June, 2007
Sunday
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On Sunday mornings after nine A.M. mass, Leroy Jethro Gibbs always read the Sunday edition of the Washington Post cover to cover, starting with the funnies and ending with the section that covered the local music scene. As it happened every Sunday, Jethro put down the comics and Kate snatched them up along with her portion of raspberry or lemon Danish and the customary glass of milk that accompanied the breakfast treat. Over the years Jenny had become part of the Gibbs family and added hazelnut flavored coffee to the Sunday ritual for the adults. Jay-Jay had come along, and now Kate's plate held two slices of Danish, one for her and one for the toddler that followed his sister around like a little puppy dog.
Today was no different. Kate was on her stomach across the hallway in the living room reading the comics to Jay-Jay and tickled the boy occasionally. Jenny was immersed in the political section and would scoff occasionally or scribble something on National Security down on her legal pad.
Today Jethro skipped to the local music section before he reached for the Travel section. On the front page was a band that came from Kate's high school, My Baby Ate the Dingoes, or something like that. They had apparently played a gig at the Coach house on Friday night. Jethro read the story and was impressed that a band made up of juniors and seniors in high school was in high demand in the tri-state area. It was even rumored that a record deal was in the works for them.
The story was continued on a page inside the section and Jethro absentmindedly turned the pages to find it. Before he could continue to read, he spotted a picture of Abby and Kate in a crowd. Kate looked embarrassed and she had a look on her face like she wanted to kill somebody. Abby was caught on film in mid-laugh with an arm thrown over Kate's shoulders pulling the girl in for a one armed hug.
"Caitlin," Jethro said. "Come here, please."
"Yous in twouble." Jay-Jay informed his older sister. "Daddy usded you full name."
"Yeah, Dad?" Kate said as she sat up, ruffled Jay-Jay's unruly mop of red hair and jumped to her feet to cross the hallway to the fancy schmancy formal dining room.
"According to Oz, this is a certain somebody's favorite song in the entire world." Jethro read aloud. "The band then proceeded to play a cover of Sister Hazel's chart topping hit, 'All For You' and several Matchbox Twenty covers including their hits "Real World' and the ever popular 'Bent'. Lead vocalist and guitarist Tom Mosley tells the WP that 'Oz's girl came tonight so he wanted to surprise her with her favorite songs."
Kate gave her parents a sheepish look as Jethro continued to read the story. Jenny had a soft smile that lit up her face and rolled her eyes at her husband. 'So a boy asks his little girl out, it ends up in the paper and he's reading it to her. This could be a lot worse.' Jenny thought to herself.
"Mosley wouldn't name the lucky girl no matter how much he was prodded. 'It's not my place to blab on my buddy's love life,' he told this reporter and the assembled crowd. 'Plus if I did, she'd probably kick my [but]. She's a tough chick and she's not afraid to let a guy know it." Jethro looked at Kate as he folded up his paper. "So, when do I get to meet this 'Oz' fellow?"
Kate was relieved. She thought she'd be in trouble for going to the club with Abby without asking her parents for permission. Sure, she'd gone to the under 18 club with a responsible, 'Ahh it's Abby' Kate thought. 'Abby, and responsible adult should never appear in the same sentence as club.'
"Um, well I can ask him to come to dinner one night." Kate offered nervously. "I'll ask him what nights he doesn't have gigs or practice."
"You do that." Jethro replied with a smile. "I want to meet the boy who's got my Princess smitten."
"Smitten?" Jenny echoed her husband as she took off her reading glasses.
"Yeah, I said 'smitten'. Is that a problem, Jen?" Jethro asked defensively.
Jenny was chuckling to herself. "You're dating yourself, Jethro." She said fondly.
"By saying 'smitten'? Gibbs sighed. "Okay, then, I want to meet the boy who's got my Princess all love sick. How's that Jen?"
"Much better, Daddy." Kate responded as she leaned over the arm of his chair to kiss his cheek. The father and daughter hugged, and Kate headed back into the hallway and towards the stairs with a bounce in her step to change out of her Church clothes.
"Kate," Jethro said.
"Yeah, Daddy?" Kate said as she paused on the stairs.
"You do realize," Jethro started, "that the team will know by 07:00 on Monday, or by now that you have a boyfriend."
"I know." Kate said. She wasn't sure where her dad was going with his train of thought.
"And you do realize once DiNozzo and McGee get Oz's full name from the reporter," Jethro paused and looked back at the article. "Tricia Braeden, that they'll run a full background check on him and have his cell phone number by noon tomorrow."
Kate's face blanched and she ran up the stairs to her room where her cell lay on the bedside table. She had forgotten the most important part about the 'boyfriend thing'. Tony and Tim would dig up every minute and insignificant detail about her boyfriend unless she threatened what they held near and dear to their hearts. Tony's Magnum PI DVD collection and the secret identity of Thom E. Gemcity were at stake if ether one of them even thought about a background check.
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The next Saturday, Danny Osborne stood on the door step to the Gibbs home in Anacostia and fidgeted with is tie as he waited for the front door to open. Kate hadn't been too sure about what dinner was, so Danny was playing it safe, a pair of nice chinos, a colored shirt and a matching tie in teal blue. It matched the color of Kate's eyes, and was now Danny's favorite color. He was starting to slightly regret the long sleeved shirt idea the longer he had to wait at the door. Just as he was about to ring the doorbell for the second time, the door was flung open.
"Who you?"
Danny looked down to see a little red headed boy standing at door. He had his fingers from one hand in his mouth, and in the other hand was a well loved teddy bear in a Marine's uniform.
"Danny Osborne." Danny said as he looked at the little boy in SpongeBob Square Pants pajamas. "I'm here to see Kate. Is she home?"
The little boy coked his head to the side. "You Oz." he said.
"People call me that." The teenager said.
"I Jay-Jay." The little boy said. "Dis is Mer-Mer Bear. He's a Mawine."
"I can see that." Danny said.
"Hey, Danny." Kate said as she appeared from the back of the house in a sundress. "Jay-Jay," she said in a warning tone. "You know you're not supposed to answer the front door."
"But Tony and Timmy are coming!" Jay-Jay said with a pout.
"Not tonight." Kate said.
"But they said they were!" Jay-Jay cried. "They neber lie!"
"Come on in Danny," Kate said with a sigh as she scooped up the pajama clad toddler.
"Thanks." The brunette said as he came in and shut the door behind him keeping the heat out and the central air conditioning in. "Wow, your house is nice."
"Thanks." Kate said as she led Danny back to the dining room and to her Mom as she finished putting out the ribs for their dinner. "You should have seen Grandpa Jackson's old place in Georgetown. It's like a palace."
"Your Grandpa lived in Georgetown?" Danny asked.
"Yeah, it was a family house or something." Kate said. "It's this massive Brownstone, and Mom says I can buy it from her if I want to once I'm old enough to pay her for it."
"Sweet deal." Danny said.
"It is." Kate said. "It's time for you to be in bed."
Jay-Jay stuck out his tongue at his sister and pouted. "No. Me waiting for Tony an' Timmy."
"It's bedtime." Jethro said as he came down the stairs and walked into the dining room to take Jay-Jay from Kate. "You were up late enough last night when Abby, Tony, and McGee were here."
"Buts they coming back tonight, Daddy!" Jay-Jay protested as he yawned. "Timmy and Tony promiseded."
Jethro just chuckled and carried the boy back up to his room as he fought off sleep.
"So, that's your Dad." Danny said as Jenny came back into the dining room and sat down.
"Yeppers," Kate said. "He's normally not so… cuddly wuddly."
"Cuddly wuddly?" Danny echoed.
"It's not a phrase most often used to describe Jethro," Jenny said with a smile as she looked at the two teenagers sitting at the table.
"Dad's got a reputation of being a tough as nails retired Marine who can get the bad guys to confess with just a look." Kate explained. "People have been known to fall over in shock when they see him in 'Dad Mode'."
"Really?" Danny asked curiously.
"Totally." Kate said. "I think the former Director, Director Morrow, had to sit down the first time he saw me and Dad together."
"Why?" Danny asked.
"Let me put it this way, Danny." Kate said with a smile. "My Dad's a retired Marine Sniper who can tell when you're lying to him and he can get a murderer to confess in two minutes with the patented Gibbs Glare. So imagine that this is the guy you've been working with for years, and one day you need to swing by his place to grab a copy of a case file. You pull into the driveway and ignore the little red wagon on the front lawn and ring the door bell."
Danny nodded. "Go on,"
"The last thing you're expecting to see when the door opens is that same Tough as Nails Marine wearing the Pretty, Pretty Princess tiara and matching accessories."
Danny and Jenny both snorted as they stifled their giggles.
"What's so funny?" Jethro asked as he joined them.
"Pretty," Jenny said between bursts of laughter.
"Pretty," Kate said with a devious smile.
"PRINCESS!" they finished together and continued to laugh.
Jethro sighed. "Whose bright idea was it to bring that up?"
"What color where you in that round, Jethro?" Jenny asked with a smile.
"Pink." Jethro said as the three in front of him burst out into laughter. After a few minutes he sighed and sat down in his chair. "Are you finished?"
"Yeah." Kate said as she wiped her eyes. "We're good I think."
"What took so long?" Jenny asked as the kids dug into the meal before them, ribs, corn on the cob, cole slaw and salad.
"Jay-Jay wouldn't let me leave him alone up there without two stories, the usual songs, and I had to triple check his closet for monsters tonight." Jethro said. "Kate."
"Yeah, Dad?" Kate said as she helped herself to some salad.
"Do me a favor? If you guys are going to watch vampire movies or Buffy watch it at Abby's or DiNozzo's place please." Jethro said. "Jay-Jay's convinced that there are evil vampires hiding in his closet."
"Oops." Kate said sheepishly. "Sorry, Dad. It was Abby's turn to pick the movie, and Tony got a little freaked out too."
Jenny chuckled. "I can't believe that man has made it this far with a vampire phobia."
"Like he's going to meet a vamp on the job." Kate said rolling her eyes.
"My Dad works with the wannabees at the Juvie lock up Clarke County." Danny said. "There are a ton of kids who get locked up that are total vamp groupies."
"Really?" Jenny asked. "Do you think it's because of the pop culture fixation on vampires or…"
"Mom!" Kate said. "I thought we agreed to not bring up the total Mom-ish questions!"
Danny laughed. "It's cool. Mrs. Gibbs, I personally believe that it's what they want to do. If they think they're vampires then they can spend all the time with my Dad they want. He's the shrink and it's mandatory for them to spend at least eight hours a week with him, minimum."
"Fun stuff." Kate said between bites of rib.
"So what does your mother do, Daniel?" Jethro asked as he sent his daughter a look. She hadn't broken the habit of talking with her mouth open.
"She's an accountant at the FBI." Daniel said. "She covers the budget for that particular field office. She's not a forensic account, but she's got the degree if they need her to become one."
"That's good to know." Kate said with a small smile. Danny smiled right back at her. Jenny smiled to herself and she could see the grin tugging on Jethro's lips.
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"Thank you again for inviting me to dinner," Danny said to Kate as he helped her clear the table. "I had a good time."
"Are you kidding me?" Kate said with a sigh. "That was the love child between the Spanish Inquisition and one of my Dad's interrogations!"
Dinner was over, dessert had been served and Danny and Kate had volunteered to clean up. Jenny and Jethro both liked the stoic young man that had taken in interest in Kate. A thumbs up from both parents informed Kate that she was good to go for future dates. All they needed was a one day heads up to not pull out too much meat to thaw for dinner on the night of her date.
"It's not like when my sister, Ali, brought home her boyfriend." Danny said with a smile as the loaded up the dishwasher. "The poor guy was shaking he was so nervous and he was sweating and all my Dad did was make comments about Ali's last screw up boyfriend."
"Nice Dad." Kate said.
"I know." Danny said. "But my Dad let up and Ali ended up dumping him the next week."
"How come?" Kate asked.
"He was checking out my cousin when she came with us to the mall one day." Danny replied. "I never knew that a strawberry smoothie could turn a guy into three different shades of red."
Kate laughed as the doorbell rang.
"Who the hell is ringing my doorbell at this time of night?" Gibbs growled out as he headed for the door.
"YAY!!!!!!" Jay-Jay yelled from upstairs. "It's Tony and Timmy!!!"
Kate exchanged a look with Danny before she put the dishtowel and salad tongs on the counter and headed into the hallway to see who was at the door.
Sure enough, it was Tony and Timmy. Kate groaned. Those two turd-heads had plotted with Jay-Jay to come meet/interrogate Danny.
Kate took one look at the two men in the doorway and said, "Magnum and Thom. Watch it, boys. Watch it."
Both men visibly gulped.
"I told you this was a bad idea." McGee hissed at Tony. "A very, very bad idea."
"Relax, Probie." Tony said. "Kate you remember that year you were the Princess Ballerina Army Ninja for Halloween?"
"Don't even think about it." Kate growled out. "If you do, I'm going to play off of your vampire phobia. Don't tempt me."
Tony nodded slowly and knew that a pissed off Kate Gibbs was someone you didn't want to mess with. Ever.
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AN/ So I just found out that Anacostia is a neighborhood in DC, not a town in Virginia. So, for my now embarrassed sake, Anacostia is now a wealthy town in Virginia like three over from Arlington. Just cuz I can. :) Reviews please! Don't forget about my goal! If you guys want to see past chapter 28, I'm gonna need some more reviews!