Hey, I'm back. Thank you for all the reviews and story alerts/favourites, they really do make my day! This chapter's longer than my others so it did take me awhile longer than I would have liked. (Plus, I'm loaded with course work )
I'm British (English to be precise), and the American educational system has always confused me (it's very different to ours) so I did my research but I may have got it wrong, so please tell me if I have and I will correct the errors. Thanks.
Susie666 is back from her holiday and kindly edited this for me so thank you, thank you to her! She's my superhero!
I also get that ALOT has happened in the last few chapters, information wise, so I nicked NCIS7BEXX's review just in case any of you were confused:
Tony is the director of NCIS and has 2 small children and was married to Ziva, who died of cancer about 2 years ago. McGee is the head of the MCRT and I'm guessing married/engaged/dating Abby, who is pregnant (you will find out this chapter). Ducky retired and lives with the DiNozzo's. Gibbs was put in the coma in a car accident while tailing a suspect and stayed comatose for 11 years.
Now Enjoy!
"YOU'RE PREGANT!" He half shouted; filled with doubt, accusation and anger.
"Whoa, Gibbs!" Abby recoiled, close to tears, off the bed "calm down, please."
Gibbs closed his eyes as McGee stood up to lend a comforting hand to Abby. When he had calmed down efficiently enough he opened his eyes and asked cautiously "Who's the father?"
Another set of nervous glances and finally McGee, who looked like he just wanted to run away, spoke up, "I am."
"Does no one understand rule 12?" He felt like he staying remarkably calm but then this wasn't the biggest shock he'd had today. "Are you two married?"
"No. We're not even dating" replied Abby. "We were on and off after Tony and Ziva's wedding, when Ziva died we became closer and got back together. We then broke up a year later, and then we had a one night stand and voila, I've got a bun in the oven" with an anxious smile and eyes pleading for him not to get mad.
"So, you're not together but you are having a baby." Clarified Gibbs and Abby responded with an enthusiastic smile.
"Can I have a hug now?" Begged Abby.
"Sure, Abs" and before he knew it he couldn't breathe again.
Well, it was tomorrow, he'd had the walking lesson and checkups, he'd changed into normal cloths and he REALLY needed to get out, not wanted, needed. But the Ducky was still not here, he was tempted to sign out himself and find his own way out, except he decided it was a bad idea, he was 11 years out of date and didn't have a clue where the DiNozzos lived.
Finally, 20 long minutes later, Ducky turned up at the door to inform him that everything was sorted and that they could leave.
When they arrived at the car park Gibbs looked around to see if he could find Ducky's prized Morgan but couldn't see it. He was really shocked when Ducky unlocked a Land Rover Discovery, opened the passenger side door, ushered him inside, closed the door, went to the other side, sat into the driver's seat and began to drive.
"What the hell happened to the Morgan? You love that car." A small chuckle escaped Ducky's lips.
"This is the family car, we're picking up the kids on the way and my Morgan can only carry two. You see, we have three cars; this one, my Morgan and Anthony's Mustang."
Gibbs nodded, "So we're picking up the kids? What are they like?"
Another, stronger laugh, emanated from Ducky, his eyes still on the road. "Trouble" was all he said.
For the rest of the journey Ducky told Gibbs of what had changed politically during his time in the coma.
They finally stopped at a Kindergarten/Middle School. Ducky got out first and Gibbs quickly followed.
"So, what are their names?" Enquired Gibbs as they reached the front gate where other parents had gathered, ready to collect the kids that walked out, "and their ages?"
"Tali is the oldest, she is eight and Alexander is five. Beware, he likes to be called AJ or Alex, I am the only one, except Anthony of course, that is allowed to call him Alexander. He finds it too formal and it is his trouble name!"
"His what name?"
A small chuckle and then Ducky responded "His trouble name, whenever someone calls him by his full name he immediately goes 'I didn't do it'. You'll find him very alike his father in many areas, including the amazing ability of getting into trouble every five seconds!"
Even Gibbs had to laugh at that. "And Tali, which one is she?"
"She looks very much like her mother, however beware she has the best, or worst depending which way you look at it, from both of her parents. She is a very good mixture of the two and VERY protective of her brother, so be careful, she will scrutinise you before she lets you anywhere near her little brother!"
"I'll watch my step." Giving Ducky a smile as he turned his head towards the entrance of the schools, awaiting two children and remembering when Kelly was five and eight. He wasn't there for them when he should've been; he let them down like he did Kelly. A sad, regretful smile now replaced the amused one as they continued to stand and wait.
Finally, around five minutes later, groups of kids walked out with about four adults, from the Kindergarten judging by their age.
When the children spotted their parents or guardians they would tell the teacher nearest, when the adult would nod the child would approach their parent at a run, with an excited smile on their face, ready to spill all they had done today.
Gibbs saw a young boy, of average height, look at him and Ducky, then tell the teacher next to him. When she looked at us and nodded, he approached. The resemblance was undeniable; he was definitely DiNozzo's son.
Stunning green eyes stared at him as the boy approached, eyes with even more sparkle than Tony's. A very cheeky smile was plastered on his face, with dark brown, messy hair on top.
When he reached the pair he struck out his hand for Gibbs to take, that damn DiNozzo smile still there, and said "Greetings from earth, Sleeping Beast!"
Gibbs accepted the hand cautiously as he looked at the now laughing (again!) ex-ME beside him. One eye brow quirked up in confusion, Ducky got the hint and explained.
"Anthony has always called you 'Sleeping Beast' instead of 'beauty' in front of the children; it became your nick name. Anthony and Ziva did raise their children to be familiar with you, Alexander and Tali know you back to front, Jethro!"
"Yeah?" as he turned back to AJ, who was nodding enthusiastically, and released the small, yet firm, hand.
"Snap!"
Gibbs was once again confused by the young boy. "Snap?"
The smile got even wider; I didn't even know that was possible! "Yeah! You're Jethrow, I'm Jethrow too!" He emphasised this with pointing Gibbs then to himself.
"His middle name is Jethro, that's were AJ comes from!"
Gibbs suddenly felt overwhelmed, not knowing what to say. He felt a new sense of responsibility for the boy.
After twenty minutes of light conversation, another, much larger, group kids walked out. They were older, and went through the same process of leaving as Alex's group did. Gibbs spotted a very pretty girl that he was sure was Tali. Ducky had been right, Tali was her mother's daughter. Dark, chocolate brown hair curled its way down her face, to end at her chest. Her coffee eyes seem lighter than Ziva's and with much more innocence, however not the same depth of mischief that her brother has. She seemed more guarded than the others surrounding her, like she was on alert with knowledge of how sinister this world could be. She made her way over to them, only confirming Gibbs's theory. Their eye contact never faulted, Gibbs felt like he was being assessed by an aggressor and suddenly felt a little uncomfortable under her scrutiny. An eight year old giving me the creeps, ME, now I know that damn coma messed me up!
She stopped right in front of him, tilting her head slightly to the right.
"Dad said you woke up; my name is Tali, nice to finally meet you properly." She said in a calm and respectful tone. This is an eight year old, bloody hell! Her hand rose with the intension of a hand shake, something that apparently ran in the family. Gibbs accepted with a smile as he looked down at her.
"Well, now that introductions are done how about we head off?" Ducky asked, rubbing his hands and heading for the car with the other three in tow.
The car drive from school was not long however very noisy. AJ would not be quiet; he kept asking Gibbs all these ridiculous and random questions like do you like pie? Or what's your favourite movie? Or, strangely, how did you get that boat out of your basement? He said that it was to test the memory of 'Sleeping Beast' and see if what his dad had told him was true or in the case of the last one, because Abby asked him to.
Gibbs still found it hard to see Tony as a father to these children! So, it was really strange hearing him being referred to as dad!
Gibbs suddenly recognised their route, "We going to work, Duck?"
"Well seeing as neither of us work there anymore it's..." he stopped short after glancing Gibbs glare, "yes, we are heading to NCIS, didn't I tell you?" With a shake of Gibbs head, Ducky continued. "The children are staying at Abby's this weekend, so she'll be leaving with them, I have they're bags in the boot. I also thought that you'd like to meet the new MCRT, Jimmy and of course, dear Anthony."
Satisfied, and giving a quick nod of thanks, he lent back in his seat to relax. That was until Alex thought of more questions. Gibbs loved why are you looking like you want to kill someone? Oh, he was defiantly a DiNozzo!
Adam Smith, ex-marine, hated paperwork with a passion! So why was he sitting at his desk, on a Friday, at half four doing ridiculous amounts of the damn stuff, he did not know. Then again, no LEO likes that part of his/her profession. Smithy was tired after the long case they had just pulled and the quarrelling agents opposite him on either sides. He didn't even want to know what the juvenile reason this time was. Hearing footsteps behind him he looked up to find his boss, Special Agent Timothy McGee, leaving MTAC and make his way down the stairs.
"Hey, Boss." The other two agents suddenly fell into blissfulness silence as they realised their Boss was returning from his meeting with the Director.
"Hey, do you have those reports for me Smithy?" McGee replied as he made his way to his desk.
"Yeah, just finishing it up now, Boss."
McGee then turned on Dom and Louie.
Special Agent Dominic Cess had been on the team for five years, ever since DiNozzo had been promoted, he had transferred from NSA after wanting a change of scenery. He was a capable investigator, who could be as stubborn as himself on some days.
Claire Loianna, or known as Louie, was the probie of the team. She had replaced a string of Agents that had tried to take over Ziva's absence, which was difficult and most of them more incompetent than the last. The Director, his boss and himself had always had short patience for the ones that tried to take Ziva's place, because she was irreplaceable. Louie had lasted the longest out of the others, eight months, but she was positively green.
Both responded with a "On it, boss!"
Smithy looked up as the elevator dinged, and felt weird when Gibbs and Ducky existed and approached the bull pen - he had only seen Gibbs in a coma; he was the one who replaced the empty spot eleven years ago.
McGee stood from his desk to greet the two.
Gibbs had entered the bull pen and immediately noticed the differences. All the old computers had been replaced by new flat screen monitors that had impeccable black shines. The two plasmas had been replaced by what looked like touch screens around the same sizes. The wanted posters had people that were not familiar to Gibbs at all. When they approached the memorable desks, he was met by unknown faces so he was very grateful as McGee got up and introduced them all.
"I think you all recognise Gibbs, Gibbs this is my Senior Field Agent Adam Smith, otherwise known as Smithy." He pointed to a brown haired, blue eyed man, who Gibbs immediately recognised as ex-marine. Smithy, who was sitting at Tony's old desk, nodded a greeting to Gibbs. McGee then introduced a tall blond man, who sat at McGee's old desk, as Agent Cess and another blondy that sat at Ziva's old desk as Agent Loianna, or 'Louie'.
"Where are the kids?" asked Smithy.
"We dropped them at the lab with Abby, she said they'd be leaving soon." Replied Ducky.
"Doctor Mallard" they all turned to see Jimmy standing near Louie's desk, Ducky had tried to get him to call him Ducky when the older man had retired, but Jimmy was just so used to calling him Doctor Mallard. "It's good to see you awake, Agent Gibbs."
"Yeah, well, it's good to see you too, Palmer. How's the job?"
"Excellent." Jimmy then looked up towards the balcony, Gibbs and the others followed his gaze and spotted DiNozzo leaning against the barrier, looking down at them.
Gibbs noticed a few white hairs that stood out from the brown; he also had many more lines tracing his face than Gibbs remembered.
He and Tony held eye contact for a few seconds till DiNozzo turned and headed for his office. Gibbs decided to follow and headed for the stairs, He walked across the balcony, passed a sectary he did not know, and entered the Director's office without knocking.
Well I never said how long Tony would be in it, I just said he would. Sorry about the unoriginal names for the kids but oh well.
I'm thinking of bringing Fornell in next chapter, what do you think? And may be a Franks phone call?
And also what flashback do you want next chapter?
There will be action next chapter so do not fear.
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