Snow Removal

The snowfall had been moderate, but enough to need digging out, at least the driveway and sidewalk. Gibbs was an old pro at it, but he wasn't sure if McGee was prepared. Heck, last winter had been so mild, he didn't even know if McGee owned a snow shovel. With that question in mind, Gibbs finished what he was doing in his own driveway and carried the large, flat shovel with him through the back gate.

Stomping the snow off of his feet and leaving the shovel against the wall, Gibbs entered through McGee's back door, momentarily enjoying the warm air. McGee was sitting in front of the high chair, feeding what looked to be cereal to Eva.

"Morning, Boss."

"Morning. Brought my snow shovel over, I'll help you get your driveway cleared."

"Thanks, but Tony's doing it right now. We drew straws and he won."

Won? Snow removal and Tony DiNozzo were two things he never thought would be in the same sentence. "What did you have to bribe him with?"

"Bribe? I think he cheated so he could win."

Curious as hell, Gibbs decided to go see for himself. Before he even made it to the front door, he spotted Tony sitting in the living room with his feet up. Ready to 'catch him in the act', Gibbs snuck in.

"Hey, Boss."

Damn, he must be losing his touch. "Thought you were suppose to be shoveling the driveway."

"I am. See?" He held up the control for a remote controlled car.

Gibbs felt his eyes narrow as he looked at DiNozzo, then movement outside caught his attention. "Is that...?" Moving closer to the window, he watched as a tiny little truck, maybe knee high, with an even tinier snow plow mounted to the front went across the driveway. Surprisingly, it was moving the snow pretty well, clearing the driveway a foot or so at a time as it crossed back and forth. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Work smarter, not harder, right, Boss?"

Now winning the right to plow the driveway was beginning to make sense. "McGee build that?"

"I helped."

After watching them build the motion activated spiders for Halloween, Gibbs would have loved to seen this project under construction. "So now you sit here, nice and warm, and watch out the window as your remote controlled snow plow does all the work?"

"Yeah. Pretty cool, isn't it? Tim did Mrs. Olson's walkway already and I'm doing our driveway."

All Gibbs could do was laugh and shake his head. Wanting to see the truck up close, he went outside. For its size, the little truck was moving a surprising amount of snow. Apparently him standing out there, staring down at the truck, broke the ice and several of the neighbors joined him, all standing on the previously plowed part of the driveway. They all looked amused, George was openly laughing.

"Think he'll start producing them and selling them?"

Honestly, he could see the boys doing just that. Parts all strewn over the basement, putting together a whole fleet of them to rid the neighborhood of snow. The trucks starting at one end of the street, pulling out in perfect formation as the happy owners stayed warm and dry in their own homes, watching through the windows. "If they do, you putting in an order?"

"Hell, yeah. That looks like fun."

Gibbs actually enjoyed the act of digging out after a storm, but looking back through the windows, watching Tony sitting there and working the controls, a cup of hot chocolate by his side, he could understand the draw. "I'll pass it along."

The driveway was basically done and the watchers scattered, laughing and shaking their heads. Gibbs stayed to watch as the truck pushed away the last of the snow before turning around and heading toward the garage. Not surprisingly, the garage door opened up and the truck rolled inside, turned and parked itself. For that part, Tony had to come out on the porch and he waved at George before the other man retreated into the house. "Let me swap out the battery and we'll do your driveway."

"Thanks, Tony."

Swapping out the battery brought Tim out to join them, Eva in her snowsuit. There was a little bit of jostling between the boys as to who got to operate the truck this time, but Tony remained in control. Line of sight wasn't possible this time and Tony had to stand on their porch to operate it while Tim went back in with Eva.

Gibbs gave him a questioning look and the younger man shrugged. "Tim's fighting a cold, he doesn't need to be out here right now."

"Ah." That was one thing, the boys always took care of each other.

-NCIS-

"George, the driveway isn't going to clear itself."

Taking his coat back off and hanging it up, George tried not to grin. "Actually, Clara, it is." Taking her by the hand, he dragged her to their living room window where they could see the driveway. A few minutes later, a child's truck with a snowplow attached to the front rolled down the sidewalk and turned at their driveway. While Clara watched, speechless, it started pushing the snow as it crossed the driveway, leaving a pile in the now dormant flower beds.

The truck turned and pushed the next row of snow the opposite direction, repeating the process until the driveway was free of snow right up to the garage door. Then the truck turned and rolled back down the driveway, onto the sidewalk and back to turn at McGee's driveway. Clara tried to muffle her giggle with her hand. "Those two boys are something else."

George gave her a careful look. "Yeah, they really are."


a/n - Needed to write something to make myself smile and this scene fit the bill. Yesterday (and the night before), son's pain level rose dramatically and then his leg became mostly paralyzed. They did a CAT scan and discovered that two of the screws they'd placed to put his spine back together had gone into the bone at the wrong angle and were putting pressure against his nerves. Two hours of emergency surgery later, he's stable once again and today he was able to walk. What a wonderful Thanksgiving present for this mom.

Absolutely couldn't write angst while I was waiting for word, so this was the scene I grabbed from the pile. You might have noticed a clue for upcoming stories in the series. Just couldn't help myself. Have a great Thanksgiving here in the US, and a wonderful Thursday to the rest of the world.