A/N: In order to appreciate a lot of this specific chapter, you should have a slight familiarity with the rules and the way American Football is played. I won't use too many technical terms though, so I hope that helps. Reviews are VERY much appreciated. Without further ado, here's the story!
The entire concept of football was relatively new for Ziva. Not so much the rules and regulations, but the tailgating, the large salaries, and the fact that it was named football in the first place. You barely use your feet anyway! Why not call it handball or American Rugby? These were Ziva's thoughts as they arrived early to the school field where Tony had an early practice with his team right before the game.
"You guys can take the SUV wherever you want, game won't start for another hour and a half, so don't feel obligated to watch my game." Tony said as he got out of the SUV with his equipment slung over his shoulder, leaving the keys on the car seat.
"Well I think we should go get a smoothie or something before the game. How about you guys?" McGee suggested.
"I think that would be a great idea, anyone care to join?" Abby asked the rest of them. Ari nodded his assent while Ziva and Tali bit the bottom of their lips.
"I think I'm going to stay and watch Tony practice. Sorry, Abby." Ziva said. Tali simply nodded her agreement.
"That's fine! We'll be back in an hour or so. See you then!" Abby said, giving Ziva a knowing smile and a wiggle of the eyebrows. Ziva rolled her eyes before getting out of the car with Tali. Ari got out of the car and took the driver's seat, shutting the door and pulling out of the parking lot as Ziva and Tali bounded up the metal steps of the bleachers. On the field were a bunch of bags and cones to use for conditioning and warming up. The coaches stood off to the side as they waited for their players to come out of the locker room. The bleachers were fairly packed, especially considering the fact that the game wasn't going to start for another hour and a half. Ziva and Tali took their seats towards the middle of the bleachers, away from the group of cheerleaders that had situated themselves in the front. A couple of the football players that had already gotten dressed were flirting with the cheerleaders, who were giggling at practically everything they said. Ziva looked around the entire field and was impressed with the size of it. Sure it wasn't a mile high stadium or anything, but it probably could fit the entire population of two high schools combined. Convenient.
Ziva and Tali were enjoying light banter about school and Tony when said person jogged out onto the field. As he made his way over to the coaches, he ran by the section of bleachers where Ziva and Tali were. The cheerleaders immediately ignored the two football players and ogled at Tony, some even blushing at the mere proximity of his presence. Tony ignored them as he gave a quick wink in Ziva's direction, causing her to blush and making Tali laugh at Ziva's expense. All the cheerleaders went into a fit of giggles as he sent the wink, misunderstanding that it wasn't meant for them.
"You know that wink wasn't meant for you." one of the now jealous football players said to the cheerleader, all of which turned to glare at him.
"Yeah right! Who else could it be for?" the head cheerleader asked in disbelief. The football player pointed to Ziva who pretended not to be paying attention, but all the same wearing Tony's football jacket. The cheerleaders scoffed as they instantly started mentally doing a compare and contrast against her. Do I show more cleavage than her? Should I start stuffing my bra? Is my skirt high enough? Eww she isn't even wearing makeup.
Tony, who heard the entire thing, turned around to watch as the head cheerleader, Heather, stormed up the steps to confront Ziva.
"Wow, where did you steal Tony's jacket?" Heather sneered at Ziva. Both Ziva and Tali turned around with a questioning look in their eyes.
"Well there's absolutely no way Tony actually gave you his jacket, so where did you steal it?" Heather asked, a look of disgust on her face.
"I am not sure why you think I stole it, but I assure you he gave it to me earlier today." Ziva asked, not quite understanding the typical cheerleader personality. Heather scoffed, making sure to exaggerate it before snickering.
"Please, you expect me to believe that? There is a zero percent chance he likes anything about..." Heather trailed off as she watched Tony jog up the stairs, looking even sexier than ever.
"Hey Tony!" Heather said nervously, her legs going weak in the simple presence of him. Tony simply ignored her as he brushed past her and came beside Ziva.
"Hey sweetcheeks, glad you came! Great to see you wearing my jacket, hope you enjoy the game." Tony said as he kissed Ziva on the side of her head, sending butterflies fluttering in both of their stomachs. Tony brushed past Heather again who stood there in shock and disbelief, unable to comprehend what she just saw. Tony quickly bounded down the steps again and ran back over where the rest of his team was. Ziva smiled in victory at Heather who huffed in response, storming back down the steps, as well as sending Ziva and Tali into laughter. Making sure Tali wasn't paying attention, Ziva let the blood rush back up to her cheeks, lightly touching the spot where Tony had kissed. Tali sneaked a peak at Ziva just in time to see her lightly touch the spot where Tony kissed her. She's so hooked on him.
NCIS
An hour of vigorous drills went by and everyone on the team had a slight layer of sweat on their foreheads. On a normal game day, they would simply do a few laps around the field and some stretching. But this wasn't your normal game. The Washington Eagles were ranked number one in their bracket right now, and most of those wins came from Tony. They were playing the District Dodgers, sworn rivals of Washington High and happened to be ranked number two in the bracket. The bleachers were filled with oceans of blue, gold, brown, and red (Blue and Gold being the Washington Eagle's school colors, brown and red being the District Dodgers school colors), chants roaring across the field. This would be the best game either school would have had for years, and they were both prepared for a hell of a game. The Dodgers more than the Eagles.
It's a known fact that since District High School is located in a more run down area of DC, drug dealing is substantially high both in the general area and in the school itself. Odds were that all the starters on the Dodgers were on steroids, meaning that Tony's team would have to rely on skill, being smarter, and of course using Tony to their advantage. The two teams lined up on either side of the field, sizing up each of the other's players. The Dodgers were a lot bigger and looked stronger, and were probably faster from all the steroids they were juiced up on. But something steroids can't give you is dedication, heart (love of the game), teamwork, and the drive to press on through each quarter going at 110% effort. And that's exactly what the Eagles had that the Dodgers didn't. Of course, having a guy with Navy SEAL training as the quarterback can never hurt either.
Being the captain of the team, Tony walked out onto the middle field to greet the Dodger's captain. He was the middle linebacker, and coaches had been scouting him for weeks. This dude was a 270 pound hunk of muscle standing at six feet, two inches. The exact same height as Tony. While the Dodger's captain got his muscle through daily steroids and heavy weightlifting, Tony worked for his muscle daily through combat training, weightlifting, and SEAL training. Tony shook hands with the Dodger's captain who sneered at him, almost challenging him to take him on. Tony squeezed his hand much harder and the Dodger's captain winced, pain shooting through his hand.
"Anthony DiNozzo, Quarterback of the team." Tony introduced himself.
"Jack Sterling, Middle Linebacker." Jack said through gritted teeth. Tony released his grip on him and turned to face the referee, a look of bemusement on his face. Jack flexed his hand a couple times before turning to face the referee.
"Call it in the air." the referee said as he tossed the coin up in the air.
"Heads." Tony said quickly, calling his pick. The coin fell into the referee's hands and he flipped it over on the back of his hand. It was heads.
"We want to receive the ball." Tony said. The referee nodded in acknowledgement. Tony and Jack went to either side of the middle of the field as the referee went to the middle. He turned to face Jack and made a catching motion, indicating to both teams that Tony's team would be receiving the ball. Shaking hands one last time, Tony and Jack both took off towards their respective teams. The rest of the team ran over and joined Tony in a team huddle while Tony spoke words of encouragement, trying to get the team fired up for the game.
"Ok, listen up people! Right off the bat, don't be intimidated by the fact that their entire team is on steroids. We push on, fight harder, punch em' in the mouth! We bring this game home for our school, we do this for the team! I will not accept defeat in this damn field, you all got me!? We enter this game as competitors, we leave as winners! You with me!?" Tony shouted to the team. Shouts and cheers of applause ran through the team and the Eagle's side of the bleachers. Wow, did someone actually broadcast my speech? What the hell...
Fire shot through the entire team's eyes as that very speech ran deep in their hearts, firing them up and pumping adrenaline madly into their veins.
"ALRIGHT, LETS DO THIS!" Tony shouted, receiving identical shouts throughout the team.
Ziva was on the edge of her seat, adrenaline pumping through her own veins. That speech just made her feel as if she was actually on the field. It truly was powerful, and it made Tony look even sexier... Wow, did I really just think that? Maybe I'm in further than I thought. Or was the word deeper?
NCIS
Tony's heart was pounding like mad as the kicker started his advance to start the kickoff. Adrenaline surged through Tony's veins in the anticipation.
POP!
A large thump resounded as the ball started it's ascent into the air, rapidly heading to Tony's arms. The kickoff team was in a mad dash to reach Tony, to bring him down, to hunt him down like a lion does with it's prey. The ball began to descend to Tony's arms, the kickoff team no further than 30 yards away. Concentration etched Tony's face as the ball finally landed in Tony's awaiting arms. This is it.
Tony immediately took off running towards the left side of the field, shoving one of the defenders to the ground as he missed a tackle. Running along parallel to the sidelines, Tony spotted someone directly in front of him, rapidly approaching him. At the very last moment, Tony juked to the right, completely side-stepping the defender. 50 yards away.
Tony spotted two defenders on either side of him, both taking proper pursuit angles to catch up to him. As the both closed in on him at the exact same time, Tony let loose one final burst of speed, sending the two defenders smashing into each other. And there it was, he was home free.
"Touchdown! That was truly amazing!" the announcer shouted into the mic, sending the Eagles into a united roar of cheers and hollers.
"Wow, Tony looks really good." Ziva mused to Ari, who had a much deeper understanding of football then she did.
"Good? That was amazing!" Ari shouted as he cheered on Tony. Ziva too gave into the adrenaline of the crown and cheered him on, the ball going through the goalposts for an extra point.
NCIS
It was already in the third quarter, the score a whopping 21-14. The Eagles were pulling a slight lead against the Dodgers. That is, until things started falling apart.
It was fourth and goal, Dodger's ball. Dylan was lined up to tackle the runningback, said person only a few yards away from the endzone. Dylan purposely sidestepped the runner, letting him go by and straight into the endzone. The coach immediately noticed this, and grabbed Dylan off of the field.
"What the HELL are you doing!?" Head Coach Harris shouted at Dylan.
"Sorry coach, won't happen again." Dylan lied.
"It better not!" Coach Harris shouted at Dylan before storming back to talk to the rest of the coaches about which play's to call. A few play's after, the Dodger's made a turnover after Jason accidentally fumbled the ball. The very next play, as the Dodger's runningback ran in Dylan's direction, Dylan purposely side-stepped him, allowing him to pass. The runner was then brought down by the team's safety, Hank, after the runningback passed into the red zone.
"Coach, Dylan's letting them slip by on purpose. I don't think he's faithful to the team. Probably throwing the game for the Dodger's for some drugs or something." Tony said angrily to the coach who's fists were clenched in tight balls.
"DYLAN, GET OFF THE FIELD. YOU'RE OFF THE TEAM, GET OUT OF HERE!" Coach Harris shouted at Dylan. Dylan screamed expletives at Coach Harris and stormed off the field, throwing his helmet at Coach Harris, which Tony caught easily. Coach Harris muttered several expletives, now not having anyone to replace Dylan on defense. At least, almost no one.
"Coach, you can probably switch Hank into Middle Linebacker for the rest of the game and let me have Safety. Hank's barely had any playing time since they rarely get by the linebackers." Tony suggested. Coach Harris exhaled a deep breath before nodding his approval. As Tony turned to leave, Coach Harris grabbed his shoulder.
"Son, I need you to do this for the team. I need you to drive the ball up their alley and score, then keep em' out. It's fourth quarter, three minutes left. Can you do this?" Coach Harris asked Tony.
"You know I can." Tony smirked before heading back onto the field.
NCIS
"What just happened?" Ziva asked Ari who's fists were clenched in anger.
"One of the linebackers on Tony's team must have been throwing the game for the Dodgers on purpose." Ari said through clenched teeth. Ziva's own anger started to boil.
"Why would he do that!? He's betraying his own team!" Ziva shouted angrily, holding herself back from going after Dylan herself and beating the crap out of him.
"I have no idea, but I think Tony figured it out, because as soon as he leaned over to talk to Coach Harris, Dylan was called out." Ari said, trying to control himself.
"Harah!" Ziva shouted.
Sweat dripped from Tony's face as Kyle snapped him the ball. It was a pass play. Quickly stepping back to observe his surroundings, he spotted Josh, the team's best wide-receiver wide open in the end-zone. Throwing a bomb at him to avoid any interceptions, Josh successfully caught it for the touchdown. The bleachers erupted in cheers and whistles as the Eagles took the lead. 1 minute left on the clock.
Quickly they kicked the ball off to the Dodgers, who got menacingly close on their return, managing to get 30 yards within their end zone. This would be close. The Dodgers quickly snapped the ball and handed it off to their runningback. Eric quickly reacted and brought him down before he could even get past the line of scrimmage. The Dodgers quickly snapped the ball again, going for a pass. The quarterback threw a bomb at their wide-receiver, which Tony scrambled to intercept. However, due to the sheer distance between the two, Tony was only able to stop him at the 25 yard line. The Dodgers quickly scrambled together and snapped the ball again, going for another run play. The runningback quickly maneuvered his way through the entire defensive line and all the linebackers. It was just Tony left. The runningback passed the 15 yard line as he took off in a mad sprint to get to the end-zone. Seeing his opportunity, Tony cut him off and slammed into his side, stealing his breath. The ball popped out of his hands and Tony quickly picked it up. Tony used the defensive players as shields as he bobbed and weaved through them, stopping the Dodgers from bringing him down. A wall of three players stood in front of him, leaving no room to juke or side-step them. Tony had no choice but to go head on and try to fight his way through them. With one last burst of speed and power, Tony knocked over all three players, sending them crashing to the ground as Tony stepped over them. Touchdown.
"Oh my God! That was simply amazing! He caused a fumble and ran it in for a touchdown!" the announcer practically screamed into the mic. The Eagles bursted into a thundering and ear-splitting roar of cheers.
"Final score: Eagles 36, Dodgers 21!" the announcer shouted, causing an even louder round of cheers to go around the bleachers. The entire team all ran over to Tony, screaming his name like a mantra in praise as they hoisted him up into the air. Against all odds, they beat their rivals.
NCIS
Dylan's fists clenched in fury as he watched Tony run the fumble in for a touchdown. Dylan had heard everything Tony had said to Coach Harris, and every word of it was true, and now he was kicked off the team, his only real chance to get a scholarship. Dylan screamed in anger as he kicked a trash bin several times, spilling its contents. I'm going to get my fucking revenge! I'm going to kill him if it's the last damn thing I do! I fucking SWEAR this!