Ch 8

A/N: The funeral scene is just narrative.

On that Saturday after the mountain battle, the NCIS team attended the funeral of Lion and Needle. Scoop was able to stand on his own feet and attended with their families to console them the best he can. All of the Autobots joined as well, but Rodimus ordered them to use them holoforms because of the number of civilians that will be attending. Adeley and Benadict will be tried by a selected military tribunal for treason. Back at the NEST HQ, Kicker gets a call from home in the lockerroom. Everytime he gets one of these calls, it ends up in a arguement or a depressing dail tone. This one was no exception.-

Kicker's cellphone rings, he was halfway through changing his clothes when he answers it. "Hello?" he asks.

A familar voice to him was of a teenage girl. Her name is Selina Jones, Kicker's sister that he usally calls her Sally that always annoys her, but gets over it quickly. She answered with a happy but subtle tone. "Hey, it's me, big brother."

"Oh, hey Sally. You caught me while I shaving..." He responded. (A/N: Shaving counts as changing in some cases, I don't know why.)

"I heard about Lion and Needle, Mikaela e-mailed me about it yesterday, I'm sorry for the lost of your teammates, Kicker." she said with ongoing concern for him and his teammates human and Autobot alike.

Kicker's voice was a bit irritated because his sister always want to be updated with current events about the Autobots. He blured out a "Thanks anyway" just to get her to stop nagging him about it.

Then a male voice came into the conversation. It was the last person that he wish that he didn't need to hear today. The male voice belonged to Dr. Brian Jones, Kicker's father and lead scientist for NEST's Reseach and Development sector. He was looking over Sally's shoulder to talk into the phone. "Kicker, is that you? It been a while since you've called home..." Dr. Jones stated as he continued to ramble a little bit.

"Not longer enough." Kicker grumble to himself when his father is in "lecture mode".

"So son, did you find any more deposits of Energon yet? You know we need all the energon that we can get in order to make a renewable source of energy..." Dr. Jones continues with his rambling.

Kicker being quickly anger by his father's obsession with energon, tapping his heel rapidly spoke in a stressed tone. "Not recently."

"Why not, Kicker?" His father asked him with a clueless tone in his voice and look on his face.

"Have you not read the paper lately? Two marines dead in the woods outside D.C., the murderers were a couple of their own commrades!" Kicker raised his voice loudly during the phone call.

During this heated phone call, Ziva was just waiting outside the lockerroom for him for their date when she heard Kicker's voice in anger. Her couriosity got the best of her, so she crepted in to listen.

"I can believe you haven't been following recent events, ugh!" Kicker said as he puts the phone down on the lockerroom bench to put on his gunmetal gray shirt. Then he puts the phone back up to his ear, which he wished he didn't want to, but have to.

Dr. Jones being a tad bit clueless sometimes asked his son an obvious question. "Why are you getting so upset all of the sudden?"

Kicker adding sarcasm to his respond "You know, energon this and energon that...to you, it's all about energon!"

Then a feminine voice with attitude in the background yanked Kicker's father by his ear away from the phone. The only woman who can do that and get away from it was Kicker's own mother, Miranda. They started to argue in the backgound. Sally still have the phone up to her ear and shook head a bit.

"Sorry aboout him, he's just waiting for that new energon shipment from Diego Garcia." Sally sadly told her brother as she let out a tiny sigh.

Letting out a puff of air from his nostrils, Kicker begans to calmed down. "I know, yet he gets me so mad when he begins to talk about energon." He told his sister with his head against the locker.

Sally trying to explain about thier father's behavior. "He means well. He really does miss you and wants to see you more often."

Being a little doubtful. "I don't know..." Kicker said over the phone.

His little sister raised her voice an octive. "Just try to show some maturity, Kicker." Sally scolded him like their mother does. (A/N: A little "like mother, like daughter humor)

Kicker knowing when to picks his battles against Sally wrapped up the call. "Ok, ok...I check with Col. Lennox, but no promises."

With joy, Sally saids her farwell. "Goodie, bye brother."

Sally hangs up the phone. Kicker just looks at his cellphone when he notice that Ziva was listening in the whole time.

Straightening out his shirt, he noticed Ziva from the corner of his eye. "You can come out now." Kicker said.

She came out of her hiding place responding with a soft, flirty tone in her voice. "Alright, you caught me, Kicker." Smiling a little too.

"You just got a taste of what I have to deal with back home." Kicker noted.

"Why haven't you told me about it sooner when you were asking about my life?" Ziva asked him as she got close enough to smell his bodywash that Kicker used during his shower. Just the smell alone got her mind going on what might happen during their date.

"Well..." Kicker started, stopped for a moment, then continued. "I didn't want to share my sob story with you after hearing about your relationship with your father, Director David. It would've brought the whole happy atomosphere that we had down a few noches."

Ziva was surprised that he would keep sometime like that from her, but she hides it very well. "You didn't have to." she pointed out to Kicker.

"I know, but I do want to meet him in person. We can compare him with my dad..." Kicker began to amp up his wit.

Ziva just letting a sultry laugh that encouraged Kicker to laugh too. "Don't push it, Kicker. So, are we going to have our date?" she asked.

With a lightbulb going going in his head, Kicker responeded Ziva. "Oh yeah, we're still going, but I wanted to tell you something that doesn't make sense to me either."

"Just tell me." She egged him into telling her. Ziva knew that this was coming, but Kicker beat her to the punch.

Taking a breathe before telling her. "Ok, ever since we bumped heads and looked up at each other, I was amazed on how beautiful you were, but got caught up in the moment." Kicker told her with a semi-nervous pitch in his voice, but kept on going.

"Oh, that's very sweet of you.." Ziva said as she inched closer to Kicker.

Kicker continues on. "And as time passed by, I develope an urge to kiss you at your place, but probility get knocked out for sure if I've done it."

Amazed that Kicker felt the same way, her hand was shakey as she responds to his statement. "Kicker, the feeling's mutual..."

Without a second to lose, Kicker only had to reach out to Ziva, wrapped his arms around her waist and the two locked lips. They both couldn't believe that they just kiss each other and not having a single date together. They parted lips and Ziva just rested her head on Kicker's chest.

Ziva shuddering on how good it felt. "Oh..." That's all that she can able to form with her lips.

Kicker, now unleashing his charm. "It was so nice, let's do it twice..." he said as putting Ziva's body closer to his.

They locked lips again for a few seconds longer, then Drift honked his horn as he was parked in the main showroom. They looked at each other.

Parting her lips from his, Ziva whisper a request into Kicker's ear. "You're staying at my place for the weekend." Then she gave a tiny nip on his earlobe.

Kicker displaying a raised eyebrow and smirk responded the same into her ear "Oh, this is turning out to be a good night, a very good night."

"But we have to keep this to ourselves, Tony will have a field day if he saw us like this." Ziva stated to Kicker as a fair condition for now.

"OK, but he's just jealous." Kicker said as he pulled away to grab his coat from his locker telling himself "I get a kick out of this job."

Ziva began to be playful to Kicker, a rare display of childish behavior to him and even herself. "Anyway, let's go.." She said as Ziva tagged him any running off towards drift. "You're it!"

With as goofy grin on his face, Kicker ruan after her and climbed into Drift so that he can take them on their date. It started with a bump in the head and ended up with them kissing. Who knew? (A/N: I'm not going to tell you what happens on thier date, that will remain a mystery)

The End