Chapter Four

The discussion they all had over dinner was mainly about Ziva. It made her uncomfortable. She'd never exactly been the center of attention. Ducky was the one who had brought it all up. Then everyone joined in with questions and comments. As they sat down at their places, Ziva examined her meal. She had only eaten a meal prepared like this a few times. After they said grace and began to eat, Ducky asked, "Which part of Israel are you from, Miss David?"

Ziva looked at the older man with wondering eyes, "Well," she said shyly, "my papa and I live in Tel Aviv. It's the capitol city of Israel."

"Interesting," Ducky replied, "I hear there are some marvelous forests out around Tel Aviv. Is that true?"

"Trees in the desert?" Jack asked, "That can't be."

"Actually," Ziva began, "the forests in Israel tend to be very thick. Also, not all of Israel is a desert. In fact, only some of it. There's a thin forest of mainly olive trees in my back yard at home. My father and grandfather planted it before I was born."

"Really?" Abby asked, "So it's not all just, like, a huge, scorching hot desert?"

"Well, it does get pretty warm," Ziva replied, "Our winter is like your summer."

"What is your fall like?" Jack asked.

"We only have two seasons in Israel," Ziva said, "We have winter and spring. We sometimes have a summer or fall, but we call it either a low spring or high spring. It's a bit complicated."

"So," Jethro said before anyone got the chance to open their mouths, "tell us a little bit about your family."

Ziva just sat there for a moment with a blank stare. It was the first time the man had spoken to her and he wanted to know about her family. What could she say? When she was twelve, her mother died of cancer. When she was four, her oldest brother, Gabriel, was shot to death. Only two years ago, her sister, Talia, was killed in a suicide bombing. When they found the body, it was nothing but a burnt skeleton. Almost half of Talia's bones were ashes.

"Uhmm. . . well," Ziva mumbled, "there really isn't much to say about it. It's just been me and my father for two years. That's about it."

"What about two years ago?" Jethro asked. Ziva meet his gaze. She could tell he knew something. What was it, though?

"Two years ago I had a family. Now I don't," Ziva stated in an odd tone. Jethro nodded and continued eating. Ducky cleared his throat and changed the subject to the upcoming school year. Abby planned on having Ziva meet all of her friends. After dinner, Ziva and Abby helped Jennifer clear off the table and do the dishes. Once they all finished, Ziva headed up stairs to finish unpacking. Abby caught up to her and tapped her shoulder.

"Hey, Ziva," she said.

Ziva turned around and asked, "Yes, Abby?"

"Uhm," Abby began, "I wanted to know if you needed some help. I mean, you probably don't need it, but if you wanted some help, I'd be happy to help. But, I mean, if you don't want help or just don't like me, you can tell me. However, if you do want help, I'll help. I'm a good helper."

Ziva opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. She tried again, but Abby was a handful and a mouthful. "Well," Ziva finally said, "I guess a little help would not hurt."

"Great!" Abby exclaimed. "C'mon." They both headed up to Ziva's bedroom. "So how much do you have left to unpack?"

"Just about all of it," Ziva replied. Abby looked at her, "I've barely begun."

"Okay," Abby replied, "well, with the two of us, we should get it all done."
"I hope so," Ziva said playfully, "and thank you, Abby"

"No problem, Ziva," Abby smiled, "I'm glad to help. And maybe after we finish, we can hang out in my room. We could start to get to know each other."

"I would love that," Ziva said truthfully. Abby smiled. As they walked into Ziva's room, the two of them sat on the bed. Ziva unzipped her suitcase and Abby helped her put up her posters, pictures, and nick-nacks of such. They talked about what they had in common. For example, they both liked some of the same music, some of the same foods, and some of the same subjects. They also talked about their differences, like how Abby had green eyes and Ziva had brown eyes, or that Abby's favorite colors were red and black and Ziva's were blue and orange.

As they unpacked the last duffel bag, Abby filled Ziva in on a few things about school. For example, the name of their school was North Washington High and the team mascot was a white tiger and that when someone said "I'm gonna eat you for breakfast, punk," they weren't literally going to eat you for breakfast, it meant that they were going to beat you up or beat you in a game or sport. She also told Ziva the three main people in school who she didn't want to mess with or talk to. They were Bethany McClain, Taylor Monroe, and Jeanne Benoit. They were the meanest, preppiest, girlish teen girls in the entire school. They were juniors this year. The four main ways to avoid them was don't be the center of attention, don't look better than them, don't cheer loader than them, and don't flirt with Tony DiNozzo.

Tony was one of the biggest players in school. You might as well say he was. He and Jeanne had started dating last year. Everyone thought for sure it wouldn't last longer for three weeks. Only, it did! In fact, it lasted all school year and they're still together.

Tony was also one of Abby's best friends. He was like her older brother. They'd been friends since the third grade when Rodger Wilson pushed her down. Tony stood up for her. He's always been a little too overprotective of her. Not in the possessive way, but the way a brother gets with his little sister.

Surprisingly, they had finished within two hours. The two of them continued on chatting and laughing even after everything was unpacked. They sat on the soft carpet floor with their legs criss-cross-apple-sauce style. Abby had finished a story about her fifth birthday when Gibbs had made the cake and it turned into a disaster.

There a moment of silence that followed. Abby got to her feet and asked, "Would you like to head to my room?"

Ziva stood up next to her and replied, "I would, yes."

"Great! Alright, this way," Abby said. They walked out off Ziva's room, down the hall and down the stairs to the second floor. They made another turn, through the great room, passed an office, and -stopped in front a a black door with Abby in thick,

+ red ink. Abby opened the door and walked in. Ziva's jaw dropped and her eyes fell wide open. It was a bit creepier than she'd expected. Abby was, well, freaky looking and unlike anything Ziva had seen before. She was almost scary. And now the bedroom? The walls were all painted a bloody crimson red. One wall had the name Abigail Brittany "Sciuto" Gibbs. On Another wall it said Undead People and right above her bed it said I Dream About You. Ziva was a little creeped out about that last one.

The room was almost twice the size of Ziva's. One half was a regular bedroom, and the other half looked like an alternative science lab. There were pictures and posters hung up all over the science lab area and a few next to her bed. The posters were of bands, concerts, warp tours, skeletons, skulls, and some other weird science looking mesh. There were pictures of her with friends, family, and animals. There was one of her where she dressed up as Marilyn Monroe. She was standing in front of a house with cob webs and fake spiders and monsters. There was a sign in the background that read Happy Halloween. There were also two boys with her each dressed up as cowboys. One was Tim and the other was. . . well, Ziva didn't know, but whoever he was, he really caught her eye. He was about an inch taller than Tim, he had longer hair that reached down to his ears and mid-neck. His bangs were shorter, though, and took the left half of his forehead. His smile was genuine and very attractive. Not to mention his bright green eyes.

"I know it's a bit extreme," she said, bringing Ziva back into reality, "but this is who I am. This is my style."

"I like it, Abby," Ziva half lied. She did like it, just not entirely. "It really is you." And it was.

"So," Abby buzzed, "you wanna check out my lab? It's called The Labby. It's a mix between Abby and lab, and because it's Abby's Lab, I call it the Labby."

"Okay," Ziva said, "Well then, I'd love to check out the Labby." They smiled at each other.

Abby sprinted over towards all of her toys and pointed to one and said, "This one is Major Mas Spect. He's a Mass Spectrometer, but he's only a household fake; the kind you can by at forensic science conventions. When I get out of college, I'm gonna work in a lab and get a real Mass Spectrometer. Oh, and this one is one of my more complicated machines. . ."

A/N: OMG! Gibbs asked about her family! He suspects something? Will he be able to trust her? 0.o Lets hope. Also, are you excited about the Labby? I know it's extreme for a Abby to have a lab in her room, but think of it more as her dream land and it's just a really advanced chemistry set. I just knew i had to add it somewhere. Also, you can probably guess who the guy in the photo was? I mean, who else? Anyway, hope you enjoy the next chapter. ^.^