Aunt Abby Saves the Day
Abby/DiNozzo kids/McGee kids/Palmer kids
How Abby wound up babysitting all nine kids when she had planned a quiet evening at home.
Abby had barely gotten inside her door when her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID; Ziva. She put her grocery bag down and swiped the phone screen.
"Hey, Ziva. What's up?" Abby greeted her sister.
"Abby, we have a problem. Tony and I are supposed to have a date night tonight and Gibbs is sick. He has the flu. Would you sit for us tonight, please?" Ziva really wanted to go out tonight; Tony had made reservations at a restaurant and bought tickets for a concert they both were looking forward to attending.
"Sure, Ziva. I can be there in twenty minutes." Abby loved sitting for the DiNozzo kids, and they enjoyed having her as a sitter. Aunt Abby told the coolest scary stories.
Abby started to ring the bell at the DiNozzo house just as Ziva opened the door. Both of them jumped, and then laughed. "Perfect timing!"
Ziva smiled, "The kids have been fed dinner and all of them are watching a movie in the family room. They can have one snack before 2000, if they want. We should be home around 2300. Thanks for coming over at short notice, Abby."
Tony came to the entranceway, hugged Abby, and then he and Ziva left for their dinner.
Abby sat in the family room with the kids, who were watching Mulan. Two year old LJ came over to Abby and sat in her lap, and the four year old twins, Rivka and Beth, cuddled on each side of Aunt Abby. They had all finally settled when Abby's phone rang. She looked at the caller ID; Tim McGee.
"Hi, Tim." Abby answered the call. "What's up?"
"Abby, can you watch the kids for a while tonight? Delilah's car is not starting and she is still at work." Tim didn't want to have to take the kids all the way to the DoD site where Delilah worked. If he needed to arrange a tow, or get someone out from AAA, he would rather not have to entertain two six year olds while waiting.
"I can, but I'm at Tony and Ziva's. Can you bring them here?" Abby knew that the McGee house was only a ten minute ride from the DiNozzo house. She figured she could watch two more and she knew Tony and Ziva would not mind.
"Great; see you in fifteen." Tim was glad Abby could help out.
Tim dropped off John and Katie at the DiNozzo house, "Thanks again, Abs. I'll call you when one of us is on the way to pick them up."
Abby nodded, "I hope it's an easy fix." She went to the family room where the McGee kids had settled in with their DiNozzo cousins to watch the movie.
Abby paused the movie with the remote, and all seven kids looked at her. "Who wants some snacks?"
A chorus of "me, me" responded. Tali told Abby that they had popcorn, and ice cream sandwiches that Ima had said that they could have for snacks. She went with Abby to show her where things were. Abby put eight ice cream sandwiches on a plate and took them into the family room. She helped LJ unwrap his as the other children each took one.
Abby had just finished her ice cream when her phone rang again. She looked at the caller ID, thinking it was Tim or Delilah calling to come get John and Katie. It was Breena.
"Hi, Breena. What's up?" Abby smiled to herself. Her whole family had called her tonight, well except for the under-the-weather Gibbs.
Breena greeted her friend, "Hey, Abby. Are you free to watch the kids tonight? Jimmy and I have a date night and our usual sitter is down with the flu."
Abby laughed, "I can watch them, but you will have to bring them to the DiNozzo house. I already have all five DiNozzos and the McGee twins here."
"Thanks, Abby. We'll see you in about fifteen minutes."
Abby told the other kids that Tori and Charles were on the way over. LJ yelled, "YEAH!" and the other kids all smiled. The doorbell rang and Abby went to let the Palmer kids in.
Jimmy thanked Abby and told her they would pick up the kids about 2200. He said that he would call when they were on the way. Abby led the two to the family room, and each one took a seat. Tori sat next to Tali and Charles sat by Anthony and John.
Anthony had changed the DVD to a new movie, and he started it playing. All of the kids liked Kung Foo Panda. Abby made popcorn for them all, and brought out two large bowls full.
After a third movie, Abby decided that they all needed to take a break from screens for a bit. She asked the kids if they wanted to hear a story or learn to chicken dance.
"BOTH!" All of the kids loved Aunt Abby stories, and they also liked learning silly things, like the chicken dance from her.
First, she found the chicken dance music on her phone and then started showing the kids the moves. Each one did their best to imitate the moves, and they all laughed. "Okay, now that you can chicken dance, every time I say the word chicken in the story, we have to dance and play the music." The kids all nodded.
Abby began the story: "There once was a little chicken…" She played the chicken dance song and they all got up and danced.
"Who liked to play pranks on his chicken friends." Chicken dance time again. Abby continued the story, each time she said the word "chicken," she played the music and all ten of them danced the chicken dance. It was during one of the chicken dance times that Jimmy, Tim and Tony each called to let Abby know that they were on the way to the house. Because of the music and dancing, all three had left messages when Abby didn't answer.
She continued with the story, and the dancing with the kids. All of them were laughing and having fun, and no one noticed that there were three unheard voicemail messages.
Tim and Delilah arrived first. Tim was helping Delilah into her wheelchair as Jimmy and Breena drove up. "Hey, Palmers, what are you doing here?" Tim thought it odd that they were pulling into the DiNozzo driveway at 2220 on a Friday night.
"Our usual sitter is sick with the flu, so Jimmy called Abby to see if she could watch Tori and Charles while we had our date night." Breena responded to Tim.
"So she has a houseful of kids?" Tim had figured out that all nine kids must be inside. Breena nodded as the four started up the walkway to the front door. Just as they did so, Tony and Ziva arrived home.
"What the heck?" Tony was surprised to see Tim's BMW, Jimmy's SUV and the four people in his driveway. All four noticed the headlights from Tony's truck and stopped to wait for the DiNozzo parents.
Tim greeted Tony and Ziva as they got out of the vehicle. "Hey, guys; Abby is watching all of the kids. Delilah had car trouble earlier and the Palmers' regular sitter is sick. Hope you don't mind too much!"
Ziva laughed, "Abby is probably inside telling them scary stories and having fun!"
The six parents went inside to find Abby and the nine kids chicken dancing around the DiNozzo family room. All of them were laughing and dancing around to the music blaring from Abby's phone. Abby's back was to the group of parents and Tony put his finger to his lips to let the kids know to be quiet.
All of the parents started chicken dancing behind Abby and the kids laughed even harder. Abby turned around when she realized they were watching something behind her and nearly jumped in the air. The six parents laughed at the look on Abby's face. The music ended and all of the family collapsed in laughter on the chairs and sofas. LJ ran over to his Ima and hugged her, still laughing. Ziva could see the little boy was wound up and he would probably crash hard when he did finally settle down.
"Okay, Tori and Charles; get ready to head home." Jimmy helped his kids round up their coats and backpacks of stuff. "Remember to tell Aunt Abby thank you."
Delilah called out to her children, "Time to go, Katie and John. We need to get home and get everyone in bed since we are going to the circus tomorrow."
"DiNozzos, time to say goodnight to your cousins and aunts and uncles! It's bedtime!" Ziva tried to get her five moving to their rooms to get ready for bed.
All of the kids hugged Aunt Abby. "We had fun. Thanks Aunt Abby!"
"Good night, everyone." Tony and Ziva and the five DiNozzo kids all waved to the other family as they left.
"Bedtime!" Tony reminded them to groans. "Let's go!"