A/n: Right, so, here's the second chapter of my little story. I've decided to fast forward a few weeks, it's extremely difficult to write out how a five year old would be feeling at his mother's funeral, so, timeline wise, this chapter occurs a few weeks after the funeral, give or take a day or two.

Nerf Guns and Lunch Dates

"Yahhhhhhh!"

Jenny and Ziva tensed as they emerged from Ziva's Mini in Gibbs' driveway, hearing the hoarse yell emanating from the house. Ziva placed a hand on her sidearm, automatically moving in front of the Director as they approached the house cautiously. Jenny rolled her eyes at her friend, reaching to open the door carefully, both of their heads peering around.

Shup! Shup!

"Ow. What the….?" Jenny brought a hand up to her forehead, peeling off the suction-cup foam dart stuck there. J.J. appeared from his hiding place just beyond the doorway, a brightly colored plastic Nerf gun gripped in his small hands. He grinned, padding over to the door in stocking feet. "Hiya, Jenny, Zee."

Ziva let out a low chuckle, peeling the other dart off of her own forehead. "Hello, J.J." She followed Jenny into the house, closing the door behind her. "Where is Gibbs? Sorry, I mean, Jet. Where is Jet?"

J.J. shrugged, taking the darts back and reloading his Nerf gun. "Dunno. We're playin' a game, he's hidin' somewhere." He adjusted the Velcro vest he was wearing, which had a few separate targets located on it in different places. "You could try the kitchen, I spose. He almost shooted me in there a few minutes ago." With that parting remark, he padded off silently into the darkened recesses of the home, hiding skillfully.

Jenny laughed quietly, removing her heels and setting them next to the door before she walked to the kitchen, commenting over her shoulder to Ziva. "Ah, boys and their toys. Jethro's obviously trained him well. Five years old, and he moves like a trained sniper."

Ziva grinned as she followed, her boots joining Jenny's next to the front door. "Abby calls him a Mini-Gibbs." She entered the kitchen, hopping up onto the counter. "Alors, où croyez-vous qu'il se cache?"

"Hmm…" Jenny peered around, her eyes scanning every detail. "Sous-sol, peut-être. Première proposition: Il est probablement là, ou peut-être ... l'une des chambres."

Ziva had been rooting around in the living room as Jenny spoke, returning with two more of the brightly colored toys, and two vests. "Que diriez-vous nous uniformiser les règles du jeu?"

Jenny smiled, taking one of the Nerf guns from Ziva and slipping the vest over her button-down. They carefully and quietly moved around the house, searching for Gibbs. Ziva had leapfrogged ahead of Jenny towards Gibbs' bedroom, stopping abruptly. "Jenny…"

Shup! Shup! Shup!

Gibbs rolled out from under the bed, pumping the Nerf blaster as he shot foam dart towards them. Ziva took one in a target on her shoulder, quickly plastering herself against the wall as Jenny crouched, firing a few darts at Gibbs, who had rolled past the doorway and was heading for the connecting bathroom. J.J. suddenly appeared from the adjoining room, tackling Gibbs with a loud yell. "Rahhhhh!"

"Ooof…jeez, Jay…alright, alright, Uncle, you win this time, kiddo." Jethro wheezed out sharply as J.J. landed on him, setting his Nerf gun to the side and holding his hands up in surrender. J.J. grinned proudly, thumping his godfather on the chest once before he stood up.

"Well, well, Jethro, never would have figured you to be the Dart Tag type." Jenny shook her head as she walked into his bedroom, leaning against the edge of his bed, her voice teasing.

"There's quite a bit you don't know about me, Jen." Jethro got back to his feet, rubbing his shoulder where it had connected sharply with the bed. "Where'd you two come from?"

Ziva leaned against the doorframe, plucking the foam dart off of her shoulder pad and twirling it absentmindedly between her fingers. "We…thought you two might like some company for lunch. Or…Abby wanted Jenny to check up on you two, and she needed a detail. Take your pick."

J.J. perked up at the mention of food, glancing over at Jenny. "Lunch? Can we go out for lunch?" He turned his gaze on Gibbs, questioning.

Jethro scratched the back of his head, shrugging. "Yeah, that's fine, we haven't been grocery shopping anyways." He glanced down at himself, a slight blush coloring his face as he realized he still wore his pajamas. "Just, um…let me change out of my pajamas."

Jenny bit back a small smirk, pointedly avoiding Ziva's amused gaze as she watched Jethro head for the closet, discarding the wrinkled t-shirt he wore.

"J.J, are you dressed properly to be going out?" Gibbs re-emerged from the closet, shirtless with jeans on, threading a belt through the loops in his pants. He walked over to the dresser and rifled through the shirts there, finally pulling up what looked like a plain black one with a satisfied grunt.

J.J. rolled his eyes. "Umm…I'm wearin' jeans an' my superhero shirt. Is that okay?" Gibbs walked out the door, tugging the black shirt over his head as he passed. "Yeah, I suppose that's fine." He glanced over his shoulder, seeing Jenny and Ziva still standing in his bedroom. "You comin'?"

Jenny hid another smirk, discarding her gun and vest off to the side and following Ziva, Gibbs, and J.J. down the hall. Jethro pulled a well worn leather jacket out of the hall closet, slipping it over his broad shoulders as he handed J.J. a small black hooded zip-up.

J.J. toed on a scuffed pair of Converses, waiting as Gibbs cast about in the pile of shoes, finally coming up with a similarly battered and considerably larger pair of the same shoes, jamming them on his feet. "Alright. Ready?" He grinned at his nephew as the boy nodded, walking out the front door.

"Hey, Jet, can we take the 'Bee?" J.J. fidgeted as he looked up at Jethro, a wide smile creasing his small face.

"I…well, okay, sure." Gibbs shrugged, glancing over at Jenny and Ziva. "You guys mind? I'll drive, so we're not taking two cars."

Jenny raised her eyebrows, giving the old grey truck sitting in his driveway a pointed glance. "Jethro, as much as I like breaking traffic laws, I'm not riding in the back of your beater truck to lunch."

"Who said we're takin' the truck?" Jethro and J.J. walked over to a covered mass sitting next to the truck. "My dad brought this from Stillwater. I've been restoring it since…well, since before I joined the Corps." He swept the cover off of the car with a flourish, his boyish grin mirroring J.J.'s.

Jenny and Ziva gaped at the yellow machine, detailed with a black stripe bisecting the hood of the car. "You…have a muscle car."

Jethro's eyes twinkled brightly with boyish enthusiasm. "Yep." The 1971 Dodge Hemi Challenger sat gleaming, the culmination of nearly four decades of work.

"Of course you would." Jenny muttered, shaking her head as she adjusted her purse strap, walking over to the car. "Okay, fine, we'll ride in your new toy."

J.J. cheered happily, clambering into the backseat of the car and buckling himself in. Ziva climbed in after him with some hesitation, glancing at Jenny before she got in. Jethro winked as he walked over to the passenger side, opening Jenny's door for her, his gruff voice barely hiding a chuckle. "Director."

Jenny rolled her eyes, giving him a pointed stare. Gibbs merely laughed, closing the door and walking around to slide in on his own side, starting the ignition with a rumble.

"Where we goin'?" Gibbs backed the car out of the driveway slowly, staring at J.J. as he twisted around to look out the back.

"I dunno…" J.J. shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. "Can we turn the music on?"

Jenny laughed softly, reaching over to turn the radio on, stopping when she noticed the model, which looked out of place in the vintage car. "Jethro, since when do you have a brand new sound system and CD player installed in your car?"

"Since J.J. likes listening to music." Jethro drove along, disregarding traffic laws as was his custom, pushing the Dodge through its paces. "Any suggestions for lunch? I'm about to just head to McDonald's."

Jenny shook her head vehemently, turning the radio on, the strains of a reasonably popular rock band Audioslave pouring out of the speakers. "No, Jethro, we're not going to McDonald's. Why don't we go to that diner…over near headquarters, you remember?"

"B &K? Alright, sure, that sounds fine." They drove along in relative silence, Gibbs drumming along to the song on the steering wheel.

"I'll have a double cheeseburger and fries. And a root beer to drink. Thanks." Gibbs lounged back in the booth after ordering, nodding for J.J. and the ladies to do the same.

"Jet, can I get a root beer float?" J.J. glanced up shyly at Jethro, his small fingers tapping at a picture on the menu. He grinned happily when Gibbs nodded. "I wanna cheeseburger, 'an fries, 'an a root beer float, please."

Jenny frowned at the menu as Ziva ordered a chili dog and fries, unsure of what to get herself. "I'll have um…"

"She'll have a cheeseburger with Swiss instead of cheddar, and a half order of fries with a root beer to drink." Gibbs spoke up calmly, giving the waitress a smile as she wrote the order down and walked away. He looked over at Jen, raising his eyebrows at her look. "What? That's what you always order here, Jen."

"You remembered my order from…what, almost seven years ago?" Jenny laughed and shook her head slightly. "That's either nice or just really odd, Jethro."

"How is my remembering your order odd?" Jethro sighed moodily, slumping in his seat a little further as the waitress stopped by with their drinks. "Sheesh, I'm just trying to be nice, and you call me odd."

J.J. frowned between them, an amused glint sparkling in his blue-grey eyes. "You guys must like each other."

Jenny nearly choked on the sip of root beer she had taken, staring at the little boy who had spoken so bluntly. "I….what makes you think that, J.J.?"

"Jet 'members a lotta stuff 'bout you. 'An you keep comin' over to visit for dinner." J.J. grinned mischievously, taking a long sip of his root beer float. "You guys act like Mummy and Andrew used to."

"I…we do not, J. What are you talking about?" Gibbs spluttered on his root beer, giving the boy a considerably milder version of his usual glare. "Who's Andrew?"

"Mummy's date-guy. He started comin' over after you stopped visiting 'cause of work." J.J. shrugged, taking another long sip of the float. "He was pretty cool. Mummy kissed him a few times, but not like she kissed you or Unca Jack." He grinned slyly, peeking over the lip of his glass at Jenny and Gibbs, who sat next to each other, a slight blush coloring both sets of cheeks. "I betcha you two's kisseded like that before."

Jenny and Gibbs were saved the awkwardness of answering by the waitress, who breezed over with their meals. Ziva exchanged an amused glance with J.J., who dug into his cheeseburger happily, taking a large bite. "So…didja?"

Gibbs slowly chewed the bite of burger in his mouth, finally swallowing and looking up, speaking in a would-be innocent voice. "Did we what?"

"Kiss, duh." J.J. munched on a few fries, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

Jethro buried his smirk in taking a bite out of his cheeseburger, shrugging as his gaze flicked over to Jenny. Jenny's cheek flushed embarrassedly, giving him a mild glare. "No, J.J., we aren't like that. I'm just good friends with your…I'm just good friends with Jet."

"Uh huh." J.J. rolled his eyes and gave Ziva a knowing glance, taking another large bite of cheeseburger. They ate in silence for a bit, the sounds of chewing and sipping of drinks filling the air, until J.J. perked up, cocking an ear to the strains of a country song flowing from the speakers set around the diner. "Jet, they're playin' your song!"

Jethro frowned in confusion, tilting his head to listen for a moment, after which he gave an exasperated sigh. "That….song. Jay, it's not my song."

Jenny's brow furrowed as she listened, a soft laugh escaping her. "Is this…Cowboy Casanova?"

"Yup. Mum said this song reminded her of Jet, always made her laugh when it came on the radio." J.J. laughed, dipping a French fry in ketchup.

Jethro took in Jenny and Ziva's amused glances, glaring down at his food in embarrassment. "It's not my song, J, your mum just said that it sounded like me, it was a joke."

Ziva cocked her head to better hear the song, a distinctly amused smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. "I do not know, Gibbs…this song does describe you…to an extent."

"I…what?! How does this…song describe me, Ziver?" Jethro said exasperatedly, looking up at her.

"Gibbs, you have been married four times, no? Along with the girlfriends or whatever you call them, you have developed a…reputation, I think, is the word, of being a…well, nothing like Tony, but, still, you cannot deny the similarities between you two. Tony is more of a serial dater, though." Ziva leaned back in the booth, her arms folding across her chest, unruffled by the glare he sent her way.

Jenny laughed again, nudging his shoulder slightly. "Jethro, we're merely joking around with you, as I'm sure Sarah was when she said this song reminded her of you."

"And to be honest, Gibbs, I was…what do you say, pulling your chain?" Ziva piped in with a knowing grin, her dark eyes amused.

Gibbs finally relaxed with a sigh, munching on a few fries. The comfortable silence returned as they ate, making small comments every now and then. J.J. fidgeted around as they waited for Jenny to finish, scanning the diner with his usual boyish enthusiasm.

"We ready to go yet?"

Jenny chuckled, chewing the last bite of her burger and finishing off her root beer. "Yes, J.J., I think we're ready to go." She made call the waitress for the check, but her hand was stayed by Jethro's larger one. He smiled politely at the waitress when she dropped off the check, pulling a 50 out of his wallet and telling her to keep the change, shaking his head at Ziva and Jenny's protests. "Let's go, you two need to get the car to drive back to NCIS."

The ride back to Gibbs' home was only punctuated by the sounds emanating from the radio, as J.J. had leaned forward and turned the thing on as soon as Jethro started the car. Gibbs drove with his usual cavalier disregard for traffic laws, seemingly unaffected by Jenny's irritated glares from the passenger seat. He pulled up in his driveway, shifting the car into park and going around and opening Jenny's door, a smile playing across his lips.

"So, um…thanks for lunch." Jenny leaned against the back fender of the yellow Challenger, watching as J.J. clambered up onto the back of Jethro's truck. Gibbs shrugged off the thanks with a grunt, mumbling softly. "No big deal, you guys drove all the way out here to have lunch with us, it was the least I could do."

J.J. had managed to climb his way up to the top of the cab, swinging his legs back and forth aimlessly. "Jet, can we go to your work place? I wanta see Ducky."

Jethro glanced over at Jenny and then shrugged. "Sure, we can go visit for a bit." He walked over to the truck, lifiting J.J. down. "Go get your backpack and my cell phone, and then we'll go. We'll see if everyone wants to come over for dinner tonight, too. That sound good?"

J.J. nodded vigorously and tore off towards the house. Jethro watched him with a slight smile on his face, starting slightly when Jenny laid her hand on his arm, speaking softly. "Is he doing better? With the nightmares? I noticed he doesn't seem to mind being away from you so much anymore."

Gibbs inclined his head in a nod, leaning back against his car again. "Yeah, he's doing a lot better. He's finally started sleeping in his own room again, and we've come to an agreement about me being away." He smiled briefly at Jenny's questioning look. "He's been keeping an eye on my dog tags. Sarah used to do something similar whenever she had to leave for a work trip, she'd leave her watch with him, told J as long as he had the watch, she'd never truly leave, she'd always be there with him in part." His voice was now tinged with melancholy. "So, I gave him the tags and told him the same thing, as long as he has the tags, I'm there with him."

Jenny gave him a gentle smile, her voice still soft as she spotted J.J. sprinting back out of the house, a backpack slung over his small shoulders. "Well, you're doing a great job, Jethro. We can see why Sarah insisted he stay with you." Gibbs ducked his head, gruffly brushing off her compliment, and stepped forward to intercept J.J. before he ran headlong into Jenny.

"Ready to go, sport?" Jethro managed to hitch a vague approximation of his real smile back up on his face as he looked down at J.J., his blue eyes twinkling.

"Yah." J.J. fished Jethro's cell phone out of his jacket pocket, holding it up in his small hand. "Here's your phone, Jet."

Jenny looked closer at the little boy, noting a small bit of chain that peeped out from the neckline of his t-shirt, signifying the presence of Gibbs' dog tags. "So, are we taking two cars, or do you guys just want to ride with us?"

Gibbs laughed, raising his eyebrow at Ziva's Mini. "Considering that I'd have to become a contortionist to fit in that car, we'll follow behind you."

Ziva walked back into the bullpen with Jenny, laughing quietly at some private joke they shared. Jenny leaned nonchalantly against the divider wall of the bullpen next to her desk as Ziva took a seat, both ignoring Tony's inquisitive glance.

Tony's curiosity finally won out as he stared at them with a cheesy smile plastered on his face. "Have a nice lunch date, Director, Ziva?"

Ziva smirked, leaning back in her chair and lacing her fingers behind her head. "Oh, yes, it was nice. I got to bring along a date, too. He was…what is the expression...cute as a button?"

Her smirk widened as Tony shifted forward in his chair, interested. "You had a date date? Who?"

Jenny hid a grin, shrugging when DiNozzo turned his gaze on her. " Eh, just, some guy we met. He was pretty cute."

"'Tonio!" The rest of Jenny's comment was cut off by the arrival of Gibbs and J.J., the latter of which rode on the former's shoulders. Gibbs reached up, ducking his head to lift the boy down.

"J-Man! How's tricks, buddy?" Tony grinned, rolling his desk chair around to the front of his desk and raising a hand for a high-five.

"Tricks are for kids." J.J. giggled, slapping Tony a high-five, before turning his attention to the other occupant of the bullpen. "Heya, Mig—Mc—Tim."

McGee looked up from his computer, his face creasing in a smile. "Hi there, J.J." He stood and walked over to give the boy another high-five, looking up at Gibbs. "Good to see you, Boss." His hazel eyes flickered briefly with something bordering on amusement as he glanced over at Ziva and Jenny, questioning. "I take it J.J. is the, ah, date you're talking about, Ziva?"

Tony gasped in outrage, turning to Jenny and Ziva. "You tricked me! You made me think you both had some hot lunch date or something!"

"No-ooo, DiNozzo, you misinterpreted Ziva's words." Jenny smirked, drawing out the first word in a lazy drawl, mocking Tony.

"I..but…that's just not…I hate you, both of you." Tony's shoulders slumped dejectedly as he spun in his chair and rolled back behind his desk, pillowing his head in his arms and muffling the last half of his statement. "Frickin' teasin' me all the time."

Gibbs looked distinctly amused as he leaned over Tony's desk to lightly tap the back of his head. "Eh, DiNozzo, you're an easy target." He skirted the group gathered in the center of the bullpen and sank down in his desk chair, watching as his team members and Jenny interacted with J.J., who happily took in all of the extra attention.

"Wow, Gibbs, I'd never figure you to be the biker type. Nice jacket!" The only warning Gibbs got of Abby's arrival was a blur of black off to his left that swept him into a tight hug. "J.J.! You came to visit!"

J.J. grinned, running over to give the Goth a hug. "Hiya, Abby." He walked over and pulled himself into Jethro's lap, fidgeting with a pen he stole from the desk.

Gibbs gave Abby a slightly confused look. "Biker?"

"You know, Gibbs, the big bad biker type, with the old leather jacket and beat up jeans, plus you've already kinda got the whole 'bad boy' vibe, but in a good way, you know? Plus, you did something different with your hair, it's almost…spiky, I like it though, I'm not saying tha—" The rest of her ramblings were cut off as Gibbs reached up to cover her mouth, raising his eyebrows.

"Abs." He gave her a mild glare before removing his hand, thinking through her statements. "Wait…I have a 'bad boy' vibe?"

"Yeah." Jethro looked taken aback, glancing down at the boy in his lap, who had just spoken in unison with Abby. J.J. tilted his head back slightly, looking up at Gibbs. "What? Mum used to say you was a 'bad boy' type. She used to joke with Unca Jack that she…she hoped I wouldn't turn out as much a bad boy as you. Or, at least, that's what I think she said. Dunno. They always talked like this after I was sposta be in bed, I don't think she knew I was listenin'." He grinned cheekily.

Jenny burst out laughing, walking over to lean against Jethro's desk. "She has a point, Jethro. You do kind of give off a 'bad boy' type vibe. Though it might just be the fact that you try to scare off everyone who looks sideways at you, who knows."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, ruffling J.J.'s hair good-naturedly. "Fine, whatever. Still don't see why a busted up leather jacket makes me look like a biker, but, who cares." He tickled J.J.'s side lightly, grinning at the laughs that escaped. "And you, you always said you wanted to grow up like me, budd-o."

J.J. squirmed away from the tickling, sliding back off of Jethro's lap. "Hey, I never said I didn't wanna be like you, Jet, Mum said she didn't want me to be too much like you."

Gibbs hid a small grin at the protest, his blue eyes twinkling with amusement. "Eh, probably for the best, you don't want to turn out exactly like me." He leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice to a stage whisper. "I've got this awful job, with a really boring boss, she's no fun at all."

He and J.J. burst out laughing at the outraged look that flashed on Jenny's face. "I am NOT boring!"

Tony sniggered, disguising it quickly as a bout of coughing when Jenny rounded on him, her eyes flashing. "Er, right, Director, not boring, no."

"I do not find you boring in the least, Jennifer, if it is any consolation." Ducky's accented voice sounded from the back of the bullpen as the Medical Examiner walked in, his blue-grey eyes flashing with amusement. "Ah, Jethro, Jacob, good to see you. I see young Jacob managed to convince you to get a haircut, Jethro, it looks…well, it's not your usual style, but, it looks good."

Gibbs shrugged, running a hand through his shorter, styled hair. "Eh. It's a haircut. Not a big deal." He raised an amused glance to Jenny, who leveled a glare at him.

Jenny continued glaring at Gibbs, looking down when she felt a tug on her pant leg. J.J. stood there, a earnest grin on his face. "I don't think you're boring, Jenny."

Jenny cracked a smile, crouching down to his level and patting his shoulder. "Well, thank you very much, J.J. Would you do me a favor and go spend some time with Ducky? I need to talk to your—I need to talk to Jet about something." J.J. raised an eyebrow, but nodded in agreement, glancing over at Jethro, who inclined his head in a nod, standing to walk over to Jenny.

"Hned jsem zpátky, jo?" Gibbs knelt to look at J.J., speaking softly in Czech, his finger reaching out to tap lightly on the hidden dog tags under the boy's shirt. J.J. nodded, murmuring back quietly. "Ano."

Jethro nodded, giving the boy a smile, tapping the dog tags one last time as he stood, glancing at Jenny. He gestured to the stairs, walking with her to her office.

A/n: Okay, so, forgot the translations at the beginning of the chapter, sorry.

French translation of the conversation between Jenny and Ziva:

Alors, où croyez-vous qu'il se cache?-- So where do you think he is hiding?

Sous-sol, peut-être. Première proposition: Il est probablement là, ou peut-être ... l'une des chambres.-- Basement, perhaps. First idea: He's probably there, or maybe ... one of the rooms.

Que diriez-vous nous uniformiser les règles du jeu?-- How about we level the playing field?

-----

Czech translation for Gibbs and J.J.:

Hned jsem zpátky, jo?-- I'll be right back, okay?

Ano. - Yes ("Okay"--rough translation)

Hopefully, I'll have chapter three up by the end of next week. Please review, tell me what you think!

-Meg