You could describe how I left the office as 'storming' down the hallway. That was until I felt it; eyes staring at me. Taking a deep breath as I turned slowly to find Lucas standing plastered against the wall just outside the office. I used every fiber of control I had left to calmly say "Lucas James Garret McGee get to your room now". His wide eyes and slight hesitation in moving were enough for me to appreciate that he was feeling guilty, about what we still had to discern.

I knew that he would make a beeline for his closet and that I had a few minutes to collect my thoughts and make a few decisions of my own. I climbed the stairs and walked passed Sam's room. I wasn't in the right state of mind to greet my youngest; instead I headed to my own room at the very end of the hall. I sat down on the bench at the end of the bed my elbows resting on my knees has a scrubbed my face with the palms of my hands.

I looked repeatedly to the closet. Finally I stood slowly, walked with heavy feet to the door and little by little pulled it open. Again I hesitated, standing looking up on the top shelf, deciding. I reached for it retracting my hand twice before finally grasping the small handle. Holding it in my left hand I returned to the bench. I don't know how long I sat there turning it over and over again in my hand. It was probably a lot longer than I had planned but I needed to formulate a strategy.

I heard Abby get Sam out of his crib and head back down to the main floor. I listened to their everyday activities as the memory of how I came to have in my possession that which I held in my hand.

Flashback

Gibbs had crafted a beautiful wooden cradle for the baby and given it to us a couple of weeks before Lucas arrived. It was just magnificent. This was not to be the only 'gift' Gibbs had made. The night Lucas was born and the 'family' all came to 'oooh and ahh' Gibbs stood on the perimeter watching like a lordly lion surveying his pride. He had of course taken his turn to cuddle the little bundle and gush with his own joy at the arrival of the new baby.

After Tony left and Ziva was having a 'girls' conversation with Abby, Gibbs beckoned me with his crooked finger into the hallway. I was slightly confused as we sat on the vinyl hospital chairs in the waiting room and he handed me something wrapped in a piece of cloth and tied with a bit of string. I guess without doing it on purpose I had nonverbally asked "what's this?" "Just open it McGee" he instructed. "I should probably wait until I'm with Abby" I said more out of feeling uncomfortable accepting this from him then really feeling that Abby needed to be present. "It's not for Abby. It's for you." He said ending my attempt to get out of the situation.

I untied the string and gently uncovered what lay inside. My confusion heightened rather than subsided. My expression as well as my words said "What's this?" It wasn't actually that I didn't know what it was. It was more "Why are you giving me this?" but in a more polite manner.

"You really don't know what it is?" he asked eyebrows raised and a smirk playing at the corners of his lips.

"I guess… I … well… " he always did have a way of making me fall all over my own words. Strange as I was the writer, the wordsmith as it were, within the family. Yet I was also the one most likely to end up tongue tied in a conversation with him.

"I know what it is… I just guess I don't think I will need it…." I stammered out. Laughing internally as his 'gift' lovingly showed his traditional values and mindset, even his tendency to male chauvinism that occasionally broke through the surface of his attempts at equality. I almost asked him if he would have given me the same thing had I had a daughter.

"You'll get there one day, McGee" Gibbs said in the most knowing fatherly manner.

"I'm not sure I will" I remember saying. He clapped me on the back, stood up and walked purposefully to the elevator and left.

End Flashback

Had I gotten there; to the point I thought this was the right answer? As laid it across my lap and ran my hand the length of the lacquered surface what I was going to do became clear. With an approach in mind I stood and walk more confidently back down the hall and entered Luc's room.