Chapter Eleven: A DVD Player
Gibbs tossed the wet shirt into the corner of his room and pulled out a fresh white NCIS t-shirt from the drawer. He tugged it over his shoulders, shrugging it down to his waist and walked from his room. He found Nicole still laying flat under his boat. He sat down softly on the couch, so not to scare up so much dust. Nicole continued to stare at the ceiling. They were quiet for a while before Nicole turned up on her arm and looked at Gibbs.
"We should go buy a DVD player," she said with a smile. Gibbs shook his head.
"What would I want with a DVD player?" Gibbs asked crossing his arms over the NCIS.
"Um, we could watch movies," she said like he was an idiot. The corners of Gibbs' mouth turned up in a smile. Nicole shook her head before flopping back dramatically on her back. "What am I supposed to do then?"
Gibbs didn't answer her and she rolled her eyes. Big help he was. She wanted something to do, to keep her mind off what happened yesterday. She couldn't get the image of her mother in pain out of her head. She felt the tears coming back and fought hard to control them. Gibbs noticed the change and rose from the couch. He slowly walked up to his boat and leaned against it. He reached through the ribbing and stroked her shoulder.
"You alright, Kido?" he asked softly. She shook her head and the first of the tears escaped down her cheeks. Gibbs knew he needed something to distract her, he just didn't know what. She rolled away from him and started to run her fingers along the other side of the ribs on the boat. Gibbs circled around to the end and climbed up inside beside her.
He circled her with his arms and she leaned back into his chest. She let the tears flow down her cheeks, but she didn't make any sound. He closed his eyes, not knowing how to comfort her.
"It's going to be ok," he whispered not knowing what else to say. She continued to cry. Gibbs heard his cell phone ringing and picked his head up, looking back over his shoulder. He spotted it on the couch and decided it would be a bad time to move. He let it ring. After it had stopped there was a brief pause before it started ringing again. Gibbs simply tightened his grip on Nicole and stayed under the boat.
"You should get your phone," she whispered in a croaky voice.
"It can wait," Gibbs said.
"What if it's important, what if it's about my mom?" she asked picking at the rib in front of her. Gibbs loosened his grip on her and slid his body to the end of the plywood and then stood up. He grabbed his phone and quickly opened it up.
"Gibbs," he said rubbing his face looking back at the child under his boat. She looked terribly small and frail.
"Hey, Bossman, we got an update for you," Tony said. "What took you so long to get to the phone?"
"Doesn't matter, what do you have?" he said with a sigh. Tony noticed how much his boss sounded drained. He started to worry a bit about the older man.
"You alright, Gibbs?" Tony asked before he could stop himself.
"Case, Tony, update," Gibbs said impatiently.
"Right. We spoke to everyone in the JAG office here except Commander Conrad's replacement. He didn't even show up until after she was gone. Anyway, Admiral Morse, he runs the place, he knew Conrad the best. Their relationship goes back to before the child was born. He said she was seeing someone on base but didn't know who, Conrad was pretty elusive," Tony began.
"What else?" Gibbs asked.
Tony went on to tell him what the rest of the interviews yielded and how McGee had found the phone records and had spoken with one of the Commander's neighbors. He explained they would speak with the rest of the neighbors once it was later in the day. He also told Gibbs of the car that was driving by the house.
"That's what we got so far," Tony said when he had completed the update.
"Good work, DiNozzo. Keep at it and find this guy. He sounds like the best lead."
"That's what we thought too. Maybe the kid knows something."
"Yeah, I'll check into it," Gibbs said looking at Nicole.
"We'll call later tonight with the next update," Tony said and then Gibbs ended the call and tossed his cell phone on the couch. He crossed his arms and looked at Nicole. She rolled over and peeked at him from under the boat.
"Was about my mom, huh," she said sadly, earning a nod from Gibbs. "What did they say?"
"DiNozzo said they had to check into some more things," Gibbs said.
"He said more than that, Gibbs," she said sliding to the end of the plywood. She walked over to him and sat down on the steps looking up at him.
"Yeah he did. He said your mom's friend the Admiral told them that your mom was seeing someone on the base."
"What do you mean? She worked for Uncle Dillon."
"Uncle Dillon?" Gibbs asked.
"He's not my real uncle, he's just mom's friend. He's the Admiral."
"Ok. He said that your mom was seeing a man on base," Gibbs said.
"Like dating someone?"
"Yeah."
"I wouldn't know," she said looking down at her feet briefly. "Mom kept that part of her life from me."
"How so?"
"She didn't tell me anything. Never did. I think she didn't want me to get attached to anyone because she would leave them eventually."
"Must have been pretty tough," Gibbs said sitting down next to her.
"Things were good. I mean my mom and I…we got along," she said fresh tears coming to her eyes. "But she had this image of my dad I think and she wouldn't let anyone in. They knew each other all their lives."
"What about a car driving by the house?" Gibbs asked softly.
"Mom didn't think I knew about that. She'd send me over to Shanise's house when she would get nervous though. I pretended I didn't know what was going on, but it was a dark car."
"What kind do you remember?"
"No, just a four door, sedan kind of car I think," she said crossing her arms over her shoulders and holding herself. Gibbs draped his arm around her and pulled her to him.
"No idea of who was driving?"
"No. But I think my mom did," she said dropping her head. Gibbs could tell she didn't want to talk about it anymore. It was then he felt his stomach start to growl. Nicole heard it and looked up at him with a smile. He shrugged his shoulders.
"Guess I'm hungry. What about you?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said softly. Gibbs stood and headed up the stairs as Nicole followed him. He looked in the kitchen for something edible and cringed. There wasn't anything there. He leaned against the counter as Nicole stood against the door frame.
"Out of food," he said placing his hands palms down on the countertop. She shook her head.
"You don't have anything here do you?" she asked with a small laugh.
"I wasn't expecting anyone," he said looking sheepish. "How about we go out and get something?"
"Where?"
"You're choice."
"I just moved here, Gibbs, I don't know where to eat."
"Ok what are you in the mood for?"
"How about we just go fast food?"
"Burgers it is," Gibbs said pushing off from the counter and grabbing his coat. Nicole shrugged hers on and headed out to the car; Gibbs followed and drove them to the nearest burger joint. After eating, Gibbs was driving back to the house when they passed a store.
"Let's get a DVD player," Nicole said with a grin. Gibbs looked at her.
"Why?"
"Come on, Gibbs, broaden your horizons. Besides I need something to keep my mind occupied," she said the last part hinged on sadness. Gibbs looked at her and saw the pain in her eyes. He pulled into the parking lot much to the delight of Nicole.
"Guess we'll need to buy movies too," he said softly as he pulled into a parking spot. Nicole smiled wide and got out of the car.
After Nicole had picked out a suitable DVD player, along with several movies, microwave popcorn, and a case of grape soda Gibbs cringed when they got to the checkout. He forked over the cash shaking his head while the cashier commented to Nicole how lucky she was to have a dad like him. Nicole gave the woman a polite smile, but Gibbs saw the pain behind it. He didn't say anything just grabbed the bags and herded Nicole towards the doors.
In the car Nicole was quiet, and Gibbs wondered if it had anything to do with the comment the cashier had made. He thought about what this girl was going through; to lose both parents by the age of eleven was not an easy thing to do.
"I hope you know how to hook this thing up," Gibbs said as they pulled into the driveway. Nicole looked at him incredulously. She cocked an eyebrow. "What?"
"You don't?"
"No. I hate stuff like this," Gibbs said shaking his head. He got out of the car and grabbed the bags heading to the front door. Nicole scampered after him and once in the basement she pulled the DVD player from the box and expertly hooked it to the television. Gibbs was amazed. She then went to work getting the first DVD from the package, which took her about twenty minutes. After it was freed she put it into the machine and sat back on the couch with remote in hand. Gibbs took the cushion next to her.
"Looks like it works," she said as the menu for the movie came up.
"What is this anyway," Gibbs asked as he read the menu options. "What movie did you put in?"
"The Pacifier," she said softly as she pushed the enter key on the remote. The movie started. Gibbs looked over at her and raised an eyebrow at her. "What? It's good. Just watch it."
"Mindless entertainment I guess," Gibbs said with a sigh and settled into the couch for the movie. It wasn't long before Nicole was leaning against him, popcorn bowl in his lap, sodas on the table in front of them. She was quiet through the entire movie and Gibbs didn't think she laughed once, maybe cracked a smile. He knew she was still thinking about her mom. When the movie ended she sat up and hit the stop button before hitting the open button. The tray popped out and she put the DVD back into its case.
She looked over her other selections and made a choice. Gibbs watched as again she went through the lengthy process to remove the DVD from its packaging. He shook his head.
"What?" she asked looking up at him.
"Such an effort just to get the stupid thing from the box," Gibbs said. "What's this one called?"
"Uh, A Knight's Tale. It's a bit more girly than The Pacifier but it's funny."
"You want more popcorn?" he asked standing up with the empty bowl.
"No, but another grape pop wouldn't hurt," she said with a smile as she inserted the new DVD into the player. Gibbs smiled and took the bowl upstairs to the sink, grabbing a can of soda for her and a cup of coffee for himself. By the time he was back on the couch again she had the second movie going. This time she did laugh at the funny parts, but it wasn't a hearty laugh. She had made herself more comfortable, using his legs as a pillow, while stretching her legs down the rest of the couch. Gibbs sat back and watched, her more than the movie, wandering what he could do to help her deal with her internal pain.
It was early evening when Nicole popped the second movie out of the DVD player. Gibbs was starting to get hungry again and wondered if Nicole was too. She started to unwrap a third movie and Gibbs shook his head.
"What?" she asked again as she gnawed at the plastic with her teeth.
"Ever get tired of just sitting?" he asked picking up a sander and going to his boat. She watched him as she peeled the plastic away.
"No," she said with a smile as she tore at the stickers holding the case shut. He went to sanding on the boat. "Don't you ever get tired of working on your boat?"
Gibbs didn't answer but he did chuckle softly. He got her point but he somehow also thought it was different. He was creating something, she was wasting her time. He let it drop. He looked over at her as she put the DVD in and dropped the sander.
"How bout pizza for dinner?" he asked.
"Fast food for lunch, delivery pizza for supper, you're a top notch guy, Gibbs," she said with a giggle. "Works for me, I like meat lovers."
Gibbs nodded and reached for the phone. After ordering the pizza he went to work on the boat again while she settled in for movie number three. Gibbs picked up the box and read the title, Meet the Parents, and then set it down returning his attention to his boat. Thirty minutes later he heard the doorbell ring. He dropped the sander and wiped his hands before trotting up the steps pulling his wallet out as he went.
He paid the pizza man and was in the kitchen getting plates to take downstairs when he heard the doorbell ring again. He leaned back from the cupboard as if he could tell who was at the door from where he was before setting the plates down on the pizza box. He walked to his front door and pulled it open slowly. His eyebrows raised in question at the person standing on the other side.
"Thought I'd check on how you were doing," Director Shepard said with a smile.
"Doing fine. Team is working hard in California, chasing down a lead," Gibbs said stepping back. "Come on in, we were just about to eat pizza."
"Gibbs, where's the pizza!" they both heard Nicole yell from in the basement.
Jen nodded and stepped past him into the living room. Gibbs went back and picked up one more plate and the case of pop and led the way down the basement steps. Nicole turned when he came down and smiled politely when she saw Director Shepard right behind him.
TBC…