Hannah pulled her hair off her face and pushed the stroller up onto the grassy part of the playground. Lyddi struggled to get out of the stroller when she saw the playground.
"Out! Out!" Lyddi announced to her mother.
"I'm trying sweetheart.. Give momma one minute!" Hannah laughed.
"Swing!" Lyddi continued with a whine trying to untangle herself from the stroller straps. Hannah laid the quilt down on the grass and then went to unlatch her impatient child from her prison.
As she started towards the playground Hannah saw Gibbs coming across the park. Hannah couldn't help but smile as he came closer.
"You made it." Hannah greeted as Gibbs joined them as they made it to the swing. Gibbs helped Hannah get Lyddi into the swing and looked at Hannah.
"I couldn't think of a better way to spend the afternoon." Gibbs shared as they soon found themselves toddling through the playground with Lyddi. Gibbs soon realized that Hannah new many of the families that played and he thankful that Cecilia had encouraged Hannah to be aware of others in her community.
"Oh Lyddi no that's dirty!" Hannah called out as she caught her daughter trying to put some playground dirt into her mouth. "If you're hungry lets go have our snack!" Gibbs rescued the little girl and followed Hannah back to the quilt.
"Have you told anyone about me yet?" Hannah asked as she cleaned Lyddi's hands with a cloth and handed the little girl some grapes and her sippy cup of water. Gibbs looked at her with the a strange look. "It's harder than you thought huh?" Hannah asked.
"Have you told Keith yet?" Gibbs returned back.
"I haven't spoken with him in two weeks." Hannah shared with a strange look on her face.
"Is that normal?" Gibbs asked, knowing somewhere in the back of his head that it wasn't.
"Sometimes, depends on what his deployment is. My friends husband hasn't been in touch either and they are on the same mission." Hannah admitted.
"Two weeks is a long time." Gibbs new about protocol.
"I know. I'm hoping to hear from him soon." Hannah nodded and looked down at her daughter who had crawled into Gibbs's lap.
"Papa." Lyddi asked held a grape in her hand an offered it to Gibbs. Her small hand went towards his mouth and Gibbs opened his mouth and let the toddler put the grape in.
"More?" Gibbs asked and when the little girl looked at the empty bowl, Gibbs took hold of the small hand and gobbled it up making Lyddi squeal with glee. Gibbs soon had the child in a full roll of giggles and as he stopped her small voice begged for more. Hannah couldn't help but laugh along with her child.
"You are so good with her." Hannah admitted as Lyddi fell asleep in Hannah's lap. "She's already taken with you."
"I've not had a small child in my life for a long time." Gibbs admitted.
"Having Lyddi in my life right now has been a Godsend." Hannah looked lovingly down at Lyddi.
"You are a good mother." Gibbs complemented. "You had a good teacher."
"Momma wasn't perfect Gibbs. Let me tell you. She wasn't the easiest person to get along with growing up but she did try." Hannah reminisced. "So are you going to tell your team about me?" Hannah got back onto topic.
"Do you want me too? Do you want them to know about you?" Gibbs asked seriously.
"I guess they already know that something is different. Do they suspect anything?"
"One of them has figured some things out." Gibbs returned.
"Who?"
"My Forensic Scientist. Her name is Abby." Hannah asked.
"How do you know that?" Hannah asked with a little surprise in her voice.
"Well for one thing she is persistent in getting the answers that she wants at whatever cost and the second is that she's coming up the pathway towards us as I speak." Gibbs shared and raised his eyebrows to the woman with black pigtails and wearing a pair of unusually high platform boots to match the odd Goth style outfit standing out in the playground full of children and families wearing running shoes and play clothes.
"Hi Gibbs, funny meeting you here on this beautiful sunny afternoon. I didn't think you enjoyed playgrounds. Too many people." Abby greeted and turned to Hannah.
"Hello, my name is Abby, I work with Gibbs, who you are?"
"Hannah. Hannah Douglas." Hannah greeted. "Would you like to join us?" Hannah asked and Abby smiled and proceeded to sit down.
"Don't mind if I do." Abby looked at Gibbs with an innocent look.
"Well Gibbs, Abby made the first move. Shall we let her in on our secret?" Hannah asked.
"I don't normally work this way." Gibbs started.
"Well we're full of firsts these past few weeks. Lets do this together." Hannah smiled and somehow found pleasure in Gibbs's apparent discomfort. "Abby you've already figured out some things or you wouldn't be here. NCIS people are known for their skills in solving cases I suspect."
"We are the best." Abby agreed.
"Abby, Hannah was the DNA sample that you did for me." Gibbs got out.
"The 99.9% match one?" Abby continued.
"Yes." Gibbs managed.
"Hannah that makes you Gibbs's daughter? This is your granddaughter?" Abby looked more and more excited and Hannah couldn't help but laugh. "Oh I don't know who to hug first! I'm so excited! Welcome to the family! Oh Gibbs finally!" Abby threw her arms around her friend. "You're so lucky! The baby is so cute!"
"Abby!" Gibbs tried to calm her down. "You need to calm down, or you'll wake the baby."
"Oh I almost forgot! Sorry." Abby nodded.
"So now that Abby knows, does that mean the rest of your team will be next?" Hannah asked. Hannah and Abby both looked at Gibbs and all he could do was look away leaving the silence as his answer.
Something was wrong. Keith never went this long without being in contact. She picked up the phone and started to dial but put the phone down. Hannah went to the window and looked out at the dreary day, the ran fell making the day appear dark as evening. Hannah jumped when she heard a crash and turned to see Lyddi pulling out another toy from the box in the middle of the room. Hannah went and sat on the couch and watched Lyddi play for a few minutes.
"Hey Lyddi, do you want to go and see Papa at work today?" Hannah asked and Lyddi looked up and smiled.
"Papa?" Lyddi asked.
"Come on my love. I think Papa might be able to help us connect with Daddy."
"Dada?" Lyddi asked again and Hannah nodded. "Okay!"
Hannah was surprised with how easy it was to get into where Gibbs worked, and she and Lyddi were escorted up to the floor in which she would find Gibbs. Getting off the elevator Hannah felt horrible butterflies in her stomach.
"Hannah?" Gibbs asked as he saw her coming around the office divider.
"Hi. I.." Hannah struggled to start a sentence.
"What's wrong?" Gibbs asked as he escorted Hannah away from his team for a few minutes.
"Keith, it's been almost six weeks. I haven't heard anything from him. No one at HQ is able to answer any of my questions. They just keep passing me off to another clerk. I have a feeling…" Hannah explained softly. Lyddi was squirming in her arms and reaching Gibbs.
"Papa!" Lyddi called out and Gibbs reached for the child. He then put a hand onto Hannah's back and started to guide her towards the back of the office.
"Hannah, give me a bit of time. I'll see what I can find out."
"Were are we going?" Hannah asked.
"Down to Abby." Gibbs told her.
"Okay." Hannah sighed as she heard Gibbs say that he would look into it. "I could just go home again."
"You're here now, you might as well stay close by." Gibbs sighed.
"Papa eat!" Lyddi held her hand to Gibbs's mouth and as the door to the elevator closed, Gibbs played the now familiar and loved game with Lyddi.
"Who was that?" Ziva asked as she looked at her fellow team members.
"Did I hear that child say Papa?" Tony added.
"Abby was trying to get us to listen to her when she called us down to her lab. I think I now know why Gibbs would have paint of his shoes." Tim agreed.
"Gibbs does not have any children or grandchildren." Ziva continued to question.
"That we know of." Tim reminded.
"You don't think?" Tony slid forward on his desk.
"Anything is possible with Gibbs." Tim shrugged.