"When you starting School Zach? You are going to my school right?" Sarah asked him from the other side of the room.
He was a year younger than her but she was sure he would be one of the most popular kids in the school.
"I've finished school, I'm gunna get a job" Zach told her seriously noting how beautiful she was. Tony and Tim started laughing thinking he was joking.
"What's so funny about that?" Zach frowned at them.
"Yea he's going to your school Sarah" Gibbs told her.
"I've finished school" Zach glared at Gibbs not liking where this was going.
"Your sixteen, you're going to school, then you're going to collage" Gibbs told him with the tone of voice which said 'end of discussion'.
"Yea exactly! I'm sixteen, I've got my GSCE's and that's all I need for the job I want" Zach clenched his hands into fists trying to control his anger.
"What job you going to get then?" Gibbs challenged him.
"I'm joining the Marines" Zach's jaw tightened.
Everyone in the room had no doubt that he was defiantly Gibbs' son after that comment.
"You're too young." There was no way in hell he was letting his son join any kind of Military until he was at least eighteen. He was bound to have a careless attitude about his own health after his family's murder, an attitude that would get him killed in the forces.
"No I'm not; I'm joining the Royal Marines, you only have to be sixteen" This is what he needed to do, he had always wanted to be in the armed forces and now seemed like as good as time as ever.
"You're not going. It is not open to a debate" Gibbs glared at him.
The whole family was watching their shouting match. Jayden was looking on in awe, Zach must have been brave if he was shouting at his own father, Jayden wouldn't have dreamed of doing such a thing. Everyone else agreed with Gibbs, Zach was far too young to be fighting in wars.
"And whose gunna stop me?" Zach smirked slightly at Gibbs thinking he had won the argument.
"ME!" Gibbs thundered "If you're under eighteen you need permission from their parents, which you are not going to get. Even if you did manage to get passed that, I would use my Marine contacts and get you sent right back to me"
"You can't control my life! You don't even know me!" Zach's anger was laced into his voice. Gibbs looked over at Tim, making a silent command for him to take everyone out of the living room.
"I want a chance to know you. I don't want you to get killed." Gibbs spoke when the room was empty, his voice projecting calmness.
"Fine! I'll go to bloody school! But don't expect me to behave there" Zach could see the guilt trip his father had trapped him in. If he was being honest with himself he would like to get to know the man too.
"No, You will go to school and behave and bring home good grades" Gibbs was willing himself not to loose his short patience with the kid.
"You're a bastard you know that?" Zach really needed to use his fists to get rid of his anger.
"Yes I know."
Gibbs calmness seemed to make Zach snap. The teenager charged at him, smashing him into the ground. Zach managed to punch him in the face once before he was flipped over, his face pressed onto the cold lamented flooring and his father holding him down.
Gibbs grabbed his hands and held them back in the small of his back and sat on his legs. He ached to rub his face and put an icepack on it to stop the swelling. He knew he would have a black eye by tomorrow.
He saw the slowly growing crimson stain on his sons white top. The punch must have opened the cuts on his barely healed knuckles.
"Are you going to calm down?" Gibbs hoped he would so he could let him up, all he received was a grunt and felt him trying to buck his hips.
He waited ten minutes until Zach had given up trying to get out of Gibbs grasp. He waited another five minutes until Zach's breathing had gotten as slow as it could with someone sitting on top of you.
"Are you calm?" Gibbs was grateful when he heard a slight sniffle and saw the nod of a head.
"Good" He got off him and helped him up off the floor and led him to sit down on the sofa.
Gibbs had gone to get their personal medical examiner. Ducky had took one step in the living room, looking from Gibbs' swollen eye and Zach's bloody knuckles and shook his head slightly, walking to the kitchen for and icepack and a first aid kit.
He returned shortly after and handed Gibbs a Mr Men Icepack. Gibbs glared at it before taking it and putting it on his aching face. Ducky took Zach's hand and cleaned up the blood from the knuckles and covered it up with a bandage and tape.
"Zacharriah come over here" Gibbs commanded softly but firmly once Ducky was finished with him. He really couldn't do with another fight but the situation had to be addressed.
To his surprise he did just that straight away. His shoulders were slumped and his face held no emotion. There was the pain in his eyes that he hid from everyone. They were identical to his eyes when his wife and daughter died.
"Zach I know you hurt and I can't say or do anything to make it better." Gibbs sighed "But I can't let you can't go around acting like that. Consider this as a warning" Gibbs knew he would feel awful if he had to punish the boy but as his father knew it was his job.
Once again he saw the slight anger in the boy's eyes before he squashed it behind humour and confidence.
"kay" he mumbled before striding outside to where everyone was playing football, excluding Abby and Kate who were playing Barbie.
Ducky and Gibbs went to sit on the bench outside to chat quietly to each other.
Of course being the trained investigators they were, Tony, Tim and Ziva noticed the bandage on Zach's knuckles, the blood on the back of his shirt and one by one the looked over to Gibbs who was holding the ice pack to his eye. Jimmy and Sarah didn't take long to notice but Jayden was oblivious to it all.
Tony was the first one to speak "How the hell are you still alive after that?"
"After what?" Zach tried to brush off the looks of disbelieve he was getting.
"After punching Gibbs in the face" Ziva answered for her fiancé.
"No way!" Jayden's eyes went over to Gibbs for proof "Your butt must be pretty sore right now"
"Can we just play football?" Zach said as if he was bored of the talk of punching his father in the face.
"You sure you can even walk after the whipping I'm sure the boss gave you?" Tony asked
"He didn't do nuffin to me. And Count Duckula fixed up my hand for me so I'm good to go. How'd you play?" Gibbs smiled slightly at Ducky's new nickname, but it was too tired from the day's sudden turn of events to be truly amused. Ducky however was un-amused with his nicknames, and was hell bent on stopping it.
Abby and Kate seemed to notice the small crowd gathering around Zach, starting back and forth from him to Gibbs. Abby rushed over to Gibbs straight away to check if he was all right while Kate confronted Zach.
"How dare you hit Grandpa Gibbs!" Kate's hands were on her hips and she was in full glare mode. She wasn't sure if she liked Zach anymore, it was only the bad guys that hit Special Agents.
"Ooo you're getting told now" Tony laughed, it was truly a comical sight. Zach laughed along with him but everyone else was wise enough to hide the fact they were laughing at the five year old.
"Don't you laugh at me young man" Tony roared with laughter until she turned towards them.
"Don't think you aren't in trouble Uncle Tony and Uncle Jimmy"
Jimmy was spluttering, how had he gotten dragged into this?
Kate was angry at the three of them, how dare they laugh at her. Raising the hand she whacked Zack as hard as she could on the thigh, Jimmy was still spluttering and didn't see his coming. Tony was smarter and ran away as fast as he could into the nearest tree, quickly followed by Zach when Kate had raised her hand towards him again.
Both were sitting on a branch, laughing like mad at Jimmy getting chased around the garden. Everyone else was laughing out loud by now as well but Kate didn't seem to mind them laughing.
"Help me!" Jimmy yelled causing everyone to laugh harder.
"Get your arse over here then Jimmy" Zach yelled holding a hand out of the tree, using his over hand to whack Tony to help him. Both of them heaved Jimmy into the safety of the tree.
"She's a violent little thing. Remind me never to punch Gibbs again" Zach grinned to the pair.
The trio braved coming down when Kate had went back to her Barbie's fifteen minutes later and seemed to forgotten about them.
"Ah there's the three stooges now" Ducky smiled at them making the adults laugh again.
"You have raised a McDevil, McGee" Tony slumped in a seat.
"Pure evil" Zach added taking his seat next to him.
"I didn't even do anything" Jimmy cried with the unfairness of it all, still smiling to show he didn't really mind.
"She's not evil, you two just provoked her" Tim defended his daughter against Tony and Zach.
"She is too" Tony called back childishly, with Zack nodding next to him.
"Yeah, Duckula I think you need to check out my leg make sure its not broken or nothing" Zach rubbed his leg as if it hurt and Tony patted him on the shoulder to show his support for his injured nephew, both wearing a fake hurt look on their faces.
"Gibbs I know you said he was your son, but are you sure?" Abby asked making all the adults laugh again.
Gibbs and Zach had left shortly after that, he lived around a five minute walk from the McGee's, and Tony and Ziva lived the same distance away but in the opposite direction. However for Ducky and Jimmy they had to drive the distance to their respective homes.
