Chapter 6: Candy Canes - 2023
"Why do I have the feeling that leaving the children with the guys is going to result in mayhem?" Delilah backed her minivan out of the DiNozzo driveway as she and Ziva headed to a holiday baking exhibition in Annapolis. "Seven kids, two big kids watching them, what can go wrong?"
"If we think about it too much, we will not go to the baking show," Ziva commented dryly. "We have to trust Tony and Tim at some point; they are good fathers to the children. I do have to admit, though, there has been a time or two that I thought Asher would be a better sitter."
Delilah chuckled, "We know our men too well!" She turned onto the ramp to the interstate; both women hoped for no surprises when they came back home in four hours or so.
~DiNozzo~
"Who wants to play Xbox?" Tony called to the kids. "We are going to start a group game for anyone who wants to play!" He handed a controller to Tim as he powered up the main unit. Anthony and John came into the family room, followed by the others.
Anthony looked at his father and uncle, "What game?"
"We want the princess game!" Riv crossed her arms and stared down her older brother.
"Yeah, no stupid boy games for us girls," Katie added, glaring at her twin.
John and Anthony shared a look; John sighed. "If we play any dumb princess game, Anthony and I are history!" He glared back at his sister.
Tony rolled his eyes at Tim; there was no happy medium for the five middle kids. "Okay, I can see this is not going to be easy to get everyone on the same page. How about the girls play the princess game on the Xbox in the playroom? Tal? You good with keeping an eye on them?"
Tali shrugged, "Yep; I'll probably read though, if that's okay." The four girls followed Tony back to the playroom where he got the princess game started and handed each one a controller.
Tim and the boys chose a race game for the males. "LJ, are you going to play too?"
The two-year-old nodded in excitement as Tim handed him a controller.
"Uncle Tim, he doesn't know how to play," Anthony explained. "Usually Abba or Ima helps him."
"Helps who with what?" Tony entered the family room at the tail end of the conversation.
"Helps LJ with the race car game," Tim responded. "I can help him if you want."
Tony nodded, "We can take turns as long as he is interested. That okay with you, big guy?" He looked over at LJ grinning at the controller in his hands.
"Yep; Unka Tim hep LJ!"
The guys played the race car game with Tim and Tony helping LJ until he lost interest after about twenty minutes and wandered to the playroom. He sat with Tali on the loveseat as she read some of his favorite story books. They were about to start a third book when LJ shook his head.
"No, Tali; me hungee."
Riv heard the mention of food and soon the three younger girls were also discussing a snack.
"Let me go ask Abba," Tali replied the younger kids. She headed to the family room with the others following behind.
Tony and Tim were in a head-to-head high-speed race; John and Anthony had given up after crashing their cars multiple times. Both were sitting on the sofa watching their fathers.
"Abba?" Tali tried not to disrupt the game.
"Yeah?' Tony didn't look from the screen as he skidded his car around a turn.
"Is it okay if we have a snack?"
Tony nodded, absently replying, "Yeah, sure… just remember to clean up the kitchen when you're done."
Anthony and John followed Tali and the other kids to the kitchen. He opened the fridge, "We have apple juice, orange juice, fruit punch, chocolate milk, and lemonade in the little bottles. Tell me what you want…" All the kids chose the chocolate milk.
Tali opened the pantry; Beth spotted an unopened multi-pack of forty-eight candy canes that Ziva bought at the warehouse store for Tali and Anthony to take to their classroom holiday parties. She carried the entire set of boxes to the table so the kids could all reach them. Riv grabbed the bag of snack-sized packets of chips and pretzels, while John spied a large bag of gummi bears.
Anthony and Tali grabbed bags of semi-sweet chocolate morsels and white chocolate morsels while Katie spied a bag of miniature marshmallows. The kids laid out their feast on the dining room table and looked over the items.
"Mom makes fudge with chips and marshmallows," Katie looked at Tali.
Tali thought a minute, went into the kitchen to get a casserole dish that fit in the microwave and a spoon, and returned to the dining room. "Anthony, ask Abba if we can use the microwave."
"Okay," he walked to the family room, "Abba, Tali wants to know if we can use the microwave."
"Yeah, sure. Tell Tali to be sure to use the potholders," Tony figured the kids wanted to make popcorn and he knew Tali could be trusted to do so. He and Tim were wrapped up in the race game advanced levels. The current race was a night race, and both were concentrating on the screen to avoid obstacles hidden in the dark.
Anthony ran back to the dining room, where the kids had dumped the miniature marshmallows, both bags of chocolate morsels, half of a bottle of chocolate milk, and two packages of broken candy canes into the casserole dish.
"Abba said okay," he informed his big sister. "Whatcha making?"
"Fudge," Katie and Tali answered together.
"With candy cane pieces," John added. "If the others would stop eating the candy canes that I smashed…" He handed LJ an unwrapped whole candy cane. As Tali carefully carried the dish to the microwave, the others also unwrapped candy canes.
"Ima uses a wooden spoon when she makes fudge," Tali rummaged in the utensils drawer and found what she wanted. "I wonder how long to heat it?"
The other kids shrugged; John suggested five minutes. That seemed reasonable to Tali, so she pressed the appropriate keys on the keypad and then pressed start. All seven watched the mixture melt and then bubble through the window on the appliance door and the clear glass of the casserole dish. They munched their candy canes as they watched.
Beth ran to the dining room to get another box of eight candy canes, handing one to each of the others before taking her own. She slipped the eighth cane into the pocket of her hoodie.
The microwave beeped; Tali carefully removed the casserole dish with the mixture and set it on the counter. She stirred with the spoon, slopping a bit of the melted concoction on the counter. Some of the chocolate bits had not melted fully so she placed the dish back it the microwave for another two minutes. At about one minute in, the mixture started climbing the sides of the dish. Tali quickly hit the stop on the keypad and then slowly opened the microwave. A little bit had spilled over the sides. She left the microwave door open as she moved the dish to the counter again.
LJ spied the spilled chocolate from the first time Tali stirred the mix. It was starting to solidify and cool; he ran his finger in the chocolate and licked it.
"Good!" he grinned at his big sister. Riv, John, and Anthony took spoons from the drawer and scooped the spilled mix from the inside of the microwave.
Tali used the wooden spoon to even out the mix in the casserole dish as she had seen her Ima do with fudge. "Now we have to let it cool down so we can eat it," she announced to the others.
Katie opened a new package of candy canes and distributed them to the others to eat while they waited for their 'fudge' to be cool enough to eat. Tali carried the casserole dish to the table and placed it on a hot pad. Anthony handed spoons to those who didn't already have one.
After fifteen minutes of waiting and munching candy canes, Anthony and John got impatient. Both boys dipped their spoons in the fudgy mix. It was still warm, but didn't burn their mouths when they popped the spoons in. Beth and LJ were next to take a spoonful.
Soon all seven were scooping the fudgy mix and devouring their creation. It was more like a thick stew in consistency, but they didn't care. It was chocolate and tasted good. The seven soon cleaned the dish of the chocolate concoction and polished off half of the bag of gummies; John had tried dipping them in the chocolate and the others followed. All but one box of candy canes were gone.
The children drifted back to the playroom as their bellies filled and they could eat no more. Anthony and John were the last two at the table. They left their spoons and joined the other kids in the playroom.
In the family room, Tony and Tim had taken the race game to levels never before reached. Both were so intent on the game that neither one had paid much attention to the kids. The current level was a race in a snowstorm; Tim had used all but one of his lives and Tony had two to go.
"ABBA!" Beth called out to her father. "My tummy hurts."
Katie was behind her cousin, "Daddy, I feel sick to my stomach."
Beth moaned softly as her twin ran into the family room, "Abba, LJ barfed on the floor in the playroom!"
Tony and Tim dropped their game controllers and rushed to the kids. They followed the three girls to the playroom where Tali was trying to clean up the floor. Tony ran back to the kitchen to grab some paper towels and noticed the dining room table. What on earth had the kids done?
He returned to the playroom; Tim and Tali had cleaned up most of the mess. "What did you eat?" he looked over at Tali.
"We made fudge," she answered. "And we ate it all…"
"Oh. LJ, you okay, buddy?" The little boy nodded; his tummy didn't hurt as much since he threw up.
Tony motioned for everyone to follow him to the dining room; Tim's jaw fell open at the sight of the mess on the table.
"We gotta clean this up before Ima comes home," Tony looked at the kids. "ALL of it; we can't leave any sign at all…"
Ziva's voice startled Tony, Tim, and the kids, "Any sign of what?" She stopped in her tracks as she turned the corner into the dining room. "Oh my god; what on earth…"
Dee rolled up behind Ziva, "What the… John Anthony McGee, Kaitlyn Sarah McGee, did you have a hand in this?" She turned to face her husband, "Timothy Farragut McGee!" Tim gulped and opened and closed his mouth like a fish.
Ziva glared at her big child, "Anthony D. DiNozzo, Junior; what were you thinking?"
"I… I…"
"Ima, Abba and Uncle Tim didn't have anything to do with this," Tali confessed. "It was all just us kids."
Ziva took a deep breath in, "And why did Abba not?"
"TIM?" Delilah glared at her big child.
"Um… we… um… got… caught up…" Tim started to explain.
Tony gave Ziva a sheepish look, "In a game on the Xbox…" He looked at his brother with a dejected expression. "Tim and I will clean it up…"