a/n - Still having fun? Good, but put the food and drinks away for this chapter. Yeah, I'm serious.

"What is that?" Gibbs stared at the wooden circle laying on the ground, its twin only a few feet away. They both looked like the centers of wagon wheels, complete with holes for the spokes.

Sarah grinned at him as she jumped down from the truck bed. "You've never seen tent hubs before?"

"Umm, no, we haven't." DiNozzo stumbled past, a worried look on his face as he and Palmer carried a canvas bag of something heavy. "I, for one, am a city boy. Gibbs is the tent and camping guy."

Gibbs glared at them and then looked back at McGee, who was still up in the truck. He shouldn't have been surprised by anything now, but seeing McGee and his sister pull into the Navy Yard in a loaded pick-up truck, pulling an equally loaded trailer had been a shock. Looking down at the strange pieces, he wished he'd gotten some lights last night and let McGee teach them how to set up this damn tent.

McGee was grinning, he knew exactly what was going through Gibbs' head, but he valued his own head too much to gloat. Instead, he concentrated on the task at hand. With a trained crew, setting up camp was a busy endeavor, with a team of wide-eyed newbies, it was going to be a challenge. "Okay, people, we've got a little more than three hours to get the camp set up and get into garb. Sarah, start the lay-out, the rest of you keep unloading. Stack everything except what's marked with a blue feather against the far end of our plot."

"If it has a feather?" Ziva held up a small bag with a painted feather on it.

Tim pointed to the other end of their marked off section. "Over there."

They may have been newbies, but it didn't take long to unload McGee's truck and trailer plus all the personal gear that was in Gibbs' truck. Gibbs wiped the sweat off his forehead and accepted the water bottle Ducky tossed to him. It wasn't even 0800 and it was already getting warm. "Okay, so how do we set up these tents?"

"Your center pole, M'Lord."

Gibbs stared at the pole Sarah had handed him. It didn't even come up to his shoulders. DiNozzo leaned close. "It's a tent for pygmies, Boss."

*Whack*

"Thanks, Boss."

Under Sarah's supervision, Gibbs pounded the pointed end of the pole into the ground where she'd marked, vaguely aware of Tim doing the same thing with Ducky and Palmer at the other end of their encampment.

"Thy magic string."

"The what?"

Gibbs stared at the long loop of string she'd dropped into his hand, with three metal rings attached to it. She rolled her eyes and started the process. The two men quickly caught onto how she used the string to quickly and precisely mark where each of the outer tent stakes would go. The large ring went over the center pole while the other two rings showed where to put the first two stakes. The ring from stake one was moved to stake two and the now empty ring gave the exact location for the next tent stake. As they worked their way around, it was soon apparent that the tent was circular and very large, as was the one being assembled under Tim's supervision. Abby and Ziva scrambled to bring poles to each group. As soon as they had all the poles in the ground, Sarah and Tim started them on the assembly of the spokes into the hubs. Sooner than he'd have thought possible, the hub and spokes were on the ground, with the canvas laid out over the top, the doors of the two tents facing each other, and the real, very heavy, center pole was used to lift everything into place.

By 0900, an amazed Gibbs and DiNozzo were standing inside a very large, airy tent. Overhead, the spokes were well above their heads, allowing even the tall men to walk around freely. Past the spokes the tent continued up to a center point, with an opening vent at the top, giving a slight breeze through the entire structure. Sarah stepped in, carrying more canvas. "These dividers can be added later. You just tie them to the spokes."

"This is quite a set-up, nicer than any modern tent I've ever used."

Sarah smiled at her brother's boss. "Tim did a great job with them."

"Probie made this?"

Once the two tents were done, the rest of the camp went together quickly. A large sunshade and an outdoor kitchen completed the layout. Modern conveniences such as the ice chests were either tucked away inside the tents or camouflaged and soon the entire encampment looked like it had been transported from long ago. As Gibbs and McGee moved the two trucks to the parking area, Abby grabbed her camera and took pictures, Ziva following behind.

"This is so cool."

"Agreed. Did you know McGee was involved in any of this, Abby?"

"No, he never mentioned a word."

-NCIS-

In his own truck, Gibbs followed McGee to the parking area, frowning a little when McGee passed up the first row and instead parked on the other side of a small grove of trees. Once they were both out and walking back, Tim explained. "Over here is where the emergency vehicles park. I got us permission to park there in case we have to leave in a hurry."

"Good thinking, McGee." Gibbs reached out and squeezed Tim's neck. "Vance was right, you've really put a lot of thought into planning this out for us. Ya did good, Elflord."

"Thanks, Boss. Now, are you ready for your lesson on using a medieval longbow? The Archery Marshall is going to work with you before we officially start."

Gibbs knew he was grinning like a kid, but he didn't care. "Oh, yeah, I'm ready. Lead on, Macduff."

With a knowledge of modern archery already established, Gibbs quickly took to the English longbow, learning to lean into the bow to bend it rather than pull the string back as French and modern archers would do. All too soon the lesson was over and it was time to change into garb for the official opening.

"Thank you for all your help, sir." Gibbs had been more than surprised to find the Archery Marshall was a retired Marine Corps officer he'd known overseas. "It's good to see you again Captain Miller."

"You too, Gunny." He looked down at his watch. "And in about an hour it will be Sir Deric from the low country. When you decide to make yourself your own bow, come see me and I'll get you started."

The hand carved bow made of Yew wood had intrigued Gibbs even more than the massive tents they 'd assembled. "Yes, sir, you can count on it."

By the time they returned to the camp, the rest of the group was already in garb. McGee stopped to make one final check on the ropes keeping the tents taunt, while Gibbs went into the men's tent to start the process of dressing in the many layers of nobility. DiNozzo was still in there, lacing up his boots.

Gibbs paused, realizing that the only mirror was in the women's tent. Not able to see his backside, he turned to the other man for help. "DiNozzo, I never thought I'd ever ask this, but are my stockings on straight?"

Ducky was quick to assure the group that Tony had not given himself a concussion falling onto the ground laughing. The headslaps, however, were possibly a different matter.