Chapter 9
Special Agent Nicholas "Nick" Torres looked around curiously as Gibbs pulled the MCRT truck into the back of an alleyway, then parked behind a building that loudly proclaimed it to be Kranz Bakery.
"Got a case of the munchies?" Agent Alexandra "Alex" Quinn asked, also curious.
"Need to check on my daughter," Gibbs said, getting out of the truck.
"Daughter?" Quinn repeated, eyebrows going up. Since when?
Ellie and Tim were evidently familiar with the bakery and Gibbs' daughter, because they followed him inside the bustling bakery without hesitation.
"Is Dabi okay?" Tim asked.
"The twins got their vaccination shots yesterday and J.D. is being a pain in the butt," Gibbs said, watching with a smirk as Torres was ambushed by some of the younger female staff, who started flirting with him, causing a wide, charming smile to break out. Then a muscular man with a Thomas Magnum moustache called out to Gibbs.
"Hey Gibbs! Dabi says you're a bourbon man. Is that true?"
"It is," Gibbs said, heading for the man. "Whatcha got?"
"Bourbon cheesecake with whipped coffee topping and chocolate graham cracker crust," the man said, holding up a small tart. "Part of our grownup line we're trying."
"Like those scotch and chocolate meringue cookies you did last time?" Ellie asked hopefully, following Gibbs.
"Exactly like those," the man said, handing the team one each.
Quinn moaned as she bit into the treat. "I want ten of these," she said.
"I second that," Ellie said.
"Oh yeah," Tim said.
"Same," Torres said. "Just don't be cheap with the bourbon, and these will be fabulous," he continued, having managed to extract himself from his admirers.
"What he said," Gibbs said. "Where's Dabi?"
"In the office, propping her eyelids open with toothpicks," the man said. "Hey Sharee, the fed team says we got another hit!" he hollered at a plump woman with grey hair tucked in a bun and wearing an apron around her waist, who came over and accepted hugs from Tim, Ellie, and Gibbs.
"Good. I will let Owen know, and we'll add them to the production run on Sunday," Sharee said. "You are here to see Dabi?"
"Propping her eyelids open with toothpicks?" Gibbs repeated.
"I'm afraid so. Little Jethro has quite the temper, and he's been making his opinion of things known quite loudly," Sharee said, heading for the office. "Donald isn't quite so bad, but he's not happy."
"So give me the keys to the Ford, and give me the twins," Gibbs said. "We just closed a case. All that's left is the paperwork."
"And if you get a new case?" Sharee asked.
"Palmer, Ducky, Abby," Gibbs reminded her, opening the screen door to the office in time to scoop up a toddler girl with dark curls and denim romper, who squealed in delight.
"Giffy!" she said happily. She laughed when Gibbs blew a raspberry on her neck and tickled her tummy.
"Hey Gibbs," said a tall man in jeans and what looked like the bakery uniform shirt. He was seated at a desk and had a wireless headset in one ear. "I see you got ambushed again."
Gibbs chuckled. "Never a bad thing with Sara Beara. Owen, these are Agents Alex Quinn and Nick Torres. This is Owen Rivens, and his daughter, Sara, my goddaughter."
"Owen is part owner of the bakery," Ellie explained.
"Who's the other half?" Torres asked, watching as Quinn played peek-a-boo with Sara, who giggled.
"Dabi," Sharee said.
"Who's that?" Torres asked.
"My daughter," Gibbs said, pointing to a young woman with red hair who was emerging from behind another desk, cradling a baby boy with a shock of red hair, wearing a yellow footed sleeper. She looked exhausted, with her hair scraped back in a ponytail and dark circles under her eyes. Gibbs set Sara down and went over to her, taking the baby from her gently.
"Hi Dad," she said, putting a very stinky diaper in a nearby Diaper Genie.
"Hi. I'm on Grandpa Duty, and you're having a nap," he signed. "The twins are mine for a couple of hours."
Dabi stared at him tiredly. "Are you sure?" she said/signed.
Sharee gently took the younger woman by the shoulders and led her to a door. She opened it and shoved her out. "Go," she said, gesturing up. "Give Jethro the keys to the car, and get some rest. I will take care of the rest," she continued, signing at the same time.
Dabi nodded tiredly, reluctantly giving in, but then spotted the two new agents. "New toys, Dad?" she asked.
Toys? Quinn mouthed at Ellie, who smiled mischievously.
Gibbs smirked as Sharee picked up a second baby boy from a nearby playpen. That baby, in a green footed sleeper, also had a shock of red hair, and had begun fussing quietly.
"Nick Torres and Alex Quinn," Gibbs said, still signing. "I decided to keep 'em."
"The undercover and the instructor. Right. And from the looks on their faces, you have some explaining to do," Dabi said. "I don't have a jack to get their jaws up off the floor." She came back and gave each baby a kiss on their heads, a kiss on Gibbs' temple, and went upstairs. A moment later, a set of keys bounced through a framed hole in the ceiling, right where a giant cat tree was, in the corner of the office. Tim took the keys, and a short time later, Gibbs was leaving the bakery in a blue Ford Explorer, which was loaded with the twins and their gear. The rest of the team drove back in the truck.
"Story. Now," Quinn said.
"Dabi Benson. Gibbs' daughter by way of a relationship twenty years ago," Tim explained. "Amanda never told him because she was afraid he would take Dabi away, and by the time she finally got the courage to tell him, it was too late; she was hit by a drunk driver when Dabi was eleven."
"Sharee is Dabi's grandma through informal adoption. Amanda was working for Kranz when she had Dabi, and Sharee and her husband, Daniel, took them both in," Ellie continued. "When Dabi was seven, she was hit with meningitis, which basically destroyed her hearing. When she was just shy of eighteen, she met Abby, and over the body of a dead Navy officer, whose murder Dabi was a witness to, Dabi met Gibbs."
"And because Dabi was a witness, and-or suspect, I'm betting Abby ran Dabi's DNA?" Quinn asked.
"You got it," Tim said. "Dabi is very much a part of Gibbs' life, and so are the boys. She's married to Leo Benson, who's a physical therapist for injured and disabled soldiers and vets, which is how Owen came into the picture. Kranz has a work program for disabled military personnel who want to learn something outside of the military. Owen was a Logistics Specialist for the Navy when he was badly injured in the line of duty. Leo brought Owen in when Dabi was struggling, and the rest is history."
"How did Dabi wind up as part owner of the bakery?" Torres asked.
"Daniel died of a heart attack almost two years ago, in the office," Tim said. "He willed his half of the bakery to Dabi, and then Sharee retired. Owen came in as Office Manager, and Dabi eventually made him her business partner."
"And Sara?" Quinn asked. "I saw the family picture, and Sara looks nothing like Owen or his wife. In fact, she looks more like Nick."
"That is another long story," Tim said, glancing at Ellie and grinning.
A short time later, Torres had a problem. J.D., who had a set of lungs on him, had fallen asleep on Torres' chest when he'd picked up the baby when Gibbs had left his desk for a few minutes. Then the phone had rung, and five minutes into the conversation, the sound of baby snores had reached his ears.
Gibbs, who was back, looked at him, looked at J.D., and said, "Hope that chair is comfortable, because you're not going anywhere for a while."
Before Torres could say anything, a loud popping noise came from the general direction of J.D.'s bottom, followed by a rank odour. J.D. sighed contentedly and snuggled against Torres' chest.
"Does that include hazard pay as well?" Torres asked hopefully, trying not to throw up.
Gibbs just smirked, and headed for his desk. "Welcome to the team," he said.
The End
