~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
November 2013
"Autism?" Jake echoed Jenny.
Jenny nodded.
"Damn." Jake said.
Kate felt the tears welling up and blinked a few times to keep them at bay."Is he going to be okay?" she asked her parents.
Jenny nodded. "We just need to put him in a social skills program and make sure he stays in Boy Scouts for a few years so he can make friends."
Kate sighed with a little relief as the tears just fell from her eyes.
"Are…Are you going to tell the team and Callen?" Jake asked them.
"We told Callen on the phone before you got here." Jethro said. "According to Cynthia he punched a hole in the wall in his den and need to get his hand x-rayed."
"Hettie's going to be pissed about that." Kate said. "She lost Sam to you and now Callen's got a broken hand, again because of you. Smooth move Dad."
Jethro sighed. "Not my fault." He muttered and took a swig from his bourbon.
"Shit." Kate said as she realized what she had implied. "I didn't mean it's your fault this happened, I just meant…"
Jethro raised his eyebrows and gave Kate a knowing look to get her to shut up.
"So," Jake said trying to lighten the mood of the adults. "Do you need any help with dinner, Jenny?"
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
An hour and a half later, Jethro was putting the finishing touches on his signature chicken cacciatore dish that Jay-Jay had requested for dinner.
"Is dinner going to be ready soon?" Jay-Jay whined from the kitchen doorway.
Jethro turned around and smiled when he looked at his son. The boy's red hair was sticking up in all directions thanks to the noogie he'd received from Tony, his shirt was un-tucked and covered in baby food from Brooke and Brianna, and there was a spit-up stain on his shoulder from baby Tali DiNozzo.
"Go change your shirt." Jethro ordered. "And no super hero tee shirts either."
Jay-Jay sighed. "Why do I hafta change?"
"Have you seen what's joined Luke Skywalker on the front of it?" Jethro asked his son.
Jay-Jay looked down at his Star Wars tee shirt and groaned when he realized Brooke and Brianna had wiped their hands on his shirt again; they hugged him and then used him for a napkin quite frequently.
"Fine." Jay-Jay said as he turned and headed for the back stairs.
"Wear one of the collared ones your mom bought you for your birthday." Jethro said to a retreating Jay-Jay, "You don't want to be ungrateful."
"But I hate collared shirts." Jay-Jay said.
"Get used to 'em, Munchkin." Kate said happily as she carried her goddaughter into the kitchen to make her a bottle.
"Don't call me that!" Jay-Jay growled as he stopped up the steps to his room.
"What's his problem?" Kate asked her father as he took Tali and Kate mixed the bottle.
"I told him to put on a nice, clean shirt." Jethro replied. "And he gave me attitude."
"I smell teenage-dom approaching and fast." Kate said with a smirk. "Thankfully for you, you've already successfully handled a teenage daughter. A teenage son will be a walk in the park compared to a girl."
"So I'm told." Jethro said to his daughter. "I'll believe that when I see it."
Kate stuck her tongue out and took Tali back from her father. "Hey there, Baby girl." She whispered to the cooing infant. "Are you hungry? Your Imma says it's your dinner time so I imagine you're going to start crying very soon."
Tali just cooed some more but greedily sucked on the bottle once the rubber nipple was placed in her mouth.
"Oh, aren't you the quietest little baby ever?" Kate cooed at Tali as she carried her back out to the living room. "Oh yes you are! You're so well behaved for your Auntie Kate."
"Lucky you." Tony croaked from his old football beanbag chair in the corner. He pulled a throw pillow off of his face and looked at Kate. "She cries all night keeping me and Ziva awake. On purpose."
Kate giggled and kissed Tali's forehead. "She's a month and a half, Tony. She's too small to be deliberately mean to her Daddy."
"She's evil." Tony said sleepily. "TR is out to get me."
"TR?" Kate echoed in disbelief. "There is no way in hell you are calling my Goddaughter 'TR'." She said firmly. "Her name is Tali, Tony. She's named after her Auntie Talia, and it's a pretty name and you should use it."
Tony looked at Kate guiltily.
"Cut the man some slack, Kate." Tim said as he looked up from his net book. The computer savvy NCIS Agent was busy hacking into some government computer system for a case. "He's sleep deprived and Gibbs is working us like dogs."
"Dogs are treated better than we are." Tony moaned as he put the throw pillow back over his face.
"Where'd Abby, Ziva, Mom, and the girls go?" Kate asked McGee as she sank into an empty armchair.
"Downstairs," McGee said absentmindedly. "Damn firewalls," he muttered. "They said to send you down when you finished mixing Tali's bottle."
"I finished mixing the bottle." Kate said. "Or could you not tell because you're trying to hack into the CIA, again."
"How'd you know I was hacking the… never mind." McGee said. "You're a Gibbs."
"Smooth move, Tim." Tony said. "I'm telling Abby you're delaying the spreading of her good news because you're too busy hacking into the CIA to let Kate know they want her downstairs."
"Thanks, Tony." Tim said. "Kate don't cut him any slack. It's Tony."
Kate laughed and took the still eating baby down to the basement to see what the big deal with Abby was.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
"Good!" Abby said as she saw Kate come down the stairs. "Everybody's here."
"What's up, Abby?" Kate asked as she sat in the vacant spot between her mother and Ziva.
"I'm adopting!" Abby squealed happily.
"Adopting what Abby?" Ziva asked. "Another dog perhaps?"
"Nope." Abby said with a big grin on her face. "But good guess, Ziva."
"A cat then," Jenny said.
"Are you crazy, Director?" Abby said. "My Jethro with a cat? I don't think so! Oh, and I don't think that you're crazy because SecNav wouldn't let crazy people run NCIS, and I don't want you to think that I think that you're crazy. Because you could fire me, and I need my job so I can adopt Sam. And if I can't adopt Sam I don't know what's going to happen to him…"
"Abby!" Kate said with a laugh. "Breathe."
"Right," Abby said. "Sorry."
"Who's Sam?" Kate asked her as she handed Tali to Ziva.
"The little boy I'm adopting." Abby said point blank like it was common knowledge.
"Your adopting a kid?" Jenny asked in shock.
"Yes I am!" Abby said happily. "You want to see pictures of him?" she asked them, she was eager to show off her soon to be son.
"Yes." The three women chorused and Brooke and Brianna just babbled on in their own little language.
"Okay!" Abby said happily as she pulled some wires out of a pocket of her Tripp pants and hooked her digital camera up to the plasma screen TV. "Here he is!"
"Oh my God." Kate said as the picture came up on screen. "Abby! You're adopting one of my kids!"
"One of your kids?" Jenny echoed. "Since when do you have any kids?"
"My students." Kate said correcting herself. "That's the little boy that dog sat Jet for us the night Jake and I announced our engagement."
"Ahh." Abby said. "That's why he seemed so excited when I said I had a dog named Jethro and so did my friend Kate. I told him they were named after her dad."
"That's what I told him when he asked me about Jet's name." Kate said as Brooke climbed into her lap. "Hey Bumble Bee," Kate said to her baby sister. "What you up to?"
"Kay-ee!" Brooke said happily as she tried in vain to squirm away from her sister's fingers that were tickling her.
"Bumble Bee!" Kate said as she held onto the little girl. "Can you say Kay?"
"Kay!" Brooke said happily. "You Kay-Kay!"
"Close enough." Kate said as she kissed the top of Brooke's head.
"Who dat?" The eighteen month old girl asked as she pointed to Sam's picture on the screen.
"Sam." Kate said. "Abby's going to be his Mommy soon."
"Mommy?" Brooked asked curiously.
"Mommy." Kate said. Brooke pointed to her mommy.
"Mommy!" Brooke proudly proclaimed. "Abby Mommy!"
"Abby's going to be a Mommy is right." Kate said.
Brianna felt left out of the family huddle on the couch and pulled herself up and toddled to her Mommy. "Mommy!" she cried. "Bwi want up!"
Jenny smiled and scooped up Bri and settled the little girl onto her lap. "What does McGee think about adopting the boy?" she asked Abby.
"Timmy can't wait until we bring him home!" Abby gushed. "We already asked him what color he wanted his room painted and want kind of bed he wants. And he's excited because I told him Jethro could sleep in his room if he wanted him to…"
"Abby," Kate said as she placed Brooke on her Mom's lap. "That's great!" She pulled Abby into a bear hug and spun the older woman around. "What brought this decision on?"
"The whole thing with Will." Abby replied. Kate smiled as she thought of Abby's much younger brother whom had spent the majority of his life living with his older sister. "I felt so good about being an authoritive adult figure and McGee and I felt we were ready to become parents. We figured that adopting would be a good choice because there are so many foster kids with no families and I want to help them. We might have one or two of our own, but for now we're starting small."
"Small is good." Ziva said with a soft smile as Tali began to drift off to sleep. "See how small Tali is?" Ziva asked Bri and Bee.
The twins nodded. "Wittle." Bri said as she looked at Tali.
"Big." Bee said as she pointed to herself and to her older sister.
"That's right," Jenny said with a smile. "My Harvard bound babies are at it again!"
"Careful Mom," Kate said in a warning tone. "They just might end up at Harvard and zap your bank account dry."
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
After dinner all talk of the pending adoption, Jay-Jay's diagnosis and a certain somebody's upcoming training at Quantico was put aside and Jay-Jay dove into a pile of presents from his family.
"Who's it from?" Jenny asked her son as he ripped the paper off of a large box.
"Callen and Cynthia." Jay-Jay said as he ripped the paper off of the box and ripped open the UPS box. "What is it?" he asked his mother.
"Open it and find out." Jenny said.
Jay-Jay pulled the flaps back and pulled out some packing peanuts. "Way cool!" he shouted as he pulled out a Lego Star Wars set and some WWE Action figures.
Jay-Jay pushed the now empty box out of the way and reached for the box from Ducky.
Jay-Jay received a WWE ring play set complete with Triple H and Hulk Hogan action figures from Ducky, all six Star Wars movies on BluRay from Tony, Ziva, and Tali; a Kids Khemistry set and a SpongeBob Squarepants box set from Abby and Tim; a Boston Red Sox jersey and hat from Will who was at Harvard Law; and The Complete Adventures of Captain Underpants and Super Diaper Baby along with Artemis Fowl from Kate and Jake.
Jay-Jay was now practically bouncing in his seat. His parents had promised him a big gift this year, but there were no more boxes or bags on the table. Just some half full glasses of milk left over from dinner.
"Time for cake!" Jenny said as Jethro slipped out of the dining room and successfully distracted Jay-Jay.
"Yay!" The ten year old exclaimed. "Cake and ice cream!"
Jethro's departure went un-noticed by his son, and Kate carried the marbled cake with chocolate fudge frosting into the dining room and placed it in front of the birthday boy.
"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Jay-Jay! Happy Birthday to you!" The family sang to the not so little boy.
Jay-Jay comically scrunched up his face and blew out the ten blue and white stripped candles on his cake as he made his wish.
Jenny cut up the cake and divvied up the slices. As soon as the cake and ice cream, chocolate chip cookie dough, Jay-Jay's favorite, was eaten, Jethro slid back into the room.
"Jay-Jay," Jethro said to his son as Jenny handed him his slice of cake. "Your present from your mother, me, and Uncle Mike is out back."
"Sweet!" Jay-Jay cried as he shot out of his chair and practically bounced off of the walls down the hall and through the kitchen to the back door.
"No way!" Jay-Jay cried from the back yard. "A puppy!"
Rolling around in the yard was a lanky, awkward looking, six month old German Sheppard puppy. She was a beautiful brown with a big black patch of fur on her back.
"What's his name, Dad?" Jay-Jay asked excitedly as the dog ran up to her new master and began covering him in kisses.
"Her." Jethro corrected his son. The former Marine seemed to squirm for a minute before answering Jay-Jay's query. "And her name is Tinkerbell." He said with a straight face.
"For real?" Kate asked her father in disbelief as she scooped up one of the twins as they tried to toddle down the steps on the back deck.
"Wicked awesome!" Jay-Jay cried and he wrapped his arms around Tinkerbell. "I love her, Daddy!"
The women let out a collective "Awww," as Tink licked Jay-Jay's face and the boy kissed her cheek.
"Can we move back into the house where it's warmer?" Jenny asked after a few minutes.
Jay-Jay nodded and ran for the house. It took a few seconds for Tinkerbell to register to follow, but once it did, she took off like a rocket and went after Jay-Jay.
Bee and Bri squirmed in the arms of their older sister and her fiancé to be put on the ground to play with Tink.
"Puppy!" Bee cried happily.
"Bri puppy!" Brianna stated firmly.
"No!" Brooke cried. "Bee puppy!"
"Nope." Kate said to Bee as she put the girl down on the kitchen floor. "Jay-Jay's puppy."
The twins pouted but they knew Kate was right; Tinkerbell was Jay-Jay's dog.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
Christmas Eve 2013
Kate curled up to a buzz cut sporting Jake and watched the Twins and Jay-Jay wrestle with Tinkerbell. Cassie sat on her Daddy's lap glaring at the puppy that was hogging her Uncle Jay-Jay's attention.
Cynthia, Jenny and Ziva were up in the kitchen plotting something and had banished Kate to the basement. Kate had a feeling they were already planning her bachelorette party and she and Jake hadn't set a date for their wedding yet. Tony had a sleeping Tali on his chest as they watched It's a Wonderful Life in the basement.
"Where are McGoo and Abby?" Tony asked Kate. "They're never this late."
"Abby just called and apologized." Jethro said as he came down the basement stairs. "They're running behind schedule tonight."
"Me miss Abby." Bee informed her father as he scooped the girl up and settled onto the couch.
"Is that so, Bumble Bee?" Jethro asked as he tickled the little red head.
Brooke just shrieked with laughter as she squirmed in her father's lap as he tickled her.
Twenty minutes later Abby and McGee arrived with a few surprises.
"Sam!" Kate cried happily as she saw her student standing at the top of the stairs in the doorway. "Come on down, Buddy!"
"Miss Gibbs!" Sam cried happily as he saw somebody he recognized. "What are you doing here?"
"I used to live here." Kate said dead panned. "Then I moved out."
"Oh." Same said as he came down the stairs.
Sam got out of the way just in time; a young man came barreling down the stairs behind Sam.
"KATIE!" the young man cried. He had black hair, green eyes and pale skin dotted with freckles. "Didcha miss me?" he asked as he swung Sam around in a circle, set the boy down and then proceeded to pull Kate to her feet.
"Who are you again?" Kate asked jokingly.
"Aww." The man pouted and he hugged Kate. "But you love me anyways, right?"
Kate grinned evilly. "I'm afraid you're three months too late, Romeo." She said as she showed off her engagement ring.
"GASP!" 'Romeo' cried. "I challenge the knave who gave you that ring to a duel!"
"I accept your challenge!" Jake cried as he hopped off of the couch. "How shall we conduct it Good Sir?"
'Romeo' seemed to think about it as Tony turned off the movie and Bee toddled over to 'Romeo' and handed him one of the throw pillows from the couch.
"Why, thank you Princess Bee." 'Romeo' said to the toddler.
"You funny." Bee replied with a giggle as 'Romeo' and Jake proceeded to beat the snot out of each other with pillows.
"Miss Gibbs," Sam began nervously.
"Sweetie," Kate said interrupting him. "Outside of school I'm Auntie Kate. Abby's practically my sister."
Sam nodded and slid into Jakes vacated seat next to Kate. "Auntie Kate," he said hesitantly trying out the name, "Are they allowed to do that?" He was pointing at the pillow fight in front of them.
"I don't know." Kate replied honestly. "Dad?" she asked her father, "You got a rule on pillow fights in the basement?"
Jethro shook his head 'no'. "No, not yet."
"GASP!" 'Romeo' cried melodramatically. "King Gibbs may create a new law prohibiting our form of duel for the fair Princess Katie!"
"I'm inclined to agree with King Gibbs." Callen chimed in as Cassie tried to join the ruckus. "What say you Lord Tony?"
"I feel inclined to acquiesce to your request Prince Callen." Tony said playing along with the game that was played almost every time 'Romeo' came home from school.
"What's dat mean?" Cassie piped in and stopped squirming under 'The Look' from her father.
"That's the opposite of the thing from Pirates of the Caribbean!" Jay-Jay said quickly. "So it's gotta mean yes."
"As usual, Prince Jethro Jasper is correct." Jake said with a smile and then was hit in the face with a pillow.
"Quite right, Sir Jacob!" 'Romeo' said with a straight face after his sneak attack. "But I so totally won that round. Right bro?"
"Course you did, Will!" Kate said to Abby's baby brother. "Nobody defends my honor quite like you do Scuito!"
Will grinned his version of the DiNozzo charm smile and Kate had to laugh. To the ladies outside of their wacky family, that smile was irresistible. To the women of the family it was the 'Do you really really love me?' smile.
"Unca Will." Cassie said quietly. "I have piggy back ride?"
"Sure thing, Cee-Cee!" The twenty one year old proclaimed as Cynthia opened the basement door.
"Dinner!" she called. "No dinner, no presents!"
Jay-Jay and his new partner in crime, Sam, raced up the stairs with Tink on their heels. Jethro and Callen helped the twins up the stairs with Will carrying Cassie on his back. Kate, Jake and Tony brought up the rear along with McGee.
"How was Tali's first Chanukah?" McGee asked Tony.
Tony groaned. "Let's not talk about that, Probie."
"That bad?" Kate asked.
"Well I'm pretty sure Eli tried to kill me with those potato pancakes…" Tony responded with a shudder.
Kate just laughed. "Well, he can't kill you anymore. And that's killing him. You're married to his daughter and her baby Daddy. He has to deal with it whether he likes it or not."
"True." Tony said as they approached the dining room.
"Plus Ziva would just kill him if he succeeded in killing you." Kate added and it was Tony's turn to laugh.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
Monday, February 10, 2014
Kate's class zoomed through their Monday morning routine and were quickly approaching snack recess when Kate remembered it was a Show and Tell Week. Every two weeks Kate liked to liven things up on Fridays by having Show and Tell in the morning, and in the afternoon a little quiz on what the kids had seen in the morning.
At first it had been alphabetically by last name, but now the kids had to volunteer on Monday to participate. If not enough kids volunteered or too many volunteered, Kate would put in names in an old Marine Corp service cap she'd taken from her father or Callen years ago and pick out names.
Today it seemed like the entire class wanted to participate in Show and Tell on Friday. But there was one name on the list that would be presenting regardless. Sam James had incredibly big news and he'd have the best Show and Tell presentation that class would see all year.
Wednesday, February 12
Sam hadn't been in school since Monday. Kate wasn't concerned, but a few of his classmates kept asking if Sam was sick. The adoption had been finalized on Tuesday, and today after everybody got out of work, Abby and Tim were taking everybody out to dinner at a restaurant of Sam's choice to celebrate. Kate smiled at the thought of her new nephew bouncing around Abby and Tim's place at the moment and went back to correcting the math papers on her desk.
Friday, February 14th; Valentine's Day
Show and Tell was at 9:30 and Kate could see that it got closer and closer Sam was just about bursting from excitement.
When Mrs. Tyree showed up with Andy's new hamster at quarter past nine, Sam's hand shot up into the air like a bullet.
"Yes, Sam?" Kate asked fully knowing what he wanted.
"Can I go get my Show and Tell from the office?" he asked excitedly as he began to put away his English book.
"Yes you may." Kate said and looked out the window overlooking the parking lot. She saw that Abby's hearse was here, along with her parents' SUV; Ziva and Tony's minivan (Ziva's driving had calmed down greatly upon the birth of her daughter; she finally understood nobody put IEDs on I95…); and Will's green F-150 was circling the lot looking for a space.
At nine thirty Sam hadn't returned yet, but Kate started anyways.
Andy Tyree was first with his new hamster named 'Spots'.
As Andy was putting Spots back into her carrier Sam opened the door to the Cubby room that was between the classroom and hallway. Kate raised her right index finger to her lips to let her family know to stay quiet.
The kids in the classroom couldn't see the mob of people that had appeared in the cubby room, but they could sure hear them.
Kate motioned for Sam to come out of the cubby room and he bounded out with a giant grin on his face.
Kate looked back to the cubby room and was surprised to see Callen and Cynthia among the motley crew in the small room. She smiled as Cassie tried to get down from her mother's arms to get to her beloved godmother, her Auntie Kate.
Sam stood in front of his classmates with a big face splitting grin on his face and he actually beamed at everybody looking at him. This was the happiest anybody in the class had seen Sam all year.
"This week something amazing happened." Sam said sounding more confident than his classmates had heard him. "I got adopted!"
The parents in the classroom, Mr. Tambone, Mrs. Tyree, Mrs. Chase, and Mrs. Johnson applauded and his classmates were a little puzzled.
"I got a new Mom," Sam said and Abby came into the classroom and hugged Sam in front of the entire class and ruffled his hair. "Mooom!" Sam protested with a smile.
Kate noticed that Abby wasn't wearing her big clunky boots or her usual dog collar. Abby had her hair in the normal twin braids, almost no makeup, a nice tee shirt with the school logo over a little pocket and skinny jeans. In place of the trademark boots were electric blue Converse.
"Her name is Abby Scuito-McGee." Sam told the class. "Like me. I'm Sam Scuito McGee now. "And I got a new dad,"
Tim came into the classroom dressed for work in his normal style; nice pants, dress shirt, no tie, sports coat, and black shoes. Kate saw the tell tale bulge around his belt where his SIG was under his jacket and when his jacket moved just the right way she saw the glint of his badge under the fluorescent lights.
"Tim McGee." Sam said as Tim hugged him and stood behind him keeping one hand on the boy's shoulder. "They both work for NCIS. That stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service. My Dad's a Special Agent and Mom is a for-en-sic scientist. She has two last names cuz she and Dad work together and if their boss, Gibbs, yells 'McGee!' they both turn around."
The class burst into giggles and Tim and Abby bumped shoulders.
"I got an Uncle Will," Sam said keeping on with his introductions to his classmates and Will pulled a reluctant looking Ellie, his fiancé, in with him.
"Uncle Will is my Mom's younger brother." Sam informed the class. "He goes to Harvard Law School and doesn't use his rs in words. And that's my Auntie Ellie. She and Uncle Will are gonna get married after Uncle Will finishes college."
Sam glanced over at his new family and tried to decide who he'd introduce next when Cassie made the decision for him. She had managed to be put on the ground and yanked her hand out of her mother's and shot out of the cubby room like a torpedo.
"Auntie Kate!" Cassie squealed happily as she made a running leap at her Godmother. Kate caught her with a practiced ease.
"Shhh!" Kate said as she raised a finger to her lips.
Cassie copied the motion and the pretended to zip up her lips.
"That's Cassie." Sam said completely unfazed by Cassie jumping out of nowhere like that. With this family there was very little that fazed them anymore. "She does that cuz she lives in Los Angeles with her parents and doesn't get to see Miss Gibbs a lot."
"Nope nope." Cassie said to Sam. "Daddy and Mommy says we moving heres. And we gonna live with Grampy and Nana and Uncle Jay-Jay and Bee and Bri and Tink until Mommy and Daddy buy a house."
"Cool!" Sam said as he began to bounce up and down in excitement. "Well," he bit his lip. He wasn't sure who to introduce next. Will caught on to Sam's dilemma and whispered something into Sam's ear causing the boy's face to light up again and he began nodding in agreement to whatever Will was saying.
"And the best part is I got grandparents too." Sam said. "My Gammy and Papa McGee couldn't be here cuz they're on a cruise to Hawaii and Auntie Sarah is someplace not here."
Kate giggled and McGee shrugged. His sister and her friends had decided to go AWOL that week from school and hit the slopes in Colorado for some reason.
"But," Sam said proudly "Grampy Gibbs and Nana Jenny are here." Jethro and Jenny came out each carrying a twin and Jay-Jay trailed behind them looking at Sam's classmates uncertainly. "Grampy Gibbs is my parents' boss and Miss Gibbs's Dad." He informed his classmates. "He's a Marine and he builds a boat in his backyard!"
Jethro shrugged his shoulders and Kate rolled her eyes. "Another one?" she mouthed and Jethro nodded.
"Nana Jenny is Grampy's boss cuz she's the Director of NCIS." Sam said proudly. "She has lunch with Senators and sometimes the President."
Jenny smiled at the announcement from Sam. The little boy kept going on, "They have five kids, Uncle Callen," Callen came out with Cynthia and Cassie wanted to be let down to see her father. Kate complied and the girl went to her Daddy. "And he's married to Auntie Cynthia and Cassie is their daughter. Grampy and Nana adopted Uncle Callen too." Sam added and Callen gave the kid a high five.
"Then there's Auntie Kate." Sam said and Kate took her place in the crowd growing behind Sam. She heard her class gasp because Sam had used a teacher's first name. "Auntie Kate's my teacher, but next week she's not gonna be. I'm switching classes cuz Mr. Waters says I can't be in my Auntie's class." Sam stuck out his tongue because he'd rather stay in Kate's class. But it was school policy and they had to follow it. "And then there's Jay-Jay," Sam said excitedly and Jay-Jay smiled a beaming smile that blinded his sister. "He's my age so I don't have to call him Uncle Jay-Jay."
"Cuz that's weird." Jay-Jay piped in and he and Sam dissolved into giggles.
"Sam," Abby says and Sam stops giggling until Bee reaches over and pulls his hair. Then he and the twins both start giggling with Jay-Jay.
"Sorry, Mom." Sam finally gasps out. "Grampy is holding Brooke and Nana is holding Brianna. They're the babies of the family and Auntie Kate's baby sisters. They're two. Almost."
Sam looked into the cubby room and saw Tony and Ziva were hiding Kate's surprise behind them still. "Then there's Uncle Tony and Auntie Ziva." Sam said. "They work with my parents and Grampy and Nana too." Sam said as tony and Ziva came out and Kate was preoccupied with Bee who wanted to be held by her big sister. "They have a new baby named Tali. She's four months old."
Ziva was holding the baby who was blinking owlishly taking in her new surroundings; she'd just woken up from her nap.
"Cuz Miss Gibbs is my Auntie Kate," Sam was saying to the class. "Mr. Jake's gonna be my Uncle Jake when he and Auntie Kate get married."
Kate's jaw dropped when she saw Jake standing in the cubby room all by himself. He moved into the doorway between the two rooms as Kate stood there looking like a fish out of water.
"Jake?" she managed to croak out. "How? The Academy?"
Jake just smiled and chuckled. "Happy Valentine's Day, Kate."
Kate let out an undignified, happy squeal and launched herself at her fiancé. Anticipating this reaction, Jake had moved away from the wall and braced himself. Kate enveloped him in a bear hug because she knew if they started kissing that some non-school appropriate activities would follow.
Kate's students and brothers laughed at her reaction and her parents smiled a knowing smile.
Kate blushed before reluctantly letting go of Jake and turned to face her class. She decided that her dignity was shot to hell and that there was no hope in getting that back in that instant. "Mr. Ryan has been at the FBI Academy in Quantico and I've missed him very, very much."
Cassidy's hand shot up in the air.
"Yes, Cassidy?" Kate asked.
"Are you gonna be Miss Gibbs still when you get married?" the blond girl asked curiously.
"No." Kate said. "I'll be Mrs. Ryan when I get married this summer."
Andy Tyree's hand shot up next. "Yes, Andy?" Kate said.
"Is Sam's family staying for the Valentine's Day party?" Andy asked curiously.
"Yeah!"
"Can they?"
"Please, Miss Gibbs?"
"Pretty please?" The class begged her.
Kate looked over at her parents and back to her class. "It's not up to me guys." She told them as she sent her mother a sly glance. "It's up to their boss, Director Gibbs."
As if on cue, everybody took a large step away from Jenny.
"Well, Madame Director?" Jake asked as he and Kate took the twins from her parents. Bee went to Kate and Jake took Bri.
Jenny smiled and rolled her eyes at the antics of her family. "As long as you don't…Mmmrph! EFF-ROW!!!"
"Finish that sentence Jenn, and we might get a call." Jethro informed his wife. "And Sam here has final say in whether we stay or not."
Sam turned around and looked up at Jethro. "I want you guys to stay Grampy!" he joyfully exclaimed. "Please?" he added.
Sam was suddenly mobbed by his friends when Kate announced it was time for recess. Kate separated herself from Jake and apologized to the other parents for the amount of time Sam's presentation had taken. She was afraid that the parents would riot about the amount of time Sam had gotten.
Her worries were assuaged by Mr. Tambone. "The boy has a new family to show off, Miss Gibbs. It's perfectly fine."
Kate smiled as she felt some of her stress disappear and she led her class and her brother out to the playground.
On the way out Jay-Jay slid his hand into Kate's right hand and smiled up at his sister. Sam slid his hand into her other hand and pulled her along to the monkey bars.
"Betcha can't cross those without falling off!" Kate challenged the two boys and they were off. They were determined to prove Kate wrong.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
Sorry for my lack of updates! My mom thought it would be a good idea to ban me from the computer during vacation week. Not fun at all. I spent three days in New Hampshire writing chapters during down time, and the rest of the week either working or sitting up in my room writing some more. I've got several chapters that I may or may not post depending on how they come out.
And on a very happy note I finally got out on my date with my Jake. He's the current muse behind Jake (the Mohawk and piercings at least). It went well and I went back to school after my vacation feeling a little bit better than I normally would have.
Will Scuito and his fiancé Ellie are from surferdude8225's new story Another Scuito in the Family which is located on this site. Show her some love in the form of reviews and you'll see my stories get updated :). Plus I'm guest authoring a chapter from Kate Gibbs's POV. It's going to be interesting to see how I can handle writing in the first person…
Later!
~Gibby
