Beyond the Holiday Adventure: Decisions
This is a science fiction AU crossover of NCIS and Magnificent Seven. This story will be mainly written from the point of view of NCIS, though. I do not own NCIS, Magnificent Seven, or Doctor Who (I haven't forgotten about the screwdriver), any products associated with any show or any movie or TV reference of any kind or any other character or star. No money has been made on any of these writings. No copyright infringement is intended.
This is #6 in the Holiday Adventure series. If you haven't read A Holiday Adventure, A Holiday Adventure Continues, Beyond the Holiday Adventure: Still Here!, Beyond the Holiday Adventure: The Weddings or Beyond the Holiday Adventure: Adjustments, you may want to read those before this one.
I just wanted to say that all of you have been so wonderful to me. I want to thank all of you again for the reviews, alerts and favorites. I also want to thank those of you who are just reading. Even though you haven't reviewed, it is still an honor to have you read my stories!
Warning: There will be discipline in the form of spankings and groundings in this story. It all depends on how the "kids" (and sometimes the wives) behave and we all know that they have a tendency to get into trouble. Also, there has been a minor child added into the family that will be disciplined in the same way when needed.
Chapter 1
Warning: talk of discipline.
Yes, they had all decided that if they had to stay for the rest of their days, they would just make the best of it. They would try to get home, but after all, home was where their true family was and their true family was in Four Corners.
Over the last three months, the two families had gotten closer to one another. They were bonding well. They were always watching out for one another. The Gibbs family's new uncles were there for them and gave attention where needed, especially Chris and Josiah. Chris and Josiah had no problem taking any of their new found nieces and nephews in hand. The others, for one reason or another, deferred to Chris and Josiah when it came to something more than a stern reprimand.
Gibbs had no problem reigning in anyone in his charge. Ducky usually gave a stern reminder or a swat or two and then let Gibbs handle the rest. Jenny was still much more comfortable with groundings as punishment, but did provide the occasional head slap when Gibbs' hand was out of reach. Nettie was still the spoon-wielding disciplinarian. The kids learned their places too. They learned which uncles needed to be taken very seriously.
The families were settling in quite nicely, taking on roles that best suited them. One day, Mary received an invitation to go to San Francisco for a newspaper conference and invited Jenny, Abby and Ziva. After much admonishment to behave and be careful, Gibbs and Chris allowed the trip.
One night while the girls were gone, Chris and Vin were called out on a prisoner detail. They were to take a prisoner to a territorial prison. It was decided that with the other five busy protecting the town, Billy would stay with Gibbs.
With a stern reminder to behave, that he would be treated as Gibbs' son and that he would be in trouble when Chris got back if Gibbs had to correct him, Chris left Billy at the ranch.
"What is making you so nervous Billy?" Tony asked Billy one night.
"Uncle Gibbs is a little scary Tony. I get nervous around him."
Tony didn't have the heart to tell Billy that Gibbs made everyone nervous. Instead he said, "All you have to do is behave, Buddy."
Billy smiled at Tony's nickname for him and said, "I guess so."
"It will be alright. Let's go see if we can get us a snack." Tony said encouragingly.
"Okay."
Gibbs had recently purchased a stallion. The horse still needed to be broken. Gibbs had already warned everyone not to go in the corral alone.
Billy was in awe of the stallion. The horse was a beautiful solid black. For some reason the stallion made Billy lose all sense of fear for his safety and for what Uncle Gibbs would say. "I am going to feed him this apple. I bet he is friendly. After all, Uncle Gibbs was just being an adult when he said not to go in there. Adults fuss all the time. They have to take all the fun out of everything." Billy thought and then walked into the corral.
Meanwhile, the girls were having a wonderful time in San Francisco. They were enjoying the comforts of the hotel they were in and had watched a performance at a local theater.
One day, as the group was going in to the convention area, they happened upon a women's rights gathering. The women were protesting about unfair treatment in the city. A brawl started when the local law enforcement tried to break up the group. The women began arguing and hitting the men with their picket signs. The girls ended up in the middle of the brawl. During the fight, Abby was pushed. She thought it was one of the men. She pushed back. This started a chain reaction with all four of the girls from Four Corners. They allowed their tempers to get the better of them and each took swings at the law enforcement. Ziva used some of her martial arts skills on one of the men. Before they knew it, they were behind bars.
Billy walked up to the horse with the apple in his hand. The stallion snorted and dug its front hoof into the dirt as if he was going to charge the young boy in front of him. Billy sensed at this point that Uncle Gibbs had a point about not going into the corral. Billy turned to run to the gate and heard the stallion begin to gallop. He unlatched the gate and in his panic, jumped on it as it swung open. The stallion ran out of the corral and was out of sight in no time.
"Oh no! What are we going to do? How do we get out of here?" Abby was in a panic.
"I think I want to stay here. When Dad finds out, we'll be safer in jail." Ziva said knowingly.
Mary and Jenny's eyes widened at the thought. They had not thought that far yet.
"Well, first things first, we need to get out of here. Then we'll worry about Jethro and Chris." Jenny said with as much courage as she could muster. "I have enough money to bail us out."
"Oh no! Oh no! Uncle Gibbs is going to be mad about the stallion. What am I going to do? If I tell the truth, he'll be angry that I let the horse go." Billy shuttered at the thought of Uncle Gibbs spanking him. He did not realize that Gibbs would be more upset about him getting hurt than losing the horse. "If I don't tell the truth, Uncle Gibbs will be mad when he finds out later. Pa will be angry either way. Boy, I'm in for it now."
Billy was in the guest room by the window when he heard Uncle Gibbs talking to the other adults. "I just don't know what happened. Boys, did any of you leave the gate open?"
Gibbs heard all say, "No Dad."
"The fence is too high for him to jump over." Tim said.
"That would mean that someone let him out and closed the gate?" Jimmy asked.
"Who would want to do that?" Tony asked.
After seeing his kids had no idea what happened, Gibbs' gut told him it was Billy. He decided not to say anything and wait Billy out. One thing was for sure, if it was Billy, he was going to make sure Billy understood the danger he put himself in.
That night, Billy ate very little food. He had lost his appetite. He did not know what to do. Gibbs had been watching him and knew the guilt was eating Billy up inside. The others had realized the same about Billy. They had decided to stay out of it and let Gibbs handle things.
"Billy is there something you need to tell me?" Gibbs asked with a raised eyebrow.
Billy froze when Uncle Gibbs asked that question.
Jenny and Mary were released with the understanding that they appear in front of the judge in one week with their husbands. Since Abby and Ziva were unmarried, their father must appear with them.
Mary shuddered and said in whisper, "Oh no. We are in trouble."
Abby and Ziva stood wide eyed when told that. They could only imagine Dad having to make a trip out here to see about them.
Jenny was feeling much like everyone else. "This will not turn out well." She thought.
"Well let's go wire the men and give them time to get here." Jenny said with dread.
Billy, Jenny, Mary, Abby and Ziva were all having the same troubles. "How do we tell what happened and how do we save our backsides?"
TBC...