Chapter 8
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The next morning, which is only a few hours after Gibbs and Jack went to bed, McGee, who has no idea what occurred at the Gibbs house, is arriving at work. Looking around McGee sees that he is the only one who has arrived and so he heads to his desk.
Just as he sits down McGee's desk phone starts to ring,
"Special Agent McGee." McGee answers.
"Tim, it's Gibbs, I'm not coming into work today." Gibbs reveals, as soon as McGee greats him.
"Boss? Is everything okay?" McGee asks, feeling concerned as it is very unusual for Gibbs to call in and say that he is not coming into work.
"For now." Gibbs answers, "I'm not coming in, but you can call me if you need." Gibbs reveals, as McGee sees Bishop and Torres walk in.
"Got it boss." McGee says, and then before he can say anymore Gibbs hangs up.
"What's going on?" Ellie asks curious.
"Gibbs, he's not coming in today." McGee explains, feeling concerned.
"Did he say why?" Torres asks.
"No." McGee answers, as he looks at the phone.
"Should be worried?" Ellie asks, as she suspects that they should be.
"I'll get back to you." McGee responds, as he thinks at the moment the best thing to do would be to wait and see what happens.
Back at Gibbs's place Tali is still asleep, but Gibbs and Jack are both awake. While Gibbs stayed with Tali Jack has gone to get food and is returning to the house.
"Gibbs." Jack says, as she walks into the house, closes and locks the door behind her, while being careful not to raise her voice too much as she does not want to wake up Tali if she is not awake yet.
"In here." Gibbs says, having kept his voice down as well, but having made sure that Jack would have heard, and so Jack headed to the dining room where Gibbs is.
"Everything okay?" Jack asks as she walks towards him.
"I just called McGee to tell him I'm not coming in today." Gibbs explains.
"I'll email Leon in about half an hour then." Jack says, knowing that if she did so too soon after Gibbs called McGee then it could be suspicious, as she takes notice of Gibbs's specific words.
"Email?" Gibbs asks.
"It's not the first time, he won't find it odd." Jack explains and Gibbs nods, "Here." Jack says, handing one of the coffees over.
"Thanks." Gibbs explains, as he gladly takes the coffee.
"Is Tali awake yet?" Jack asks curious.
"Not yet." Gibbs responds.
"I brought some of basically every breakfast food so we could see what she likes." Jack explains, as Gibbs wasn't certain about what kind of breakfast Tali would like, and as she does she notices the look on Gibbs's face, "Gibbs, what is it?" Jack asks curious.
"Ziva and I have emergency protocols, so do Tony and I, for situations just like this." Gibbs explains.
"And you haven't been able to reach either of them." Jack realises, as she sits down next to Gibbs.
"Not on any of the ones I could access from here." Gibbs admits, clearly worried.
"They're probably being cautious, we don't know what's going on, what caused them to send Tali here." Jack comments as she reaches out and takes Gibbs's hand, "When they can they'll reach out and we'll be here to help them, and until then we'll look after Tali." Jack says, knowing they will look after Tali until Tony and Ziva can return to their daughter.
"We Jack?" Gibbs asks, having taken notice of what she said.
"I told you, I want to be here." Jack reminds him, "I got your back, Cowboy." Jack tells him, with a half-smile.
Feeling amazed, and touched, but feeling like he cannot find the words to describe exactly what he is feeling Gibbs leans in and kisses Jack. Like the previous kiss they experienced this one is full of love, on the part of both Gibbs and Jack, there is affection, and security, and lasts a lot longer.
As they kiss neither Gibbs or Jack want it to end, but they have to break apart as they hear footsteps, and they pull away from one another just as Tali runs into the dining room.
"Saba! Jack!" Tali says excitedly, as Gibbs and Jack pull away from each other.
"Hi Tali, did you sleep well?" Gibbs asks curious, as he smiles at the young girl.
"Yes!" Tali says excitedly as she gets to Gibbs, who picks her up and puts her on her leg, "Ima? Abba?" Tali asks, looking around, and clearly hoping to see her parents.
"They're still not here Sweetheart." Jack tells the young girl, as she wants to save Gibbs from having to answer, feeling bad about how disappointed Tali looks at her parents not being around.
"Tali, Jack went to get breakfast, are you hungry?" Gibbs asks curious.
"Pancakes?" Tali asks curious.
"Uh, yeah." Jack says, with a grin as she starts to search through the bag of food for the right container of food, "Pancakes for Tali." Jack says, as she puts it in front of Tali.
"What do you say, Tali?" Gibbs asks the young girl.
"Toda Jack." Tali says.
"You're very welcome." Jack says.
"Do you want a drink?" Gibbs ask.
"Yes!" Tali says, looking up at Gibbs.
"Okay, what would you like?" Gibbs asks curious.
"Um…. Milk!" Tali exclaims.
"I think I got some of that." Gibbs says, and he looks between Tali and his fridge as he tries to figure out how he is going to get Tali some milk without disturbing her.
"I got it." Jack says, as she stands up, "Do you want anything else?" Jack asks curious.
"The juice, and some paper towel." Gibbs requests.
"You got it." Jack says, grabbing the paper towel, the milk, juice, Sippy cup that she washed up the night before, and glasses, before heading back to the table.
Once she is back at the table Jack pours milk into the Sippy cup which he hands over to Tali,
"Here you are Tali." Jack says.
"Thank you, Jack." Tali says, as she takes the Sippy cup.
"You're welcome." Jack says smiling back at Tali and realising that the four-year-old is slowly becoming less shy around her, "Gibbs, what do you want to eat?" Jack asks curious.
"What's left?" Gibbs asks curious.
"A lot." Jack says.
"I'll have whatever you don't want." Gibbs says as he uses a plastic knife to cut up Tali's pancakes a little.
"Here, big breakfast, a little of everything." Jack says, handing one of the containers over.
"Works for me." Gibbs says taking the food and as he takes it he, Jack, and Tali proceed to have breakfast together. As they eat Jack and Gibbs both do what they can to help out Tali when they see that she needs it.
A couple of hours have passed since Gibbs, Jack and Tali had breakfast together and ever since the three of them have been spending time together, while Jack and Gibbs, Gibbs especially, try to hide how worried they are about Tony and Ziva.
At NCIS McGee, Torres and Ellie haven't gotten a case yet and so they are just at their respective desks catching up on paperwork.
"McGee." Vance says, as he walks into the bullpen, causing the three agents of the major case response unit to look at him, "Where's Gibbs?"
"Not here, he called this morning saying he wouldn't be coming in today, but to call if we need." McGee explains, as the bad feeling he had earlier gets even more noticeable.
"Is everything okay, Director?" Ellie asks curious.
"I'm not sure." Vance admits, "I got an email from Agent Sloane, she's not coming in today either." Vance reveals, "She was vague on the details, I thought Gibbs might know why."
"So wait, Gibbs and Sloane both of whom never miss work, both aren't here today, and were vague on details." Torres says, "Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?" Torres asks with a smirk, and Vance can't help but think yes.
"Something could be wrong." McGee says, sounding concerned.
"Not exactly where my I was going." Torres admits, "There is so something going on between them, they hooked up!" Torres says, looking proud of his assumption and McGee pulls a face.
"Oh my god." Ellie suddenly says, and as she does it is clear that it is not a happy oh my god.
"Agent Bishop?" Vance as asks he walks towards her, "What is it?"
"Um, It's probably better I show you." Ellie says, putting a newsfeed onto the plasma.
Once Ellie puts the video on the screen McGee, Torres, and Vance all see that it is a French newsfeed, that is clearly breaking news.
'Not many details are known at the moment, but what is known is approximately forty five minutes ago there was an explosion in a residential area of Paris; the cause is currently unknown' The translation of a news report says.
"That's Tony's neighbourhood." McGee says, sounding horrified.
Back at Gibbs's house Gibbs, Jack, and Tali have no idea what is going on as they do not have the news on nor are they looking at any electrical device.
While Jack is playing on the ground with Tali and some toys Gibbs is sitting on the couch going through Tali's bag. Glancing over at Gibbs Jack sees what he is doing,
"I'll be right back Tali." Jack says, before standing up and heading over to Gibbs's ruffling Tali's hair as she goes, "What are you doing?"
"Senior said that DiNozzo packed this bag before he arrived, which means everything in this bag would have been carefully chosen by Tony." Gibbs explains.
"You think he might have left a clue." Jack realises.
"It's what Ziva did." Gibbs admits, "But I've checked everything, there's no message, no photos, nothing that could be a clue." Gibbs says, sounding concerned about that, as he continues to check Tali's bag.
"Gibbs…" Jack starts to say, but before she can say more Gibbs's phone starts to ring.
"Gibbs." Gibbs answers.
"Boss, are you watching the news, any news?" McGee asks, as while he doubts that he thought he'd check.
"No, what's going on?" Gibbs asks, as Jack looks interested at him.
"There's been an explosion in Paris, in Tony's neighbourhood." McGee explains, and as he does Gibbs puts his phone over the speaker part of the phone.
"Don't let Tali see the TV." Gibbs says, and once he does Jack walks over to Tali, and once he is sure that Jack is in a position to block Tali from being able to see the TV he turns it on.
Once the TV is on Jack and Gibbs watch the same news report as the one Ellie put on the plasma in the bullpen, and once they see enough Gibbs turns the tv off as Gibbs doesn't want to risk Tali seeing something.
"I'll be right in." Gibbs says, before hanging up and as he does Gibbs and Jack exchange looks, both of them knowing that they have to go into NCIS and take Tali with them.
