Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters.
Chapter 24
Wriggling frantically Taylor was now in a full blown panic. So was her dad. Jethro was almost underneath her and could see he wasn't going to be able to reach the fuse in time to stop it.
"Put your arms straight above your head!"
Taylor didn't appear to hear him. He was directly below her now and if he jumped he would just about be able to touch the sole of her sneaker.
"TAYLOR!" He roared.
She looked down.
"PUT YOUR ARMS UP STRAIGHT ABOVE YOUR HEAD!"
Finally, doing as she was told, she held her arms up and started to slip out of the sweatshirt.
Jethro caught her, but didn't waste any time in setting her down. The instant he had a decent grip he ran towards Lucas, his daughter tucked under his arm like a football. He was aware that Taylor was counting down. If she was right it was going to be close.
"Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two,"
They had almost reached the safety of the fallen tree, and as soon as Taylor uttered 'one' He tossed her over the log, then dived over himself.
Both hit the ground as the huge explosion rocked the clearing. Even though Taylor was winded by the impact when she hit the ground, she still managed to curl up and cover her head with her arms. As bits of the tree rained down on them, Jethro grabbed the waistband of Taylor's pants and dragged her closer to cover her with his body. Lucas was fine, he was in tight enough for most of the falling debris to miss him.
As Taylor lay underneath her dad she kept her eyes tightly shut. That had been way too close, even for her liking. Another few seconds stuck on that branch and she would have been splattered across the clearing. That had been one hell of an explosion. The one on YouTube hadn't sounded anywhere near as loud as that.
Eventually Taylor felt her father move, and the sun hit her face again. She didn't want to, but she opened her eyes. Her dad was on his knees, staring down at her with a look she neither recognised nor liked.
"Are you hurt?" He asked.
Shaking her head, Taylor sat up slowly.
"Lucas, you okay?" He asked the boy.
"Yeah." Lucas was already on his feet, brushing the dirt from his clothes and looking towards their tree, well what was left of it. Taylor stared at it in horror. Only about eight feet of the trunk remained standing. Even the hollow was gone. There was no sign of her sweatshirt.
She couldn't stop herself. "Holy fuck! Did ya get it on camera?"
Just about to answer Lucas stopped when Taylor was lifted to her feet and dragged towards the remains of the tree.
Automatically Taylor opened her mouth to protest, but the strange look was still there, so she put her head down, and kept quiet.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" He shouted.
She had no intention of looking at him, so keeping her eyes on the ground Taylor shrugged.
Jethro didn't repeat the question. Letting go of her t-shirt he grabbed her arm and turned her sideways, before landing six of the hardest swats Taylor had ever felt. The combination of the adrenalin still coursing through her veins and the smacks reduced her to tears.
"Save it Taylor!" Gibbs growled as he grabbed her shirt again and marched her right across the clearing through still falling leaves before stopping. At first she didn't know what she was supposed to be looking at. Then she spotted it. Halfway up one of the trees was part of her sweatshirt, a very small part. Taylor cried harder, but it did not elicit any sympathy from her dad.
"That was almost you! Well it looks like a sleeve, so it might just have been your arm!"
Just about to pull his daughter over to another part of her top, he stopped when the sheriff and another officer burst into the clearing, guns drawn.
It only took them a few seconds for them to realise there was no terrorist threat before they holstered their weapons.
"What happened?" Ed asked.
Jethro nodded towards Lucas, then gave Taylor a gentle shake. "These two idiots decided it would be clever to use fireworks to make a pipe bomb out of a tree."
The sheriff glared angrily at Taylor, who was trying to wipe the tears away with little success.
"You realise half the town thinks they're under attack?" The sheriff asked.
When his daughter didn't answer immediately, Jethro prompted her. "Answer the question Taylor."
She looked up guiltily at the sheriff through fresh tears.
"Was just a tree." She managed to mumble.
As soon as she'd said it Taylor knew this was not the answer either man had been looking for, but the connection between her brain and mouth seemed to be even more unreliable than usual. Another two powerful smacks to the seat of her pants, courtesy of her father reinforced her suspicions.
"I'm sorry, it was dumb! Okay?" Taylor tried to turn herself round again, but her dad was holding her in position. Not a good sign.
He leaned down, but not to acknowledge her response. He pointed towards Lucas. "Go and sit on the tree trunk. Do not move, do not speak. I'll be watching."
The mood her dad was in she was not even tempted to make a run for it. There was no telling what he would do when he caught her. Taylor wiped her eyes with her arm again and went to sit beside the other terrorist.
"You alright?" Lucas whispered.
She'd almost blown herself up, her dad was well past furious and her backside was already on fire. The instant her dad glanced away from her she whispered back. "What do you think? He's gonna kill me!"
At least she'd managed to stop crying. For how long she didn't know.
"We gonna get arrested?" He asked nervously.
Taylor was trying to figure out what the sheriff was saying, but her ears were still ringing a little. She shrugged.
"That was so close. If your dad hadn't have shown up you'd have been ..."
"Shut up Lucas!" She didn't want to think about it anymore.
o
When the two officers left and her father turned back towards her Taylor started to wish they had been arrested. That expression was still there and scared the crap out of her. Even though her brain may have been screaming run she stayed exactly where she was. Keeping her eyes firmly on the ground in front of her she avoided looking at what was left of the tree and her father who was now right in front of them. Taylor stared at his boots, but kept her mouth shut.
Lucas already had his bag over his shoulder and camera in hand.
Jethro reached behind the trunk and lifted Taylor's backpack, before taking her hand."Let's go."
Lucas walked alongside Taylor, who was trying hard not to drag, but her dad was walking too fast.
"Dad I ..."
He stopped abruptly and glared at her. "Not one word Taylor!"
Taylor opened her mouth to ask him to slow down, but he stopped her with a look. "I mean it Taylor, not one word. You really don't want me to lose it right now!"
Quickly closing her mouth Taylor found herself being dragged along again, as she desperately fought back new tears.
o
They were about halfway back when Patricia appeared on the path ahead. Taylor tried to pull her hand free to go to her mom, but her dad wasn't legging go. He just tugged her back beside him. "Pack it in!" He warned.
"The sheriff told me what happened. We heard the explosion and were afraid that ..." Patricia looked all three over. "You're sure no one's hurt?"
"We're fine." Jethro reassured his wife.
Taylor's butt was obviously not included in the equation, and if her mom had been aware of just how it felt right now, she might not have decided to add a few sharp swats of her own. There was no escape from her hand and all Taylor could do was yelp, and try not to cry in front of Lucas again.
Patricia fell into step beside Lucas, and rested her hand on his shoulder. If her dad hadn't ordered her not to speak, she'd have asked why she was stuck in a death grip and Lucas wasn't.
The rest of the walk home was in complete silence. They'd passed a number of people who were on their way, no doubt, to check out what had been going on, but neither her mom nor dad spoke to anyone. Taylor's forced march didn't stop until they were outside the store. Her grandpa was standing just outside, talking to the Reverend Moore. He looked decidedly unimpressed with her. Only now was Taylor's hand released, but her freedom only lasted a few seconds before her mom grabbed her arm and pulled her inside, leaving her dad to take Lucas home.
o
Taylor had expected to be sent straight to her room, or at the very least a corner, but she was whisked through to the kitchen and told to sit. She watched as Patricia filled a bowl with warm water and added a capful of antiseptic, before kneeling down in front of her with a cloth. Taylor waited for her to speak, but her mom just gently cleaned up a graze she hadn't even noticed on her forearm. Taylor couldn't stick the silence any longer.
"Mom ..."
When Patricia looked up, the disappointment and worry Taylor saw, stopped her dead.
"What Taylor?"
What she'd been going to say was that she was sorry and they hadn't known it would be such a big explosion. What she actually said was "nothin'."
Her grandfather chose that moment to barge into the kitchen, and he wasn't quite as good as staying calm or quiet as her mom.
"You really outdid yourself this time, didn't you?"
Taylor wasn't sure if he wanted her to answer.
He kept going, so obviously not. "STEALING!" As if he could read her mind he added "It doesn't matter if they're old or out of date, they didn't belong to you!"
Chewing on her bottom lip Taylor tried not to cry. God forbid he ever found out what they'd practiced on.
Jackson barely paused for breath. "And to do something so dangerous! How could you be so, so thoughtless?"
Taylor couldn't stop herself. "I'M SORRY! OKAY? I DIDN'T THINK TAKING THE FIREWORKS WOULD MATTER, THEY WERE JUST SITTIN' OUT THERE DOIN' NOTHIN'! AND I DIDN'T KNOW WE USED TOO MUCH POWDER, AND I SURE AS HELL DIDN'T PLAN ON GETTIN' STUCK!"
Her grandpa moved closer but stopped short of grabbing her. "It doesn't look as if you thought about much does it?"
"What do you mean about getting stuck?" Patricia asked as soon as Jackson stopped giving off.
"You don't need to ask Taylor, you can see for yourself what happened." Jethro stood in the doorway holding up Lucas's camcorder.
Taylor felt the blood drain from her face. "You've watched it?" She squeaked. Seeing it again was just going to remind him exactly how close a call they'd had.
Instead of answering, Jethro just passed the camcorder to his wife. "Do you want to hook that up to the TV?" Before manhandling his daughter, by the scruff again, into a corner of the living room.
Taylor, pretty sure everyone's attention would be on the TV, rested her head against the walls, and hoped that Lucas had screwed up the recording. He had, but not in the way she wanted.
There was a loud gasp from her mom when the doll exploded into pieces. Then Taylor heard something that made her want to curl up and die.
"Think it worked. Your sister's not gonna be pleased with you." That was her voice.
"Why not?" And that would be Lucas.
"Cause you just killed her doll."
Lucas had forgotten to stop recording.
Taylor spun round. "I didn't know grandpa, I swear!"
Bad move. Her dad was on his feet and behind her in record time. He spun her back around into the corner and whispered menacingly into her ear. "Don't want to hear another word from this corner. I'm not gonna warn you again. Got it?"
Taylor gave the slightest nod to show she understood. Didn't matter now anyway. Lucas's confession was out in the open.
The next thing she heard from the tape was her dad's voice calling her, followed by her own, telling Lucas in no uncertain terms not to mess it up. Then she heard something she hadn't heard first time round. It was Lucas when he realised the camera was still recording and he was telling himself he could just cut that bit out later.
Taylor shuffled uncomfortably. Why were they makin' her listen? It was gonna be hard enough to forget. She could have waited in her room.
Her dad's warning not to light the fuse filled the room, loud and clear. Then another warning, even louder than the first, to let her know she'd used too much powder. Taylor tended to agree with that opinion now, maybe she had added just a bit too much. When her mom and grandpa both let out gasps at the same time, Taylor assumed they were watching her slipping and getting stuck. She so did not want to be in that corner right now. It was normally bad enough having to confess what she'd done wrong. This time everything was there for them to see for themselves. Nothing she could come up with would make her actions seem any less dangerous, not now.
Even Taylor jumped at the noise of the tree exploding, but unlike her mom she did not start crying, although the guilt she was feeling was taking her closer to that point.
For a good few minutes that was the only sound that could be heard in the room, and boy did that make Taylor feel bad. In fact she felt so bad she started to wish her dad was yelling at her instead. Guilt, she was finding out, was a hard emotion to deal with.
o
Taylor flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but resisted the urge to look behind her.
"Turn round." Patricia told her softly.
Not wanting to see the same expression her dad had been wearing, on her mom and grandpa, she didn't move.
"Taylor." This time her mom turned her around.
Keeping her head down she tried to check out the room. Her dad and grandpa were gone. Another wave of guilt hit her and Taylor threw her arms around her mom and held on tight.
"I didn't mean to make you cry! I'm sorry!"
Patricia returned the hug, leaning down to whisper calming words and noises, all the time gently rubbing the back of her head. It was a long time before Taylor stopped crying.