Second B's For…
By SherryGabs
Rated: K+
Summary: Just a small, fun look into Gibbs' past.
Disclaimer: I can't claim the characters as my own, but I can play with them for a while.
Spoiler for "The Curse". I wasn't able to find a transcript for that particular episode, so I'm kinda ad-libbing from memory for the beginning.
Not beta'd, so sorry for any mistakes.
ooooOOOoooo
"So how do you rate a second B?" Kate asked with an interested smile, wondering what her boss would come up.
"Second B's for bastard," Gibbs said matter-of-factly with a generous grin as he took the seat at his desk.
Later, thinking back to the conversation he had to smile again as he thought of the first time he'd used the word 'bastard'.
ooooOOOoooo
Many years earlier
Walking into the general store after school, Leroy sat his lunch box down onto the table and glared at the bell above the door. He wished it wouldn't announce his arrival. He was hungry and hoping to be able to snatch a candy bar while his dad wasn't looking.
"How was school today, Leroy?" he heard his father ask from the back corner of the store where he was checking the hardware stock.
"Fine," the small, blond boy answered. He looked over his shoulder and saw that his dad's view was blocked by an aisle of shelving. He quietly snuck over to the checkout counter and grabbed a Hershey bar from the candy selection in front of the counter. About to stick it in his back pocket, he froze when a deep voice from behind the counter startled him.
"Put it back, Leroy."
The body that went with the voice stood up from where he had been crouching behind the counter and placed a wooden box down. The tall black man tried to look menacing as he leaned his arms on the counter and looked down at the boy.
Sheepishly, Leroy put the candy bar back. "Sorry, Uncle L.J."
L.J. couldn't hold back his smile and chuckle as he looked down at his blue-eyed namesake. He loved Leroy as if he was his own son and got a kick out of teasing him. L.J. reached for the basket of fruit further down the countertop and grabbed a banana. "You can have this."
"Okay." Leroy frowned and rolled his eyes, thinking the chocolate would have been a heck of a lot better. "I thought you weren't gonna be here today."
"Just came by lookin' for my chisel set. Got a design in mind for the cabinets I'm makin' and need them for carving the door fronts."
"Can I help?" Leroy asked eagerly, opening his banana. One of his favorite things in the world was watching and helping his Uncle L.J. on his woodworking projects.
"Got any homework?" He raised his eyebrows, knowing Leroy knew this meant he better tell the truth.
"Just spelling, but I already know all the words," he pleaded, hoping this would keep him from having to study them.
"That's what you've said before and proven yourself wrong when it came to taking the quizzes." His father approached him from behind. He placed his large hand on Leroy's head and tilted it so the boy had to look up at him. "And what have I told you about swiping stuff from the store?"
"Not to do it. That it cuts into the profits." Leroy blinked. "Whatever that means."
Still holding his son's head, he guided him back over towards the table. "It means that if you take it and not pay for it, then we don't make any money on it. You keep doin' it and that loss of money just keeps adding up." He nudged Leroy down into a chair. "It's also stealing, and that is something I won't put up with, young man."
"All right," Leroy whined. "I won't do it again."
Jackson Gibbs looked over to his friend with a look that plainly said, 'That promise will last all of two days!'
L.J. grinned his acknowledgement, grabbed his carving set and came over to the table. "Tell you what. You study for as long as your daddy says to, then if it's okay with him, you can come over and help. Okay?"
Leroy looked hopefully up to his father, who nodded his approval. Eagerly, he stuck the banana in his mouth to free his hands, the peel resting against his chin. Leroy grabbed his spelling book and a sheet of notebook paper from its binder to copy the words.
"Twenty minutes," Jackson told his son as he waved goodbye to his departing friend, then went back to work.
Leroy nodded his head quickly, as he took a pencil from his pencil case. The banana broke off and the two-thirds that wasn't still in his mouth dropped down onto his paper. He moved it aside with his arm and began copying his spelling words.
About five minutes later, his mind started to wander away from his studying. He thought back to an argument he and Chuck had had that morning at recess. Chuck had called him a name he'd never heard of before, therefore didn't know the meaning of. He scratched behind his ear with the eraser end of the pencil, wondering what the word meant. He bit off another big chunk of banana and decided to ask about it.
Swallowing down the mouthful of fruit, he looked up towards his father. "Dad?"
"What is it, Leroy?" he answered, not looking up from his accounts ledger.
"What's a bastard?" he asked innocently.
Now Jackson did look up. "Is that one of your spelling words?"
"No." Noticing his dad's expression, Leroy wondered if he should have kept it to himself.
"Then where did you hear it?" He closed his ledger and came to sit down at the table with his son, wondering where he'd picked up the word.
"Chuck Winslow called me a bastard at recess today," he answered honestly. "I don't know what it means."
"Were you two fighting again?" He really didn't know why those boys couldn't get along. He'd had to separate them from wrestling more than once.
"Just yelling," Leroy shrugged like it was no big deal.
Jackson sighed and shook his head. He was the type of father that didn't like keeping things about life from his son. It was better than the boy getting the wrong information from someone else.
"Bastard is a derogatory term. It—"
"What's de- derog-?" his face scrunched in confusion at the long word.
"Derogatory," Jackson repeated. "It means belittling, giving a low opinion of."
Leroy understood that much. "Okay."
"Bastard has more than one meaning. Originally, it meant a child who didn't have a father. His or her parents weren't married and the father is never around." He was trying to make his words understandable to the child.
"But I have you. Why would he call me that then?" Leroy decided to finish his banana, so shoved the rest in to his mouth.
"Well, it also means someone who is offensive or disagreeable."
"Oh." Leroy said, figuring that was the meaning Chuck meant and it made him angry. Swallowing the rest of his banana, he boldly stated. "Well, I guess that makes Chuck Winslow a bastard, too!"
Jackson sat up straight with an expression of annoyance. "Now just hold on a minute, boy. You know some words are considered good or bad. Bastard is a bad word and I better not ever hear it come from your mouth again. Do you understand me?" His tone and expression left no room for misinterpretation.
Wide-eyed, Leroy answered, "Yessir!"
"Good." Jackson took a deep breath, wondering what other surprises his son would have for him as he grew up. He figured this one was a pretty minor one. "And stay away from that Chuck boy."
Leroy nodded, but didn't voice his thoughts. 'He won't stay away from me!'
"Finish your spelling, then you can go to L.J.'s, but be back home by supper time."
"All right," Leroy smiled and went back to half-ignoring his homework, and accidentally smeared the banana peel across his notebook paper.
ooooOOOoooo
The next day at recess, Leroy was minding his own business, playing tetherball by himself in the corner of the playground.
"Hey, Leeeeroy? Can't your daddy afford to buy you decent clothes?"
Confused, Leroy looked down at his clothes. Maybe the shirt was a bit snug and the pants on the short side, but what was wrong with that? Looking back up, he noticed Chuck had Eddie Gantry with him and he knew that only meant trouble.
"What do you want, Chuckles?" Leroy said, knowing that would tick the other boy off.
Chuck grabbed the ball away from Jethro, an angry expression on his young face. "Don't call me that!" He threw the ball as hard as he could at Leroy, hitting him in the stomach. The ball bounced off and swung wildly from it's rope.
Even if the throw was as hard as Chuck could make it, it hadn't hurt all that much, but it was enough to make Leroy mad. He charged at Chuck, knocking him off his feet. Leroy started hitting Chuck, his punches wild and connecting anywhere they could.
As he expected, Leroy felt Eddie join in and felt himself being pushed off Chuck. Next thing he knew, both of them were pummeling him and he was giving back as best he could. Until the principal came and pulled them apart, telling them to stay away from each other for the rest of the day and promising to make phone calls to their parents—once again.
A little while later, Jethro was seething as he watched Chuck and Eddie sitting on the bleachers, watching a kickball game. He was going to get in trouble with his dad and it was all their fault.
An evil little smile marred his cute little face as an idea formed.
He waited until just before the bell was to ring ending recess. Chuck and Eddie were sitting side by side on the very end of the top bleacher bench, which was only three benches high. They were yelling insults to the players on the field, while Leroy crept underneath the bleachers towards them.
They were so involved in what they were doing that they never felt Jethro untie their shoe laces and tied together the two laces that were side by side, connecting the two boys together by their feet.
Just then the bell rang and as Chuck and Eddie stood up, Leroy pushed on their legs, forcing them off the edge of the bleachers. As they were trying to regain their balance before falling, they found they couldn't separate their feet, making them flounder even harder. Leroy laughed as they fell as a heap onto the muddy ground below. They wrestled around, trying to figure out what was going on, covering themselves in mud.
That's when Leroy came out, laughing so hard he had to hold his stomach. Other kids had watched and they all stood around laughing at the boys nobody really liked.
"I'll get you for this, you little bastard!" Chuck screamed at him, humiliated at being caught like that.
"Well, don't forget to bring your boyfriend. You sure can't take me on your own!" Leroy yelled back, a huge grin on his face.
Leroy joined the laughing group as they ran towards the school's door, leaving Chuck and Eddie to get themselves untangled. He knew he would pay dearly for this sometime very soon, but it was sure worth it. If Chuck thought he was a bastard, he was going to the best darned bastard he could be!
The End
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