A/N: Sorry this took so long to get up. I actually had it written for quite some time, but the site wouldn't let me upload for some reason or another. So here is the next installment for you reading pleasure! As always, thanks for the reviews!
Chapter 20 - Setting Up
Trisha got on the phone and dialed Abby's cell number. She sat down at the kitchen table and watched Gibbs making coffee.
"Gibbs, what the hell did you do to Kate?" came an angry voice on the other line.
"No Abby, it's me, Trisha. Sorry for standing you and McGee up like that, but I kinda figured you'd go after Kate… Did you… go after Kate?" she asked.
"I thought you were Gibbs. Can you put him on the phone? I have this long speech made up that I planned to give him!" Abby paused. "On second thought, why don't you just tell me what happened? I mean, Tim and I followed Kate to her apartment and made sure she got there safely, but I didn't get a chance to talk to her. What happened?"
The little girl sighed. "I don't know Abby, it's kinda my fault. Gibbs didn't even do anything to Kate, she got mad at him because he was being an unknowing jerk to me… I guess he's gotta work on that some more."
"So he didn't do anything to her?" Abby inquired.
"Not that I know of, no," Trisha said. "You're gonna hafta save your speech for later, Abs!"
"Oh my God, you called me Abs! Gibbs is rubbing off on you already! Awwwwww," she cooed over the phone.
Trisha rolled her eyes. "Yea, so look. I have a plan for Gibbs to get Kate back, but I need your help on this. I need everyone's help, actually. This is gonna be an undercover operation! You in?"
"Oooh, sounds hinky! Of course I'm in. McGee's good to go, too. You're on speakerphone as of beep right now!" Abby sang in a weird voice. "What do you have in mind?"
"Ok, well you know that bar you and Kate sometimes go to?" Trisha asked Abby.
"You mean Scruff's? The one with the neon green cactus in the front window?" McGee piped up.
"Um… yea. Well, you know how it has open mic night where anyone can go sing? Gibbs agreed to sing a song to Kate," Trisha said slowly. "And I need your help to get her there."
"Oh my God!" Abby shrieked. "That's so… oh my God!"
Trisha winced and held the phone away from her ear.
Gibbs smiled and shook his head at Trisha. "I take it she's excited?"
She pulled a ' well duh!' face back at Gibbs. He ruffled her hair a little on his way out of the kitchen, coffee in hand.
"What song is he gonna sing? Do you know yet?" Abby probed.
"Well, I had a song in mind that I played for Gibbs, but I think I might have come up with a better one since then. Plus I didn't really want to start him off with anything too heavy, he might have sissied out on me and---"
"Hey, what did you just say?" Gibbs yelled from the living room.
"Oops, too loud," Trisha said more quietly into the phone. "I said 'a squirrel went up the tree'!" she yelled back to Gibbs.
Abby snickered and McGee rolled his eyes. "Good save there, kid," he said into Abby's cell phone.
"Gee, thanks McGee…" Trisha paused and cleared her throat. "Yea, so the song I was thinking of first was by Jimmy Buffett. But I thought of a much better one by Brad Paisley, it fits Kate almost perfectly!"
"Isn't he a country singer? Do you think Gibbs can pull off country?" Abby started laughing.
"Abby, I'm not sure if Gibbs can pull off any song. Have you ever heard him sing?" McGee asked her.
She thought for a little bit. "Well… no, come to think of it. What if he's really bad, Trisha?"
"I'm going more for the 'shock and awe' aspect of it, you know? I want Kate to realize, 'Hey, here's big tough ex-Marine Leroy Jethro Gibbs singing a love song to me in front of a crowd of strangers, the man has to love me' or something along those lines. Plus I figure one of you guys can slip Kate a piece of paper with the lyrics on it in case Gibbs really sucks at singing. So when's the next singing night?" Trish asked.
"Well, they're every Wednesday night. Can you have the Silver Haired Fox ready by then?" Abby responded.
"You bet, Abs. Just make sure you get Kate at the bar and near the stage when Gibbs is ready to sing. We'll work out the details later. I gotta go… I'm starving!"
"Ok, talk to you later!" Abby said cheerfully.
"Bye Trisha!" McGee called.
Trisha hung up the phone and went to find Gibbs. She noticed the basement door open and poked her head through the doorway to look down the stairs. The light was on and she could hear movement. "Gibbs?" she called.
"Yea, I'm here. Come down if you want," he replied.
She made her way down the stairs and found Gibbs sanding his boat. "So you want a pizza or something?" he asked her once she hit the bottom step.
"Were you listening in on the conversation?" Trisha watched him smirk. "Gibbs!"
He sat the sander down on the work bench behind him. "Come on, let's go get some food." Gibbs walked to Trisha and picked her up, carrying her up the stairs. "What do you want on your pizza? Peppers, onions, anchovies?"
"What? No, ew! How about cheese? You know, the stuff normal people eat. Why would you want to put small dead salted fish on a piece of pizza, anyway? That's gross!" Trisha rambled.
Gibbs laughed at her. "How about half cheese, half ham and pineapple? I could really go for some of that right now…"
She sighed. "Yea, sounds good. Just hurry up and order it before I waste away to nothingness!"
He sat her down on the kitchen counter and called the pizza place. "Yea, I want one large pizza, half cheese, half pineapple and ham. Gibbs residence. Yea, that's the address. Ok." He hung up and turned to Trisha. "It should be here in about fifteen minutes. If not I get to terrorize the delivery boy!"
"Yea, you terrorize people, all right…" Trisha snickered.
Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Don't start something you can't finish," he warned.
"Bring it on, big boy!" To her surprise Gibbs grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder for the second time that day. "I'm too weak! I need food first, Gibbs! Put me down!"
He took her into the living room and plopped her on the couch, then sat down beside her. Gibbs put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her to him. Trisha nestled into his body and they sat in a comfortable silence, waiting for the pizza to arrive.