NCIS High School Teenage Years

Chapter 9: Rehearsal

A couple of weeks went by since Ziva cooked Italian for Tony, and Eli David was still in Israel for the mandatory meeting. The ballet performance drew closer and closer, and tensions were rising. Ms. Fontaine became short, and less accepting of mistakes. With only a few more weeks left, Ziva and Tali were rehearsing harder and longer than ever.

.
"Ziva arms!" Ms. Fontaine yelled at her, as Ziva and the other six girls were rehearsing Rhapsody and Blue.

Ziva engaged her arm muscles as she twirled across the dance floor.

"Give me more attitude, Tali!" Ms. Fontaine yelled over the music. "Tali! Seduce the audience!" Ms. Fontaine threw her arms in the air. "Stop, stop, stop!"

The pianist stopped playing, and the seven girls stopped dancing. Ms. Fontaine turned to Tali.

"Tali, how many times do I have to say it? More attitude, more sexy, more sass. More, more, more!"

Tali nodded.

"I'm going to pull you out of Naughty Girls". Ms. Fontaine declared. "Instead, you will part of the Tap Duet with Sean. The DVD is over there". Ms. Fontaine waved her hand toward the tiny television set the was resting on a table on the lobby. "Learn your part in fifteen minutes".

As Tali nodded again and walked out of the studio, Ms. Fontaine turned to Charlotte. "Charlotte, take Tali's place. I assume you know it?" Charlotte nodded, and took Tali's place.

Ms. Fontaine clapped her hands together. "Alright ladies, from the top".

The seven Naughty Girl dancers ran into place, and took their starting positions.

.
In the lobby, Tali turned on the tiny TV set, and fast-forwarded the DVD until she reached the Tap Duet. As the two dancers were dancing on the screen, Tali tried to mirror their movements. She replayed the dance many times until she memorized it. She glanced at the clock . She only had five minutes left.

"Alright Tali, you got this". Tali told herself as she watched the Duet again. "Just remember that I wait on count 2 and 3, and move on count 4. Look at him on count 5 and 6".

At that moment, the seven exhausted Naughty Girl dancers stumbled out of the studio for a water break. Tali heard Ms. Fontaine call her from inside the studio.

"Alright Tali, let's see what you have so far!" She yelled.

Tali walked inside the studio, and took her place. As she was waiting for the music to reach the Duet part, she saw Ari and Tony walk inside the building and take a seat on the bench in the lobby. They were talking to each other, and Tony was nodding. She saw Tony's eyes scan the studio; looking for Ziva. Tali smiled to herself. Tony was head over heels for Ziva, but he wouldn't admit it.

------------------------------------------------------

Rehearsal ended, and Ziva and Tali met Tony and Ari at the bench.

"What are you two doing here?" Ziva asked, taking a huge gulp of her water.

Ari spoke. "Eli has ordered you to take an extra Mossad practice today. Tony's taking you. I'm taking Tali to voice lessons.

Ziva's eyes widened. "Is he crazy?" She hissed. "I don't need the extra practice".

Ari shook his head. "I know, but he is concerned that your skills are slipping due to how much you spend at the studio".

Ziva sighed. "What do I have to do today?" She asked, taking another gulp of her water.

"Multiple attackers with actual weapons". Ari answered. "I think around ten attackers, and they're all using real knives".

Ziva choked on her water. "Is he crazy?" Ziva spat out. "Doesn't he know that I could get seriously hurt?"

"I know Zivaleh". Ari said. "Oh, and speaking of Eli, he landed earlier this evening. He's home right now".

Ziva snorted. "Great, just what I need".

"Ziva!" Tali said, slightly raising her voice. "Don't talk about Abba that way. I know that he doesn't treat you right, but he's still your Abba".

"Tali, he doesn't treat you the way he treats me. You are his princess, his nesichah. I'm his warrior. He would never hurt you because he loves you. Me? I'm just his punching bag. He lets you follow your dreams. My future has already been decided for me". Ziva said shortly.

Tali looked down at the floor. She knew what Ziva said was the truth, and hated that things had to be that way.

"Are you ready Tali?" Ari asked Tali, noticing the tension between his half-sisters.

Tali nodded and they walked out of the building.

------------------------------------------------------

Tony pulled up infront of the building being used for Mossad training. From the outside, Tony could hear yelling and the sounds of gunfire.

Ziva got out of the car, and turned to Tony. "I'll be done in about two hours". She said. "See you then".

Tony waved goodbye to Ziva and went to go park his car. Once he was parked, he pulled out his phone and started to play 'Bing Ball'.