Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As another morning began at the local Kansas High School, Professor Castiel Novak was merely preparing his classes for all his students. He knew that his grade 9 students were getting ready for their first exam so he had a practice booklet set up for each of his students. He was putting out all the booklets that he knew he had customized to each student's specific needs. He was about to set out the second last booklet he sighed knowing that Ziva Hassam was his weak link but yet he couldn't find any proof that she was smarter than she looked. So he had no choice but to give her a thicker booklet.

As his students walked into their desks, they all sat down and looked straight knowing that they weren't to touch it right away. "Alright, class. Today is your last class before your quarterly exam. On each of your desks is a booklet full of work that I expect you to finish at least half of by the time the bell rings and then when we reconvene at the last period we will go over any areas of concern that you may have. You may begin," he informed and as they were beginning, he secretly was watching three students. Ziva Hassam as she was his weaker link, Tabitha Mew as she was his genius student, and then Chester Boinger who was his median line. He walked around pretending that he was looking at everyone's work but when he got to Ziva's desk he was shocked to see that she was going through her work like nothing. He wanted to question her but not in front of everyone. "Ziva? After class can you stay behind for a moment?" She nodded and as she kept working, Castiel walked around to see that Tabitha and Chester both were not even close to the halfway point and it even looked like they were putting the wrong answers. As he sat at his desk, he watched as Ziva was clearly going through the work like nothing and then again watched Chester and Tabitha and noticed that they were not even moving their pencils. When the bell rang, he noticed that Ziva was on the last page and just wrote something down before handing it in. "You're done?"

"Every page," she promised and he flipped through all the pages and noticed that she had indeed done everything and had all the answers he had for her booklet. "Is something the matter Professor Novak?"

"No. You did very well. All these are correct. But it raises a question for me. I know you stay after classes sometimes," he began cautiously. She looked at him with her head cocked to the side. "Would you mind staying behind and speaking to me, Professor Winchester and Principal Edlund? After classes that is," he explained.

"Um sure," she responded nervous and he sighed looking at her. "I don't think I've done anything to warrant that huge an intervention."

"Not that you've done something wrong. But I think I now can see why I made the wrong assumption of you," he informed looking at her with a face that made Ziva look nervous. "You aren't in trouble per se. But we are having a chat young lady," he warned and she nodded walking out of his classroom to see Sam and Chuck walking in. "Let me guess. Her drama professor was looking for her?"

"Yes. Why was she still here?"

"I think we've all made a grave mistake. Ziva's not as dumb as she looks. She finished this all in 40 minutes and it's everything we've done for the exam," he informed handing it over to Chuck and looking serious. "I think I have a case of bullying on my hands and I want to confront Ziva about it."

"Who do you think is bullying her?" Sam taught Ziva her history and knew that if it was the case he had to review other work she had done.

"Tabitha and Chester. They're ahead of her so far in grades but today I watched the difference. Ziva was going through her homework like no tomorrow. She got it all right. I asked them to get at least half done by the bell. Tabitha and Chester were on the 3rd page out of 24," he informed.

"How many pages was Ziva's?" Chuck knew he needed the whole story before he jumped onto the agreement with Sam and Castiel.

"60," Castiel answered looking at him. "I thought she wasn't bright at all. So I gave her a review sheet for each concept and then did 15 pages of intertwining all the concepts," he explained.

"So Ziva had over double the amount that Tabitha and Chester did and still finished everything by the bell. While they didn't meet their target of the half by the bell," Chuck began before looking at Castiel who looked sombre. "Alright, I'm in agreement that something is bothering Ziva. I won't jump on the wagon of bullying. But I will agree that something is up with Ziva. Have you gotten her to agree to talk to you?"

"To all three of us. She may try to evade it with me, but with you and Sam? Not going to happen. She's got a soft spot for Sam. She'll talk if he pokes enough," Castiel explained looking at Chuck. "You're the Principal or as outsiders know, the headmaster. She won't dare to lie in front of you," he added.

"Thinking about who Ziva is," Sam added looking at Castiel. "Remember the parent-teacher night?" He nodded at that. "She came with her parents but they weren't really interested. They asked the routine questions of is she doing well. Then when they came to your class, they said nothing?"

"No. They just rolled their eyes and forced her out. Might explain why she tries so hard to get approval with us. Some form of acknowledgement. But my concern lies with her in my class. She won't ask for help. I've seen her hand start to go up and then slide down when I called on someone else. I'd talk to her after and she'd dismiss her own question. Meaning she wanted to get help but she prioritizes everyone else," he added.

"My class she will ask the occasional question. But other than that stays to herself," Sam admitted and Castiel nodded at Sam knowing the signs. "She's covering up her needs."
As the day progressed Chuck began asking about Ziva to all her professors and got the same responses Castiel and Sam were giving. She was a good student but closed herself off from everyone. Including the professors as best as she could. He knew that Michael wouldn't notice much but her drama professor? If he could see past an actress's act? It was bad.

When the final bell rang, Castiel watched as Ziva was packing her bag and he waited to see if she tried to bail. But she stayed as she promised she would. "I know he's been asking about me," she began calmly looking at Castiel.

"He's concerned. As is over half the staff. He and Professor Winchester are the only ones coming to talk. Did you let your parents know you'd be home late?" She nodded revealing her phone.

"Not that they'll notice," she chuckled humorlessly and he looked at her confused. "They're in the business of money. What can this bring me financially? What can I invest in? You know? They only care about relationships that bring money," she explained.

"Then let's skip that conversation until Principal Edlund gets here. Let's move on to the fact that I want something confirmed or denied for me. Are you being bullied by some of your classmates into doing their work?" Sam and Chuck both waited outside the room until the conversation was over.

"No," she responded quickly and he looked at her with a raised brow. "I'm not. I don't get intimidated," she added.

"Uh-huh. Hence why when I come over to you in the middle of class after I know I've seen your hand start to go up and then go back down, you deny having a question. Care to revise that statement?"

"So what? They're my friends," she answered and Castiel looked at her. "At least I think they are," she admitted.

"Please tell me all your friendships aren't like this?" He was now officially concerned that due to her parent's lack of involvement in her life, she didn't understand the true meaning of a friend.

"Not a huge deal. I mean it's better than being beaten up," she dismissed and Sam closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall while Chuck realized that Castiel's intuition was right. Ziva Hassam was being bullied into doing work.

"They're not friends if you have the looming threat of being beaten up over your head to get the work done. Why didn't you say something?"

"You're not always the easiest person to state the facts to," she added calmly looking at him and Castiel felt the words slap him in the face. Meanwhile, Sam and Chuck were biting their lip at how deadpanned she sounded as soon as the question came out.

"That's an error on my part. I am not trying to keep you silent on these matters. But if not me, why not Professor Winchester, or even as I know him, Gabriel. I don't know his last name," he added.

"We don't either. Just call him Gabriel. Anyways, Professor Winchester's your fiance. Yeah no. That would have only led to interrogation. Gabriel? I have tried and I don't really blame him for not hearing me. He's a drama professor. On top of that, Tabitha and Chester? They're really good at covering up their imperfections," she explained.

"Gabriel needs to hear this again from you with us present. He needs to realize you were being serious," Castiel decided.

"No," she responded and Castiel looked at her shocked. "Don't bother him. Again. I can't blame him for not realizing."

"Doesn't mean he can't be made aware of how serious this was in the first place and that he should have been watching closely. I wish I had been seeing those signs a bit more clearly. So don't think Gabriel won't be wanting to have been made aware that he was missing the obvious signs," he warned before dialling up the drama room.

"Hey Castiel," he greeted.

"Gabriel, do you have a minute? I have a student upstairs with me in my classroom to talk. I heard from her she's talked to you about this issue in the past and you didn't take it as seriously as you should have. Nobody blames you, but I thought you might want to be aware."

"Is it about Ziva Hassam?"

"Yes," Castiel answered shocked.

"I've been concerned about her lately. When she comes to my class there's a sign of bruising on her shoulders and her cheeks. Do you get to see those?" Castiel glanced over at Ziva shocked and noticed that the claim couldn't be confirmed due to her sleeves covering everything.

"No. I didn't even know that was a concern. Come up here then and confront her about it. She's going to be here a bit. Edlund is coming to talk with her too," he added.

"On my way," Gabriel answered hanging up and Castiel looked at Ziva who was mindlessly looking away.

"Gabriel's coming up to talk as well. You don't give the man who teaches you the arts enough credit. He's noticed," he added before seeing Gabriel walk in. "You're fast."

"His class is right next to the stairwell that's across the hall," Ziva explained looking at Castiel with a deadpanned face.

"She's not wrong. Now, what's this I'm hearing about a concern about bullying and you?" She looked at Gabriel shocked he'd dare to be open about it. "I'm sorry I didn't notice at first. Tabitha and Chester were spoke to after class and assured me that they were only trying to mess around with you as a friend would. That they'd tone it down. I'm sure I made things worse in that sense."

"Slightly," she admitted as she lifted her bangs and they saw a gash that was still healing. "Tabitha loves to carry her dad's hunting knife. Learned that after they revealed you spoke with them."

"Then this stops now," Chuck answered walking in not being able to listen to it anymore. "When none of the professors seemed to be doing something about it, why didn't you mention it to me?"

"She's my neighbour. Want to bet my life wouldn't have been even worse had I done that and gotten her expelled?"

"Does anyone except for us know?" She looked at Chuck with her head tilted. "That you're being bullied. Does anyone outside of the staff know?"

"No," she responded softly looking outside the window. "Nobody knows," she admitted and Chuck was about to comment before Castiel put a finger up.

"Have you tried to tell your parents?"

"Tried being the keyword. Remember? Financial loss and gains? Their language. Socioemotional problems of their 13-year-old? Foreign language and no help," she admitted. Castiel bit his lip and knew what he so desperately wanted to say.

"Then let's get you out of that house. Nobody deserves to be bullied because of fear. Nobody," Sam added looking at her and sitting across from her on the windowsill. He wasn't sure if Castiel would agree but he had to offer it. "Me and Castiel could take you in. You'd get a chance to be a normal kid. Bullying won't be tolerated. Granted rules are probably new to you so it might feel a bit restrictive at first," he added.

Castiel nodded at Sam knowing that they were on the same wavelength. Ziva was about to answer before Gabriel piped in. "Most of the staff is family," he began before listening to her snicker. "You knew?"

"Hiding in the little corners of the school? Allows you to hear every detail. Pretended I heard nothing," she answered.

"Give us a minute," Gabriel advised and Castiel stood outside the room with Chuck and Sam waiting. They could still hear them but they wanted Ziva to think they weren't listening. "I think they just gave you a pretty good offer."

"Don't think I know that? I'm well aware," she responded looking at Gabriel and he waited knowing something wasn't adding up in his own mind. "But as much as my parents speak financial loss and gain? They'll try to sue professor Novak. I can't do that to him," she responded.

"Hang on," he responded pulling out a makeup wipe package and handing it to her. "Have they seen the slash on your head and the bruising?"

"Yeah," she admitted and he looked at her. "I told them and they said to stop doing stuff to get myself bullied."

"Okay see, that's where my line is drawn. They taught you to shut up and take it. You shouldn't have to," he responded as he helped wipe down her face and saw the bruises coming forwards. "Besides, let Principal Edlund, or rather my father call CPS. They will not want to see this. Nor will your story add up to them. So let's skip the whole drama phase hm?" Sam and Castiel glanced at each other shocked that Gabriel would say that.

"I'm scared," she admitted and Gabriel nodded knowing that was the reality of the situation. Meanwhile, Chuck had indeed already called CPS and they were on their way.

"You won't have to be. I remember the girl who was too scared to take on one of my little projects but look at you now. You take the chance. So do you trust me?" She nodded and he looked at her. "Then trust me when I say to take this chance. Nothing will happen. As Sam said, rules might be new and a little daunting at first, but it'll be a safer environment for you," he informed.

"Alright," she sighed in relief as Gabriel stopped wiping it down and then after an hour-long chat with CPS and the papers being signed, Castiel had temporary custody until a caseworker had looked over the home she was living in and talked to the parents.

For 3 months, Castiel's rules did feel a little suffocating to Ziva, but slowly she adapted and she was starting to prove to the school that she knew more than she let on. Without the fear of being bullied. Tabitha and Chester had been expelled from the school and their records were sent to the schools in the area so then if they were in that school the staff monitored them. Overall, Castiel knew his role of a professor was slowly becoming more satisfying the more the days passed.