Thankyou for all your reviews and alerts. I appreciate your opinions. A lot. If anyone has any constructive critisism about my spelling or language, I'll gladly listen to your opinion. However, this is a discipline fic. I have a warning on the summary so if it's not what you like to read then I suggest that you read one of the other wonderful stories that are available on this site. This is a fictional story. So for those of you who are enjoying my story I hope you like this chapter. For the others, flame if you must but I will just delete you every time so it's pointless.. Sorry for the rant :)
Chapter 9
After another school and work week that was pretty uneventful, preparations were fully underway for the big camping trip. With the area where they were to camp mapped out by Tim and Gibbs, the girls were able to find a small cabin nearby that had a log fire and a Jacuzzi. They booked on line and paid with Ziva's credit card.
Amber had been in Jimmy's ear about bike riding so he suggested it to Tim who thought that it was a great idea. They were able to rent four bikes at a shop near the park where they were camping. This wasn't enough for them to be able to all ride at once but Tim's thinking was that it wasn't likely that they'd all want to ride at the same time anyway.
Zac and Sarah were driving in Zac's car and they didn't have anyone in the back seat so they were loaded up with food and extra cases of drinks, not to mention Sarah's many bags of clothes (and hidden appliances).She was careful when packing these that she put them in the car herself not wanting to risk Zac suspecting anything.
Abby also packed her own bags. Just for the fun of it she'd thrown in a couple of bottles of vodka. She figured that they wouldn't be able to take the kids to the cabin anyway and no one was driving, so it was the perfect opportunity for them to have a couple of relaxing drinks while they had some fun in their room. After all, what good was a soak in a jacuzzi without drinks. They were an absolute necessity. Of course she hadn't quite figured out how she was gonna get the vodka and redbull up to the cabin but they'd figure something out, right?
Tim was very excited. He couldn't wait to pass on his boy scout skills to his kids especially Dylan who was as excited as he was. Jess not so much. She was happy that Barbie's friend Amber was coming and had even earned a couple of smacks for cutting up one of her T shirts to make an 'Amber shirt'.One that left a fair amount of her tummy exposed. Tim had thrown that in the trash quick smart. Abby struggled so much to pack the kind of clothes that the little girl would need on a camping weekend. Jess kept putting dresses and mary janes in the even put a pair of ballet flats in the bag. Only to have them removed again by her Mommy. Jess was thinking that she wasn't gonna like this place they were going to at all. What kind of place was it that you could only wear clothes that were clunky looking shoes.
Dylan's enthusiasm made up for Jess's lack of enthusiasm though. He had hardly been able to sleep with the excitement last night, and as if things could get any better, TOBY was coming too. He had hung around with a hang dog expression so much while Tim and Dylan had been getting things ready that in the end, Tim couldn't take it any more and had gone and asked his folks if they could take him. Rex and Lulu had no idea what was going on but they were beyond excited when they were put in the car.
Tony tried, but he really hadn't been looking forward that much to this trip either. Except that the Mcbrats were bound to offer some kind of entertainment. And he was gonna get to sleep in a sleeping bag with his beautiful wife, that was something. But the whole outdoors thing didn't really thrill him. Still he supposed it would be fun to be all together.
So they all started off packing at their own houses, meeting up at the McGee house so that they could all travel together. After stopping to collect the bikes and put them in the trailer that Jimmy had brought with him, they arrived at the state park. They had to park the cars a fair way from where they would be camping and lug the stuff from the cars to their actual camp. By the time they got there, several of the campers already weren't happy. The princess was one of them.
"I'm tired Daddy. Can't you carry me?"
"Sorry honey, Daddy has to carry the tents."
"Mommy can't you carry me?"
"Sorry sweetie. Mommy has all these other things to carry."
"I'm thirsty."
"There's a drink in your back pack."
"Ok. Now I'm hungry."
"Mommy packed a granola bar in your back pack."
"I don't like granola bars."
"There's an apple."
"Don't wanna have an apple. I wanna have a cookie."
"Jess, stop complaining." Tim said sternly.
"Ok Daddy.........Are we there yet?"
"Almost."
Thankfully they were almost there. Once they got to a nice spot that wasn't too close to the water but not too far away either, they stopped. While Abby and Sarah fixed the kids up with some juice and sandwiches. The others went back to the cars for the last load of stuff. Abby took the opportunity to hide her stash in the bushes. Shoeing Rex away at thye same time lest he give away her secret. It should've been safe in her back pack but she didn't know if Tim might go looking in there for something he might need for one of the kids. When they got back with the last load, they would have liked to have lunch but Gibbs insisted on putting up the tents first.
They had one family tent, and four smaller tents to set up. This really didn't take very long. Not everyone was happy with the sleeping arrangements though. Abby and Tim had their tent, Ziva and Tony had a tent, Jimmy and Amber had their own tent. Sarah and Jess were going to share a tent and last but certainly not least, the family tent would be shared by Gibbs, Ducky,Dylan,Zac and Toby, Rex and Lulu.
"I wanna sleep in there with Amber." Jess said hands on hips. Jimmy really wasn't one for confrontation with anyone, let alone a pissed off six year old.
"Well Jess.......there's really only enough room for two people in our tent. And we only have the one sleeping bag to share." Jimmy said hoping that his explanation would be enough.
Jess narrowed her eyes Abby fashion. "Are you two married?" she asked.
"Ah...not.....exactly......we're...."
"Huh? Are you married or not?"
"No. We're not married."
"Well then shouldn't you outta be over there in the boys tent?"
"Well I ......you......see....Amber and I ... we want. I want to sleep in here with Amber."
"So...do....I" Jess said determined. "We're the same and we're both girls, you're not a girl." Gibbs rolled his eyes and came over to Jess.
"You're sleeping with Sarah. Get your back pack and put it in that tent over there."
"But I wa....." Gibbs held his hand up.
"Now Jessica."
"Yes Gibbs." He smiled. Gibbs pulled Jimmy away from where Amber could hear him. "Palmer you have to learn to say no. You don't have to explain yourself to a six year old. You'll just confuse her and yourself."
"Right. Thanks sir." Jimmy said nodding.
Tony was grumbling and trying to blow up an air mattress with his mouth, the pump wouldn't work. Sarah was in her tent trying to jam her hair dryer and Ipod and charger and her small laptop into her backpack while she had a small amount of privacy. She knew that would end once Jess arrived. Finally she had it all jammed in there with a sweater over the top to hold it. Just as she finished Zac came in and put his arms around her. "What are you up to?" he said.
"Ah nothing. Just unpacking."she said turning in his arms and distracting him with a kiss.
"Ok then." he said kissing her some more but they were soon interupted by Jess.
"Ew, you too are kissing. You're in love....she sing songed."
"Get out Jess."Sarah said.
"Can't. Gibbs told me to come in here with my bag."
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Come on Zac said grinning and grabbing her hand "We should be helping with lunch or something anyway."
While Jimmy had been outside having a debate with Jess, Amber had been inside the tent doing the same thing as Sarah. Jamming all her essentials into a backpack and covering them with a sweater.
Abby hadn't done hers yet. Except for the vodka that she had stashed in the bushes. When she saw Jess going into her tent where Sarah was, and Tim fixing up Dylan and Toby, she took the opportunity to quickly get some cans of rebull out and stuff them in her back pack. Luckily, their tent wasn't too far away from Ziva and Tony's so she ducked in there to see if Ziva had some room for some cans in her bag. They did the same to her bag stuffing a bunch of cans down the bottom and covering the cans with a sweater.
Abby's next job was to work on her daughter. "Hey Jess."
"Hi Mommy."
"Are you having fun?"
"Yeh. I guess."
"I bet Daddy and the boys go fishing after lunch."
" smell."
'Shit' Abby signed with her fingers.
"Oh well, I'm surprised to hear you say that."
"Why?"
"I thought you'd love to go anywhere your Daddy went." That'll do it, Abby thought.
"Na. Not fishin. Fish stink."
'Fu....k' Abby signed with her fingers. What the hell was she gonna do now?
"You shouldn't have outta say those words on your fingers Mommy. Daddy would be mad."
Abby's mouth dropped open. She had no idea that Sarah could sign. She would never say that word in front of her she thought that she wouldn't understand."How did you know what I said? Can you sign?"
Jess put her head down. "Only some bad words."
"Who taught you that?"
"A boy in one of the foster homes I was in."
"Well I don't want you to use them Ok? Mummy shouldn't have done that."
Ok, this is a dilemma, Abby thought. Do I tell my child to lie to her Daddy? No that wasn't an option. She'd just have to hope it didn't come up. Back to talking Jess into fishing.
"Oh well. Your probably right about the fishing, they more than likely wouldn't let you go anyway. You being a girl and all. It'd probably be too hard for you."
"It would not! I can do it if Dylan and Toby can do it."
"Well maybe. Not if Daddy doesn't let you go."
"He will.I wanna go with Daddy."
After everything was set up, and they'd had lunch, the boys got ready to go fishing. "Daddy can I come?" Jess asked?
"Of course you can sweetie. I have a special fishing pole just for you."
"You have to put your own live worm on the hook Jess." Dylan said, waving a worm in front of her face.
"Ew. That's awful."
"Don't worry, Daddy'll do yours." Tim said glaring at Dyl.
It took them a while but with all the men and boys and dogs off on there fishing trip with Jess, the girls decided to make a start. Abby retrieved her bottles of vodka and they strapped on their packs and pinned a note to the family tent.
"Have just gone for a long bike ride, we won't be back late." Then off they went.
Arriving at the cabins, they registered and after retrieving their key they went and let themselves into their cabin. It was great! There was only one huge bed but they wouldn't be sleeping there anyway so that didn't matter. The Jacuzzi was plenty big enough for the four of them. Abby waisted no time finding four large glasses and filling three of them with redbull and vodka and one with just redbull.
The others were either already in the Jacuzzi or getting changed. Abby had her bikini underneath her clothes so she only had to strip off and climb in. After passing out the drinks she did exactly that. They were all exhausted after all the exercise they had had that day already and it felt wonderful to sink into the hot bubbles and let the tensions run away. Abby and Ziva recounted the funny story about New York and Abby killing her credit card to Amber who thought it was hilarious. As they laughed and joked, Sarah tried to join in but she felt a bit out of place. Just a step behind the others. She didn't like it.
Abby, Ziva and Amber were feeling decidedly mellow. "Fresh drinks anyone?" Sarah asked helpfully.
"Yes please Sarah, you're a good girl." In hindsight, but then Abby found that most things made more sense in hindsight, it probably wasn't too responsible of them to let Sarah pour the drinks for a few reasons, which were pointed out to Abby later! She pobably wouldn't have let her pour them at all in her normal state of mind but the calming drink she had already had clouded her instincts somewhat.
So Sarah was pouring the drinks and when she got to hers, she thought 'maybe if I just have one drink I'll be able to join in more.' The trouble was that Sarah wasn't really very experienced, well actually she had never even had or poured a spirit drink before. If kids snuck drinks it was generally beer. So when she did pour the drinks she was rather generous with the vodka. Including hers. She passed out the drinks and climbed back into the Jaccuzzi her self. Being vodka, there wasn't any taste so it took a while before they realised that the drinks were a bit strong, nobody noticed that Sarah was now drinking the same as them.
Back on the fishing expedition, things were heating up. Tony, while casting his line had managed to get his hook caught in Zac's hair and was trying to get it out. Tim hadn't really put a line in yet. His full time job seemed to be going from one child to the next baiting hooks and untangling lines. By the time he'd fixed up the last one the first one was in trouble again. None of them would leave the lines in the water for longer than ten minutes. As soon as there was a ripple in the water they reeled it in with screeches of "I've got one, I've got one!" only to find nothing on their hook at all. Not even the bait. Thankfully this eased off a bit when Jess gave the dogs continued running up and down barking at everyone.
Gibbs and Ducky were getting slightly frustrated at the noise. They were never going to catch anything at this rate. Jess was already bored and whining. When she'd given up on fishing she decided that Ducky might amuse was now down pulling on Ducky's long rubber pants trying to get him to tell her a story. Tim hadn't seen her get away from him.
"Miss Jess, I would love to tell you a story later my dear but you need to go back before you fall in. I have these special pants on you see? This is not very safe here for a little girl."
"Ok." Jess said trying to go back but bumping Ducky accidently as she went. On even ground that wouldn't have made a difference, she was only a little girl, but as Ducky had one foot perched on a rock, he toppled over into the cold stream. Everyone turned to see what had made the big Jess looked on in horror she signed a word with her fingers that would often be used in such a situation but not usually signed by a six year old girl.
Tim and Gibbs looked at each other intently. Tim's look was a question and Gibbs was accompanied by the answer "Yep."
"Three guesses where she got that from." Tim said as they all scrambled to get Ducky out of the water. Ducky was completely unharmed, just very wet and cold, so they decided to go back to camp and light a fire so that Ducky could get changed and warm up and Tony could finally cut the hook out of Zac's hair. When they got back and found the note pinned to the tent, they were a bit worried. The girls hadn't said which direction they were going in but they did say they wouldn't be late so hopefully they should be back soon.
Back at the cabin the party was hotting up. Sarah was in the full swing of things now and suggested that they sing a song, so the walls were reverberating to their dulcet tones of 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. By now, Sarah was on her second strong drink and the others were on their third, and they were big glasses. When Abby got up to go to the bathroom she looked out the window. "OHhh Shit! UMmm, we may hass a problem. I shthink it's dark."
"What time is it?" Ziva asked.
"I don't know...." Abby said trying to find her watch. "It's seven oc' better gobach."
"Yeh we should." The others agreed struggling to get their clothes on and fill their packs. Abby looked at Sarah through bleary eyes. "Sar hab you been drinkin the vokka?"
"Sarah showed her two fingers pinched together. "Jist bit."she said drunkenly.
"F.....k! Shit!...I have to memeber to not say that. Nough trouble now." Abby said. They did look comical as they drunkenly mounted the bikes, Sarah falling off more than once. God only knows how they got across the road. It took them a long while to make their way back down the trail to the camp.
Leaving Ducky at the campfire telling the kids some stories, the others who were by now really worried, were searching for the girls. "I can't believe, they would stay away this long unless something's happened to them." Jimmy said, getting distressed now. Tim and Tony looked at each other and then at Gibbs.
"I could."Tony said. "Something around here stinks and it's not the fish we didn't catch."
"Yep." Is all that Gibbs said. Tim sighed and nodded. He didn't know what Abby was up to but he knew it was something she shouldn't be doing. When he was finished with her she was gonna wish she had Dinozzo's soft air bed to sleep on.
The boys decided to go back and check that they hadn't returned to camp and they hadn't been there long when they heard giggling coming from a fair way off. Then ouches and more giggling. Looking at each other and then racing towards the direction the noises were coming from Tim stood with his hands on his hips as Abby fell off her bike for about the sixth time and landed at his feet. "Shorry Tinny."she said.
"Your drunk!" he said shocked as Sarah rode her bike directly into Abby and toppled over the top of her. "Shorry Absh." She said.
"Sarah! Abigail, you were out drinking with my seventeen year old sister?" Tim said shocked.
"Ziva! You were holding out on me?"Tony said disgusted.
"Amber?" Jimmy said as Amber climbed off her bike and stumbled towards him. "I'm not ash drunnk ash them Jemmy.I only felt off one time."she said holding up a finger.
Gibbs shook his head and grinned. "Can't wait to hear the rest of this story." He said.
TBC
