The NCIS team crept silently into Alex's room. Abby was helping Jack, who was leaning on her, still weak from her coma ordeal. She had been released into Ducky's care since she had already been awake for so long. Jack had convinced the team not to tell Alex she was awake to surprise him and to make sure he wouldn't try to leave to go see her.
Abby and Jack had become close friends since they had talked. Both of their personalities were almost in sync, with the exception of Jack and her temper.
Jack slowly approached Alex's bed, who had fallen asleep watching Summer School(1), an old eighties movie.
Jack smiled as she sat on the edge of the bed and began to shake Alex awake, taking in all the bruises, cuts, and small fever as she did.
"Believe it or not he is getting better," Ducky added lightly right as Alex groaned lowly but not wake up.
"Hey come on, Al'! Did you really not miss me at all?" Jack asked.
Alex's eyes then fluttered open and looked to the source of the loud talking.
It took the tired boy a moment to register the what he was seeing. His eyes soon went wide with realization.
"Jack?" He whispered, sitting up onto an elbow.
"Surprise, kiddo!" Jack said, wrapping him in a careful hug.
The team smiled as they saw Alex smile, something they hadn't seen the boy do in awhile, and hug Jack back as tightly as his weakened body possibly could.
"Jack, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for you to get hurt, this is all my fault. I should've been more careful," Alex whispered miserably.
Jack suddenly pulled out of the tight hug.
"Now don't start that. This is not your fault. The blame rests entirely on Alan Blunt and Mrs. Jones' shoulders. Every bit of it. Don't start making yourself sicker, with your guilt trips. I'm fine," Jack replied, though Alex could see that she was just as bit as tired as he was, "now, how do you feel?"
"Tired of being in this hospital for one," Alex grumbled.
"Well don't go wandering around this place like you did last time you were admitted to the hospital for a long period of time. I cannot be held responsible for what I'll do to you if you go off and get yourself kidnapped again. Like the time you were kidnapped while your supposed to be bed ridden in a hospital from a shot to the chest," Jack reminded.
"You were kidnapped when you were supposed to be recuperating from a gunshot wound? Kid, you're just a barrel of trouble, aren't you?" Tony said, finally making the rest of the teams presence known.
"You have no idea," Jack replied, getting up and sitting down in the vacant chair beside Alex's bed to rest, "there was a boy that Alex had come to know while he was in the hospital. And a bunch of men were planning on kidnapping the boy. Alex decided to play hero, and made them think that he was the boy they planned to take. They took him and nearly killed him."
"Hey, he is right here!" Alex cried, his face turning a fantastic shade of red.
"Yes, and I can't believe you haven't told them all of this already! Alex, they're trying to help you which they can't do if they don't know exactly what it is they're dealing with," Jack said tiredly.
Alex looked guiltily away from Jack and the team, knowing that his friend was right.
Tony sensed the boy's discomfort and tried to lighten the mood a bit.
"Yeah, come on, Alex! We want to hear all about your hair raising adventures," he said trying to lighten the mood.
Alex looked gratefully at Tony, "I honestly wouldn't know where to start."
"It's all the same, my dear boy. You need your rest at the moment. Your exciting stories can and will wait until you get quite a bit of rest in Gibbs' nice homely establishment," Ducky said as he entered the room with the doctor in tow.
"You mean I can go home?....I mean leave?" Alex said once again messing up.
"Yes, Gibbs' house is close enough to the nearest hospital so if we need medical assistance it will be provided fairly quickly. And of course you will be under my watchful eye,"Ducky explained with a smile.
"And we were really only keeping you in here until your chest tube was removed. Now that it's gone you can leave as long as you follow Dr. Mallard's instructions to the letter, that and I seem to think that my younger patients tend to heal better when they're not stuck in a hospital and instead in a place they feel comfortable in," the doctor replied in a cheerful voice.
"And you will be going to see Doctor Brad Pitt in a few days, to check your respiration's clearly," Ducky replied.
Alex looked to Jack for explanation. To his understanding, 'Brad Pitt' was the actor in his uncle's favorite movie 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith.' Jack only shrugged, just as confused as he was, even Ziva's brow furrowed at the statement.
But their confusion seemed to go unnoticed as the Doctor replied, "Ah, yes, I've read a bunch of his books. A very intelligent man."
"Brad Pitt?" Jack finally exasperatedly asked.
Everyone chuckled at their confusion.
"Not the actor, no relation either. I certainly got a kick out of it when I heard the name. He's a respiratory doctor at Bethesda, one of the best," Tony said knowingly.
Alex vaguely picked up on the statement, especially the 'respiratory doctor' part, but he wisely kept his mouth shut since Tony didn't mention that he had the plague during his visit to see this 'Dr. Pitt.
"So you can see that you'll be in capable hands, Alex, otherwise you would not be moving from that bed. And you're body is still painfully bruised and battered so I suggest extra bed rest. And I'll prescribe some painkillers for you because I have a feeling you're gonna need 'em," Dr. Bensting stated as a nurse came in with a wheelchair and Alex's discharge papers.
"Alright Boss, Alex is set up in the guest room and Ducky's making sure he's comfortable," Tony said, smiling at Jack as he bounded down the stairs.
Jack was seated in Gibbs' recliner, smiling gratefully at Tony.
"Gibbs, I don't know how to thank you for doing this," Jack said.
"No need, Jack. We're all happy to help," Tony answered for Gibbs, perching himself on the edge of Jack's seat.
Gibbs ignored Tony's flirting and sat on the sofa across from Jack.
"I know you're probably wanting to get in touch with your family but-" He started.
Jack's eyes widened dramatically, "Oh my God, my parents! Do they know what happened? Please say no." She pleaded.
The team exchanged questioning looks with each other.
"Did anyone call her family?" Gibbs growled at the lack of professionalism the team was exhibiting.
Tony, being the Senior Field Agent, began to stutter through an excuse.
"It's all for the best, really. My family doesn't know about MI6, and Alex and I wanna keep it that way. I'll give her an excuse as to why I was in a coma when I go home," Jack said decidedly.
"Which brings us to our next discussion. We'll deal with the people who are after Alex one step at a time, MI6 and the CIA need to be dealt with first," Gibbs said, addressing everyone.
"If the CIA cannot find a way to make Alex do their mission they will find a way to make him leave America and go to MI6 who will more than gladly loan him to the CIA," Ziva pointed out.
"Jack's here though," Mcgee argued.
"Yes, but if we use that and they do managed to get Alex back to England they'll more than likely make Jack stay here. And God only knows what would happen to Alex after that," Tony answered.
"And to be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing. Yes, I can raise Alex, but as far as his guardianship? I'm lost," Jack said miserably.
"Then maybe we should consider a different guardian for Alex," Ducky suggested as he ascended the stairs.
"What?" Jack asked with a wary glare.
But Ducky only smiled, unruffled by her accusatory tone.
"Pardon me, my dear girl. I only meant that if someone with more authority in the agency was to take guardianship over Alex, it would end this whole debacle. I would never dream of taking Alex away. Just someone to legally protect him from government agencies," He explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry Dr. mallard. You'll have to excuse me, I get more threats to have Alex taken away than you would believe. How's Alex?" Jack asked, blushing.
"Quite alright. And please call me Ducky. Alex is still pretty sore, but everything seems to be on the mend," Ducky assured, "He's sleeping at the moment. The poor boy's still exhausted."
"Gibbs! My cousin works in child services, she can probably get us whatever we need," Abby said excitedly, "I just need-"
"Whoa Abs, calm down. Lets take this back a step. Jack, do you have a problem with this?" Gibbs asked.
"Of course not, as long as it helps Alex. And if he agrees to it of course. I'm not going to do something that he's not comfortable with," Jack answered immediately. She didn't care who had guardianship, as long as she had Alex.
"Well if he does agree to it, who's going to take care of him?" Tony asked.
Everyone on the team looked at Tony then rolled their eyes at Tony's lack of seeing the obvious.
"Who do you think, Tony?" Mcgee asked.
"Yes, Tony, did you think you would be suitable for taking care of a teenager?" Ziva asked through a laugh.
"Hey! I would be great! Besides I've always wanted a little brother," Tony replied indignantly.
But after the warning glare he was receiving from Gibbs Tony relented, "But, of course the Boss would be a better choice obviously."
Gibbs nodded, "If Alex agrees I'll take guardianship." Gibbs knew that this could be a career ender and he wouldn't end one of his team's bright future when he could simply return to retirement.
"Gibbs are you sure you want to do this? I mean you do barely know Alex," Jack asked again.
"I know enough to know that he needs help," He replied simply.
"Don't worry Jack! The Bossman is a sucker for kids, he'll get Alex out of this mess," Abby said so confidently about her boss that Jack felt some of the stress she had kept for the last year being let out.
"We'll when my mom finds out that I was in a coma she's going to insist on making me stay with her. But Alex is really lucky he found you guys. I'm almost positive he'd be dead if he hadn't," Jack said in a small sad voice.
"We'll get a team to keep watch on your parents house until we get everything straightened out. And we'll try to keep it as discreet as possible," Gibbs replied but his gaze was upstairs.
"No worries, Jack. We'll help Alex," Tony said standing up, "Now who's hungry? I feel like a pizza."
"Surprise, surprise," Mcgee whispered to Ziva.
"I heard that," Tony replied.
"Phone's in the kitchen," Gibbs said standing up.
"Really, Boss? We can eat here?" Tony asked surprised.
"We're all here, we're all hungry, why not? Jack, why don't you rest on the couch until the food gets here" Gibbs suggested, heading for the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Mcgee asked.
"Well usually when people walk towards stairs it usually means that they're going to go up or down stairs, Mcgee. Guess which one I'm doing?" Gibbs asked dryly.
Mcgee nodded sheepishly and walked into the kitchen along with the rest of the team as Jack gratefully laid down on the offered piece of furniture.
Gibbs walked slowly up to Alex's door to find it slightly ajar. Sliding it open more he found the teen sleeping peacefully. Or so it would seem.
"I know you're awake, Alex," Gibbs stated with a smirk.
Alex sighed slightly and opened his eyes, sitting up as best he could.
"How did you know?" He asked.
"I saw your shadow coming from the stairs. Just barely though," Gibbs replied.
Alex only nodded.
"Why aren't you asleep? You need it," Gibbs said lightly.
"I was. Ducky started telling me a story about his time a Edinburgh and talked about some big long medical term that I couldn't even begin to pronounce, and I dozed off. I hope he isn't upset," Alex said vaguely.
"I doubt it. Ducky likes to talk, about anything. Even when people aren't listening. He even talks to the dead bodies down in autopsy," Gibbs assured.
Alex looked at Gibbs for a moment to see if he was joking on the last part, but didn't see any signs to tell him otherwise.
"Did you hear what we were talking about downstairs?" Gibbs asked wisely.
Alex turned away from Gibbs and nodded, "yeah, some."
"I want you to know that we're not going to do anything that you don't wanna do here. This will be a big change for you, you'd be leaving a lot behind. But you wouldn't lose Jack, I don't think anything in the world could keep her from you. But I don't think she'd feel comfortable in this house," Gibbs said.
"I know. But this does seem like a good plan. But do you think that it would work?" Alex asked.
"It sure would be easier. If you're in London MI6 think they can pressure you by threatening Jack, and if you're here the CIA is going to threaten to send you home so MI6 can have you. And the CIA and I've butted heads before, they know I mean business," Gibbs assured.
"I don't want you to feel that you have to do this, Gibbs. I mean this isn't just a change for me, it's huge for you too. Are you sure this is something you wanna do?" Alex asked.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Gibbs pondered, " yes, I'm sure. I told you I was going to help and I am. I want to. And... you fit in here. The team's really likes to you."
Alex took this in for awhile as he and slipped in a small silence.
"So what do you say?" Gibbs asked after quite awhile had passed.
"Well I-"
A/N- And if that's not a cliffhanger I don't know what is!
(1)- Okay, this is like the best movie in the world and not just because it has the best actor in the world in it (Mark Harmon aka-Gibbs). It's a truly great movie and you get to see Mark act all goofy.(Not that him playing Gibbs isn't amazing though). Or this might just be because I'm love all 80's movies. But you should definitely check it out.
Oh, and on another movie note, the movie Cabin by the Lake is also a great movie! And THAT's not just because Michael Weatherly's in it either lol.
And now back to MY author's note that is actually ON topic- I hope this doesn't seem to OOC but I thought it was a nice twist.
But if you guys are real dead set against Gibbs being Alex's guardian and if you think it's too OOC I MIGHT be able to not go with it in this direction....maybe. But I really like the idea lol.