Evening at Gibbs'

Gibbs looked up from his newspaper as the door opened and Jack came running in, heading for the kitchen and his water bowl. Dropping the newspaper on the coffee table, Gibbs stood and made for the foyer where his daughter was hanging Jack's leash on the coat stand. He glanced at the front door, half expecting Tony to be on the way in, but there was no sign of him.

Sammie turned around and smiled at him, moving in for a hug. "Hi, Dad."

"Hey." Gibbs held on for as long as she would let him. As she began to pull away, he joked, "You should be proud of me; I didn't send out a search party."

Sammie laughed. "Like you wouldn't have just come looking yourself."

He smiled down at her. "True."

"I didn't mean to take so long. Tony and I were talking, and I guess we lost track of time."

Gibbs tilted his head slightly as he realized she looked unsettled. "Not a problem. Want some tea?"

She nodded, looking at him thoughtfully. He paused, but when she didn't say anything, he turned toward the kitchen, only to turn back to her as he felt her hand smacking him on the back of the head. "What'd I do?" he asked, a small smile on his face as he reached up to rub the affected area.

Her lips twitched as she tried to repress her own smile. "Confused Tony."

Gibbs' brow furrowed as he tried to remember his conversation with his second that morning. "I said you deserve the best…"

"And he took that to mean you were warning him off."

Gibbs thought about that, then sighed. "Sorry, Kells. Should have realized he'd go there."

Sammie shook her head at him, smiling softly. "I get the impression if you want to say something nice to Tony, you have to be very direct."

Nodding emphatically, Gibbs headed for the kitchen. Sammie followed. "I asked him why he's insecure… he said I should meet his father some day?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Man's a piece of work… breezes into town when it's to his benefit." He opened the refrigerator, considering its contents. "Tried to get him to see Tony's worth… work in progress."

He glanced over at Sammie, who looked angry. "Want to order in?"

She nodded; he closed the fridge door and walked over to her, enfolding her in another hug. "Hey," he said softly. "Want me to talk to him? I can fix it."

She sighed, shaking her head. "I won't get back here for over a month. We're going to stay in the friend zone… maybe he'll meet Ms. Right."

Gibbs kissed the top of her head. "And you might meet Mr. Right."

Sammie sighed. "I think I just did, Dad." Pulling away, she looked up at him. "He's smart, funny, gorgeous, as I already said… but he's also easy to talk to, and he talks to me like I'm an equal, a real person in my own right… you'd think guys would have figured that out by now, but I can't tell you how many of the guys I've dated seem to just be humoring me."

Gibbs reached down to take her hand. "Are you sure you don't want me to set him straight?"

Sammie smiled at him. "Let's go with 'if it's meant to be…'. I don't want to put any pressure on him… or on myself, to be honest."

"You change your mind, let me know."

Sammie nodded, then looked past him and her eyes widened. "Incoming!"

Gibbs turned and caught Jack just as he was jumping up to punch him in the back with his two front feet. "You are a menace," he said to the dog, who grinned at him.

Sammie laughed and called Jack as she walked to the back door. "He does have a sense of humor." She let him outside, then leaned against the kitchen counter. "Do you mind if I go home right after dinner? I thought I'd stay until later tonight, but…" Her voice trailed off and she looked at him, her expression anxious.

"I don't mind. Today was rough."

"That's an understatement." Sammie shook her head. "I think I could use some more time to think everything through before I go back to work. And I've been putting off some of my friends and family who've been trying to find out more after I posted about being reunited with you."

Gibbs opened a drawer, pulled out a small stack of takeout menus, and handed them to her. "They going to make your life difficult?"

Sammie thought about that. "Well… mostly no. My Aunt Tina will… Momma's older sister. She tried to step into Momma's place with me after she died, and I wasn't as receptive to that as she wanted." She looked at Gibbs. "She's going to be a little jealous of you, I think. She's got a need to be needed." Sammie sighed. "She's left me a bunch of messages, and I've put her off so far. If I don't get in touch soon, she might just show up." She shrugged. "At least she's not local… lives in Indiana." She flipped through the takeout menus, then handed them back to Gibbs. "Diner? I'm thinking breakfast for dinner."

Gibbs nodded. "Good comfort food."

"Will Elaine be there?"

"Probably not… she's usually morning shift."

"Say hi for me the next time you see her."

"That'll be tomorrow morning."

Sammie smiled. "Let's give Jack a few more minutes to settle down, then I'll put him in my room and we can go. He's wired from playing at the dog park."

They went into the living room and sat on the couch. Sammie leaned her elbow on a cushion and propped her head on her hand. "What did Abby say about Joann's bottle?"

"She's backlogged with evidence for other teams, so no results until tomorrow morning." Gibbs paused, thinking. "I didn't tell her what it's about… but since there's no case number associated with it, she's already a little suspicious."

"That's no surprise." Sammie reached out and took her father's hand. "You'll keep me posted?"

Gibbs gave her a small smile. "I intend to be in touch every day, until you tell me to stop."

She grinned at him. "Any way I can get you to update to a smart phone so you can text me?"

"We'll see."

Sammie laughed. "That's a polite no!"

Gibbs grinned at her. "Or a procrastination. Would be fun to see everyone's faces if I were to show up with one of those things and actually knew how to use it."

Sammie's eyes widened. "That would be awesome. I can help you get a phone, teach you the basics."

Gibbs realized that he'd probably end up with a new phone soon after she moved back home. "Give me the next five weeks to get used to the idea."

"Deal." Sammie squeezed his hand, then let go and got up from the couch. "I'm hungry. Let's get moving."

Gibbs watched her head for the kitchen to let Jack back inside. "You'd be so proud of her, Shannon," he whispered.

Jack ran right up the stairs in response to Sammie telling him "Up, up." Gibbs got to his feet, grabbing his car keys from the table in the foyer and waiting by the door. He heard her bedroom door shut, then she came downstairs.

They headed outside, and he locked the door behind him. Sammie noticed. "Thanks, Dad."

Gibbs smiled. "Gotta protect my grand-dog."

She laughed. "Yes, you do." She looked at him as they walked to the car. "Tell me some stories about Mom when we get to the diner?"

"Be happy to."

Back at Work

The next morning, Gibbs knocked on Vance's open office door, his usual coffee in hand. Vance looked up from his seat at his desk.

"Gibbs," Vance greeted with a nod.

"Leon." Gibbs glanced at the director's desk and raised an eyebrow. "You look busy."

Vance grimaced at the piles of paper. "Figured I'd better get some of this out of the way before I leave for that conference in Paris on Wednesday." He stood and gestured toward the armchairs at the back of the room. Gibbs closed the door behind him, and followed, sitting as Vance did.

"Better you than me," Gibbs smirked.

Vance shot him a horrified look. "We'd end up barred for life if I sent you as my representative."

Gibbs chuckled. "I'm not that bad."

Vance said nothing in response to that, but the expression on his face got his point across. "Ready to get back to work?"

Gibbs sipped his coffee, then nodded. "Kelly went back to her place last night." He couldn't keep the soft smile off his face. "She's amazing."

Vance smiled. "I'm happy for you, Gibbs. Not often a person gets a second chance like that."

"Gonna make the most of it," Gibbs said, meeting Vance's eyes.

"Lookin' for a change in assignment?" Vance asked.

Gibbs shook his head. "She's an adult, and she's fiercely independent. Doesn't need me the way she did. But if all goes as planned, she'll be moving back home before Memorial Day."

"Congratulations, Gibbs." Vance grinned at him. "I told the kids about your daughter coming back to life. Kayla can't wait to meet her, so don't forget to let me know when you're having that homecoming party."

Gibbs nodded.

"I want you on cold cases leading up to her moving in," Vance continued. "I don't want anything interfering with that."

"Thanks, Leon." Gibbs seemed as if he meant to say more, but hesitated.

"Something on your mind?" Vance asked.

"Yeah." Gibbs spoke slowly. "Joann showed up the other day."

"Your mother-in-law?"

Gibbs nodded, and Vance grimaced. "Knew how we handled things was gonna come back to bite us in our collective asses."

Gibbs sighed. "Kelly took her on. Got her to admit to wanting me dead too."

Vance's eyebrows shot up.

"Kells managed to get a small bottle off her… Joann claimed it was poison, meant for me. Abby's testing it."

Vance nodded slowly. "And you want me in the know in case someone notices she's running tests that aren't connected to a case."

Gibbs nodded. "Not likely, but…"

Vance sighed. "Given what's been happening in the past few weeks, 'likely' doesn't mean what it used to." He looked at Gibbs seriously. "If it is poison, how do you want to handle it?"

Gibbs shook his head and shrugged. "Kelly got her to promise to get therapy. Might as well see if that actually happens."

Vance stared at him for a moment, then nodded once. "Alright. If things go south, I want to know about it. Immediately."

Gibbs took a deep breath, then agreed.

Vance stood. "Go, catch up with your team. Keep me posted if you're handing off some of the official supervisory duties to DiNozzo."

"Will do. Enjoy the conference."

Vance snorted as Gibbs left the office and headed toward Abby's lab.

Abby turned to face him as soon as he walked in; her hands rested on her hips. "Gibbs! Where did that bottle come from?"

"You find out what's in it, Abs?"

She mock-glared at him. "You doubt me? Not only did I find out what's in it, I found out what's on it." She smiled at him.

He stared back at her. "What's on it?"

"Nothing."

"Abby…"

"I mean, nothing besides your fingerprints, Sammie's fingerprints, and Joann's fingerprints."

"Ok… so, what's in it?"

"It belongs to Joann, doesn't it?"

"Abby."

"Gibbs, is she after you?"

"Abs."

"Is she?"

Gibbs sighed. "If she were, would what's in that bottle have worked?"

Abby narrowed her eyes, then moved to the table to pick up the bottle. "As a poison, it would have been very effective. Whoever the target was," she paused and stared meaningfully at him, "most likely would have suffered a particularly agonizing death."

"Most likely?"

"Yeah." She gestured at him with the bottle. "Manchineel to cause a person's throat to swell up. Wolfsbane to cause hallucinations… which I guess wouldn't necessarily be agonizing, it would depend on a lot of other factors…"

Gibbs shifted his weight from one foot to the other and tilted his head.

"Okay. Wolfsbane can also cause trouble for the heart. So can yew, also in here. Along with belladonna, nightshade, water hemlock, and oleander, all of which impact the nervous system and wreak havoc."

"All of that's in there?"

Abby nodded. "Kind of overkill, if you ask me. I mean, just one of those in a high enough dose is enough to kill someone." Abby set the bottle back on the table. "Does she really hate you that much?"

Gibbs sighed. "She hates what happened to Shannon."

Abby thought about that, then looked at him seriously. "You didn't kill her!"

He gave her a small smile. "No, I didn't. But I might as well have, in Joann's mind."

Abby looked down at the bottle, then back at him. "The good news is that it wouldn't have worked."

Gibbs stared at her. She grinned at him. He waited. Her smile widened. "So," she said, "whoever put this together wanted to make sure it worked, but didn't take into account that all of these in combination would taste and smell absolutely awful. If Joann was planning on dumping this in your coffee, there's no way you wouldn't have noticed, and it's highly unlikely you would have drunk enough to get more than mildly sick."

Gibbs looked down at the bottle. "So whoever she got it from –"

Abby interrupted with a victorious "Ha! I knew it!"

Gibbs rolled his eyes and continued, "Whoever she got it from isn't very skilled at poisoning someone."

Abby shook her head. "Nope." She tilted her head. "Are you sure she didn't put this together herself?"

"She told Kelly she got it from someone else who assured her it would work. Don't even know if she knew what was in it herself."

Abby crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm sorry your mother-in-law wants you dead, Gibbs."

He smiled at her and took a step forward, leaning in to kiss her cheek. "That's nothing new, Abs."

She moved quickly to envelope him in a hug. "I'm still sorry," she said quietly.

He returned the hug. "S'okay, Abs. She's a lonely person who lost everyone she really cared about."

Abby stepped back. "Are you going to arrest her?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Not if she doesn't try it again. She promised Kelly she would get some therapy."

Abby's expression turned skeptical.

"I know," Gibbs said. "But Kelly made it a condition of keeping lines of communication open, so maybe it will work."

Abby sighed. "When is Sammie coming back?"

"Not for a while… she's going to be busy with work and has some weekend trips planned. But if all goes well, she'll be moving back home in a little over a month."

Abby grinned. "That is so awesome! She asked if I could pick up and distribute all the stuff she packed up for donation… when do you want me to do that?"

"Anytime you want, Abs." He turned to leave.

"Gibbs!"

He turned back.

"What do you want me to do with this?" She held up the bottle.

Gibbs considered it. "File it away someplace. Might want it for leverage someday." He nodded once, then headed out the door, tapping the frame on his way out. He finished off his coffee, dumped the cup in a trashcan near the elevator, and headed out of the building to get another one.

He was about to walk back inside when his phone rang, so he turned away from the doors and moved a little way down the sidewalk to answer it. "Yeah, Gibbs."

"Hi, Dad!"

He smiled broadly, getting funny looks from some NCIS employees who were leaving the building. "Kelly! Good to hear your voice."

"Yours too. I just got an email back from my landlord. He's fine with me vacating early, isn't going to charge me rent for that last couple of weeks. So I can move when we planned."

"That's great. I'll make sure your room is ready on time."

"Thanks, Dad, you're the best."

"Got results on that bottle from Abby."

"And?"

"Amateur attempt to make sure whoever drank it had no chance of surviving. But Abby says it would have tasted so bad, there's no way I'd have drunk it."

"Even if it was in your ridiculously strong coffee?"

"Apparently even then."

She was silent for a moment. "Thanks for telling me."

"Has Joann contacted you?"

"Not yet. But I'll keep this in mind when she does."

"You alright, Kells?"

"Yeah… just angry and upset with her all over again."

"Want me to come to your place after work?"

"I've got a late shift, so you'd just be hanging out with Jack."

"Much as I like my grand-dog, I think I'll pass."

"I won't tell him."

He could hear the smile in her voice and laughed. "Thanks. Talk to you soon?"

"Absolutely. Bye, Dad."

"Bye, Kells."

He snapped the phone shut and went inside. When he reached the bullpen, he heard Tony talking with Tim.

"I'm telling you, McSkeptic, I won the bet. I was right about the timing." Tony looked up and saw Gibbs; he grinned and turned back toward Tim. "Go ahead, ask Gibbs."

"Ask me what, McGee?" Gibbs tossed out as he rounded the corner of his desk. He sat in time to catch Tim frowning at Tony.

"Nothing, Boss."

"Oh, come on," Tony protested. "You're just saying that because you don't want to pay up."

"How much did you bet?" Ziva asked.

Tony grinned at her. "Five bucks."

"That is hardly worth arguing over," Ziva scoffed.

"It's the principle of the thing," Tony proclaimed.

Shaking his head, Gibbs looked down at the papers he needed to sign, opening his desk drawer for a pen. He laughed, shocking his team into silence, and pulled the small plastic green iguana out of the desk drawer. "Nice one, DiNozzo." He tossed the model to Tony, who caught it one-handed and grinned at him.

"I'll tell my co-conspirator you said so."

"Yeah? Kelly?"

Tony nodded.

Gibbs' smile widened, but he didn't say anything more.

Back at Home

Jack ran through the house, playing keep-away with a t-shirt Sammie wanted to put in the laundry. Sammie laughed, chasing him. "Dad was right! You are a menace!" She slowed and stopped as the cell phone in her pocket rang. She looked at the screen, wrinkled her nose, and swiped the screen to answer. "Hi, Aunt Tina."

"Hi, honey. Do you have time to talk?"

"I don't have to leave for work for a few hours, so yes. How are you?"

"I'm good, sweetie, but I'm concerned about you. You posted that you found your biological father? Honey, he died in the car accident."

Sammie sighed, walked over to the stairs, and sat on the second step up. "Actually, the people who died weren't my parents at all."

There was a pause, then her aunt said, "Sammie, sweetheart, I remember when Lyssa started fostering you that you would say that… but I thought you came to terms with reality years ago."

"Aunt Tina, I'm not delusional."

"Well, I didn't say that."

Sammie laughed. "No, but I bet you thought it. Seriously, though… they weren't, and I have the DNA results to prove it."

Sammie went on to explain Tony tracking her down, the DNA match, and the discovery that she and Samantha Kendall were accidentally switched at the hospital.

"What about the people who identified the body of the other girl? Didn't they say she was this Kelly person?"

"One was the NIS agent who, as Dad says, couldn't pick me out if I were the only girl in a line-up of boys. The other was my maternal grandmother… and she has a boatload of issues. But I think she made an honest mistake. I talked to her over the weekend."

"I'm finding this all very hard to believe, sweetie. Are you sure these people are federal agents?"

"I was in their building, Aunt Tina. In their offices. And I remember my dad, and my mom."

"You remember? All of a sudden?"

"I wouldn't call twenty years sudden… but yes. I remember the house, I remember my parents, I remember things like a bicycle accident on the street outside the house. I remember the time capsule I buried with Maddie, who was my best friend. I was able to go right to it in the backyard and dig it up. Here… I'll send you a picture. Hold on…" Sammie lowered the phone and accessed the downloads in her photo gallery. There were pictures the team had copied and sent to her; she found one of her and her parents, taken before her father was deployed that last time, and sent it in a text. "There… you should have it any second."

She could hear her aunt's gasp of surprise when she saw the picture. "That's you, sweetie."

"I know. That's my dad… Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He goes by Jethro. And my mom was Shannon. She died in a car accident that happened around the same time as Samantha Kendall's."

"Alright… I guess you aren't delusional."

Sammie laughed. "Glad to hear it!"

"I still want to meet this Gibbs person."

"He's my dad."

"Will was your father."

"My adoptive father, yes. And Lyssa was my adoptive mother. Reuniting with Dad doesn't make Pop and Momma any less important to me."

"I still want to know that this man is good for you."

"I'm lucky to have had two great fathers, and Jethro Gibbs is one of them."

"I'm coming to see you."

"No, you're not. I have an intense work schedule for the next two weeks, and I have plans with my friends. I will be happy to have you visit this summer."

"Are you sure, sweetie?"

"Very sure. Incredibly sure. I love you, Aunt Tina, but I have to go."

"You said you didn't have work for a few hours."

"Yes, but I need to walk Jack before I get ready to go."

"That dog just makes your life difficult."

"No, he makes my life better. I'll talk to you soon." Sammie ended the call, sighing deeply. She looked at Jack, who lay on the floor on top of her t-shirt, watching her. "Give me a sec."

She sent a text to Tony: Hiya. Is my dad too busy for a phone call?

Tony responded a few seconds later: He's in a meeting with our director and some admirals. Anything I can do?

Sammie sighed again. Please let Dad know my Aunt Tina may be on the warpath. Wouldn't be at all surprised if she just showed up at NCIS.

Tony's reply: Will do. You okay?

Sammie smiled as she answered. I'm good. She's just being protective.

Tony sent her a smiley face. She pocketed her phone and was just getting up when it buzzed again. She checked and saw a text notification. It was from Tony, a picture. She tapped on it to enlarge it, and started laughing… the little plastic iguana was balanced on what she assumed was her father's computer monitor.

Sammie sent Tony a laughing face emoji, then pocketed the phone a second time and looked at Jack. "Let's walk, bud." Jack jumped up and ran for the front door. Sammie smiled as she grabbed a light jacket and the leash. Five weeks, she thought. Gonna be a long wait.