Chapter 4 – The Family
The first thing Abby noticed when she woke up was how she wasn't cold or stiff from sleeping on hard ground. The second thing was that the sun shone outside the window. The third was that two girls were standing by her bedside, looking at her.
They had been whispering but when Abby opened her eyes they stopped.
"Good morning", the shorter of the two said with a smile.
Abby sat up slowly, looking around the room. She was confused for a second, before she remembered Gibbs and the horse and Jenny and the big red house. She looked back at the girls.
"We didn't wake you did we?" the taller one said. "Dad told us to be as quiet as possible so you could sleep."
Abby shook her head.
"My name is Ziva", the tall one said.
"And I'm Kate", the smaller one piped up. "Dad said you're name is Abby."
Abby nodded, that was her name. She looked over to the other bed and saw that the blankets were kicked to the foot of it and two nightgowns were tossed on top. She glanced down at the bed she was sitting in.
"Is this one of yours bed?" she asked apprehensively.
"Yes, it's mine", Ziva said. "But it's fine that you used it, I shared with Kate."
Abby nodded, relived.
"We've already eaten but mom said there's breakfast for you in the kitchen", Ziva continued. "She put your clothes on the casket for you, so when you've gotten dressed we can go downstairs."
Abby nodded again, eagerly. She jumped down from the bed and went over to the beautiful box and found the long-sleeved dress and the stockings that she had worn briefly the last night, after her bath. Ziva and Kate waited patiently for her to get dressed and then Ziva lead the way out of the room and down the stairs. Kate grabbed Abby's hand and followed her sister.
Shouts and mutterings and splashing could be heard from the kitchen as well as a: "Boys! Stop fighting and finish up the dishes."
Inside the girls found Jenny and the two boys Abby had seen in the pictures and outside the window the day before. The boys were standing by the sink.
"Oh hello, Abby, you're up", Jenny said when she saw the girls enter. "And I see you've met Ziva and Kate."
Abby nodded.
"Well, then it's only these two left", Jenny gestured to the boys. "This is Tony and this is Timothy."
"Tim, mom", the smaller of the boys corrected.
"Yes, he prefers to go by Tim", Jenny grinned. "And this is Abby, guys."
"Hi", Abby said.
"Hello", Tim said and Tony smiled slightly at her.
"Now, you two are almost done", Jenny said and looked over the dishes the boys were doing. "So you can help Ziva and Kate clean up for the horses."
All four children groaned.
"Come on now, kids! The sooner you're done the sooner you are free to do whatever you want."
Kate sighed but disappeared out the door with Ziva. Tony and Tim followed not long after.
"Would you like some breakfast, Abby?" Jenny asked.
Abby nodded slowly and sat down at the table. Jenny brought her bread and cheese and a glass of milk. Gibbs walked in halfway through her sandwich.
"Good morning, Abby", he said and sat down opposite her.
"Hi Gibbs", Abby smiled.
"Do you mind coming with me to see a friend after you're done eating?"
Abby swallowed her bite. She didn't really want to leave this beautiful house, with the nice people and good food, but she liked Gibbs and she trusted him.
"Okay", she said. A friend of Gibbs' couldn't be too bad.
When she had finished eating and washed up she was asked by Jenny to take the coat she had put out on the casket for her. So she ran upstairs, took a second to admire the beautiful casket and grabbed the coat on it. Gibbs was waiting for her in by the front door when she got back downstairs.
"Are we going to ride on Louie?" Abby asked him as they stepped outside together.
"If you'd like", Gibbs said and Abby nodded.
But when they got to the fence she couldn't see Louie anywhere.
"Where is he?" she wondered quietly.
Gibbs didn't answer, but put two fingers to his mouth and whistled loudly. Immediately the horse came running from far away. Abby again followed him with her eyes as he came closer and closer.
Riding on him again was really fun. Abby enjoyed the feeling of the wind in her hair and the bumping up and down. She wouldn't have minded riding for a longer amount of time, but they were apparently not going very far. They soon arrived at a cluster of houses and buildings around a square. It looked a little like the city except much smaller. The square had a little podium and there were a couple of benches here and there. Otherwise it was quite bare.
Gibbs rode them over to one of the houses. He jumped down from the horse and helped Abby down on the ground as well. Then he tied Louie to the fence that ran around the porch of the house.
"Come on", Gibbs said and took Abby's hand.
They walked up the short stairs to the porch. Abby expected him to knock on the door, but Gibbs just opened it and walked right in.
Inside were rows and rows of small bottles and boxes standing on shelves around the walls. There was also a counter and Abby wondered if this maybe was a shop, because it looked a little like this in the grocery store back in the old town. Although there was no food on these shelves.
A boy stood behind the counter and was stacking tiny green bottles on the shelf behind him. He must have been much older than Abby; he was quite tall, but he was shorter and not at all as old as Gibbs.
"Good morning, mr Gibbs", the boy said nervously.
"Morning, Jimmy", Gibbs said. "Is Ducky in?"
"Yeah, he's in the back. You can go ahead."
Gibbs nodded and brought Abby along to a door in the back of the room. He didn't knock on this door either. They walked into a room with less bottles but there was still one full stacked shelf. There were also a desk, a chest of drawers and a high, wide bench. A man with glasses was sitting by the desk. He seemed to be scribbling something on a paper that was already attached to a binder. He turned around when he heard them step inside.
"Jethro", he greeted with a smile. His eyes landed on Abby. "And who is this lovely lady?"
"This is Abby Scuito", Gibbs said. "Do you mind doing a check-up?"
Apparently the man didn't need any more explanation.
"Why of course", he said and patted on the high bench. "Would you please take a seat, miss Scuito?"
Abby looked up at Gibbs for confirmation. He nodded at her so she went over to the bench and climbed up on it.
"Thanks Ducky", Gibbs said as the other man brought out a funny looking pipe-thing with three ends.
"There's no problem", he said.
Abby looked at him curiously.
"Is your name really Ducky?" she asked.
The man chuckled.
"My name is Donald Mallard, but everyone calls me Ducky."
"My name is Abigail", Abby told him.
"Is that so? I find that to be a beautiful name."
"What's that?" Abby pointed at the pipe-thing.
"This is a stethoscope", Ducky said. "I use it to listen to your heart and your lungs to make sure that they are working properly."
Abby found that Ducky was very nice, although he did talk quite a lot. He explained what he was doing when he checked her health in different ways and asked a bunch of questions, but he also talked about a lot of other things. Abby barley understood most of them. After Ducky had declared that he was done with the check-up, Gibbs wanted to talk to him alone so he asked Abby to go out and talk to Jimmy.
Jimmy was still alone in the room when Abby stepped out and closed the door behind her. He looked up at her and smiled. She quietly walked up to him. He was stacking other boxes on the other side of the room this time. He looked down at her as she came closer and said:
"Hi, I'm Jimmy."
"I'm Abby."
Jimmy held out his hand for Abby to shake, which she did.
"What are you doing with Gibbs?" he asked her.
"He said I could stay with him", Abby replied. "And today he wanted me to meet Ducky."
Jimmy nodded like he understood.
"Is this a store?" Abby asked him, because he seemed nice enough so she wasn't scared to talk to him.
"Yes, it's a kind of store. It's called a pharmacy. We sell medicine and things that people need when they're sick or hurt."
"All of these are medicine?" Abby asked and looked around the many shelves of bottles.
Jimmy nodded.
"Yeah, they're for all kinds of different sicknesses. I work here because I want to be a doctor, like Ducky."
"Oh."
"Do you want to help me put these boxes on this shelf?" Jimmy asked and gestured to a shelf low enough for Abby to reach just fine.
"Okay", Abby said.
Jimmy showed her how to put the boxes, which were small enough for one to fit in Abby's palm, in rows with their labels facing out.
"So that people can read what it is", he explained.
Abby, who didn't know how to read, simply did what he said. They stacked boxes in silence for a while, before Gibbs and Ducky returned from the back room.
"Ah, thank you mr Palmer", Ducky said. "When you are done with this would you run down to mrs Welling's with her new prescription for me?"
"Certainly", Jimmy said and hastily put the last couple of boxes on the shelf.
He disappeared behind the counter and emerged a second later with a brown paper bag. He nodded goodbyes to the people in the room and hurried outside.
"He is a good apprentice", Ducky commented as the door shut close behind Jimmy. "Eager. A little too eager sometimes, may I say."
"Ducky says you're well and healthy", Gibbs bent down to Abby. "Which is really good. Do you feel good?"
Abby thought about it.
"Yeah", she said in the end. "I feel good."
Gibbs smiled slightly at her.
"Well then", he said and stood up straight again. "Let's go back home."
Abby nodded eagerly. She didn't mind this strange place with the bottles and boxes, but she had really taken to the big red house.
Gibbs thanked Ducky ones more on the way out.
"It was very nice meeting you, Abigail", Ducky said and held up the door for them. "I hope I will see you soon again."
Abby grinned at him as Gibbs lifted her up on Louie and when they were off, she waved. It was a short wave, however, since Abby had to hold on with both hands when Louie started sprinting. She didn't think Gibbs would let her fall, but if he wasn't there it would have been difficult for her to stay on. She wondered if Gibbs' kids knew how to ride by themselves. Tim and Kate weren't that much bigger than her, they would probably also have a hard time riding a horse.
But what did Abby know; those four kids had grown up with horses, so they might know how to ride. This was only Abby's third time on one. That she could remember, at least.
She noticed two other horses behind the fence, when she and Gibbs arrived back at the red house. One was dark brown and the other was almost white. They were pretty, but she still liked Louie the best.
Jenny was waiting for them inside the house.
"The kids are playing outside", she said. "Why don't you join them, Abby?"
Abby nodded uncertainly. She didn't know those kids. But they seemed nice enough and she had talked a little bit with Ziva and Kate this morning. So she walked outside again and peered around the corner of the house. The four kids were all there, around the large tree with the swing. Ziva was sitting with dangling legs on the swing while Tim was on the ground, leaning against the trunk. Kate was standing next to him, watching Tony climb higher up the tree. Abby walked up to them slowly and carefully. About halfway down the gravel path Tim looked up and noticed her.
"Hi Abby", he said.
The others also realized that she was there and smiled or waved at her. Abby smiled shyly back as she joined them.
"Where did you go after breakfast?" Kate asked her.
"To see Ducky", Abby replied.
"Oh, really?"
"He's nice isn't he?" Tim said and patted on the ground next to him as an indication for her to sit down.
"Yes, I liked him", Abby said and sat next to him.
"Everyone does", Ziva said.
"Is your name really Abby?" a voice travelled down from above them. Tony had climbed down a bit and was clinging on to a branch not that high from the ground.
"Yes", Abby replied. "It's actually Abigail but I like Abby better."
"We also have longer names, really", Tony told her. "I'm Anthony, Kate is Caitlin and Tim is Timothy."
"But not Ziva?" Abby asked.
"Nope."
"Why?"
"Because mom and dad didn't name me", Ziva explained.
"She came here on a boat when she was a baby", Kate said. "But she already had a name at that point."
"Oh."
"Do you want to play?" Kate asked. "Can't we play catch?"
"Sure", Tony shrugged and jumped down from the tree. Tim nodded and stood up and Abby followed.
"What's catch?" she asked.
"One person is 'it'…" Tim began to explain.
"Ziva's it!" Tony said.
"Oh come on!"
"… and that person has to catch someone else so they be 'it'", Tim continued. "Get it?"
"No…"
"You just run and avoid being caught by Ziva", Tony said. "And if Ziva catches someone, that person is 'it' and you have to avoid that person instead. You don't want to be 'it'. Understand now?"
Abby nodded. Suddenly Ziva started counting loudly.
"Run!" Tim hissed in Abby's ear.
The two of them started running across the lawn just as Ziva got to 'three' and sprung up from the swing. She started chasing Tony, but changed courses and went towards Kate instead. Kate was considerably slower that both Tony and Ziva so Ziva caught up to her and shoved her lightly on the shoulder.
"Kate's it!" she yelled and started running the opposite direction.
Abby didn't really have to understand the game to have fun. She couldn't remember when she'd last laughed this much. The funniest was probably when Tim tripped into Tony and both of them crashed to the ground.
Abby was only 'it' for a couple of times. She thought that the others probably tried to be nice to her and didn't chase her as much as each other. And when she was 'it' the first time, Tony was suddenly a lot slower than usual and she caught him pretty quickly.
"Kids, lunch!"
Abby looked towards the house and saw Jenny on the porch, calling for them.
"Come on", Ziva said and they all started walking inside.
When Abby followed them she caught glance of a third building behind the big red house. She skipped up to Kate.
"What's that?" she asked and pointed to it.
"That's dad's shed", Kate said. "That's where he builds everything. We aren't allowed to go in there when he's not with us because he has a lot of sharp tools in there."
Abby nodded, as she understood. She was very curious to see it, though. Gibbs probably built the beautiful casket in there.
After lunch Tim showed her the chickens and he pointed out little white fluffy things, which apparently were sheep, far out on the field. He told her that they were out there all day and then someone had to bring them inside the lower attachment of the barn at night.
"What are the other horses called?" Abby asked him when they walked past the fence. The darkest one was eating grass not far from them on the other side.
"This is Aidan", Tim said and bent down to rip some long grass leaves from the ground. He climbed up on the lowest bar of the fence and held out the treat for the horse. After a little bit of whistling from Tim, Aidan came right up to him and snatched the grass from his hand. This gave Tim an opportunity to pet his head.
When Aidan finished chewing, he got bored and turned away. Tim jumped back down again.
"The one you rode on is Louie, but you probably knew that", Tim continued and Abby nodded. "And the white one is Scottie."
"They're very pretty", Abby said.
Tim nodded in agreement.
"Do you know how to ride them?" Abby asked.
"Yes, but mom and dad don't let us ride alone yet. They think we're too young."
"Okay."
"Do you want to see the cats and the dog?" Tim asked.
"Yes!" Abby said excitedly.
"Dave seems to have slept in the barn all morning", Tim said and lead the way to the building. "He was up chasing rabbits around the field all night."
"Why?"
"I don't know", Tim shrugged. "He seems to think it's fun."
They pushed the barn door open. It was a bit darker in there and it smelled funny.
"The horses sleep over here", Tim pointed to their direct left. "And the cows over there", he pointed farther down but still on the left side.
"What's this?" Abby asked and looked at the big pile of dry grass-things.
"It's hay. Sometimes, if the pile is big enough, we climb up on that ladder and jump down in it from the beams in the ceiling. It's really fun. And look, there's Dave!"
A big black dog came lumbering towards them. He went straight to Tim and started licking his face.
"Okay, alright, buddy", Tim tried to stop him as Abby giggled. "Say hi to Abby, Dave."
He gently shoved the dog in Abby's direction and Dave instantly came to greet her.
"You can pet him", Tim said as Dave sniffed Abby's hands.
Carefully Abby put one hand on the dog's back and stroked him. He was soft and warm and seemed to enjoy it, so she continued.
"He's very nice even though he's so big", Tim said. "He plays with us a lot."
"But doesn't he chase the cats?" Abby asked, because didn't dogs do that?
"Not often", Tim said. "They mostly just keep away from each other. Do you want to see if we can find any of the cats?"
"Alright. How many are there?"
"Four. They are usually somewhere here in the barn or in the house."
It took them five minutes to locate one of the cats. It was little and brown and very cute. Tim told her that it was a boy and his name was Otis. They sat on the ground and played with him and then another cat showed up.
"Her name is Leila", Tim said.
Leila seemed to take a fast liking to Abby and curled up in her lap and made a funny noise when Abby petted her.
That night when Abby got ready for bed she couldn't help but smile. She had a warm feeling in her stomach and although she was sleepy she felt like she wanted to jump around. Gibbs and Jenny were so nice to her and she'd had a great time with Tim, Ziva, Tony and Kate. And there were horses and kittens and good food and warm blankets. Deep inside, Abby hoped she wouldn't have to leave. She wished she could stay here, in the big red house, forever.
I think I'm going to end it here. But I'm thinking about writing a sequel. What do you think?