Gibbs doesn't want to wake the kids the next morning - God knows they need the rest - but as it approaches noon the next day, Ducky arrives and he finds he hasn't got much choice. He knocks on the first bedroom door, with no answer. He tries again, before pushing it open gently. He curses under his breath. There have been agents on all the doors all night - they couldn't have gone far. He moves to the next bedroom and foregoes the knock, opening the door and peering straight in. He lets out a breath. They really didn't go far. Abby and Sarah are curled around Jimmy in the centre of the room's double bed; Ellie lies to Abby's side and Tim to Sarah's. Tony, who had been curled up on an armchair pushed between the bed and the door, flies to his feet as the creaking of the hinge wakes him. He looks alarmed for about two seconds, before he takes in the scene and his shoulders relax. "Morning." He smiles, pretending that he's not breathless and shaking.
"Morning." Gibbs returns, as the kids in bed start to stir. "Dr Mallard's ready when you guys are."
Tony nods, but doesn't turn away. "You hear that, McSleepingBeauty?" He raises his voice over his shoulder. Tim groans, but sits up all the same. He surveys the others, tangled in blankets and pillows.
"We'll be ten minutes."
...
Dr Donald Mallard is good with kids. That's kind of taken as fact around NCIS - his spiralling stories and gentle nature mean he hardly even has to try. Even so, Gibbs thinks as he watches from the next room, these kids in particular are not making it easy for him. Refusing to be seen to one at a time, he weighs and measures each of them under the watchful eyes of the others, and lets Tim take Sarah's observations and Tony take Abby's themselves. It's a smart move of the kids' not to trust him, to be fair - Gibbs wouldn't in their shoes. It's going pretty well all things considered, until Ducky spots the way that Jimmy's holding his arm.
"Did you take a tumble there, lad?" He reaches out to take the boy's wrist, but in a flash Tony is by his side, pushing them apart.
"Don't touch him!" He hisses. "You said it would just be observations." All the children are standing now.
"I do apologise." Ducky placates, lowering his hands slowly. "It just looks as though your friend here might have hurt himself."
"He didn't do it to himself!" Tony laughs, but it twists his face like he's in pain.
"Then why don't you tell us who did?" Gibbs steps in.
"It's been dealt with." Tony mutters darkly.
"Was it the lady you were telling us about?" Gibbs probes, and Jimmy pales. "The one we're looking for?" He shakes his head ferociously.
"He said it's dealt with." Tim shouts suddenly. He stands with his fists clenched by his sides, but he looks more like a deer in headlights than anything else. "Would you just shut up about things you don't understand?" Sarah starts to cry and he moves to calm her.
"It's quite alright if-" Ducky is cut off as Abby stomps her foot.
"It was a grown up!" She pouts. "It was a grown up but Tony and Timmy saved him and now he lives with us! And if you do the same to him, then we'll just run away and be safe again!"
Ellie flinches back like she's been burned. "She doesn't mean that, Agent Gibbs - she's just upset, don't be angry!" She says shakily.
"Goodness gracious, we have got ourselves wound up now haven't we?" Ducky stands up and everyone falls quiet. Gibbs resists the urge to interrupt. "I meant young Jimmy no harm," He says calmly. "But I can quite understand why you might think so. I can assure you that we are not going to hurt you, despite your previous experiences."
Jimmy still has his eyes closed and Tim is clutching Sarah to his chest, but she is no longer crying and Ellie and Abby seem to have lost their momentum. Tony shakes his head wordlessly. "Perhaps we ought to call it a day." Ducky says, to Gibbs but clearly enough that the children can hear him. "I see no immediate points of concern." Gibbs nods, and Ducky begins to pack up his things. The kids still haven't moved, and the stunned expressions on their faces haven't changed. Abby is the first to speak, as Dr Mallard leaves the room.
"I'm sorry." She says, lip wobbling.
"No apologies." Gibbs shakes his head, before moving to take a seat in the chair Ducky has vacated. "A long time ago, I had a job that meant a lot of people tried to hurt me too. I made some rules though, to help me feel safe. That's one of them."
"Tony has rules!" Sarah perks up, seemingly encouraged by the familiar vocabulary.
"I thought you might. You don't have to tell me them. Just know that sometimes, it's ok to break them. Sometimes we get scared, and we make a rule that we don't need, at least not when we're safe."
"We're not safe." Tim blurts out. He doesn't elaborate in front of the little ones, but he isn't just referring to their mistrust of Ducky.
"I'm here to make sure that you are. So is Ducky, and Kate, and everyone else at NCIS."
"Do you promise?" Abby asks. She puts her index finger to her lips then flattens that same hand over her other fist at the last word. Gibbs recognises it as ASL, and repeats the action back to her as he says:
"I promise."
...
That evening, Gibbs puts a movie on. He hasn't used his TV in what feels like years, but it only takes him half an hour of trying not to curse at the thing and then recruiting Tim to get it running before it flickers to life and begins playing Hocus Pocus. It's not Halloween yet, but Kelly used to love this one. The kids gather round the sofa and then change their minds and sprawl across the floor under blankets and cushions. Tim sits at the back of the group, nearest to the couch that Gibbs has settled on, and Tony hovers by the door. Music begins to fill the room, and the Abby giggles as Ellie wraps yet another blanket around herself. It's a little awkward at first, all being together like this, but by the time they reach the halfway point of the film, everyone seems much more relaxed, and they whisper and laugh freely. Under the cover of this background noise, Tim turns to Gibbs.
"Abby signed to you today."
Gibbs waits for him to continue - the kid's lips are pressed together like he's trying and failing to keep something in.
"Her parents were deaf, and she doesn't realise when she's doing it, except the rest of us have noticed - she only does it when she trusts someone."
Sarah laughs and then cries out at some action happening on the screen.
"I shouldn't have shouted earlier." Tim murmurs, eyes downcast. "Me and Sarah's parents were - not great, and - well, I'm sorry I thought that you were the same. I think I know now that you're not."
"What did I tell you about apologies?" Gibbs gives a wry smile. Tim looks alarmed at first but quickly sees that it's just teasing. "What made you see?" He prompts.
Tim laughs. "The fact that you didn't beat me nine ways to Sunday when I yelled at you."
"I would never do that, Tim."
"I know. I do. Just... need to tell my brain that sometimes."
"Your gut knows better than your brain most times."
Tim hums thoughtfully. "Thank you for helping us."
"No thanks needed, kid. I just wish that someone had done it a long time ago."
Ellie looks around from where she's lying on her stomach in front of the TV. "Do you have hot cocoa?"
Gibbs grins. Thanks to Kate picking some up for him on her way over, he does.
"Sure." He stands up. "Who wants some?"
...
Tony watches the kids snoozing in their pile on the living room floor. The credits are rolling and none of them made it to the end save Tim, who's chatting quietly to Gibbs. Tony remembers first meeting the kid, how he practically refused to even talk to Tony until Sarah had been fed and they'd both been warmed up from their practically hypothermic state. How even then, he'd only spoken in hushed, one or two word answers. He's confident and decisive now, capable of looking after the others - Tony feels a glow of pride in his chest at having guided him to become that way. But the paradox is, the more he learns that he can do it, that he's grown (because no matter how much Tony calls him kid, he is grown) the less he needs Tony. And the more Tony seems to need him. This time last week, that would've been him on the couch beside his friend, talking long into the night. Now he's not in the picture at all, just someone staring at it on the wall in the gallery. He thinks about Jimmy throwing up, about Sarah crying and Abby screaming. He leaves the living room and heads upstairs to the bedroom. Maybe it's for the best.