Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs did not often have to leave Washington for his job anymore, which suited him. As he had gotten older, he found he enjoyed the relative peace of staying home, content in his castle. However, his presence had been requested to participate in an interagency conference in Philadelphia for three days. Accepting the invitation, he had decided to round out the work week with a long overdue visit to his father in Stillwater.
Meanwhile, Abby had scheduled a cruise of the Mississippi River with friends for the same week, and she was beyond excited. She had spent the past several days packing and unpacking, and talking excitedly about the trip.
When it dawned on Jethro that Tony would be left to his own devices, home alone and unsupervised in DC, he almost cancelled his trip. There was a reason he kept such a tight leash on his senior field agent, and it had to do with Tony's quest for entertainment. Leaving him to his own devices could prove regrettable.
"Don't be ridiculous, Boss," Tony assured Gibbs at breakfast as he took another bite of his Captain Crunch cereal. "What could possibly go wrong? Baby Girl will be gone, so you can relax. She's the troublemaker around here, as she has evidenced time and time again. I am the wiser, more mature specimen, by far."
Abby scowled across the table. "I most certainly am not more trouble. You are the one who's always up to something."
"Yes you are," Tony contradicted, "so don't be modest. You're a regular Dennis the Menace."
"Gibbs!" Abby called, her voice beginning to rise with annoyance. Tony and Abby knew exactly which buttons to push with each other to cause an electric reaction.
"Stop calling names, Tony," Gibbs admonished.
Abby stuck out her tongue. "I can't wait until the next time you get your butt busted."
Tony grinned and took another bite of cereal, then turned to Gibbs and added, "You know you can trust me, though, Boss. How did I get to be your senior field agent except through your confidence in me, which I have earned time after time?"
Gibbs shook his head and sipped at his coffee. "It's not on the job that is the problem. I simply don't trust you home alone."
"What do you think I'm going to do?" Tony asked, wide eyed.
"Destroy something, no doubt," provided Abby.
"This conversation doesn't concern you," Tony countered. "Stay out of it, or I'm telling about the other day when you were supposed…."
"Nope, I can talk when I want," she immediately interrupted. "If you say anything about me, then I am going to tell what you did last week." She smiled cattily.
"Both of you hush," Gibbs ordered, getting annoyed. "I am tired of the arguing."
The largest anomaly in the House of Gibbs had to do with the handling of damaging information. Tony and Abby regularly knocked themselves out tattling to Gibbs, reporting the most minor of infractions in the hope that the other would get into trouble.
However, if something big, or something really serious occurred guaranteed to warrant really rough consequences from Jethro, they were tight lipped and feigned ignorance of the crime, protecting each other fiercely.
They were so loyal to one another, in fact, that Jethro had finally made a rule that if he found one of them had covered up something serious the other had done, he'd mete out the same punishment to both. Even with that mandate, they stuck together, and one whole part of him was actually proud of them for that.
He constantly drilled into them their responsibility of protecting the other. Obviously, they had listened. It did make it very difficult to get to the bottom of things at times, though.
He turned to Abby and suggested, "You're through with breakfast, so why don't you go start on your chores?" It was Saturday, so taking care of assigned duties early meant an afternoon and evening which could be devoted to play and fun.
Abby nodded agreeably and took her dishes to the sink, then headed upstairs.
Gibbs moved the cereal box away from Tony, who protested immediately and tried to grab it back, "Boss, I was finding the ten differences between those two pictures on the box, and I still have four more!"
"You just lost. I want you paying attention to me." Jethro moved the box further out of reach.
Tony sighed in resignation and looked at his boss. "Can I play again after you tell me what you want to tell me?"
Gibbs scowled and responded irritably, "I am losing patience, Anthony."
Tony straightened up then, not willing to poke the bear any further. He met his boss's gaze. "Yes sir, then, I am listening."
Gibbs took another swallow of coffee. "No parties- you are not hosting any type of gathering of any sort for any reason while I am gone."
Trying to appear shocked, Tony responded, "I wouldn't dream of it!"
"Furthermore, you are not staying out all night, any night I am gone. You know what time you had better have your butt home."
"How will you know?" Tony questioned, his mind racing to possible answers.
"I'll know," Gibbs pronounced with the tone that promised dire consequences.
Tony squirmed a bit then. Gibbs did have a way of knowing things that he appeared to have divined from somewhere, some place only he knew, especially when those things involved something Tony had done.
"This house had better look the same way as it does now when I return."
"Got it-"
"If I get one phone call or one complaint while I am in Pennsylvania, you will regret it when I return."
"Understood-" Tony smiled then, attempting to disarm his boss. "I will be an angel."
Gibbs eyed him suspiciously for several seconds, but nodded. "All right, that's what I wanted to say. Now get onto your roster of chores if you want to have a night out later."
Tony jumped up and started filling the dishwasher, humming softly to himself. Gibbs watched him as he worked, trying to decide if he should say more about Tony's home alone activities. He pinched the bridge of his nose and elected to drop the subject for the time being. Tony appeared ready to approach the week maturely, and he needed to trust him and give him a chance to prove himself.