A/N: Sorry for the delay with this chapter folks, had some issues logging in to the site. I'm so glad people are still on this journey with me! To all my recent follows & favourites, welcome to the ride! And to my reviewers, thank you so much! I love reading how much you're loving this story & what your thoughts are, so keep 'em coming!
To guest reviewer Clem: Thank you so much for your amazing review! It's so heartwarming to hear how much you're enjoying my stories, so THANK YOU!
To guest reviewer Guest: Thanks very much, Harm was a last minute addition to this story & he's a guest appearer, but he'll be doing his part in getting justice!
No further delay, here we go.. a new chapter folks!
Tony stepped out of his car, he knew he was pushing it a bit by driving, but his wrist was feeling a lot better. He headed towards the NCIS office at a leisurely pace, he knew that all the work had been done, everything had been finalised & it was all with the justice department & lawyers to sort out over the weekend, in preparation for the trial to start on Tuesday. So technically there was nothing for him to actually do, and it was a Saturday, but he felt like he needed to double check, or more likely quadruple check a few things, just in case. Afterall, the case & all reports, lawyers, everything had moved at warp speed, no double warp speed, whatever that was!
He'd told McGee & Ziva that they should both take the weekend off to rest after the mayhem that had happened over the past few weeks. He also knew that they were both going over Gibbs' place, apparently there was a working bee to help start getting the house sorted for the family. He'd do a few hours of work & then head over, he wasn't sure what he could help with, he wasn't that good at manual work but he was sure there'd be something he could do. Heck, what did Ziva know about house renovations?
Tony was just approaching the front door when his phone rang, he answered without even looking at who the caller was "DiNozzo"
"DiNozzo! Where are you?" Gibbs demanded.
"Ahh…" Tony hesitated "I'm at the navy-yard boss" he answered.
"Is there something that you need to share? Something that wasn't signed off on already?" Gibbs asked.
"No boss, everything's sorted, I just thought I'd go over a few things again, just in case" Tony answered, he certainly wouldn't tell his boss that things weren't done.
"Then get your ass to my house" Gibbs demanded, he'd talk to the boy when he did arrive, but didn't want to do over the phone.
"Boss, I really think…" Tony tried.
"Now DiNozzo!" Gibbs ordered.
"Yes boss" Tony responded automatically as he turned around, he'd speak to Gibbs when he got there about his need to get some work done.
Gibbs smirked as he hung up, a bunch of the SWAT team members had volunteered to come over & help with the house, and upon hearing that his own team had said they'd join too. Apparently everyone was wanting to keep themselves busy whilst they waited for the trials to start. There were already about a dozen people in his house, most were either in the attic, the basement, the spare room or between them as they moved things he & his wife had already earmarked for shifting.
However, when McGee, David & even Palmer had arrived & none of them knew where Tony was, he'd gotten a funny feeling that the boy had disobeyed his instructions & gone back into the office. Whilst he was proud of the effort his SFA he'd done, he was keenly aware that if he kept going with it, he could actually get target fixation before trial & that wouldn't be good. Nor was overworking & overdoing it all! He'd speak to him when arrived.
Gibbs looked into their living area from the front porch, yea some of that furniture would need replacing, others would just need a bit of polishing. His thought then shifted to his kids, he had wanted to make everything for his kids, his family himself, but he realised that if they were going to get everything sorted quickly, he'd need to let some others help him build the stuff. He took solace that he had done the draw ups, he'd worked out the dimensions & though he couldn't build all of it, he'd damn well supervise it all. Plus he would be doing the sketching & carvings of both bedheads. The one thing he was thankful for was that his shoulder was starting to feel a lot better, and the stitches were apparently doing their job quite well, so he was now able to go sling-less for a good few hours at a time.
His thought turned to his own bedroom when he saw his wife approaching, he had to smile & would smile every moment he saw her "So, made any kitchen decisions?" they'd discuss their bedroom when alone again.
Shannon shook her head, she'd heard the conversation he'd just had with Anthony & it was a little off putting, but she'd let it go for now. "Well, I think for now all we need is to organise a new oven & stove top, we can bring the fridge, microwave & other small appliances over from the other house. Once we've gotten the kids rooms sorted and a few other things we can look at what other upgrades we want to do. But I would think we'll need more bench space, somehow."
Gibbs nodded "was thinking the same thing about the appliances, and as for bench space…" he trailed off as he started to take them inside the house.
Shannon was pulled towards the kitchen, they'd been out on the front porch for some privacy "what Jethro?"
Gibbs started looking at the wall between the kitchen and dining area, hmmm.. he saw Jeff come out of the basement "Hey Jeff, what do you think, is this wall a load bearing wall?" he asked motioning to the wall in question, he didn't think it was. If any of them were it was the one between the dining & living areas.
Jeff put his tools down & came to the wall as he took a look "not sure, I don't think so, what are you thinking?"
"Cut down the wall, put up some more shelving & make a wrap around benchtop, this door opening is wide enough that we can use some of it" Gibbs suggested, he looked to his wife "that'd make the kitchen more open to the dining area, maybe a breakfast bar or something? And underneath it'd give us more cupboard space too"
Shannon smiled "I like the idea of opening up the kitchen & dining area, and we could definitely use more bench space, along with cupboard & shelf space."
"Mark's due here in a hour, so we can get him to check the load bearing of it & if it's ok, we can start working on it" Jeff remarked
"Jeff, aren't we doing enough already?" Shannon commented "I don't want us to bite of more than we can chew, some of these things can wait a bit"
"It's fine Shannon, with the manpower we have at our disposal at the moment, I'd say we'll be fine. The biggest job is the attic, with the bathroom. Outside of that are minor fixes & upgrades and bedframes, so adding this shouldn't be too difficult. We will need you guys to make decisions on the type of cupboards & shelving units."
"We also need a new oven, stove top & range hood" Gibbs added.
"Ok, well Stephanie was going to take you out tomorrow morning to look at things for the bathrooms, so at the same time you can look at the kitchen items" Jeff suggested "and by the morning, we should know exactly what spaces & sizes of furniture would work best."
"Are the stores in the same complex?" Shannon asked.
"It's all in the one store Shannon, it's a nice big warehouse type of place that basically has everything, even outdoor furniture. You should find everything you need there. Stephanie will help you navigate & we've got a contract with them, so they've assigned someone as well to help guide you with what you want & what they have in stock & everything you'd need." Jeff answered
"Thank you Jeff, this is all so… thank you" Shannon, they were really getting a lot of help from a lot of people!
Jeff smiled "anything we can do to get you both & the kids settled back in & happy is payment enough, as I've said whatever we can do, we will, so don't worry"
"Dad!" Nix called running down the stairs "can I have a slide on my bunk bed?" he asked running into the dining area where his parents now stood.
"No" came the reply from both Gibbs & Shannon.
"Oww" Nix pouted "why not? I'd be soo cool!"
"Dadd!" Kelly called as she too came down the stairs "can I have my bedside tables built into my bedframe?" she asked arriving where the rest of her family were.
"Hang on a second" Gibbs requested "we'd already finalised the designs for both beds on Thursday night, and I've already started to work out the dimensions and everything"
"But it's an add on, surely it wouldn't be too hard? Not for the woodworking genius you claim to be" Kelly finished with a cheeky grin.
"Watch it" Gibbs smiled at his girl.
Jeff pressed his lips together, he'd seen Ted join them from the basement & was trying to hide the laugh as best as he could.
"Even if we included a bedside table, it wouldn't be in the same piece as the frame, the piece would be too big to get into the attic otherwise" Gibbs reasoned.
"Ok, but you could make like a table and an area for some books at stuff on the side of the beds that fit into the frame so it looks like it's one piece" Kelly reasoned back.
"Where'd you get that idea?" Shannon asked, it was a pretty interesting concept.
"Ahh.. Ziva suggested it, whilst we were looking at things in the attic" Kelly answered.
"Ok, so you want bedside tables slash bookcases on each side of the upper bed, a pull-out dog bed on the bottom of the right hand side, anything for the bottom left? Or can that stay as a bed?" Gibbs asked back. He'd said they'd build the beds, but these beds were getting more & more extravagant.
Kelly approached her dad & put her arms around his neck "well… that could stay as a bed, but you're suck a talented woodworker, I'm sure there's something you can think of to go there" she finished with a grin.
Gibbs wrapped his arms around his girl & just smiled "flattery will get you…"
"..everywhere?" Kelly suggested with a grin & kiss to his cheek.
Gibbs couldn't help but laugh, he brought her closer to him & gave her a kiss to her forehead "we'll see"
"Hey!" Nix protested "why does she get what she wants when I don't!"
Shannon looked at her son surprised "because your sister asked for beside tables, not a slide!"
Gibbs looked at his boy "Phoenix, we're building you a double bed, with a single bunk bed on top, & a pull-out dog bed on the side that also incorporates a study space for you, under a second single loft bed. Your bedhead & sides are going to have carvings of both the Justice League & Avengers & the stairs, what do they contain?" he asked looking down at him.
"Book space" Nix grumbled.
"You know there's more than that" Gibbs suggested.
Nix sighed "you said we could look at including some display shelves for my lego, soccer and action figure stuff"
"Exactly, I think that's more than enough for inclusion in your bunkbed masterpiece. Besides, a slide in your room at the steep incline required for the bunk set up, is too dangerous & I'm sure you can understand that" Gibbs tried to reason with his son. Once they'd started designing his bunk bed, it had taken on another life!
"I guess" Nix sighed.
Ted felt bad for the kid "Hey Phoenix, you know that tree house that has seen better days in my big tree out the back. Well I was talking to Harry & Stacey, we think that upgrading it to go across into your big oak tree would be just the ticket. I bet we could even include some form of slide into it that ended in the soft grass area at the back of our place, how's that sound?"
Nix's eyes lit up "really?" he'd never had a tree house before.
"You bet" Ted agreed, he looked to his friend "what do you say Jethro, reckon we can share the trees for a kickass treehouse?"
"Only if I design it, your design of that thing currently there was crap" Gibbs retorted with a smirk.
"I take offence! That treehouse was the talk of the neighbourhood" Ted chided with a smirk as he took a step towards his friend.
"Could have been the talk of the town" Gibbs retorted with a smirk as he too took a step towards his friend.
"Men!" Shannon rolled her eyes "I'm going back upstairs, I want to take a good look at the main bathroom, I think we need to make some improvements there too. Are you going to join me Mr Treehouse?" she finished eyeing her husband.
"Of course" Gibbs grinned "more than happy to go our bathroom with you"
Shannon just rolled her eyes again "Kell darling, how's the attic coming?"
"Well, the guys are moving all the stuff we don't want up there into the spare room that we've already earmarked can be moved, but there's a heap up there that you & dad need to look through to say where it should be moved to" Kelly answered "and David's said he can't scout anymore of the attic for cabling until we move that stuff" she added looking at her dad.
"Mum & I will come up to the attic & go through some more stuff that the guys can shift before we do the bathroom." Gibbs answered her, he turned to his son "have you decided which wood type you want for your bunk set?"
"A dark one" Nix answered "but can we colour the carvings so they stand out?"
Gibbs considered his son's request, he noticed they had some wood square option boards on the dining table. He sorted through them all before speaking "we could go with a cherry wood, then use a different stain colour over the carvings, say we go black cherry over the main slates & then use a light stain like the natural. But I think it might look better if the main part of your bunks would be lighter & the carvings be the darker, they'd really stand out that way." He'd pointed to the various options he'd mentioned so his son could see what colour he was talking about.
Nix looked at what his dad had pointed to, when an image came to his mind "could we do the bunks in that one, and the carvings that one" as he pointed.
Gibbs looked at what his son had pointed to "so Cherry wood with a traditional stain all over, with the carvings being a mahogany stain." he nodded his head in agreement as he smiled at his son "I think we can make that work, it'll come out nicely." He saw the smile & nod of his boy, before he looked to his girl "what about you?"
Kelly approached the table where the boards were "umm.. I like the Oak wood with Cinnamon stain, think it'd work well with the wood of the attic that's already there"
"Me too darling" Shannon nodded "I think it'd look great" she too approached the table & looked at the boards "and I think for our bed, I like.. this crimson red stain on the oak" she finished with a look to her husband in query.
"Looks good to me babe" Gibbs agreed "and maybe in the bedhead we can mix in some natural too"
"The design I will leave to you" Shannon smiled at him, she knew he had an idea for their new king bed.
Kelly waited for her parents to stop staring at each other, but when after a few minutes neither looked away she'd had enough "I'm going back up to the attic, when the two of finish staring at each other feel free to join me."
"Yea, let's leave them to it" Ted agreed "come on, I'm sure we can make some decisions without them, it won't hurt"
Mike was helping to make space in the spare room, they'd brought a fair bit down from the attic when his phone rang "hello?"
"Hi" came the quiet voice of his youngest brother, Maximus.
Mike smiled "hey bro, how you doing?"
"Good, I'm at Nan & Pop's place, dad's still away" Max responded.
Mike sighed, he knew his brother missed himself & Marcus, their oldest brother, especially when their dad was away & now with Myles away too, it'd be a lot more difficult.
"Yea I know, Pop told me that he's still down in South America" Mike conceded "I'm waiting on dad to call me back, but I was thinking that when he does, I'm going to ask him if he can send you over to us in DC in a little while once school's finished. That way we can spend some altogether, just us boys, how's that sound?"
"Really?" Max asked excitedly.
"You bet" Mike assured his youngest brother "but before then, can you do me a favour?"
"What?" Max asked.
"Can you ride Lightning for me? I'm sure he hasn't had a decent ride from a Bond boy in a while" Mike asked, knowing it would bring eagerness out of the kid.
"Sure!" Max responded enthusiastically.
Mike grinned hearing the response "you ok otherwise sport?"
"Yea" Max sighed.
Mike headed out the room as he saw some of the SWAT guys enter with more things, he saw that NCIS agent "Hey, Agent McGee, can you see what else you can shift in the room for a bit? I've just got take this call & will come back"
"Ahh, sure" Tim conceded, he had been waiting for David, the electrician, to come back upstairs so he could help with some of the wiring for the internet that they were feeding up to the attic.
"Thanks" Mike smiled as he headed into Nix's room that was currently vacant, taking a seat on the footlocker that now resided in the room "ok Maxy, what's wrong?"
"Nothing" Max responded.
"Come on bro, tell Mikey what's wrong?" Mike encouraged, he'd missed his brother so much, and really wanted to see him on his leave.
'Ummmm….." Max started "well, umm…. Nix… umm…"
Mike had to smile "Nix is fine bro, do you want to talk to him?" he'd wondered if this was the subject of his brother's issue. The pair got on like a house on fire, it was hilarious watching the pair in their element together.
"Ummm…." Max tried.
"Max, if you want to talk to Nix I'll get him now, if you want to talk to him later, just call me ok? I have no doubt he'll want to talk to you at any time" Mike assured his brother.
"Talk to who?" Nix asked coming into the room.
Mike's eyes widened, damn what did he do now? "Well…" he then considered it might do his brother good "Max is on the phone, do you want to…" he'd tried to finish but the boy had snatched the phone from his grasp.
"Max!" Nix yelled "do I have a story for you!" he exclaimed as he ran out of the room.
Mike just laughed as he followed the boy out of the room "bring me my phone back when you're done!" he yelled after him.
"Who's squirt talking to?" Myles queried as he came out of the spare room with DC SWAT Officer Daniel Lyons.
"Max" Mike responded "how much more room do we need in there" he asked back.
"Well, let me put it this way, Lt Taylor is considering finding space in his own basement to move stuff to" Lyons laughed. The team had been taken off rotation until they'd all healed from their minor injuries & when he & he team mates had heard that the Gibbs' were starting to work on getting their home sorted to all be able move back into, they jumped at the chance to help them. It'd cure his boredom & keep his mind off the upcoming trial, which he still couldn't believe was starting in only a few days!
Mike just chuckled, there was certainly a lot up there! "well, I still can't believe there's a boat in the basement, how the heck does he plan to get it out of there?"
"If only I knew the answer to that" Jimmy lamented as he came into the room carrying a box, he looked at the others in the room "apparently this isn't his first boat in the basement, but he's never divulged how he gets them out of the basement."
"Kells did tell me that she used to help her dad build some boat, I just never expected the boat to be IN the basement" Mike admitted.
"I'll give 200 dollars to the man that figures it out" Sgt Lance Anderson remarked as he too entered the room with a box, he was damn curious about that boat being IN a basement.
"You'll be waiting a while" Lt Peters commented sticking his head into the room "Taylor's confirmed he doesn't even know! So no one has a chance to know! Now get your butts back out here to accept the boxes down the stairs"
"So Mark what do you think?" Gibbs asked, he & his wife along with, Jeff, David, the hardware stores attached electrician & Mark, the hardware store's attached builder / architect had looked all the major works over & were now outside.
"Well" Mark considered "The change to the wall separating the kitchen from dining shouldn't be too difficult. And the alterations to the built-in's in your bedroom & your son's are pretty simple. Niether should be the modifications to the bathroom"
"What about the attic changes?" Shannon queried.
Mark let out a breath "I think hardest part will be getting the frames & walls for the bathroom, the ceiling insulation & wardrobe into the attic. The window's aren't big enough & neither is the trap door." This was giving him a bit of a headache, how the heck did they get it all up there?
"We're going to have to take the slats up individually & construct the frames in the attic itself" Jeff commented.
"I've already got plenty of wood for the frames in the basement" Gibbs added.
Mark nodded "ok, and I guess as long as some of the people you've got on hand know anything about building we can get them put together fairly quickly. The walls though… you know I did a job a little while ago, where instead of having sheets line the frame to enable a firm wall surface, we actually used thin wood slats & just stained the walls. It gave it a more rustic look than a standard painted over wall."
Gibbs shared a look with his wife as they considered it, he saw his girl in the living area "Kelly!" he called loudly.
"What happened to not being yelled for? And walking to the person in question" Kelly remarked with a smirk aimed at her dad.
"Just come here please" Gibbs urged, as he ignored the comment.
"Darling what do you think of having the walls in your new bedroom being wooden slats rather than painted over walls?" Shannon asked.
"We could stain the slats a colour you want" Gibbs added.
Kelly gave her parents an odd look "why would I want painted walls? I already said I wanted my bedframe to match the wood feel up there…" she had no idea why her parents thought she'd want the walls painted in their entirety.
Gibbs shared a surprised look with his wife, guess they just assumed! Whoops, and he had a rule against it! Damn it! "so all the walls of the new bathroom both inside & out, and the coverings we're putting up on the ceiling & the walls will all be wooden slats. Is that what you want?" he wanted to clarify.
"Yes please" Kelly nodded "can we wait though to decide on the stain colour for the inside walls of my bathroom until after we go to the bathroom store tomorrow?"
"Of course we can Kells" Gibbs smiled as he nodded for her to head back inside.
"Guess that works then" Jeff smiled to the couple before he turned his attention "How's the electrical all looking David?"
"Well…" David started as he gave Gibbs a good stare "I'm glad some of the people here know their way around wiring"
"It's not that bad" Gibbs commented, all the lights still worked so how bad could it be?
"You're right Jethro, it's not that bad for a home that doesn't want internet or any modern technology for that matter" David smirked in response "but I need to run the wiring up to the attic for more than just the one light that's up there. I need the internet cabling up there as the WiFi from downstairs won't reach with ample service. We'll then need extra cabling to support the requirements for the bathroom, and the extra ports that we'll need."
"Someone say wiring?" James commented approaching the huddle.
Shannon turned & smiled "James" she greeted.
James smiled as he approached "heard there was a working bee going on, so I thought I'd lend a hand"
Gibbs' eyes widened, how'd he find out? "wasn't expecting you, but we appreciate it"
"My pleasure, I also want a moment to talk about how we do the, well, the reintroduction between Kelly & Maddie. She's still got 1 exam left on Wednesday next week, after that I'll explain, but I'd like to have the idea what happens after that already sorted" James commented carefully & quietly to the pair.
"Of course James" Shannon agreed.
James nodded "so what's this about wiring?"
"Apparently my house isn't up to scratch with the cabling & wiring for the modern technology our kids require" Gibbs answered with a small smile.
"Not just your children Jethro, I want decent internet & Television capabilities in the place" Shannon retorted.
"Of course dear" Gibbs responded automatically.
James laughed, these two were exactly the same as they used to be "I think we can bring the house into the 21st Century" he then turned to another man "I take it you're the electrician?"
"Yes, David Jennings" David responded "and bringing this place into the 21st Century will be quite the task"
James considered his statement "Jethro, Shannon, could I have a moment?" he asked motioning for them to talk privately. He looked to the other men "won't be a moment"
"Excuse us gentlemen" Shannon commented
"No problems Shannon" Jeff agreed, him & his offsiders had enough to discuss anyway.
"What's up?" Gibbs asked once they were a bit down the path.
"I can bring in some extra resources to help with this project, if you're ok with it?" James remarked.
"What sort of resources? And how'd you know about the working bee?" Gibbs asked back.
"I was in a conference call with your Director when Commandant Ellison came into the call" James remarked.
"Ellison" Shannon mused, "wasn't he your CO back when you first joined?" she asked her man.
Gibbs nodded "he was, he's now the Commandant of the Marine Core"
Shannon's eyes widened, that man certainly climbed the ladder, one thing though "why was he in the call with you & the NCIS Director?"
"Well, after what happened in Manchester, the scuttlebutt rose all the way to the top of the Core, as soon as the Commandant heard, he'd done what he had to verify it was true. Then, he reached out to Director Sheppard & has since brought his full weight to assist in whatever he could." James commented.
"Jethro?" Shannon queried.
"Apparently it's not just Commandant Ellison that's reached out to see what help they could give" Gibbs responded, he took picked up her hand & just rubbed, "do you remember Patrick & Lynn Kiley?"
Shannon thought back "Patrick was your Lieutenant when you deployed, wasn't he?"
"Yea" Gibbs breathed "he's now a Senator, and he'd also heard about what happened, apparently he too has been in contact to see what he could to do help" he could see her next question forming "I didn't want to overwhelm you with all these people from the past all of sudden popping up & wanting pieces of us, of you."
Shannon knew he was trying to protect her from whatever he could, and she was grateful for it "thank you darling, but it also shows me that you have people around you that care a great deal about you & want to help you."
Gibbs smiled as he gave his lady a kiss & smiled as she returned it, he turned to James "what kind of resources?"
"Well, the Commandant as authorised me, if you're ok with it, to use any works you need done, as a training exercise for some of my engineers & MOS teams. He's happy for me to bring a few teams over to assist in whatever is required" James responded.
Gibbs didn't know what to say, he looked at his wife with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm sure there's other work they could be doing" Shannon commented, that seemed a bit extreme "we already have almost all of the SWAT officers, Jethro's NCIS team, and other agents all here lending a hand here, plus Jeff & all the guys from the hardware store"
"I can see that Shannon" James smiled "and I'm offering an extra 25 qualified pairs of hands. I know the trial starts next week & that a great deal of the people here will need to be there, so why not have people here working on everything whilst you're all otherwise occupied. Plus with the extra people power, we'd be able to get everything sorted out that much faster, especially if the SWAT teams all head back to their home bases soon."
Gibbs had to admit that James made some good points, a lot of them were sure to be out of actions soon for.. he didn't even know how long! So it would be a good thing if there'd be people still onsite work. Looking towards his wife he could tell she'd leave this decision up to him. He took a moment's more consideration "ok, thanks, we'd appreciate it, but Jeff's running the project, he's in charge of it all, along with Mark & David." He knew the work quality of those 3 & knew if they were in charge they expect the same standards from the those that were working onsite.
Gibbs then saw Tony pull his car up, he'd been expecting the boy well over an hour earlier after they'd spoken, so why the holdup. Without saying a word, he headed straight for him, he wanted to know what the hold up was & express a few things to the boy. He couldn't help but smile though, Tony was smiling his brash big smile, and it never failed to daw one out of him, so whatever the holdup was, clearly it wasn't something bad.
A/N: So looks like it's all hands on deck to get Gibbs' place sorted out asap, but can they pull it off & everyone get what they want? Are they using the house to divert their thoughts from the trial & dealing with everything?
What exactly does Gibbs want to say to Tony? And how will the trial go?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on other renovations the family need to do around the house! More to come, review away!