Vacation in Sunriver, OREGON

Chapter 6: The SHARC Pool

They arrived at the entrance of the SHARC pool, and Tony craned his neck to get a better view of the waterslides.

"That looks so cool!" He exclaimed and gestured to one of the slides with people going down with inner tubes. "We should do that. Heh, Ziva". He nudged her with his arm, and indicated to an inner tube designed for two people. "I call being in the back! That way, we can totally wipeout!"

Ziva snorted. "You're such a child, Tony". She then turned to look at him. "But I'll do it since you're so desperate".

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About twenty minutes later, the Team had picked a spot to set their towels down, and hopped in the pool. Abby and McGee both grabbed inner tubes, and floated along next to each other, in the Lazy River. Tony had managed to quickly snatch a double inner tube, and dragged Ziva toward the slides.

They climbed two flights of stairs, and waited for their turn. When it was their turn to go down the slide, the lifeguard beckoned them closer to get situated. Tony set the double inner tube at the entrance of the slide, and sat down in the back. Ziva sat in front of him.

"You guys know the rules?" The lifeguard asked them.

Before waiting for Tony and Ziva to answer, the lifeguard continued.

"You must be facing forward at all times. Hands on the handles, and feet out in front of you".

Both Ziva and Tony nodded their understanding, and the lifeguard pushed the double inner tube down the waterslide.

"Woooohooooo!!!!!" Tony yelled as they twist and turned every which way. 

Even Ziva couldn't help but smiling broadly. She was actually having a blast! Who knew going down a waterslide in an inner tube was so much fun?!

Tony used his body weight to make the double inner tube turn the corners more sharply. Ziva temporally lost balance, and braced herself by putting her hands on Tony's calves. Tony's stomach fluttered as he felt Ziva's soft, delicate hands grip his calves.

All too soon, they reached the end of the waterslide, and Tony jerked the double inner tube to make it flip in midair. Ziva didn't expect that to happen, so she let out a shriek. Coming up for air to breathe, Tony and Ziva looked at each other, before bursting up laughing.

Tony's hair was sticking out in odd angles, and Ziva's eyebrows looked all crazy and wild. Still laughing, Ziva fixed her eyebrows, and Tony tried his best to flatten out his hair.

McGee and Abby had watched them, and also cracked up. "You should've heard yourself, Ziva". Abby managed to say between breaths. "You let out a shriek! I've never heard you shriek! And Tony!" Abby continued, still laughing. "Your hair!"

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Roughly two hours later, the Team decided that it would be best to head home. They were all waterlogged, and wanted to rest at home. Shivering, Ziva climbed out of the pool, and walked quickly to her towel that was resting on the pool chair.

Gibbs was ready for her. Like a father would do for their young child, he threw the towel over her shoulders, and rubbed her arms. Teeth chattering, Ziva thanked Gibbs.

"T-Thank you G-Gibbs".

Gibbs gave her a sideways a smile. "Of course, kid".

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Gibbs had grown attached to Ziva. When he first met her, he had sensed a poor, abandoned girl, in need of rescue. She tugged at his heartstrings when she looked up at them with those innocent, doe-like brown eyes. What Gibbs wanted to do was take her into his family, no matter how dysfunctional they all were.

Ziva's relationship with her father was purely authoritative. Ziva didn't know what it was like to feel wanted, loved, cared about. She didn't know what those things felt like, and Gibbs was determined to change that. Gibbs had suspected that Ziva was hardly praised at all. He witnessed an interaction with Ziva and her father, and he was shocked at what he saw. Ziva's father treated her like a soldier, and Gibbs had a gut feeling that it was how Ziva was treated all her life.

After Ziva was rescued from Somalia, Gibbs had told her that he was proud of her. He was slightly taken aback by her reaction. He expected her to smile a little and thank him, but she didn't. Instead, her head snapped up to look at him, with wide eyes. Gibbs could sense Ziva's brain processing his praise, and her lip trembled a little. Her eyes grew even wider with understandment, and she gave a very wide grin. She whispered a thank you, and Gibbs noticed her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

Gibbs speculated that it was the first time Ziva had heard the words "I'm proud of you". His heart ached at the fact that a beautiful, intelligent, strong young woman like her, was so emotionally abused. Ziva probably was constantly shot down as a child, because she didn't know how to react when she was given praise. Gibbs saw it when he had told her that he was proud of her. They way Ziva's head shot up, the way her eyes grew big with disbelief, the way she grinned her very wide grin after she processed what Gibbs had said. Gibbs wanted so very badly to sweep her into his arms, and show her what a father was supposed to do. He wanted to tell her everything he was proud of her about, and watch her eyes light up. She was given so little, yet she deserved so much.
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Abby also came running to her towel, and Gibbs threw it over her shoulder as well.

After everyone had grabbed their towels, Gibbs stood up from his pool lounge chair. "Let's go home". He said.

Awwww! Papa Gibbs is my favorite 😍
Hope you enjoyed!