Greetings Readers.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my story.

I'm so thankful for all my readers...and for all the wonderful reviews. I enjoy your reviews so much. I'm glad you are enjoying my little corner of the universe.

Here's a little Gibbs and Makayla fluff :)

Enjoy!

He ran a weathered hand over the well-sanded cedar wood and smiled. "Good job, Mackie," Gibbs praised. "Girl, is there anything you can't do?"

Makayla beamed at his words and kept sanding. "I'm not very good at biology or computer programming…or really anything important for that matter…" Her voice trailed off, discouragement lingering around her words.

Gibbs walked around his boat, straddled an old stool and began tackling his own side with the fine-grained paper. "I think you can do anything you set your mind to. You're an amazing cook, by the way. That pizza was incredible. Never in my life have I ever had chicken on my pizza."

Makayla's smile broadened as she peeked at Gibbs through the hull of the boat. "Does Tony always eat like that?"

"Tony lives on pizza. If he liked it, it's gotta be better than good. He's Italian after all."

Makayla giggled. "I thought him and Tim would get into a brawl over the last piece until your dad threatened to use the wooden spoon on 'em."

"Probably should've just for the fun of it," laughed Gibbs, envisioning his dad running after the two miscreants and taking them to task.

Makayla sobered. "He wouldn't have for real, would he?"

Gibbs smirked, "Mackie, I think he would still haul me out to the woodshed if I ticked him off, grumpy old coot that he is."

"Gibbs!" she laughed, trying to scold him but not having success. "What a terrible thing to say about your father."

Gibbs scratched his nose with his forearm and sneezed. The wood dust was heavy in the basement when two people sanded and Makayla had proven to be a proficient sander. "Just telling the truth." He laughed, then asked, "What's your father like?" He wanted to steer the conversation in a direction he wanted it to go.

Gibbs saw the young teen's face sober and she didn't reply to the question; instead, she just kept sanding dutifully.

"Mak, are you worried about your parents coming home?" he tried again.

Makayla shrugged her shoulders and kept sanding. The room was quiet except for the sound of the sandpaper working over the wood and the buzzing of the light bulb overhead. She sighed heavily and set down her sandpaper. "I don't really feel like talking about my parents right now."

Gibbs nodded and stood up, stretching out his back and walking to where his bottle of water stood. He pulled out his stool and sat down, taking a long drink. Makayla watched him nervously.

"Okay, then I'd like to discuss what happened between us the other night," he began softly.

Makayla's cheeks flushed at his words and she kicked at the wood dust on the floor. "I'd rather not discuss that either, Agent Gibbs."

"I can understand that, but I think we should anyway. I'm not your father or any relation to you for that matter, and I want to be sure things are okay between us." Makayla stood to her feet and walked towards the stairs. Gibbs was on his feet in seconds and he stepped in front of her before she could race up the steps. "Oh, no, you don't," he said, blocking her only means of escape. "I am serious about discussing this and, now is as good a time as any."

"Gibbs! I'm serious too. I don't want to talk about it, okay?" Her voice held a pleading tone in it.

Gibbs wrapped a gentle arm around her shoulders and led her to a chair, lightly pushing her into it. He stood over her and pinned her with a concerned look. "No, Mak, it's not okay. And not only that, it shouldn't be okay with you either. You should understand why you're disciplined by an authority figure and we really didn't have time to discuss it. I don't want you walking around on eggshells around me, thinking I'm going to do that again."

"I'm not!" she snapped.

Gibbs stared at her. His intense gaze made her drop her chin and fidget uncomfortably. He pulled over his stool and sat in front of her with a kind smile on his face. "It wasn't because you were suspended from school. It wasn't even because you cheated and lied." Makayla's bottom lip trembled. "It was because of the defiant disrespect towards your aunt. Your Aunt Jenn was trying…"

Makayla shook her head. "She wasn't trying at all…" she muttered under her breath."

He lifted a brow. "Not in the beginning, I agree, but she still deserved your respect. I needed you to trust me and show her your sketchbook. Sweetie, I knew she would change her tune once she saw concrete proof of how good you are. "

"I was mad…"

"No kidding. You were completely out of control."

She groaned, "As soon as I was caught cheating I knew it was a mistake. I panicked." Tears swam in her eyes. "Then you got mad at me because I never asked permission to stay here and then Aunt Jenn freaked…things just went from bad to worse."

"I'm sorry about that. I probably wasn't thinking as clearly as I should have been either. I was in a lot of pain with my shoulder," he attempted to explain.

"Yah, I know." Makayla's face reddened, looking guilty and moving her Adidas shoe around in the sawdust on the floor.

Gibbs sobered. "I sensed you were pushing me a little more than you might have if I wasn't injured." He leaned against the hull of the boat as he pinned her with a look that made her squirm, confirming his thoughts from the night. "Was I right to think that?"

Her face reddened further and she didn't look up at him. "Maybe…" Her voice was barely a whisper.

Gibbs gave an inaudible sigh, reached out and tipped up her chin so they were looking at each other eye to eye. "That was a bad call on your part, wasn't it?" Makayla blinked away a fresh onslaught of tears and nodded. He released her chin. "Unfortunately for you, you lucked out and ended up receiving a good dose of my hand. I probably shouldn't have been so hard on you." Gibbs didn't have any regrets about his actions, but he did realize he'd given her a serious hard spanking, probably more than she deserved given the situation. His pain tolerance had reached its' threshold and had driven him to be harsher than he might have been under different circumstances. He knew Makayla had been hedging her bets that he wouldn't do anything and that had only irritated him further at the time.

Makayla licked her lips slowly and then heaved a loud sigh muttering, "I wouldn't exactly call that lucking out," under her breath before saying, "It's really okay, Agent Gibbs. It's no big deal."

He smirked and patted her hand, grateful that she didn't seem to have any lingering animosity towards him. He felt sure she wouldn't press her luck with him again any time soon. "Tell me about your dad. I met your mom years ago when your Aunt was a probie but I've never had the pleasure of meeting him."

Makayla's eyes widened in amused curiosity. "My aunt was your probationary agent?"

Gibbs' eyes twinkled as he nodded. "Yup."

She whistled. "You need to tell me about that sometime."

Gibbs laughed. "It's a date. Now, stop stalling and tell me about your dad."

Makayla shrugged and leaned back in her chair. "There isn't much to tell. He's a brilliant attorney, and he's never lost a case in his entire career." She seemed to be bragging, her eyes holding a shimmer of unbridled pride.

"I've heard that. Tim tells me he's been working on some complicated problems with a team in the UK…something to do with a shoddy batch of medicine, is it?"

"My parents are helping a group in India. Apparently, a lot of people got really sick; some even died because of the lack of proper safety studies. My dad said that the people have weak enough immune systems already and they need high-quality medicine, not the awful junk they got." Makayla's face shone with devotion and Gibbs realized how much Makayla admired her father. It was at that moment that Gibbs began to put things together in his mind.

"You're really proud of your dad, aren't you?"

She nodded but tears flooded her eyes again. "Sure I am. Who wouldn't be proud of all the great stuff he does, but the thing is I always disappoint him, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs gently cupped the girl's chin in his hand. "I don't know your dad, Mak, but since I am a dad, I can tell you this, dads love their kids a lot. I can't imagine your father being disappointed in such a great kid like you."

Tears fell down her cheeks. "If my parents are returning home to deal with me, trust me, my dad is not going to be happy at all."

"I can respect that but that doesn't mean he's disappointed in who you are as a person, honey. He might be upset with your choices but never with you personally." Gibbs released the girl's chin and thumbed away some tears on her cheeks. "Think about Aimee for a minute. Would you agree that she's made some poor choices?" Makayla sucked in her bottom lip and nodded, blinking away more tears. "Do you think I'm disappointed in her?"

Makayla shook her head. "It's not the same, Agent Gibbs. Aimee is just a little kid and so much bad stuff has happened to her. You can hardly blame her for her bad decisions."

"Bad things happen to people all the time but it's never an excuse to make bad choices…"

Makayla was quiet a moment then she blinked back tears. "My dad is going to kill me for my bad choices."

"Well, let's discuss that. Talking about the worst case scenario might help it feel less scary. Waiting to face the music can be tough but we both know your dad isn't really going to kill you." Gibbs smirked a little and patted Makayla's knee. "What's the worst that can happen?"

Tears flooded Makayla's eyes again and her lower lip trembled. Gibbs' heart melted at the young teen's sudden look of panic. "They're never gonna let me take art again…"

"Well, I thought you said your mom was the one who threatened that? I believe your aunt Jenn has you covered with your mom. I wouldn't even worry about that one, Mak." Gibbs didn't just believe that; he knew it. Jenny Shepard had been genuinely amazed by Makayla's ability and if he knew Jenn, she wasn't going to let her sister away with squandering good talent. "What about your dad?" he continued, "What's the worse you think he will do? Spank you?" In Gibbs' mind that was pretty much the worst case scenario in any kids mind and waiting for that kind of punishment was a heavy load.

Makayla's face paled and she fought to gain control of the tears flooding down her face. "I-I dunno…I don't think he would…but maybe…" She dissolved into sobs and Gibbs enveloped her into a warm embrace. He raked his fingers through her hair and rocked her as she cried. "I'm scared. I've never done anything this bad before, Agent Gibbs, so I really don't know what he's gonna do."

"Are you afraid of your dad?" asked Gibbs, feeling concerned about her sudden breakdown. Michael Wallace wasn't abusive was he? Or was this just teenage angst and drama? Surely Jenn would know if the guy was rough with his kids. Gibbs rubbed circles on her upper back in an attempt to calm her down.

The sobbing girl shook her head frantically. Gibbs relaxed a little and continued to rub her back. After a minute or so, Makayla began to gain control again but her breaths shuddered as she pulled away from Gibbs.

"Feel better?" he asked, knowing that she'd been holding in that emotion for a while and was probably hiding her apprehension from her aunt. One thing he noticed about the Shepard women, they could hide anything to keep their pride intact.

Makayla nodded and wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve.

"Let's call your dad," said Gibbs, suddenly coming to a firm decision.

Makayla's red face paled once again and she shook her head adamantly. "No, no, no, please don't, Agent Gibbs. He's gonna be so mad…"

Gibbs shook his head and pulled his cell out of his pocket. "I don't think so, kiddo. If it were me, my heart would be aching to talk to you. Listen to me, Mak; yes, he's probably upset with you but trust me, he's just as anxious to find out what's going on with you. You said yourself that you've never done anything this bad before. That tells me that he'll know something's wrong with his girl. What's his number?"

Makayla shook her head with a pleading look on her face.

"I can always call Jenn and she'll tell me…" he threatened lightly.

"Please, no…" she whimpered again.

Gibbs rested his hand on his knee. "Waiting in fear of the unknown is much worse, honey. I get you're afraid but your fears will be laid to rest when you hear his voice. Trust me." Gibbs sincerely hoped his gut wasn't leading him astray. She said she wasn't afraid of him so on some level that meant they had a good relationship. Jenn never mentioned anything about the guy being anything other than a good father. It sounded like the man was hard on his girls but that didn't mean that he didn't love them.

Reluctantly, Makayla reached out a trembling hand and Gibbs handed her his cell. She looked at it for a moment with tears falling down her cheeks. Her lower lip trembled and she hiccupped as she dialled the number.

Gibbs smiled at her in encouragement. "Atta girl." He waited as he heard the phone ring and then heard it connect. A business-like voice answered with a congenial greeting. He knew the other man would have caller ID and would be expecting Gibbs to answer.

"H-hi, daddy. It's me, Makayla…" her trembling voice trailed off and a new flood of tears washed down her cheeks, tracing the path of the others.

"Kayley, are you okay? I tried to call you several times today but no one is answering at your aunt's house…" Makayla shifted on the stool and Gibbs could see her hands trembling.

"H-how mad is mom?" she said.

Gibbs heard the man sigh loudly, indicating that that topic was burdensome to him. "Let's not talk about that right now. I just want to be sure you're okay."

"I-I'm fine, daddy. I'm staying at Agent Gibbs house…"

"Why?" The man sounded concerned.

"Aunt Jenny has a really big case right now so he said I can stay with him."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment. Gibbs speculated he was digesting that nugget of information or he was lost in other thoughts, then he said, "Can you just tell me why, Kayley?" The man's voice was soft and filled with what sounded like sincere compassion. All of the concerns Gibbs had about Wallace flew away at that moment.

Makayla shivered and dissolved into sobs. "I-I'm s-so s-sorry, d-daddy."

Gibbs stood to his feet and went to walk to the steps to give them time alone. It was as he'd suspected. Michael Wallace's voice wasn't the sound of an angry man but of a concerned father trying to understand. Gibbs felt relief wash over him. Wallace would be a help, not a hindrance which left Jenn's sister the discordant one. Jenn had told him more than once that Julia Wallace was a cantankerous woman and now he understood.

As Gibbs mounted the stairs, he locked eyes with Makayla who was asking her father if he was going to punish her. He smiled when he heard the man's shocked reply. He winked at Makayla as relief flooded her face. Gibbs was an old fashioned man and often stood alone in his old fashioned ways but even he wouldn't have punished Makayla for cheating under the circumstances. Unusual behaviour in children was a warning sign and any good parent realized that.

XxXxNCISxXxX

Gibbs flipped the page on his newspaper as he absentmindedly stirred his lemon slice around in his tea. He'd really craved coffee but knew he wouldn't sleep if he indulged so late at night. He glanced at the clock when he heard soft footsteps on the stairs. It was nearly half past eleven. It was late and he was tired. Makayla appeared at the top of the landing and she smiled when she saw him. Immediately she flung herself into his arms and hugged him tight enough to take his breath away.

"I take it things went well with your dad?" he said with a chuckle, returning the exuberant hug.

Makayla pulled away with a large grin on her face. "How'd you get so smart, Agent Gibbs?"

He shrugged. "It's a gift." He winked at her.

She laughed and hugged him again. Gibbs pulled her in close and whispered in her ear. "I'm proud of you. That was hard and you did it!"

Makayla straightened again and pulled up a chair to sit. She yawned and rested her chin in her hand. "He has a few more meetings he has to attend before they can come home."

"I see."

"My mom's going to kill me…" Gibbs lifted a brow once again and Makayla corrected herself. "Okay, maybe not kill me but my dad said I'd better be ready for a rip-roaring fight."

"Is he going to be any help with that?" asked Gibbs, concern in his voice.

Makayla smiled. "I think so."

"So, what did you tell him?"

Makayla yawned again. "Everything…I even told him about running away and how you didn't take too kindly to that…and about what you did…"

Gibbs bit back a smirk. "I see. What did he say about that?"

Her face flushed. "He said he'd have done the same thing and that he can't wait to meet you." Makayla made a face and then giggled. "I think you two are gonna like each other."

"Sounds like it." Gibbs stifled a yawn as well. "Feeling a little lighter now?"

Makayla nodded. "Much."

"Okay, how about we both get some sleep. I don't know about you but I'm whipped."

Makayla nodded again then stood to her feet. "Before you go, I want to show you something. Stay here, 'kay?"

Gibbs perked up a little and nodded.

Makayla disappeared from the room and returned several minutes later holding out a folder. Gibbs took it with questions in his eyes.

"Open it," she encouraged.

Gibbs opened the folder and felt tears spring to his eyes. The one other time he'd seen a picture of him that Makayla had drawn, it had been a caricature, accentuating his flawed features. This time she had drawn a pencil stretch of him when he was planing his boat. He gasped silently when he saw the look of serenity on his face. He hadn't realized how completely at peace he was when he was woodworking. Makayla had seemed to capture a part of him...well, not just a part of him but a feeling…an emotion.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"Mackie, it's amazing. I love it," he managed to choke out through the boulder of emotion growing in his throat. Her talent was uncanny; he wasn't an art enthusiast by any stretch of the imagination, but Makayla's work evoked emotions in him he didn't even realize he had. Drawing portraits wasn't just about capturing an image of a person, it was creating a feeling…an emotion…truly depicting the person for who they are. Anyone could draw a picture…but this was…this was more. "How…when did you draw this?"

Makayla fidgeted a little before she spoke. "The night after you hurt your arm…I went to look at how you were doing. You passed out on the couch before anyone left, and I wanted to see if you were okay. I snuck downstairs and you weren't there anymore but I found you working on your boat, so I sat on the landing and drew a sketch. You were so engrossed that you never heard me…"

Gibbs looked up at the girl and then back down at the picture, taking in every detail. "I'm not wearing my sling…"

She shrugged, "I didn't think you needed to remember that…I wanted you to remember how much you love the work…how you look when you're deep in the thick of it. It's like nothing else in the whole world matters…like it's just you and your boat."

Gibbs stared at the expression on his face and in his eyes…it was amazing…the twinkle in his eye and the fine wrinkles around his eyes and face…the determined countenance on his face…the look of serenity…peace…tranquility…all of which were the emotions that he felt when he was lost in a project….feelings that he never shared with anyone. Gibbs cleared his throat slowly, "It's incredible, Mackie."

"You really like it?"

Tears welled in his eyes. Never before had artwork elicited such an emotional response from him. Not even Kate's artwork had affected him like this and hers was good and had made his heartache. But Makayla's work was…he didn't even have the words to describe it…her work was enchanting. Somehow this young teen girl had figured out what art really was…it was about the emotions, the experience and the thoughts.

"Yes, kiddo, I really like it. Thank you."

Happiness sparkled in Makayla's eyes. "I'm glad." With those final words, she kissed his cheek and disappeared from the kitchen leaving Gibbs alone with the picture and his thoughts.