The next day, Tony pulled into Ziva's driveway. Intent on driving her to school instead of her having to ride the bus or walk. He pulled up, put the car in park and got out. As he made his way to her door he remembered last night and they're conversation. How beautiful she looked in the moonlight. He hadn't slept the night before as she filled his mind. Something that had been consistent in the last few days. He walked up to her door and paused for a few seconds. Nervous that she would decline his offer or that she would think it was weird.
As soon as he was about to knock, the door swung open revealing Ziva on the other side. His hand was still in the knocking position as he looked at her. Today she was wearing a pair of blue jeans with a cargo jacket and a black shirt. He assumed this would be something that she normally wore in Israel. She still looked beautiful, no matter what she wore. It was about 2 minutes of him looking at her, with his hand still in the air, that he realized that he was staring. She laughed at his facial expression and his frozen posture. His face flushed red and brought his hand down to rest in his pocket. She let out a chuckle and looked at him with her head cocked to the side.
"I..uh...I was wondering... if you wanted a...ride to...school." He cursed at himself in his head for how much of an idiot he was. He definitely sounded like one, especially around her. He heard Rivka from what he assumed was the kitchen and then a pot hitting the floor, producing a loud bang noise. Ziva turned quickly and rushed to see if her mother was alright, with Tony right behind her. Even though he didn't know if he was allowed into her house, he wanted to see if Rivka was okay too. His mother had told him that he had a hero's complex. That he always wanted to help people.
When they made their way to the kitchen they saw Rivka standing with her hand on her forehead. Ziva moved to her, searching for any possible injuries. She spoke in Hebrew to her mother in company as she wanted to make sure everything was good before switching to English.
"(Ima, are you alright?)" Rivka nodded. Rivka switched to English when she saw Tony standing in the doorway.
"Yes, I am alright. Just dropped the pan." She turned to Tony and a smile made its way on her face.
"Hello, Tony. Sorry for the mess, we are still getting things put away." She was referring to the boxes still scattered around the house.
"It's all good. You should see my house." He let out a chuckle. His mom and dad normally kept the house clean, but recently everybody had been busy either at work, school or other activities to really clean. Contrary to popular belief, he didn't have a messy room. His mother had always made him keep his room straight. It kind of stuck with him throughout the years. Everybody assumed that since he was a jock there was going to be clothes and things everywhere. But that was just their assumption. Something he laughed at in his head.
At his comment, Rivka smiled and picked up the pan from the ground. Ziva gave him a slight smile and looked down shyly. When Rivka looked back up, she glanced at the clock on the microwave and her eyes went wide.
"You two need to get to school. It's almost 8:00. Go before you get late." She practically swatted them out of the house with one of the rags from the kitchen. They made their way out and Ziva started to head towards the sidewalk. Tony stopped in his tracks. Yes, he had a great view of her backside, something that was very much appreciated, but he couldn't let her walk herself to school when he could drive her. When they were close to being late.
"Hey. I can give you a ride. We'll get there faster." Ziva turned around, contemplating her options and figured why the hell not, and made her way to the passenger side of his car. Tony turned the key and the car roared to life. They pulled out of her driveway and pulled up to the school in less than three minutes. They both bolted from the seats, closed the door to the car, and practically ran to their first-period class. Thankfully, they made it with a minute to spare and took their seats. Ziva sat in the seat right next to Tony today, something she quit doing after gym yesterday. Barnes was taking attendance and when he got to Ziva's name, he mispronounced it. Tony looked up and looked at the man.
"It's pronounced Dahveed." He stretched out the name, giving no room for error so the teacher wouldn't make the mistake again. Ziva turned to look at him as he spoke. She was surprised that he sounded somewhat offended. It was her name, why was he getting bent out of square for it? The teacher nodded at the enthusiastic correction from the student that normally fell asleep in his class, and took in the information as if it was important. He continued down the list and once he was completed, he started their lesson for the day. Several people in the class were looking in their direction. Some glaring, others laughing. The new gossip around the school was that Tony Gibbs had changed. Changed for the new girl. Now they were seeing that it was true. Nobody thought that that would ever change. Some praised him for it, while others started to hate him for it. Not that he cared anyway.
The lesson was actually surprisingly easy for Tony, as he actually made attention to the work. Halfway through the class, Barnes called out that they could complete the rest of the work on their own or they could work with a partner. Ziva was surprised when Tony turned to her and asked if she would be his partner. She gave a slight smile and nodded. They got their work done within 20 minutes, with 15 minutes of class left. They smiled at each other as they looked at each other. Tony couldn't help but smile. Would it be too early to ask her on a date? Probably as they had been fighting the day before about him being a skirt chaser. He would wait it out. Get to know her better. Let her get to know him better as well. He could ask her to come to their game tomorrow. That wasn't weird, was it? He didn't think so. He zoned back in to see Jeanne in the corner whispering to EJ and Zoe and glaring at Ziva. When Jeanne saw that he was looking in that direction, she sat straighter and batted her eyelashes, as if he would drop to his knees for her. No, he wouldn't. He knew what a real woman was like and she was sitting right next to him. He completely ignored Jeanne's attempt to get his attention. He looked back at Ziva and smiled at her face. Her nose was scrunched up as she looked at her phone. He noticed it was one of the newer ones that were just released. He knew because he had the same one. And Tim wouldn't shut up about it.
"You having trouble?" He asked looking at the phone. She looked back up at him with a slight blush on her face.
"Yes. I have never had a phone before. So this is new to me." Tony looked at her like she was crazy. No phone. A teenager. A teenager with no phone until now. Tony saw this look and gave him a slightly bigger smile.
"My father said that it would interfere with training and language skills. He said it would cause me to be unfocused." Tony could understand that enough. Apparently Ziva's dad was a real hardass. Where was he anyway? He had noticed her mother but that was it, did her parents not live together? Was her father still in Israel? Again it was like Ziva could read his mind.
"My father died about 6 months ago. Along with my older brother Ari. It was one of the things that was easier about moving here." Tony looked at her with sympathy in his eyes. Something Ziva normally didn't like to see. But with Tony, it made her heart flutter. Not a lot of people have shown genuine care to her in her life. Her mother always had along with her siblings, never her father. It was all about how emotions were a weakness and to never cry as it was a sign that you were the weakest link. Something she never wanted to be.
"I'm sorry to hear that. I couldn't imagine how hard that would be for you and your mother." Ziva nodded.
"They were never around because of work. The last needle was when my sister, Tali was killed almost two weeks ago. We wanted to get away from the violence of our country. Get away from the death." Tony reached over and placed his hand over hers. Squeezing it gently. Giving her a little bit of comfort. Now wasn't the right time to correct her English. He didn't know if now was the right time to have this conversation. At the end of math class and sitting at desks. But he let her talk. Something he found himself enjoying. Her voice was soothing. Calming. Something that he could get used to hearing every day. By the time she stopped talking they had moved closer together and were now only about three feet apart. When Tony noticed this, he blushed slightly. No girl had ever made him blush. Had never made him feel butterflies in his stomach. But this was Ziva, he learned in the past few days that she was different, in a good way. He decided he wouldn't fight the pull that she had on him. Ziva was looking at him in almost the same way. Looking deep into his beautiful green eyes. She was lost in him. Just as he was lost in her.
The bell was what caused them to look away from each other. They both let out a small smile and gathered their things, putting them into their backpacks. They made their way to the door of the classroom, shoulder to shoulder. His shoulder was tingling from hers bumping against his. Little did he know, she felt the same tingle. He didn't want to walk away from her. He just wanted to stay close and be in their little bubble that nobody else was allowed into. But unfortunately, they had separate classes for this period.
"Do you remember where to go for your next class or do you need me to show you again?" He didn't want her to get lost, just like he didn't want her to get lost yesterday. He wouldn't admit it, but he was jealous when he saw Tim showing Ziva to her last class. He wouldn't make that mistake again. He would never hurt her again.
Ziva knew the way to her next class but she wanted to stay near to Tony. So, she shook her head no, that she needed help finding it again. Something she learned from her father was a photographic memory and a good sense of direction. It had stuck with her since she was around six years old. He nodded his head and smiled, unaware that she was lying about her ability to find her class. They walked again, shoulder to shoulder in the hallway to her Chemistry class, and gained some odd looks from others in the hallway. The walked to her next classroom and he dropped her off and told her he would come after class so they could walk to lunch together. Ziva saw him walk down to the other end of the hallway and then walked into her chemistry class.
Unfortunately, this was the class she shared with the four girls who clearly didn't like her. She could see them in the back of the class in the corner, whispering to each other and laughing. She took the same seat from yesterday and pulled out her notebook. Chemistry was the type of class that felt like there were endless notes to be written down and remembered. She tuned into the teacher intently and watched as she wrote down things on the whiteboard and thoroughly explained what was being drawn. She liked this teacher. She seemed very kind and seemed like she really cared about the education of her students. About halfway through the class, Ziva felt a buzz in her pocket. She pulled out her new phone and placed it to where the teacher couldn't see it and saw that it was a text. She didn't recognize the number. She opened the message and smiled at what she saw.
202-078-1971: Hey, this is Tony. Hope it's okay I gave you my number. I may have snuck it in when you were having trouble with it.
Ziva (202-112-1982): That is fine, Tony. No trouble at all.
202-078-1971: Oh crap! I gotta go Jacobs saw I had my phone out. Have fun in Chemistry! Lol
Ziva (202-112-1982): See you after class. :)
She didn't get a reply back which either meant his phone got taken by the teacher or he put it away before he could take it. She noticed that she was still in the clear with her teacher and quickly saved Tony's number into her phone before putting it back into her pocket. She then tuned back in to see Mrs. Williams handing out a worksheet which she assumed would be today's homework. She had always enjoyed homework. Not because of the work, but because of the distraction it provided from her father. It would be a getaway from her father's activities. She politely took the piece of paper and saw that it was front and back. Now that she was in America with more freedom, she couldn't see a reason to enjoy homework. Maybe if it involved Tony. She smiled at that thought. Maybe they could do their homework together. Gosh! Why was she being such a girl? She had never been like this before. She had always put boys last, especially the popular ones. They were always so arrogant and needy where she came from. That seemed to be similar to America. Tony, however, seemed different after he explained himself to her.
The bell rang and her pocket buzzed again. That was...fast.
Tony: I'm in the hallway against the locker. Abby is wondering if you'll be joining us for lunch. I told her that was up to you.
Ziva smiled at the text. It was sweet but at the same time, friendly. She walked out and saw Tony leaning against the locker just like he said. As she made her way over to him, she could sense someone behind her but shrugged it off seeing as it was a busy hallway. A shoulder collided with hers, shocking her and causing the books in her arm to fall onto the floor. She looked up to see Jeanne and her lackeys laughing as they looked at her and walked away. Tony saw what happened and rushed over to help her pick them up. They both stood up together and were face to face and closer than they expected to be. Tony looked down at her, as there was a significant height difference between them. She was looking up at him and she slightly blushed. Just like Tony, nobody had ever made her blush before. They heard the laughs around them from the fall, but they couldn't hear them. They were in their world again. Their bubble. After about another minute they both broke eye contact and Ziva stuffed her books into her bag and they headed off to the cafeteria. They were walking closer if that was even possible. She liked being around him. Now that she could see the emotion, what she felt was the real Tony, she felt like she could trust him. She was already starting too.