A/N: Another chapter for you fine folks, to my newest followers & favourites, welcome aboard! So glad to have you with us! To my reviewers, you're all awesome!
Nix is a bit of rascal, but how could he not be with Gibbs as a dad? hehe.. Let's see how Gibbs goes explaining to his kids that Ted will get Shannon..
Gibbs headed out of the cabin relieved that his friend would be taking point & to know that countless SWAT units would do it together made him feel relief too. One thing remained, he needed to get the address, that would mean telling his kids what was going on.
Dayle saw Gibbs approach & headed for him "I assure you Mr Gibbs, my brother, best of the best, they wont rest until it's sorted"
Gibbs nodded "thank you & thanks for the suggestion" he saw his kids, wanting to have the conversation & get going, he'd start them back towards the car "ready to go?"
"Yea, we're ready" Kelly replied.
"All the best, if there's anything else we can help with, please, just call" Mr Stephens said shaking Gibbs hand.
"Thank you, we'll be in touch" Gibbs replied.
"Don't forget this" Mr Stephens said handing Nix the bowl he made.
"Wow! Awesome work squirt! Buster will love it" Kelly smiled taking a good look.
Nix smiled, but he looked at his dad, did he like it?
Gibbs took the bowl, he was impressed, it was beautifully made & polished, with the dog's name carved into too "Don't think I've seen better bowl, great job you did, it's pretty deep too"
"That's cause Buster splashes when he drinks" Nix smiled, glad his dad liked the bowl.
Gibbs nodded in understanding "Better put this away for safe keeping then" he said as he tucked the bowl into his son's bag & lifted it up over his shoulder to carry "Let's go" he said.
The team & teachers all bided each other farewell.
Gibbs gave a scan of the area as they reached the car park, just making sure it was all ok.
"DiNozzo, put this in the car. You're riding with us. Ziva, you & McGee follow... and Ziva, stay behind me, we aren't racing anywhere this time" Gibbs finished passing Tony his son's bag.
"Yes Gibbs" Ziva replied, knowing what he meant.
Gibbs took his kids towards the cars, he would have sat them down on the bench, but given that's where Kelly was ill, he thought better of it, he motioned them to sit on the hood. He saw Tony had gone to stand with the others by the other car.
"What's going on?" Kelly asked.
"You remember the Taylor's Kells?" Gibbs asked.
"Yea of course I do" Kelly replied, Harry was one of her best friends when she was younger.
Gibbs looked at his son, wondering if he knew, but his question was soon answered.
"Kelly taught me how to fire a water gun just like you & Ted taught her & Harry" Nix grinned.
Gibbs smiled "I'm glad, but I'm sure there's still a thing of two I can teach you"
Nix grinned, loving the sound of that.
"Do you remember what Ted's job was?" Gibbs asked.
"SWAT" Kelly answered.
"That's right, he's a Lieutenant now, in one of the best SWAT teams DC has" Gibbs replied, he took a breath "he's actually in Houston right now on a special task-force"
Kelly's eyes widened "You're going to send Ted to get mum? I thought we would go?!" she thought they'd head for Houston straight away.
Gibbs took a calming breath "I don't want to delay getting mum out of there, I trust Ted with this Kells. He's going to get her & bring her home"
"You said you'd get mum!" Nix said.
"Me going would mean me leaving you both here in DC & that's something I can't do, something I know mum wouldn't like either. I don't want you two anywhere near Mac." Gibbs said calmly, the more he thought about it, he knew what his wife would say.
"We could still come to Houston & not go anywhere near him! I know how to get into the place without Mac even knowing!" Kelly insisted.
That caught Gibbs by surprise "you do?"
"Yea, mum showed me!" Kelly replied instantly "How can you leave this to someone else? You said you'd get her? You promised!"
Tony & the others couldn't help but over hear their conversation & it wasn't going well, he could see his boss was caught in one almighty catch 22.
Gibbs sighed, he needed them to be ok "and I will get her back, I promise you both. Sometimes though, we have to ask for help & Ted is one of the very few people, if not the only person that I trust for something like this. I've already explained it all & he's already said he'll get mum." he took a breath "Kell, do you remember why I would trust Ted so much?"
Kelly took a breath, she remembered that their families were always very close "the Park Pact?" she whispered
Gibbs smirked "uh huh, you really think I could do something like that with another person & not fret that they'd spill the beans to mum if I didn't trust them completely? I trusted him with the most precious things in the world to me, you & mum. I knew he would always be there for you both whenever he could. This is why I trust him to do this" he finished holding onto her by her shoulder.
"Then Kells should tell him how to get in" Nix whispered.
"You're ok with Ted doing this then?" Gibbs asked him, as he held onto him too.
Nix nodded "you say he'll get mum, he will"
Gibbs was a little taken by his son's sheer belief in him "Promise son, just like me, Ted wont rest until we've got her back."
Kelly took a deep breath "River Oaks in Houston. His property back onto a golf course, in the corner there's a small bush area on the golf course side, if you jump the fence right on the corner the camera's Mac has in place can't see you. You need to then follow the tree line away from the main house, staying right on it. You'll get to the pool house, enter through the second window. Go from there into the maintenance room & behind the filter system is a tunnel entrance, go north, it leads right up into the cellar of the house. From there the stairs to the main area of the place are at the far end."
"Mum showed you?" Gibbs asked, he was a little surprised she'd let their daughter know a viable option to come & go without being seen.
Kelly nodded "she wanted me to know how to get out un-noticed with Nix, as he was sometimes in pretty foul moods"
Gibbs turned "DiNozzo, you get all of that?"
"yes boss" Tony replied, as soon as she'd started to detail it, he'd switched on & started noting it down. "just need the exact address & I'll send it through" Dayle had passed on his brother's details.
Kelly wrote down the exact address & drew a small map as best she could.
"Let's get going" Gibbs said.
Nix walked around to the other side of the car, he saw vomit "Ewww! Who..." but he stopped & looked at his sister who'd gone flush red.
Gibbs eyed his son "don't step in it, but do you?" suddenly wondering if he had 2 motion sick kids to deal with.
"Nope" Nix replied proudly "bring on the roller coasters!"
Gibbs was relieved to know that, one was bad enough, he saw though Tony moving to take the front seat & was about to speak when his son beat him to it.
"Hey! You need to sit in the back! Kelly's in the front!" Nix insisted.
Tony looked at the kid, he was still trying to figure out his age there were moments he seemed so young, others were like he was a teenager, he then looked at his boss.
Gibbs smiled "he's right DiNozzo, back seat"
"Yes boss" Tony replied, not understanding it.
Gibbs sat down in the drivers seat & grabbed two more pills "take these angel, I assure you though, we wont be driving anywhere near as fast as before"
"can't I drive?" Kelly asked, she really didn't want to go through that again.
Tony suddenly cottoned on to what was going on, he knew what those tablets were & now realised who the vomit came from.
Gibbs took a deep breath, he wasn't sure he could handle that.
"mum says she drives just like you dad" Nix grinned.
"I'm driving" Gibbs replied to that comment, now knowing he couldn't handle that.
Kelly turned back to her brother "look at what you did!? Now I'll never drive!"
Nix just laughed.
"I'll let you drive angel, just not tonight" Gibbs smiled as he caressed her cheek before he turned to the backseat "DiNozzo, call through the directions."
"Info's already been sent boss" Tony replied.
As Gibbs pulled out of the car park he knew what conversation he wanted to have first "Phoenix, perhaps you can explain to me how exactly you fell through a bunk bed for the second time apparently?"
Nix swallowed "ah..."
Tony gave the kid a small smile, he had to admit he was impressed with that feat, but he could see the boy was now nervous "I'm guessing it was similar to what I did once, push the planks to either side & jump from one to another?"
Nix's eyes widened in surprise, this man that worked for his dad, that was a federal agent no less, did the same thing?
Gibbs rolled his eyes "Why am I not surprised DiNozzo? Phoenix, is that it?"
"Yeap, just like Tony said" Nix replied.
"Hence my purchase of a metal framed bunk bed" Kelly added.
Gibbs gave a sidewards smile "uh huh, or we make a wooden one where the planks can not be moved"
Nix's eye's widened in glee, making something with his dad... awesome!
Tony had to admit this was the strangest drive he'd ever done with his boss, firstly he wasn't speeding, secondly he was actually talking, a lot! Thirdly, he looked different, he looked, happy? They were almost back at the navy yard though, he wondered how the others would take it all, what would the Director say? Ducky? Abby? How would she react? Things were going to get interesting indeed!
Gibbs was glad to have gotten them back to navy yard safe & sound, he also saw his girl wasn't looking too green "how you feeling angel, need a bathroom?"
"I'm ok, fresh air & solid ground is always good though" Kelly replied, he'd driven much, much slower this time & was able to keep it together.
Gibbs smiled, he'd let her have a few minutes to compose herself, he beckoned his boy, lifting him up "this building here Nix is where I work. See we came in from that way & it's the third building along" he explained, wanting his son to know where to come if he ever had to
"looks boring" Nix replied "that building looks waaay better!" he said pointing across the way. It had marine guards out the front.
Tony smiled, leave it to a boy to think the armoury was cool!
Gibbs raised his eyebrow "That building you don't go into, those marines will stop you anyway. It's the armoury & therefore for adults only."
"So Kelly can go in, she's an adult" Nix replied.
"No she can't, I will amend my statement. The armoury is only for adults who are NCIS agents or military personnel who have clearance to be in there"
"An armoury is for holding guns, so for people who can use them & Kelly know's how to use them" Nix replied.
Gibbs eye's instantly shot over to his daughter, who was now doing all she could to advert his gaze.
Tony, Ziva & McGee all stared at her too.
"Kelly?" Gibbs asked.
Kelly was shitting herself, she averted her dad's gaze & looked at her brother "we need a discussion about keeping that trap shut!"
Nix just grinned.
"Kelly" Gibbs said again "you know how to use a gun?" he was speechless.
"Yes" Kelly answered "but mum made me take the lessons!" she added very quickly.
Gibbs didn't know what to say, Shannon had insisted on her taking lessons in using a weapon? That didn't sound like her, he truly wondered how bad things had gotten. "where?" hopefully it was at least at proper place.
"Firing range" Kelly answered, where else? "My instructor was former Master Sergeant Ric..." she just didn't finish the sentence.
Nix let out a small smile.
"Master Sergeant Ric who?" Gibbs asked, why'd she stop? He at least drew comfort that a marine had trained her.
"Richard Buttock" Kelly finished with a small smile, trying to hold the chuckle back "his parents were so mean".
Nix let out a laugh.
Tony & Tim gave each other small smiles, poor guy!
Ziva didn't really get it "what's wrong with Richard?" she knew Buttock wasn't the most pleasant name.
"Ahh..." Kelly started to say something, but really didn't get her confusion.
"you'll have to excuse our Israeli friend, she doesn't get a lot of American colloquialisms & nicknames" Tony said, he turned to Ziva "I'll explain later" he didn't want to say it in front of Nix.
"Another name for Richard is Dick" Nix laughed "So he was Master Sergeant Dick Buttock"
Ziva looked at Nix in shock "why is Dick a nickname for Richard?"
"I dunno! But it is! Dick Grayson from Batman...his real first name, Richard" Nix explained.
Tony was a little surprised that a boy this young knew this, but he was right "Kid's right"
Gibbs let out the smallest smile, that guy would have been crucified during bootcamp, no, he would have been smashed, he looked between his kids "I certainly hope you didn't say anything.."
"Not when he could hear me" Kelly replied, she wasn't crazy!
"I'd hope not" Gibbs replied "now, while this building may look boring on the outside, the inside, much more exciting, let's go check it out" he said as he led his kids & team into the building.
A/N: At least Gibbs was able to talk his kids around to Ted getting Shannon, but the big question right now is how will the introductions go? What will Jenn's reaction be to them all going awol? and how will Kelly & Nix react to them? It's all been going smoothly right? ... yea, that might not last!
I always love hear your thoughts/comments, so review away! More up soon..