TEN
Kelly Gibbs lead the way upstairs, followed closely by Mac and Joann, her grandparents she corrected mentally. She didn't know how to proceed or what to say to these people who she didn't remember but who clearly remembered her.
"So this is Jake's room, the guest room, Ava's room and Dani's room." She said, pointing into each room as they walked, "and this is my room."
She stepped into her room and let Joann and Mac look around, she watched Joann wander over to the easel set up in the corner and then over to her desk and the wall where a few of her sketches were hanging.
"If I had known anyone was coming I would have cleaned up a bit." She commented with a small grimace.
The room wasn't dirty on any level but rather a bit disorganized with her music and art supplies, her bed was made and nothing was on the floor but there were papers and pencils spread out over her desk and her textbooks and notes spread out across her window-seat.
"Do you play?" Mac asked, nodding at the violin and guitar cases leaning against the wall.
"I do." Kelly replied with a nod.
"Maybe we could hear you play sometime." Joann suggested.
"After dinner if we have some time I could play, I don't like to play alone but I might be able to convince Tony or Ziva would play with me." Kelly agreed.
"Who are Tony and Ziva?" Mac asked.
"Members of my dad's team, we're all really close." Kelly replied, she grabbed a picture off of her desk and handed it to Mac, "that's Tim, Tony, Ziva and Abby."
The picture Mac was holding was an old one Abby had given to her but it was one of her favourites of the team, it was taken in Abby's lab after a day in court, everyone was still in their suits but in various states of undress. Abby was laying upside-down on the couch in her office, her hair dangling on the floor with only her pencil skirt and a tank top on, Tony was wearing his dress pants and had his button up half undone and was straddling a chair backwards, McGee was in his dress pants and a white t-shirt and laying down with his head on Abby's stomach and Ziva was wearing her skirt and blouse but no shoes and leaning against the wall. All of them had huge smiles on their faces and looked completely relaxed.
"Who is this?" Joann asked, holding up a picture frame from Kelly's bookshelf.
Kelly looked at the frame and smiled, the photo was of Gibbs and Abby cuddled up and sound asleep on the couch, Abby had a copy of the picture in her apartment and had offered to make her a copy when she had said it was cute.
"That's Abby, she the forensic scientist at NCIS." Kelly replied, "she'll be here tonight."
"It seems like you've settled in here really well." Mac commented, "Jack said you've been back with your dad for about a month."
"He and Jenny make it really easy." Kelly replied, "and the rest of the family too."
"It seems like you're really happy." Mac stated.
"I am, I love having brothers and sisters and there are a lot of them around here and Emily and Uncle Toby are always in and out." Kelly responded happily, "it's nice to have some stability."
She heard Joann make a quite noise and turned to see her looking at a double picture frame on her beside table, on the left was a picture of Kelly and Shannon when Kelly was only a few years old and the other was of Jenny and Kelly, they were squished together in an armchair and both had big grins on their faces.
"Dad says I look a lot like her, like my mom that is." Kelly said, "My Uncle Dwayne says I have my dad's personality though, Tony says I have Jenny's fire." She added with a small laugh.
"Oh your mom had a good temper when she needed to." Mac stated with a grin.
"I've been told that." Kelly replied with a smirk, "why don't we head back down?" She suggested, "the circus is about to start."
N*C*I*S
The circus was indeed just beginning, Kelly was showing Joann and Mac the kitchen when she heard the front door open and slam shut. She could hear voices and excited shouting from Jake and Emily, the voices got closer until Ducky, Abby, Jake and Emily were in the kitchen.
"Jack!" Abby exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the older man before turning to Kelly. "Hey Kel, where's your mom?" Abby asked, "I need to make sure it's okay for Timmy to bring over Jetty."
"She was in the living room last time I checked but I'm sure she won't care if you want to bring him." Kelly replied.
"Okay, perfect, he's missing Grandma and Grandpa." Abby replied pulling out her phone, "Hi! I'm Abby!" She greeted excitedly when she noticed Joann and Mac.
"Abby these are my other grandparents, Joann and Mac Fielding."
"You're Shannon's parents." Abby stated, "it's nice to meet you."
Kelly watched the three exchange greetings, she could see the way her grandmother was eyeing Abby's short skirt and tattoos disdainfully and was grateful that Abby seemed to be ignoring it.
"And this is Doctor Donald Mallard." Kelly added, "he's the Medical Examiner at NCIS."
"It is lovely to meet you both, please call me Ducky." The elderly doctor greeted.
Kelly could see that both Joann and Mac were instantly more taken with Ducky than they had been with Abby, a fact that Kelly didn't quite like but could understand.
"And how are you today, my dear?" Ducky asked after everyone had been introduced, "how was school?"
"Good and good." Kelly replied with a grin, "and Jake's soccer game was great." She added, giving Jake a proud smile.
"I am sure it was excellent, I am sorry I missed it but I assume you took a video." Ducky responded.
"Of course, however you'll need to watch it without volume because Jenny is screaming so loudly in the background."
"Ah yes, she does have a healthy set of lungs that girl." Ducky replied with a chuckle, "I cannot believe that your father is not deaf at this point."
"I think Gibbs has learned to tune it out." Abby stated, "just like he tunes out Tony, Ziva and Tim."
"Dad has gotten very good at tuning out the chaos." Kelly agreed.
"Well with the lot of you running around it seems it would be a necessity." Ducky commented, "you are quite the boisterous group."
"And Mommy and Daddy love every minute of it." Abby replied firmly, "now I would love to see the video of your game you two."
Kelly smirked and watched Abby lead Jake and Emily out of the kitchen, leaving Kelly alone with the adults.
"So my dear, how has your latest music project been going? Your mother- Jenny, was telling me about it this afternoon and it sounds fascinating."
"The composition piece is driving me insane but Ziva is trying to give me a hand and Laurel is going to Skype with me tomorrow." Kelly replied.
"It is lovely that they are willing to help." Ducky replied.
N*C*I*S
Jenny waited a few minutes before going upstairs to look for Gibbs, she heard the front door slam shut just as she reached the top of the stairs but she didn't bother turning around, she knew Gibbs' team would make themselves comfortable. She went to the nursery looking for Gibbs but found it empty, she found him laying on his side on her bed, Ava laying on her back in front of him.
"Your shoes are on the bed." She stated softly.
She wasn't upset, she just needed something to say that wasn't 'are you okay', Gibbs didn't even look over at her before he kicked off his shoes.
"I had no idea that they were going to be here." She said.
She stepped into the room and shut the door behind her, she didn't think Gibbs would raise his voice but she didn't want anyone overhearing their conversation.
"I know." Gibbs replied with a sigh, he ran his hand roughly over his face before letting it rest gently on Ava's stomach, "they have a right to see her."
"But a warning would have been good." Jenny finished for him, "Jack had no right to do what he did."
"No but he'll never understand that." Gibbs stated, "if it was just Kelly it would be a different story, we have other kids, this affects them too."
"I don't disagree but Kelly deserves to know her family and Joann and Mac deserve to know her." Jenny argued gently.
"And what about you? This affects you too, Jen."
"I don't matter here, Kelly does."
"You do matter Jen, do you really want to deal with this? Do you really want two strangers questioning how you raise our child?"
"They're not strangers, they are family for better or worse and they aren't questioning how we raise our child if they question anything it would be how we raise their granddaughter. Their granddaughter who is the only piece of their daughter they have left" Jenny replied.
Well I had this written but I forgot to publish it…. Sorry guys… Hope you enjoy, and please remember I own nothing but love to hear from you!
Merry Christmas,
~Katie