I apologize for the delay! The good news is I have two more chapters ready to upload after this so I should be doing that over the next few days. Thanks to everyone who is sticking with the story! Reviews would be appreciated, loved, and adored. :) Enjoy!
Summer break was Hell, Gibbs decided. School could not come fast enough. It was impossible to keep the kids busy enough to stay out of trouble, and trying to do so only wore Gibbs out to the point of exhaustion.
They were at the table eating breakfast before Tony left for work. He couldn't even hope for them to sleep in a little. Without fail, they woke up no later than 7:00 in the morning. It made for a really long day.
Tony was standing at the counter, inhaling his breakfast and talking to the kids at the same time.
Theo looked over at Oliver and tapped his arm. "Do you like seafood?" Gibbs snorted and shook his head. Here we go, he thought.
Oliver looked suspicious and curious all at once. "I guess so," he answered hesitantly, unsure why his brother was asking such a strange question early in the morning.
Theo opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out, showing his chewed up food. "See⦠food."
Tony snickered. "That one never gets old." Gibbs grinned. Tony would find that one amusing.
Oliver laughed. "Good one, Theodore. Can I do it?"
"No, stupid, I just did it. It wouldn't be funny right after someone else did it," Theo said with a glare.
"Stupid? Who are you calling stupid? Me?" Oliver questioned.
"I'm looking at you," Theo answered.
Caroline straightened up in her seat. "I kind of think you're both idiots," she said with a bright smile.
Gibbs shook his head. They were all big into name calling these days. Tony was far from helpful to Gibbs and usually quite encouraging with the kids which, of course, only reinforced such behavior. It wasn't that he never disciplined the kids. He had his moments; he could even be more of a disciplinarian about some things than Gibbs was. But name calling was not one of them.
Before anymore could be said, Gibbs interrupted "When you're done eating go brush your teeth and get dressed. I need to go to the post office and then I think we'll make a run to the library. If you guys can behave, that is. The minute you start acting up, we're out of there. You have to be quiet at the library. I know that word isn't in your vocabulary but give it a chance."
Tony came over to stand behind him. He bent down and rested his mouth against the top of Gibbs' head for a minute, pressed a kiss to his cheek, turned his head and kissed him full on the mouth. Oliver made a gagging noise and Theo snorted a laugh. Tony went around the table and kissed the kids before he went toward the living room to leave. He turned back around. "Everybody be good today. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"That pretty much leaves everything, Tony. You should narrow the list a little."
He grinned. "Don't do anything Papa wouldn't do."
"That's a little better," Gibbs said with a smirk. Tony blew him a kiss which made Gibbs smile and roll his eyes.
"I love you guys; I'll see you this evening," he said with a wave.
They all told him they loved him and went back to their breakfast as he left. He peeked back in a second later. "Jethro? Walk me out?"
Gibbs got up and followed him to the front door where Tony stopped him and pressed his mouth against his again. They kissed for several minutes, Tony's hand on the back of his head and Gibbs' hands on Tony's waist. When they pulled apart, Tony rested his forehead against Gibbs' and grinned.
"You should send the kids outside to play or something."
Gibbs chuckled. "It's barely light outside. We'll have to wait until tonight when they're in bed."
There was a pouty mouth, begging to be kissed. "Tonight is so far away."
"It'll be worth it. We'll make sure of that," Gibbs said as he lightly slapped Tony on the butt. They were moving in for another kiss when they heard "Papa! Theodore stole my blueberries!"
Tony huffed a laugh. "Little ones call."
Gibbs nodded, placed a quick kiss to Tony's lips before turning to go.
"Tell Theodore I said not to steal Sweet Caroline's blueberries anymore or I'm going to kiss him in front of all of his friends and call him my sweet Little Bean." He grinned mischievously at that before it turned into a softer smile. "I love you, baby. See you tonight."
"I love you too. See you later." Gibbs grinned at the pet name as he walked back to the kitchen. They didn't use mushy pet names often but it wasn't unheard of either. It was never anything like "sweetie" or "honey" but sometimes they used "baby" or "babe." It usually made Gibbs smile when Tony used one of the terms of endearment.
He walked into the kitchen and said "Plates in the sink when you're done and go get dressed."
They had put their plates away and thirty minutes later they still hadn't gotten dressed. Oliver had on a pair of Theo's shorts that Tony had mistakenly put in Oliver's dresser. He was walking around with no shirt on and the shorts falling off. Theo managed to put shorts and a shirt on but couldn't find his shoes. Caroline refused to settle on one outfit and was throwing things aside for something new, mismatching things and checking herself in the bathroom mirror.
Oliver finally grabbed a t-shirt and pulled it on but refused to change out of the shorts so every time he ran they fell down around his knees. After about ten minutes, Gibbs finally got him to put on a pair of his own shorts. Caroline settled on a tank top worn over a white tee shirt and a pink skirt. She was very particular about her clothes. She had her own unique style and if an outfit wasn't to her exact liking, she would not wear it. It made for long, frustrating mornings when getting ready to go somewhere.
Gibbs helped her get her hair brushed and was about to help Theo find his shoes when Oliver came out of the bathroom with his hair spiked up and a pair of Tony's sunglasses on.
"How do I look, Pop?"
Gibbs held the chuckle at bay. "You look handsome. Very nice."
"No, Papa. Say something cool. Say 'you are good looking, Oliver' or 'you are such a cool guy.' Something like that," Oliver said.
"You are good looking, Oliver. You are one cool dude. I wish I was half as cool as you are."
Oliver nodded in agreement and made his way downstairs. Gibbs grinned and shook his head. He absolutely loved their self-confidence and love of themselves.
Somehow he finally got them out the door and into the car, though it was no easy task and there were many distractions and stops between the front door and the car. In the car, Oliver insisted on rolling his window down and sticking his head out to the point Gibbs had to roll it up and lock it so he couldn't roll it back down. Then he proceeded to tap a tune on the window until Theo yelled at him to "shut up already!" and Gibbs asked him nicely to "stop please" before snapping a firm "Cut it out, Oliver."
Caroline began a long-winded tale that Gibbs feared would never end. He did love hearing what she had to say or stories she had to tell but sometimes, on particularly crazy days, it was hard to focus on the nonstop talk. He listened somewhat half-heartedly and replied with an occasional "hmmm" or "really?" to her story.
By the time they got to the post office it was packed full, exactly what Gibbs had been avoiding. Standing in line was like torture. Oliver couldn't stand still for two seconds and Gibbs had to constantly pull him against him to keep him from bumping other people. Caroline felt the need to make conversation with the lady in front of them, not realizing the lady wasn't as keen on making small talk with an eight year old as Caroline was with talking to her.
The third time Oliver broke away and ran over to all of the envelopes and various postage supplies, after sending Theo to drag him back over, Gibbs got down in his face and said in a low voice "If you leave my side one more time, you will be in a timeout nightmare, do you understand me?" For someone like Oliver, who constantly needed to move and talk, timeout was a punishment from hell.
"I understand, Papa. Sorry," he said sincerely. He was still continuously moving but he did stay by Gibbs' side as asked.
He kind of dreaded the trip to the library. They were being particularly wild today. But he needed to get them out of the house before he went crazy and bringing a few books home would be a good idea. He figured there might also be some sort of story time or activity going on that they could attend.
Oliver immediately darted away to run for the entrance. He only got a few feet before Gibbs grabbed his arm and turned him around. "What did I tell you about looking both ways?" he raised his voice. "Do it again and you can hold my hand like a little baby." Oliver made an uh-oh face and didn't comment, choosing instead to walk calmly beside Gibbs.
It turned out not to be so bad in the beginning. They got there in time to listen to a story and Gibbs only had to shush his kids three times while it was being told. He felt like that was pretty good for them. Then they went in search of books. Gibbs stayed with the twins to keep a closer eye on them. Theo went his own way to look for something he might like to bring home.
As he was helping Caroline find some books she might like, Oliver slipped away in search of his brother. Gibbs let it go and didn't stop him. However, when he saw his younger son running almost full speed across the library, soon followed by his brother, Gibbs went after them. He didn't mind them acting like wild monkeys at home- he couldn't imagine it any other way, but he did expect them to behave and act somewhat civilized in public.
He found them in a corner, Oliver breathing heavily and trying desperately not to laugh.
"Oliver, look at me." He looked at him then was distracted by Theo. Gibbs held his chin gently and forced him to look up at him. "This is your only warning. If you don't calm down, we will go home. I was going to let you go with Theo but I can see that controlling yourself will not come easily enough. Come back over here with me and Caroline."
"I'll be good! I will! Please let me go with Theo again," he pleaded. "We really will behave."
"You can go with Theo but remember you had your one warning. If you're acting crazy, we're gone." Oliver nodded. "Theo, I'm expecting you to be the bigger man here. No arguments with him please and keep an eye on him."
Theo rolled his eyes but nodded. Then they were off, barely managing to walk. Gibbs shook his head; he had a feeling they would be heading home soon.
Caroline found two books that she wanted to check out and went to a table nearby to begin reading while the boys were still looking. She smiled at the girl sitting beside her, said, "Hi, I'm Caroline" and began a conversation. Gibbs smiled. She was such a social butterfly. It was like she honestly could not help herself talking to everyone around her.
Gibbs went in search of the boys and found them down an aisle, Oliver climbing up the shelves.
"Oliver Thomas!" Gibbs said in a loud whisper. Oliver squeaked in surprise and jumped down.
Ten minutes later they were in the car heading home. He had to follow through with his warning, his promise of going home if Oliver couldn't behave.
"Is it that hard, Oliver? Really, I want to know. It's not like I ask you to be perfectly still and not talk. All I ask is that you move or walk around somewhat calmly and that you talk quietly. And climbing up the shelves at the library is never okay. Dad and I have explained over and over again that we may let you climb on things at home but you cannot climb on things anywhere else. Haven't we?"
"Yes, Papa."
"And do you understand that? Do you understand that it's one thing to climb at home but it's another thing to climb in public places? One is okay and one is not?"
Gibbs and Tony had considered that they could confuse the kids by letting them climb stuff at home while forbidding it elsewhere. But they had explained it and talked about it with them numerous times and they were old enough now to understand the difference and to control themselves. Oliver just had a harder time than the others when it came to that rule.
"I know. I'm sorry I climbed."
They arrived home and Gibbs sent them outside to play. He was trying to stay away from letting them watch TV. They had always limited TV and movie time, Gibbs being a little more strict about it than Tony, but he had found himself turning the TV on more and more this summer in desperation for some peaceful quiet time. He felt guilty and ashamed that as adamant as he had been about there being little to no TV, he had sunk to putting them in front of it for a little downtime.
He left them in the backyard by themselves for about twenty-five minutes while he cleaned up around the house before checking on them. Since they were fenced in he wasn't too concerned leaving them alone. He usually sent them out and checked on them periodically. When he stepped out, he saw Oliver attempting to climb up the fence. He was beginning to think he really just couldn't help himself.
"Trying to escape?" he called to his younger boy.
Oliver looked back, hanging awkwardly against the fence, and grinned. He jumped down and eyed Theo. "Race you around the yard! Start and finish here. Run around the fence, no cheating or shortcuts." Theo shrugged in answer. "Ready, set, go!" Oliver yelled and they took off. Theo beat him easily but Oliver didn't care; he took a running leap at Theo and wrapped himself around his big brother, causing them to fall to the ground. Theo looked mildly annoyed before laughing which made Oliver laugh in excitement.
Gibbs smiled at the sight. Oliver worshiped the ground that Theo walked on, despite Theo's constant attitude and shortness with him. Ultimately, Theo looked out for both his brother and sister though. He would always make sure nothing happened to them. He got angry and annoyed with them but he loved them.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in a whirl of activity. They ate lunch, Gibbs had them read for a while, they took Gunny for a walk, the kids were allowed one TV show "not Spongebob," and then they were sent back outside to play.
When he went back outside with them, he was deep in thought working on the garden, kneeling down on the ground, facing the fence. Suddenly he felt big, strong arms go around him in a tight hold. Panic shot through him. He must be losing his touch if he let someone get back here and get his hands on him without hearing.
He struggled against the hold then heard a soft, deep "Hey, hey, easy" in his ear. Tony.
He let out a shaky breath and sagged against his lover. Tony kept his arms around him from behind and gently rubbed a hand over Gibbs' stomach. "I didn't mean to scare you so bad. I'm sorry," he said sincerely, sounding upset with himself.
Gibbs turned in his embrace, hiding his face against Tony's neck. "That's okay," he mumbled. He pulled back and looked at Tony. "What time is it?"
"It's about 4:00; we finished up a case and got all the paperwork done so I sent everybody home."
"Good, I'm glad," Gibbs said with a smile. Then the kids were all over Tony. Theo jumped up on his dad's back and laughed happily.
"You're home for the evening, Dad?" he asked, his voice barely containing his excitement.
"I'm home, boo. I was thinking about taking you three to the park so Pop could have some quiet time, unless he wants to come too." The kids quickly agreed with that idea and they all looked at Gibbs to see if he would stay or go. On the one hand, he hadn't had any alone time in God knows how long and his sanity could probably, or definitely, use it. But on the other hand, Tony was home early from work and spending time with him and the kids would be worth much more than a few minutes by himself.
"Wait, I have a better idea, Daddy. Even better than the park!" Caroline half-yelled enthusiastically.
"Tell me," he said curiously.
"We could go to the pool!" she answered.
There was a public pool that wasn't too far of a drive that they went to occasionally. Not nearly as often as the kids would like. They would probably live at the pool if he and Tony let them.
"Is it still open?" Tony asked.
Gibbs shrugged. "I think it stays open until about 6:00."
They all went inside and got their swimsuits on before heading to the pool. When they got there Gibbs was surprised to see it wasn't too crowded; there were a few small families hanging out around the pool. A few kids were swimming.
Theo, Caroline, and Oliver immediately jumped into the pool. Gibbs and Tony put their towels and stuff aside while keeping an eye on them. A few minutes later, Tony jumped in after them. Gibbs grinned; he was such a kid sometimes. He soon stepped in, not quite as enthusiastically as the others, and joined them.
They swam around the shallow end where the kids could easily stand and play. They ventured toward the middle of the pool where it was a little deeper and stayed down there swimming. Thirty minutes into their swim, a group of teenagers came through the gate. Immediately they were loud and obnoxious.
Tony rolled his eyes and went back to spinning Oliver around in the water. Gibbs pulled Caroline to him and threatened to dunk her. She squealed, laughed, and wrapped her arms and legs around him as tight as she could. "Don't do it, Papa. I'll take you with me!"
"Oh you'll take me with you, huh?"
"Yeah, you have no chance!" she giggled.
"No chance!"
Caroline laughed and kissed him, tightening her arms around his neck even more. Tony came over and wrapped his arms around them, sandwiching Caroline between them.
"Hi Daddy," she said, her head resting back against him.
"Sweet girl." He kissed the top of her head. When he pulled her from Gibbs he said "Ready? Ready?" and pushed her under the water. She came up with a shocked face and gasp of breath before saying "You're in big trouble, Daddy," and going after him.
They managed another thirty minutes of relatively peaceful and fun swimming before the rowdy teenagers got to be too much. Oliver couldn't swim for being splashed and Theo's attitude went up another notch at the noise they were making. Gibbs would love to tell them off but decided that it wasn't worth it in the end, not in front of the kids.
"Our kids are never going to be teenagers," Tony said, with a look of annoyance in the direction of the older kids.
"Oh yes they are and pretty soon, too," Gibbs said, which caused Tony to groan.
But they had had fun despite the unruly teens. Gibbs thought he should bring them to the pool more often. They really did enjoy being in the water. He would have to try to remember this idea from now on when he was looking for ideas of something to do with them.
After much begging and pleading, Gibbs picked up McDonalds for dinner. He grumbled about it and threats of "We're not eating this junk again" ensued, but he treated them this time. Tony gave him a small, knowing grin. He was really getting soft in his old age. He glared at his lover before smirking and tapping him under the chin.
The kids were crazy when they got home, running around the house talking loudly, refusing to change out of their swimsuits, being generally insane. Gibbs and Tony sat on the couch and talked quietly. This was normal background noise for them.
Then suddenly he had a lap full of wiggling, giggling little boy and groaned in pain at the bony body parts jabbing into him as he flailed around excitedly.
"Oliver!" He said loudly over their yelling and carrying on. Oliver stopped abruptly and leaned forward to kiss Gibbs. He got on his knees on Gibbs' lap and leapt onto Tony's lap, who also groaned in pain and winced.
Gibbs grabbed Oliver and pulled him back against him, forcing him to be still. "What did we tell you about jumping on people?" he said quietly in his ear.
He wiggled momentarily before stilling again. "Not to do it."
"Yes, that's right. Why did we tell you not to do it?" Gibbs asked patiently.
"Because I'm too big now and it hurts."
He and Tony had recently had to talk to Oliver about personal space and the fact that it may have been fun and cute when he jumped on people when he was little but it was no longer fun and could hardly be considered cute when all the person felt was pain. Like most restrictions, he was having a hard time following this one. They went a little easier on him when he jumped on them, re-explaining why he couldn't, but when he jumped on Abby, McGee, or anyone else they lit into him about it.
"Yeah, you're way too big now and it does hurt a lot. Please try to remember not to jump on anybody anymore. I know it's hard to remember sometimes but do your best."
He nodded before wiggling around again, past his limit of sitting still. He jumped off the couch and was off again.
When bedtime came around, Tony went upstairs to make them get ready. And when he still hadn't come back down twenty-five minutes later, Gibbs figured something must be up. All he had to do was tell them to put their pajamas on, make sure they did it, tell them goodnight, and come back downstairs. They had recently declared themselves too big for their nighttime routine of story time and tucking in. It had saddened him and Tony a little but they complied.
He made his way up the stairs and listened for sounds. He could hear Oliver and Caroline talking quietly. Nothing unusual there. There was no noise from Theo's room. He made it to his own room and stopped, smiling at the sight in front of him. Tony, still dressed in the jeans he had changed into, was fast asleep on the bed. He was lying on his stomach, sprawled out, hand resting on Gibbs' pillow.
So much for having sex tonight, he thought. Tony must be feeling his age if he fell asleep knowing they had planned to play tonight. Gibbs watched him sleeping for a moment, lost in thought. Tony was starting to look his age some too. He had some gray at the temples and a few flecks throughout his hair, there were a few more "laugh lines" in his face, and he moved just a bit slower than he used to.
And at the risk of being a complete sap, Gibbs loved him more than ever. They had had their ups and downs, plenty of downs, but they had pulled through and their relationship was as strong as it had ever been. They had made this work despite any problems that arose.
Gibbs stripped and crawled into bed. Bleary eyes blinked open and Tony smiled lazily at him, making a content hum in his throat.
"Hey sleepy," Gibbs said quietly and smiled. "Want to take those jeans off so you're a little more comfortable?"
There was a nod but no movement otherwise. Gibbs helped him out of his jeans and lay back down on his side of the bed. Tony was back asleep and snoring within seconds. Gibbs followed soon after.
He woke to sounds coming from downstairs. He listened for a moment and realized it was the kids. The clock read 6:15. It was odd that they went downstairs; they always ran in to wake Gibbs and Tony up first thing if they weren't already awake. He preferred that because the kids being downstairs alone could amount to no good.
"Oliver!" Gibbs yelled loudly. Tony jerked awake and fumbled around in confusion.
"Yes, Papa?" Oliver said from the doorway a moment later.
"What are you three doing?"
"It's okay; we're just making a spaceship. Don't worry," he said in a reassuring voice before taking off again.
Gibbs groaned and ran a hand over his face, sitting up on the side of the bed to face the day. 6:15 in the morning and the kids were already "making a spaceship. Don't worry." Which is exactly why he was worried.
He really, really missed school days.
