'Tis the season of wrapping up work projects, bouts of the flu, and unexpected holiday guests, so this update took much longer than I had hoped. It's shorter and a bit of a filler chapter but was quite fun to write! :)
Disclaimer: A '99 Monte Carlo does NOT have enough oomph to make it up a steep snow-filled alley. Ohh and I don't own NCIS... It's a lose-lose type of day I guess...
"Abs?"
"In here!"
McGee wondered if he would ever get used to Abby's blaring music. Not for the first time, he wondered if she was less afraid of hearing loss given her mastery of sign language. He made his way into the inner office, where Abby was turning back and forth on her chair and sipping the remnants of a CafPow.
"She's telling the truth!" Abby declared triumphantly, slam dunking her empty cup in the trash and popping to her feet. She tapped a button, the printer spooling suddenly across the room.
"Who, exactly?" Tim asked with a frown.
"Talia of course!" Abby said as if were the most obvious thing in the world. "I picked a hair off her sweater at the apartment and ran it against Ziva's. Definitely related!"
"Abby, we already confirmed...wait, you ran a DNA test on Ziva's sister without her knowing about it?" McGee asked incredulously, studying the paper she thrust at him.
Abby's face fell slightly but she stood her ground, putting her hands on her hips. "Well, yeah! I mean, I know everyone else is convinced but I'm not 100% sure until my forensics confirm it!"
"Can I be there when you show this to Ziva?" McGee chuckled, handing the paper back to her. Abby grimaced.
"Or we can just call this case confirmed and closed, soooo moving on! I figured you were Gibbs wanting the breakdown of the blood samples and wounds..."
"Would be nice Abs," Gibbs said quietly, entering the room with a fresh Caf-Pow. "Whadya got?"
She took the drink with a large smile, setting it down lovingly on her desk as she turned her attention to the computer. "What I got is a match off the blood on the ground and the DNA taken from beneath Zupan's fingernails. Lubich Verdol and…"
"Petar Stankic."
She gave him an impressed look. "Back to the mind-reading thing again I see." She held her fingertips up to her temples, closing her eyes. "Care to guess what I was able to tell from the knife wounds?" She squinted one eye back open after a second and took in Gibbs' scowl with an impish grin. "Another time then...so, the wounds were very distinctive. You are looking for two Spyderco Warrior Combat Knives." She punched a button as a menacingly curved blade appeared on screen. "Nasty little buggers, but quite effective."
"Popular too," Gibbs nodded. "Especially in Eastern Europe."
McGee chimed in then. "Boss, we are still trying to figure out how Stankic and Verdol got into the country. They must have entered using aliases, but we're running the pictures against CBP's entry scans and we've got a BOLO out on the entire East Coast."
"What about Zupan's cell?"
Abby crinkled her nose, holding up the phone's hard drive with wires running to her computer. "Cracked pretty badly when he hit the ground. I was able to recover the data but it's highly encrypted. Me and McGee are just -"
"Then get back to work...unless you've got anything else?" Gibbs interrupted, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.
"Well, we're having a pizza party at Ziva's tonight if you wanna…" She cut off at the sound of the elevator 'ding' and turned to see Gibbs had left. "Yeesh, you'd think the mood around here would be a little more celebratory and all considering Talia's miraculous return!"
"Problem is keeping her safe now, Abs." McGee said. "Let's see what we can do with this cell otherwise I don't think Gibbs will even let us leave here tonight..."
"I...I don't think I understand," Talia said uncertainly, the piece of pizza in her hand forgotten as she squinted in concentration. "You sleep in a coffin? Is that some type of...American slang I'm not familiar with?"
Abby grinned widely and shook her head. "Nope, I mean that literally!"
Talia's face was blank for another second, then she nodded as if that made perfect sense. "Okay then, whatever floats your boat!"
"ZeeVAH, how is it that your sister, who has only been stateside a few months, already has a better grasp on contractions and cliches than you?" Tony grinned, taking a large bite of his pizza. Ziva's eyes narrowed and Tony glanced down suddenly, wondering if his plate would be a large enough shield for flying dinner knives.
McGee, in an attempt to be diplomatic and polite, leaned over to Talia and said quietly, "Ziva's had some...problems...with American idioms."
Ziva shot him a glare. "I am not that bad!"
The others exchanged a long glance, trying to hide their smirks before they burst out laughing.
"Drip it?"
"Jerking your brain?"
"Spic and Spam?"
"Smurf war?"
"Porcuswine!"
Tony held up a hand to Abby and McGee, "And lastly and still my favorite...I feel like a Donkey's butt..." He wiped an imaginary tear from his eye and then ducked as Ziva threw a balled up napkin at him. "We're a loving bunch," he added with a wink at Talia's amused look.
Talia shook her head playfully and leaned towards Ziva. "Es un pintamonos, no?"
Ziva laughed now, and it was so youthful and carefree - so unlike any laughter the others had ever heard from her - that they all joined in. Tony stopped after a moment, screwing his face up in concentration as he tried to translate.
"Wait, did she just call me a painted monkey?"
Ziva snorted and Talia dissolved into another fit of giggles.
"It loses something in translation," Ziva offered. "It's Chilean slang...it essentially means class clown."
"What in the hell do clowns and monkeys have to do with each other?" Tony challenged.
Ziva smiled smugly and waggled a finger at him. "Remember that next time you are making fun of my idioms DiNozzo! They are complex things when not in your native language!" Tony stuck out his tongue.
"So where did you learn Spanish Talia?" Abby asked loudly, returning to her ongoing mission of the evening: fishing unashamedly for personal details.
Talia had just taken a bite of pizza and tried to chew faster to answer. Ziva stepped in. "Our maternal grandmother was Chilean. Our mother used to speak Spanish to us when we were younger."
"Mmmhmmm," Talia said, swallowing the bite. "I lacked Ziva's finesse and ear with languages though. I decided to stop after English and Spanish."
"Only Trilingual? Geez...slacker," Tony teased.
"Why did your grandparents move from Chile to Israel?" Abby continued doggedly.
"Abs can you let the girl breathe? She didn't sign up to play twenty questions!"
"Timmy! She has had to hide her past for, like, a decade. I just thought it would be nice to talk about it again freely!"
"You never would have asked Ziva these personal questions twelve hours after meeting her!"
"That's cause Ziva scared the hell outta me. No offense!" Abby said quickly, throwing an apologetic glance at the elder David. She grinned back.
McGee rolled his eyes. "Talia, feel free to ignore Abby's prodding. She truly can't help herself."
"You would make a cute couple," Talia said speculatively and unexpectedly, studying the two as she tapped her fork to her mouth. Tony snorted into his pizza as McGee's ears burned pink.
Abby just laughed and shook her head. "Ohhh been there done that. We're better off as friends, believe me. Besides, it's not worth tempting the rulemaster...again. And rule 12 is a real doozy to break."
"What is rule 12?"
"Never date a co-worker," four voices answered in unison.
Ziva elaborated after catching sight of Talia's raised eyebrow. "Gibbs has a long list of rules and he is particularly adamant about Rule 12."
"Oho, I bet you've had trouble with that one Zizi," Talia teased, a mischievous glint to her eye.
"Tali…" Ziva said warningly, but it was too late; the others smelled blood in the water.
"Ohh," Abby said gleefully, leaning forward in anticipation. "It's about time we had some rebellious Ziva-as-a-young'un stories! C'mon, spill!"
Talia grinned, "Well let's just say I seem to recall coming home from school sick one day and finding a certain handsome Samal completely naked, rummaging through our refrigerator!"
They all laughed but Ziva, who was suddenly serious. "Talia…"
Talia giggled and shook her head. "I will never forget the look on Michael's face when I walked in!"
The laughter stopped so abruptly that Talia was left chuckling alone for a few beats; it sounded horribly awkward in the sudden silence. Her brow creased as she looked around, trying to catch the gaze of those sitting uneasily around the table. "I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?"
Ziva shot a quick glance to Tony, whose jaw was twitching as he studiously avoided her gaze. He raised a hand to rub distractedly at his left elbow, and Ziva wondered if he even registered the action.
Abby came in with the save, talking a mile a minute before Talia had time to press for answers. "Well, Team Gibbs all try to abide by the rules nowadays, so I guess that's all that matters. They are all too afraid of the wrath of the Silver Fox! So Talia, have you actually visited Chile?"
Ziva had hopes that Talia would let it go; that she would again be tired and they could call it a night once everyone left after dinner. But even after seven years spent apart, she knew her sister's stubbornness was unrivaled.
Except, perhaps, by her own.
"You are lucky to work with such wonderful people," Talia offered as she helped Ziva make up the guest bed.
Ziva smiled softly to herself as she tucked the sheet beneath the mattress. "I know."
"Tim still likes Abby."
"Oh, I know that as well. And so does Abby...and everyone else for that matter. But they really are better off as friends."
"And Tony…" Talia said, failing miserably to achieve an off-handed tone. She smirked as Ziva rolled her eyes and flicked the top sheet at her.
"You are not subtle, sheli."
"I never claimed to be. Are you and he…" She trailed off suggestively and Ziva gave a nondescript shrug.
"There is absolutely no easy answer to that question," she said honestly. "He is my partner. Sometimes he has been more, sometimes...well the other times have been a lot more complicated actually."
"I'm guessing the latter has something to do with Michael Rivkin," Talia said astutely, cutting through the cryptic answer. Ziva's head snapped up. Stubborn and perceptive, she thought, chewing the inside of her lip. "C'mon Zizi, everyone obviously knew Michael when I mentioned him at dinner."
Ziva nodded, sitting on the comforter she has just smoothed into place. "Michael was in DC on Eli's orders last year and got in the middle of our investigation. Things...ended badly."
"For Michael?"
"For everyone. Michael was killed. Tony was injured. Trust was...shattered. We are all still feeling our way out of the fallout."
Talia frowned, placing a hand over Ziva's. "I'm sorry, I know how much you cared for him. I won't bring it up again."
Ziva shook her head. "It's okay; it's only fair I start filling in some of the blanks. Just give me some time and patience, eh?"
Talia smiled guiltily. "That's what Tony said when I pressed him earlier for details."
Ziva laughed at that. "Sounds like Tony…"
"He is more than a partner, Ziva. Whether either of you can admit it."
Ziva leaned in, kissing her forehead as she stood from the bed. "Yet another thing I already know." She gave a small wink. "Good night Talia."
Next chapter will reveal more of the case-side and provide both some heavy and fluffy conversations between Talia and the others! Thanks for reading!