Generation Next (X-Men fanfic)

Thirty

Ziva wandered into the downstairs room that Stevie had set up as what he called command central, following the sound of Stevie's shouting.

"No! No, no no! Ahhhh! This is so not fair!"

Inside the room, he had large boards set up as if they were the FBI plotting out a high-level sting operation. He'd gotten his boogery little paws on blueprints for the White House, with help from Stone, whose father is a senator. And he'd managed to get this all together in only three days, she shuddered to think what the little maniac could accomplish if he had more time to plan.

Vincenzo called after their first conference to let him know it would take a little longer to get the van than he initially thought. It turned out his graphics guy was in jail with his uniforms guy on the same "bum rap". He was heading to Jersey to use his backup guy and that added to the original timeline.

She wondered what had gone wrong now to induce Stevie's ranting. "What's the problem, Booger Wonder Boy?"

He gave her a hangdog look. "I just got off the phone with one of Vincenzo's guys. They were passing through, who the hell knows, bumblefuck-middle-of-nowhere-prairie-country and some lame small county sheriff pulled them over and gave them a giant beef about a broken taillight on one of the cars."

She frowned. "First, don't let Storm hear you say bumblefuck. Second, it's a taillight, so what? Shouldn't they get a warning and be on their merry way?"

"Normally yes. But Vincenzo, being Vincenzo, had to open his mouth and give the cop a piece of his mind about, 'Harassing good decent upstanding citizens who are driving along minding their own business doing nothing', the cop took offense to the statement and tossed them in a holding cell until he could thoroughly check them out. So now they have no idea when they're going to get here with the van!" He slumped forward until his head thumped down on the table in front of him.

"Hey, kiddo, don't worry it's Vincenzo, right? I'm sure he'll be out in no time. Doesn't he have like a pack of lawyers? And what was it you said, persuasive skills off the charts?" She patted him awkwardly on the back.

Stevie sat up, smiling suddenly. "You're right! He always has an entire team of lawyers on standby! He'll find a way! He'll be out in no time! Thanks, Ziva!"

She shook her head at him, the kid could turn on a dime. She turned and left the room and let him get back to whatever plotting he was up to. As she exited the room she nearly collided with Craig.

"Oh, sorry, Craig!" She backed up quickly, she felt heat rush into her cheeks as she blushed like an idiot.

It was lame and embarrassing how often she blushed around him. She wasn't a kid and she shouldn't act like one. But around him, she couldn't seem to control her reactions. Her stomach did little flips, her legs got all rubbery, and she wanted to turn tail and run from him, while still wanting to throw herself into his arms and hold him tightly. It made no sense.

It was totally embarrassing.

He smiled and backed up a couple of steps and then as if he couldn't decide what to do, took a step forward again. "Hey, um, I was looking for you."

"Really? Why? Is something wrong? Did Mellissa do something to my stuff again?"

He laughed and shook his head. "No, nothing is wrong and I swear she was nowhere near your things, they are safe from another whipped cream and sprinkles invasion. I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh, well, okay. What?" She had a sudden urge to run. But to do that she'd have to push past him and that simply wouldn't do. He'd know exactly what she was up to ... avoiding him.