tells me-"She caught herself. "USED to tell me stories of what you and Tali and even Ari were like as kids. Ari was the smart, innocent kid who always kind of stood out, right to the day when he made the decision to become a doctor instead of follow your father into Mossad and set your dad off. Tali was the fun one. She had something that you and Ari never did. Compassion." Ziva's eyes started to sting at hearing her cousin's words, knowing how true they were. "You were always the same, my mother said. Straight as a bullet."
"Yeah, well, things change."
"And I get that. But what I do NOT get is how someone can change within a half hour. Just a bit ago you were typing diligently on your computer, somehow ignoring the spitballs being thrown at you from across the bullpen. Now, you are acting dramatic and skipping. SKIPPING! Ziva David does not skip."
"Kinsey. There are things in life that you will never understand, just as there things in my life that I will never understand. Bad things happen. You know that. But, the past is the past. We get over it and move on with our lives. If you are lucky, things may even turn back to normal. But, no matter what you do to move on, it still hurts. And, Kinsey, if you truly know me like you say you do…then you know that I can not stand appearing weak. Being hurt is being weak, and if other people saw that, I do not know what I would do with myself. So, I bury it. Deep, deep down in the ground. Then, just to make sure it never gets discovered and dug up, I cover it with a fake layer of grass, so it blends in with the rest of my backyard. Do you understand what I am saying?"
"I think so, but I still wonder which Ziva is the real you."
Ziva just smiled. "I know it's confusing, but do not worry about it. Besides, the macaroni is ready. I am SURE you will be impressed with my ability to boil water perfectly."
Kinneret silently decided that she liked this Ziva better, and maybe…just MAYBE…there was a way to bring it out more often.
Read, review, repeat!
~Avigaill
P.S. If you have not figured it out already by my name and my grammar, I am not from America. I am actually from Israel (COINCIDENCE?) and I moved here three years ago, so I am still catching onto some commonly used expressions and some of the weird grammar you guys use haha. Believe me...it is is really hard to go from "Shalom!" to "Hey, girl! What's up?" :)