A week later, two days before Thanksgiving
Luke was out in the backyard spending time with his excited little brother when he heard the car pull up on their driveway. His Mom had been home for almost an hour already, so he knew that the only person it could be was his Dad. So did Jamie, who immediately sprinted off toward the front to greet their father. Luke on the other hand hang back, deciding to give his brother and Dad a moment, after all he didn't want to destroy the good mood as soon as his Dad came home.
"Hi son." Jamie had clearly somehow managed to get their father to come watch as Matthew sat down on the back patio as if he wasn't in a rush to get anywhere.
"Hi Dad." Luke answered simply.
"How was your day Luke?"
"Nothing special." Luke shrugged his shoulders to emphasize it.
"How did football practice go?"
"Fine. Coach says we'll be ready for the game next week."
"That's good to hear. What were the two of you doing out here?"
"Luke's helping me with an experiment." Jamie blurted out excitedly.
"Really?" Matthew asked, knowing full well how much his son hated partaking in Jamie's endless experiments.
"Yeah. Watch this Dad!"
-Just like you-
"Is this the nothing special you told me about earlier?" Matthew stood in the doorway to his oldest son's room and watched as the boy in question sat seemingly lost in thoughts at his desk.
"Dad?! You scared me."
"How come you didn't tell me about this earlier Lucas?" Matthew held up a test with a big A on it that he had found on the floor in the entryway.
"Where did you find it?"
"In the entryway, it must have fallen out of your backpack because I'm pretty sure you didn't intend to show it to me kiddo". Luke bit his lip and shrugged his shoulders, not willing to confirm nor deny the statement.
"Going to need more than that kiddo."
"I didn't think it was important" Luke mumbled, feeling backed into a corner.
"Why?! It's an amazing achievement." Another shrug. "What's going on Luke?"
"Nothing."
"Come on Kid, what's going through you head?" Luke risked a glance at his Dad and to his enormous surprise he saw no anger or disappointment, just concern. Matthew saw the look on his son's face. "Did you think I was angry with you?" At the small nod, he continued: "Why?"
"I risked Jamie by bringing alcohol into our house." Luke replied confused.
"We already went through that kiddo and you are grounded, but that's it. I'm not angry anymore. Nor am I disappointed. Is that why you've been avoiding me?" Matthew had taken the few steps to his son and gently lifted his chin with a finger.
"Yeah." Luke whispered. "It seemed that every time I saw you, you were still angry with me. I didn't want to destroy your mood, so I kept to myself most of the time."
"Oh buddy. I'm so sorry I made you feel that way." Matthew said as he drew Luke into a bear hug. "I promise you son, I'm not angry anymore, nor am I disappointed. In fact, buddy, I'm proud of you for taking responsibility for your actions as well as you have. Do you believe me?" Matthew felt a nod against his shirt and gently rested his head on top of the brown mop of hair.
"Dad? I know I'm grounded but Tony says his grandpa Jack is coming over for Thanksgiving, is there any chance I could go over and meet him? I've never met him."
"I'm sure we can figure something out for one afternoon." His Dad said kindly.
"Thanks."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, thank you."
"You never have to thank me buddy, not in a situation like this. I'm sorry I didn't realise this earlier."
"I was pretty determined to keep it to myself."
"I wish you hadn't."
"I won't do it again."
"Good." Matthew dropped a kiss to Luke's head. "Now, your mom is pretty worried about you, so why don't you go downstairs and show her we've figured this out, okay? I'll be along in just a minute. Once Luke was out of the room, Mathew sank down onto the bed promising himself to keep a more watchful eye on his oldest. The fact that this had burdened his son for so many days without him realising it, scared him. Of course, he had seen Luke's withdrawal, but he had just thought that it was him coming to terms with the grounding. His eyes landing on their family picture on Luke's nightstand caused Matthew to smile. The proud look in his eye captured along with his hand on his eldest's shoulder should have said it all, but it clearly hadn't. The plan of spending Thanksgiving just the four of them, now made more sense than ever. Before that though, he'd do something nice with Luke to try and repair their relationship.
The day before Thanksgiving
Gibbs sat stroking the hair of his eldest gently, knowing the boy would wake up any minute and when he did he'd probably consider himself too old to fall asleep nestled into his Dad's chest. Normally Gibbs would have tucked Tony in with a last kiss to the top of the unruly hair, but last night he had decided to hold onto the moment a bit longer, causing him to fall asleep leaning against the headrest.
"Morning Buddy." He greeted as Tony opened his blurry eyes and stared at him.
"Dad?!"
"We both must have been more tired than we thought. Now that you are awake though, is there anything more you want of your chest?"
"Nah, I'm good." Tony replied, nestling into his Dad even more.
"Are you sure?" The voice had a hint of sternness in it that Tony instantly recognized.
"Yes Dad, I'm fine. Sure, I wish I'd never have done it, but other than that I am just fine."
"I'm so incredibly proud of you Anthony."
"Thanks Dad." The par had fallen asleep discussing the treehouse and everything else after a long day of planning the renovation of the treehouse and then making it happen. The late-night conversation had been sparked by Tony, in the middle of replacing a few rotten floorboards, having revealed how hard it felt to make their Dad proud nowadays.
"Timmy told me you two talked it out." Gibbs had heard the full story of the brotherly chat from Tim but had forgotten to bring it up yesterday.
"Yeah, tried to step up to the big brother plate again."
"You are an amazing big brother, just human." Tony smiled at that. "Your Grandpa is coming later today, and I asked Steve to pick him up with Tim, so you and I could work some more on that tree house, does that sound okay?"
"The treehouse?! I thought it was finished."
"Well, I thought that a few upgrades wouldn't hurt."
"Like?!"
"A tower or a second treehouse connected to it, maybe." Gibbs smiled half teasing.
"You just want something to show off to Grandpa."
"I already have. My two amazing sons." The comment gave Gibbs a bear hug from his son.
"You already proved to me you'll always be there, we don't have to upgrade the treehouse for me to know that Dad."
"Doesn't mean I won't take any chance I have to spend time with you. With your Grandpas coming and your Uncle already being here, I have to use up every moment of quality time I can get."
"Wait, Grandpa Mike's coming?! I thought he couldn't make it?!" Mike had been helping out on a case in Mexico for the past week and had forewarned the family that there was a high possibility that he'd have to miss this year's Thanksgiving dinner.
"Yep. He got the case closed in record time and left the paperwork behind for the others to deal with."
"When is he coming?"
"He wasn't sure, but he promised to make it in time for tomorrows dinner."
"Good."
"Now buddy, how abut we make breakfast and head out to the tree house. Tim and Steve are going to spend some quality time before picking up Dad, so the house is ours."
"Can you make pancakes?"
"If you can make it down to the kitchen before me." Scurrying out of bed Tony had a shirt over his head before his Dad's legs had a chance of waking up. Grabbing the pair of deserted jeans he had worn yesterday and quickly pulling them on, Tony raced down the stairs to the kitchen barefoot. It took Gibbs less than a minute to follow, but by the time he stepped into the kitchen all the necessary ingredients were already on the counter top along with a few chosen extras like chocolate chips.
"Getting old?!" Tony teased.
"I'll show you old." Gibbs grumbles playfully and advanced on his son.
"No playing in the kitchen."
"Yeah, you're right." Gibbs acknowledged his own rule. "Consider yourself lucky, you won the prize of going out in that cold though to get the mail." Tony quickly nodded and tried to hurry past his father before he changed his mind of letting him off easily. Before he had reached the kitchen doorway though he felt something soft hit the back of his head.
"Hey!" Tony looked behind him and saw a pair of socks laying on the floor.
"That's for calling me old." Gibbs smirked. "Put them on."
"Yes sir."
"And get going, if you aren't inside when the first pancakes are ready, I'm eating them all." Even though he knew his Dad was only joking, Tony didn't bother lacing his sneakers up as he sprinted towards the mailbox. Opening the lid, Tony found the normal morning paper along with two letters with their school logo on. He knew there was no reasonable reason to be nervous, his Dad knew after all, what to expect. Still, he couldn't help but wish that the letter the school always sent out this time of year could have been delayed a couple of days. Knowing though that he had no other choice but bite the bullet, Tony slower this time, made the track into the warmth of their house.
"The first pancake is ready in 10…9…" Tony wasn't longer in the mood but forced himself to walk into the kitchen with a neutral face. "2…1...0. You barely made it." As Gibbs turned around with the plated pancake he grew serious after one look at his son's face. "None of that." He chided gently, causing Tony to a bit reluctantly and shamefaced drop the neutral face. "What's so bad that you had to put on a neutral face with me?" Gibbs asked gently closing the small gap between them. Tony handed him the mail wordlessly and Gibbs took it without question. Spying the reason, he put the mail to the side before bringing his oldest son's chin up with a finger. "First of all, I know exactly what to expect and we already went through it. Whatever that letter says, changes nothing. We are fine and you are working on improving whatever grades that needs to be raised. That is all that matters. Secondly, you know better than to use that neutral face with me Anthony. I'm your Dad. There is nothing you need to or should hide from me, especially things that make you upset."
"Sorry. I'm just nervous."
"Apology accepted. As I said, there is no reason to be nervous so no more worrying"
"Yes Dad."
"Good boy. Now sit down and eat your pancakes."
"Aren't you going to open it?" Tony asked when his Dad continued with the pancakes, leaving the mail where he had put it.
"Do you want me to do it now?" Seeing Tony's hopeful face, Gibbs reached for the envelope and opened it without hesitation. He unfolded the paper he knew would contain what the school called; the last chance grades, a update on ones grades when it was less than a month until the first report card would be sent home and therefore the last chance to improve on the permanent grades. Schooling his expression, Gibbs unfolded the paper one last time. He considered himself an expert on the neutral faces but wasn't able to contain the surprise that overtook him.
"Are they that bad?" Tony asked tentatively.
"No bud, but I think you need to take a look at this." Taking the paper from his Dad Tony not only saw the normal printed grades, but also markings and comments from his teachers. A lot of the grades he'd been able to bring up, but a few of them were still not back to normal. Those grades had arrows pointed upwards with A's on top of them. Smiling at the kindness of his teachers, Tony relaxed. It was all going to be fine.
-Just like you-
A/N: Okay so not much of a chapter, but the exciting new is that there are going to be more! Yay! I got some inspiration so at least one more, if not a couple more, we'll see. Hope you like it and as always: please review!