"It wasn't my call." Gibbs said as they sat in the waiting room of Dr. Marks private practice in downtown DC. "The social worker said so."
"The social worker?" Grace scoffed. "What does she know anyways?"
"Its eight mandatory visits to the psychologist. You've only been to three. Five more and you're done."
Grace rolled her eyes. "I think I said all that needed to in my last appointment."
"Grace, knowing you, you probably said all of two words. 'hello' and 'goodbye'."
"Actually I said four." She smirked folding her arms. "'Hello', 'goodbye' and 'I'm bored'."
"Daddy! I drew this for you!" Rory smiled running out of Dr. Marks office waving the colorful picture in the air. She pointed to the center of the picture which depicted her on the swings at the park by their house and Gibbs pushing her. "Thats me and you." Then she pointed to a brown haired girl sitting off in the distance under a tree. "Thats Gracie."
"Beautiful, sweetheart." He said turing to Grace. "Your turn."
Grace grimaced as she peeled off the sofa and dragged her feet all the way to Dr. Marks office.
"Your sister drew a picture today." Dr. Marks smiled pushing a pad of paper and crayons towards Grace. "I thought you might want to do one too?"
Grace sat back into the black cushioned chair and folded her arms as she looked over at the clock. It was going to be a long 42 minutes. She had mixed feelings about Dr. Marks. Sure she was nice and all, but she annoyed her. Mostly because she could feel Dr. Marks staring at her, analyzing her during each visit even though Grace never said more then a few words each session. Her mom used to do that when she wanted her to talk. Grace would hold out strong with a few minutes of silence but would eventually give in and tell her mom everything. Always. Her mom had the gift of getting people to talk to her about anything and that included both of her daughters. But that didn't matter anymore.
Dr. Marks tucked her curly, strawberry blond hair behind her ear. "Its there if you want it."
"So I only have four more times after this?" Grace finally asked.
"Technically yes. After your eight visits I will meet with the social worker in charge of you and your sisters case and we will see if we think more visits would be beneficial or-"
"Wait," Grace cut her off, sitting up in her chair now in full attention. "You get a say in weather or not we have to keep coming back here?"
"I guess you could say that." Dr. Marks said writing something down on her clipboard.
Grace sighed deeply and laid back in the chair again this time glaring at the clock. Still 37 minutes to go.
The two of them sat in silence as minute after minute rolled by slowly.
"Rory is calling Gibbs "Dad" now." Grace mumbled twenty minutes later looking down at her feet.
"How do you feel about that, Grace?" Dr. Marks inquired, again writing a note down on her clipboard.
Grace shrugged. "I don't know."
"Dad said I can have a turn now!" Rory whined reaching for the TV remote later that day after returning home.
"He isn't our dad, Rory!" Grace snapped holding the remote above her head. "Our dad left us."
"Well I never knew our dad!" She said jumping up in a failed attempt to get the remote out of Grace's hand. "Gibbs said he would be my dad now so I am going to call him that!"
"Well I won't call him dad." Grace said turning up the TV and muttering under her breath, "Dads end up leaving."
"Well newsflash, Grace, you don't have to call him that but I am!" Rory said on the verge of tears.
"Fine, weather you call him that or not... it still doesn't make him your dad."
That was is. Rory stopped jumping and gritted her teeth as her right hand balled up in a small fist. Before Grace could say anything else Rory's fist came in contact with her upper arm.
"RORY!" Grace yelped dropping the remote on the floor and rubbing her arm. "That hurt!"
"HEY!" Gibbs yelled running up the basement stairs into the TV room. "What is going on in here?"
"She hit me!" Grace said pointing at Rory who was standing across from her with her hands still in fists.
"With me, now." Gibbs growled grabbing Rory's upper arm and walking her up the stairs to her room. He pulled out the chair by her bed a placed it in the corner. "Sit."
"Its Grace's fault! She said-"
Gibbs picked her up and set her in the corner himself. "I don't care what she said. You do not hit your sister!"
Rory's heart sank and lip began to quiver. Gibbs had never talked to her like this before. She sunk into her chair and whimpered, "But it was her fault."
"You need to cool down." He said kneeling down at her level. "While you do that you need to think about why you are sitting here. Do you understand me, young lady?"
"Yes." She cried folding her arms and turning her face away from him.
Gibbs sighed an went downstairs to where Grace was still sitting flipping through TV channels.
"Is your arm okay?" He asked looking at the red spot on her upper arm.
She immediately covered it with her hand. "Its fine."
Gibbs sat down next to her on the couch. "Do you want to tell me why your little sister hit you?"
"Because she is a brat." She shrugged.
"Grayson," He said in a warning tone. "What happened?"
Grace rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't let her have the TV remote so she just hit me."
Gibbs nodded and turned the TV off. "I think the TV needs to go off for the rest of the day if it is going to cause problems. Is there anything else you want to tell me?"
She shook her head. "Can I go outside in the backyard?"
"Yeah," Gibbs said rubbing his tired eyes with the palms of his hands. "Go ahead."
She ran out the door and Gibbs sat on the couch for a few minutes before going back upstairs into Rory's room where she sat with her hands in her lap facing the corner.
"Is timeout over?" Rory asked with pleading eyes as Gibbs walked into the room.
"Yes," He said lifting her into his arms and sitting down on the bed with her on his lap. "But lets talk about why you thought it was okay to hit your sister."
She rested her head against his chest. "Grace said you weren't my dad. She told me even if I called you Dad it still wouldn't make you my dad... so I hit her."
"Ah," Gibbs said shaking his head. "I know what Grace said hurt your feelings... but it isn't true."
Rory sniffed and looked up at him. "Its not?"
He shook his head. "Family is more then blood. Its about the people that love you."
"And you love me?" She asked, checking to make sure.
"Yes, I do." He nodded. "Next time someone says something that hurts you, or makes you mad you need to come talk to me. You will not hit. Do I make myself clear?"
She nodded. "Sorry, daddy."
He kissed her head. "You need to say sorry to your sister when she comes inside."
Later that night the girls hugged and made up but Gibbs knew he still needed to talk to Grayson. After tucking Rory is bed he knocked on her door.
"Grace," He said taking a seat in the chair next to her bed where she was sitting under the covers reading a book. "We need to talk."
"Okay." She said not taking her eyes off her book.
"Can you put the book down, please?" If there was one person in the world who was testing his patience right now it was Grace.
She looked at him out of the conner of her eye and then placed the book face down on her lap.
"You weren't truthful with me today." He said leaning forward to rest his elbows on his upper thighs. "Rory told me why she hit you and it wasn't the same thing you told me."
"Of course you would believe her." Grace said folding her arms. "You always take her side."
Now that wasn't true. The girls had never given Gibbs anything to "pick sides" on before. Even now, he wasn't trying to pick sides but trying to address the bigger issue at hand.
"I am not picking sides, Gracie." He said. "And this isn't about that. This is about what you said to your sister today. I want to talk to you about it."
Grace looked away from him and started playing with the corner of her book.
"Listen, sweetheart. I know you miss your mom." He began. "Its okay to be sad and angry but you can't take it out on your little sister like that. Got it?"
Grace continued to look down at her book. "Kay."
"Okay," He said brushing her hair out of her face and kissing her head. "I love you, sweet potato."
"Whatever." She said quickly sliding under the covers and facing the other direction.
"Goodnight." He sighed making his way out.
"Kay." She mumbled from under the covers.
He shook his head and shut her bedroom door as he wondered if Grace was really eight going on nine. With her attitude it felt more like eight going on eighteen.
"Are you okay Daddy?" Rory asked poking her head out of her bedroom.
Gibbs nodded and laughed. "Am I doing anything right, Rory?"
Rory nodded and smiled, "You're handsomer then all the other dads. Most of them don't have hair."
Gibbs laughed again as he ruffled her brown hair. At least he had his hair going for him.
A/N: I wanted to say a quick thank you to all who have followed, favorited a commented on this story. Thank you for the sweet encouragement. Ya'll are very sweet! Feel free to comment or message me about something you would like to see in the story. Have a wonderful day! :)
