Supervising Drills
He had eliminated three potential criminals. That left Kate, his seven year old daughter.
Gibbs regarded her appraisingly and she regarded him right back. At seven she possessed an almost regal bearing, resulting from her natural grace and poise. Her shade of hair fell between Tony's light brown and Abby's dark, almost black color. Like Tim, Kate was a bit more reserved, and did not share the same flair for charm that graced her older brother and baby sister.
Jethro licked his lips and pounced. "Kate, how many times have you been told that you do not help yourself to items from my desk without my explicit permission?"
She blanched, and he congratulated himself for determining the culprit in a matter of minutes.
Kate steepled her hands on the table in front of her and licked her lips.
"I asked you a question," he prodded.
"Daddy, I asked you when you were taking a shower and I thought you said yes," she offered lamely in defense.
Even little Abby turned an incredulous expression her way at that ridiculous excuse.
"Ok, well then that answers that," Jethro's voice rose. "Now, young lady, since you deliberately disobeyed my instructions, I am confining you to your room for the next half hour. Instead of watching cartoons with your sister and brothers, you will use that time to think about why you are punished."
Kate slid out of her seat and approached her father, hoping to get him to take back his decision. Cartoon watching was anticipated all week long.
"Please, Daddy, I…"
Gibbs interrupted and pointed to the stairs, "In addition, you are spending thirty additional minutes in your room for not telling me the truth when asked. Do not come out of your bedroom until I tell you to do so, young lady."
Sliding from her seat and walking slowly, Kate nevertheless obeyed. Pausing at the first step she asked, "How long did you say I have to stay?"
Gibbs tilted up Tim's chin and regarded him. "How much is half an hour plus thirty minutes, Tim?"
"An hour," the little boy responded promptly.
"Brilliant," Gibbs praised, then set him on the floor and lightly smacked his bottom. "Kate, upstairs, now, and the three of you start clearing the table and putting the dishes by the sink if you want to watch those cartoons."
Fifteen minutes later he checked on his three television watchers. Saturday mornings he allowed them a couple of hours of mindless viewing before he corralled them and ran errands. It made him feel guilty, farming them out to the television to babysit Saturday mornings, but his sanity depended upon completing some chores without their interference.
As soon as Tony spied him peeping into the room he called excitedly, "Watch this, Dad, watch me!"
Before Jethro could utter a sound Tony pulled himself to his feet on the sofa cushion, hopped onto the back frame, then vaulted through the air and over the coffee table.
Landing with a flourish, he threw out his arms dramatically and winked at the observers, "A bow, ladies and gentlemen, for the world's next, most brilliant, all around sportsman!"
Beaming with pride at her older brother and his spectacular trick, Abby clapped enthusiastically. "Do it again, Tony! I want to see you do it again."
Tim hastily scrambled to his feet and hurried to the couch. "I want to jump, too! Show me how you do that."
Emphatically waving his finger no at the younger son, his dad nipped that into the bud before turning to regard his oldest.
"Good move, Son, but if you jump over the furniture in the house again you will bring trouble from me down on your head. That furniture will tear up if you treat it like playground equipment. It was not built for roughhousing."
Noting the flash of disappointment that crossed the child's face he added to his objection. "Besides, Ducky asked me yesterday to give him one weekend off from having to come treat, bandage, stitch, examine, or heal one of you four. Of course all of us know that you, Tony, are the cause of ninety seven percent of his housecalls, while your siblings together make the additional three percent."
Tony flashed his father a dazzling smile. "Ok, got it, Boss man, but that still was a smooth hurdle vault and one day I will be famous all over the world."
Gibbs could not help but grin as he motioned him towards the door. "Come on, then, Superstar, and start getting ready for today's errands."
"I want candy, Daddy, when we get to the store," Abby informed him, hurrying to grab his hand and swinging it with excitement. "Lots of candy, Daddy, because I am a sweet girl and I am pretty."
Hastening to catch up, Tim warned his little sister, "You know Ducky said too much sugar is bad for our teeth and that…."
Catching Tony's annoyed signal he faltered, "that, uhm, we will get cavities…"
With his continuation of warning not stilled by Tony's gesture, Abby could not contain her displeasure. "Hush talking Timmy, 'cause you just make me mad!"
That provided the final straw before all three dissolved into a loud squabble, and short of patience, their father raised his voice and ordered absolute silence. That did the trick, and he sent them upstairs to get their shoes.
With a start he realized that he had forgotten banishing Kate. Jogging up behind them he found Kate sitting by the window in her room, and he took a seat on the edge of her bed.
He regarded her expectantly, waiting for her to acknowledge her timeout.
She frowned at him, instead, and traced her forefinger along the sill of the window.
Pressed for time he commanded, "Tell me what got you sent to your room this morning."
His daughter regarded him steadily, and he felt a flash of pride at her confidence. "I did not ask permission to get any glue," she admitted.
"And," her father prodded, relaxing his posture and smiling at her to continue.
"And you told us we can only use glue when you are watching us use it." She took a breath. "And then I should have told you the truth but I did not."
"That's right, but I punished you, and I think you understand now that I expect you to follow the rules. Now, I want you to get ready because we are heading out for groceries."
Kate tilted her head to the side and then smiled softly at him. Evidently she had anticipated a far longer verbal chastisement.
Relieved, she slid off of her seat and straightened the skirt of her little dress, and Gibbs was struck once again at what a little lady he had.
One day his dainty little lady would no longer need her father to protect her.
Motioning to her to approach he leaned down, "Give me a kiss, my lovely princess."
Throwing her arms around his neck in response, she bestowed several kisses upon him before giggling and running downstairs to wait with her siblings.
Exactly two weeks later the family climbed out of the car and hurried into a restaurant for lunch, in a small town just a couple of hours away from Stillwater, Pennsylvania, home of Grandpa Jackson Gibbs.
Though tired from the duration of the car's confinement thus far, the five cheered up immediately at the opportunity to stretch their legs before they sat in a booth and chose from a menu.
Primly, Kate led them to a spot away from the parking lot and in a whisper shared that the view appeared to look much better over there.
Spying the ripped naugahyde seat cushion Tony started to point out the tear, but Gibbs put a finger to his lips and signaled silence from him.
It was nice to see Katie so excited about eating out in a new place.
The waitress hurried over to help seat them, and Gibbs could not resist a grin when he saw she was a redhead, and an attractive, willowy redhead at that!
Quickly appraising the kids with a knowledgeable air, she pointed at the plastic covered bench seats, "Ok, I will be right back with four booster seats. Hang on, Honeys."
That met with immediate incensed protests from Tony and Kate, annoyed to have to establish their seniority with the stranger.
To add insult to injury, Tim observed helpfully, "Perhaps because you are not much bigger than we are she though you were little, too."
Outraged, Tony responded with as much annoyance as he could funnel into his tone, "Do I look little to you, Tim? No, of course I do not." With that he threw himself into the booth dramatically and settled against the wall, turning his body sideways from the Formica table top.
Kate flounced beside him and crossed her arms defiantly. "Get this straight, Timothy. I am seven but you are only six. You and Abby are the little baby kids in the family and Tony and I get tired of having to explain that to you over and over all the time."
Aligned in this instance with her elder brother, she turned to him and they shared triumphant expressions.
Tim, though, did not want to let the matter rest, continuing to rationalize as he started to climb onto the seat beside Kate.
"Nope," Tony corrected, wagging his finger, "not here, buddy boy."
"Little baby kids sit with Daddy on the opposite side," Kate added smugly. "This is the grown area of the table."
