Chapter 19 - Plans

Trisha walked back into the house to find Gibbs seated on the couch, his head in his hands. When she closed the door and turned back around, Gibbs was looking at her. She couldn't match his gaze. Her eyes dropped to the floor. "It's my fault," she said. Trisha waited for a response, but got none. "I'm sorry, Gibbs. I should have just kept my mouth shut. I always screw everything up. Maybe if I hadn't told Kate what I did she wouldn't have gotten mad and---"

Gibbs had silently gotten up from the couch and knelt in front of Trisha. He put his pointer finger under her chin and tilted her face upwards to look at him. "We'll get her back, kid," he said simply, then wrapped his arms around her small frame.

"I'm sorry," Trisha repeated quietly, her face buried in Gibbs' shirt.

"Me too, Trish," he replied, rubbing her back. "Me too."

A few minutes later Trisha picked her head up off of Gibbs' shoulder. "You still want that head rub?" she asked him.

He smiled back at her, his blue eyes twinkling. "You offering one?"

She stepped back and took his hand, pulling him towards the couch. Trisha guided Gibbs to sit on the floor, his back resting against the front of the sofa. She climbed and sat behind him on the cushions in an Indian style.

"Ok, now close your eyes and relax Gibbs," she instructed.

Gibbs nodded and closed his eyes. He sighed contently when Trisha's hands started gently sliding through his silver hair.

Trisha smiled as Gibbs shifted and leaned his head backwards against her legs. She kept moving her hands, starting from the front of his hairline and slowly working backwards until her fingers would hit her legs, then lightly retraced the same path she had just followed. She began to apply a little more pressure with the tips of her fingers and began to lightly massage his head. "How's this, Gibbs?" she asked.

He just moaned quietly. "You're really good at this, kid."

She leaned forward to see his face. Gibbs was sitting there, wearing that same goofy smile that he had shown when she first gave him a head rub. Trisha kept one hand moving through his hair while she moved the other to his chest. She made random patterns on his shirt and felt his muscles relax under her touch.

Fifteen minutes later, Gibbs scared the crap out of her when he jumped up suddenly. "C'mon," he said as he reached out for her and put his hands under her arms. Gibbs picked her up and sat down on the sofa, placing Trisha in his lap so that her back was against his front.

"Gibbs," she giggled, "whatcha doin?"

"Your turn," he said with a smile. "Now close your eyes and relax."

Trisha shrugged and closed her eyes. She felt Gibbs remove her pony tail holder and ruffle her hair out a little.

Gibbs ran his hands through Trisha's hair and repeated, gesture for gesture, the exact same process she had done for him. Except, in the end, Trisha fell asleep in Gibbs' lap, her head resting against his chest. He kept one arm around her middle, the other hand holding the remote for the television as he channel surfed aimlessly.

She wasn't asleep for long. "I know how we're gonna get her back," Trisha stated sleepily as she woke up.

"Hmm?" Gibbs asked the little girl.

"Kate. I know how we're gonna get her back." She tilted her head back against his chest and looked at him upside down. "I have a really good idea…"

"I sense a 'but' coming," Gibbs said, smirking.

Trisha smiled and nodded once. "But it's gonna take some careful planning and pride swallowing." She paused for a minute, deep in thought. "Gibbs, how good's your singing voice? And what do you think of Jimmy Buffett?"

His eyebrows went up as he stared down at her. "What are you thinkin, kid? I was thinking more along the lines of a candlelight dinner…"

She twisted around in his lap to face him. "That's too boring. You need something that's gonna catch her off-guard. You know how Abby and Kate sometimes go out for drinks after work? Well I, for one, know that the place they go to has an open mic night…"

He shook his head. "Are you serious? Trisha, there's no way I'm singing in front of---"

"Gibbs, do you want her back or not?" she asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

"Of course you know I want her back," he answered quickly. Gibbs reached out and tucked some of Trisha's hair behind her ear.

She smiled at his caring gesture. "Good. I have the perfect song in mind, too. Let me go get the CD." Trisha climbed out of Gibbs' lap and scurried off to her bedroom. She came back to the living room and put the CD in the DVD player. Trisha took the remote from Gibbs and pressed the 'play' button. She went back to Gibbs, crawled into his lap, and they listened to the song together.

When it was over Trisha hit the 'stop' button. "Well, what do ya think?"

Gibbs was silent for a moment. "Oh, what the hell, she's worth it." He held out his hand for Trisha to shake. "You got yourself a deal."

She grasped the three of Gibbs' fingers that she could get her hand around. "Deal," she replied, beaming from ear to ear. "We're gonna need the team's help on this."

A/N: Ok, I'm back and refreshed! I got a little overwhelmed with trying to balance out school work and my writing, but I think I found a happy medium. I just might not get to update as often as I'd like; things are getting busy as the semester's starting to wind down. A huge thanks to everyone who reviewed, offered words of encouragement, or ideas for the story. I'm glad you guys are still reading it!