A/N- Soory about this fic. I work in a nursing home full time. After getting off work last night i was reading NCIS fanfiction and this idea just popped into my head and refused to leave. I hope anyone reading this has as much fun reading it as i did writing it. ;) -wolfgirl
"Dad."
Sarah smiled at the familiarity of the exasperated cry.
"Where is he?" The striking woman asked as she stood in the middle of the hall.
"I'll be back." Sarah said to the CNA she had been talking to as they charted.
"Of course." The other aide smiled as Sarah stood and closed the heavy binder.
"Hello again Kate." Sarah said with a warm smile.
"Do you have any idea where my dad might be. I've checked all his usual haunts." Kate asked.
Kate had faith that Sarah knew. She had the uncanny knack of knowing where each of her residents where.
Sarah smiled again and led the way off the hall and through the doors leading to the lawns.
"How do you always know?" Kate asked.
"Most of them are easy. Its just your dad and his usual partner in crime that give me any real challenge usually." Sarah smiled.
As Kate and Sarah navigated the rocky path Kate looked worried.
"How could they manage this with their walkers?" She asked.
Sarah laughed warmly. "They don't. They like to sneak away when they think nobody is looking. Then they fold they walkers up. Your father carries his oxygen while his friend carries the walkers and they lean on each other to get there." Sarah said. "They come back all smug and think they've gotten away with something."
Kate let out a warm laugh. "Got to love them."
Sarah smiled and continued to lead the way.
You could here them before you could see them. They came down to the waters edge and found the two men sitting on the bench. Kate's father was shaking his fist at his friend who merely watched looking bored.
Both women hung back and watched.
When the angry man subsided his friend looked him over. Calmly he said something that had the fist shaking while the man muttered something mutinous under his breath.
"Dad." Kate admonished.
Sarah always loved this family. The look that the formerly angry man gave his daughter was breathtaking in the open love on his face. It quickly changed as he realized he'd been caught. His eyes took in the two women standing with arms folded.
"How'd you find us?" He demanded.
"Sarah has ESP." Kate grinned.
"Thanks a lot. I'll never hear the end of this." He he glared before nodding his head to his partner. "He made me do it."
A look of indignation crossed the other man's face. "Did not."
"Come on gentleman let's walk back." Sarah said. Kate walked to her dad's side to help him while Sarah took his friends arm. Each woman carried a walker as they navigated the path.
"You looking out for that husband of yours?" Kate's father asked.
"He can look out for himself." The other man defended.
"He's a McGee. McGee's always need some looking after." Kate's father said with a grin.
"I'm a McGee now dad." Kate said with a smile.
"By marriage." Her father responded raising a finger. "But by blood you're a DiNozzo." He said proudly.
"Says the man who managed to get a medieval disease." McGee muttered.
"And won." Tony said indignantly.
McGee let Sarah see his eye roll.
"Why do you egg him on?" Sarah asked quietly.
McGee looked innocent. "I have no idea what your talking about."
"He had calmed down, there on the bench. But you said something and set him off again." Sarah accused.
McGee grinned, unrepentant. "He wasn't mad."
"He was shaking his fist in your face." Sarah said with a straight face.
McGee grinned.
"He spent years working with me getting under my skin. It's time for a little payback. Besides, it makes him happy to give it back as good as he got."
"Better." Tony called over his shoulder. "And your slow. We'll beat you back."
"You started first. And your cheating."
"How." Tony demanded.
"I'm not sure yet. But I know you are."
"Oh that's mature." Tony grinned.
"Shut up." McGee grinned back.
"You shut up."
"Make me," McGee grinned.
"Don't think I can't kick you ass." Tony announced.
"You're over eighty." McGee pointed out.
"So are you." Tony retorted.
"Nope. I'm still in my seventies." McGee denied.
"Huh. I coulda sworn..." Tony tapered off. He looked thoughtful for a few moments before shaking his head. "Doesn't matter. I've always been stronger."
Sarah smiled as the two old men bickered and argued, like the best friends that they were.
Where you found one you almost always found the other, leaning on each other and causing trouble. They had rooms right across the hall from one another.
Sarah hadn't gotten all the details but from the bits she'd heard them argue over and what their children told her, they'd been through hell together. Sarah could have told them that before. Something about the absolute trust they men held in each other. They way they always covered for the other, especially after both men's wives had passed away, the men has leaned on each other harder than ever.
These two men where closer than brothers. Everyone could see it, it shined in their actions. Even as they stood clinging to walkers with one hand while shaking one fist in the others face while Kate stood back and watched with an amused look.
"Oh." Tony said, immediately forgetting the argument.
"What?" Tim questioned.
"It's Tuesday, they're serving icecream and brownies." Sarah grinned as both men's eyes lit up. Kate went to get the door for the two men as they tottered indoors talking about the 'good ol' days'.
Kate joined in on the conversation as she walked with them, making both men roar with laughter.
The two men might not be brothers by blood, but they were family in every way that counted.