1705 – Phineas – good question
Note: I loved last night's episode BUT WHERE were SLIBBS? This popped into my head because kids they ask questions and some of them seem simple but are actually quite complicated to answer. Some of the questions I heard in my work with kids, as camp counselor inspired me to write this piece about Phineas(love the name) and also I think we needed some more Slibbs. I image this could be a side plot in episode 1705. Let me know what you think and enjoy it.
Gibbs's house
As she drives down the quiet street where Gibbs lives, she sees a young boy with a baseball glove on playing in the front yard of the house across the street from Gibbs. She notices the young boy waves at her as she drives into the driveway at Gibbs's house. His car isn't there so he must be out somewhere. She parks her car and gets out and now notices the young boy with the baseball glove runs across the street to her.
"hey, Jethro Gi…" the young boy stops when Jack turns around to face him.
"hey there." She says with a smile.
"can I help you with something."
"This is Jethro Gibbs's house." He says a little disappointed.
"I know," Jack says with a smile. "I'm Jack." She says and reaches out a hand to him. the young boy looks to the ground.
"What is your name?" she asks and tilts her head a bit.
"Phineas." He says a little shy. "where is Jethro Gibbs?" he asks. Jack looks back over her shoulder at the dark windows in the house. Even the windows to the basement are blacked out. "I don't know. I thought he was home."
"Are you his wife?" Phineas asks. He seems to have gained a bit more confidence now. Jack chuckles.
"his wife?" she asks with a raised eyebrow. "no I'm not. We are just good friends."
"so you are his girlfriend?" Phineas asks. Jack doesn't know how to answer that question. It has been 2 weeks since they addressed the elephant in the room and Gibbs took matters into his own hands and latterly put it out in the open in her office, but… They haven't really spoken much of it and they haven't defined what they are or what the new stages in their relationship, professional and personal, mean. She notices the young boy is looking at her waiting for an answer.
"I guess…" jack says and looks distended past Phineas while she is thinking about how to answer the question. "I mean… I suppose…. Kinda… I guess…" Jack finally looks at the young boy with a shy smile. the young boy just looks a bit confused like he doesn't really know what to say next.
"Phineas…" a woman is standing on the porch of the house in front of which Phineas was playing baseball when Jack arrived. Phineas and Jack look over at the woman.
"that is my mom… I better go home," he says and walks down the driveway.
"It was nice meeting you… Jack." He adds her name with a bit of hesitation like he needed to think whether he heard her name correctly.
"you too Phineas," Jack says with a smile as the boy runs across the street back to his mother.
Gibbs's house
Gibbs walks back to his house across the street after he spoke to Sarah, Phineas' mother. He starts finding some materials in his garage to get some work done on the outside of his house. he is standing in his driveway in front of his garage working on some woodwork. He can feel he is being watched by Phineas across the street. Gibbs is aware of him but focuses on his task at hand. Gibbs is standing with his back towards the street to do some measurements when he hears hesitant footsteps in his driveway and Phineas approaches him. Gibbs turns around and awaits the young boy to speak.
"Mr. Gibbs?" the young boy starts hesitantly.
"yes, Phineas…" Gibbs says waiting in anticipation for the young boy.
"can I ask you a question."
"sure," Gibbs says and gets back to his task at hand while he listens to the young boy.
"How can someone have a boyfriend if they aren't sure that they have a boyfriend?" Phineas asks. Gibbs chuckles and stops working.
"what?" Gibbs asks and laughs. "what kind of question is that?"
Phineas shrugs. "I was just wondering."
"you have a girlfriend, Phineas?" Gibbs asks amused by the young boy's very strange question. "no." Phineas quickly says and looks up at Gibbs.
"I mean… yesterday… there was a woman at your house. at first, I thought it was you coming home when I saw the car, but it wasn't…"
"a woman… can you describe her, Phineas?" Gibbs is wondering who that woman could be. Normally the only woman who comes over to his house is Jack Sloane, but they didn't have any plans of her coming over yesterday.
"she was blonde, tall… She looked nice…" he says. he is clearly not used to describing people and it amuses Gibbs. Gibbs takes out his wallet and finds a picture of his team. The picture was taken when Kasie got officially instated as the new permanent forensic expert of NCIS. The team had gone out for dinner together and Ellie had insisted on a group photo being taken. Jack had given Gibbs a copy of it a few days later. At first, it had felt a bit strange to him to have a photo of the people that he sees every day at work so he had placed it in his wallet and mostly forgotten about it. he shows Phineas the photo. Phineas immediately points at the blonde smiling woman sitting right next to Gibbs on the photo.
"It was her." Gibbs nods.
"that is Jack…"
"your girlfriend?" Phineas asks. Gibbs just chuckles. He doesn't really know what to say so he turns back to his work. It makes him feel more comfortable. He hasn't had a serious relationship since he dated Lieutenant Colonel Hollis Mann, but he never actually called her 'his girlfriend'.
"I asked her if she was your girlfriend," Phineas says and starts walking around Gibbs's project. He touches a few things as he mostly observes Gibbs.
"Yeah… what did she say?" Gibbs asks, curious to know how Jack, who always seems to be a lot better with talking about the emotional and relationship stuff than him, would answer the kid's question. Phineas shrugs. "she said: kinda a… I suppose… I guess." Phineas says and runs his hand absentminded over Gibbs's work. He stops walking and looks up at Gibbs. "how can she not know if she is your girlfriend or not?" Phineas asks sincerely confused with a bewildered and puzzled look on his face. Gibbs has to agree with the kid but he is also silently amused by Jack's lack of clarification of their relationship. "that is a damn good question." Gibbs says and chuckles.
Jacks office
Jack is sitting in her office looking over Marine Corporal Laney Alimonte file. She can't get the picture of the case to fit. It knocks on the door and dr. Grace Confalone comes in.
"Hey, Dr. Confalone." Jack says and stands up to greet her guest. "thanks for coming."
"Thanks for the invite. It sounds like a very interesting case."
"oh yeah, you can say that."
They walk over and Jack takes a seat behind her desk and dr. Grace Confalone sits down across from her. Jack notices Grace is looking at her new painting. Jack looks up at it too and can't hide the smile on her face by thinking of the night she got it and who gave it to her.
"new art decoration?"
"Yeah," Jack says and tries to focus back on her computer screen to start informing Grace more about the case at hand but the little yellow posted note that was attached to the painting is now attached to her computer screen. The smile on her face from looking at the note doesn't go unnoticed by Grace.
"a gift?" Grace asks and snaps Jack out of her haze of the note. Jack looks back up briefly at the painting.
"oh yeah," Jack says and tries to put her business face back on.
"from a special someone?" Grace asks with a knowing look.
"yes." Jack simply says. she is not going to deny it.
"a new development. I see. So you finally have a special someone you can talk to, who feels the say way as you do?" Grace asks referring to the last time they had a therapy session in Jack's office where Jack talked about feeling lonely.
"I know he reciprocates my feelings but talking… no." Jack says and that makes Grace very interested in the new development that has happened since her last session with Jack.
"so you and Gibbs are together but he still doesn't talk with you?" Jack shakes her head and looks a little sad about that and her facial expression confirms to dr. Grace how stubborn Gibbs is when it comes to open up. "so if he doesn't talk to you what are you two doing when you are together?" Grace asks. Jack looks at her with a puzzled look that says 'do you really want to know?' Grace realize how it sounded what she just said. "and I don't need intimate details." She adds.
Jack shrugs and leans back in her chair. "we have steaks, talk about cases, talk about the team, watch a movie, play poker, have a drink… work on his boat in his basement."
"ahhh I see. There it is… the change." Grace says and Jack look puzzled at her.
"Nothing has changed since…" Jack nods towards the picture. "he still doesn't open up to me. when Ziva returned and left again… he got upset with me for trying to talk with him about it."
"but he let you help him with his boat," Grace says, and Jack looks confused.
"yeah so…"
"for a forensic psychologist you are not very good at profiling those closest to you," Grace says with a smile. Jack just shrugs. Grace is probably right. She hasn't been able to profile Gibbs since she started at NCIS.
"Gibbs has some strange thing about those boats. I know he has named his previous once after his late wife and his daughter." Jack nods. she knew that too. "letting you help him with his boat project is a sign of trust. He is letting you into his most sacred part of his life." A small smile is shown on Jack's lips. "Embrace it, Jack. It is a small step towards deeper trust in you." Jack nods with a small smile. "he is stubborn. It will take time for you to get close to him and for him to trust. He has lost a lot of people in his life. I think he has become more aware of the danger of letting people get close because of the risk of losing them again."
Jack nods. She just needs to give him the time he needs, but at least they are taking small steps in the right direction and Jack now has Gibbs that she can confide in even if he doesn't always seem to confide in her. they hear Tim and Gibbs talking in the hallway and they get up to greet the two special agents.
Jacks office
Jack arrived early at the office this morning. The case and especially Lanie's reaction in the interrogation room yesterday has been bothering her all night. She gets into her office and drops her bag and her jacket. She sits down in her chair she has behind the door. she leans her head back and closes her eyes for e moment. It was amusing and interesting for her to see how hypnotism can make people suggestive to pretty much anything and that the theory of hypnum murder might not be so crazy after all. Seeing how Dr. Grave got Nick to write his heart out to Ellie in a letter and he gave her his knife… something he would never do was quite interesting. Especially how dr. Grace got Nick to talk about his feelings. Maybe Jack should try and get Gibbs hypnotized. Maybe that would get him to talk to her. The thought of Gibbs hypnotized amuses her a bit, but what Grace said yesterday about Gibbs letting Jack help with his boat is a big step in the right direction has been echoing in her head all night. Also, the question that kid Phineas asked her. "are you his girlfriend?" that word 'girlfriend' had been echoing in her head ever since. Yesterday as Gibbs had come to her office and they had walked together to the interrogation room, she had been severely distracted, and Gibbs had probably noticed right away, but e hadn't called her out on it. that is something she always has appreciated with Gibbs. He doesn't call her out on things. The only time she remembers he has ever called her out was when she left an active shooting crime scene and withheld information about her biological daughter. She is knocked out of her train of thoughts when it knocks on her door. The door is opened before she can open her eyes. She sees Gibbs looking into her office. He is about to close the door again when she announces her presence behind the door.
"right here, Gibbs." She says with a smile and tilts her head as he looks behind the door and sees her. He walks in and closes the door behind him. she gets up from her chair and greets him with a smile and a hug. As she hugs him, he gives her a quick peck on the cheek. That has become his way of saying good morning to her in her office. Bringing her a cup of coffee and giving her a quick peck on the cheek. The light touch of his lips on her cheek always gives her that fuzzy feeling of butterflies. She hasn't told him that because she thinks it makes her sound like a lovesick teenage girl. He has two cups of coffee in his hand and he hands her one of them. She takes a sip. He really knows by now how she likes her coffee. "thanks, Gibbs."
He grabs a lollipop and then as he is unwrapping it he is just looking at her with one of his characteristic smiles. Jack looks at him a little puzzled.
"you need something, Gibbs?" she asks wondering. "maybe…" he says with the lollipop in his mouth. He takes it out and adds. "kinda… I guess…" he adds and pops the candy back in his mouth. He has a smug grin on his face, and it is confusing Jack. Normally when he stops by her office with coffee for her, he leaves quickly after to meet up with his team but today he is staying, and it makes her wonder. Gibbs has unwrapped the lollipop and stuffs it in his mouth. "other than candy?" she adds when he still doesn't say anything and still just has that smug smile on his face.
"just a simple question." He says and takes the lollipop out of his mouth." okay." Jack says in anticipation and walks past him to her desk. she is expecting it to be about the case. "about the case?" she asks when he doesn't continue. "nope." He says. Jack has noticed the sneaky smile he has on his face. "then what? Spit it out all right." She says. The suspense is killing her.
"How can someone be in a relationship with someone if they are not sure they are in a relationship with someone?" Gibbs asks trying to quote his young new friend as precise as he recalls. Jack just looks utterly confused at him and thinks it might be some mind trick question.
"what?" she just simply asks.
"Phineas…" Gibbs says but that isn't clearing much up for Jack. "my new neighbors' son. You meet him the day before yesterday." Jack now recalls the young boy she meets at Gibbs's house.
"Yeah, I remember. Sweet kid." But jack stills don't understand Gibbs's cryptic initial question or where he is going with it. Gibbs is amused by Jack's confusion. "I spoke with the kid yesterday. He told me you had stopped by my house. Jack is starting to realize where he is going with his initial question. "the kid had asked you if we were together and he hadn't gotten much of an answer." Jack nods and looks down a little embarrassed that the kid would Tell Gibbs how she had answered the question. She recalls that she said the same kind of waving words as Gibbs just said when she asked him if he needed something. 'he knows.' She thinks. She looks up to meet his eyes when she feels the redness of embarrassment has disappeared again, or at least most of it.
"What did he tell you?" Jack asks.
"not much…" Gibb says and throws away the empty stick from the lollipop. "just that he had asked you if you and I were together and you had given him a very confusing waving answer…" Jack nods.
"what was I supposed to say?" Jack asks looking at Gibbs with an intense stare. "we haven't exactly talked about what this is, Gibbs." She says and walks around her desk to stand in front of him. he turns to face her. she is standing right in front of him invading his personal space. "what would you have said to him?" she asks looking straight into his eyes. He looks down. Clearly not comfortable being put on the spot.
"I… I don't know." He says and looks up to meet her eyes. Her soft dark brown eyes are looking straight at him. "I…" he looks down again and takes a step away from her and turns to look out the window so as not to face her. "I don't need to put a label on it." he turns around to face her again and he takes a moment to choose the right words. The words he thought about it is like they completely disappear in his mind the moment he sees how she is looking at him with so much sweet softness and care. "I just know that I care about you and I want to be with you. I don't care what we call it…" he says and looks down at the ground again the moment he sees the sweet smile on her face. she takes a step closer to him and invades his private space again. "we can call it the elephant in the room or girlfriend or whatever we want. It doesn't matter to me." she says, and she places her hand on his chest to get him to look at her. her dark brown eyes so soft and filled with love. He leans down and is just about to kiss her when it knocks on the door. she takes a step away from him to make some appropriate distance between them before she gives the come into the person at the door. Nick comes in.
"hey, boss. We got dr. Pershing in interrogation now." Nick informs without even look up from his paperwork. "how do you know I was here?" Gibbs asks. Nick looks up from his papers at Jack and Gibbs. Nick shrug. "I saw you came into the office with 2 cups of coffee. The only person you ever bring coffee is Sloane." Nick shrug. "Are you jealous Nick?" Jack asks with a teasing smile and takes a sip of her coffee. Nick doesn't look pleased with KJack teasing him back. she no longer seems to be bothered that he comments on her closeness with Gibbs. "I'll bring you a hot chocolate tomorrow Torres," Gibbs says and that makes Jack laugh. Nick just shoots her an annoyed look. Gibbs then grabs his coffee cup he placed on the desk earlier and walks past Nick.
"later, Jack." He says and leaves the office. "Torres!" He calls down the hall when Torres doesn't follow him right away. "coming, Gibbs…" Nick says and quickly closes the door and follows Gibbs.
the street where Gibbs lives
Jack drives down the street where Gibbs lives. She sees to her pleasant surprise that Gibbs is throwing a baseball with the young boy Phineas. When Gibbs sees her in her car, he just quickly waves at her before he throws the baseball back to Phineas.
"that is your girlfriend, right?" Phineas asks and throws the ball back to Gibbs. Gibbs chuckles by the sound of that. "yes, it was." Gibbs says. Jack has parked her car in the driveway of Gibbs's house and gets out of the car. She walks over to Gibbs and Phineas.
"hey." She says and stands in a safe distance as Gibbs throws the ball back to Phineas. "how did it go with Corporal Alimonte?" He asks as he continues throwing the ball with Phineas.
"great. Her discharge gets upgraded to general so she will receive the VA benefits so she can get the right help." Jack explains. a stray ball nearly hits Jack, but she reacts quickly and catches it… To great admiration from Gibbs and especially the young boy.
"Nice catch," Gibbs says with an impressed smile. "I know," Jack responds as she throws the ball over to Gibbs. Her response makes Gibbs slightly blush and he looks away from her with a smile on his face. he throws the ball back to Phineas. Phineas has been watching but he clearly didn't understand what they said. "Phineas." His mother calls out. "you gotta be careful."
"it was an accident mom," Phineas calls back to his mother defensive and then he looks over at Jack.
"I'm really sorry that I nearly hit you, miss…"
"It is all right, Phineas," Jack says.
"you want to throw?" he asks Jack.
"Nah… I'll let you kids play." She says with a teasing smile. She steps back on the sidewalk and thereby out of the way of any potential stray balls from Phineas. They continue for a little while. Jack notices Phineas' mother who is standing on the porch watching her son play. It must be any mother's dream when she is moving to a new neighborhood and then having a neighbor who wants to hang out with her kid.
"Okay, Phineas how about we stop for the day and continue another day?" Gibbs asks and takes off his glove. Phineas nods and takes off his glove too and walks over to Gibbs to hand the glove to him. Gibbs shakes his head.
"nope. Keep it. it is yours." Gibbs says and hands the ball to him. "thank you, Jethro Gibbs." The young boy shakes Gibbs's hand. Then he looks down at the ground a little shy. Gibbs and Jack can tell he wants to say something.
"you want to say something, kid?" Gibbs asks.
"I just have a question but I don't mean to be rude."
"you warned me. it is fine. Ask."
"it is not for your, Jethro Gibbs," Phineas says and looks over at Jack.
"okay. Go ahead." Jack says waiting for the young boy to ask whatever question he has.
"you told me yesterday your name is Jack. But… isn't that kind of a guy's name?" he asks not sure of whether he is asking the wrong question now. Gibbs and Jack look at each other with a smile.
"yes you are right Phineas Jack is a guy's name. it is short for Jacqueline. My actual name is Jacqueline."
"so… why do you call yourself a guys name?" he asks. He now sounds a bit more confident about his questions.
"because I work in a world with a lot of guys. So, I am just one of the guys with a guy's name."
"Are you also a policeman?" Phineas asks excitedly. "I saw Jethro Gibbs's badge and gun yesterday.
"well, we are actually federal agents." Gibbs clarifies and takes out his ide to show the young boy. Phineas' eyes nearly pop out of his head when he sees Gibbs's NCIS id. "cool." The young boy exclaims. "you are FBI?"
Gibbs and Sloane look at each other with a smile. Jack knows how much it bothers Gibbs every time some civilian asks him if he is FBI whenever they are out on a case and they identify themselves as federal agents and civilians immediately assume they are from the FBI. "no kid. We are NCIS." Gibbs clarifies.
"What is that?" Phineas asks bewildered.
"It is like military police," Jack explains.
"so, you are military AND police at the same time?" the boy looks really impressed now. "that is so cool." The young boy's mother, Sarah comes over to them.
"mom they are military police agents," Phineas tells his mom and he can't hide his excitement.
"wow…" his mother simply says not sounding nearly as impressed and fascinated about her new neighbors' occupation as her son. She touches her sons her. "Phineas dinner is ready could you go wash your hands and go set the table?" she asks.
"Yeah, sure mom." Phineas says. "it was fun playing with you Jethro Gibbs and thank you for the glove. Can we play again another time?" the young boy asks.
"sure kid. Go do as your mom says." Gibbs says. the boy seems really excited.
"Okay." He says and runs into the house. once Phineas is inside the house Sarah turns to Jack and Gibbs.
"thank you, sir, so much for being so great to him."
"he is a sweet kid," Gibbs says. Sarah looks back towards the house. "yes, he is. He has been talking a lot about you just since yesterday, but I am sorry if he has been too much. He gets really excited, but he shouldn't invade your privacy and asks personal questions."
"It is alright. He is a kid. They ask questions. it is not a problem." Gibbs says completely understanding.
"Yeah. But please let me know if he is being too much."
Gibbs nods. Sarah walks back towards the house and Gibbs and Jack start heading towards Gibbs's house. Gibbs places a hand on her lower back as they walk up the driveway.
"he makes you look younger," Jack whisper as they walk. Gibbs looks confused at her. "playing with him it makes you look younger." Jack teases.
"hmm…" Gibbs just simply growls. He is well aware of the age difference between him and Jack and her bringing up his age isn't something he normally likes, but he would be lying if he denied that playing with the kid did make him feel a bit younger.
"Jethro Gibbs." They stop and turn around and sees Phineas come running out of the house and crossing the street without even looking for cars.
"kid you can't cross the street without looking out for cars," Gibbs says almost sounding like a father.
"ups…" Phineas says a little embarrassed. Jack starts smiling when she notices Phineas is holding utensils in his hand. He was clearly in the middle of setting the table as his mother asked him to do when he thought of something.
"what do you need kid?" Gibbs asks also amused by Phineas holding the utensils.
"did you ever figure out the answer?" he asks and then looks over at Jack and then back to Gibbs. Gibbs looks at Jack with a smile before he turns back to Phineas.
"no, I didn't actually."
"I really don't understand it," he says clearly confused.
"me either kid. You probably will someday." Gibb says and places a hand on his head. "now you go in and do as your mom told you okay?" Gibbs says. The young boy nods. "okay." He runs back across the street. Gibbs now notice he ran out in his socks without shoes.
"and put some shoes on, kid."
"Sorry, Jethro Gibbs." The boy yells as he runs back into his house. Gibbs and Jack are laughing at the young boy and then they walk into Gibbs's house.
Once inside Jack asks. "what question?" Gibbs just looks at her and smiles as he takes off his green jacket and hangs it up and then he walks into the Livingroom. Jack follows him. a little irritated that he is not going to tell her.
"Gibbs… come on. Tell me." she says. it amuses him that she gets so easily obsessed with withheld information.
"you were both looking at me when he asked that question. It has something to do with me, doesn't it?"
"It was nothing, Jack," Gibs calls out from the kitchen as he is grabbing a beer for both of them and then reenter the living room.
"I thought you said you brought food?" he says and places the beers on the table.
"I did. It is in the car. And I am not going to get it before you tell me what the question was about." He walks over to her and kisses her. "not going to happen." He says against her lips and then walks to the door. "did you just pickpocket my car keys?" she calls out. She hears the front door opens and she can hear the sound of her car being remotely unlocked. The sound of the door being opened and then closed again and the sound of the car being remotely locked again. She is a little amazed at how he did that but at the same time also a bit frustrated that he won't tell her. she knows he is just messing with her head and is infuriating how easily he can mess with her head. He comes back in with a brown paper bag in his band and place it on the table and starts taking out the take-out food-containers. He sits down and opens the two beers. He then looks up at her. she is just standing there with her arms crossed over her chest staring at him.
"your food is getting cold." He announces and takes a bit of his own food. He signs in defeat and sits down at the table. He is sitting at the end of the table and she is sitting on the long side.
"you really aren't going to tell me, are you?" she asks and opens her own food container and takes out the fork.
"Not much to tell." He says and stuffs some food in his mouth.
"what was the question?" she asks again and stuffs some rice noodles in her mouth.
"he asked me how you could not know whether we are together or not?" then Gibbs takes a sip of his beer.
"because it is difficult to be clear on anything when I am with a man who is so damn stubborn and infuriating because he never says a damn thing about how he feels," Jack says and takes a sip of her beer. Gibbs is just looking surprised at her. he didn't expect her to throw it back at him.
"It is that big of a deal for you?" he asks, sincere. That surprises Jack. How sincere he sounds. She looks down not able to look into his sweet, kind shining blue eyes.
"maybe… I mean… I don't know…" Jack looks up and sees the amused smile on his face and it makes her laugh and Gibbs starts laughing too. "come on Gibbs…" she says and hits his arm. "it wasn't a problem for me until the kid asked me wether, we are together or not. We never put it into words what we are. What this is."
"does it matter?" he asks. The seriousness in his voice and the way he afterword places his hand on hers surprises her and when she looks into his eyes all she sees is general sweet love.
"no, I guess not…" is all she says, and she leans over and kisses him.
"to me… it doesn't matter what we call it or who knows about it or what they are saying about it…" as he speaks he is looking straight into those brown soft sweet eyes that he so often over the past 2 years has gotten lost in. they can make him go soft in a way he hasn't felt since Shannon. "All that matters to me… is how we feel about it." he gives her another quick peck on the lips but she deeps the kiss and it is so filled with love and all the feelings he has for her that he can't put into words. "you are right…" she says as they break the kiss. "It doesn't matter what we call it." he agrees with her by kissing her again.