Chapter 4 - Wake Up Call

Trisha felt herself going up and down as Gibbs' chest rose and fell with every breath he took. He had his arms around her yet, and she had nowhere else she'd rather be. She moved her head a little, burrowed her face into Gibbs' neck, and sighed contently before closing her eyes again.

Gibbs opened one of his eyes when he felt Trisha's breath tickling his skin. He moved his hands in circular patterns on her small back and felt her nuzzle her cheek against him. "Trisha," he called gently, "we gotta get up, kiddo."

She stretched her body a little, but didn't make an effort to remove herself from Gibbs' arms. "I don't wanna," she replied groggily.

"I know," Gibbs said softly. "But if you don't get up now then you're gonna be up all night. Besides, we--" he was cut off by his cell phone as it started to vibrate and ring in his pocket. He shifted Trisha to the side and reached into his jeans before flipping open the cell and putting it to his ear. "Yea, Gibbs," he greeted. He listened to the voice on the other line before saying, "Yea, gimme 20 minutes." He turned his attention back to Trisha. "Now you really have to get up. That was Kate and Abby; they need me at headquarters."

Trisha pouted, "But I thought we were gonna work on 'The Boat' today?"

Gibbs gently pushed her off his body and to the side of the recliner. "Yea, well. Sometimes crime doesn't take the weekend off," he replied bitterly as he stood up and threw the blanket onto the couch. "Hey," he said to Trisha. When she looked at him Gibbs could see the disappointment in her eyes. "Go brush your teeth and get dressed, you're coming along." He smiled as her face lit up. "Get a move on!"

After Trisha ran to her bedroom, Gibbs took a quick shower and got dressed into his usual office attire: black pants and shoes, a maroon polo, and a white undershirt. He walked into his kitchen to grab something to eat when he found the letter for Trisha on the counter. Gibbs glanced at his watch and sighed. "You ready yet?" he yelled.

"I'm bruh-ing my teeth!" Trisha called back with a mouthful of toothpaste. Right then she sneezed, sending blue Colgate in every direction. "…Oops…" She giggled as she wiped it up and rinsed her mouth out. When she was done she walked to meet Gibbs at the front door.

He looked at her suspiciously. "Did I just hear you say 'oops' in the bathroom?" Gibbs asked as he opened the door for her.

She giggled as she walked past him onto the porch and waited while he locked up. When he turned around and looked at her, she smiled. "Yea, I learned something important. Apparently you shouldn't sneeze with a mouthful of toothpaste! It doesn't turn out too good. I tried wiping it up, but it really went all projectile on me and I couldn't reach some of the spots on the mirror."

Gibbs chuckled and shook his head as he walked to his car. They both climbed in and buckled up. Once they were driving for a few minutes, Gibbs pulled the letter out of his old olive green USMC jacket. "Here, this came for you today. It's from Rochelle," he told Trisha as he handed it to her.

She grabbed it from him and ripped open the envelope. It read:

Hey Trisha!

My dad told me it would be a good idea to write you since you're probably still busy getting your stuff together. Nothing much has happened here. Remember that basketball game that my dad and brother were in such a rush to get to? Yea, well my brother broke his ankle in that game when he tripped over his own feet. What a loser.

Just what the heck did you say to McGee? He called me the other day to talk! It was a little awkward at first because I had no idea what to talk to him about. He wanted to know if it was ok to base a character on me. McGee's like a writer or something. Then we got to talking about random things… did you know Gibbs sometimes calls him Elf Lord? Long story there, you should ask him about that one.

Sorry to cut this short, but my mom wants to take us Christmas shopping. Yes, I know it's still three weeks away… Speaking of, what are you gonna get Gibbs? If you're interested, here's an idea: Get someone to trace an outline of Gibbs' hand on a piece of paper. Then trace your hand on a piece of paper and cut it out. You put that inside the tracing of Gibbs' hand and trace it, then cut out your hand. It leaves you with a paper frame of your handprint inside Gibbs' handprint. Then you take some of that baking clay and mold it over the paper frame. Bake it, paint it, glue a piece of glass over the opening, get a picture of you and Gibbs and there you have it - a nice little picture frame for Gibbs' desk. Plus it'll be even more special because you made it yourself!

Okay, gotta go for real now. My mom and I are gonna drop this off at the post office. Talk to you later, and tell everyone I said hi!

-Chelle

Trisha smiled and put the letter back in the envelope. "Chelle says hi," she told Gibbs. "And why do you call McGee Elf Lord?"

"Huh? How did she find out about that?" Gibbs asked as he glanced at Trisha.

"McGee called her to chat," she giggled. "And he wanted to ask Chelle if her could use her in some story he's writing."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, "Well, McGee's a computer geek, which I'm sure you've noticed already. Him and Tony were fighting about some dumb game and I overheard it." He sighed, "McGee and DiNozzo fight like… I don't know… a married couple or something."

"Well you're pretty much an expert in that department, aren't ya?" Trisha snorted.

"What?" Gibbs barked as he sped up to avoid a red light.

"Whoa, Mr. Indianapolis 500, I want to live to see thirteen!" She made a face before speaking again. "Well, yea, so you've had three ex-wives?"

Gibbs glared at Trisha. "So who told you that, Kate or Abby?"

Her eyes got big. "I um, I don't remember… Are you mad?"

Gibbs turned into the NCIS parking lot. "Mad? Nahhh," he stated. He parked the car and climbed out.

Trisha followed him towards the building. "So you're not mad, then?"

"I just wish I could have told you some stuff about me, you know, instead of you hearing everything from other people," Gibbs told her. He slowed his pace down to allow Trisha to catch up to him.

She reached up and took his hand. "They didn't tell me everything, you know."

Gibbs started walking again. "Like?"

"Like what's your favorite color, Gibbs?" Trisha asked.

He smirked, "Well, I'd have to say blue."

She giggled, "That's what I would have guessed!"

"Oh yea? Why?" Gibbs inquired.

"Well, blue's the color of your eyes, Papa Bear." Trisha looked up at him with a grin on her face and squeezed his hand.

Gibbs laughed and gently squeezed her hand back. Together they walked hand in hand into the building.