So I got the idea from a Matchbox Twenty song. Why, I don't know, but I was like, Kate needs to go to Disney World! Who shall go with her? And this little gem was born :) Enjoy! (PS remember my 150 reviews if you wanna see past chapter 28!)
This is going to be hilarious, I hope. I mean come on, Gibbs, Jenny, Kate, Abby, and Callen let loose on Disney World? Let us see how this ends…. *Cackles Evilly* Cough, Cough "Eh, Fur ball". (I can't remember where I got this from! It was a cat laughing evilly and then it coughed up a fur ball and kept laughing like a mad genius. Anybody remember what movie or show that was?)
But anyways, I want more than 150 reviews to keep going! This is chapter 25…
PS. I don't own Walt Disney World or any of its rides or attractions. So don't sue me for 'em. Thank you.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
"Daddy!" Kate whined as she bounced on the edge of her parent's bed in the rental cabin at Fort Wilderness Camping Resort in Walt Disney World. "Wake up. We're gonna miss the ferry!"
Leroy Jethro Gibbs groaned as he woke up and glanced at the alarm clock on the night stand and looked at his seven year old daughter. "Kate, it's six thirty in the morning. Go back to bed."
"But we're gonna miss the ferry!" Kate whined. "You told Ducky we'd meet him and Abby and Callen and Mrs. Ducky at seven at the trading post and the ferry leaves at seven thirty."
Jethro's new wife, the former Jenny Sheppard, rubbed her eyes and looked at her now pouting stepdaughter. "What's wrong, Sweetie?"
"Daddy isn't getting up. We're gonna miss the ferry." Kate repeated.
"What time is it, Jethro?" Jenny asked groggily.
"Six thirty." Jethro said.
"WHAT?" Jenny squawked. "Get up, we're gonna be late!" Jenny threw the covers off and scrambled around to get her clothes for the day.
"Did I miss something last night when we checked in?" Jethro asked as he got out of bed as Jenny slammed the door to the bathroom so she could shower.
Kate nodded with a smile. "We're meeting up with everybody to get breakfast before we get on the ferry. Duh." Kate said and she skipped off to her room to get dressed herself.
Jethro was left standing in the middle of the room in his pajamas scratching his head wondering when that conversation had taken place. He just shrugged and headed to the kitchenette to make his coffee.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
Kate sat on the bed in Jenny and Jethro's room as Jethro separated her hair and began braiding her hair in twin French braids. "Daddy, how come you got married again?" Kate asked.
Jethro sighed. He'd explained this to Kate several times already, both before and after the wedding. "Well, you see Auntie Jenny I and really, really love each other. And when people love each other as much as me and Auntie Jenny love each other, they get married if they're old enough."
"If Mommy was still here, would you have married Auntie Jenny?" Kate asked.
"No, Princess." Jethro replied as he finished up the first braid and wrapped the hair elastic around the edges of her darkening blond hair. "If you're Mommy Shannon was still here, she and I would still be married."
"But she's not here." Kate said. "So you married Auntie Jenny instead."
"That's right." Jethro said.
"Can I call Auntie Jenny, 'Mama'?" Kate asked as Jethro finished the second braid.
Jethro smiled. It seemed that Kate had warmed up to the idea of her having a new mother after all. "You have to ask her that yourself, Princess."
"Okay." Kate said as she turned around to face her Dad. "I love you, Daddy." She gave her father a quick hug and skipped out of the room to wait for the adults to gather up their gear for the day.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
Kate sat at the table in the Trails End Canteen devouring her cinnamon sticky bun as the rest of the 'family' arrived for breakfast.
"Which park are we going to today, Princess?" Jethro asked Kate as he laid out a map for each park.
Kate bit her lip and looked between the three maps Jethro had placed out. Epcot, the Magic Kingdom, or MGM, excuse me, Disney Studios? It was a hard decision.
"What about the animal one?" she asked curiously.
"It hasn't opened yet." Jenny told Kate.
"Oh." Kate replied as she opened up the Magic Kingdom map. "I wanna meet Cinderella." She informed the adults.
"Magic Kingdom it is, then." Callen said with a smile. "We are so going on the three mountains!"
"The three mountains?" Kate asked curiously.
"You know!" Callen said with his hands waving everywhere. "Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountains and Space Mountain. The three mountains."
"Yeah!" Kate said excitedly. "Can we Daddy, can we?"
Jethro growled and slapped the back of Callen's head.
"Sorry, Boss." Callen replied automatically as he rubbed the stinging spot on the back of his head.
"Not your 'Boss', Callen." Jethro replied as he nursed his coffee.
"Right, sorry Dad." Callen said correcting himself. "What's with the wakeup call on vacation?"
"You're going to be in charge of that Rugrat if she wants to sit out on those rides, Callen." Jethro said with an evil smirk.
"But Daaaaad." Callen whined in a perfect imitation of Kate. Kate kicked him underneath the table and stuck out her tongue. "Hey! That hurts, Brat!"
Kate stuck her tongue out for a second time. "Serves you right." She said sweetly.
Abby laughed and fiddled with the abandoned MGM map. "So Gibbs, what's on the agenda for today?"
Jethro looked over at Kate, "What's our plan today, Kate?"
"Meet Cinderella, ride the Mountains Callen wants to ride, and then we go tackle the bestest ride ever."
"What's that?" Abby asked excitedly.
"The Tea Cups!" Kate cried happily.
Jethro groaned. Spinning tea cups did not mix well with his stomach. "I'm sitting that one out."
Kate stuck out her tongue as their waitress, Ali, delivered the check and told Jethro to pay at the counter.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
From Kate's vantage point on top of Callen's shoulders the lake that would bring them to The Magic Kingdom was massive. It wasn't as big as the ocean, but it was one of the biggest lakes Kate had ever seen. She slumped over with her chin resting on the top of Callen's skull as they waited to board the ferry with the other resort guests.
"Daaaaaaaddy." Kate whined. "When do we get to go on the ferry?"
Jethro turned around from the conversation he was having with Abby and Jenny on what rides Kate shouldn't go on yet (The Tower of Terror was up for debate at the moment), and raised an eyebrow.
"Are you whining in Disney World?" Jethro asked with mock horror. "That's not allowed here."
"But I wanna go see Cinderella and Snow White and Sleeping Beauty and Jasmine and Mickey and Minnie, and Donald, and Goofy, and everybody." Kate said.
Callen laughed and swung his and Kate's arms back and forth. "You'll get to see them really soon, Katie."
Kate huffed and giggled as Abby began to tickle her.
"You're such wonderful parents." A woman behind Callen said and Callen turned to face the woman and her own brood.
"Me and Abby?" Callen asked her.
"Why, yes." The woman said as her own children were flinging pebbles off the dock at the ducks on the other side of the pier.
"Oh we're not…" Abby said.
"I'm her step-brother…" Callen started.
"Daddy and Auntie Jenny got married and it was my birthday last week so we came to Disney to celebrate both." Kate said with a smile. "Callen got to come 'cuz he told his boss that his Daddy and Auntie Jenny were getting married and we were coming on vacation together."
Abby giggled and Kate battered away the Goth's 'tickle fingers'. "Abby! No!"
The woman looked taken aback. "Oh, I'm sorry I heard her say 'Daddy' and I just assumed."
"Ehh. Don't worry about it." Callen said. "It happens all the time when it's just the two of us."
"Can I have a pony holder, Abby?" Kate asked sweetly as Callen the woman launched into a conversation about mistaken parents and siblings.
"What for?" Abby asked as she pulled an extra elastic off of her wrist to hand to Kate. "Do you need me to re-braid your hair?"
Kate shook her head 'no' and raised an index finger to her lip in the universal signal for 'Shhhh! It's a secret.'
Abby surrendered the elastic and Kate managed to wiggle her other hand out of Callen's and he just moved his hands to Kate's knees to keep her from falling off of his shoulders. Kate quickly went to work on Callen's slightly longer than regulation hair cut and had gathered enough hair to give him a Pebbles Flinstone-esque pony tail.
"All done." Kate said happily.
Abby snorted, Jenny laughed out loud and Jethro had the grin of a cat that ate the canary on his face.
"What?" Callen asked.
"Your…your… HAIR!" Abby gasped out as she pulled out a mirror from her Jack Skellington backpack and handed it to Callen.
"Kate!" Callen said as he took in his new 'do. "Why?"
"Cuz I'm bored." Kate said with a pout. "And Daddy says if you can put a boy's hair in a pony he needs a haircut."
Callen chuckled as he lifted Kate off of his shoulders and set her down on the pier. "I guess I do need a haircut, Squirt."
Kate giggled and attached herself to Callen's legs. G felt a twinge of guilt because he didn't spend as much time as he would have liked with Kate. He felt bad because of the plans they had to cancel because he caught a big case that required him to go undercover and break off contact with his family. But every time he came back from a case like that, the first thing he did was take Kate to whatever movie she wanted, take her to the bookstore and let her pick out five or six books, and then to get double fudge brownie ice cream. Kate had him wrapped around her little finger and he knew. She didn't, at least not yet anyways, and Callen loved to spoil her rotten as often as possible.
"You've got you're Thinking Eyes out again." Kate said in a sing song tone looking up into Callen's eyes. "Whatcha thinking about?"
Callen smiled and picked Kate up so that she was on his hip. He knew that she was seven and could walk just fine, but he still wanted to carry her around. "I'm thinking about what we do when I come back from work."
Kate beamed. "Movies and books and ice cream."
"That's right." Callen said.
Abby shook her head. "Man, you guys are weird."
Callen and Kate both leaned to the right to look at Abby on the other side of Jethro.
"Look who's talking, Wednesday." Callen said with a smile.
"Can it, Pugsly." Abby retorted as the door to the ferry slid open and the engine roared to life.
"Abby, Callen." Jethro said in a warning tone. "Knock it off."
"Sorry, Dad." They replied in unison much to Jenny and Jethro's amusement.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
Kate tugged Callen and Abby off of the ferry boat and through the line to the bag check counters before the entrance to the park. "Come on!" Kate said happily, "I wanna go in!"
"Whoa, there little lady." Callen said with a laugh. "Do you think we might have forgotten somebody?"
Kate stopped and turned around. "Oopsy. I forgot Daddy and Auntie Jenny."
Jethro and Jenny caught up to the overly excited seven year old as she danced in place to the Disney songs that were being played as they waited for the gates to be opened to allow them into the Magic Kingdom.
"Is this her first time to the park?" A cast member asked as she checked Abby's bag.
"Oh yeah." Jethro said with a smile.
"It's my birthday present." Kate informed the matronly woman as Abby got her bag back and Jenny put hers on the counter. "And Daddy and Auntie Jenny's wedding vacation."
"Congratulations." The woman said with a smile and handed Jenny her tote bag back. "Enjoy your time with us."
"Thank you." Jenny said as she took Kate's hand and they joined the throng of people outside the gate.
"Can we go in yet?" Kate asked as she tried to stand on her tippy toes to see over the grownups. It didn't work.
"Not yet," Callen said. "It's not eight yet."
"What time is it?" Kate asked.
"Five of." Jethro said to the anxious girl.
"Ok." Kate said and she slid her hand out of Jenny's and attached herself to Callen again. "Pick me up, please?"
"Sure." Callen said and Kate scrambled onto his back for a piggy back ride.
"WEEEEE!!" Kate exclaimed as Callen spun around in a circle making Kate and himself dizzy in the process.
"Did you…" Jethro started to ask but saw that his new wife had already whipped out the camera and was taking pictures like a madwoman.
"What was that, Jethro?" Jenny asked with a smirk as she documented Kate, Callen and Abby's first trip to Disney World together. "I'm a little preoccupied being a paparazzi wanna-be."
Jethro laughed and noticed the crowd surged forward. It was eight o'clock and times to enter the Magic Kingdom.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
Kate giggled as she and Callen waited at the little Mouse Ear kiosk as the woman embroidered Kate's name onto the Mouseketeer Ears. Callen was already wearing his, as was Abby. Jethro and Jenny had been talked into buying the bride and groom Minnie and Mickey hats by Kate.
"M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!" Kate sang with Callen and Abby. "Mickey Mouse!"
"Donald Duck!" Jethro chimed in with is Donald impression triggering another peal of giggles from Kate.
"Daddy!" Kate said with a smile as Jethro paid for the three Ears and Jenny helped Kate secure them on her head. "Can we go on the carousel in Tomorrowland?"
"The Carousel of Progress?" Jethro said looking at Kate.
She nodded and her braids bounced against her back. "Please? Mama says it's fun and air conditioned. It's hot out."
Kate was right, it was hot out. It was currently 92 degrees F. In their little group Abby was cranky, Callen was a little sweaty, Jenny was fine, Kate was too excited to let the heat and humidity bother her, and Jethro was feeling a little lethargic.
"The Carousel of Progress it is then." Jethro said as he herded his family off in the direction of Tomorrowland.
Kate held her father's hand and was chatting away with another little girl in line for the indoor moving theater as her parents spoke behind her. She was oblivious to the fact that her calling Jenny 'Mama' earlier was the topic of discussion.
"Did you hear her earlier, Jethro?" Jenny asked excitedly. "She called me 'Mama'." The grin on Jenny's face was contagious and Jethro felt himself smiling as well.
"I heard her." Jethro said as he gave Jenny a one armed hug. "She asked me if she could call you that this morning, and I told her to ask you first."
"I think she forgot." Jenny said with a smile. "But I'm perfectly okay with it. I'm just surprised it's so soon. We've only been married for a week and a half." The Gibbses had made the executive decision that they would go to Florida during April vacation, so they wouldn't interrupt Kate's school work.
"She adjusts pretty fast." Jethro said as Kate pulled her hand out of his to play Miss Mary Mack with the other little girl. "But to tell you the truth I've been half expecting her to tell me she doesn't want me to be married to you. She got this funny look on her face when we talked this morning when she mentioned Shannon."
Jenny smiled sadly. She knew that Jethro truly loved her, but a part of his heart would always belong to his deceased wife and older daughter. "What kind of funny look?"
"I think it was a mix between wanting to cry and be mad at somebody. It went away when I told her that Shan wouldn't mind because I miss her and love her. It placated Kate, and she asked if she could call you Mama." Jethro replied as the door to the theater opened and the people from the previous viewing left and they next group was let in.
"Well lookie what the cat dragged in." Jethro and Callen whipped their heads around at the familiar voice.
"PETEY!" Callen said joyfully and he and Colonel McSweeney embraced in a manly hug. "How've you been, man?"
"I've been good, Callen." Pete said as he took in the family in front of him and his wife. "And I take it that this is your little Princess, Jethro."
Kate smiled shyly up at the man who was looking at her and buried her face in Jethro's side. The adults laughed. "Yeah. This is Caitlin Erica."
"Kate for short." Callen added when Kate pulled her face away long enough to stick her tongue out at her father for using her whole name.
Pete laughed. "She's sure acting like Callen used to when he lived with us."
That caught Kate's attention. "Callen used to live with you?" she asked curiously.
Pete's wife Alaina nodded. "He sure did." She said with a smile on her face. "From the day after his seventeenth birthday right up until the day he went to basic training for the Corp."
"Did he break any rules?" Kate asked innocently.
Alaina exchanged a look with her husband and Callen before saying, "No, Callen was well behaved."
Callen had to hide his guffaw with a cough. He'd been a hell raiser at seventeen, and the McSweeneys had straightened him out.
"Well that's good." Kate said happily. "Daddy has rules for lots of stuff and you get in trouble if you don't follow them."
Jethro smiled and affectionately tugged on one of Kate's braids. "Brat."
Kate giggled and dragged Callen to the front of the line and into the theater.
"She's got him wrapped around her little finger." Pete observed. "Who'dve thought that Callen would be the one to let a seven year old walk all over him like this."
"Seven years ago I'd be thinking the same way." Jethro said as they filed in behind his very active children. Abby was already in the theater on the other side of a bouncy Kate. "But she's gotten him in touch with his kid side again and they're like two peas in a pod."
Pete nodded and his wife elbowed him. "Right, Gunny, this is my wife Alaina, Lainy, this is LJ Gibbs."
"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Jethro said as he shook Mrs. McSweeney's hand.
"Call me Alaina, Mr. Gibbs." Alaina said pleasantly.
"It's Jethro." He said. "This is my new bride, Jenny. Jen, this is Pete McSweeney, he was my CO when I heard that Kate had been born."
"How do you do Colonel?" Jenny asked.
"I'm well, thanks for asking, Mrs. Gibbs." Pete replied.
"Jenny." She said automatically. "If it's not too rude to ask, but where are your children?"
"In line for Space Mountain." Pete said. "Our current group of foster kids are old enough to leave in a line alone for a half hour to forty five minutes."
Jethro nodded. "You guys are doing something nice by taking them to Disney."
Pete smiled. "They deserve it. The five of them have worked their tails off to stay in the top rankings of their classes and we decided to surprise them with the trip before we tell them that we're adopting them all."
Jethro whistled. "That's gonna be a pretty penny, Pete."
"I know Jethro, but it's going to be well worth it." The men fell silent as the lights dimmed and the show started.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
After the show ended, Jethro, Callen and Peter exchanged numbers in order to keep in contact so they didn't have to wait to run into each other somewhere to speak again.
Kate was a little cranky because it was after one in the afternoon and she hadn't had her morning snack or lunch yet. "Mama," she whined as they set off from Tomorrowland. "I'm hungry."
"I know, Sweetie." Jenny said as she sent a look at Jethro. They had dinner reservations at the Liberty Tree Tavern that night, but weren't sure what to do for lunch.
As they walked through Main Street and back into Frontier Land, Kate caught a whiff of the giant turkey legs and her eyes lit up. "Can we have turkey?" she asked her parents as she held onto her father's hand in the crowd. "Please?"
"Let's see how big those turkey legs…" Jethro said but trailed off as a couple walked by gnawing away on their own turkey legs.
"Those are huge!" Kate happily exclaimed as she saw the cart people were purchasing them from near The Country Bears show. "Can I get one? Please?"
"Are you going to finish it?" Jethro asked as he reached for his wallet.
"I'll try." Kate said honestly. "But I don't know if I can."
Jethro nodded. "You eat as much as you can eat, Princess and hand it to a grownup when you're finished."
"My grownups or another grownup?" Kate asked cheekily.
"Your grownups." Callen replied as he playfully tugged on Kate braids. Kate stuck her tongue out and put her thumbs in her ears and wiggled her fingers.
Callen laughed and started a round of 'I got your nose' with Kate.
Jethro chuckled and got into line and purchased two turkey legs and five bottles of water for everybody.
Kate accepted her turkey leg happily and bit into it, tearing out a giant chunk of meat and a few pieces fell into her lap and she winced. The meat was still hot from whatever it had been kept in. "Owww." Kate said as she picked up the fallen meat. "That hurted."
Jethro noticed the little red mark appearing on Kate thigh. "Kate, the turkey is very hot, so you have to be very careful."
Kate nodded as she ripped another chunk of meat of the leg.
Jenny pulled Jethro away from the group for a moment and whispered something in his ear. He smiled and nodded and approached Callen. "Do you think you and Abby can keep an eye on Kate for a little bit?"
"Yeah, sure." Callen said with a smile. "Why?"
"Jenn and I want to go through the Haunted Mansion, and well Kate doesn't like haunted houses." Jethro explained as his daughter babbled on with Abby with her mouth full of turkey.
"Go for it, Dad." Callen said with a smile. "We can meet up at the Swiss Family Robinson tree house in two hours. Abby and I'll take Kate on Pirates of the Caribbean and then head over to Small World."
Jethro nodded. "And keep the character meeting under control until we get back together, okay?"
Callen nodded. "But no promises if Kate sees Cinderella or Mickey."
The older man laughed fully knowing his daughter wouldn't wait if she saw her favorite characters. As it was, they had spent almost a half hour in line so Kate could get Launchpad McQuack's autograph and a picture with him. "Well, try to keep her under control if you can."
"Got it, Dad." Callen said. "Now go! Jenny's looking anxious over there!"
Jethro laughed, joined Jenny and they disappeared into the crowd.
"Where are Mom and Daddy going?" Kate asked curiously when Callen said down next to them on the stone wall.
"To go on a grown up ride." Callen said. "It's a haunted house." He hastily added when Kate's face fell.
"Okay." Kate said cheering up when he heard it wouldn't be a ride she'd want to miss. "Can we go see the pirates now?"
"Did you finish your turkey?" Callen asked her. He saw the half eaten leg, 'God, she must have been hungry!' he thought to himself, 'She ate almost all of that while Gibbs and I were talking!' and smiled. "I think we can to the pirates ride then."
"YAY!!!!" Kate said as she hopped off the wall and started a little dance. The people behind them enroute to Tom Sawyer's Island smiled and others laughed when they saw the exuberant seven year old dancing around up by the bridge.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
Kate danced around the Swiss Family Tree house and sang "Yo ho ho a pirate's life for me!" as she explored the tree home with Callen and Abby.
"Why is it she's still singing the Pirates song even after we went through Small World twice?" Callen asked Abby.
"She's seven Callen." Abby said in a way of explanation. "She's fixated on pirates right now, not international singing and happy creepy animatronic puppets. When she sees You-Know-Who, all thoughts of blood lust-y pirates should disappear. I hope."
"You hope?" Callen said with a sigh as he caught sight of a giggling Jethro and Jenny making their way towards the tree house. "Why do you hope?"
"Because I don't think the Boss-man will like it if all she takes out of her Disney trip is a pirate song." Abby said. "And she's going to be singing that song for weeks to come. I guarantee it."
Callen nodded. "That's going to be a fun flight back to DC."
Abby smiled at Callen and threw an arm around his shoulders. "Oh, poor sweet, naïve Callen. That's why I brought my Walkman and CDs. Did you think you'd have to listen to them at the cabin?"
Callen nodded sheepishly.
Abby laughed. "No, Silly! It's for the plane when Kate reaches her 'Super Hyper Scary Happy Kate' mode."
This time it was Callen who laughed. "That's normally when I decide to watch the in-flight movie."
Kate stopped poking around in the tree house when she realized that Callen and Abby weren't paying attention to her any more. "You guys!" Kate said. "One of you is supposed to be watching me so nobody tries to take me no where I don't wanna go."
The two adults exchanged looks and smirks and charged at Kate. Callen scooped Kate up and Abby began mercilessly tickling the girl.
"Lemme go!" Kate shrieked happily. "Abby! Callen! That tickles!"
"Rawr!" Abby cried getting some strange looks from the other people in the tree house. "I'm the Tickle Monster out to get you, Kate Gibbs! Rawr!"
"DADDY!" Kate squealed when she saw her Dad and Mom heading towards them. "Save me from Abby the Tickle Monster!"
"Abby." Jethro said with a laugh. "Can you control the Tickle Monster until we get back to the cabins?"
"Yes sir, Agent Gibbs Sir!" Abby said with a salute, and as usual used the wrong hand.
Kate giggled as Callen set her back down on her feet and they headed for the exit.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
Later that night Kate was falling asleep at their table at the Liberty Tree Tavern. She was exhausted. She'd been on over two dozen rides that day, met Launchpad, Cinderella, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, four of the Seven Dwarfs, Snow White, Piglet, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Daisy Ducky, and Chip and Dale had appeared at their table towards the beginning of their meal and played with Kate's braids for a few moments before being led off to the lobby of the restaurant.
Kate felt her eyes drooping but she willed them to stay open. She wanted to stay up to see the nightly fireworks show. But, the battle proved to be too much for the exhausted seven year old and she was out like a light in minutes.
"Jethro," Jenny said with a smile. "I think our little Princess has had too much fun today."
Jethro nodded. "She's gonna sleep like a log."
"Kate's gonna be upset that she missed the fireworks." Abby said as she looked at the little girl on her right. "I'll take pictures for her."
Callen chuckled. "Only you, Abby."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing, G?" Abby asked with a smile.
"Only the best." Callen replied with a smile as Jethro settled the bill.
"I'll carry her, Gibbs." Callen said as Jethro went to pick up Kate. The younger man switched between calling the elder 'Dad' and 'Gibbs' so often that many people got lost trying to follow a conversation between the two of them over the phone. In person it was easy to see that Callen acted like Gibbs was his father and Gibbs treated Callen like his own child.
"You sure, Callen?" Jethro asked. "You did an awful lot of that this morning."
"It's fine." Callen said with a lopsided grin as he scooped the sleeping girl up and settled her on his hip. "She's definitely lighter than some of the other people I've had to carry in the past."
"Whoa." Jenny said. "The road this conversation is heading off towards is closed indefinitely. We're in the Magic Kingdom! We are not having a 'When I was in the Marine Corp…' Pow Wow in the middle of a restaurant with a sleeping child being the basis of the conversation. Understood?"
Jethro and Callen both nodded sheepishly. It wasn't that Jenny didn't like to hear their stories about their Marine days; this was neither the time nor place for Callen to launch into one.
"Yes, Ma'am." Both men chorused and they weaved their way through the crowds on the sidewalks as the light how parade began.
Twenty minutes later, the Gibbs family was on the ferry heading back to Fort Wilderness. They had secured seats on the bow, outside so they could hear themselves talk and be away from the body heat in the cabin.
Kate snuggled in closer to Callen's body in her sleep as the wind whipped around her and Jenny took out her camera, again, to capture the moment between the pseudo siblings.
"Ma," Callen protested with a smile when he was blinded by the flash. "Put that thing away before I'm forced to throw it in the lake and make you lose all the pictures you took of Kate with Cinderella today."
"G Callen," Jenny said in a mock angry tone. "Don't make me ground you young man."
Callen snorted and Kate stirred. "Whazzit?" she mumbled.
"In English?" Callen asked with a smile.
"What's going on?" Kate asked sleepily.
"Nothing, Baby. Go back to sleep." Callen said as he rubbed Kate's back.
"Okay." Kate said as she snuggled in again and closed her eyelids. Right now she was the happiest kid on Earth. She had a Mom, a Daddy, a big brother in Callen and a new big sister in Abby, who was also fast asleep using Jethro's shoulder as a pillow. All in all, Kate was probably the Happiest Kid on Earth at the Happiest Place on Earth.
~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~
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