Thanks for the wonderful reviews and the story alerts. And continued thanks to Gottahavemyncis for being the beta for this story.
Gibbs was in his basement. He had already poured himself a bourbon. He also had a cooler filled with soda, water, beer all covered in ice. If any of the team wanted anything else, they should bring it with them. He was working on a small project, a child's bedroom set. He was going to give it to Amira for her birthday. It was a twin bed, with drawers underneath for storage, a space for books in the head board. He had already completed the dresser and bed and still had to work on the vanity and the nightstand. He wanted to have it done by the time she started Kindergarten. As he was sanding, he thought about the year Kelly started Kindergarten. He flashed back to when she had just gotten her new school clothes.
"Daddy! Look at my new school clothes!"
Gibbs had just walked in the door and Kelly had immediately zoned in on him.
"I'm gonna give you a fashion show!" Kelly grabbed her dad's hand and led him to the couch. "You stay here! I'll be right back!" She ran upstairs.
Shannon walked into the living room holding a cold beer, she was smiling. "Kelly is so excited to show you the new school clothes she picked out." She handed him the beer and sat next to him, hugged his arm and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Humor her."
Gibbs turned and gave Shannon a kiss on the temple. "I'm sure I will love all the clothes that you two picked out. A fashion show by my daughter, I can watch anytime, especially if I'm sitting next to you." Gibbs wrapped his arm around his wife and leaned down, pressed his lips to hers, and felt her lips respond.
Just then their daughter bounded down the stairs and yelled 'get a room' when she landed in the living room.
Gibbs and Shannon parted but still looked at each other and smiled. "Later." Shannon said through her smile. Gibbs squeezed her slightly with the arm that was already wrapped around her, in acknowledgment of what she had said.
Both turned to Kelly. Gibbs had a look of astonishment on his face, overreacting for his daughter, "You, my dear, look absolutely fabulous!"
Kelly strutted across the room, pausing to do her best fashion poses at key moments on the 'runway'. After her father's exclamation, "Thank you, my dear! Have your people call my people, we'll do lunch!" She blew him a kiss before running up the stairs to change into her next outfit.
"Got the Pizza, boss!" Tony yelled as he walked down the steps holding up 3 boxes of pizza, shaking Gibbs out of his memories.
"You sure you got enough pizza, DiNozzo?" Gibbs retorted back, not missing a beat.
"Enough for me, not sure about you, the probie and the ninja. Who else is coming?" Tony placed the boxes on Gibbs' workbench. "You said you were bringing the beverages?"
Gibbs pointed to the fridge at the end of the bench, and the cooler next to it.
"Thanks, Boss." Tony said as he twisted the cap off a bottle of beer.
"So, who else is coming?" Tony asked after he took a swig of beer and headed toward the pizza.
"The usual team, DiNozzo." Gibbs paused for a moment, "and probably EJ."
DiNozzo stopped in his tracks and spun faster than Gibbs had ever seen the agent move. "What?" was the only word that erupted from his Senior Agent's mouth.
"She has an interest in this, Tony." Gibbs purposely used the agent's first name to try to put him at ease. "Jarvis not only played you, he played her as well. When I went to see Davenport, she was there. Davenport suggested she could be useful, in part because right now, she is outside of the agency. A wild card."
"Gibbs, she might be put in danger." Tony still cared about her even though their relationship had ended.
"That's what I said, she knows the risks. She wants to do this. If your roles were reversed, would you want in?" Gibbs asked, trying to stem his agent's concern and make him see it from EJ's point of view.
"Of course I would, Boss!"
"Then let her be here. She knows what is at risk for her personally, as well as NCIS. She wants to be part of this. She is still an agent, inactive, but an agent. I can get Vance to reactivate her on the hush-hush, so she will have all the protections of the agency." Gibbs was standing toe to toe with his senior agent, staring directly in his eyes, hoping they conveyed the truth behind his statements.
DiNozzo looked into his boss's eyes and only saw truth. "OK. I get it. I'd do the same thing." DiNozzo visibly relaxed a little bit, signally his acceptance of EJ as part of the team.
"Next time, maybe you'll remember rule #12," Gibbs said into DiNozzo's ear as he passed him, and then left him with a head slap.
Sounds from upstairs indicated that more of the team had arrived.
"McGee, Ziva and Abby" Gibbs said as he went back to sanding his project.
"Boss, as much as I need fiber in my diet, can you refrain from sanding while we are eating?" Gibbs stopped sanding and glared at Tony, "ah, or not. I need as much fiber as I can get in my diet. Thank you Boss!"
Gibbs smiled as he continued sanding the vanity. In a few moments, the people Gibbs had already identified were descending his staircase into the basement. The moment Abby hit the basement floor she was a blur as she headed straight for Gibbs and engulfed him in an Abby-hug. "Gibbs! I didn't hear how the polygraph went, but now that we are all here, in your basement, investigating Jarvis, it couldn't have gone well! I told you we should have practiced the polygraph! It had nothing to do with getting your shirt off, I swear! Not that I hadn't thought about you with your shirt off, or wanted to see what you looked like with your shirt off, but it wasn't my intent. You need to believe me, Gibbs!" Abby spewed out.
Gibbs smiled at the Abby brain dump. "Abby, I mostly believe you." He hugged her back and gave her a kiss on her temple, but even then it took a little while until Abby released her grip.
The rest of the team saw the boxes of pizza and hit them first, then found the soda/water/beer cooler Gibbs had stocked. They were in a feeding frenzy by time Ducky arrived.
"Mr. Palmer had a previous engagement with his fiancé and won't be able to make it tonight, Jethro, but he said he would help with anything that we need." Gibbs smiled and handed the ME a glass with McCallan 18. "Ah, Jethro! You always have the good stuff for me!" The ME held the glass up to toast Gibbs, Gibbs held up his mug of bourbon in return. A smile exchanged between the two men.
As the team interacted, the din hid the arrival of another person. EJ entered the house and descended the steps. She just stood there, waiting for an acknowledgment or an invite. She knew that she hadn't left NCIS and Gibbs' team on the best of terms and knew that she needed to regain their trust for them to really accept her again.
Gibbs knew she was there the moment that she entered his house. He watched her closely as she descended the stairs to the basement. He nodded to her to acknowledge that she was there. She just stood in her place. Ducky, who had perched himself next to Gibbs saw her next. His eyes went wide as he looked at Gibbs and saw that the man clearly had expected her. He turned his attention to the team who was still rather vocal as they consumed the pizza and beverages on the makeshift table in the center of Gibbs basement.
Abby saw EJ first. Her eyes widened and she ran over and gave her a hug. Abby's reaction was noticed by the rest of the team. They became silent and looked over at EJ. In the silence, Gibbs decided he should say something. "EJ is part of the team checking out Jarvis".
That was all he said. After that announcement, Tony walked over to EJ. He looked her in the eye. "Glad to have you as part of the team, EJ."
"Tony. I…I don't, I don't want to be here if it will affect your ability to do what you need to do. Is it OK if I am part of the team on this?" She searched the expression on DiNozzo's face, but he gave nothing away.
"EJ, we need all the help we can get on this. Jarvis played all of us. It might take all of us to figure out what he's trying to do." DiNozzo didn't take his eyes off EJ. He still felt conflicted. He still wasn't sure how he felt personally about EJ, but he knew that she would be a valuable part of the team. "Welcome to Team Gibbs."