I'm Still Here – Trouble Magnet
Sunday Night
Zach Gibbs stormed through his Grandpa's house, stomping up the stairs and making sure his bag banged on every step as he made his way to the room he and his cousin, Jayden McGee, shared. He wanted to make it as obvious as possible that he was not happy.
Jackson raised his eyebrows at the retreating boy's back, before turning that look on his son to get him to explain. "What's wrong with him? I thought he liked staying with me"
The elderly man had moved into the house down the street last week, and all of them had already worked hard to turn the empty house into a home.
The kids had both done up their rooms, and helped Jack with the rest of the house, and they had even started working on turning one of the downstairs rooms into a shop. Jack had to do something to pass the time after all, and since there were no local shops nearby, it was a perfect business opportunity.
The teenager had only stayed once before, but he seemed to enjoy it, especially when Jack had surprised him the next day by signing him up to a local Ice Hockey team, and took him to out to get kit and to his first Saturday morning practise. So it was a bit of a surprise that he didn't want to stay now.
"He does like staying here. He's just sulking." Gibbs replied, walking into the small kitchen to help him self to the pot of coffee his dad always kept on just for him.
"What have you done?" The elderly man looked at him, sitting down on the chair opposite him.
"What have I done?" The agent asked incredulously.
"You didn't do something Jethro?" At least he had started calling him Jethro now, Gibbs thought. But the man was still blaming him for his son's teenage strop.
"No, I didn't. I told him that he couldn't come to LA with me, we argued, I spanked him" Gibbs heard the teenager come down the stairs now, walking slowly rather than running like he normally did.
Zach, along with his two cousins Jayden and Kate McGee, and his girlfriend Sarah McGee, were all going to be spending the week here while Gibbs, Tim and Abby went over to NCIS Los Angeles for a case. Tony and Ziva had already requested an extra week's holiday leave so they could fly over to Paris where it all started for them.
"Hello Zach" Jack smiled warmly to his grandson when he came into view of the kitchen. He hadn't noticed before, well he hadn't had the chance to notice that the teen's eyes were slightly puffy from crying.
"…Hey grandpa" The blond smiled back weakly, opting to go for the 'ignore dad' approach. He had tried shouting and being angry, which had just ended up with him getting a sore ass. So maybe getting his dad to feel as sorry for him as he did for himself at the moment was the key.
"You finished sulking now then have you?" Gibbs asked snippily. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was sulking, and he had no intention of letting his son act that way. He knew the teen would snap out of feeling sorry for him self if he was challenged on it.
"I am not sulking" He declared adamantly, all the anger he had when he stormed up the stairs before coming back to him. "God, you are such a ….."
Thankfully for Zach's sake, the front door opened just in time and the whirlwind that was Abby and six-year-old Kate came into the kitchen, while Tim, Sarah and Jayden followed more sedately behind, cutting the teenager off from whatever insult he had to call his dad.
"Grandpa Jack!" Kate ran over to him, hugging him tightly, before babbling on about their week together "Mommy and Daddy said we are going to have a lot of fun this week…"
The young girl was clearly excited about week, and as were Jayden and Sarah. The only one who wasn't looking forward to it was Zach. The kids went upstairs to put their bags in their room, none of them having stayed in there yet except for Zach, and came back downstairs to say goodbye to the agents and forensic scientist.
The McGee's went into the living room to give the father and son some privacy, and Jack was staring into his cup of tea to give the illusion that he wasn't listening in. They both didn't mind Jack listening in anyway, because on Zach's half, he wasn't saying an awful lot.
"I want you to be good this week, got it son?" Gibbs looked down at his son. The boy had been more behaved since the 'talk' they had had after the wedding, but it had only been two weeks and his bad attitude was already seeping back in.
"Sure" Zach scowled.
"I mean it Zacharriah…" The man warned, wondering why the boy was so bothered about not being able to go to LA. "You act up for your grandpa; you will be in a world of hurt when I get back"
The scowl deepened and the teen spoke before he was able to stop himself "Whatever"
Thwack! Gibbs cuffed him round the back of the head "Do you want me to improve your attitude for the second time today? I can make some time before I leave"
"No dad" Zach shook his head.
"Good choice. I've got to go now, so I'll see you on Friday son" Gibbs pulled the boy in for a hug, even if the boy was resisting. He tried to not let it bother him, but it did. He was going away for nearly a week, and he was going off on bad terms with his son. He figured the boy would come around though; he would phone him when he landed, and everything would be alright again.
"See you" The teen took a step back, dodging his dad when the man tried to ruffle his hair.
"Bye champ" Gibbs said, his face looking hurt before he shook it off. But he couldn't do anything else, and he would probably make it even worse if he tried. He sighed once, before going to fetch Abby and Tim to drive to the airport.
The blond leant on the side of the kitchen counter, feeling slightly guilty for hurting his dad's feelings. But the man was leaving him, not the other way around. He had never been away from his dad for so long since he had known him, and even when he had stayed out, his dad was always in DC, not on the other side of the country. He would never say it out loud, but he didn't want his dad to be that far away from him, he had just gotten accustomed to the man always being around. It would be weird.
Jackson never saw the hurt that was in his grandson's eyes, all he saw was a bratty little kid in need of some unwanted attention. He turned on the boy immediately after the front door shut, gripping his ear firmly and dragging him over to the front door.
"Go and say good bye to your father properly"
"No"
He winced as Jack turned him around and swatted him twice on his already sore backside. He could be certain after those two swats, that the man hadn't lost any of his touch since Jethro had been a teenager.
"Don't be a brat Zacharriah." Jack growled at him, for the first time ever he was beginning to lose his patience with his grandson.
"Okay, fine" He rubbed his ear once it was let go, and made his way through the front door to stop his dad before he got into the car.
Gibbs gave Abby and Tim a silent signal to get in the car, and walked to meet his son near the gate, looking at him until the teen spoke.
"You sure I can't come with you dad? Grandpa has got a hand almost as hard as yours" He smiled awkwardly, showing his dad he was there to make peace.
Gibbs inwardly smiled, grateful that Jack had talked to the boy. "I wish you could son. But like I said earlier, I'm there to work and not on a vacation. You wouldn't have any fun with me."
"But I wouldn't be in school. That's fun enough. I'll be good, I promise" Zach gave him the puppy dog eyes.
Gibbs sighed, pulling his son in for the hug that he had been denied earlier "My answer's still no. And you can be good here. I'll miss you champ"
"But… I don't want you to go" He said softly, his voice slightly muffled by the coat. Even though he was older, and it wasn't the same circumstances, Zach reminded him so much of Kelly when he left for deployment, that it broke his heart he was doing the same to his son now.
"I'll be back before you know it" Gibbs rubbed his back, kissing the top of the blond hair.
"Will you bring me back a present?" He asked hopefully.
Gibbs chuckled, squeezing his son close to him before letting go off him. "I promise. As long as you behave, deal?"
"When do I ever not behave?" He grinned.
The elder man gave him a look that said 'do you really want to go there' before replying "Just watch yourself. Grandpa's not as lenient as I am"
"You? Lenient?" Zach snorted "I don't think those two words can go in the same sentence!"
The agent gently head slapped him "I mean it Zach. Just because I'm not around doesn't mean you don't have to listen to my rules. You cause any trouble and ….."
"Yea I know. I'll regret it."
"Good. I love you Zach, and I'll ring you after school tomorrow."
"Love you too dad"
They had all had tea together, Jackson's Sunday roast, and the three oldest kids went off upstairs to the boy's room to talk about their plans for the upcoming week, while Kate stayed downstairs and forced Jack to play with her monster high dolls.
"Aw…" Sarah was reading a message on her phone "Amelia's got spare tickets to go see David Guetta tomorrow night. She's asking if you and I want to go."
The boy's had gotten the bunk beds like Zach had wanted, and the three of them were sitting on the top bunk, Sarah and Zach leaning down at the top, while Jayden sat down at the bottom with his legs hanging over the edge. Zach had thought the room was even better when his grandpa had brought him Philadelphia Penguins, his new found love, black bed sheets.
"Ovbs I want to go. But we can't, it's a school night and I doubt we're going to be allowed to stay out that late. Do you honestly think we would be allowed to go?" Zach said.
"I don't see why not. Grandpa Jack is a softie compared to Uncle Gibbs, I don't see why he wouldn't let us go" Sarah had her heart set on going since she read that text, she loved David Guetta and she knew her boyfriend did too. She was determined they would both be part of the crowd tomorrow night.
"Yeah…" Zach thought back to those few swats he had had before. "I wouldn't be so sure on that you know."
"Jared's allowed to go. And I bet Vance is a tough nut to crack. We could ask…."
"And Jared also brings home straight A's and never gets in the slightest bit of trouble. He told me his parents are only letting him because he deserves a night off for all his hard work. What's the point asking when we know its going to be a no" The blond teen even surprised him self when he was the voice of reason.
"Since when does Zach Gibbs listen to what he's told?" What was even more surprising was that Sarah was the one trying to talk him into it. Jayden couldn't help but think he had stepped into a parallel world. "If we know it's going to be a definite no, what about rule eighteen?"
"If you don't ask, the answer won't be no. I don't get what that has to do with anything Sar, because even if we say we are going out, we will be very late back for curfew"
The brunette shook her head. He had just basically said the plan that would get them in less trouble, and they would still be able to go to concert. Boys. "And then we will only get in trouble for being late back. We won't get in trouble for sneaking off; something which I bet your dad would go mental if he caught you doing again"
"Oh…." A grin started to spread across Zach's face, and before he knew it he was rolling over to straddle his girlfriend, both of them laughing.
"You bad girl" He clicked his tongue once and lent down to kiss her "I like it"
"I can tell."
"I'm still in the room guys!" Jayden shouted behind them, bringing the teens' attention back to where they actually were.
Zach kissed his girl once more, before reluctantly rolling over and managing to land on his feet on the floor below the bed. "What's the plan then? Since you seem to be the one with all the ideas tonight Sar"
Sarah pursed her lips, thinking for a minute "We ask Grandpa Jack if we can go out tomorrow night on a double date with Jared and Amelia, that way we aren't lying, because we are going out on a date. And we go to the concert, and just say we lost track of time or something when we get back"
"I think its going to have to be 'or something'." Jayden said "He's going to see right through you both if you say you lost track of time. Say the car broke down or something and you had no signal, that way you can both turn your phones off too."
"I like the way you both are thinking tonight."
Jayden held his hand up "Just don't kiss me like you did Sarah, and we won't have a problem"
A/N: This was a very quick update. But I had already written most of this out when I was stuck on other stories. I just had to change a few details. And I can say there will be a lot more than just going to a concert, that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Anyway, just figured I should mention this now, if a certain someone is reading it, that Sarah will not get spanked so you can chill out. (That's not meant to sound as bitchy as it's written either, sorry)