Recap: Tuesday, 24th November 2009. Someone has too much time on his/her hands...
~ Uh huh! ~
A cough made Ziva look up. Startled, her mouth opened slightly as she spotted the cause of the noise. There, towering on the other side of the stair-rail, stood the one and only director of the NCIS.
Vance shook his head, a smile playing across his lips. "What are you doing there, huh?"
Mini Ziva bit her bottom lip, her eyes still wide in shock. Clearly she hadn't expected anyone to caught her. "Clim'p?" She answered in a small voice.
The Director smirked, "And do you think it's good to do that here?"
Using the same small voice like before, Ziva affirmed hesitant, -"Ken?"-
"We don't climb along the stair-rail," Leon explained as he grabbed over the rail to get a hold of the little girl, who was in the process of climbing upstairs and had already made it to the second platform.
"But 'm bored," Mini-Ziva protested as Leon carried her in his arms back downstairs to Gibbs' desk.
"I believe you, Ziva. But what you did was very very dangerous. You could have hurt yourself very bad, if you would have fallen down." Vance gently explained. His steps haltering as they reached Gibbs.
The lead agent had looked up from his file as he had heard the explanation and now wondered what had caused it in the first place.
"You want to tell him what you did, Ziva?" Vance asked.
The little girl was quick to shake her head. She knew that Gibbs wouldn't be pleased with her.
"Leon?"
The Director sighed, "She was climbing the stairs... Along the outer stair-rail..."
Gibbs was at a loss of words as he heard this. "Ziva..." He stood up and rounded his desk, coming to a halt right next to Vance, who still carried Mini-Ziva.
"She was only a few steps up," Vance lied without batting an eye.
"Uh huh," Gibbs smirked at his boss. He knew fully well that this hadn't been the case.
"Ziv, look at me," he slightly bent down to catch her gaze. Reluctantly the little girl lifted her head.
"'m sowry, 'ibbs."
The team leader smiled at her whispered apology. He could see that she really meant it.
"You know this was dangerous?"
Ziva nodded, "Dayn'jrus..."
Gibbs flicked her nose, before taking her from Vance into his own arms, "You going to do that again?"
"Nuhu.. pwo'mise'" Ziva whispered into his neck, hiding her face there.
"Good," Gibbs hugged her closer to him, "Now let's do something about this extra energy of yours..."
With a smile on his lips and a subtle nod, Vance left the pair to their business.
"What we do?" Ziva asked him curiously, all traces of her earlier remorse gone as she studied Gibbs' face.
(A few minutes later)
"Okay, let's see how hard you can hit me..." Gibbs instructed as he stood with Ziva in the boxing ring of the NCIS gym. Both had changed into some sportswear, which the team leader kept handy for such occasions.
Ziva looked questionably at him, "But you say no hit..." She protested.
Gibbs laughed and momentarily sat the square hand target down, "You are allowed to hit. But this only applies to this ring. And only if your opponent," he pointed to himself and then to the target, "Wears something to protect himself."
The little girl furrowed her eyebrows as she contemplated this. "But I no wanna hurt you..."
He smiled, "You won't. Your kicks will be stopped by this square hand target. Here," he gave Ziva the large square to hold and lightly chuckled as it covered more than half of her, "It protects whoever is holding it from the hits." He very lightly punched the foam filled square, "See?"
Mini-Ziva bobbed her head in acknowledge. Gibbs gently ruffled her hair and quickly stood up, taking the square hand target back from Ziva.
"Can we start?"
"Uh huh!" Ziva smiled widely at him and Gibbs watched as a mischief gleam appeared in her eyes.
"Alright," the agent took in a more stable position, "You can hit as hard and as often as you want, but please try to only hit the target..."
"And not my more sensitive area," he thought with a smirk. He wouldn't put it past her to hit him down there.
Mini-Ziva smiled toothily and started to circle Gibbs, who raised an eyebrow at her movements.
"Ziv..."
The little girl giggled and more or less seriously made a charge, hitting the square hand target alternatively with both of her fists, a couple of times. Gibbs shook his head at the giggling mess in front of him. He wasn't sure what he had expected from her, but this wasn't something he had thought of. Not that he minded her giggling. It was a nice change of sound in his otherwise quite and boring working routine.
Gibbs smiled as Ziva stepped back to catch her breath, "Very good. Can you kick, too?"
"Uh huh!"
Mini-Ziva jumped slightly before she launched another attack. This time putting all her strength into it as she raised her right leg to kick the square hand target in Gibbs' hands. However, the force of the rebound caused her to stumble back and land on her bottom.
Gibbs immediately got concerned, "You okay?"
The little girl looked up at him and started to giggle uncontrollably.
With a relieved sigh, Gibbs joined her laughter. "Want to try again?"
Ziva nodded and quickly scrambled to her feet. "I will kick ya ass!"
"Ziva David!" Gibbs bellowed sternly.
"Oopsy?" She looked innocently at him.
The team leader shook his head, "Where did you got those words from?"
"Kev..." Ziva replied very quietly. Kevin or Kev was a new boy in her preschool group. She and the other children didn't really liked him, but Ziva couldn't help herself to be sort of fascinated by how he talked to the adults. She never would dare to be as backchatting as he was.
Gibbs frowned. He had heard about Kevin from other parents. This kid was bad news."Do me a favor and don't hang around this boy, alright?"
"O'tay," Ziva grinned and shrugged her small shoulders, "No like him ay'way..."
The team leader laughed aloud at hearing this. "Do you want to continue?" He shook the square hand target a bit while asking.
"Uh huh!"
Though, the next kick had the same result as the last one and she found herself sitting on the floor of the ring, again.
"'ibbs!" Mini-Ziva frowned. This couldn't be so hard, could it?
Gibbs set the square hand against the corner of the ring. "Let's try this in a different way."
Still sitting at the floor, his shrunken agent cooked her head to the side, clearly interested in what he meant by 'other way'.
"Come on," Gibbs took in a fighting posture, "Stand like I do."
With a small and barely visible shrug she copied his posture.
"Okay, now put your left foot like this... Good... Now you got a stable base for the kick."
"Kick now?" Mini-Ziva looked from his feet up to Gibbs. Her face scrunched up in concentration.
Gibbs smiled and nodded his head in affirmation. "You can." He eased his posture back to a normal stand.
"You first!" Ziva pleaded instantly.
The agent chuckled and resumed his fighting posture, "Alright. You do it like this." He executed his kick in slow motion. Afterward he smiled at his shrunken agent, "Now you."
With excessive concentration Ziva copied his movement, this time staying on her feet.
"I no fall!" Mini-Ziva jumped around, excited.
"Uh huh," Gibbs smiled at her excitement, "That was very good."
Ziva grinned toothily, "But I kick no high you..." She slightly wrinkled her brows.
"I kicked not as high as you did." Gibbs helped her out, placing his hand on her hair
Instead of repeating the long sentence, Ziva just nodded in affirmation, causing Gibbs to grin.
"Another time," he thought.
"Want to do some more kicks?"
Again, Mini-Ziva nodded, "But you, too!"
Gibbs thought for a moment, "I could use the training," he silently decided as he bowed his assent.
By the time the team leader decided to call it quits, Ziva could hit and kick the square hand target without any loss of balance. Gibbs had to admit that she even could kick very high now. He made a silent note to emphasis that she wasn't supposed to use this new skill outside of the gym - ever.
"Come on, squirt. Let's hit the showers."
"Hit?"
Ziva puzzled expression made Gibbs laugh loudly. Sometimes she reminded him too much of her older self...
~ Fin ~