Stuck

Chapter 20

~Ziva's pov~

A woman appeared in the doorway. The first thing Ziva noticed was the fact that she was very tall, thus looking down on both Tony and her. Angelina's sister, Sarah's mother, was tall as well, but not nearly as tall as Angelina. Other than that, the two women looked very much alike: short brown hair, bright green eyes, a small nose and a fairly large mouth. Just like Sarah.

'Hello! My name is Angelina Decker. You must be Agents David and DiNozzo! I got a call from your coworker, I believe his name was Tim McGee.'

Ziva nodded to confirm the name.

'He said you would come to bring me my adorable little niece!'

She sounded extremely cheerful regarding the circumstances, but when Ziva took a better look at the woman's face, she saw that her eyes were still somewhat red and puffy from crying. It seemed like she had tried to wash it out with water. She also saw that Angelina had tried to conceal the bags under her eyes, probably from a lack of sleep.

'Yes ma'am, here she is,' Tony said while picking Sarah up from her stroller. He sat her on his arm and supported her back with his free hand. Sarah turned her head to look at the strange woman, but instead of being cautious, she cried out in pure joy and stretched her arms out to her aunt. Angelina smiled, took Sarah from him and walked inside.

'Please! Come in!'

Ziva looked at the two while they dissapeared into the living room and then at Tony, who shrugged. Sarah didn't seem to notice the difference between her mother and her aunt. Maybe that was not such a bad thing.
They followed the woman into her house and sat on the couch. Angelina handed Sarah back to Ziva.

'Do you guys want something to drink? A cup of tea, maybe?'

'I'd like that.'

'I would like that as well, thank you.'

Angelina walked to the kitchen. From there she had to shout to make herself understandable.

'Mister McGee told me that you guys would arrive yesterday! What happened! Not that I minded, as long as you guys would show up, and here you are, haha!'

They looked at each other. She quickly shook her head. No need to worry Angelina, she's been through enough in a few days. He nodded back.

'Well, the truth is... We couldn't find the street, so we started to walk around the city, asking mulitple people how we could get here, until we got lost completely. We spend the rest of the day trying to get back to our hotel and by the time we found it, it was already late. We were so exhausted that we just went to our room and went to bed. I'm so sorry that we didn't call you to let you know about it.'

That should have made for a lousy excuse, but somehow he managed to make it sound like the truth. She was officially impressed.
Meanwhile, Angelina was walking back to the livingroom with two steaming cups in her hands.

'No, don't be! It's fine! I got a call from Agent Gibbs, explaining that Agent David had called to let him know that there would be a delay of one day and that there was nothing to worry about. He seemed very nice and gentle.'

Both she and Tony couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

'Yes, towards others maybe,' Tony laughed.

'I think the back of Tony's head must be red and bald by now due to all the 'gentle' slaps to the back whenever he messes up,' she teased.

The two women laughed, and Tony let our a sarcastic 'ha-ha'.
Sarah stirred in Ziva's arms, giggling excitedly because of all the emthousiasm around her. They all looked at her and smiled.
Angelina sighed.