Aht lo leh-vahd

First Day of School

A few months later Tali turned three. Old enough to begin pre-school. So Tony and Ziva enrolled her into a pre-school close to their work.

"Tali are you excited?" Ziva asked.

"No." She said sourly.

"Why no kiddo?" Tony asked.

"I do not want to leave Alex or Tommy." She said sadly.

They've had Tommy since they found him. No family wanted him and Ziva couldn't just throw him in the system. She had grown to love him.

And Tali adored him. He had become quite the adventurous kid once he opened up to everyone.

Ziva was still his security blanket though. Whenever he was scared she was the only one who could calm him down.

"Tali everyone has to go to school." Ziva told her.

"But I want to wait till they can go too." She whined.

"By the time they will be old enough you will be in big kid school." Tony explains.

"I don't want to." She said throwing a fit. She kicked the table and stomped off.

Ziva jumped up behind her and grabbed her arm.

"Talia! Throwing a fit will not get you what you want." She said, spanking her leg a couple times.

Tony stood there not sure what to do, seeing as how they hadn't really had to do this before.

Tali looked at her mother tears in her eyes.

"I hate you." She yelled squirming out of her mothers grip and running outside.

Kalev hot on her tail.

Ziva froze. As the words I hate you flooded her mind. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"Ziva she didn't mean that." Tony said seeing the pained expression on her face.

"I do not get it. I disciplined her, she threw a fit and I was responding through that. And she hates me for it?" She said not getting it.

Tony sighed wrapping his arms around her hoping to calm her down.

When she was a child punishments were terrible. A small spanking like that didn't even hurt it just got her attention.

"Well she's three and we've smacked her butt a small handful of times." Tony pointed out. "You probably just hurt her feelings."

"I am going to go find her." Ziva said pushing him off her.

She walked outside and scanned the area.

She saw Kalev sitting at the bottom of the tree that Gibbs has built a tree house in and knew Tali would be in there.

She approached the tree and heard sniffling. Her heart broke.

"Tali?" She called softly.

But the little girl refused to answer. Causing Ziva to have to climb up the tree house. Once she got into the tree house she walked over to Tali who turned away from her.

She sighed and picked her up.

"Tali you know I do not like punishing you." Ziva said softly.

"Then why did you?" She asked tears in her eyes.

"Because you did something wrong." Ziva said. "When you make a decision it has a consequence, and it is up to you whether or not it is a good one or a bad one. And what you did caused you to get a spanking." Ziva explained to her.