To Die Standing
Chapter 8
Joe turned out to be a rather handsome young man, with unassuming features. He looked alarmed when the manager showed up and introduced the agents.
" We need to ask you a few questions." Gibbs began when the introductions were finished.
" Uh, sure. What do you need?"
" You work late Friday nights?" Ziva asked.
" Yeah…sometimes."
Ziva cocked an eyebrow. " You single?"
The man looked at her for a moment. " Yeah." He said, with some hesitation. " What about it?"
Gibbs gave Ziva a warning glance. It would not do to appear suspicious too early. " Ever let any friends in the garden? Show them around, maybe."
" Uh, sure, occasionally—I mean, they come and pick me up so we can go to the club…if I may ask, what am I being questioned for?"
" You work with mushrooms?" Ziva asked.
" I work with everything in the garden."
" Do you plant them?"
Here the man looked a bit guarded. " Uh…yeah?" He looked genuinely confused. " Why?"
" Ever notice the mushrooms look like they were, you know, crushed?"
" Well, yeah, there's always some idiot who decides to step on the plants. We keep a little fence there but you know, kids, and jerks. They decide to walk over the plants and we'd have to either try to see if we can't save them or plant new ones. But mushrooms are resilient, as are most plants."
" Were they crushed recently?" Gibbs asked. " Did you have to replant them?"
" Uh, yeah, actually." Joe blinked repeatedly. " I also had to replant acacia. Rare breed, that, it was terrible. I don't know how they got crushed either, it was behind glass—"
" Tell DiNozzo to take some samples from the soil over there."
Ziva never imagined she would say something like this. " I can do it, Gibbs."
" No." Gibbs gave her a warning look. " Tell DiNozzo."
Not willing to make a scene, Ziva nodded briskly, and left Gibbs to find Tony. She then considered she could just do it herself—it was not as if Gibbs could tell the difference.
And for god's sake, the disease had not progressed that far yet. She wanted to still do things as long as she still can. She would have plenty of time, if all goes wrong, to depend on other people entirely afterwards.
Suddenly she stopped. She was trembling. It all seemed very surreal. One day she would not be able to stand. To walk. To talk. All of her training, the ability to move faster than the eye can see—all gone to waste within a few years. She stared bitterly at her hands.
" Hey Zee-va," Tony broke into her thoughts. " Your hands mutating into paws or something?"
Irritated, she sneered, " Gibbs wants you to get a sample from the acacia garden."
" What?" Tony scowled. " You're lying. He'd just send you. No reason not to. What are you, growing lazy on us?" Then, out of the blue, " You aren't pregnant, are you?"
" What?!" Ziva resisted the urge to punch him.
" Well," Tony began, " I've heard strange things happen to a woman when they're pregnant. They get these mood swings, and they start eating funny, and act like they're delicate glass. Hm, maybe that's why you've suddenly become as graceful as a penguin."
" I'll go collect the sample." Ziva said coldly, walking past him. She jerked back in alarm when Tony suddenly caught her arm.
" Hey," He began lamely, thinking he should have probably asked this before. " You alright?"
She shook his hand off violently. " None of your concern."
" Look—"
" No." Ziva pointed her finger at him. " I'm not in the mood."
" Well maybe we'd do a better job of adjusting to that if you'd tell us what the hell is wrong!"
" Nothing is wrong!"
" Nothing is wrong? You're only acting like a spoiled brat." Crap. But it was too late to take it back. Tony could only find some way to fix that with another comment. " If you didn't keep us all worrying, maybe we'd be annoying you less and helping you out more!"
It was not lost on Ziva, how hard it must be for someone like Tony to admit he was worried about her, but she was struggling to hold back her tears.
" Maybe if you respect me and my privacy just a little bit," she spat back, " You know, make an effort to do a less pathetic job of it than you usually do, I would be less of a spoiled brat."
Tony sighed as she started walking away again. " Look, Ziva, I didn't mean it."
Ziva took the opportunity to wipe her eyes without Tony seeing. She did not respond.
Tony started following her.
" I don't need your help to collect soil samples, Tony."
" Well if Gibbs really did order me to do it instead, I better try, at least." Too bad Ziva's hair was in a bun, he mused. He could tossle it and see if it made her feel any better. Although the last time he tried when she was in a particularly foul mood—somehow this feels like it is ten times worse.
Once again, Ziva chose to ignore his comment. A heavy silence rested over the two. Tony resisted the impulse to sigh. She might take it the wrong way.
oO
Later that evening, Ziva left work early. Tony watched her leave, then threw a paper ball at McGee.
" Hey, McGoggles, let's go."
" Huh?" McGee stared at him.
" Let's see where she's going!"
" What?" McGee scowled. " Are you crazy? You want us to stalk her?"
" Yup. Grab Abby. She'll want in on this too."
" That's right!" Abby chirped, scaring the living daylights out of McGee. " Come on, let's go!"
" But Gibbs—"
" Wouldn't mind." Tony glared at McGee. " She's a member of the team, and she's in trouble. Come on, get your act together."
McGee just stared at him.
Tony slapped the back of McGee's head. Hard.
" Ow!"
" Abby, help?" Tony gestured.
" Come on, McGee." Abby pinched him. " I want to see what Ziva's been up to lately. Is she really having a baby?"
" She's having a baby?"
Tony was fairly certain she was not, but he could not pass up the opportunity to have the two of them believe it. " Don't know." He replied, to exonerate him of any guilt of misleading them otherwise.
" Alright, stop pinching me!" McGee winced. " Geez. Fine. Let's go."
oO
Yilen was a beautiful woman. She was slim, the way most Asians were, with fine features and intelligent eyes. Her hair was cut short, accentuating her jawline. She was waiting for Ziva at a table already, some glasses of water already served. She was, at the moment, looking through the menu. Upon her arrival, the Chinese woman looked up, a small smile gracing her face.
" Ziva." She said quietly, then in Chinese, " It is good to see you."
" It is good to see you too." Ziva said in Hebrew, knowing that while Yilen may not be able to speak it, she understood it. " Thank you for coming."
They kissed each other's cheeks in greeting. Ziva then sat down.
" I am sorry we have to meet this way." Yilen began, still in her native dialect. " I was hoping we would meet again under happier circumstances."
Ziva smiled sadly. " I am happy to see you." She insisted in Hebrew. " Sorry about not being able to pick you up at the airport."
" It is nothing."
In a parked car across the street, McGee, Tony, and Abby stared through the window.
" Who's that lady?" Abby asked.
" She's hot." Tony instantly opined.
" Looks like a friend of Ziva's."
" Ziva knows Asian people?"
" Why not?"
" Well, I don't know. Weird. She was IMing someone Chinese earlier too."
" The one you tried to peek at that she caught you for?" Abby asked knowingly.
" …Yeah." Tony bit his lip and let out a breath. " Geez, what could they be talking about?"
" Well Ziva looks like she's talking in Hebrew, and I have no clue what that Chinese woman is saying."
" You sure she's Chinese?"
" Chinese, Japanese, does it matter at this point?"
Yilen looked into her glass. " We are being watched."
Yilen and Ziva were both good spies, but Ziva was much better at keeping herself hidden when she wanted to, and Yilen was better at detecting unwanted spectators. Ziva also lowered her eyes into her glass of water. " Who?" She asked.
" Don't know." Yilen replied. " I am not completely familiar with this country. But some Caucasians, two male and one female."
Ziva raised an eyebrow, bemused. " Huh."
" Girl is black-haired, in pigtails."
Abby?
" The two men are brunettes." Yilen continued. " One looks like a lady's man. The other looks like a computer technician."
" Ah." Ziva confirmed it silently. Yilen was good at identifying the nature of her unwanted spectators as well. " Don't worry about them. They're my friends."
Yilen regarded her for a moment. Ziva did not know they were following her; that much was obvious. She then prodded, " Do they always stalk you like this?"
" No." Ziva admitted. " I haven't told them."
" You do not trust them."
" No…I do…but…" Ziva sighed. " They're good people…but they're not…the wisest bunch."
" Hm." Yilen replied. " So you do not trust them."
Ziva considered it for a moment. " I guess not." She fell silent. " How long did they give you?" She asked.
" Two months." Yilen replied. " I cannot reasonably ask for more."
" When we get back to my flat, I'll let you know the details."
" Alright." Yilen smiled. She gestured at the menu. " Order something."
Ziva laughed, half out of sadness.
" This is so pointless." McGee was complaining. " We can't even tell what they're doing or saying."
" He's right actually." Abby agreed. " I don't see what we can learn here."
Suddenly, Yilen reached out to Ziva. The three froze, but the Chinese woman had merely prevented Ziva's glass of water from tipping over.
Tony whistled. " Damn that's fast reflexes.
" What the hell was that?" McGee asked.
" That was another show of Ziva's newfound clumsiness."
" That woman seems to know the story though. She's not even commenting on it."
" Ziva trusts this Asian chick more than us!" Tony exclaimed. " Now that's wrong!"
They watched as Ziva and the strange woman laughed it off for a bit.
" We should pay attention to the Asian girl." Abby stated. " If she knows something, maybe Ziva might need our help."
" Doesn't look like there's any tense atmosphere going on." Tony replied jealously. " I can't believe she could tell this woman and not us."
" Yeah, considering we're like, her family." Abby agreed, equally put out. " She'd at least tell me if she's having a baby."
The three continued to watch, but they learned nothing new for the rest of the night, except that the woman was most likely staying over with Ziva.