Chapter Twelve
Gibbs was pleased to find Noah sleeping in his bed rather than under it on Monday morning when he went in to wake him up. He sat down on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers through his child's hair. "Noah," he said softly, "it's time to wake up, Buddy."
Noah opened his eyes and looked sleepily up at Gibbs. He yawned as he stretched and that was when he realized he was lying in a big wet spot. He'd wet the bed— again.
"Are you ready to get up?" Gibbs asked trying to give the little boy time to wake up.
Noah wished he could make himself invisible. He was so embarrassed and ashamed. The tears stinging his eyes quickly overflowed onto his cheeks as he stared up at Gibbs.
"What's wrong, Bud?" Gibbs asked.
"I pee peed," Noah cried.
"Okay," Gibbs said lifting him into his arms and holding him tight, "it's okay. It's not your fault." He kissed the top of Noah's head and rubbed his back, trying to calm him down. "Did you have nightmares again last night?" The agent took the little boy's silence as a yes. Noah was very closed off, afraid of being perceived as bad or a burden. Gibbs knew it was time to get him into therapy.
"We're going to get you all cleaned up," Gibbs said as Noah's crying eased, "then you know what? Today is a very special day. Do you remember what you get to do today?" Noah shook his head as he dried his tears on Gibbs' shirt. "Today you start your new school. You're going to meet some new friends and have nice teachers and do all kinds of fun stuff that you didn't get to do at your other school."
"I wanna stay with you," Noah whined holding tightly to Gibbs.
"I know, Kiddo," Gibbs said, "but I have to go to work and you're going to have a lot more fun at school than you would sitting around in the bullpen all day. I'll be right in the same building so we'll be really close to each other." After considering all his options, Gibbs had decided to enroll Noah in the daycare at NCIS. They had a preschool program each morning, a solidly structured day and a good reputation. It would also keep Noah close by in case Gibbs needed to get to him quickly.
Gibbs changed Noah's clothes, threw a load of laundry in then he and Noah headed into the kitchen to make Noah's lunch. "What kind of sandwich do you want today, Kiddo?" he asked as he sat Noah on the countertop. "We've got PB and J or some over roasted turkey. What sounds good?"
"What PB and J is?" Noah asked.
"Peanut butter and jelly," Gibbs answered.
"Uh, I can have turkey?" Noah asked nervously.
"Turkey it is," Gibbs said with a smile.
Gibbs spread the mayonnaise and a little bit of mustard on the bread then let Noah add the meat and cheese to his sandwich. While he packed some baby carrots and veggie dip, Noah filled a sandwich bag with the cheese puffs he'd chosen at the store over the weekend. Gibbs put a bottle of water and a Capri Sun in the little boy's new Buzz Lightyear lunchbox then let Noah put the food in.
"Alright, go put your shoes on for me," Gibbs said standing Noah on the floor. While Noah was in the other room, Gibbs added a pack of fruit snacks and a couple cookies to his lunchbox, knowing that would brighten his day when he discovered the special treats.
Gibbs called Elaine on his way out the door and had her make two breakfast platters to go so when he stopped in to get his cup of coffee he could grab their breakfasts as well. Noah was anxious and fidgeting in the backseat the entire time they were in the car. He was quieter than usual as he fretted over what his new school was going to be like. Gibbs was hoping by eating breakfast with him it would help ease him into the idea.
Once they arrived at NCIS Headquarters, Gibbs grabbed their things, took Noah's hand and led him to the back corner of the building where the daycare was located. He introduced himself and Noah to Casey, the head of the daycare program, and the middle aged woman showed Noah where his cubby was then gave Gibbs all the necessary paperwork to fill out.
All the activity seemed to be in the main room of the daycare at the moment. It was divided into an eating area with two large cafeteria style tables and a carpeted area with an endless amount of toys. Gibbs set out their meals on one of the tables then sat down to eat with Noah while he filled out the paperwork.
Noah watched the handful of kids who were playing while he ate. This was definitely nothing like his old school. He wondered if he would be allowed to play too. At his old school he only got to watch the other kids having fun. When they were done eating, Gibbs gave Noah a hug and a kiss goodbye then handed him off to one of the teachers who sat down at the table to color a picture with him. As he colored, Noah continued to watch the handful of kids playing with the different toys scatted throughout the room. When he was done with his picture, the worker helped him write his name on it then Noah tucked it away in his cubby so he could take it home that night.
He wandered out into the play area and stood in the middle looking around at the other children and trying to decide what he wanted to play with. One little boy nearly ran him over before stopping and actually noticing he was standing there.
"Are you a new boy?" the curious child asked. Noah nodded shyly, wondering what the child was going to do to him. The kids at his other school had always been mean to him. "I'm Matty, actually Matthew 'cept everybody calls me Matty. What's your name?"
"N-Noah."
Matty looked around and noticed Noah was by himself. "You're not playin' with anybody?" he asked. Noah shook his head. "Wanna play with me? I'm playing with the rocket ships! There's a bunch so you could play too." Noah half smiled and nodded his head. He couldn't believe it! Somebody actually wanted to play with him! Matty took him over to the basket where the rocket ships were and helped Noah choose one for himself. Noah chose the red one with flames shooting down its side and Matty traded his yellow one for the blue one then the boys started flying their aircraft all around the room. Noah told his new friend about how he got to fly in real airplane while the two built a space station out of the wooden blocks.
The boys played happily together for the next couple hours moving from station to station, being sure to play with all the toys that looked interesting while they talked about Matty's dog and Noah's vacation, Matty's older sister and Noah's new daddy, Matty's new backpack and Noah's new lunchbox. A brief argument over who got to be which pirate was quickly resolved when Noah gave in and let Matty be the one he wanted. Noah decided he didn't really care which pirate he got to be, he was simply thrilled to have someone to talk to and play with. The boys were just getting ready to move on to the Army men toy station when their teachers announced it was time to get cleaned up so they could start their lessons.
Noah listened and watched curiously as the teachers and other children sang songs and danced around, talked about the weather and displayed a large happy sunshine on the weather board, practiced the days of the week and the months of the year. He was thrilled when he learned show and tell was on Tuesday and even more thrilled to learn they could order a pizza lunch on Friday if their parents gave them two dollars. He wondered if Gibbs would give him two dollars for some pizza, he wondered if he should even ask. Before he had too much time to worry about it, the kids were split into groups and half of them were sent into the lesson room to work on their ABCs while the other half went into the art room to make a necklace out of different size, shaped and colored macaroni noodles. Noah and Matty giggled at each other when they both got sent to the lesson room together.
After a fairly long first day back at work after his vacation, Gibbs was looking forward to picking Noah up and getting home. Tony was having a difficult time making the transition from boss back to second in charge but Gibbs was patient with him. Ziva and Tim's teasing was starting to drive Gibbs up the wall. Tony's incessant rambling about his Friday night spent in a bar full of drunk college girls was quickly pushing him over the edge. Abby didn't seem to be able to stay on track at all no matter what her task was. The quiet beach in Mexico was sounding better and better by the minute.
Gibbs arrived at the daycare to find Noah sitting at the table working on a puzzle with another little boy. He looked wearily at the young lady working the front desk. "Is he in timeout?" he asked quietly.
"Noah?" she asked. "No, he's been an angel all day. I think he even made a new friend."
"Thanks," Gibbs said as he signed his little boy out. He headed over to the table and sat down next to Noah and his new friend. Noah glanced over and when he saw Gibbs was there he smiled.
"I maked a new friend," he said. "Him's name is Matty."
"It's nice to meet you, Matty," Gibbs said extending his hand to the brown haired little boy sitting across the table. He wrapped his other arm around Noah and leaned down to kiss his head. "Did you guys have a fun day together?"
Noah nodded his head as he put another piece of their large puzzle in. "Matty's four, just like me and him has a doggy and a big sister."
"Wow," Gibbs said watching the boys work together on their puzzle.
"I'll be five next month!" Matty added proudly.
"What's your last name, Bud?" Gibbs asked, wondering who the child's parents were.
"Dawson," Matty answered.
Gibbs smiled; he thought the boy looked familiar. He'd never actually met the child but he was the spitting image of his father. "Is your dad's name Matthew too?" he asked.
Matty smiled up at him, surprised that Gibbs had known that. "Yeah," he answered. "I'm a junior!"
"Your daddy sits right on the other side of my desk," Gibbs told him.
"Neat!" Matty said.
While Gibbs was chatting with the boys and waiting for them to finish their puzzle, Casey, the head of the program, called him over. He patted Noah's head then moved over to have a private conversation with her. "How'd he do today?"
"He did just fine, he's a little quiet but he did make a friend as you saw," Casey said. "He's a very polite kid. When you told me he'd been abused I was expecting a child who'd be a little more difficult to handle but Noah's a little sweetheart."
"He's terrified he's going to mess up," Gibbs explained, "and unfortunately, his idea of messing up is doing just about anything."
"We will definitely be aware of that and give him a lot of praise to try to help his self image," Casey said. "Is he in therapy?"
"He starts tomorrow," Gibbs said. "In fact, I'll be here to pick him up right after lunch, then drop him off again a couple hours later."
"That'll help too," Casey said. "I wanted to talk to you about something I observed this morning during lesson time." Gibbs braced himself for bad news. "We were working on our alphabet and right now we're learning J, K and L. I've been doing this long enough I can usually pick out some learning disabilities and I'm a little concerned Noah might be dyslexic."
"Wow," Gibbs said, looking over at the little boy who was now his child.
"Nothing's for sure," Casey added quickly. "It's very early on but I wanted you to prepare yourself for that possibility."
Gibbs felt a little hand on his pant leg and leaned down to pick Noah up. "Did I be'd bad?" he asked noticing the seriousness of the adults' faces.
"No Baby Boy," Gibbs said before kissing his cheek, "in fact, Ms. Casey was just telling me how polite you are."
"What polite means?" Noah asked.
"Polite means you have very good manners," Gibbs said. "It means you say please and thank you and you share your toys and you play nicely with your friends." Noah wasn't quite sure what to think or do. He couldn't believe his teacher liked him and was telling Gibbs that he was a good boy. His other teacher always told his mom how much of a handful he was, how he stole food and didn't pay attention in class. "Are you ready to go home? Did you finish your puzzle and say goodbye to Matty?"
"Yeah," Noah said nodding his head.
"Okay, go put your shoes on and we'll go." While Noah retrieved his shoes from his cubby, Gibbs turned back to his teacher. "I'll keep an eye on him, work with him, make sure he gets any help he needs."
"We'll be sure to keep an eye on him too," Casey said, "and our class sizes are small enough we can give him a lot of attention."
"Thanks Casey," Gibbs said. He collected everything from Noah's cubby, grabbed the little boy's hand and the two headed home.
Christina Tate drove slowly through the small neighborhood in Alexandria. It had taken quite a bit of research but she'd finally figured out where Gibbs lived thanks to an old article in the paper praising him for saving his neighbor after the man had a heart attack in his backyard. She drove through once going right at 25 miles an hour, looking at everything. She took note of the neighbors' cars in their driveways, who had dogs, how close together the houses were and the fact that the house directly across the street from Gibbs' was for sale and looked vacant. Perfect.
She parked her car at the end of the block, slipped a black baseball hat on her head and got out. To the average person she looked like a runner and she wasn't planning on getting close enough to Gibbs for him to recognize her. She was there to study him, to learn his patterns and routines, figure out when he went to bed and when he got up, when he came and went. One of the main things she remembered from The Art of War was you must know your enemy. She vaguely remembered there being slightly more to the principal but that wasn't of much concern to her.
After making sure no one was watching her, she slipped up to the house for sale and peered into the windows. The house was definitely vacant; there wasn't a soul in sight. The woman felt her plan coming together perfectly, almost as if things were meant to be. She was still trying to decide how to exact her payback, a bomb? Fire? Shooting? Release deadly gas into the house? Cut the brake lines on the car? There were many options and she hoped learning Gibbs' patterns and routines would help her choose the perfect one.
Just as she slipped into place behind a large bush with a perfect view of Gibbs' house, a car pulled into his driveway. She watched as the Special Agent got out then opened the back door. Her mouth dropped when Noah stepped out of his car and the two walked into the house together. What was her son doing at his house? It had been three weeks since he'd been taken from her. That should've been plenty of time for child services to place him somewhere. Was he living with Gibbs? Protective custody? What was going on?
Her anger quickly turned to delight. With both of them in the same house she could kill two birds with one stone. This arrangement was actually perfect. If Noah really was staying with Gibbs, that would make her life a little bit easier. She pulled out the snickers bar she'd brought along for dinner and settled in. Patience was the key.
