Chapter 123
When Tim woke, he took his phone down to what they'd designated as the family room, adjacent to the kitchen, and called his uncle Mark.
"Welcome to Japan, kiddo! How do you like your newest home away from home?"
Tim chuckled, "It's great, we could house the entire extended family here! It's got everything we need and the kids love the back garden. The owner was here when we arrived, gave us a tour, showed us how to operate everything from the heater to the toilets."
"That's good though, some things are very different than what you're used to at home. Had your first jet lag nap yet?"
"Yes, we had a bite to eat, spent some time outside, came back in and one by one, fell asleep. I'm the first one to wake."
"I imagine you'll be pretty slammed for a few days. When are you expected at the office?"
"Tomorrow, Uncle. I'll go in and say hello, I've been here before so that helps. As I remember, there's a sofa in the office I'll be in, so I'll work when I can and nap when I can't stay awake. That way I'm there if I'm needed."
"What time are you going in?"
"I want to be there right at 8, just have to figure out the train."
"Tell you what, I'm an early riser and I know where you are and where the office is. How about I meet you at the house and we can ride the train together?"
"Wow, that's…thanks, Uncle Mark!"
"I thought about driving you in, but traffic is bad and driving won't help you figure out the train! I won't stay, I'll walk you to the office and then go have breakfast."
"You can come in."
"Nah, not on your first day."
"All right, how about you come in for lunch one day next week?"
"Sure! Have you made any plans for the weekend?"
"We're hoping to spend time with you, Aunt Perla, Penny and meet Rizal and Imarie."
"Excellent, then we'll go ahead with our plans for a family dinner on Saturday. Two things, we'd like to bring dinner over for you tonight, you know your grandmother is itching to see all of her babies, which includes you and Artie as well as your kids. We thought that would also make things easier for my next item, which is sort of an odd request. Penny wants to take all the great-grands to Disneyland. Imarie's and Rizal's have been but they were tiny. They're three, four, five and six now. We'll go with them and hope we can take your kids too."
"That sounds wonderful! How many adults will there be?"
"At least 7: Imarie, her husband Virgil, Mom, Perla, Rizal, his wife Akari and me. And there will be 10 kids altogether; your Jed is the youngest and we'll have at least two strollers with us."
Tim chuckled, "So you won't need Artemis or me?"
"Mom thought you might welcome a break from the Mouse and she remembered that Artie took Greg and Kyle to the Park by herself when you were here before."
"Yes, that was an exhausting day for her. Wow, this is…yes! I'm sure Andy will help, too."
"If he wants; however, we'd like him to just enjoy himself."
"Thank you, Uncle! When is this happening?"
"We're figuring Friday, your kids will be over the worst of their jet lag and our kids don't have school that day. It's just their school, though, so there won't be hordes at the park."
"Great! Yes, to all of this, thanks!"
They talked a while longer, figuring out a good time for the family to bring dinner for all of them. Tim was excited about that, he couldn't wait to meet Daniel's siblings in person, to see his aunt and uncle again and of course his grandmother, whom they'd all missed since she left Brambury weeks ago.
Disconnecting, he returned to their sleeping quarters, finding Andy and Artie awake. When the three of them gathered in the room with the door closed, Tim grinned at his wife and son. "Uncle Mark called. He, Perla, Penny, Rizal and Imarie are bringing dinner over later this afternoon and will stay and eat with us. He's also going to ride the train to the office with me tomorrow, so I'll know where I'm going. And…" Tim tried not to look as gleeful as he felt. "The Disney thing is happening!"
Artie's mouth fell open and she stared at her husband. "The whole…what we were talking about?"
"Yes, on Friday, so I'm working anyway."
Andy, whose face lit up at the mention of Disney, looked at his parents. "What Disney thing is happening? Are we going?"
His father nodded, "Yes! Penny, your aunt, uncle, cousins and their spouses are taking their kids and you kids to Disneyland on Friday."
"Wow, that's awesome! Don't they have school or are they littles?"
"They're in school but their school is closed Friday – but just their school so there won't be mobs there. Crowds, I'm sure, but not mobs."
Andy looked at them, "I know you have to work, Papa, but Mama, you're not going?"
"No, son."
"I'll help watch the kids."
"No, we want you to relax and have a good time. Have some Andy time and not big brother time."
He grinned at them, "Cool, thanks! When are you going to tell the others?"
His mother smiled at him, "If no one mentions it tonight when Penny and the Ibarras are here, we'll wait until Thursday. Otherwise, none of you will sleep!"
"Good idea, then I won't say anything. Although I might not sleep!"
His father ruffled his hair, "We've got that airbed if you want your own space. Or there are plenty of rooms for your brothers."
"Thanks but we all decided to share. And I miss hanging out with them." He made a face, "I know I asked if I could move to the attic but I thought about it some more and I really don't want to be up there by myself."
His mother smiled, "What would you think about moving into the big bedroom at the end of the hall? Then you'd have your own bathroom."
Andy blinked in surprise, he hadn't even thought of that. He shook his head, "No, thanks, I'd miss them too much and I like my room. I already use that bathroom in the mornings. Besides, where would Mimi and Yaya or Aunt Cyndi and Uncle Larry sleep when they visit?"
He smiled happily as his parents hugged him. It felt pretty great to have some time alone with them. The three of them sat and talked for nearly an hour before the others woke. Tim couldn't remember the last time they'd had more than a few minutes together, just Artie, their Jammer and him. Following his son's thoughts, Tim felt great about it, determined to make it happen more often. He and Artie did their best to spend several minutes alone with each child on a daily basis, but sometimes 'several minutes' wasn't enough.
It was a bit easier now that he wasn't doing any covert work but it still felt that between the kids' schedules and theirs, there was never enough time. That's one of the reasons their family weekend trips were so important, to step away from those schedules and just be a family. The thought had occurred to the couple that they could use a 'family camp' or family getaway in the UK as well as the U.S.
Eventually, the rest of the kids woke and putting their shoes and jackets on, the family went for a walk. They found the daycare and Jed and Hope nodded their approvals, although Hope would start Reception here. They saw a supermarket, an Aeon, but didn't go in. Artie had done some pre-trip investigation and said they'd need to bring their own bags and plan what they wanted rather than browsing through the specials for the week, one of Tim's favorite ways to find good deals.
They returned to their lodgings, Tim found it difficult to think of the place as a house, and checked out the bathing and tatami rooms. Both were locked, much to Artie and Tim's relief, but they unlocked the doors and peeked in. The baths were empty and didn't look enticing. Artie told Tim later that she might spend all of the time the children were gone in one of the baths. He laughed and then looked thoughtful, wondering how early he could get home.
After a snack, the school age kids decided which room would be their 'schoolroom' and then worked on their assignments for a few hours. They'd started at home over the weekend and planned to finish by Thursday. Their parents played with Jed, Hope and Rissa once she finished her math and spelling worksheets.
Tim rolled his eyes at his wife when they started yawning again. He set his watch for two hours, otherwise they'd still be sleeping when Penny and the Ibarras arrived!
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He needn't have set his watch alarm as the buzzer for the entrance door was loud enough to wake everyone. It scared Jed, who cried a little, calming a bit when big sister Rissa soothed him and more so when Mama and Daddy appeared. Hope was also scared but remembered where she was and then her parents arrived.
Carrying Jed, Tim answered the door. The little guy's face lit up when he saw one of his favorite people, Penny, and reached out for her. Hope was next, holding her mama's hand. She ran to the door, crying Penny's name. With a smile, Tim and Artie welcomed everyone into the building and Tim took some of the boxes and bags they were carrying. It had to be dinner because it all smelled wonderful.
The rest of the kids met them in the kitchen, happily greeting their Penny, Aunt Perla and Uncle Mark and, to their surprise, Liesl and Mark, Cousin Daniel's children. They'd flown to Japan with their mother to spend Easter with both sets of grandparents.
The Gibbses were introduced to the 'new' cousins, Rizal, his wife Akari, Imarie and her husband Virgil and then the children, including Virgil's much younger brother, Ren. The Gibbs kids were always happy to welcome kids to the family and today was no different. Andy was especially excited to meet Ren as they were the same age. Later his dad told him that Uncle Mark had specifically asked that Ren join them so Andy would have someone his age. It was nice for Ren, too as there wasn't anyone in the Ibarra family close to his age. That gave the two young men an immediate common bond.
After putting their dinner items in either the oven on low heat or the refrigerator to keep cool, the Ibarras were given a tour of the facility. Penny, Aunt Perla and Uncle Mark laughed themselves silly at the size, Penny finally saying, "The Manor is huge but you use all that space! This…you could house the entire family and extended family, the Greek, Italian and Scots family and still have room!"
Artie laughed, "It does seem like that! Tim says our relocation agent is a genius; when she couldn't find anything available that was close to the number of bedrooms and bathrooms we needed, she widened her search and found this. Otherwise, we'd be stuck in a house too small for us. The number of bedrooms would be all right if they were large enough to share, but not the number of bathrooms or the common areas! We'd be lucky if there was any kind of yard. So this will work for us, although we are considering subletting parts of it!" She smiled at her last remark to indicate she was joking.
The children disappeared when the Gibbs kids offered to show their cousins the 'schoolroom' and playroom. Later, when Aunt Perla saw the outdoor toys, she shook her head, "I remember playing volleyball with that set at your Fourth of July party!"
Tim grinned, "You did and I think you played croquet too, which we also brought with us."
Kyle nodded, "Grandpa is bringing the wading pools to Maine! That's for Jed, Jack, Jilly and Diane, so they can play in water safe for them." Next to him, Jed chortled, adding, "No rocks or fishies! The babies are too small for our pool. They just sleep, eat and cry."
Uncle Mark crouched down in front of Jed, "That's right, Jed; you, Jilly, Diane and Jack aren't the babies anymore!"
Jed giggled, "Jilly's 2 and I'm almost 2. My birthday an' Diane an' Jack's is before we go to the camp. Mama says I'll have 2 parties, one here and one at the camp. Kyle's birthday too!"
Aunt Perla smiled, "We're lucky that you'll be here for your birthdays, Jed, Kyle. That'll be fun!"
Kyle beamed, "I'll be 8! Finally, I can have my own British Museum overnight! Oh!" Frowning, he looked at his parents who smiled, his dad saying, "We'll go when we get home, Doodle. Don't worry!"
"Ok, Daddy. Greggy can still go, right?"
"Yes, Greg and two of your friends from home."
"Cool!"
A timer rang from the vicinity of the kitchen and the group returned to push tables together, putting cups and cutlery on them while the dishes were stacked on a counter near the oven. As the cooks added finishing touches to their dishes, everyone else washed their hands.
The group made happy noises when Aunt Perla and Cousin Imarie brought platters of fresh, hot lumpia to the table. Aunty made her lumpia for them last summer in Brambury and everyone, with the possible exception of Jed, remembered them fondly. Now they helped themselves, although they were warned not to fill up on them as their main entrée would follow. And that was a dish called Kare-Kare, a stew made with vegetables, oxtail and a thick savory peanut sauce. Perla looked at Tim and Artie, "No one is allergic to peanuts, correct?"
They nodded with smiles. "You're right, there are no peanut or nut allergies among us."
"Good! I chose this dish over another more popular one called Chicken Adobo because Kare-Kare originated with the native population, before the Spanish arrived. It's considered comfort food in the Philippines and I thought that might help your first day here. I will serve Chicken Adobo for another meal."
"Thank you, that's very thoughtful and it smells wonderful!"
Tim smiled at his first bite, "That's wonderful! Any chance you can teach us how to make this – and the Chicken Adobo?"
Perla laughed, "I forgot that you and Artemis like to cook together! Yes, of course we'll teach you how to make those and some Japanese dishes too. Nothing with fish, though."
Artie smiled while Tim tried not to roll his eyes, saying, "When I was in New England for work in September, I tried lobster and liked it. I also had some of Artie's paella when we were in Tenerife and liked it, although I really don't want to know what's in it."
His uncle laughed, "Because you know there's fish in it?"
"Yes, but there's also meat."
Artie looked at her husband, her eyes twinkling, "Timothy, the fish that's in paella is shellfish, which you like."
"Oh, great! Let's make that, too!"
His enthusiasm was contagious and the combined family enjoyed their first meal together, chatting and becoming better acquainted. The Ibarra grandchildren fit right in with the McGee kids and vice-versa; having Liesl, Mark and Ren with them was a big help.
Knowing Tim was expected at the office the next day and that the family was dealing with jet lag, the Ibarras insisted on cleaning up after the meal, laughingly telling the Gibbses they could return the favor when they visited their home.
By 7:30 PM the lodge, as the Gibbses decided to call it, was dark, the family inside sound asleep.
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As promised, Uncle Mark met Tim at the train station the next morning and rode the train with him to the NCIS office, making his nephew very happy he was there to help. He remembered taking the train from Tokyo to Yokosuka two years ago; however, this was a local route with more stops than the express from Tokyo. Glad he was only one stop from the office, he chuckled as the trip took just as long as Audrey the relocation agent said, no more, no less. Uncle Mark once again declined to join him for coffee or tea, giving Tim a pat on the back as he left the train.
When SSAIC Timothy Gibbs entered the NCIS office, he was thankful he'd thought to look at his notes before he left the lodge, reminding him of names of agency personnel and who did what. He smiled at the sign welcoming him back to Japan and the Far East Field Office, thanking Officer Bell, the security officer at the front desk. Before he left the lobby, he was warmly welcomed by the SAC, Jeff Andreson, and the two INV agents, Henry Tighe, formerly of the Southwest Office and Ted Bailey, who floated FEFO's subordinate offices in Japan. Their third INV agent, Randy Gage, floated their subordinate offices from the NCIS office in Seoul, South Korea.
In SSAIC Owens' office, Tim greeted the man's assistant, Fran, and was given a folder with the title: Sit-Rep, Monday, April 6th for AD Gibbs. Tim nodded in appreciation of the man's diligence. He read Owens' notes, making a few of his own. Checking his email, he found updates from Andreson, Tighe, their lead Intel Analyst and the office's Department Heads.
By 11:00, he desperately needed to sleep and, after letting Fran know, he removed his shoes, jacket and tie and stretched out on the couch in the office. He woke two hours later, starving. Fran smiled when he asked her the location of the nearest and best place for a takeout lunch. Getting up from her desk chair, she beckoned to him. He followed her to the back of the office where there was a hotel-sized fridge and microwave. She explained that SSAIC Owens had some specific dietary needs and preferred to keep his food close by in this refrigerator. With another smile, she opened the small refrigerator. "I've been here nearly a year but I still remember the jet lag and you had a longer trip than I did! I thought you might need a nap or two the first few days, so I took the liberty of buying a few bentos, Japanese single-portion takeout meals, for you. Don't worry, there's no fish, I checked with Ms. Sumner. You can heat them in the microwave."
He thanked her for her thoughtfulness and once he figured out the receipt, paid her for the meals. He was still eating when Andreson came in a few minutes later. Tim motioned him in, "Come in, I'm just finishing."
"We're hoping you'll be through the worst of your jet lag by Friday so we can have lunch out."
Tim shook his head with a rueful laugh, "I've already had to take a nap this morning!"
The other man shrugged, "We've all been through it, although I think you're the first to join us from the UK! How long was the flight?"
"Fifteen hours, including a 4 hour layover. The layover was nice, we found a park so the kids could run around, we even did a little sightseeing."
"Where was that?"
Tim told him and Andreson looked at him, "What airline, if you don't mind my asking?"
"We were lucky enough to hitch a ride with Secretary Porter. She was in the neighborhood for a NATO meeting, planned to fly to Singapore from there and didn't mind detouring here first."
"Wow, that's great!"
"It was, especially for the kids. They're pretty well behaved, but there's no way they're going to sit still for so many hours! We did a lot of walking and stretching on the jet and then, as I said, running during the layover."
"They didn't get bored?"
Tim shook his head, "The three older ones had schoolwork to do and the three younger ones played and watched movies. They're used to flying, we travel a lot, although most of our flights aren't that long!"
"Do you go home, to the U.S.?"
"Now we do, we only went once during the war. They came with me on a business trip to Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego in February last year. That was a near disaster when I found 4 terrorists on the same flight as us at the airport in Seattle."
"You're the one who recognized them and brought them down?"
Tim nodded, "While I had my baby son in a pack on my back. I didn't bring them down, though, I had almost my whole family with me and no weapons. I reported them and we returned to the city."
The other man nodded, "I remember reading about that. You called the FBI and then got your crew to safety. Then you found more information for the Bureau."
Tim nodded, changing the subject.
He managed to stay awake until 2:30, then took a 90 minute nap. After that, he called it a day, feeling useless. Still, he'd met with the SAIC and the department heads, so the day wasn't a total waste.
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Back at the lodge, he found his family sound asleep and, kicking his shoes off, joined them. Waking around 6:30, he found Artie and the kids were up. The three older boys were finishing their assignments for the day while Rissa was reading and Hope and Jed were playing. His wife was in the kitchen, making dinner.
She smiled at him when he came in, "Hello! How was your day?"
He laughed, "I had two naps and met with everyone I needed to see today. My assistant bought me bentos, those are takeout meals, for my lunches."
"That was thoughtful but why?"
"Because she figured I'd be sleeping a lot and wouldn't know where anything was. Owens has his own refrigerator and microwave, so I didn't have to leave the office to eat."
She rolled her eyes at him, "I think we'll come have lunch with you tomorrow before Rissa and the boys start school next week."
He smiled, "Good, that's a great idea! Friday, the kids will be at Disneyland and my field and INV staff asked me to lunch with them. You'll have the whole day to yourself!" He stopped to yawn, "I know we'll still be sleepy tomorrow, but I'm hoping the need to sleep won't be quite as strong. What are you making for dinner, it smells wonderful!"
"Good! It's a recipe Perla gave me. We went grocery shopping today."
"Did you go to the Aeon store we saw? Was it fun?"
"Yes and yes, it was an adventure. I may have lived here before, but I don't remember doing any grocery shopping. We were living in the Embassy."
"Right. But didn't Sophia cook?"
"Yes, but she didn't shop, she called in her list and it was delivered."
Tim started to roll his eyes and then stopped. "We can do that now. Only we'd order online, not by phone. At home, I mean."
"Yes, we could do that but that takes all the fun out of shopping and planning meals!"
He chuckled, all of the Manor cooks were known for planning meals on the fly while doing the shopping.
"Besides shopping and eating, what else did you do today?"
"Stopped in at the daycare so Jed and Hope could see it before Monday. I hadn't realized but Hope's school will be half days, so she may spend time there, too. Might be an easier transition for her."
Tim nodded, "You're right, and for Jed, too. At home he has Jilly and maybe eventually Caty and Baby Jose. Although he'll be in Reception by the time they're really old enough to play with him. Are the kids still working?"
"Yes, they had morning and afternoon naps so they're working on their assignments now." She paused, "Timotheos, I've had the strangest thoughts recently, thinking about moving to the U.S."
He tilted his head, "What kind of thoughts?"
"That we should start planning. Oh, not for a few years yet but we all need to get used to the idea. Leon's not going to work forever, not even with little Brody. He'll work long enough to get his education fund rolling but at some point, he's going to be done. And I haven't noticed him talking up or working with anyone else as closely as he does you."
"He does have other candidates. Although one of them told me he's planning to retire in a couple of years. I'm glad you've brought it up, might be easier to talk about it here, where we're not so tied up with our Brambury lives." Tim huffed, "Leon's a very clever man. He's slowly but surely introducing me to the director's responsibilities and making sure I'm familiar with all of the agency. At some point he'll probably figure out a way for me to start attending meetings on the Hill – meetings with the financial and oversight committees. Those have got to be the worst part of a directorship!"
"The politics?"
"Yes." He shuddered, "Hate that, but then what I do in my current agency life can be seen as political, handling the day to day doings, helping him oversee the finances and planning ahead."
"He really is preparing you!"
"Yes, giving me a feel for what the job really entails as well as preparing and teaching me about all the different aspects of the agency."
"And he's not doing that for anyone else?"
"Not that I know of. However, he also knows of our reluctance to move and to take on his job. I don't know that any of the others on his list have been so vocal with him or even know they're on a list! Scratch that, I'm sure Joel knows."
"What do you see happening? Things have changed so much!"
"They have, yes. Originally, he wanted me back at the Navy Yard, then he decided I needed to head up another office, a bigger one in the U.S., before taking over his spot. The last time we talked about this, he said that when Roger, Pete and Stan retire or move to other offices, he wants to reformat the European offices to fit the Field Office model, one larger office and several subordinate offices. He wants me to run the complex. So London would be the Field Office, like Yokosuka is here, and Antwerp, Hamburg, Marseilles, Athens, Rota and Naples would report to London."
"Do you like the idea?"
"I do and I don't. I still think the Field Office setup causes obstacles to agents rising in rank. You can be the best SAIC in the world but unless the Field Office leaders retire, you're stuck. Sure, you can transfer from one sub-office to another or work toward a spot aboard the Navy Yard, but you're still dependent on someone up the line moving out of the way. With stand-alone offices, the way Europe is currently set up, there's room for advancement. Lydia can be the SAIC when Pete retires, running the office independently and reporting directly to Vance as Pete does now. I think the advantage for the Field Office-sub office setup is for administration. As the agency grows, it needs to decentralize to some degree and the Field Office model takes care of that. It works well for the running of the agency, although as I keep saying, I do feel it limits younger agents. But maybe that's just me; maybe agents, once the agency completes the transition to the Field Office setup, will adapt and find other ways to rise in the ranks."
She smiled at him, "You're already involved in and influencing the future of the agency, my love."
He chuckled, tilting his head, "And I guess I can deny that all the way up until the next time the SecNav shows up with a Bible in her hand!"
"Putting Leon's plans aside for now, what do you want to do?"
"I don't want Roger, Pete, Stan, Joel or Leon to retire. I don't want to run the European FO without them. Although Lydia would be great to work with as would Rose Peters in Rota and Dwayne Wilson in Marseille. Hanson and Sisler are all right for Antwerp and Naples. That just leaves Hamburg."
"So you're saying that 5 of the 6 offices reporting to you would be all right without your friends?"
He grimaced, "I am, yes."
"Your friends will leave, Joel's already left. Timotheos, I know your ideal life is to have everyone you care about around you, much as we have right now. However, life, at least modern life, doesn't seem to work that way. We've been blessed, in the middle of chaos and hatred of war, to have almost all of our loved ones with us. If the Porters, your Baxter cousins, the Bishops and Nikki's family lived full-time in the UK or Europe, I think your life would be perfect.
"But our older generation is aging and our children are growing up, including our nieces and nephews. Our years as a unified clan will change and we may be among the first to cause the biggest change when we move to the U.S. I've said before that everyone would eventually follow but I no longer think so. Nikki and Abby don't want to leave the UK, which means that Bill and Freddie won't leave. Bec will be transferred somewhere and then Char and Joe will face a tough decision, to follow them or stay wherever Freddie is."
Tim took a deep breath, "Bec and Geordie will lead the way as far as moves, hon. She can't report directly to me, the only reason she's still there now is because Leon's there and because Joel was there for more than half of last year. He handled her 2019 evaluation with her. This year, I don't know who will handle it, Leon and I haven't talked about it yet."
Artie shook her head, "Back to us moving to the U.S. Do you see that happening?"
Tim nodded slowly, "Yes. There's been progress in ending the violence and reconstruction is also finally progressing. And I've been thinking about living in our house, how much fun that will be. Sure, it'll be hard at first but the kids will make new friends, so will we, people will visit. We'll have walking and bike trails, maybe Dad and Bill, if he's around, will build a tree house for the kids. And we'll go to Maine and Varkiza every summer. As Director, I'll have to travel a bit but we can all go. I do worry about your career. I don't want you to feel constrained to local projects."
She smiled, "Actually, I'm almost ready to start my own company, finally! Then I can train young engineers and pass along what I've learned and I'm sure I'll learn new things from them."
"Wow, that's wonderful! With nearly 20 years in as an active engineer, that gives you a way to continue your work and your independence."
"I've been making notes and plans all along and now that the children are a little older, I think it's time to start seriously planning. I said 'almost', I want to hold off on formalizing my business until Jed's in school, another couple of years."
She smiled, "So, back to my original thought, we need to start planning on moving to the U.S., and the first thing we need to do is change the way we think about moving and our attitudes. I have some ideas about that."
She outlined them to Tim whose eyebrows rose in surprise and then lowered as he thought about her suggestions. Overall, it was an ambitious plan that would need the buy-in of several people but he felt it was also a viable plan. It was a way to move to the U.S. without losing their Brambury home, at least not permanently. He was 42 now, he thought the Vances would leave in 16 months, as the Fleet would have been moving home for several months by then.
If Pete, Roger and Stan retired when HQ returned to the Navy Yard, then he thought Leon would go ahead with reformatting the European offices to one Field Office, London, with 6 subordinate offices. If the three SAICs didn't retire then, he thought Leon would revert to Plan A and transfer him to a U.S. Field Office.
Politically, and he hated that he was even thinking about it, he believed it would look better if he had experience running a U.S. based Field Office. Personally, he thought he should do that rather than stay in London. As challenging as operating in countries outside the U.S. was, he had no experience running an office in the U.S. He needed to take care of that before anything else.
He said as much to Artie, who nodded, "I thought of that, too. Where, do you suppose?"
"I don't know which one I'd be best suited for, but I'm hoping for either the Southwest, Northwest or the Marine Corps West Field Offices. Our other options are the Northeast, Great Lakes, the Carolinas, Norfolk, Southeast or the Washington, D. C. Field Offices.
"This might sound strange, but I think I should not be anywhere near the Navy Yard or the Director, which rules out the entire eastern seaboard. I feel I need to prove to myself that I can run a substantial complex of offices without the director's presence and prove to my peers that I'm not Vance's puppet or a 'yes' man or anything of that nature."
Artie was shocked to hear her husband say that but when she considered Tim's experience, she agreed. "I agree that for your sake, you need to be able to work independently. However, I know you're your own person and while you learn from Leon, you've also been a huge help to him – and to Joel during his London years." She chuckled, "It's just like you to feel the need to prove you can do it by yourself!"
"Wouldn't you? Don't you?"
"Yes, I would and do. After all, wanting to fly on my own, as it were, is a big reason for establishing my own business."
Tim smiled, "I'm glad you understand! So, which office would you pick?"
"Where is the Marine West office?"
"It's outside of San Diego, on Camp Pendleton. And that would be a problem for Dad because Pendleton is where Shannon and Kelly were murdered."
Artie frowned, "All right, scratch that off the list. So, Seattle is closer to the UK in weather and San Diego's weather is closer to Greece."
"Yes and there are other considerations. The Northwest office isn't in Seattle, it's over an hour's drive from the city. There are ferries that you can take but you have to be there a full half hour before departure and then the trip is another hour. Either way, we wouldn't live close to Seattle.
"The Southwest office is in San Diego and there are several suburbs within driving distance. And, back to the weather, once I've done a year or three in whichever U.S. Field Office, we'll be moving to the east coast, with long cold winters and long hot, muggy summers."
"Good point. So, who's got the Southwest office now?"
He told her and they talked about it, realizing that the choice of a U. S. office was out of their hands, they needed to focus on positive attitudes about leaving Brambury. Tim smiled, "So how long do you think we'll be away?"
"From Brambury?"
He nodded and she thought, "I hadn't seriously considered going elsewhere before the Navy Yard. So, two to three years somewhere in the U.S. You're 42 now, if we leave when Leon moves to the U.S. in 16 months, that's August of '21. Let's say three years at your U.S. office, that's 2024 and that's about right for Leon to retire, he'll be 61, Brody will be 12 and Kayla, Jared and Ross should be fully engaged in their careers by then. Or Leon waits until he's 64 or 65 in '27 or '28, when you'll be 50 or 51. How long do you feel you should give the position?"
He sighed, "Five years or age 55, whichever comes first. We talked about me retiring before I'm 55 but to do everything right, it might take longer than we originally thought."
"Well, yes, because we didn't plan on the war, the continuing violence or having to wait for reconstruction! Jed will be 10 in 2028, Hope will be 13, Rissa 15 and Kyle 16. Greg will be 20 and Andy will be 23, they probably won't be living with us." She shook her head, "I hope Leon retires in '24, not later, otherwise Jed will likely be the only one at home when we return to Brambury."
Tim nodded, "We'll rattle around in the Manor." He huffed, "I was excited, now I'm depressed. Let's think 2024 for Arlington and returning to Brambury in '29. At least Jed, Hope, Rissa and Kyle will still live with us!"
She kissed him, "I don't think either Andy or Greg will be too far away."
He shook his head, "I hope Patrick will be able to move with us. I can't stand the thought of leaving him behind!"
"He'll come with us; if he's still in rehab, then we'll find a rehab wherever we're posted."
Smiling, Tim kissed her as the timer rang, their entrée was ready. Rounding up the kids, they washed their hands and quickly set the table. If Andy and Greg received extra attention that evening, neither of them minded nor said anything.
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Thursday morning, Tim had news from Owens' wife that his surgery had gone well on Wednesday and that he'd had a comfortable night. He'd remain in the hospital until Monday and Tim thought he would pay him a brief visit. He'd ask Mrs. Owens if a visit was feasible and when. He was happy to give the positive news during the weekly staff meeting, smiling at the responses.
Artie and the children came in for lunch late that morning and Tim gave them a quick tour of the office carrying Jed. Greg and Kyle remembered Jeff Andreson from their visit here 2 years ago and all the kids, with the exception of Jed and Hope, remembered the INV agents, or said they did, from their training days in London. Artie had seen Henry Tighe last year at the funeral for Ned's grandmother and spoke with him, glad to know him and Ted Bailey.
Rather than going out, Tim had lunch delivered to the office and he and his family ate in his office. The kids were curious, they were familiar with their father's London office and thought it was strange that this one was so much the same, although Tim thought it was quite different from his. Yes, they had much the same furniture and equipment but Tim had some of the kids' framed artwork on his walls, which he changed out frequently, a collage of family photos and one favorite art piece on the wall which he also rotated every few months. Richard Owens' office had no personal photos, what looked like stock artwork on the walls, that is a frame with a picture already in the frame when purchased and one big plant which Fran took care of.
After his family left, Tim checked status on the open cases for each office and finding no status report from one of the offices, checked out the INV database to determine what was happening. What he saw caused his eyebrows to raise. There was a complex case in Seoul in which the assigned CCU, INV agent Randy Gage, and the field team were deeply involved. It had started with a triple homicide and while those were being investigated, the field team found evidence of money laundering to fund a terrorist group. This was one hot case!
Rather than interrupt the case work, Tim sent an email asking that the Team Lead give him a call when she 'came up for air' and/or to let him know if they needed help, additional resources or anything else.
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Back at the lodge after a busy day, Tim went for a walk with Andy and Greg and then relaxed over dinner. The kids were excited about going to Disney Tokyo the next day and Artie planned to spend at least part of the day in one of the Japanese baths at the lodge. She'd read about the traditional baths, although she would be bathing in a private home by herself. However, she did take to heart the part about maintaining hydration, when to get out and not to bathe more than three times a day.
Awake early, Tim kissed each of his kids goodbye while they were still asleep, kissed Artie, filled his thermos with coffee and walked to the train station. He was glad to be in early as the Seoul Team Lead called about 5 minutes after he arrived.
"Agent Gibbs, I mean…" When she paused, Tim let her off the hook, "Agent Gibbs is fine, Sanders."
"Thanks. I have a sitrep for you. Have you had a chance to read the background?"
"Yes, I'm caught up to Sunday."
"We made an arrest on Tuesday and the whole operation started to unravel. So far, we've arrested 23 people on more than 30 charges. This thing had 5 locations between Seoul and Pusan, we've cleared those out and today we'll be in clean-up mode."
She gave him more details, which he recorded in case inquiries came to him before he had a written report. With what she told him, he would update Leon and probably Secretary Porter as soon as possible.
After giving her orders to stand down once they were home and had their preliminary reports done, he contacted the Cyber Crimes unit, finding them as exhilarated as the Field team, without the exhaustion. When he asked, the CCU Manager told Tim which other CCUs had assisted them. His INV agents were in the same shape, both CCU and INV having more resources to pitch in and help than the field team had.
Wondering about that, Tim had a chat with Andreson and came away with more questions than answers. While the offices in Europe were also far apart, there were other methods of transportation besides flying. The offices in Asia, Southeast Asia and Australasia were thousands of miles apart and in most cases had only air travel for transportation. Field teams were set up with three or four field agents and all of them traveled to each case location. If they needed help, they either worked until they dropped or requested help from another team, which meant more flights and two or more offices left without a full field team.
This was not news to Tim; however, he'd never witnessed it so closely and he did not like it. Somehow they had to have more field agents available, whether it was by office or region. From what Andreson said, they were also hampered by commercial airline schedules and military flights weren't always available to them.
Tim dutifully updated Vance about the case but decided to keep his thoughts about the field situation to himself for now. It was hardly new and he'd do more research into the problem, including finding out if anyone was working on it, before he brought it up with the Director.
Lunch with the Field Team and INV agents was interesting and enjoyable, he liked hearing what they'd been doing and how they felt about things. The field agents treated the INV agents, Tighe and Bailey, as part of their team and naturally Tim heartily approved of that. They asked him what he and the family had planned and he told them of the children's visit to Disneyland today, adding how relieved he and his wife were that they didn't have to go.
When he saw surprise, he laughed, "I had a business trip to the U.S. West Coast last year, the family came with me as we hadn't been to the U.S. since Christmas of 2016. We spent an extra day and night at Disneyland in California. Two years ago when we were here my wife took the kids who were with us to Disney, Tokyo. We live about three hours by train from Disney, Paris. Artemis and I have decided parents need about 4 years between visits."
"Who's with them now?"
"My uncle, aunt, and cousins who live here and my grandmother, who's visiting from the UK. My cousins have kids roughly my kids' ages and offered to take them without us. I had an easy out, work, and my wife is thrilled to have an entire day to herself."
"Wow, that's generous!"
Tim nodded, "Oh yes. We have six children between the ages of 23 months and 16, so I'm certain this will be a one time thing!"
Henry Tighe smiled, "The baby's almost 2, amazing! He was born after our training but I met him last year in Coronado, right after that trip to Disneyland."
"He's a great kid, they're all great kids. He listens to everything and I'm amazed at the things he understands." He told them about the recent conversation where Jed, noticing a reference to the children agreeing to something, nodded because he understood that he was one of the children.
Later, Tighe and Bailey asked about Bishop, Esposito, McCoy and Piro and Tim was happy to give them glowing reports, showing photos of Ray and Kendra's wedding as well as some of the many photos he had of his twin nieces, Ellie and Rob's babies, Timmy and Ro.
He liked this office. It was run well, everyone did their jobs, there weren't any criminals hiding in their midst and he really enjoyed catching up with his INV agents and the Field team. He felt like himself again, an agent, part of something.
He'd also had a video chat with Cassie Yates in Singapore and overall, loved feeling part of a team again. In London, he spent so much time with the director that he didn't often get that feeling. Additionally, as Assistant Director he was not encouraged to hang around Bec's team or the INV agents. Working with Vance was interesting and he always learned something new, but it was usually administrative, trouble shooting and political whereas this felt more real, closer to the life he'd led on the MCRT and as an INV agent.
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Tim met a near-explosion of happy children that evening when he arrived from work. Even as they exchanged hugs with him, they were telling him about their day at Disney. Jed and Hope's eyes were so big as they were talking about their adventures that their father was a little worried for a few minutes. Even Andy and Greg were nearly babbling about what they'd seen and done.
Eventually, when they calmed down a little, he learned that the Park had not been crowded, they'd each had a great time with their kid and adult cousins and wished they, the Ibarra grandchildren, Ren, and their parents, could come to Europe so they could all go to Disney-Paris together. As they were all tired from their fun day, there wasn't a problem getting them to bed and they had another fun day, although hopefully a little calmer, planned for tomorrow, Saturday.
After the children were in bed that night, Tim learned that Artie had also had a great day. Taking their rental van, she'd driven to the train station and traveled to Tokyo, looking for areas she remembered and stopping at a few of her favorite old haunts. "I spent an hour in the most glorious garden, all spring blooms and quite tranquil. Then I did some more shopping, came home, and had a long soak in one of the Japanese baths. It was wonderful! After that, I puttered in our garden, cut some flowers and had fun putting dinner together. It was an amazing day, so quiet, peaceful and pleasant, although of course I missed the kids!"
He laughed at that, glad she'd had the day to herself. Tomorrow they'd visit the Ibarras, spending most of the afternoon and early evening with them and enjoying Uncle Mark's grilling skills. Sunday, they were going to church with the Ibarras, afterwards having lunch with them, then would head back to the lodge to ensure the children had all their assignments completed before they started classes on Monday.
Sunday evening, they'd have a Skype call at 7 PM with their grandparents and Pater Patrick in London, where it would be 10 AM Sunday morning. Tim would go into work late Monday morning so that he and Artie could walk the younger children into class and make sure Greg and Andy were in the right places. Jed would stay home on Monday and visit the daycare with his mama for a few hours on Tuesday.
Hope was worried that starting Reception here would mean she wouldn't see her friends at home anymore but they'd calmed her fears by pointing out that she wouldn't finish Reception in 6 weeks. She'd continue in Brambury and then start again with her friends from the nursery school in September. She might finish a little early next year but then she'd wait until September to start her first year with everyone else. As it was a little confusing, they left it at that.
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Once they were alone Friday night, Tim told Artie how he much was enjoying his temporary job and she smiled, "That's good, love! Then you'll enjoy our years at whichever office you're assigned to. But Tim, you're the SSAIC of London now. You don't have the same feelings?"
He shook his head. "No, I don't. I'm more AD and Vance's go-to guy than SSAIC and I just kind of stepped into Joel's shoes. Oh sure, I talk with people but I don't have the independence I do here and will at my next posting."
"Because Leon's there."
"Yes, because my boss is there and I'm involved in a lot of his stuff. I guess I haven't thought about it much, it's work, you know. But being here is an eye opener and now I'm looking forward to moving to another office as SSAIC, put my own stamp on it."
She huffed, "And you don't feel you can do that in London. Leon isn't running things, is he?"
"Mm, not running things, but involved and London is both a Field Office and the agency's temporary Headquarters, there's a fine line there somewhere. I think he likes being hands on as much as I do and he's been away from it longer than I have. He doesn't interfere but he knows what's going on. The Antwerp attack is really the first thing he hasn't been on top of, I handled that by myself and that was fine. I can't say I enjoyed it, given it was an attack, but it did feel good to do my job by myself.
"I guess it's a little like the Navy Yard, only I didn't know the difference then. Now I do. There's no SSAIC aboard the Yard so he was sometimes more directly involved than if there had been one. I know Dad hated it when the Director called him upstairs to talk about a case. But they were also each other's sounding board, so it balanced out."
He smiled, "How soon are we leaving?"
She shook her head with a chuckle, "It's not entirely up to us! Who would you select as your successor in London?"
"That's a good question. Someone who's good enough, strong enough to need leadership exposure to NCIS outside of the U.S. London's a good office to start as an SSAIC because currently there's only one sub-office, Antwerp. And there are seasoned senior agents in the other European offices to go to for advice or help."
"No names?"
"Not off the top of my head. After all, I've been away from the U.S. agents for five years. Rose Peters needs more U.S. time. Joel's SSA would be good, she's certainly had to handle problems outside of her job description and above her pay grade. I'd love for Cassie Yates to take it, but then that would be a lateral transfer and not a promotion. And I doubt Leon wants to make any changes over here, it's tough enough!
"Ned would be good. He's a senior INV agent now, the equivalent of a SSA and loved worked in London the month he was there." Tim laughed, "That's pitiful, I can only come up with two people!"
"But you said you don't know the U.S. agents."
"I don't, but I should. I need to start keeping an eye on the 'up and comers', see who might be a candidate for this or that office. Unfortunately, our up and comers have been assigned to the offices affected by the serial killer, so they are currently untouchable. Still, I'll watch how they handle things."
"What about someone already in Europe? Dwayne Wilson for example?"
"The Wilsons are transferring to the U.S. once he's completed his 3 years. Her parents are getting older and Dwayne says Lynn is nervous being so far away."
"Oh. I suppose the leads in Naples and Antwerp are too new."
"Yes, they're good but both need a few years of seasoning. I'd love to have Stan, Pete or Roger step in, but they'd be short-timers and I doubt any of the three would be willing to make an interim move. I'll look at Leon's list when we get home. Or maybe he'd be willing to share."
Artie laughed, "Now you're in a hurry!"
"A little bit!"
He smiled as she reached for him.
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Saturday was a little warmer, although cloudy, and the family spent late morning and early afternoon playing in the back garden of their lodge. After Jed's nap, they piled into their rental van and drove to the Ibarras' house. They had a surprise waiting for them when Analynn, the daughter who lived in the Philippines, and her family greeted them. They'd met on Skype a few times and now it was great to meet in person! The kids loved it as there were more children to play with.
Andy was glad Ren was again with the family and then discovered why. The young man was a permanent part of Imarie and Virgil's family and thus the Ibarra family. He'd lived with his brother since he was about Rissa's age, when their mother died; their father died before Ren was born.
While the children played outside, the grillers, mostly Uncle Mark and Rizal, kept an eye on them while the rest of the adults stayed in the nice warm house, relaxing and becoming better acquainted. Artie, Tim and his adult cousins occasionally went outdoors to play with the children. Although Jed was used to the cold in the UK and liked having people his size to play with, the cold was bothering him today and Tim finally brought him in. He was tired from yesterday and their trip less than a week ago and was quite content to cuddle with his Penny, Aunty, Uncle and his parents.
Their grill feast was delicious and Tim and Artie were amused to see that Ibarra family dinners were quite similar to Gibbs family dinners, full of delicious food, warm friendship and lots of laughter.
When it was late enough in London, they pinged Patrick and were happy to see Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt Sarah there with him. After everyone said hello, Greg and Kyle spoke with their pater for several minutes before Grandma, watching Pat's body language, said his hands were too tired to sign anymore. Sarah had a chagrined look on her face and she apologized to Pat, the boys and everyone else.
"I'm sorry! I came in early to help Pat with his tablet and apparently spent too much time chatting with him. And I think he was playing online when I got here."
Pat nodded glumly. All was not lost, however, as the children spent several more minutes talking with them, both sets of grandkids, the Gibbses and Ibarras, excitedly telling the Londoners about their trek to the Disney park on Friday.
Tim later received a text from his father that he wanted to talk with his son more often and not to worry about waking him up. Tim told him he'd start calling before he left work, about 4:30 PM in Japan which would be 7:30 AM in London. His dad said that was good, that he missed him a lot and hoped they would try to talk every day or every other day. They'd also chat with Mom, Artie and the kids, but Dad wanted time alone with his kid.
Jethro had somehow forgotten how much he'd hated Tim being away last September and that was only for a couple of weeks! This time they had 6 weeks to get through. He took a deep breath, reminding himself it was 5 ½ weeks now.
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Sunday was rainy and the Gibbses found it suited them perfectly, they were all tired after an exciting week of travel, work and fun. Calling the Ibarras, they were about to beg off church when Perla beat them to it, saying they were all tired too.
With the amount of open space in the Gibbses' lodging, they invited the others over. The kids could run around while the adults played cards, took naps or whatever they felt like doing.
That was very relaxing as the older kids entertained themselves in the uninhabited spaces while the littles were in their playroom off the family area, close enough for the adults to keep an eye on them. They gathered in the dining room for a hot lunch before returning to their fun.
While the kids played, the adults talked, had coffee, tea, hot chocolate and played. With 10 adults, they had different games going on. Mark brought poker chips and some of the adults played poker while Tim and his cousin Analynn played "Skipbo", the commercial version of Tim and Sarah's favorite game, Spite and Malice.
The rest of them played "Uno", the commercial version of Crazy Eights. The kids also loved playing that and when Greg, Kyle, Rissa and the cousins their age got tired of running around and their other games, they joined in playing "Uno". They may have been tired, but there was still a lot of laughter and fun in the lodge that day.
After the littles woke from afternoon naps, the Ibarras left, understanding that the Gibbs kids were starting school tomorrow and might have some work left to do. The Gibbses and Penny said goodbye to Analynn and her family as they were flying home early Monday morning.
Once their visitors left, the Gibbses got busy checking assignments and making sure everything was done. Tim and Artie were proud of their brood, all their schoolwork was completed and the three older boys had been writing their assigned journal entries every day.
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Monday morning went well, each of the school-age Gibbs children were welcomed to their temporary classes. Hope was a little shy in Reception but when given the choice to stay, go to the day care or back home with Mama and Jed, the little girl chose to stay.
Although Tim and Artie each thought about their conversation over the next few days, neither raised the subject of moving again. Tim settled into his SSAIC duties and, free for the moment of his Assistant Director duties, continued to enjoy being an active member of the office, albeit a temporary member.
Jed started his Japanese daycare stay on Tuesday, coming home with some new words in Japanese. Artie taught him a few more and during that first week, Jed learned even more. His mama reinforced his new words at home and taught him a few more every evening. The rest of the children and Tim participated in the evening language sessions as well.
While Artie started to build her business plan for her future company, she also took the opportunity to map out a few weekend excursions for her family. Once she started, she used a calendar, making sure to leave enough weekend time for homework, chores and visiting with their family. She finally made a spreadsheet with place names, whatever activities were there and what age groups those pertained to. One website she found gave her so much useful information she bookmarked it, using it heavily during her planning.
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That second week, the Yokosuka team thought they had a serial killer back in business after a 10 year lapse and a very cold case, but found it to be a copycat murder, although it involved the U.S. Navy. They solved the copycat crime and then tackled the serial killer's cold case afterward, resulting in new leads which they would continue to follow.
The children were enjoying their new schools, with classmates from several different countries, including two sisters, one in Greg's class, the other in Rissa's, from Greece. The four of them had fun speaking Greek and teaching their classmates some of the language.
Tim spoke with his dad three times during the week and both felt better for it. Artie didn't tease him as she'd talked with her sister, mother, grandmother and Uncle Nik during the week. She'd also worked with Jethro to engineer Pat's tablet holder. He'd drawn a design and sent it to her; she modified it a bit but overall liked it.
That Friday, they had an evening/morning call with Patrick and this time, his poor hands made it through the entire call, telling them how much he was enjoying the tablet, catching up with the past 7 ½ years of life outside their family. They chuckled at that. Right now, he was using it passively, mostly to read but planned to start looking for old friends and maybe do some writing once his hands were strong enough.
With a smile, he said he'd wait to do any writing until they came home from Maine. The kids, Penny, Tim and Uncle Mark were writing notes to Pat every so often and he enjoyed hearing from them all, able to send short messages in reply. He loved receiving messages and thoroughly enjoyed the jokes and stories Tony and Geordie sent him.
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By mid-week, Artemis, after researching online and consulting with the Ibarras, had selected their first weekend destination. Over dinner, she presented it to the family, who were enthusiastic. On Friday evening, they'd drive about 4 ½ hours to a town named Takayama, in the mountains of Honshu, west of Tokyo.
Accordingly, after their call with Patrick on Friday, they loaded up the van, the younger kids in their jammies and made the drive to Takayama. Artie drove the first part and once they got past the most congested areas, the parts she was most familiar with, Tim relieved her at the wheel.
She'd booked them into a traditional Japanese inn, or ryokan, where tatami mats cover the floors, no shoes are worn inside, as is the Japanese custom, and they'd sleep on roll-out futons on the floor.
They had a wonderful time exploring and experiencing the culture. Along with the charm of Takayama's lovely old buildings and interesting shops, they found a quiet walking path outside of Takayama that led them to ruins of a castle and other interesting things for the family to explore. There was so much to see that it took them all day, much to their surprise.
On Sunday, they visited Hida Minzoku Mura Folk Village, an open air museum featuring many interesting historic homes built in the Edo Period between 1603 and 1867. The family had been to a few open air museums in Europe and they were always a big hit. This was also popular with the children and perhaps even more exciting with the differences in culture.
Tim and Artie were proud of the kids for their careful observations and questions, there wasn't a single whine out of any of them. They did make sure that Jed and Hope had a chance to run around, joined by Rissa and Kyle, all of which helped make their visit a pleasant one.
The craft center, where they could learn how to make various small items, such as beaded key chains and luggage tags, and take them home with them, was also fun. As there was a fee per person, Artie participated with Hope, Kyle, Rissa and Greg while Tim and Andy found more open spaces for Jed.
Andy had been taking photos everywhere they went and he showed his dad the responses he was getting. He'd been sending them to his friends and Lady Louise responded, wanting to know more about what they were seeing on their weekend holiday.
After a late lunch, they drove home, the littles once again in their jammies, curled up to sleep in the van. They were home by 7:30 PM and had a quick bite to eat before Jed was tucked in, having fallen back asleep at the table. After a Skype call with Patrick, the children's grandparents, Uncle Geo and Aunt Bec, they made sure the kids' schoolwork and uniforms were ready for the next day before turning in. Joe and Charlotte hadn't had their baby yet and Lu reported that Char looked and felt like she was ready to pop.
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Charlotte and Joe's baby boy was born the Wednesday after the Gibbses' weekend trip to Takayama. Joe's grandmother, aunt, uncles from Switzerland, Dad and Mom Gibbs, "Pop" Childers (Ben's grandfatherly name) and several Gibbs uncles and aunts were at the hospital to welcome the little boy when he joined them. His name, Frederick Joseph Maier Gibbs, pleased everyone. Daddy Jose's father's name was Friedrich, his best friend and business partner was Freddie and Joseph was not only the English version of Jose but was also Charlotte's father's name. The baby, who'd been referred to as Baby Joey in utero, would continue to be Joey, thus distinguishing him from Uncle Freddie and his daddy.
The Gibbs family was complete, for now.
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Over the next 5 weeks, the family followed the same pattern in their temporary country. Work, school, frequent visits with the Ibarras, explorations around Japan including Kyoto and an overnight trip to Hiroshima for Tim, Artie, Andy and Greg, with the younger kids having a fun overnight with the Ibarras, and keeping up with their family at home.
Jethro and Tim continued their morning/late afternoon chats to both of their satisfaction. Tim also spoke with Leon, although that was no more than once a week. Artie chatted with her sister, mother and grandmother at least twice a week and Andy continued to send photos and text with his UK friends, including Lady Louise.
Jed's 2nd birthday, a Wednesday, was celebrated at home and on Skype with his entire family and again at the Ibarras with all the Japan-based cousins in attendance. The little guy had a wonderful time, particularly loving that his daddy spent the whole day with him. Remembering the Alert that tore him away from his little boy's 1st birthday, Tim took his 2nd birthday off work.
They spent their day doing some of Jed's favorite things, playing blocks, having a picnic lunch at a park and watching boats sailing on a pond, playing in an obstacle course his parents set up for him, running outside until he ran out of steam and various other fun things, including playing 'Simon Says' with his daddy. The family gathered for an early dinner that included his UK family, Skyping over breakfast!
The little guy, tired after a busy and fun day, cried when his grandpa and grandma blew kisses and waved goodbye to him at the end of the party. A soothing bath with his favorite water toys helped and he cuddled with his mama while his daddy read him a new story. His party with his Penny and their Ibarra family was also a lot of fun and Uncle Mark cuddled with him, telling him stories of his daddy when he was 2 years old.
Tim took a good bit of satisfaction with that, having thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the time spent here with his uncle, aunt and their family. In a way, it felt like he was now living part of the childhood he hadn't had, that is family gatherings, even though they had plenty of Gibbs family gatherings at home.
In a note to her in-laws, Artie told them it was amazing to watch her husband blossom, as if part of his hurt, grieving inner child was being healed and she supposed that was because Mark was so much like Dan or like the Dan Tim had wished for.
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During their 4th week, SSAIC Owens began working from home and after a few days to make sure the two SSAICs were in sync and Owens proved to Gibbs that he really was well enough to return to his duties, the junior Gibbses and Penny started to pack their belongings for their trip to the U.S. and then home. While Uncle Mark and Aunt Perla weren't joining them in Maine this year, they would travel to the UK in time for the Fourth of July party. They'd do a little exploring of their own before meeting the clan in Varkiza in late July.
Although the family would be in the U.S. for Kyle's birthday, the Ibarras asked to celebrate it the last weekend before the family left for the U.S., much to Kyle's delight! The weather had warmed up nicely and the day designated for the youngster's birthday celebration was a beautifully clear day.
When the Ibarras arrived, the group gathered outside for one of Kyle's favorite activities, a softball game. They played two games with everyone, even the littlest ones, playing in some capacity. That was followed by an early dinner, grilled and eaten in the back garden, complete with a homemade birthday cake, 9 candles, including one for the future, and one of Kyle's favorite flavors of ice cream.
The ice cream had a story attached to it. During Tim's second week as SSAIC, he and Artie attended a reception held by the Captain of the Yokosuka Base. When the Captain heard of the large family temporarily deployed to Japan, he invited them for a tour of the base, which took place the following weekend. The Gibbses thoroughly enjoyed themselves and as they were escorted around, the commissary, or store, was pointed out and explained to Artie and the children. After the explanation, Kyle asked if they had 'American' ice cream. Amused, their guide told him, yes, they did and was he having a problem finding his favorite flavors in Japanese stores? Kyle nodded and when asked, told the guide his favorite flavor, fudgy chocolate. As they left the base that day, the guide handed Kyle an insulated bag with a half-gallon container of his favorite fudgy chocolate ice cream!
Weeks later, when the decision was made to celebrate Kyle's birthday early, Tim contacted their tour guide, asking if it would be possible to arrange a purchase of a gallon of the fudgy chocolate ice cream, explaining they would be celebrating his son Kyle's birthday here with their local family before leaving for home.
When he arrived home that evening, Artie put a finger to his lips for him to keep quiet as she led him to the kitchen and the freezer. Inside, sitting on its own shelf, were two half gallon containers of Kyle's favorite ice cream, fudgy chocolate. After Tim stopped laughing, glad the kids were outside playing and couldn't hear him, they hid the container from curious children and then he demanded details.
Artie shrugged, "I was here, working on a project when the buzzer rang at the front door. When I looked, I saw a U.S. Navy officer with a large bag. It was Ensign Parker, our guide from the tour, and he handed me the bag, saying, "With the Captain's compliments and Happy Birthday to Kyle!" She smiled, "The bag is insulated, we can take whatever is left with us, enjoy it on the plane or wait until we land."
Tim laughed, "We have our cooler, too, we'll have more food going with us. If there's any left, that's wonderful, if not, we'll have more while we're in the U.S! I can't wait to see Kyle's face after we told him it was a one-time only treat while we're here. It's pretty funny, considering that at home we have to buy it at the American Food Store in London!"
She shook her head, "That is funny, I thought of that too. Well, we can use that as another positive reason to move to the U.S." She paused, "I've been thinking…"
Tim grinned, "About where we should go before Maine?"
She grinned back at him, "Yes. You, too?"
"After our conversations about moving to the U.S., yes. I've even checked for available rooms and transportation to and from. There is space available and if we rent a four-wheel drive van, we can get around on our own. I'm told if we drive surface roads, we can get as far as Capitol Mall and some of the monuments. I reserved one, just in case."
"We are speaking of staying in our house in Arlington, yes?"
"Yes, love. I haven't mentioned it to Penny yet."
"Will we have to move everything off the jet?"
"No, the jet will be locked up and the aircrew on leave for the days we're wherever we decide to go. So we can pack a suitcase and carry-on each."
"And our bedding!"
"Good point, hadn't thought of that, although we'd have that with us anyway. All right, is that what we want to do?"
"Yes, it'll be warmer, Cape Cod would be nearly as chilly as Maine. In Virginia, we can swim indoors in our pool and sleep in our house, explore the property and Penny will be with us. Oh, we don't have beds!"
"That's all right, we can rent them and Andy can sleep on the airbed we brought for him. We'll go online tonight to have the beds delivered the day we arrive – and then let our Marine tenants know! Dad and Mom are planning to join us, there are at least two unoccupied suites, one for them, one for Penny. We'd better let them know of the change and have them bring bed linens for themselves and Penny!"
Artie grinned, "We need to let the Porters know, maybe they'll come down! Were your cousins going to join us on the Cape?"
"No Baxters on the Cape, they're holding out for Greece, and yes, let's see if the Porters want to come. We'll rent more beds for them and they can bring their own linens."
"I'm so excited!"
Tim chuckled as he pulled her in for a kiss, "Me too, sweetheart, me too!"