“This is a high school?” he asked, incredulously, as he parked. It looked more like an old mansion than a school, only it had wrought iron gates in front and heavier security than the Navy Yard at NCIS.
Cali rolled her eyes, unbuckling her seat belt and grabbing her bag from her feet. “A private high school, yeah, with Senators’ kids and foreign diplomats, and I think we have a couple of sheik’s sons too. Director of the CIA and FBI both sent their kids here.”
“No wonder Jenny sent you here.” Muttered Gibbs, half to himself. “How in hell did she afford a place like this? Not even the director’s job pays this well, but as an agent?”
“Grandperé set up a fund for me before he died. I think I was, like, four.” Shrugged the girl. “Mom inherited the house from him too. He made sure we’d never have to worry about money. See you later.”
She pushed the door open but he caught her by the arm. “Hey, I’m going to go in and work out all the paperwork, okay? Do you mind if I take a look around?”
Cali shouldered her bag. “Go ahead. It’s not like I have a reputation to protect or anything.” She teased.
He rolled his eyes. “Nice, thanks.” But the corner of his mouth twitched up and she knew he was trying not to laugh. “I’ll be sure to stay out of your way. Do me a favour, and try not to get into any trouble today, okay?”
“I’m not that much like Mom.” She retorted, closing the door. He shook his head, amused, and got out, heading into the school after her and towards the office.
He felt very out of place in a building that seemed to be filled with wealthy teenagers who were the very definition of both parts of the description. Mini-DiNozzos, he observed to himself wryly. He managed to find another adult somewhere in the maze of designer labels and clothes that made the father in him die a little inside. He thanked God silently for the fact that his daughter was content to dress a lot like Ziva did, going for comfort and classic style rather than fashion, before asking after the main office. The man looked at him like was a little nuts, then realized he was serious and pointed him toward the headmaster’s quarters. Gibbs shook his head, in disbelief this time, and hoped he’d figure out this world at some point. The headmaster seemed like a nice enough guy, although it took a while to explain that he wasn’t trying to enroll a student. Once that little miscommunication was straightened out, things went fairly smoothly. “Ms. Sheppard never said anything about Callida’s father coming in.” The man, Fredericks the name-plate read, informed him. “I’m afraid I’ll have to call her and....”
“That’s sort of the problem, sir.” Said Gibbs as the other man reached for the phone on his desk. “Jenny’s dead.”
“Oh dear.” Fredericks looked appalled. “Oh, my, I’m terribly sorry for your loss. Do you mind my asking...” he didn’t finish the sentence, but Gibbs knew what he was asking.
“She and the two agents with her were attacked in L.A last week.” he said, giving the official story. “It appears to have been random, but she didn’t survive the firefight.”
He saw anxiety in Fredericks expression. “But you said this was a week ago. Callida has been attending classes all week, and none of this came to light sooner.”
Gibbs shifted in his chair, holding the headmaster’s gaze steadily but sadly. “We only just found out about Cali on Friday. She came as a bit of a surprise to the agency. And to me.”
“Oh! So you really are her father, you didn’t simply adopt her?” clarified Fredericks, and Gibbs nodded. “Well, in that case, I don’t see why there should be any problem. You’ll have to go through the same checks as any other parent of course, but I see no cause for worry where Callida is concerned. She will, of course, be granted leniency because of her mother’s passing, and I imagine you’ll want to take her out of classes for the funeral.”
“If you don’t mind, sir, I would like that.” Agreed Gibbs. “I’d also like for knowledge of Jenny’s death to remain as private as possible. The investigation is still in progress, and I know that Cali would rather not have a fuss made over her.”
“Of course.” Assured Fredericks. “That’s a perfectly reasonable request. So, I imagine you’ll be wanting to look around the school, just to be sure that you want Callida to continue here. I can take you on a tour right now, or later if you’d prefer, and before you leave, I’ll just make sure you get a copy of the papers for the background check et cetera. I don’t imagine there will be a problem, seeing as you work for NCIS, but I’m afraid it’s standard. If you’ll come with me please?”
Gibbs followed the man through the school, understanding most of the endless stream of comments from his guide, but not all. Personally, he didn’t see anything wrong with a public high school, but he could definitely see the advantages of the facilities here, and he couldn’t help but be impressed. After a general tour, the headmaster also pulled out a copy of Cali’s schedule and brought him to each class. They stood at the back of the classroom and listened for a while in each one, to get a feel for the teachers and the subjects, Gibbs figured. When they reached Cali’s second period class, he spotted the girl in her seat, standing out amongst all the kids who looked like they had their own personal make-up and hair crew in her lavender eye shadow and her hair pinned up loosely in one of those plastic claw things. He heard the teacher call her name and she glanced up from whatever she’d been doing before (obviously not paying attention, he thought to himself) and answered. He smiled a little at the precise, very correct answer she gave in her usual matter-of-fact style before she went back to her previous task. From here it looked like she was doodling in her notebook. He felt a little bubble of pride in his chest at the surprised, yet pleased look of the teacher when he’d expected to catch a student not paying attention and had gotten exactly the answer he was looking for instead. It pleased Gibbs to know that his daughter was just as bright as her mother, and just as good at multi-tasking as he was. It was a good combination. Fredericks led him to the next class, and this time Gibbs understood exactly what he was saying, because it wasn’t some jumble of statistics. “As you’ve seen, Callida is one of our best students, and a great favourite among the teachers. She’s very intelligent, and I won’t lie, it would be a great loss to the school if she didn’t continue to attend. She’s a star student, and I often use her work to show potential parents. I hope you will let her continue to attend.”
Now, Gibbs’s B.S. meter was pretty good, and he knew that these were the kinds of pick-up lines that were used on rich parents all the time, but from his observations, the headmaster knew that he wasn’t a parent who could be sold B.S., nor would it really be all that useful if he was because he didn’t have the money to matter that much. If Fredericks was trying to convince him to let Cali stay, it wasn’t because he could do good things for the school, it was because his daughter made the school look good. “I intend to let Cali make that decision.” He replied easily. “I trust her and Jenny’s choices on this one far more than I trust my own. If Cali thinks this is where she needs to be, then I won’t pull her out.”
Fredericks looked absolutely delighted to have managed to hold onto his star-student and Gibbs felt that flash of pride again that he was getting very accustomed to feeling in connection to his daughter. “Excellent!” said the man, happily. “I’ll get you a new parent’s packet, you won’t have to do all of it, just the parents’ information, and I’ll get you week-long visitor’s pass so you can get through security, then I’ll update Callida’s information from the packet.”
The two men headed back to Fredericks’s office and Gibbs accepted the thick stack of papers that he knew he would be filling out for the next three days. He spent the whole drive back to DC and NCIS headquarters lost in thought. He really needed to go through Jenny’s will now, because if the numbers he’d managed to catch during his tour were right, there was no way in hell he could afford to keep sending Cali to the school after this year’s tuition ran out. What had she said? Something about a fund set up by her grandfather when she was little? Hopefully Jenny had managed to transfer the accounts to his name so he could use them, otherwise he’d have a hell of a time trying to get access to the money, and he didn’t have anything he could use between now and then. Fortunately, he wasn’t paying out alimony checks anymore since all of his ex-wives had gotten remarried at least once, so he could afford a daughter, just not the school. Damn, he really hoped Jenny had worked this all out already, ‘cause he really hated lawyers. Rule number twenty-six, never involve lawyers. Before he knew it, he was back at work, and he sighed as he got out of the car. Time to go do lots of paperwork. And explain to his team that he had a daughter. Wonderful.
“She had a daughter.” Muttered Tony sadly. “I’m the reason that kid’s an orphan.”
“Gibbs’ll find her father, Tony.” Assured McGee. “Cali will be fine, don’t worry. It’s not your fault.” Ziva didn’t take either side, she agreed with both of her partners. If Tony hadn’t insisted that they let Jenny alone when she ordered them to, she might not be dead, but at the same time, none of them had known that anything like this could happen. “Tell him Ziva, tell him it’s not his fault.” Ziva glanced up, but was saved from answering by the ding of the elevator.
“Hey Boss.” Greeted Tony, trying not to let any of his self-doubt slip through.
McGee immediately jumped on this new opportunity. “Did you find Cali’s dad, Boss?” he asked hoping that Gibbs would understand what he was doing.
“Yeah, I found him.” Replied Gibbs grimly.
“See Tony? She’s fine. You followed orders, and it turned out badly, but that happens sometimes.”
Tony looked up at his friend, pain in his eyes. “The kid probably hates me, McGee.” He sighed, not even bothering with his usual teasing names. “Probably blames me for her mother’s death, and she should.”
“Actually, DiNozzo, I’m pretty sure she blames me.” Commented Gibbs quietly, surprising everybody.
Ziva was the first to regain speech. “Why? You weren’t even there.”
“Exactly.” Gibbs sat down at his desk with his massive pile of paperwork, sighing and rubbing his eyes tiredly. “I was never there.”
McGee was actually the first one to realize what he meant, which was almost as surprising as what he realized. “You’re her father.” He said, stunned.
“Bingo, Tim.” Sighed Gibbs, uncapping his pen and starting in on the papers.
“How come you didn’t say anything earlier Gibbs?” asked Ziva, puzzled.
Gibbs looked up at her tiredly. “I didn’t know, Ziva, Jenny never told me. The first I’d ever heard about Cali was when I walked into Jenny’s house and found her sitting in the library. She’d been there, by herself, since you three left for L.A.”
“I’m really sorry Boss.” Said Tony desperately. “I screwed up, but I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault DiNozzo.” Shrugged Gibbs. “Tim’s right. You two got direct orders from you director, there was nothing you could do. Besides, Jenny was dying anyway. She had cancer, and no one knew how much time she had left. She chose to die a hero’s death instead of wasting away in a hospital bed, and I don’t think that’s something any of us could argue with her about.” He glanced around at his team, all of whom were looking at each other in mingled shock and agreement. “Beating yourself over something you had nothing to do with isn’t going to do anyone much good.”
“Who was that guy?”
“I could see his gun, maybe he’s security for some new kid.”
“I heard he was looking at the school for the President’s daughters.”
“They’re not in highschool yet, you idiot. I heard it was for a Saudi Prince, you know what sticklers they are for security.”
Cali ignored the whispers as she went through her classes, not really caring to correct the misconceptions. It amused her to hear all of her classmates bizarre theories. But finally someone managed to actually hit on a piece of truth. “Angela saw him with Sheppard this morning.”
They all turned to stare at her curiously and she gritted her teeth, trying to pretend she hadn’t heard all the gossiping and that she couldn’t feel their eyes drilling into her back. She’d been an anomaly in school since she arrived, because she never talked about her parents, she dressed like any other person the street (the word riff-raff had been tossed after her a lot when she first started attending), and for the longest time it had been rumoured that she was a scholarship student, charity. Now all the kids were second-guessing their theories and trying to figure out who she might be that she needed a body guard to come through and check out the school. Finally one of the snobbier girls tapped her on the shoulder and she closed her eyes briefly, trying to control her temper before glancing up carelessly. If there was anything she’d inherited from her mother, it was her temper, and her acting skills. “Can I help you Amanda?” she asked sweetly. And the ability to remember anyone’s name, regardless of whether or not she’d ever spoken to them in her life.
“Is it true that the guy Fredericks was showing around the school this morning was your bodyguard?” asked Amanda nonchalantly, but curiosity glinted in her eyes. The other kids were rich, but they had no idea how to be politicians like their mommies and daddies were. “I mean, does he really work for you?”
Cali wanted to roll her eyes. These people thought everyone worked for them, the thought never crossed their minds that the adults pulled the strings instead. “No, he works for my mom.” She replied carelessly, not bothering to mention that her mother was dead. She didn’t want to start crying in the middle of school. Her reputation SO didn’t need that. “He’s not my bodyguard, he was just here to take a look around, reevaluate whether or not I should be going here.”
“Like whether or not you would be safe here?” asked one of the boys, James his name was.
“The academics.” She corrected.
“Oh.” None of them cared about the academics, it wasn’t nearly as interesting as the idea that the school nobody might turn out to be a somebody. Amanda barged on with the more interesting theory, trying to act friendly with Cali in case it might get her up close with someone more cool and important than her other friends, someone on her level. “So who’s your mom? You’ve never said. Is she, like, an ambassador or something?”
Cali shrugged like there was nothing less interesting to talk about than her mom. “She used to work with the CIA, now she’s Director of a federal agency, I can never really remember which one.” She thought this would make them back off, after all what was cool or exciting about law enforcement? But she’d said a magic word, and suddenly there were whispers everywhere, spreading the word that Callida’s mother was CIA. She swore silently, the crossed herself hastily. She was determined to stay on God’s good side as best she knew how right now, because she didn’t think she could take another round of bad karma. But the last thing she’d wanted was to make people think she was cool and exciting, she just wanted them all to leave her alone.
“Did she ever get captured?” asked one of the girls, excitedly.
“Is she part of some classified stuff?”
“Have you gotten to meet anyone important?”
“How many people has she killed?”
Cali slammed her book shut, frustrated, and started packing her bag up to the dismay of her new-found ‘best friends’. She swung her bag over her shoulder and headed over to the door. To her horror, though, a teacher caught her as she was walking through, and gave her a sympathetic look. “Sir....” she began, trying to stop the man from saying it while she still could, but the words were already spilling out of his mouth.
“I’m sorry to hear about your mother, Callida.” Said the man. “She was an amazing woman.”
Tears stung in Cali’s eyes and the man seemed to realize too late what had happened. The whispers began new rounds and Cali pushed out the door, almost running down the hallway. She yanked the door to an empty classroom open and slammed it closed behind her, sinking down against the door, her shoulders shaking with silent tears. After a few minutes, she lifted her head out of her lap, wiping at her eyes. She started when she caught sight of the boy watching her from across the room. She’d thought the classroom was empty. “I...I didn’t mean to...damnit.” she sighed, trying to scrub the redness from her eyes, a self-defeating mission. He handed her a box of tissues silently, and she got her first good look at him in the dim light. He was a kid that had shown up last year. Cali had felt an immediate kinship with him because he seemed to be in the same situation as her, not rich or powerful, a nobody who had gotten mixed into a school of somebodies because of the good classes. She’d tried to strike up a friendship with him, but he’d quickly proved to be anti-social, or so she’d thought. “Thanks.” She muttered, accepting the tissues and drying her eyes properly. He sat down on the floor next to her and she glanced at him curiously, appraising him carefully for the first time. “Toda.” She said, repeating her gratitude in Hebrew and hoping she was right.
Sure enough, he looked at her, surprised, and a smile spread across his face. “You speak Hebrew.” He observed, in the same language.
“Some.” She replied, shaping her mouth around the sounds. They felt different from what she was used to, but she knew it would only take her a few minutes to get into the swing of it. “I like languages, it’s fun to be able to surprise people by knowing how to speak to them on their own terms.”
“I agree.” He laughed, in lightly accented English. “You’re Callida right?”
“Cali.” She corrected, switching back to English as well. “And you’re Jacob. Thanks for the tissues.”
“No problem.” He shrugged. “And it’s Jake. What were you so upset about anyway?”
She sighed, banging her head back against the door. “I’m having a really shitty day.” She replied, giving up on her twenty-four hour attempt to stop cursing. “Pardon my French.” She added, in case he was offended, but he waved it off. “I didn’t think there was anyone else in here, and I needed to vent.”
“I generally find that talking to someone makes my shitty days much better.” He said, grinning at the reciprocal use of a curse.
She smiled too, even laughing a little. “Yeah, yeah me too. Normally I would call my mom, wherever she was that day, and talk to her about it, but....” she trailed off, yanking out another tissue and daubing under her eye to keep the tears from spilling out.
“Ah.” He glanced at her sympathetically, and she felt a little bit better, like he really understood, and he did. “You must be Jenny Sheppard’s daughter.” Cali’s head jerked up and she stared at him shocked. “Ziva’s my cousin.” He explained. “Ziva Davíd? Anyway, she keeps an eye on me now that I’m in the area. She might have mentioned something, and when I remembered your name, well....” he shrugged apologetically.
Cali shook her head. “So are you going to be Mossad too?” she asked curiously.
“Maybe.” Replied Jacob thoughtfully. “It’s a family business, but then again, so is yours, and you probably aren’t so sure about what you want to do.”
“I’m going to be an agent too.” Said Cali quietly. She wasn’t sure when she’d realized that Tim was right, it was in her blood and she would do it well, but she knew it was true now.
He smiled at her, laughter in his eyes. “Then I guess I will be also.” He laughed. “After all, you’ve just screwed up my entire basis for thinking I could choose another career.”
“You based your beliefs on me?” she asked dryly, raising an eyebrow.
“Absolutely.” He replied, seriously. “I’ve been formulating these theories for the last year based on you and your family, but I promise I’m not a stalker.”
“That’s comforting.” She laughed, relaxing.
He seemed to sense the change and his smile widened a little. “I guess it wouldn’t be would it?” he pulled the box out of her hand and tossed it across the room with such accuracy that it landed, right-side-up on the table. He looked very pleased with himself and she couldn’t help giggling. He feigned indignance. “Oh come on, wasn’t it the least bit impressive? I’m trying here, you’ve got to give me something.”
“It was very impressive.” She giggled, but he couldn’t be appeased if he couldn’t take her seriously. “I’m sorry, it’s just...I’ve never seen anyone so proud of throwing a tissue box across the room.” She gasped with laughter, feeling a stitch form in her side. He grinned and the two of them sat in companionable silence for a while before the loudspeaker sounded the switch classes signal. He climbed to his feet and offered her a hand up. She took it and he helped her to her feet, handing her the bag that she dropped to the ground earlier. “Toda.” She said again, feeling much better.
“I hope you feel better.” He said gently, pulling the door back open. “You know, I think we both have the same class this period. You want to walk with me?”
“Sure.” She murmured, grateful not to have to say goodbye to her new friend just yet. They made their way over to her class slowly, not talking and not needing to.
But when they finally reached the door, he clapped a hand to his forehead, his eyes sparkling with laughter. “I completely forgot. I don’t have Civics until next period. Oh well, at least I got to walk with a pretty girl.” And before she could so much as laugh, he was gone. She smiled to herself, secretly pleased, as she made her way over to her seat, and not even the whispers that surrounded her now could quite bring down her improved spirits.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs gets a crash course in the world of boarding schools, and Cali's secret becomes public property.
Chapter End Notes:
No, I've never been to a boarding school either, although I've heard they're simply lovely for the complexion.