*This story was totally different then when I started. I never write about dark sad things but somehow this story just happened. So be warned it deals with child abuse. If it offends you don't read. I grew up like Janelly, in fact Gibbs is based on my dad and granddad, but I did know real life Nan. Only there was no Agent Gibbs to save the real life Nan.*
Our story starts when Janelly is 12 and has just entered Jr. High School. Janelly has made friends with a girl Nan who Gibbs is less then thrilled about. But since Janelly has always been a good kid and never done anything to make her father not trust her he has allowed her to remain friends with Nan with a few rules such as Nan can come to the Gibbs house but Janelly is not allowed at her house. Nan is the oldest of 7 and her mother is too busy to care what her children do and her step father is usually too drunk to notice.
To be honest Nan loved spending time at Janelly's even though Mr. Gibbs could be a bit intimidating. He was always nice, and did fun things like play ball in the back yard with the girls. He never got drunk and yelled or hit. Truth be told she was jealous of Janelly's life.
Janelly has just arrived to the bull pen with Tony who had picked her up from school. Ziva was sitting at her desk catching up on some paperwork.
"Hey Zee have you seen my dad?"
"No Muneca, how was school?"
"It was school. School would be fun if classes didn't get in my way. I like seeing my friends."
Tony who had been listening while throwing paper wads at McGee stopped to look at the little gibblet. "Ohhhh Janelly you skipped classes?"
Janelly who was surprised that Tony would even think that, she shot him a death glare. "No, I may not like classes but I am not stupid. Dad would kill me if he found out I was cutting classes, besides I am NOT you Tony."
Tim started laughing "She does have a point Tony, she is smarter then you were at that age".
Tony stuck his tongue out just as Gibbs walked up behind him and Gibbs slapped him "DiNozzo do NOT try to corrupt my daughter with you stories of you misguided youth"
Gibbs kissed his daughter of the head "Hey kiddo how was school?"
"It was fine dad. Hey dad can Nan and I have a camp out this weekend?"
Gibbs rolled his eyes at the mention of that girls name. He didn't dislike her, but he knew her family was screwed up and that Nan was a bit of a wild child who did as she pleased. He was afraid that someday Nan would get his sweet little girl into some sort of trouble that she was not ready to handle. He raised his eyebrows "And just where do you two think you are going camping?".
Janelly knew her dad didn't like Nan but she also knew he trusted her. "The back yard?"
Being an federal agent Gibbs knew stories of children being abducted in their own yard in daylight. He certainly wasn't going to let his 12 year old daughter sleep outside at night even if it was only the backyard. "Um yeah that's not going to happen. Too dangerous"
Sometimes she really hated having a federal agent and ex marine as a father. He was way to overprotective and babied her. "That's not fair. It is the freaking backyard"
Tony, Ziva, and McGee all stopped what they were doing and their eyes almost popped out of their heads. They had never heard Janelly talk to her father like that before. In fact the 3 grown agents would never dream of back talking their boss like that.
One look at her dad and she immediately regretted talking to her dad like that. He looked pissed.
"Janelly Caitlyn Gibbs. Don't you ever take that tone with me again. Do you understand?"
Janelly kept her eyes on her father. Yeah that had been a bad idea to balk talk. "Yes dad, sorry".
The agents kept waiting half expecting Gibbs to swat her backside but to everyone's surprise Gibbs look softened and he sat down and pulled Janelly on his knee. "look I know you think I am being unfair but I couldn't bear anything happening to you. I tell you what you can set up the tent in the living room and we can make smores and I'll let you rent some movies and you can have you campout in the living room."
Janelly knew she had already pushed her luck with her dad but she couldn't stop her self. She started pouting "That is so not fair, a camp out is just that out otherwise they would call it a camp in."
Gibbs almost laughed out loud, you had to give her credit she was stubborn "Well kid it is either my way or NO campout. You decide"
She huffed for dramatic effect to try to make her dad feel bad. "Fine, your way"
"Why don't you call Nan and then you can start your homework.
Turning to his agents "You 3 shows over, back to work"
"Yes, on it boss" and the 3 agents went back to work.
The night of the campout came. Gibbs had set up a tent in their living room and even built a fire in the fireplace.
"All right girls time to get ready for dinner. Go outside and get 3 long sticks"
The girls were confused "You are making us eat sticks for dinner dad?"
Gibbs couldn't help but laugh out loud which made his blue eyes sparkle. "No silly, you wanted a camp out well we are going to have one with real campfire food. We are going to roast hot dogs for dinner and then marshmallows later."
"Um dad why not just cook hotdogs on the stove like most people"
Gibbs couldn't resist giving his daughter a hard time. He grabbed her and started tickling her. "This is a campout so we are going to do it the boy scout way."
Janelly was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes "Dad you were never a boy scout"
Finally letting go "All right how about the marine way. Now are we going to starve to death or what".
"All right we are going. And Janelly turned and gave her dad a mock salute the way Abby had showed her.
"Wrong hand Janelly. Don't take lessons from Abbs".
When they got outside Nan who had been watching the whole interaction inside turned to Janelly. "Jan is you dad always like that?"
Janelly was confused "Like what?"
"I mean doesn't he ever yell at you or hit you?"
"Huh?"
"You know when you get in trouble what does your dad do?"
"Oh. Usually he just uses my full name with his scary federal agent voice. A little embarrassed "Sometimes if I talk back or make him mad he will send me to the corner for 10 minutes. I hate it, but he said there is no point in sending me to my room so I can play. (in her best Gibbs impression) It is supposed to be a punishment not a reward."
"That's it?"
"Well….. A couple times when I have done something dangerous he has put me over his knee and spanked me. I hate that".
"What does he spank you with?"
"What do you mean? He uses his hand, which hurts enough. He is an ex marine and a federal agent, remember?"
"Oh, when my step father gets mad he yells at me and if I really piss him off he beats my bare butt with his belt. Sometimes he has left bruises"
Janelly had a nagging feeling in her gut that something was wrong in Nan's family. She looked at her friend with tears in her eyes "Have you told your mom, what does she say?"
Nan started to feel embarrassed realizing that her and Janelly came from 2 different worlds. "My mom doesn't care. She just calls me names."
With a genuine look of confusion Janelly was trying to comprehend what her friend was talking about. "Well I get called names too. Ziva calls me Muneca, the Spanish word for doll, Tony usually calls me Squirt, Abby calls me Gibblet, and Dad usually calls me kiddo or baby".
'Um no I mean my mom calls me bad names, words we are not allowed to say like b-. Just forget it we should go back in before you dad wonders where we are"
The girls got some sturdy sticks and went inside to roast hot dogs. After dinner Gibbs showed the girls how to make smores. Although he wasn't sure what was going on his famous gut was telling something was bugging his little girl.
Several hours after being tucked in Janelly couldn't sleep. She went upstairs and crawled into her dad's bed. Gibbs sat up and turned on the light to reveal his sad looking little girl.
"Hey what's wrong baby?"
Not sure if Nan would get mad at her if she told she snuggled next to her dad and felt safe in his big strong arms.
"Dad can I ask you something?"
"Of course you can, you know you can always tell me anything" he planted a kiss on the top of her red hair.
"Dad would ever spank me with a belt and call me bad names?"
Gibbs was stunned that his daughter would ask him something like that. "Honey I have never nor would I spank you with a belt, and I would never call you names other then the nicknames I have for you. Why do you ask?"
Putting her head on her fathers chest Janelly began to cry. "Cause Nan told me her dad spanks her really bad with a belt and even leaves her with bruises and her mom calls her bad names."
Gibbs scooped his daughter up in his arms. He knew he didn't like Nan's parents and this information confirmed it. He gut was telling him that he couldn't pretend his daughter didn't just share this information. Had it not been the middle of the night he would have gotten his agents to run background checks, and would have seen what he could do to get Nan to a safe home, but since it was the middle of the night and Nan was safe at their house it would have to wait until morning. He could feel his blood boiling at how anyone could treat a child that way. Sure kids mess up and need to be punished but there was a difference between punishment and cruelty. It wasn't that he thought the use of a belt was abusive per say. In fact growing up he had been on the receiving end of Jackson Gibb's belt a few times but leaving bruises and hitting because you are angry was crossing the line. "It's okay kiddo we will make sure Nan is safe. You have my word"
"Can I stay with you for a while?" Just being near her dad brought her a sense of comfort.
"Sure kiddo climb in"
The next morning Nan woke to find Janelly had left her sleep bag. When she stumbled into the kitchen she saw Janelly helping her dad make pancakes for breakfast. Breakfast in her house was whatever she could find for her and her younger siblings.
While they sat around the table and Gibbs drank his second cup of coffee of the day he decided he needed to talk to this girl and then make the appropriate phone calls.
"Um Nan can we talk for a minute?"
Looking into those blue eyes was intimidating and she was wracking her brain to think of what she had done to upset him. "Um am I in trouble?"
"No no honey it's just that part of my job as a federal agent is to keep people safe and I am concerned about your safety at home. Does anyone ever hurt you or mistreat you?'
'Jan told you what I said didn't she.
Janelly could not look up for fear her friend was going to be mad at her but when she couldn't take it anymore she glanced at her friend who seemed to be relieved and not angry.
Keeping her eyes down from embarrassment Nan fiddled with her pancakes "Yes Mr. Gibbs it's true."
Gibbs could feel his blood boiling again, "Have you ever told anyone before?"
"Well I tried to tell my teacher once and she called CPS and I went to live with my grandparents but after a while I had to go back home and he was even meaner so I kept my mouth shut after. She was crying while pleading "PLEASE don't tell anyone if CPS shows up at my house again he will be even madder."
"Yeah that is NOT going to happen this time. I have enough connections and friends that we WILL keep you and your sibling safe. According to Abby and Janelly Gibbs can make anything happen because he is Gibbs. True to his word Gibbs did make some phone calls and pulled some strings and before the sun had set that night Nan and her siblings were placed in safe homes.
Much to Janelly's amazement Nan wasn't mad at her for telling, in fact Nan and her siblings were adopted by a childless couple and Nan thought of Janelly and Gibbs as her heroes for saving her.
If only there were more Agent Gibbs in this world.