BIG, HUGE thank-you for all the reviews! You are all such a wonderful encouragement to me to keep writing in this universe.

Mindless Creations! So glad to see your review ((hugs)) How's the weather in Australia these days? I'm so sick of snow and ice!

90The General09-thanks for your faithful reviews! I always look forward to your input. :)

DS2010, Guest, AureaD, KrisShannon (the reviewer with my nieces' names blended together LOL...my nieces are Kristie and Shannon), Kikilia14, M.v.j.M, and all the others who quietly read along and review now and then: Thank you. :)

This chapter is a fluff chapter...dedicated to Aimee and Gibbs. I plan to write about the day Gibbs goes and signs the official papers, so stay tuned for that.

Makayla and Jenny have mended some bridges, but stay tuned for when her parents return...it might not be a pretty affair.

Since I'm writing this because I enjoy the universe and you all seem to enjoy it too, I will try to fit in some Abby and team stuff too...this has become more of a mini-series than a book. Hope that is okay with everyone :)

Next up: Unfinished business with Riley, his mother and Brigadier General Josh Marshall

"Daddy!"

The shrill sound echoed throughout the house causing a chill to run up Gibbs' spine. He looked up from his woodworking and listened for the voice again to be sure he wasn't imagining it.

"Daddy!" The voice seemed to get louder and more jarring.

Gibbs removed his glasses, set them on his workbench and bounded up the steps taking them two by two. His eyes searched the kitchen for his father but didn't see the man anywhere. Jackson had said he was taking the girls out for ice cream that afternoon. Gibbs had gladly welcomed the quiet time.

"Dad?" he called. "Are you home?"

"Daddy!"

This time Gibbs recognized the voice to belong to Janessa and it was coming from the front foyer. Gibbs hurried into the living room and into the front entrance to see Janessa sitting on the floor in tears, holding her knee. He immediately stooped down to inspect the little girl's leg.

"What happened, Ness? Where's Papa Jack?"

"He's right here," bristled the old man as he hobbled into the front door with Aimee trailing behind, looking a little guilty. "She's fine, Leroy. She just skinned her knee."

"It hurts," whimpered Janessa, reaching for Gibbs for comfort.

Gibbs inhaled deeply to slow his heart rate down. Janessa's screams had shaken him slightly but seeing she was still in one piece had calmed him down considerably. He'd had enough excitement lately to last a lifetime.

"Lemme take a look, Nessie." Gibbs pulled up the little girl's pants to inspect the damage. He grimaced a little when he saw that she'd taken a few layers of skin off her knee. Pulling up her pant leg had disturbed the cut enough to start it bleeding again. Gibbs rose to his feet and carefully lifted the child up with his strong arm. He pressed a kiss on her blonde head and hugged her close to calm her down. "You'll be okay. Let's get it cleaned up a little and find a little one of those Mermaid bandages you like so much."

Gibbs looked at his dad for the story of what happened. From the looks of Aimee's guilty expression, he figured she had had a hand in the accident.

Jackson hung up his hat and pulled Aimee in behind him so he could close the door. "They had a little disagreement getting outta the car," he explained.

Aimee looked at him sheepishly and Gibbs knew that the little girl was feeling guilty for her actions; either that or she was feeling nervous about getting in trouble. She had the look of someone with their hand caught in the cookie jar.

"If you're okay with the girls, Leroy, I'm going to go lay down for an hour before I start supper."

"Sure. Thanks for taking them, dad."

Jackson nodded and headed up the stairs without another word. Gibbs couldn't help but notice how tired his dad looked. It wasn't easy to be in your seventies and be caring for two rambunctious kids like Janessa and Aimee. As much as Gibbs appreciated his father taking up the slack, it was getting more obvious that Jackson needed to go home. If Gibbs was going to take care of his girls, he needed to find a way to handle things on his own without depending on his elderly father so much.

"C'mon, Aims, you can help me doctor up this patient." He winked at Aimee kindly and was glad to see her lighten up a little. "Think we'll have to amputate?"

Aimee laughed. "I think so."

Janessa frowned at him and grabbed his face seriously. "What's amppatate?"

"It means we're gonna chop your leg off, you big baby," snapped Aimee.

Gibbs scowled at Aimee when Janessa screeched in his ear. "Ness, we're only teasing." He carried the squirming girl into the kitchen and plopped her on the counter. Janessa went to slide down and he caught her before she escaped. "Nessie, stay still please."

"I don't want you to cut off my leg," she whined, big teardrops falling down her cheeks.

Gibbs groaned as he opened the cupboard to grab out the first aid kit. "Nessie, I was teasing. I'm only going to clean your knee and put on a Band-Aid."

Janessa stopped fidgeting and poked her tongue out at Aimee.

Gibbs used his foot to pull a chair over for Aimee. "Sit down, Aims."

Aimee sat and crossed her arms. Gibbs smirked to himself. One second she looked repentant and the next minute she looked like she was ready to seek revenge. Is this what life is like with two girls? He'd never had two children before. Kelly hadn't anyone to argue with but him and Shannon. Gibbs washed Janessa's scraped knee with a saline solution and gingerly patted it dry.

"So, how'd did you cut your knee?"

Janessa sniffled. "Aimee pushed me and falled."

"You fell," he corrected.

"Yah, I felled."

"She was being too pokey," argued Aimee, sitting up straighter on her chair. "Papa Jack told her to hurry, but she wasn't listening."

Gibbs frowned as he applied some antiseptic to the bandage and fastened it to Janessa's knee gently. "And you thought pushing her would be helpful?" He asked, giving Aimee a stern glance. Aimee's face paled a little and she stared at the floor.

Gibbs pulled Janessa's pant leg down and lifted her down to the floor. "All better?"

Janessa nodded, perking up a little. "I had chocolate mint chip ice cream!"

Gibbs tidied up the first aid kit and shoved it back into the drawer, tossing the soiled gauze and Band-Aid wrappers in the garbage. "Sounds yummy…what kind did you have Aims?"

Aimee didn't look up and remained silent. Gibbs sighed. Some things didn't change obviously. Aimee was still choosing to be miserable. Gibbs was beginning to wonder if Aimee was just going to be this type of kid her whole life. He certainly hoped not. He knew that she had been through a lot in her young life and it was certainly understandable; however, she was going to be one unhappy little girl living in his house if she chose to remain forever difficult.

"Aimee had banilla."

Gibbs chuckled. "Vanilla," he corrected.

Janessa scrunched up her nose. "That's what I said."

Gibbs laughed again and messed up her hair. "Go finish your puzzle, you little monster."

Janessa pushed her hair out of her face and smiled. "I only gots a little bit more to do, daddy."

"I saw that. Remember, no one can help you. That was our deal, right?"

Janessa nodded solemnly and started walking out of the room. "I want lotsa pineapple on my pizza."

Gibbs scowled. "Pineapple? Eww…you don't put fruit on pizza."

"You promised I could pick alls the toppings!" she giggled.

Gibbs pretended to chase her and she squealed in delight, running from the room laughing. Gibbs stared after her chuckling. Secretly he loved pineapple on pizza. He probably should have felt guilty for trying to manipulate the little girl to pick the toppings he liked too. They had made a bet that she couldn't put together a 300 piece puzzle on her own. Janessa had been working on the puzzle for a couple of days, insisting that she could do it on her own with no help, so Gibbs had added a little incentive to help her stay steadfast in her determination. Gibbs hoped she wouldn't notice that he'd put some random pieces in for her to help. The little pixie had chosen a landscape puzzle and some of the greenery was very difficult to distinguish. He was genuinely amazed at how smart she was at puzzles.

"You mad at me?" came a small voice from behind him.

Gibbs turned and smiled. "Nope."

"I didn't think she'd fall when I pushed her."

"I know."

Gibbs grabbed a drink from the fridge and began to walk towards the door to the basement.

"You gonna punish me?"

"Nope."

"Why? Cuz I just got out of the hospital and you think I'm still sick?"

Gibbs stopped and leaned against the wall. He opened the can of iced tea and took a long drink. He looked at the little girl in front of him, her cheeks were rosy and her eyes, bright and intelligent. His heart skipped a beat in his chest when he let himself think about how close he'd come to losing her, first to David Brody and then to the microchip in her head. Aimee might not ever understand the agony he went through not knowing if he'd ever get to see her again or hold her in his arms. Aimee wasn't sick; she radiated health and strength. The doctors had assured him that she was fine and that there would be no residual effects from surgery. Kids bounced back incredibly fast, and Aimee was a testimony to that. Aimee was a spitfire, and Gibbs didn't want to tame that fire; he wanted to train it and teach her to control it.

"No, because I already know that you know you did a dumb thing. I don't need to tell you that."

Aimee scowled. "And?"

"And what?"

She narrowed her eyes. "You're frustrating. You know that?"

Gibbs had to bite back a smirk. Aimee was still trying to figure him out and was finding his unpredictability disconcerting. Gibbs had to admit that sometimes his randomness was his most powerful deterrent. He would rather be a little bit of mystery. He didn't make it a habit in everything though; some things, like running away or deliberately hurting someone, had very clear consequences, but Aimee wasn't mean-spirited. Gibbs knew that Aimee genuinely loved her sister.

"Wanna help me sand?"

"Not really. Why do spend so much time on that dumb ole boat anyways?"

"I enjoy it. C'mon, Aims, you can hold the clamp for me while I do some gluing. It's hard to do it with one hand."

Aimee sighed dramatically and stood to her feet, following Gibbs down the stairs to the basement. "Didn't stop you from smacking Mak this morning."

Gibbs set his drink down and grabbed the clamp, holding it out to her, not showing his disconcertion that she'd heard his dealings with Makayla. "Did Mak tell you that?"

Aimee shook her head as she took the clamp with a shrug. "I heard the whole thing." She attached the clamp where Gibbs pointed and pinched it as hard as she could but was unsuccessful in closing it.

Gibbs chuckled. "You forgot the glue anyway. C'mon, let me help you. We'll do it together."

Aimee rolled her eyes and pulled the clamp back, watching as Gibbs applied a thick layer of glue on the joint.

"What did you hear?" Gibbs guided her hand and they locked the clamp in place.

"You smacking her."

Gibbs picked up his hand plane and started running it along the wood while at the same time guarding his injured arm, still in a sling to prevent it any more accidental misuse and abuse. He thought about how his house was laid out and knew that the pantry was directly above Abby's room, or the room the Goth stayed in when she slept over. As much as he hated Aimee hearing it, he wasn't one to have regrets for his actions. He did what he felt he had to do and given how Makayla was willing to go home with her aunt, he was thinking his actions had been right on the money.

"I didn't smack her," he corrected, not liking the way she described what he'd done. Smacking sounded like he'd abused her or something. A few well-placed swats to the backside didn't constitute abuse, at least not in his mind. He'd like to think he'd reset her line of thinking, and he had. "I spanked her. There's a difference, and I think you know that. Why were you in Abby's room anyway? I thought that's where Mackie slept last night."

Aimee considered his words and said, "Mackie's scared of skulls, so I said she could sleep in my bed."

"I see. That was kind of you," Gibbs praised as he kept planing the wood rhythmically. Abby's taste in decorating sometimes creeped him out too. From her blown up pictures of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to gunshot shattered backbone to her love for skulls, it all sent shivers up Gibbs spine when he thought about too much.

Aimee pulled herself up on the sawhorse close by and swung her legs back and forth. "You really wanna adopt me, Gibbs?"

Gibbs stopped planing. "On Monday, we have an appointment with Judge Havenaar downtown. Do you know what we're gonna do there?"

Aimee's eyes widened and she shook her head.

"He's gonna ask you if you and Janessa if you want me to be your dad. If you say yes, then you are going to sign a paper saying as much. He's gonna ask me if I want to be your dad, and if I say yes, then I'm gonna sign a paper saying as much. If we sign those papers tomorrow, we're gonna leave that office as the Gibbs family."

Aimee swallowed. "What if I say no and Janessa says yes?"

"You gonna say no?" asked Gibbs, trying to read the look in Aimee's eyes. He couldn't tell if she was baiting him or if she really wanted to know the answer.

"What if I do?"

Gibbs felt like she was daring him to force her to pick him. "Well, then I guess they will try and find you another family you'd like better."

Aimee's eyes filled with tears. Gibbs' heart fluttered in his chest, feeling like it would be ripped out and trampled on the ground. He was good at being aloof and unattached when the situation called for it, but this was breaking him in pieces. All along he thought he was doing something noble, but he hadn't stopped to consider that maybe he wasn't the only one making sacrifices. Picking him meant Aimee and Janessa might never have a mother. Picking him meant the girls were stuck with a traditional, old fashioned old man. Maybe it was selfish of him to expect that Aimee would even want that kind of life. His heart pounded against his ribcage as he tried not to let himself speculate that Aimee might not want him for a father.

Tears fell down the blond haired girl's cheeks and her lower lip trembled. "M-maybe you shouldn't sign that paper, Gibbs." she all but whispered. "I'm not very easy to love."

Gibbs' brows shot to his hairline in bewilderment. This wasn't about him at all. This was about Aimee's insecurities…about her anger…about her inability to accept love. He shook his head and cupped her little chin in his rough hand. "Aimee! I love you; Tony, Abby, Tim and Ziva love you. Papa Jack adores you, as does Janessa. Kiddo, you are very easy to love. I'm telling you right now that I will sign that paper 10 thousand times over if I have to prove how much I love you. I want you to my little girl. I want you to want me to be your dad."

Tears rolled down Aimee's cheeks. "I-I do want you to be my dad, Gibbs, but I can't be the good girl you want me to be. I get mad and I push Janessa. Sometimes I run away when stuff doesn't go my way. I mess up. I'm sneaky. I lie about stuff. I'm. Never. Gonna. Be. Good." Her last words were long and drawn out, staccato-like. Gibbs couldn't help but wonder how a child barely 10 years old could know how to emphasize her words so well. Aimee and Janessa both were highly intelligent children.

Gibbs wiped away a tear on her cheek with his thumb. "Are you afraid of me, Aimee?"

"I'm not afraid…" she said, but Gibbs could feel her trembling beneath his hand.

He pulled her into a tight embrace. "Oh, Aimee. I don't need you to be perfect. I want you to be yourself. You just need to trust me to help you grow up to be the best you you can be. Can you do that?"

He felt Aimee nodded into his chest. Her little body shuddered and sobbed into his sweatshirt. Gibbs hoped the tears were washing away her concerns and worries. After a few moments, he pulled away and looked into her watery blueberry eyes. "What am I gonna go with you?"

Aimee shrugged and smiled through her tears. "I'm sorry I pushed Janessa. Sometimes I just get so mad inside that I can't stop it from coming out at other people."

"I think we need to get you some help with handling that inside mad."

"Like a shrink?" Aimee looked concerned.

Gibbs chuckled. "Something like that, but nothing like anyone you've seen before. This will be someone you enjoy talking too, and if you don't like the person then you don't have to talk to them. After the adoption is settled then I get to make the decisions and that means you have a voice. I promise you that you will always have a voice." He rested his chin on her warm head. Aimee had been anxious for a long time about this. The perspiration in her hair made his chin damp. He wondered how long she'd been fretting about not being good enough.

"I want you to be my dad, Gibbs," she whispered softly.

Gibbs grinned. "And I want to be your dad. Do you think Janessa will agree?"

Aimee pushed him away and punched him gently in the stomach. "She already calls you daddy more than Mr. Gibbs. I'm positive she will agree."

"Are you ever going to just call me dad?" Gibbs felt like he needed to ask her. Aimee called him dad on occasion but not very often. He didn't mind if she called him Gibbs, it was his name after all. But he really did cherish the times she called him daddy.

Aimee's bottom lip quivered as tears fell down her cheeks. "I've never had a real daddy, not really. Jonathan came close to it at one time…until he went weird. I was always jealous of my friends who had dads. They'd take 'em fishing and do stuff with them. My mom was gone so much…" Her voice trailed off as she absentmindedly picked up some sandpaper and sanded with the grain as Gibbs had so often shown her. Gibbs put his hand on hers and guided her untrained hand quietly. He leaned in close so his mouth was right next to her ear. "I am your real daddy, Aimee."

Gibbs couldn't see it, but Aimee's countenance forever changed at that moment; he'd washed away her deepest fear and insecurities. "I love you, daddy."

She didn't have to be good. Gibbs would love her anyway.