Another two-parter, these are for the prompts 'dull' and 'father.' Emily joins in the fun this time. (970 words total)
Never a Dull Moment
Gibbs eyed the unhappy ten-year-old. She'd just been dropped off by her father with a quick, "Thanks, Jethro. I owe you one."
"Sorry my dad dumped me on you," Emily said.
Gibbs shrugged. "Wasn't dumping," he said. Then, seeing her look, he amended that, "I don't mind."
"Because now he owes you?" Emily asked, getting some of her spirit back.
Gibbs gave her a rare grin.
"What'll we do?" Emily asked.
"Your dad said there's a dvd-thing in here," Gibbs offered, setting Emily's bag on the coffee table. When Emily didn't respond to that, he said, "Planned a day of working in the basement."
"That sounds fun."
"Cleaning my basement?" Gibbs asked.
Emily nodded.
"Okay," he said and motioned for her to follow him.
In the basement, Emily looked around. "What are you cleaning?" she asked. "It doesn't look that dirty."
"The workbench," Gibbs answered. "Organizing, so it'll be ready for the next project."
They walked over to the workbench and Emily surveyed the disarray. "What's your next project? Another boat?" she asked.
Gibbs shook his head. "I don't know yet," he said. "I just want to be ready."
"Semper ...?" Emily asked.
"Paratus," Gibbs finished for her. "That's the Coast Guard motto," he added.
They worked for a while. Emily asked about the uses of the tools they were sorting. As he explained, Gibbs talked about the people who had sold or given them to him.
"I want to go to the flea market sometime," Emily told him. "It sounds more interesting than the mall."
She dumped out a container to sort through the contents and paused. "That's a lot of knives," she said.
"My pocketknife collection," Gibbs said.
Emily's eyes did not leave the pile. "How old were you when you got your first knife?" she asked.
"Emily," Gibbs said. Now she looked at him, with hope in her eyes.
"Your mom would," he started.
"Never have to know," she finished. "I'd keep it at my dad's."
"Your dad," he started.
"Owes you one," she finished.
Gibbs eyed her for a moment, evaluating. Then he leaned over the pile, considering it, and asked, "Which one do you like?"
Emily studied the collection and picked one out. Before she could get it open, Gibbs gently took it out of her hand.
"That's a good knife," he said. He opened it and tested the blade with his finger. "I think we could sharpen up the edge some," he said. He explained that dull blades were more dangerous than sharp ones because people tended to use more force to get the knife to cut, which led to more potential for accidents.
Gibbs pocketed the knife and directed Emily back to her sorting. When they decided the workbench was sufficiently organized, Emily showed she hadn't forgotten what was in Gibbs' pocket. "Where's your sharpener?" she asked.
Gibbs smiled and picked up the whetstone. He anticipated future Emily sharing with some future child the story of being given her first pocketknife.
They Grow up so Fast
Tobias Fornell looked between his daughter, Emily, and his friend Jethro Gibbs, wondering who his ex-wife would ultimately blame, himself, Emily, or Gibbs.
"Explain it to me again," he said. "Why were you making my ten-year-old daughter organize your tools?"
"Wasn't making her," Gibbs said at the same time as Emily said, "It was fun!"
Tobias looked exasperated. "I packed your portable dvd player," he said to Emily. He looked at Gibbs. "There's nothing to set up," he said. "No flashing twelve o'clock," he added, pointedly looking at Gibbs' ancient VCR.
"She didn't want a video for a babysitter, Tobias," Gibbs said, with just a slight edge to his tone.
Emily nodded, but then added honestly, "I wouldn't have minded watching The African Queen with you, though, Uncle Gibbs. We packed it."
Gibbs looked at her. "You could have said," he told her. "The original?" he asked.
Emily nodded. "It hasn't been remade. Not yet anyway."
"We're getting off-topic here," her father said. "We're trying to discuss why your Uncle Gibbs decided to give a ten-year-old a knife without asking her parents if it was okay first." After a pause, he added, "And sharpened the blade first, to boot."
"Dad, sharp blades are less dangerous than dull blades." Emily dealt with the easiest part of her father's objection to her having a new-to-her pocketknife.
"See, there we go again," her father said. "I'm not really sure I want your Uncle Gibbs to be teaching you this sort of stuff."
"Semper paratus," Emily said.
"Now you've got her spouting service mottos?" Tobias asked Gibbs.
"You asked me for a favor, remember?" Gibbs said. Then he relented toward Tobias and nailed Emily with a look. "We discussed knife safety and the responsibility of knife ownership," he said.
"I listened!" Emily said. "Ask me anything."
Tobias leaned his head against the back of the couch. "I shouldn't say I need a drink," he said, sighing. "I'm about to drive my ten-year-old daughter home."
Emily said excitedly, "We could have a sleepover!"
Now her father smiled. "At least you're still young enough to be excited at the thought of a sleeping bag on a hard living room floor," he said.
"I'd give you a pillow," Gibbs said.
"You're all heart, Jethro," Tobias said. "After the day I've had, though, I'm really looking forward to my own bed."
Emily went over to her dad and sat next to him, leaning her head against his arm. "I missed you, Dad," she said.
"I missed you too, honey. We've still got tomorrow. We'll do something fun." Tobias paused, then added, "By fun I mean going out for ice cream, not tattoos or piercings."
Emily looked up at her father. "Not even if it says, 'Dad'?"
"Not even."
