A/N: I'mm baaacccckkk! Exams over, let winter break commence! Thank you for sticking with me! It's much appreciated :) To my recent followers/favourites, welcome aboard this wonderful ride! I truly can't wait to keep going!
This chapter is a bit of a detour from the main story line, I needed some fun after a lengthy absence to get me back into the mind frame of this verse. I'm hoping you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! We'll learn an interesting thing or two, as well as see some silly behaviour. Also to re-confirm, this story is currently taking place in December 2013, so the reference to EPL (English Premier League) has this as being the point in time discussed.
Now, I know you've been patiently waiting, so let's get straight into it!
"Come on Phoenix! Use your upper body strength! Shield it!" Mike encouraged.
Nix did his best to maintain control of the ball as Mike tried to get it, he turned on his favoured right foot & struck the ball, yes! He grinned at Mike.
Mike smiled "Nicely done, but try that on your left foot now" he replied, knowing full well his left foot was weaker.
Gibbs had pulled his work car up into their driveway & was leaning against it as he watched the pair, there was nice little park in the cul-de-sac area of their street & they'd marked out a small one-on-one pitch area. He could tell they were both concentrating hard, but there was also smiles planted on both of them, they were clearly enjoying themselves.
Gibbs knew that Mike was one of the first older males to show his son any kind of affection & attention. As a result his boy had clearly created a special bond with the guy, he remembered the countless stories that his boy told him that included Mike whether it was with his mum & sister, just the boys & Kelly, and even the odd one where it was just the pair of them. That bond was on clear display in front of him.
His eyes then cast to his girl, she was sitting on the small picnic table on the other side of the small park, she had some kind of paperwork in her lap & was busy writing, but every once in a while she looked up to the pair playing & would call out something like "foul" or "penalty", she was clearly playing referee.
"Gibbs" Marks greeted as he too arrived home.
Gibbs looked over "Marks"
"Who's that?" Marks asked motioning to the park & the person with his neighbour's kids.
"Marine Captain Michael Bond, on the Fit for Future Taskforce, but he's also…" Gibbs began to explain.
Marks saw his hesitation "also who?"
"Kelly's ex from when they were at college in Houston" Gibbs finally said, he hated speaking about Houston.
Marks's ears peaked at this, for one Gibbs had mentioned Houston & that was usually 'no go' territory, for the other this guy was on that task force? He'd heard about what was going on with Tony & had known of the Taskforce's visit, in fact he was due to hold a meeting with them first thing in the morning. He saw though that Gibbs was still trying to work him out "I could run the rule over him for you"
Gibbs flashed Marks a look, part of him would welcome that, wanting to see exactly what he was made of "I'll let you know" he would have continued but he'd gotten distracted by his daughter's loud comment..
"Hey Monkey!" Kelly called, knowing full well that he was so engrossed in the game she'd have to be loud to get his attention, once he looked up to her she continued. "Gladiator's on the phone"
Gibbs raised an eyebrow, Monkey? Gladiator?
"Think I may run the rule over a certain marine" Marks remarked.
Mike took the phone & quickly looked across to Nix "Squirt my laptop's on your sister's bed, go answer my Skype account, there's someone that wants to chat" he grinned.
Nix grinned "awesome!" he headed for the house & saw his dad & Col Marks "hey dad, hey Col Marks"
"Nix" Marks greeted.
"Who's on Skype for you?" Gibbs asked, who was Gladiator?
"Mike's younger brother Max" Nix answered "gotta scoot!" he called back, he didn't want to miss the chance to Skype with Max.
Shannon opened the door just in time for Nix to come bursting through "slow down!" she called after him, but he'd already bolted up the stairs, she saw her husband approach "he's?"
"Skype with Max, or Gladiator…. Mike's brother.." Gibbs answered.
Shannon smiled "how lovely, I was going to ask for Mike's help with something, but seeing as you're home, you'll do, come on" she said & then motioned towards her daughter & Mike "give them some privacy please"
"Ian, are Maggie & the kids still back stateside?" Shannon asked Marks.
"They get back tomorrow" Marks answered.
"Then join us for dinner & I won't accept no for an answer" Shannon declared.
"I'd love to join you" Mark replied, but he shared a smirk with Gibbs, between them they could assess Mike a lot better.
Shannon flashed a look between the pair "might I request that you go easy on Michael please, he's an outstanding marine officer that is very good friends with Kelly & cares greatly about her & Phoenix"
"You can always request Shannon" Marks smiled.
Gibbs laughed but saw the look he was getting from his wife "I'll go easy" he grinned as he headed inside, though he was still going to press a few things with Mike, including those nicknames.
Mike sat himself down on the bench where Kelly was "So, how's that going?" motioning to the paperwork in her lap.
"I ever tell you how much loooveee paperwork" Kelly groaned.
"Yes, you love it about as much as the rest of us!" Mike chuckled
"I'm sorry but the level of paperwork required for JAG courts is like almost double from civvie courts, this is ridiculous!" Kelly said holding the whole pile up.
"Well, just make sure you fill it all in completely, would hate for you to get the chance to compare notes on what JAG holding cells are like in comparison to civvie ones" Mike smirked.
"Shut that trap!" Kelly said, whacking him on his upper arm with the pile of paperwork. She was just glad her parents were both inside.
"Ouch!" Mike chuckled.
"Serves you right! I seem to recall getting you to swear yourself to secrecy!" Kelly remarked sternly.
"Thought there were no secrets in your family KG, you know F4 & all" Mike replied.
"This they don't need to know, Nix doesn't even know!" Kelly replied.
"I know he doesn't, I was the one who babysat him while you were there Kells" Mike pointed out.
"You were due for boy's time anyway" Kelly remarked.
"I was in town for 72 hours & looking forward to seeing the pair of you, instead I found myself having to come up with a sudden plan to keep your just 17 year old brother entertained & distracted for 12 hours so he'd be none the wiser as to where you got to!" Mike retorted.
Kelly huffed "Well it wasn't my fault, that bitch of a woman…"
"Takes two to tango" Mike interrupted "you acted exactly like you did back in the mock trial, so maybe it was a good thing you weren't in a proper court today"
Kelly just glared.
"Don't give me that look Kell, you know I'm right" Mike smiled before he turned serious "she pissed you off, and you allowed her to get under your skin & met her halfway. I'm just glad the judge didn't put it down on the record & just did as a warning, I'd have thought that you would have maybe learnt to watch yourself & how far you go" he didn't want that to happen again, he'd been there for it & it wasn't pretty in the slightest.
"I did learn from that" Kelly replied "I refocused myself, spent some time at the Dojo…."
"Dedicated time there? And did the Masters know why?" Mike asked, he knew that if she was there more than usual the instructors, or those considered Master's would take note.
"Yea, I told Master Kryn, he wasn't really impressed" Kelly admitted "we spent time meditating as he tried to help me control my reactions, it helped" though that was understatement he'd been extremely upset with her & she'd suffered the consequences as a result.
"I bet he wasn't, cause I wasn't" Mike added "you ever seen that lawyer again?"
"No, and I hope I never see her ever again" Kelly replied as she hopped up, after the battle in the courtroom & the 12 hours with her, she never wanted to lay eyes on the woman again!
"What was her name again?" Mike asked in cheek.
"M Allison Hart" Kelly answered as she picked up the ball "now, 10 bucks that I score against you" she needed to move her thoughts onto something totally different.
Mike ginned "you're on!"
Gibbs was looking out the front window, he could see the pair had been in a serious discussion, but they were now playing one-on-one themselves, or something along those lines.
"Jethro! The extension table, please… I'd like us to be able to set the table" Shannon asked from the kitchen, she'd already asked him 10 minutes ago & he'd just planted himself at the window.
Gibbs nodded, but instead of going to the garage he opened the front door, his daughter & Mike were now arm in arm in hysterical laughter "Michael!" he barked.
Mike had grabbed Kelly and flung her 180 degrees to prevent her from scoring, they were laughing when he heard an all too familiar marine bark that had his name attached to it, he's head shot up to see Gibbs staring at him. He instantly let go of Kelly & trotted over to him dutifully "sir?" he asked formally.
"I need a hand inside moving the tables around for dinner & getting the extension from the garage" Gibbs instructed.
"Yes sir" Mike agreed & headed inside instantly.
Kelly approached her dad as she saw Mike head inside "you don't have bark like a DI dad, a simple excuse me & request for help would do the job just the same" she went to go past him & saw her mum standing down the hall when a thought came to her, she turned back & grinned to her dad "you do realise that Mike actually outranks you, don't you? He's the officer.."
"She has a very valid point" Shannon smirked, she saw that Mike had just walked out of the garage with the extension "Michael?"
"Mrs G?" Mike asked hesitantly, he'd heard Kelly's remark.
"You do realise that you outrank my husband don't you?" Shannon asked, but her smirk was reserved for her husband.
Mike could feel Gibbs' stare boring a hole through his head "As the Deputy Special Assistant Director of NCIS, I could never outrank him Mrs G" he replied, he knew agreeing with her statement was life threatening.
"Glad someone in this room knows the score" Gibbs remarked dryly, but he loved the fact that Mike knew what to say, it put his wife's & daughter's remarks in their places "bring the table this way"
"Yes sir" Mike agreed following instantly.
Shannon & Kelly shared a look & then watched the two men start to move the tables around.
"Mikey, gladiator wants a quick word, something about X-mas in Florida" Nix remarked coming down the stairs, he did a quick check of the mood in the room & saw it was tense.
"Right, thanks Nix" Mike said heading for the stairs.
"Take your shower too Mikey, Nix can help with the tables" Shannon commented, but she noted the Christmas in Florida comment & wondered why they wouldn't be spending it in Austin with his father.
Mike just nodded.
"What's up?" Nix asked once Mike had ascended the stairs.
"Dad just didn't like me pointing out the difference in rankings" Kelly smirked.
Nix eyes widened as he understood the remark.
"And that boy knows who actually outranks who" Gibbs answered.
"That would be Captain Bond no?" Nix smirked.
Shannon couldn't help herself she chuckled "seems like everyone else baring you & him are comparing apples with apples, you're the only two comparing apples & oranges & I have no doubts about why Mike was doing so!"
Kelly could see her brother was confused "Mike said that as dad holds the position he holds in NCIS he could never outrank dad"
"But that's NCIS rankings, not marine rankings" Nix smirked, though he made sure to be well away from his dad & behind his mother.
Kelly pressed her lips together as she watched her dad move towards her brother.
"Come here" Gibbs smirked to his son & using a finger to motion him closer.
"I'm thinking not" Nix laughed as he moved backwards.
"I'm thinking you've not choice in the matter sonny boy" Gibbs smirked getting closer.
"Don't we have to arrange & set the table for dinner?" Nix tried looking at his mum.
"We do, but I'm thinking we still have a few minutes up our sleeves" Shannon smiled, they'd all been stressed these last few days, her son & husband especially, so this would be the perfect tonic.
Gibbs grinned as he brought himself right in front of his boy "now then, what did you say before?"
Nix grinned "I believe I pointed out that a Captain outranks a Gunny"
"That's what a thought" Gibbs smirked before he quite quickly & efficiently flung his boy over his shoulder & headed straight for the back door.
"Not outside! the temperature has dropped" Shannon called, besides she wanted to see it unfold!
Gibbs instantly turned & went straight for the lounge area, he laid his now laughing son down on the rug & using his arms held himself over his boy, grinning he spoke softly "I'm going to give you one chance & one chance only to retract your previous statement, you don't, well…."
Nix laughed "how can I retract a statement that is factual? Doing so would result in me lying!"
"He's right you know dad" Kelly laughed as she got comfortable on the couch watching the pair.
"You want to join us?" Gibbs smirked looking up at her.
"I believe the last time it was 2 on 1 we won" Kelly grinned.
"She's right" Nix laughed "we got you fair & square!"
Gibbs looked back down at his son "your chance has gone!" he grinned.
Shannon just watched as her husband attacked her son, it looked to be a mixture between wrestling & a tickle fight, she honestly didn't know what anyone outside of their family would make of this scene, two adult mucho males in this kind of state, both were laughing their heads off… it's just so funny & heart-warming to watch.
Kelly was laughing at the wrestling match that had started in front of her, they'd discovered quite quickly that anything breakable couldn't go near the lounge area, as that was a main venue for this kind of stuff, she saw her mum lung to rescue the vase on a nearby table, just in case. After a few minutes though she noticed that Mike was standing at the foot of the stairs looking utterly shocked, but what he was wearing caught her attention, she knew her brother & dad were winding up their session by their breathing & decided to play with some more fire "Ah squirt, you might want to check out what Mikey's wearing" she smirked.
Mike had been glad when Nix had given him a chance to relieve himself from the situation & had taken Shannon's idea of the shower & run with it, he knew it had only been like 11 minutes, but the time out had helped relax him from where the conversation had been leading to. He knew that Kelly had started that topic just to rile her dad, but he didn't want to get caught in the middle & he certainly was not going to agree with her that he outranked her dad, even if he did, he wasn't nuts! But when he went through his duffle he'd decided on exactly what to wear, he knew the reaction it would bring from one member of the family & he hoped it would relax him even more.
When he'd come down the stairs though, he'd been utterly shocked, he couldn't believe his eyes & what he was seeing, their dad was having a tickling wrestling match with Nix? What the? He was soo confused as he watched a tough as nails marine having… well, a tickle wrestling match, he didn't know what to make of that. He then heard Kelly's comment & saw that Nix & Gibbs were now both lying on their backs catching their breaths, he just smiled at Nix trying to get over his confusion.
Gibbs was lying on the rug trying to catch his breath, loving what had transpired, he hadn't laughed like that in a few days & it was the perfect tonic to get rid of some stresses. He saw though that Mike was now back downstairs, it couldn't have been more than 12 minutes since he'd gone up & was already back downstairs? Guess he showered like a proper marine should, so he couldn't call him on that, drats! But he saw that he was wearing a pair of jeans with some kind of soccer jersey, he wasn't sure which team that he couldn't tell, but he wondered what was so special about it. It kind of looked like Napoli's jersey, sort of.
Nix was catching his breath having finally been released by his dad, he loved those sessions, it was such great fun, he'd never get sick or too old for them! He heard his sister's comment & opened one eye to look at Mike, then both of eyes opened wide eyed as he saw the guy smiling at him "I don't think so!" he exclaimed jumping up "we don't wear those colours in this house!"
Mike smirked "I wear no other colours" he considered something "you feel strange to be wearing sky blue?" he knew the Napoli colours were sky blue too.
Nix smirked "Completely different blue, not to mention emblem! Take it off!"
"Not happening" Mike smirked.
Gibbs watched as his son & Mike were staring at each other, he was now perched next to his wife "what's wrong with what he's wearing?"
"Mike is a Manchester City fan, the Sky Blue half of Manchester, unlike your son & by default, us who are Manchester United fans, from the red half of Manchester" Shannon explained.
Gibbs had never really gotten that passionately involved in sport before, but he was learning just how passionate fans of soccer.. football were in Europe & the UK, it actually surprised him how passionately some people followed the teams, he recalled the saying someone said to him 'football is our religion' & he was starting to understand just how much that was true.
Kelly just watched as Mike & her brother stared each other down, this rivalry was so fun to watch!
"You know, the devils are going pretty shit at the moment, what 9th in the league & not even able to beat West Brom?" Mike smirked.
"I'm sorry, how many titles have City won? How long were they languishing in the lower leagues?" Nix smirked back "Now, take it off! We don't wear any EPL colours in this house apart from Man U"
"You heard him Michael" Gibbs interjected.
Mike flashed a look to Gibbs, shit! He didn't want to give in.. but.. "With all due respect sir, I can't. I've never backed down from wearing these colours, not even in the middle of red devil territory & never will" he sucked in a breath, hoping that would be acceptable.
Shannon flashed a looked between the trio of males in the room, none looked like they were wanting to back down, her husband has yet to show any real loyalty to a club unlike her son, but then again, they'd never in a situation to warrant it. She knew Mike would be loathed to strip it off, he was a City fan through & through but would he stay on course against her husband? She wasn't too sure..
Gibbs eyed him, he knew that the term 'red devil territory' meant the area of Manchester that supported Manchester United, he also knew that this was a chance to see what kind of balls the guy had "We aren't in Manchester, we are in my house & in my house there are certain rules followed, this being one of them"
Nix grinned at Mike, loving that his dad was backing him up on this.
Kelly had no idea what Mike would say to that, she shared a look of worry with her mum.
Mike sucked in a breath, damn! He considered his options when an idea came to him "I can appreciate that sir, so I'll happily change my top so long as Phoenix admits Man U have no chance of winning the EPL & Man City are clearly the better team this season." he smirked to Nix.
Shannon looked at her son, she knew, they all knew that Manchester Utd were currently only 9th on the EPL table, and they really weren't looking likely to get anywhere near the top of the table, she also knew that her son would be loathed to admit that point "Phoenix? Is that a reasonable request"
Gibbs had to admit, he was impressed, the guy had thought on his feet very quickly for a way forward that would both show respect for what he demanded & also allowed for his loyalty to his club to remain in tact, but what would his son's reply be?
Nix pressed his lips together, no matter how true it was he wasn't going admit that! No chance! Nix gritted his teeth "he can leave it on"
Gibbs was more than surprised at his son's statement "really?"
Kelly knew why her brother had said that, he'd rather let Mike wear the jersey than admit his team weren't beating their arch rivals & were actually doing pretty shit in the league this season, she watched as her brother just headed towards the stairs & shared a smile with Mike.
Mike smiled at Kelly, he knew the reaction he'd get from Nix & he got it in spade "can I help set the table?" he asked Shannon.
"That would be appreciated Mikey, thank you" Shannon smiled "and nicely played"
Mike gave her a sly grin as he headed towards the table.
Kelly helped Mike get the table all sorted, she'd seen her dad had quizzed her mum about why her brother had let slip, he was still getting used to how passionate people were towards teams, her brother included. They had just finished setting it when the front door opened & saw her grandfather & Tim come in.
"Hey gramps, how was your afternoon?" Kelly asked.
"Was lovely, took myself off down to the port area, its quite scenic" Jack answered.
"Its certainly beautiful down there" Shannon replied "good evening Tim, glad you could join us"
"Hi, glad I could make it too Mrs Gibbs" Tim replied, he saw that out of the corner of his eye Mike had smiled to himself when he'd addressed Shannon, clearly liking that he was having to be so formal.
"Hey" Kelly smiled greeting him.
Tim smiled & went in for a kiss, he wanted to make Mike feel as uncomfortable as possible.
Mike had to admit he was a little surprised to hear Tim refer to Shannon so formally, knowing that though made him feel good, he was clearly having to do that for a reason. He watched as the guy went into a kiss with Kelly, though it had been years since he & Kelly had been in a relationship, & he'd rarely seen her since with a partner in tow, he always felt off put seeing her kiss someone else. He knew though that she was happy in her relationship with Tim & that's all he wanted. His thought pattern though got interrupted when he saw Nix come back downstairs & just couldn't help himself he let bellowed out a laugh.
Jack had to admit he was intrigued by the sudden laughter from not just Mike, but his son & Shannon too, they were clearly laughing at Nix but what was so funny?
Tim got distracted by the laughter & realised that now even Kelly was laughing "what's so funny?" he wasn't liking that there was family in joke at play & that Mike was clearly in the know! He should have come over earlier!
"You seriously can't back down can you?" Kelly chuckled, her brother was wearing his David Beckham Manchester Utd jersey.
"Never back down, never surrender!" Nix grinned at Mike.
A/N: Geez, this family really like to stir each other! J With regards to the rivalry between the Manchester teams, this is one of the bigger rivalry's in European football, very passionate. I've got friends on either side & it can get very heated! I thought it would be a fun little twist. Mike though seems to handling things, or rather Gibbs, ok, but what about Tim? Even after the elevator chat with Kelly he still seems a little jealous..
You know I love to hear your thoughts/comments, so review away! More up soon!