A/N: Here's another chapter for you fine folks. To my latest favourites/followers, welcome aboard, can't believe I've reached over 50 followers, I'm chuffed! I love that so many people are enjoying this story.
To the Guest Reviewer who commented on Chapter 3: I am unsure how you can think this story is a crackfic, even with Kelly's name, that's not my style for this kind of story. Her name is that long for a reason, I didn't just make it like that for the fun of it, the reason will be revealed in due course. I hope you stick with it none the less & give it more of a chance.
Now, let's see what the kids are to & if Gibbs's neighbour is in Houston..
Gibbs needed to try to focus, he wasn't used to having his thoughts all haywire, his thought patterns were usually quite ordered & concise. He knew partly it was from the explosion, the rest was from dealing with everything else! He shook his head trying to clear his mind, he needed his mind clear for the days ahead, that was certain. Yet again though, his thought pattern that had barely gotten started was diverted, he heard laughter coming from the cabin his kids were in. He just watched as his girl headed out of the room smiling, he motioned her over.
"Do I even want to know what's going on in there?" Gibbs asked as she got closer.
Kelly smiled "doubtful"
Gibbs chuckled as he brought her into another embrace, gosh he could get used to this! He held her tightly as he rested his head against her's, he was standing there for a few moments just enjoying holding her & breathing her in when he heard a small chuckle. "what's so funny Kells?" he asked drawing back from her slightly.
Kelly chuckled "you still smell of sawdust"
Gibbs let out a chuckle too, apparently saw dust didn't wash out easily, because it had been a little while "uh huh, but that's because I've got a boat I'm working on" he wondered if she remembered working on it with him, he wanted to do that again.
Kelly looked up "can we actually sail this one?" the memories of working on it brought a smile to her face, she just never got to see a finished product.
"That's the plan, once we finish it. Now that there's more hands on deck we'll get it done quick smart, then we can go sailing whenever we want angel" Gibbs replied, loving that she obviously remembered it all.
Kelly was going to say something, but she heard Tim's raised voice.
"Ahh, I wouldn't do that!" McGee said trying to stop the boys from jumping between bunk beds, he'd seen that Kelly had gone to Gibbs so was watching Nix.
Gibbs followed his girl to see what was going on, when he heard a crash emanate from the cabin, he hastened his pace to get there quicker. His eyes widened upon entering the cabin, his son & one of the boys... Daniel he thought, were both sitting in a heap on a bottom bunk, having fallen through from the top.
Kelly was stunned "what the hell?" she asked stunned, how'd they fall through the bed?
"You swore!" Nix replied.
"and you both fell through a bunk bed! again!" Kelly replied totally dumbfounded "what do you two do? Hack the wooden beams or something?"
Nix & Daniel shared a grin "There's not a bunk bed safe from us!"
Kelly crouched down "you know, I'd like to see you two try this trick with the new one I just ordered. It's metal framed!"
"Party pooper!" Nix said sticking his tongue out.
"so mature" Kelly rolled her eyes "are you two ok though? Daniel?"
"I'm fine" Daniel answered as she helped him up, that was fun!
"I'm glad, because guess what?" Kelly replied looking at him.
Gibbs had to admit he had been a breath away from going straight for his son, but his girl had beaten him to it. He realised that she'd gone straight into protective/parental mode, could he really take that role back instantly? He wasn't so sure, so he let her deal with this, for now.
Daniel's eyes widened "Please Kelly! Don't!" she hadn't ratted him out last time to his parents, and didn't want to be this time either.
Kelly smirked "not me, but I'm sure Mr Stephens will be passing on a message"
"I will definitely be passing a message on to your parents Mr Lungo" Mr Stephens said, he was shocked that they'd managed to fall through the bed, how'd it happen?
Daniel swallowed.
Kelly looked down at her brother "are you ok squirt?"
"I'm fine, not a scratch!" Nix grinned as she helped him stand.
Kelly eyed him "you are not superman! Not even superboy! What were you thinking? again?"
Nix just grinned "I have to be superboy"
Kelly knew where her brother was going with this "no one, no one in this family is a superhero! Got that?"
Gibbs pressed his lips together, he had a sneaky suspicion as to where this was leading to.
Nix screwed his face as he considered his sister's statement "nu ah"
Kelly huffed & turned to her dad, why was she dealing with this? "Would you please tell him that you are not superman?"
Gibbs couldn't contain the grin another second, especially given the looks he was getting, he went over to his boy & crouched down & motioned for him to come closer "The fact that I'm superman is a secret" he whispered.
Nix grinned.
"Dad!" Kelly exclaimed "great, just great! Mum's right, carbon copy!"
Gibbs just chuckled, now he knew his son was ok, he was more relaxed & he couldn't bring himself to reprimand him right off the bat anyway.
"I would have thought, considering, I dunno, because of the fact that he fell through, through a bunk bed that you'd want to... how shall I put this, subject him to an inspection" Kelly said with a raised eyebrow, this was not her overprotective dad that she remembered.
Nix's eyes widened instantly at that "I'm fine!"
Gibbs looked between the pair, apparently his son knew what his inspections were, that was good "He seems fine at the moment...but, I have no doubt that sooner or later he will undergo one" and he was looking forward to that.
Nix sighed, but he was strangely looking forward to the experience, maybe.
Mr Stephens wasn't too sure what they were talking about & it was a little weird to see the roles reversed in parental discipline, geez this family would have a lot to work through! "Ok, Daniel, Mike, in fact all of you boys, go to breakfast, then come back & pack up"
Gibbs waited for the others to leave, they were now alone turning back to his son "why don't you go grab your stuff & say a last bye. We have to go, then on the way back to DC you can explain to us how exactly you managed this..." he finished motioning to the broken bunk bed, he too was taken aback as to how they managed it.
"Ok" Nix said proudly, part of him was glad that his dad didn't react to it, the rest of him couldn't believe he didn't!
"Sorry to interrupt" Dayle said coming in "he's there" he finished passing him his phone.
Gibbs nodded & took the phone "Can you go watch your brother please? As soon as I'm off, we'll get going"
"Ok but who is where?" Kelly asked.
"I'll explain after Kells, promise" Gibbs replied, giving her a quick kiss.
Gibbs waited to be alone, he took a deep breath, this wasn't going to be an easy conversation at all, but here it goes!
"Ted?" Gibbs said softly into the phone, he leaned over to inspect the damage, all the beams had been moved out of place, he had to hand it to his son.
"Gibbs?" Ted asked back surprised "what's going on? Are you ok? How does Lt Dayle know you? Martha told me the other day she thought you were caught up in that explosion down in Portsmouth, Were you?"
"I was Ted, but that's not why I'm calling" Gibbs replied.
"But you're ok?" Ted asked again.
"Yes, sort of, no... I'm great, but not.." Gibbs stuttered, he honestly didn't know what to say, or even how he felt, he had so many conflicting emotions, he sat down on one of the beds trying to calm himself.
"Ok, what's going on? You sound... not you" Ted replied, his friend did not sound right, at all!
"I need ask for a favour, a big one" Gibbs said, his friend was one on a very short list of people he'd ever go to help for & was on an even shorter list of people that he'd trust with this, if he couldn't do it himself.
"You know you don't have to ask Jethro, whatever it is, I'm here. Like I've always been" Ted replied, part of him was freaked out, his friend never actually asked for help, he more or less had to shove the help in his face before he'd receive it.
"Are you sitting down?" Gibbs asked.
"No, should I be?" Ted asked back, this was getting weird.
"You might want to" Gibbs suggested.
"Ok Jethro, lay it on me" Ted said, having taken a seat.
Gibbs took a deep breath "They're alive... my girls, they're alive"
Gibbs didn't get a reply, he knew it would take Ted a few minutes to get over what he said, so he just waited.
"Jethro, not that I'm doubting you... but" Ted started to say.
"I'm serious, I'm looking at Kelly as we speak, it's her. She's still got her crystal blue eyes, that cheeky grin & she still gets motion sick" Gibbs interjected, he could see Kelly standing on the grass with her brothers bags & talking with the teachers through the window.
"I don't understand" Ted said, how was it possible?
"That fucking asshole of a father in-law! He, he stole them Ted!" Gibbs said, working himself up, pacing back & forth.
"Mac? But how.." Ted asked, he knew the guy was asshole, but surely not.
"Like he told me they'd died, he told them I'd died on deployment! He used the accident they were in to kidnap them & moved them away from me!" Gibbs said, still very worked up.
Something dawned on Ted "he ID'd the bodies!"
"Exactly!" Gibbs agreed.
Ted took a breath to try to calm the anger that was boiling "What do you need?"
Gibbs saw Nix come towards his sister "first, you should know, that I've... got a son."
"What?" Ted asked shocked.
"Same age as Stacey, roughly. Shan was pregnant when I deployed but she didn't tell me, his name's Phoenix Leroy" Gibbs explained proudly.
Ted actually laughed "Gosh I love that woman of yours!"
Gibbs smirked, knowing he said that purely for the chosen middle name "yea, can we get on with it?"
"Go for it!" Ted chuckled.
"He moved them to Houston, Ted" Gibbs stated.
Ted instantly stopped laughing, knowing this was why he'd been called "Wait, if Kelly is with you, who is here?"
"Shannon. She tried to get them all away from Mac, but the asshole wouldn't budge, she finally managed to get Kells & Nix away, but he only agreed if she stayed behind with him and if..." Gibbs explained, he just couldn't finish it.
"if what Jethro?" Ted asked, knowing he'd need as much intel as possible before proceeding.
"The bastard made Shan & Kell make Nix think that Shannon had died!" Gibbs stuttered venomously.
"I promise you Jethro, I'll get Shan away from him & I will take him down personally!" Ted replied, that sickened him beyond anything, he looked towards his Sgt "Sargent! I want the squad geared up & ready to deploy within 30 minutes! See if we can wrangle another team as well!" he called sternly.
"Miami SWAT are in this with you Lt Taylor! I'll see who else I can wrangle" came a shout from someone.
"LA SWAT are in!" came a call
"Seattle are with you too!" came another call.
Gibbs let out a breath, he'd heard who he'd presumed was Dayle's brother saying they'd go too, as well as a few other shouts "thanks, don't think I could leave in the hands of a stranger"
"Jethro, I'll get her, I'll bring her home safe & sound, so tell Kelly that... tell Phoenix that too" Ted finished.
"Thanks mate. One more thing. There's this guy Trent Quinn, he's Mac's head of security, he's not the right type if you get my drift. He...he threw Kells of the pier! I had to give her mouth to mouth Ted!" Gibbs got out.
"Is she ok Jethro?" Ted asked concerned.
"Yea, she's ok" Gibbs replied "I can't imagine he'll get there before you, but the guy's just... he tried to get to Nix too, but my team were able to fend him off. He's threatened that he'll tell Mac to move Shannon quickly, that's why we can't wait for clearance or anything Ted, I need to you move on this" he almost pleaded.
"Understood, as soon as we're geared up, we'll head off & if I run into this Quinn, I'll be sure to send your regards" Ted snickered.
"I'll call you back in 10 with an address" Gibbs said.
"Done, but Jethro" Ted said, he wasn't sure about this part.
"Yea?" Gibbs asked.
"Harry's on duty at the moment, do you want me to send him over once he gets off, you know another person keeping an eye on them, a familiar face might help. Can Martha do anything right now for you?" Ted asked.
"Thanks, I'll let you know" Gibbs replied, he was glad now that he'd spoken with his friend, it was comforting to know that he'd be there for Shannon "please get her Ted, tell her I love her"
Ted let a tear run down his cheek, he knew how much his friend had missed Shannon "I'll get Jethro & I'll tell her, but you'll be telling her the same thing too soon enough, just stay with your kids. I've got this for you mate"
A/N: Guess Nix has a mischievous side to him! He's not like his dad at all, hehe. That wasn't the easiest conversation for Gibbs though, good thing Ted's there though! and to have the back up of all those SWAT units is a good thing too.
But it's time for them to head off, how will Kelly & Nix take the news about how their dad is planning to get their mum away from Mac?
More up soon, I always appreciated your comments, so review away!