He heard the girls that afternoon long before he saw them, slamming through the front door with all the force of an oncoming freight train. "Uncle Gibbs, Uncle Gibbs," Katie shouted breathlessly, "guess what?"
"What?" he asked. He reached the top of the stairs seconds before Katie launched herself at him. It was only years of practice with Abby's cannonball style hugs that allowed him to keep his balance and keep them both from tumbling down the stairs.
"These boys in my class were horsing around today," she said as he set her back on her feet, "and they bumped into my teacher's computer and made the speakers stop working. My teacher was getting really mad 'cause now we couldn't watch the video we were s'posed too. And guess what? I fixed it."
She added the last with such a look of sheer triumph that he couldn't help but laugh. "Good job," he told her.
Katie beamed. "My teacher bought me an ice cream at lunch 'cause she said I saved the day," she added proudly.
Behind her, Abby was muttering furiously under her breath about whether or not sweets were actually an appropriate reward. He raised an eyebrow and gave her a pointed look, and the muttering stopped abruptly. She might have a point nutritionally, but there was no need to ruin this for Katie with her mumbling. He didn't say anything, but Abby clearly got the message. He ruffled Katie's hair and told her she was getting to be a chip off the old block, which for some reason she found to be a hilarious expression. The resulting explosion of giggles had him and Abby both shaking their heads in amusement.
Leigh, however, didn't find anything amusing. She slumped against the wall and scowled. Abby apparently noticed this too. "Come on, giggle box," she told Katie. "Let's go see your daddy and give your sister and Uncle Gibbs some time to talk." She ushered Katie toward the door, and Katie, still giggling, waved goodbye as they went.
Turning back to Leigh, he asked, "So how was your day?" Leigh shrugged noncommittally. He didn't push for an answer. Instead, he headed for the kitchen, leaving Leigh to trail behind. He reached into the freezer, took out a couple of ice cream sandwiches, and tossed one to Leigh. Abby would probably kill him for giving her sweets before dinner, but they'd just have to deal with that later, especially since Katie had practically been flaunting her own treat. He was pretty sure it hadn't been intentional, but he was equally sure that Leigh did not see it that way.
Leigh caught it easily, but didn't open it, looking back and forth between him and the ice cream skeptically. "You're not mad at me?"
"Should I be?" he asked casually, settling back against the counter and peeling back the wrapper from his ice cream.
"No," Leigh said vehemently. "All I did was follow your rule. I don't know why Mama's making such a big deal."
"Uh huh," Gibbs said slowly, taking a bite from his ice cream, "about that. I meant that as an agent rule not a family rule."
'Well, how was I supposed to know that?" Leigh asked petulantly between bites.
Gibbs eyed her for a long moment. "You really didn't know?" Leigh shook her head. "In that case," Gibbs went on, "why didn't you just explain to your dad why you needed the knife?"
"Cause he would've said no," she said, a great deal of respect for her godfather and a healthy fear of the likely outcome should he decide she was being disrespectful kept the 'duh' from being spoken, but it was clear enough.
"Why?" Gibbs asked.
Leigh eyed him warily. She was beginning to get the sinking feeling that she was walking into a trap, but she couldn't very well not answer the question. "He would've said it wasn't safe."
"Yet you thought my rules were more important than your safety?" Gibbs wondered.
"Well, no, not exactly," Leigh replied. The moment the words left her mouth, she felt the trap she'd imagined closing around her. Sometimes, it really sucked that her whole family interrogated people for a living.
"So," Gibbs pressed, "you knew it wasn't safe, and you weren't really confused about the rule being more important." Leigh squirmed, suddenly finding the floor intensely interesting, but Gibbs wasn't done. "You want to give me one good reason why I shouldn't just turn you over my knee right now?" he asked sternly.
"Come on, Uncle Gibbs," she protested, "it's just a pocket knife. It's not dangerous. Daddy's just overreacting."
"Is that so?" Gibbs questioned. "And just what would've happened if you had gotten caught with knife at school today?"
Leigh shrugged. "I'd have gotten in trouble," she admitted reluctantly, "Probably suspended."
Gibbs shot her a stern look. "You would have been lucky to have only gotten suspended. I've seen people get arrested for less. You could've been arrested." Though he privately agreed with her, he knew he had to make the point very clear. He wasn't exaggerating; he had once known of a man who got arrested for making the mistake of having rope and a camping knife in his trunk when he got pulled over for speeding. He ended up with not only a speeding ticket but a weapons charge. He personally thought it was ridiculous, but it happened, and he knew it, and he'd be damned if he'd let it happen to his goddaughter.
"It's not fair," Leigh whined. "You and Mama and Daddy all carry knives. Why can't I?"
"We all have drivers' licenses too," Gibbs said, "and you don't. Fair or not, some things you're just not old enough for. When you're old enough, I'll buy you a pocket knife myself."
"You will?" Leigh echoed, brightening.
"I will," he confirmed, nodding with the solemnity of a vow, "but if I catch you taking it out of the house before you're of age, or ever manipulating my rules like that again, I promise you when I get through with you whatever your daddy does today will seem like a love tap, understood?"
She'd nodded, wide-eyed, with a quiet 'yes, sir' and he'd let it go at that. He'd given her the little pocket knife he now held a few years later and had granted her special permission to carry it when she started dating. She'd never to his knowledge had to use it, save as a tool like he was about to. His own utility knife was too big, but this little knife would do the trick.
"Besides," Leigh added, drawing him out of his thoughts. "I answer to McGee pretty often myself these days."
Gibbs chuckled. "Indeed you do, Ensign. Indeed you do."
