Two fathers talk
"Time to wake up, McGee."
McGee is startled awake by a hand on his shoulder. He looks up and Gibbs is hovering over him, his ever present coffee cup in his hand and another is by McGee's bedside.
"What?" His mind is still muddled with sleep, and the remnants of his dream are slowly disappearing from his mind.
Gibbs studies his junior agent for a second, and sees his confused state of mind. "Are you ok?" McGee sits and looks at Joy, and a nurse who is checking her vitals looks at him for a second, smiles, and goes back to her duties. "You look like you've just seen a ghost," says Gibbs and takes a sip of his coffee.
McGee looks out of the window, and it is already morning, and mutters, "more like the ghosts of Christmas future," he rubs his face with a tired hand, and looks at Gibbs, who sits beside him on the makeshift bed, and points to the unmoving agent, "any news?" McGee shakes his head, frustrated, but the nurse approaches the two agents, "she had a restful night, and her vitals are stable and strong, so that's good news," she smiles at the tired young man. "Why don't you take the opportunity now that your father is here and go to the hotel freshen up?" "He's not my…" McGee starts saying, but he's interrupted by Gibbs, "it is a great idea," he looks at McGee, "son," both men stare at each other for a moment, and the nurse is completely oblivious to the exchange, and keeps on talking, "we are reducing her medication, trying to bring her out of her unconscious state, we will also be watching her for any sign of respiratory distress, and we will keep you informed," she smiles at the two men and leaves.
McGee is the first to look down during the staring match, and starts playing with the lid of his coffee cup, "what is this supposed to mean?" Gibbs smirks at his coffee, and looks at the still form of his profiler and agent, "whatever you want it to mean," and sips his coffee.
McGee looks up and studies Gibbs for a moment, and smiles. The door slides open, and Joseph enters with a box with pastries, "breakfast anyone?" Both men smile at the patriarch of the Clan Buchanan. "You guys always seem to appear out of nowhere with food, why is that?" Gibbs is curious, and Joseph smiles. "You should never present yourself to God empty-handed, and if you want people to remember you," he smiles and bites on a croissant, going to stand by his daughter's bed, "well-fed people are happy people, and tend to remember you and answer your questions or your requests faster than unhappy people."
McGee starts to laugh, "that's why she insisted that we buy cakes for the Metro PD cops on our first case." Joseph smiles and nods, while he looks tenderly at his daughter and plays with her curly hair, "the best way to ensure cooperation with angry and unsatisfied cops is by their stomachs, if you figure out what they like to eat, and feed them, they will be your friends forever." Gibbs shakes his head, "hell of a strategy," "Yes," smirks Joseph.
He approaches McGee, "Why don't you go get a shower and another change of clothes, Maggie arranged something for you to change into, she is waiting for you at the hotel." McGee stands up, makes a show of smelling himself, "I'm a little bit ripe," gets his jacket, puts on his shoes, and goes to the door, "just call in case there is any change." "Don't worry, we will inform you, and anyway, everyone is coming after lunch." McGee smiles at Joseph and starts leaving, but Joseph is not done yet, "oh, Timothy," McGee stops at the door."Yes," Joseph studies McGee for some seconds, and says totally out of left field, "Matthew is a good boy, a little impulsive, but very responsible and aware of our family morals, you don't have to punch him to make the right decision, he will make it on his own, ok?" McGee looks at Joseph with a huge question mark on his face, "Uhm?" Joseph waves a hand, dismissing what he said, "just forget what I've just said, you will understand it when the time is right." McGee keeps looking at Joseph for a second, shrugs, "ok then," and leaves.
Joseph goes towards Gibbs and sits by his side, and gets another pastry from the box and start munching on it. Gibbs is staring at the Buchanan patriarch. "What was that about?" Joseph keeps munching, and frowns at some crumbs that fell on his trousers, "Matthew slept with Sarah yesterday," he says nonchalantly and start picking the up crumbs; at the same time that Gibbs chokes on his coffee and spits it away like rain.
"What?" Gibbs is astonished, "how do you know that?"
Joseph smirks and looks at Gibbs. "I'm old, not senile," he shakes his head, "it was a given as soon as I've seen those two together, and unfortunately we Buchanans we don't like waiting, we usually just jump without checking the water level in these circumstances," he says with a smile.
"Why did you let him? McGee will kill him."
"Me, how could I stop them? They are consenting adults," he shrugs, "but very short engagement periods are also quite common in our family." He looks at Gibbs, "once they are on this path, there's no stopping these young bucks." Gibbs shakes his head, "Joy's brother or not, he'll kill him anyway. If there is one person McGee is overprotective over, that's his sister."
Joseph frowns at his pastry, "but I had the pleasure of talking to the young lady McGee briefly, and she seems to be a very stubborn lady as well," he looks at Gibbs, "she seems the type of person that, as soon as she decides she wants something, she will bar no holds and leave no survivorsin her path until she get it," he smirks, "and she was looking at Matthew like he was the main course of a five course meal, he has no idea what hit him."
Joseph smiles, and rubs one hand firmly over his thigh, massaging his aching muscles. Gibbs notices the action, and becomes serious, "do you ever miss it?" Joseph looks at him, questioningly, "flying, being a colonel, having people under your command," completes Gibbs.
Joseph sits back, and stares at his daughter, and the soft movement of her breathing, "sometimes," he looks at Gibbs, "but it is all a matter of choices," he becomes lost for a moment in his memories, his eyes glazed, looking at Gibbs but not really seeing him, "I miss flying the most, the adrenalin of having the best piece of machinery the Air Force could create under the touch of your fingers, the speed and the rush of taking off and the cold sweat of landing," he looks at Gibbs, smiling again, "don't ever let any flyboy lie to you, "everybody is terrified at landing, as there are too many things that can go wrong," he gets lost in the past again, "my time in the Air Force was great, and paved my future, but I don't regret my choices and the sacrifices I've made for my family," Gibbs nods, "why did you stop flying?"
Joseph smiles, and touches his leg, "three titanium plaques, some torn ligaments and a head injury that caused night blindness, all from a crash," he shakes his head, "even after I got full health clearance, they would never let me fly again," he leans his head forward and studies his hands, "but it was the right time and the right moment, we had already adopted Matthew, and then Hope's and Grace's parents died shortly after my crash, and here I was, recovering from my wounds, and my best friends' daughters were going to be sent away to God knows where," he glances at Gibbs and looks back at Joy, "I spoke to Maggie, and I told her that those kids, they shouldn't be sent away and be separated, to live with people who did not know them, so I became a stay-at-home dad, and Maggie started to accept contracts away for short periods of time," he stands up and walks to stand beside Joy's bedside, "and then Joy walked into our lives," he leans over, and speaks to his child, "our beautiful, silent and happy child," he shakes his head. "I can't tell you how many times I had to go to the principal's office because she had fought with someone in school because they had mocked her for not speaking, or because they were bullying either one of the boys or one of the girls," he plays with her hair, "Hey darling, it is time to come back home."
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
Joy was still playing in the barley fields, spinning round and round and laughing, "can you see me? I'm flying!"
The Commander is standing close to Joy, keeping guard over her. He lifts his wise eyes and looks towards the house, beyond the fields of barley and the river, "it is time, Joy," she stops spinning, sits down in the middle of the field and starts to play with the earth, watching it slowly drift by her fingers, "can't I stay longer? I promise I won't be a burden," he smiles down at his charge, "you are never a burden, but your family is waiting for you," she shrugs, "they are not home," she says sadly, "the house is empty, they all left me," the ageless commander smiles down at his charge, "are you sure?" She looks up at him, confused. He looks towards the house again, and she stands up, and far away, where the empty house of her memory once stood, now she can see her brothers and sisters playing in the backyard, Maggie holding baby Temperance in her hands, Hope and Grace playing tag, and Lucas and Matthew playing with their cars on the ground. Johnny is in his eternal bad boy black jeans and leather jacket, leaning against his motorcycle that was the horror of all fathers of all teenagers in Glasgow, and Faith is in her cheerleader uniform practicing for the next game.
And right in the middle of it all was her father, standing by the river and waving at her.
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a/n: Finally Gibbs takes action... Team Gibbs's dynamics will change after this. About Matthew and Sarah, well, that has to be told in another story.
