"Aunt Abby?" I felt my niece tugging at the hem of my lab coat from the small fort I had assembled for her out of blankets, pillows, and a few computer chairs. I looked away from the computer, running a partial index fingerprint through the AFIS database, down to where she was playing with Bert and her Barbie.
"What is it, Leah-Bean?" I noticed Barbie had been discarded in favor of hugging Bert tight enough to make him fart several times.
"When is Uncle Jethro coming to visit?" she asked impatiently. I couldn't help but chuckle. Sciutos aren't known for their patience.
"Soon, I hope," I said, grinning broadly and tugging on one of her blond pigtails gently. "He always comes down to see if I've found anything to help him catch the bad guys." My computer beeped in the background, and at that moment Gibbs, Tony, and McGee walked into the lab.
"What do you have for me, Abbs?" Gibbs asked, stopping when Leah ran at him.
"Uncle Jethro!" she cried out happily, tossing Bert aside to hug Gibbs. I giggled at the surprised looks Tony and McGee gave me as the boss-man was nearly taken out by a five year old girl.
Andy and Sarah have an overnight teaching conference in Baltimore, I signed to Gibbs, accepting the Caf-Pow he handed me. They dropped Leah off at my apartment after you left this morning.
So that's who you were talking to, Gibbs signed back before picking up Leah and setting her into the chair next to mine. Only your brother gets you that worked up.
"You know, that is really annoying, considering, y'know, that none of us are deaf," Tony protested, as always, while Gibbs and I were signing. His complaint earned him a slap on the back of the head from Gibbs.
"Well, you boys have perfect timing, because AFIS just found a match for that partial print I pulled off of the murder weapon," I said cheerily, pulling up the dossier on one Petty Officer David Nash. "Whoa, he's kinda cute." And he was! He could have been a clone of Clive Owen. I ignored the looks Gibbs and McGee shot me and continued. "Now, onto exhibit number two, the bullet!" I held up two evidence jars with similar rounds. "Our murderer had to pick only one of the most popular bullet calibers, but I found a match. According to the serial number on the murder weapon, Ducky's new arrival down in autopsy owned the Glock he was shot with. Our murderer didn't hesitate using the victim's own gun against him, which makes me wonder whether our 'victim' wasn't trying to kill our 'murderer,' but," I stopped at Gibbs' glare telling me to speed things along, "you probably already considered that."
"I'll have Petty Officer Nash's computer transported over from the evidence garage for us to take a look at," McGee said, taking over while I checked on Leah.
"What'cha doin'?" I asked, watching her play with some of my statuettes.
"You have really cool toys, Aunt Abby," Leah said.
"Thank you," I said, moving to pick up Bert off the floor. "I noticed you didn't bring Ken with you. Is that why Barbie was hugging Bert?"
She nodded. "I forgot him at Uncle Jethro's at Christmas." I looked around, making sure McGee and Tony hadn't heard. Gibbs and I had managed to keep our relationship a secret from the team, and we fully intended to keep it that way.
"Leah-Bean," I whispered in her ear, "if you want to talk about staying at Uncle Jethro's, you'll have to sign, like when you're at nana and pop-pop's."
"Why?" I really couldn't blame her for being confused. Her parents are allowed to work together and let their coworkers know they're married. If anyone at NCIS found out that Gibbs was breaking Rule 12, possibly the one rule he enforced the most, we'd never hear the end of it.
Because the people we work for won't like it if they knew Uncle Jethro and I were dating, I signed, hoping that she understood and picked up the cue to start signing.
Dating? Good, she understands that it's "signing only" time in Aunt Abby's lab. I released the breath I didn't know I was holding and smiled at her question. What's that?
It's when two people who like each other very much see whether they want to get married or not. Okay, it's dating oversimplified, but I hoped she understood. I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder, and it's all I could do to keep from breaking the arm of the person who owned that hand. I turned and saw Gibbs standing behind me. "Jeez, Gibbs, don't do that!" I shrieked, swatting his hand away playfully.
"Do what?" he asked, smiling at my reaction. Smartass...
"Sneak up on me! I could've broken your arm!" I wasn't really angry, but he should have known better than to do that, especially after the whole incident with Mikel.
"Then I would've known that I taught you well," he kissed my cheek, which always makes me smile.
"Ewww!" Leah cried, running for the safety of her fort. "Aunt Abby has cooties!"
I laughed and started to crawl after her. "Leah-Bean, you know Uncle Jethro doesn't have cooties," I said, catching up to her. "You know that!" I started tickling her, and she took out one wall of her fort with one well-placed kick, causing the rest of it to cave in on us. I clawed my way out from under a tangle of blankets and saw Gibbs stared down at us with barely concealed amusement. "Oh, c'mon Gibbs! Didn't you and your buddies at school give each other cootie shots when you were a little kid?"
He grinned and helped me up, avoiding the question by leaving. "Good work, Abs," he called out behind him as he left. Infuriating man, but that's why I love him.
NCIS
Several hours later, Leah was fast asleep on the futon in my office, and I was waiting for Gibbs to wrap up paperwork, my own finished when Leah settled down for her nap. All that was left was to start running a foreign DNA sample that Agent Rodriguez brought me from a crime scene involving a missing Marine, and that could be left running all night. The gentle "swoosh" off my office doors opening alerted me to Gibbs' arrival.
"Ready to go home?" he said quietly, careful not to wake Leah. I nodded and shut down everything that wasn't required to run overnight, leaving a less-than-threatening note for the cleaning staff to leave my equipment on.
"Your place or mine?" When we did spend the night together, we usually alternated places.
"Mine. Leah can sleep in Kelly's room." I looked up after making sure everything was in order, and saw that he was holding a still-sleeping Leah. "I'll call for takeout."
"Or we could make Leah's favorite, chocolate-chip pancakes," I suggested. "I have all the ingredients at my apartment. You know she doesn't get to eat them very often." Sarah was highly-allergic to chocolate, which was something that I couldn't even begin to imagine. Needless to say, I spoiled Leah with it when she came to visit. "And I've got her favorite cartoon show on DVD. She won't want to go back home."
"I don't own a DVD player, Abs," Gibbs said pointedly as we walked to the elevator.
"Relax. I've got a portable DVD player I can hook up to your tv. It'll be just like having one!" 'Note to self, buy Gibbs a DVD player for Christmas.'
After snagging the pancake fixings, Leah's things, and the DVD player at my place, we arrived back at Gibbs' house a little after 8:00, or 20:00, as he would put it. Gibbs picked Leah up and walked inside before helping me with the bags. He snatched the bag of pancake ingredients from me and grinned.
"I think I'll take care of these. There's no way you'll get me to work on that DVD thing." I ran up to the house and saw Leah curled up on the couch in his living room. I left the DVD player on the coffee table and walked into the kitchen.
"Do you know exactly how to make them the way she likes them?" I teased. "I could always blindfold you."
Gibbs stopped mixing batter and leaned close to whisper, "I thought you liked it when I do that to you." He dumped the bag of mini chocolate chips into the mixing bowl. "Go wake Leah. These won't take long to cook." I nodded and walked back to the living room.
"Leah, time to wake up." She sprang up and looked around, puzzled. "We're at Uncle Jethro's. He's making chocolate chip pancakes just for you." Leah held up the DVDs I brought.
"Can we watch them while we eat? I haven't seen this show in forever! Mommy doesn't like it," she said, giving me the saddest face she could make.
"I'll go ask him." I walked back to the kitchen and wrapped my arms around Gibbs' shoulders while he cooked. "Leah wants to watch tv while we eat. Is that going to be a problem?" It probably wouldn't be. We've curled up on that couch together with Chinese takeout.
"No, Abs. Now go hook up that DVD thing before she gets restless." I complied, and had the player hooked up in record time before popping in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Volume One. Gibbs walked in, balancing three plates of pancakes carefully. I noticed Leah's were dusted with powdered sugar, which was exactly how she liked her pancakes. I smiled and kissed Gibbs on the cheek.
"You did good. Leah's very happy." Actually, she was stuffing her face as fast as she could while watching her favorite cartoon. I carefully ate a piece of pancake and smiled. "You did very good, Gibbs." He frowned and stared at the tv.
"I don't understand this cartoon." The Grim Reaper was standing in a kitchen, wearing nothing but boxers while making a large cup of coffee for himself. "Are you sure Leah should be watching this?"
"Gibbs, I watch it. It's better than what she could be watching." I cuddled up next to him and smiled. This was far from the best day, but it definitely had its perks.