Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Chapter 7

The rest of the week flew by, and it was now Sunday. The day Ziva would teach Hazzel ballet. To say that Hazzel was excited, was an understatement. She was absolutely bursting with energy and excitement.

Tony and Hazzel arrived ten minutes early to the studio, and saw that Ziva was already warming up in the bigger of the three studios.

Hazzel stood by the door, and waited until Ziva noticed her. She waved at her as soon as Ziva spotted her.

"Hello Hazzel". Ziva greeted as she walked over to her. "Are you ready for your first ballet class?"

Hazzel beamed and nodded vigorously.

Ziva smiled warmly at Hazzel. "Then take off your shoes, and come inside the studio".

Hazzel obeyed, and came bouncing into the studio. "Dada is coming. He had to go potty". Hazzel told Ziva as she kept bouncing up and down.

Ziva laughed. "Alright". She said. She turned around to close the studio door, when she collided into Tony again.

"Uff". Ziva grunted as she started to fall from the force of impact. She then found a pair of strong arms preventing her from falling, and pushing her back up to standing.

She found herself extremely close to Tony as she gazed into his eyes. Her mouth went dry.

"Uh, th-thank you". Ziva stuttered, still lost in Tony's emerald green eyes. His eyes were almost hypnotic-like. Every time she tried to look away from them, she found that she couldn't.

Tony grinned. "No problem. Glad I caught you this time".

Ziva swallowed and smiled weakly. She finally found the will-power to tear her gaze away from his mesmerizing eyes, and walked away.

"God Ziva, stop it". The voice inside her head chastised her.  "Focus. You're here to teach Hazzel. FOCUS!"

Ziva swallowed again before turning her full attention to Hazzel.

"Hazzel. Since today is your first class, we are going to play some games to get started". Ziva said to Hazzel.

Ziva then turned to Tony. "This will help develop some basic skills before dancing some actual ballet". She explained.

Tony nodded.

Ziva turned back to Hazzel. "All right Hazzel. Come sit on the floor in front of me".

Hazzel sat down and copied everything that Ziva was doing. Ziva placed her legs in the 'butterfly position', and Hazzel copied.

"Feet together, that's it". Ziva instructed. "For this game, we are going to pretend that we are butterflies. And we can go any place in the world because we have wings".

Ziva then began to move her knees up and down, as if they were butterfly wings. Hazzel copied. "Now, where in the world would you like to travel to?" She asked.

Hazzel thought for a moment. "Disney World!" She announced with a beaming smile.

Ziva gasped in faux surprise. "Disney World? How fun!"

Hazzel giggled as she beat her knees faster, copping Ziva.

"Ok. We have arrived at Disney World". Ziva said. "My turn". Ziva thought for a moment. "Let's go to the zoo".

Hazzel giggled as she copied Ziva's movements.

"Well done Hazzel". Ziva compliment. "Very nice".

Hazzel beamed at Ziva's praise.

"Oh no! I see a very scary tiger!" Ziva exclaimed. "Hide!"

Ziva bent her upper body over to meet her legs, and hid her head from sight. Hazzel copied, but was not flexible enough yet to fully bend her upper body to meet her legs.

"Oh, good. The tiger is gone". Ziva said as she sat upright again. "What else do you see Hazzel?"

"I see a crocodile!" Hazzel shouted.

Ziva gasped. "How scary! Hide!" She repeated her previous movement by bending her upper body over to meet her legs, and hiding her head from sight.

"It's gone now!" Hazzel announced after she attempted bending her upper body to meet her legs again.
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From the back of the studio, Tony watched the two of them. He internally smiled as he thought about Ziva. "She is so good with Hazzel". He thought to himself. Wanting to capture the moment, he whipped out his phone, and took a picture.

He took a look at the picture he just took. In his opinion, it captured the scene perfectly. Ziva  looking down at Hazzel with kind eyes and a warm smile. Hazzel looking up at Ziva with a look of adoration and awe.

Tony smiled as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.

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An hour later, the class ended. Ziva had Hazzel pointe and flex her feet and skip around the studio.

"Thank you for teaching her". Tony thanked Ziva as she was putting on her jacket.

Ziva smiled. "No problem. I love teaching her". She glanced over at Hazzel who was twirling in-front of the mirror.

Ziva chuckled. "And she has so much talent. She's a natural".

Tony chuckled as well. "How much do you charge?" He asked as he reached inside his coat jacket to take out his wallet.

Ziva firmly shook her head. "No. I cannot accept. I am doing this because I want to. Not because of the money".

Tony stared at her. "No. I insist". He took out his wallet and shuffled through the cash.

"No Tony". Ziva repeated firmly. "I will not accept".

Tony sighed at Ziva's stubbornness. "And I insist. It isn't right to not pay you".

Ziva exhaled sharply through her nose, quickly losing her patience. She reminded Tony of an angry bull who was preparing for a fight.

He sighed again. "Fine. You win".

Ziva smiled triumphantly. She had won.

"But..." Tony continued. "You have to come have lunch with us".

Ziva was about to protest, when Tony interrupted her. "It's either getting paid, or eating lunch with us".

Ziva pursed her lips. "Fine". She said with a slight smile. "I will have lunch with you and Hazzel. Happy now?"

Tony smiled flirtatiously at her. "Very".

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"With the truth you can drive someone away, with a lie you can lose someone forever. It is better to be hurt by the truth than to be comforted by a lie".