"Honey, what are you gawking at? Are the neighbor's dogs going at it on the front lawn again?" Gibbs asked as he caught Jenny peeking out the curtains
"Abby and Tim are makin' out." Jenny said as she turned to face Gibbs.
"Aw, I don't wanna hear this. Either way, just spray 'em both with the hose." Gibbs said as he backed into the kitchen
"Good night, Abby." Tim said shyly
"Night, Tim." Abby replied, giving him a quick peck on the lips before entering the house
"Have a nice date?" Jenny asked as she tried to look casual
"Uh-huh. Tim's such a gentleman. But I think I'm wearing him down." Abby said with a slight smile before she left Jenny.
"What was that?" Gibbs asked as he heard a slight squeak
"No, no, no. Stay in bed. Come on. It's cold." Jenny whined as she grabbed his shirt
"It's cold because of those size-9 popsicles you call feet." Gibbs grumbled as he stood up
"Oh, Gibbs, just let it go." Jenny yawned
"Someone came in through the back gate. It could be a criminal, or worse." Gibbs lectured "It's worse. It's one of your daughters crawling through the kitchen window."
"It's Abby." Gibbs confirmed
"Abby?" Jenny questioned sitting up too
"Don't need to hurry. She's stuck." Gibbs commented
"What the hell does she think she's doing? It's four hours past her curfew." Jenny exclaimed
"And she has a key." Gibbs drawled
"Oh, you know what, honey? Maybe she just snuck out to meet up with Tim." Jenny sighed "I guess there are worse guys she could be with at 3:00 a.m."
"There are no nice guys out there at 3:00 a.m." Gibbs said firmly "I know. I used to be one. They're only looking for one thing, honey."
"I seem to remember three or four things." Jenny laughed as she searched for her slippers
"This is supposed to be your job. You're supposed to deal with this stuff with the girls when it comes to this kind of thing, you know?" Gibbs said "And I'll deal with our son."
"I'll go lay down the law." Jenny said as she shut the door softly
"Oh, nice try. I know you're awake." Jenny muttered as she stopped the swinging door in time to see Abby turn over, "Honey, you're in real trouble here. You broke the most important rule."
"I know. I missed curfew." Abby agreed softly
"No. You let your dad find out." Jenny chided, "Now, look, I can't stop you from doing whatever it is you and Tim are doing in the middle of the night, but, honeys, out of respect to your father, get better at deceiving him."
"Okay. I'll try harder." Abby affirmed
"I know you will. I believe in you." Jenny reassured as she slipped out of Abby's room and made her way to her bedroom.
"You won't catch Abby coming in late anymore." Jenny announced, "And I don't think anything has happened yet with her and Tim."
"How do you know that?" Gibbs wondered
"A mom can tell." Jenny proclaimed
"Morning, sir." Tim greeted as he entered the conference room hesitantly, "It is a beautiful day, isn't it?"
"Sit down." Gibbs commanded
"Thank you." Tim said politely
"Tim, uh, remember that tiny fishing pond we go to?" Daniel asked
"Yeah. It was great. I should go back there." Tim admitted
"No, you shouldn't. See, it's a bad idea to keep catching fish in the same pond." Daniel cackled
"Huh?" Tim said in confusion
"Why don't you just mix it up a little bit, huh? Take your pole elsewhere." Daniel clarified
"Why? It's a great pond. I mean, I could fish in that pond all day and all night." Tim answered truthfully
"Well, we're young." Daniel shrugged
"Tim, I need to know what you did last night with my daughter." Gibbs demanded, "And unlike Daniel, try to remember who you're talking to."
"Well, let's see. Uh, we were watching TV for a while. Uh, there's a rat loose in my apartment. So my roommate got a snake to catch it. And, uh, last night, we couldn't find the snake. So now we're getting a mongoose. And because we learned our lesson, a mongoose leash." Tim rattled "Abby doesn't really like rats, snakes, or mongoose shopping on the Internet, so I took her home around 10:00."
"But she snuck back out and didn't come in until 3:00." Gibbs informed him with a raised eyebrow
"What? She texted me that she was going to bed." Tim sputtered, "Oh, God. Do you think she was out with somebody else?"
"Hey, Abby, come out here. I wanna ask you somethin'." Gibbs grunted
"You summoned me, Papa?" Abby hummed
"Where did you sneak out and go last night?" Gibbs quizzed
"Oh, I already told Mom where I was." Abby evaded
"With Tim. You were with Tim, right?" Jenny put in
"Yeah. For a while." Abby declared, "But okay then I went out dancing."
"It's funny. Tim thinks you're out with another dude, the kind of guy that only wants - three or four things from a girl." Gibbs recounted
"You said something to him?" Abby screeched before going off on a rant, "So Tim knows that I lied to him? Dad, he's gonna freak out. He's so into this whole, like, telling-the-truth thing. Thanks a lot for butting in! You probably just destroyed my entire relationship!"
"So Abby lied about going dancing?" Jenny asked as Gibbs sat back with a smirk
"Oh, yeah. I know she's lying to me when she calls me papa." Gibbs said with a laugh
"Honey, she calls you "papa" all the time." Jenny pointed out
"I know. She just created all this drama so I wouldn't come down hard on her and Tim for staying out till 3:00 a.m. It's actually kind of clever." Gibbs admitted
"All right, well, honey, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I-I really don't think they've done all that much yet." Jenny pacified
"It's genius. He thinks he broke us up. Now he won't be able to murder either of us for me being out past curfew." Abby related to Tim from the confines of her room
"Abby, I hated lying to your father. Made me feel sick to my stomach." Tim fretted
"Well, I'll make you feel all better on Friday night." Abby promised, "You, um, you still have that coupon for the Hilton Hotel?"
"Yeah," Tim answered before Abby cut the call saying that somebody was at the door.
"Well, well, well. The Hilton Hotel, huh? DC's number one bar mitzvah venue." Ziva echoed when Abby threw the door open
"I do not know what you're talking about." Abby insisted
"Bar mitzvah? It's a beautiful ritual where a boy becomes a man. Similar to what you'll be doing to Tim Friday night. I'm just curious. I get kissing and all that. But why the big rush to hook up with Tim, you know? In that way?" Ziva inquired
"Big rush? It's been three months." Abby moaned
"It's just that I've seen you throw yourself at a lot of guys, and for some reason, it never works out." Ziva mused
"Well, maybe they were the wrong guys." Abby maintained
"Or did you just get bored with them because you move too fast? Or they got bored with you for the same reason?" Ziva observed
"Tim isn't like those guys." Abby defended
"Yeah. I thought maybe he was one guy who would like you for who you are. Not for what you think all guys want." Ziva advised
"Ziva," Abby called out warningly
"Don't worry. Your secret's safe. I'm not gonna tell Mom and Dad." Ziva reassured
"Thank you." Abby called out
"Friday night. The Hilton Hotel. I don't have a room number yet, but I can get it." Ziva rattled
"All right, kiddo. Thanks for the Intel. You got anything on anybody else?" Gibbs asked as he held the 20 dollars out
"Maybe. Nothing I can discuss in present company." Ziva said with a nod in Jenny's direction
"Well, according to your informant, they haven't done anything yet. Until Friday in a hotel." Jenny noted
"Come on, honey. I know the location. I can shut this operation down just like that." Gibbs scoffed
"Oh, Gibbs, who are we kidding? If it doesn't happen there, it'll happen somewhere else." Jenny started
"Listen, we lost this battle with Kate, and I'm not about ready to throw in the towel with Abby, or for Ziva, for that matter." Gibbs vowed
"I know. Yeah, Ziva's sisters haven't exactly been stellar role models." Jenny said sadly, "So, what you gonna do, call in a drone strike on your daughter?"
"No. It's called psy-ops- psychological warfare. And luckily, one of our opponents is weak and easily manipulated." Gibbs theorised
"Hey. You wanted to see me, Sir," Tim asked as he entered the conference room again
"Listen, I'm sorry about what happened between you and Abby. She says you broke up. Nothing worse than being lied to." Gibbs consoled
"Yeah. I'm in a lot of pain." Tim tried with a hand over his heart
"Well, listen, I want to try to make it up to you. Thought maybe tonight I'd, uh, take you to, uh, learn how to build a boat. 'Cause you're an honourable guy. You really are. That's why I think of you like a son." Gibbs said sincerely
"A son? That means a lot to me, sir. And also makes Abby my sister. Which is uncomfortable and confusing." Tim spluttered
"You know what? If you ever have confusing thoughts, it might be helpful to ask yourself, What would Gibbs want me to do?" Gibbs said with an inner smirk
"I never thought of that." Tim said thoughtfully
"I feel sort of bad about how I treated your dad." Tim said as he opened the door of their hotel room
"Forget about him. Concentrate on me." Abby said seductively
"I don't know what to concentrate on first." Tim replied with a smile
"So, what do you want to do now?" Abby asked as she removed her coat slowly
"I don't know. What do I wanna do?" Tim wondered out loud
"What would Gibbs want you to do?" Tim pictured Gibbs sitting on the couch
"Not this." Tim said hurriedly as he moved away from Abby's embrace
"What?" Abby asked
"No, that's not what I meant. Uh What I meant to say is…"
"You're not ready for this." Spirit Gibbs asked as he paced
"You're not ready for this." Tim said, "Uh no. That's-that's not what I meant."
"You could do so much better than this guy."
"That's actually kind of hurtful." Tim answered
"What did I say?" Abby remarked
"Oh, no, no. Not you." Tim said with a shake of his head
"Tim, are you- are you all right?" Abby asked in concern
"No. My stomach has the flops, and I don't know what's going on in my head." Tim confided
"Are you having second thoughts about tonight?" Abby asked gently
"Kind of."
"Is it me?"
"No, no. You're amazing. It's just I know that when I rush into the physical stuff too fast, that becomes all there is in the relationship, and you stop trying to get to know each other in other ways." Tim apologised
"Oh. I was thinking the same thing. I might be a little fast to jump into physical stuff. I think that's 'cause I know I'm just really, really good at it." Abby reassured as she ran her hand soothingly over his arm
"Yeah. I figured you would be."
"But there's plenty of other stuff we could do at this hotel. Saw a pretty sweet bar mitzvah downstairs. I think they have karaoke. You wanna go?" Abby offered with a smile
"That sounds fun." Tim agreed
"You are a good guy. Let's go." Abby said with a chaste kiss
"Uh, well, now I-I can't." Tim said embarrassed as he crossed his legs
"Why?" Abby asked as she turned around
"Uh, I mean, I'm a good guy, but I'm still a guy." Tim shuffled as his ears turned red
"Oh."
"I'm just gonna sit here for a minute and think about your dad." Tim choked out
"Okay, I'll see you downstairs." Abby chuckled as she left the room
"You are a good guy, Tim."
"Yeah, that did it." Tim said with a smile as he ran after Abby.
31 September 2018