A/N: It's now 19 years after I'm Still Here, Just a one shot to introduce Zach Gibbs' family and also an idea on his life for the recent years. I wrote this ages ago and just thought I'd post it for anyone who's interested.
I'm still working on Stag Night. And I've nearly finished the next chapter. I'm really not into writing at the moment though, so sorry if everything I'm posting is terrible.
All kid's names and ages are written down the bottom. I've put the Dinozzo Kids in too, even though they are not in this story.
The Morning Routine
It was just an ordinary day in the large Gibbs household. But an ordinary day for Zacharriah Jethro Gibbs never meant an easy day, he could always count on his children to make the day more entertaining.
At 600 hours the dark-blond man would rise from bed to fetch his two-year-old son, Dean Michael Gibbs, from his bedroom, and take him downstairs into the kitchen to where his dad always sat with his morning paper and second coffee of the day.
"Gra'pa!" The blond toddler squealed happily, reaching out with his arms to the elder man, who of course was more than willing to hold his youngest grandchild.
Gibbs had been living with Zach and Sarah now for the past three years, ever since he retired. The elder man had refused point blank at first; worried he was intruding on the happy family's lives.
But Zach had managed to convince him that they needed all the help they could get with their three boisterous children with a fourth on the way and their busy job schedules at the time that had been a local Police man and a professional writer.
And he pointed out the fact there was little point him paying rent on a house which he was rarely ever in, because he spent most of his spare time over here anyway. Even all the projects were getting built in the basement here because it was a thing the father and son and now grandsons and granddaughter did together.
"Morning Zach, morning Dean" He tickled dean slightly making the boy giggle before putting him in the booster seat next to him.
"Bora da Dad. Good Morning" Zach greeted him, moving around the kitchen to make breakfast for Dean. He would have breakfast later in the morning once he was changed for work, along with his dad, wife and his oldest children.
"I still can't pick it up son, no matter how much either you or the kids talk to me in Welsh"
All of the Gibbs children were fluent Welsh speakers, and even Sarah had learnt it. But that was mostly because she had to learn it otherwise the twins would be running circles around her.
The children even had a strong Welsh accent when they spoke in Welsh. But when they spoke in English it was a more American one, with an undertone of Welsh. Even Zach's own accent had lessened since he had moved nineteen years ago.
"Can't teach an old dog new tricks" The thirty-five-year old grinned, passing his son a bowl of porridge whilst making sure to keep out of his fathers reach "Can you Dean-y?"
"Woof! Woof!"
"I'll get you after boy. Just you wait" Gibbs warned, promising his son a head slap.
"Get your Zimmer frame out and see if you can catch me!" He laughed, running from the kitchen to the safety of his bedroom, leaving Dean with his dad as usual.
"You won't be laughing when you're getting your ass kicked!" He heard his dad's voice call up after him.
"Daddy get ass kick!" His toddler cried happily. The traitor!
The next stop was going into his bedroom to wake his snoozing wife so she could make the breakfast and lunches for their children before they went to school. Sometimes if they had enough time, and Zach was lucky enough, they would share a shower together in the morning. But today, unfortunately for Zach, was not one of those days.
Instead he showered alone. Dressed for work in his designer suit and shoes, sprayed his expensive aftershave, and took more time on his hair then his dad deemed manly.
They could afford to live the luxurious life, thanks to Sarah's best selling book series making them extremely wealthy, and Sarah quite famous. Even if she hadn't made it as a writer, they would still be living comfortably of the wage packet Zach brought home each month.
He had been an officer in the RAF from the age of eighteen till he was thirty-two, and had achieved the rank of Wing Commander. The last two years of his service he had been based just outside Washington DC and had got to spend a lot more time with the whole family.
He had chosen to leave once his second contract was up because he was missing out too much of his children's lives every time he got deployed. And also, as the boys had gotten older they had become a lot less accepting every time they had to move. And he couldn't blame them because if he was deployed they would be in America living with his dad, and if he was on base they would be there in the UK with him. It was a big movement each time and it was seriously affecting their school work.
After the RAF, he took a short break then became a local Cop. And not too long ago, he had gotten the job as a probationary agent on one of the two MCRT in NCIS. His team leader was his Uncle Tony, and the team leader on the parallel team was his Uncle Tim.
Zach returned back into the room, throwing his dirty bed clothes in the hamper before his wife had the chance to shout at him for leaving them on the floor, and mentally prepared himself for the daunting task of waking two sleeping fourteen-year-old identical twin boys and one eleven-year-old girl.
He went to his eldest son's, by twenty-four-minutes, room, turning the lights on and opening the curtains before repeating it in his other son's room.
His daughter, Jordan Rhiannon Gibbs, was so much easier to wake. He would go into her room and lean down and kiss the light brown head of hair.
"Wakey wakey Jord, time to get up for school cariad" He'd sit on the bed next to her, waiting for her to rouse from her sleep.
"Morning daddy" She yawned, opening her chocolate brown eyes similar to her mothers.
"Morning sweetie. Go get dressed for school and save me some food from grampa. You know how much bacon the old man can eat" and then he'd leave her room knowing that she would still be at the breakfast table before him, because he still had the long task of waking up his boys.
It was the start of round two with his oldest, Ianto Jethro Gibbs. He would switch the light back on, pull the curtains back again,open the window wide so it let in a breeze and snatched the quilts off his son who was sprawled out all over the bed.
"Up now Ianto! I won't tell you again!" But they both knew he would be in this room at least once more.
He left the room and went into the other twin's room, Theodore Sean Gibbs who usually went by Teddy unless he was in trouble, and he did the same to him as he did to Ianto.
"Arse out of bed now Teddy" He used his no-nonsense voice he had picked up over the years from listening to his own father.
"Morning Dad" Teddy yawned, rubbing his eyes with his fists before sitting up in the bed.
Teddy knew when to stop before he pushed it too far, unlike his twin. But that didn't mean he didn't cause trouble, he usually went along with anything his brother said and came up with plenty of ideas to cause havoc of his own. He was the brains of the operation while Ianto was the leader.
"Morning son" Zach ruffled the blond hair before leaving for round three.
The bedroom was exactly as it was before he came in the first time, with his son sleeping cosily under the covers. But it was no surprise to him.
The identical twins looked a lot like him, with their blond hair and icy blue eyes. And when they compared them to a photo of him at their age, they were spitting image. Just like Zach was with Gibbs.
They both may have looked like him, but Ianto was a carbon copy of him. He talked, walked and acted exactly like him. He didn't know when to stop; he was cocky and downright naughty at times. Sarah got so stressed out with the teen at times, blaming Zach for his misbehaviour because they were so much alike.
He was the leader of the chipmunks, which was the name given to Ianto, Teddy and fourteen-year-old Tyler Dinozzo, from their family before they were even old enough to crawl. He was a great sports player, and often Coach Brooks, who still taught at Kendrick Academy, was comparing him to the skill Zach had at sports.
"Ianto Jethro! Get up now or I start smacking" Zach warned, knowing the boy wouldn't take the first warning, just like he wouldn't have.
"I warned you" The dark-blond pulled back the covers one again, swatting the teen's backside a couple of times when he saw no movement.
"Ow! Ow!" Ianto jumped up "I'm up already, all right?"
Yep Zach mused Definitely like him. Since his twins had hit puberty, he had actually started to feel sorry for all the stuff he had put his dad through, even if he had never apologized to him.
It was a rule not to apologize anyway, but he knew from experience that those rules were not for him when he was a teenager. And only now they were suppose to be for work purposes, never between family.
"Dressed and get downstairs" He commanded, sounding very much like Gibbs.
"Save me some bacon?" Ianto grinned.
"Course champ" Zach ruffled his hair, trying to hide his own smile.
He went back downstairs again, taking the seat next to his dad who was head of the table. Dean was opposite him, Ianto would always sit next to Zach with Teddy next to him. Jordan would sit next to Dean. And Sarah would sit at the other end of the table in-between Teddy and Jordan.
Thwack!"That's from this morning" Thwack! "And that's for calling me and old man"
All of his children and his wife laughed at his expense. They always found the morning head slaps entertaining; it had become a family tradition of sorts.
"Ow! dad, you really don't have to hit so hard you know!" He rubbed the back of his head more for show than it actually hurting "I'm surprised I haven't got brain damage after all these years"
"I'm surprised you're still a cocky brat after all these years" Gibbs retorted, sipping his coffee.
"Well, everyone says I take after my father" He grinned cheekily.
Zach Gibbs – 35
Ianto Jethro Gibbs & Teddy (Theodore) Sean Gibbs – 14
Jordan Rhiannon Gibbs – 11
Dean Michael Gibbs – 2
Ant (Anthony) Zacharriah Dinozzo – 17
Tyler Dinozzo – 14
Gabriella Dinozzo – 10