A/N: So about the Ziva isn't a legal adult yet, whatever. All will be explained in this chapter [go on, read and find it!]. Thanks for all your reviews, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
James looked up as a woman in her mid-thirties and a young girl of about five walked into the estate agents. He closed the book he was writing down the transactions of the day in with a pen marking the page. He stood and walked over to them. He shook the woman's; who he suspected was the girl's mother, hand.
"My name is James Vincent. May I help you?" He asked politely, and the woman smiled gratefully.
"We are looking for a new house. Apartment." She corrected herself. "Just something small, it is just the two of us."
James noticed her accent sounded slightly foreign, her English slightly broken in places. He also noticed that she was his age, and very, very pretty. And single.
"Of course, this way ma'am." He led the woman and her daughter to his desk, and pulled a large binder out of underneath his desk. The woman wondered why he needed a binder, most places were computerized. James opened the binder at a certain page and turned it so the woman could see the photos. He noticed the little girl wrinkle her nose up.
"Hya k'ti maid, Ima." She said, and James looked temporarily confused, thinking the girl was speaking English. Then he realized she was speaking in a foreign language. It sounded… Arabic? Russian? Something like that.
Definition: It is very small, mother.
"Ani ivch. Abel atah ivah l'mah." The woman squeezed the little girl's hand, but the girl still looked annoyed.
Definition: I know. But you know why.
"Do you have any a little further away from East Capitol Street?" The woman asked, and James flicked through the binder and showed her a different page.
"Ma'am?" He glanced up at her face. She was smiling slightly. It was a small apartment in a converted town house, previously owned by a young couple who had wanted to move to something larger. The town house was in a circle of houses that were protected from the outside world by an electronic gate controlled by a door man as well.
"How much does that cost?" The woman asked, getting out a purse from her bag. James pointed at the numbers at the bottom of the page.
"Seventy-five thousand and seventy-three dollars, Ma'am." James informed her, and the woman nodded.
"When can we move in?" She asked, and James was quite shocked.
"You can pay for it now, we'll get all the paperwork out the way, and you should be able to move in tomorrow if you have the money…" He said, the sentence disappearing into thin air when the woman brought out a roll of bank notes. They were all hundreds and thousands and the woman counted out a large wedge of notes and handed them over. James took out a key, and opened the safe next to his desk.
He then picked up a stamp and pressed in on an ink pad before stamping a large red 'SOLD' onto the page of the apartment in the binder.
"Good doing business with you, ma'am. If you would just come over here and complete some paperwork." He led her over to another desk, and searched through some files before finding the appropriate papers. "Just complete these and sign on the correct lines and date where needed, if you would be so kind."
Her writing was very neat and exact, as if it wasn't the normal alphabet she used. From how she spoke to her daughter and vice versa, he suspected it wasn't the alphabet she normally used either. Her signature was in 'weird' characters, certainly not the Roman alphabet. They were finished with a flourish.
Mem.
Tsere.
Yod.
Resh.
Aleph.
"Thank you, Ma'am." James smiled as she handed back the completed paperwork.
"No need to call me ma'am." The woman smiled. "Call me Meira. Meira Da-… Vosskühler."
Meira smiled as she left her husband behind with her married surname as she reverted to her maiden name.
"Good to do business with you, Miss Vosskühler." James smiled. "I hope to see you tomorrow, so you may move in to your new house."
"Thank you, James." Meira smiled triumphantly, and turned to leave, catching hold of Talia's hand as she turned. "Come on, Tali."
Talia stared up at James, eyeing him warily. She didn't like him; he was strange.
"I don't like you." She informed him solemnly, before turning and pulling her mother outside.
Meanwhile, Tony and Ziva were lounging about together on Tony's bed, while Ari sat typing away at the computer, Kate sitting next to him, balancing on the edge of the chair. Their housing situation was covered for the while. Ziva would stay with Gibbs and Jenny until her eighteenth birthday, which was only one month away, and Kate had said Ari could live with her, as she had told her parents his father had kicked him out of the house with 'no money and no place to live!'
Tony cold understand why Mr. and Mrs. Todd had given in to their daughter's pleading. For a start, Kate was amazingly persuasive, and secondly, her parents were surprisingly lenient at friends staying over for more than a few nights.
"What do you think, Zaya?" Ari asked, leaning back in the chair, his arm slung around Kate's shoulder, pulling her closer into him. Ziva leaned up on one elbow.
"Hmm?" She said, tiredly. Tony had been stroking her hair gently, and she had been beginning to get very sleepy just lying there.
"Bya hanah." Ari said, beckoning Ziva over. She sighed and reluctantly got up off the bed and wandered over.
Definition: Come here.
"Ken, Ari?" She glanced at the screen. "Houses."
Definition: Ken = Yes
"I was looking at ones around this area." Ari smiled at Kate and squeezed her hand.
"Not bad…" Ziva admitted, even though in her eyes the house was slightly small. "I guess we cannot have a more expensive house… unless…"
"What?" Ari said, turning to stare at his sister. "No killing, no stealing and especially no night time bank robbery."
"I was not thinking of anything like that!" Ziva answered indignantly, although she had been considering a small time bank robbery to give her sister a better life without their father.
"What then?" Ari asked curiously.
"Well, we can both get jobs. In a month we could make a lot, I mean you could do many jobs, Ari. I am sure Gibbs would offer you a job, and maybe me." Ziva said, smiling at the thought of Ari working under Gibbs' strict rules.
"Well, you could always ask." Ari admitted, and took one last look at the house.
"It is a lot of money to make in one month, Zee-vah." Tony reminded her, and Ziva smiled at him.
"I know. A bank robbery would me more and faster, but the bank might get a little upset." She said sadly, and then laughed at Kate's expression. "I am allowed to joke, yes?"
"Jesus, Zee!" Kate exclaimed. "I thought you were serious!"
"It is a very Ziva thing, I admit." Tony said, and yelped when Ziva took a running leap at him from where she was standing and landed on him.
"Oh shh." She said, sitting up and smirking. She picked her phone up off the bedside table and speed dialled three.
"Yeah, Gibbs." Gibbs said into the phone.
"Shalom." Ziva said cheerily, and Gibbs pursed his lips warily.
"What are you after, Miss David?" He said suspiciously.
"A job." Ziva said. "For me and Ari."
Gibbs was momentarily stunned.
"At NCIS?" He asked.
"Why else would I be calling you?" Ziva replied drily and Gibbs rolled his eyes.
"I could use someone like Ari on our team… admittedly, we do have a space. And I'm sure we could get you an apprenticeship with Amy in the forensics lab." He said, and before Ziva could complain, he added, "and I'm sure you could be a field agent on occasion."
"Thank you, Gibbs." Ziva smiled broadly and showed Ari a thumbs up; surprised it was working so well.
"Although you are only allowed to work after school and at weekends." Gibbs emphasized, and Ziva sighed theatrically.
"I'm sure I can manage."
A/N: I'm not sure if the job thing would work. They have American citizenships, OKAY? =D And Ziva could only get an apprenticeship as she isn't eighteen. Yet.
Good news! I got a scholarship interview today! Yaay!
Also, HGM2000, I'm sorry but I can't reply to your message as you have disabled private messaging.So that's why I haven't replied.
ZIVA'S SPEED DIAL SO FAR:
One: Tony
Two: Ari
Three: Gibbs
Five: Abby