Chapter 11
Waking bright and early, Tim was pleasantly surprised to find both his babies still asleep. He quietly dressed, tiptoed down the stairs and got the coffee going before looking to see what he could scrounge for breakfast. Opening the refrigerator, he stared at the carton of eggs, container of orange juice, milk, butter and loaf of bread. Just how big was that cooler Dad brought yesterday?
Frowning he opened a cupboard door, the one where cereal would live once he did the shopping. He shook his head at the box of Cheerios. Seriously, where had this stuff come from? Then he spotted a piece of paper next to the cereal. It was a note from Ducky; Breena had asked him to buy enough food to tide the family over for a day or two. Tim scrunched his face, he remembered the kids walking from the driveway holding Ducky's hands. Then they saw him and jumped into his arms. Sly old fox Granducky must have brought groceries in after that or asked someone to fetch them. He found the toaster and the pan he needed to scramble the eggs; the coffee was perking along. Sippy cups for juice, two small plates, one bigger one for him, cutlery in the drawer to the left of the stove, napkins on the table, yep, he was all set. No…coffee mug; in the dishwasher, they'd used several last night.
He'd finished about half a mug when he heard Bryn squawking on the baby monitor. "Daddy…..wan' up pease!" Smiling, he headed for her room and kissed her good morning. With a clean face, hands and diaper, she was ready for the trip downstairs.
She was already in her high chair, delicately eating some of the Cheerios, when Tyler called out from the baby gate. Running up the stairs, Tim opened the gate and gave him a kiss, "Hi son! Did you have a good sleep?"
"Yes Daddy! I heard birdies dis morning!"
"Ooh great, after we eat and get dressed we can go outside and look for them."
"Fun! C'n we feed dem?"
"They've already eaten this morning, Ty; they wake up a lot earlier than we do."
"Oh."
"Let's get you settled and then I'll make breakfast."
"Eggs?"
"Eggs, toast and juice!"
He chuckled when both kids cheered. He'd add what he needed to make pancakes to his shopping list; maybe those could be their weekend treat.
Happy and relieved the kids liked their eggs scrambled; the three of them ate breakfast talking about what they'd do that day. Tim reminded them they would meet Aunt Abby after their naps.
Tyler asked who she was which his father thought was interesting. Everyone else so far had a designated spot: Ellie was his friend and worked with him, Aunt Sarah was his sister, Unca Rob his brother, Aunt Breena was a friend and Uncle Jimmy was a friend who worked with him. Mr. Bob, Tim had to be careful not to call him Mr. Bill, worked with him and he had no idea how Tyler had pegged 'Uncle Leon', nor how the director had even become Uncle Leon. He guessed the easiest explanation for Abby was that they worked together.
Ty nodded at the designation. "How come she wasn't here before?"
"She promised to help someone else before she knew we were moving."
"Oh, dat's good, right?"
"That she kept her promise? Yes, Ty, it is."
"I'm all done!"
"Ok, let's get you two cleaned up."
They washed up, put play clothes on and went to find the birdies in the backyard. Tim spotted a couple of nests and held each of the kids up so they could see them. Ty squealed, "Look Daddy, der's baby birds!"
"Yay, baby birds!"
Brynie was pulling on his shirt, "Wanna see bebbies!" She ooh'd when she saw the nest with the baby birds.
While the kids were watching the birds fly from tree to roof to the next tree, Tim wandered around the garden, looking at what was growing. He made a happy noise when he discovered a tomato plant flourishing in one of the raised boxes, shaking his head at the tomato cage he hadn't noticed previously.
The noise caught Ty's interest, "Daddy, did you fin' sum'in'?"
"Yes, a tomato plant, come look!"
Bryn toddled over with her brother and they looked at the plant. "See the yellow flowers?"
"Yes."
"Those are very important; they're going to be tomatoes when they get older."
Tyler laughed, "Baby tomatoes!"
His sister echoed him, "Beby 'ma'oes!"
Tim grinned, "This will be fun; we can watch them turn from flowers to little tiny tomatoes. First they'll be green then they'll turn red."
"And den we c'n eat 'em?"
"When they're ripe."
"Ripe! What's dat?"
Tim chuckled to himself, he'd forgotten about toddlers' never-ending questions.
"Ripe means they're ready to eat. The color will be just right, the size will be just right."
"Oh. Dat's a little flower, dey get big like da tomatoes on owur burgers?"
"I don't know, Tyler, that's a very good question. Some tomatoes grow very big but there some that are meant to be small, like this", he made a shape with this thumb and index finger. "We didn't plant these so it'll be a surprise for us."
Bryn's little face lit up, "I wike supwizes!"
Tim grinned back at her as Tyler asked, "C'n we get more plants?"
Tim smiled, loving the idea. "Yes, we can get more plants and then the three of us will plant them."
"Yay!" The little ones danced around the yard.
Tim took a quick look; one of the raised beds was empty. "How about we get some plants to put in that?"
"Ok! C'n we go now?"
"After we clean up our breakfast dishes."
Back in the house, Tim loaded the dishwasher, amused when his kids brought their plates to him; mentally thanking their mothers for the training.
"All right, let me grab the diaper bag. Ty, why don't you go to the bathroom before we go?"
"Ok, I might have to go." The little boy disappeared into the downstairs bathroom and Tim smiled when he heard the toilet flush and the water run. "I went; Daddy and I washed my hands."
"Good boy! Ok, let's go!"
As he tucked the kids in their seats in the backseat of the Challenger, he made a mental note that he needed his own family-friendly vehicle as soon as possible. He couldn't just keep driving his father's car forever. He'd sent a text to the man while Ty was in the bathroom and wasn't surprised to find him waiting outside the garage.
He grinned when he heard toddler squeals, "Poppy!" He wondered how and when Gi'pa had changed to Poppy.
"Yes, he wants to come with us. Is that all right?"
"Yay!"
Dad climbed in the passenger seat, giving each of them a kiss before he fastened his seat belt and off to the plant store/home center they went. Once there, they decided they could pick two plants each, either flowers, vegetables, or herbs. Brynie spotted a plant with purple flowers; that was her first pick. Then Ty found one with bright red flowers, he liked that a lot. Tim decided on another tomato plant, this one with cherry tomatoes and Poppy decided they should grow peas.
The kids quickly picked their second plants, orange flowers for Bryn and yellow for Ty. For his second plant, Tim chose snapdragons with multiple colors while Poppy selected an already planted hanging basket full of multi-colored petunias, along with a hook and chain to hang them from the fence.
They also bought a bag of compost and then Tim spotted the racks of gardening gloves. He found two tiny pairs for Tyler and Brynie plus adult sized. Poppy declined, he had gloves already. Two small trowels, two toddler sized watering cans, a trellis for the peas, another tomato cage and they would have been ready to go if the Tiny Tykes gardening boots and sun hats hadn't snagged them on the way to the cashier.
Finally, they were loading their treasures into the trunk of the car. However, Miss Bryn did not want her baby plants riding in the trunk and burst into tears when Daddy said they would be better in there. It took all of Tim's strength not to give in to his little girl but he knew if he started caving in now, he was finished for all time. He persisted and the plants went in the trunk. Bryn fussed and pouted until Daddy told her that if she stopped fussing, they'd have their planting fun when they got home or she could keep fussing and planting would wait until after her nap.
Tim wasn't at all sure she was old enough to understand but she was quiet for several seconds before saying, "I want to pway with my fwowahs, Daddy."
"Ok, sweetie, that's fine, that's what we'll do." He swallowed his sigh of relief, feeling he'd passed his first real Dad test.
Back at the house, they carefully carried the plants from the trunk out to the yard through the front gate. The kids danced around, impatient while the adults carried the compost, gloves, trowels and boots. On the last trip, Tim went through the garage and brought a shovel and adult sized trowel. When the kids saw their boots, hats and gloves, they stopped to put them on and Tim took several photos. Poppy did too but he took one 'before' of the garden and then waited until his family got busy planting.
First they marked where they wanted the flowers to go, then dug holes in the dirt; each child poured some water from the watering cans, then they mixed some of the dirt back in. Tim scooped a little compost in, they mixed that in with the dirt and finally the plants were carefully removed from the nursery pots. Poppy showed them how to 'tease' the roots a little bit before the kids put their flowers into the dirt and just as carefully covered them up.
Tyler was concentrating and Poppy took a perfect photo of his happy face when he scooped the last of the dirt around his plants. Bryn worked with her dad, her tongue between her lips as she put her plants in the ground. Then the three of them sat back triumphantly, faces smudged but happy while another photo was taken.
It took some time for all the new plants to be tended to but when they were done, the peas were wound around their trellis and the new tomato plant sat between the legs of the cage it would soon climb. The pot of petunias hung on the chain fastened to the hook driven into the edge of the roof. Poppy took one last photo, the 'after' of gardening day. They'd take more photos as the plants grew and they'd probably add more plants along the way. Tim wanted some of the smaller patty cake and spaghetti squashes and maybe a pumpkin or two for Halloween.
They were hungry after their hard work. Boots, muddy shoes and gloves were tugged off in the garage and left there to be cleaned later. Hands and faces washed, the family sat down for leftover burgers, hot dogs for the kids, carrots and a few chips.
When Bryn started squirming, Tim plucked her out of her high chair and took her upstairs to change her diaper but noticing it was dry, decided to try something first. He asked Bryn if she had to go potty and when she nodded, he put her on the potty seat, holding onto her and sure enough, she went. Tim smiled at her, "Yay Brynie, that was great, sweetie!"
"I'm a big girl, Daddy!"
Wondering whether Sue and Deeny had already been working with her, Tim tried not to make too big a deal of it; he didn't want her to feel bad if she didn't always use the toilet. Making sure she washed her hands, he looked through her clothes, finding underwear for her, which answered his question about her mothers having already started potty training her. He slipped those on her and then scooped her into his arms.
They played a bit longer outside before Poppy took the kids upstairs for their naps. Downstairs, Tim looked online for information about potty training and thought he'd also talk with Breena and Lara.
Gibbs stayed with the kids while Tim took the Porsche grocery shopping, resolutely not thinking about how great it felt to drive his own car. Tonight's dinner was his first priority but they needed just about everything so he went to Costco. Even before the kids, he'd rarely had time to pick up this or that and had become a believer in buying in bulk. That worked as long as one remembered one was driving a sports car with no back seat.
He drove into the garage when he got home; his dad helped him unload and get dinner started. They'd tossed around the idea of grilling again or doing something in the oven. Grilling won, this time they'd have grilled chicken and vegetables.
Abby was just pulling into the driveway as Tim walked downstairs with Tyler and Bryn after their naps. They were excited about telling their new aunt about seeing the baby birds this morning, going plant shopping with Daddy and Poppy and then getting to dig in the dirt!
Abby had been a little nervous but relaxed when the kids welcomed her with hugs. "Aunt Abby, um, we're glad ta meet you. Do you like birdies? I heard birdies singing dis morning an' Daddy, Brynie an' me saw dem in der nests!"
Brynie nodded, "Dey's bebbies too."
"Babies?"
"Uh huh, Daddy lifted us up so we could see da nest!"
Abby grinned; this wasn't so bad. "Baby birds are fun! And you know how they're fed?" When the kids shook their heads, Abby opened her mouth to tell them how bird parents regurgitated their food into their young. A throat cleared and she looked up to see Tim shaking his head almost violently.
"Well, the bird parents find worms and things birds like to eat and fly them to the nest to feed their babies. They have to eat a lot so the parent birds have to find lots of food for them."
"Oh, dat's hard work!"
Bryn was pulling her by the hand. "Come see da gawden. We pwanted fwowahs. Daddy an' Poppy took us to da stowe an' we picked wha' we wanted."
Tyler had her other hand, "Daddy bought us gloves an' boots an' hats too. An' we planted tomatoes an' peas."
Abby handed Gibbs her bag and followed the kids, who really did look very much like Tim, outside. Her eyes bugged out at the size of the yard, it was much bigger than she expected. She smirked at the grill, already prepped for cooking. Seeing the furniture, she turned to Tim. "I know you didn't have patio furniture."
"No, it was all Sue and Deeny's." She had to think about that, in her head she had the two women as the victims, the kids' mothers or the lieutenants. Hearing Tim referring to them by their first names was a little confusing. When the kids were busy a few minutes later, Tim explained. "They'll always be part of our family and it's easier to use their first names than their hyphenated last name. And the kids know who we're talking about then too."
"I understand, McGee."
Tim smiled, "Speaking of names, I prefer Tim."
"But I always call you McGee."
"And now I'm asking you to call me Tim, at least outside of work. Everyone else does, even Tony and Gibbs."
"Oh, ok."
"Thanks Abby."
She chalked that up to another change. She thought that maybe it had all started with him walking in on Delilah; he'd been different ever since.
Relieved that McG…Tim's kids were comfortable with her; she took her boots off and sat on the lawn with them while Gibbs and Tim got dinner ready. It was strange how comfortable Gibbs was, a completely new version of him, relaxed and happy, playing with the kids and talking. Talking! Yeah, he normally talked to her way more than anyone else except maybe Ducky but she couldn't be sure of that because when she was around Gibbs and Ducky she and Ducky did most of the talking but still she bet he talked a lot more when it was just him and Ducky. This was beyond even that. Inwardly she shrugged, she guessed it was being around kids and having them think of him as a grandfather. She barely remembered her grandparents; they were people who'd only visited on holidays so she hadn't been around them much. These kids were all over both Gibbs and Tim. She didn't mind them hugging or taking her hand, but she wouldn't want to carry them around or worse, have them crawling all over her like they were doing with Tim on the lawn.
As a breeze was kicking up, they ate dinner inside. As they sat around the dining room table, Abby looked at it, "This is new."
Tim opened his mouth but Ty beat him to it. "It's ours; Daddy, Mama and Mum's. But der not here with us now because God took dem to heaven to be angels."
Abby looked shocked at that but Gibbs distracted her by asking about her health fair. After dinner, the kids played for a while before Gibbs took them upstairs for their bath. Abby watched Tim clean up the kitchen. "You sure settled into this fast."
He huffed, "You forget I've already raised two kids?"
"I meant the whole house, you know the domestic bit." Her tone was mocking.
He shook his head, "Abby, three weeks ago I was ready to become a husband and planned to have children. Yes, I'm not a husband but I do have kids; being domestic is not a new concept to me."
"Still, you're all dad-like now."
Tim wished she'd leave; he was getting more annoyed. "How is 'already raised two kids' not dad-like?"
"Huh. What you've always wanted."
"Yes it is. I hope you aren't saying you have a problem with me having people to love?"
"No, I didn't mean that. It's just so…different."
"Not really. Guess you just don't know me that well."
She frowned and started to say something but Gibbs was suddenly in the kitchen with them, she hadn't heard him come down the stairs. "Tim, kids are waiting for their story."
"Ok, thanks Boss."
He gave a tight smile to Abby, "Excuse me. Or would you like to come up with me, read a story to Ty and Bryn?"
"Uh, no thanks, I should be going."
"Have a good night."
"Thanks for dinner and everything."
Tim waved a hand behind him as he walked up the stairs.
Gibbs looked at Abby, "Goodnight Abby."
She blinked, "Night Gibbs."
She waited for his usual kiss to her cheek but he walked to the door, holding it open for her. She left, fuming all the way home. What the hell had McGee done to Gibbs? Who did he think he was?