Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters.
I know this story has turned into a monster but hopefully it will end soon.
Chapter 29
"Come on you two! Up and at 'em!" Jethro announced as he banged on the door and strode into the girls' bedroom. He looked straight to the window and opened the curtains, flooding the room with light. It did not have the desired effect though, as two heads quickly disappeared under the covers. He clapped his hands together loudly. "Time's wasting girls!"
The lump in Taylor's bed moved slightly, and the quilt appeared to speak. "Is there a fire? Cause if there ain't I'm stayin' right here."
Jethro pulled the covers off his daughter and onto the floor. "Up!"
Taylor kept her eyes closed and curled up onto her side. "Aw come on dad, it's too early." She mumbled, still too sleepy to care if the quilt was gone.
"NOW!" He thundered.
Both girls sat bolt upright. Vicky looked startled, but Taylor glared at him.
"It's not nice to wake someone up that quick! A person could have a heart attack or somethin'!"
"Keeps you alert Taylor, builds character, makes a good marine!" Convinced neither would fall asleep again Jethro made his way out of the room. "We leave in half an hour, whether you're dressed and fed or not. Oh, and you'll need your hiking boots."
Vicky stared over at her cousin, shell shocked.
"Something's goin' on. What'd we do?" Taylor asked, at a loss as to what she'd screwed up this time.
"Nothing." Vicky thought harder. "Have we?"
"I can't think of anything, but we'd better get a move on, I'm not goin' anywhere in my pyjamas." Taylor made a dash for the bathroom. If Vicky beat her to the shower, thirty minutes would be nowhere near long enough.
o
Vicky and Taylor sat quietly in the back of the car as it raced along the dirt road. Taylor was still trying to figure out what was going on, and was more than a little unnerved by her mom's absence. She knew it was completely irrational, but she had watched 'The Shining' a couple of weeks ago, and that had scared the crap out of her. Still, now was a good time to start questioning her father again, while he was driving and couldn't reach her. Earlier, over breakfast he'd started to get annoyed by her interrogation.
"Where are we goin' dad?" She asked for about the hundredth time.
He sighed and glanced at her in the mirror. " I told you earlier, you'll just have to wait and see. Now enough with the questions."
She wasn't finished. "You're not gonna kill anything are you?"
"WHAT?" He didn't bother with the mirror this time and briefly looked over his shoulder. "What would I kill?"
Taylor shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe a fish, or something furry, or us."
"I'm not going to kill anything Taylor. Have you been watching horror movies again?"
Sliding down in her seat, Taylor was embarrassed by her question. She knew her dad wouldn't hurt her. That flamin' movie messed with your mind. She'd have to remember to thank Tony for recommending it.
"Maybe." Taylor confessed.
"Uh huh." His daughter's imagination was already overactive and didn't need any extra help. "No more, do you hear me?" He checked the mirror again. "I want an answer Taylor, and don't roll your eyes at me."
"Got it dad. No more horror movies."
The car turned onto an extremely narrow, winding track. Wherever they where, they must be getting close to their destination so Taylor abandoned her line of questioning, before she told her dad something else he didn't know about.
o
Finally the car came to a stop in a small area cleared of trees, which could just about be described as a car park. It looked as if they were the only people there. Despite her reservations Taylor climbed eagerly out of the car. This was her kind of place, tree covered hills stretched out all around them. Vicky was not so keen. She was busy trying to estimate how many bugs were out there. Taylor followed her dad round to the trunk of the car.
"I think that's your one." He handed her a backpack. "Put it on."
He lifted out another one for Vicky, then a much larger rucksack for himself. In fact the bag he had was big enough to hold a body Taylor thought, then quickly pushed the idea out of her head. That was just dumb. Now if he had produced an axe, that would have been a good reason to panic. "You gonna tell us what we're doing now?"
"Thought you'd of figured that out by now. We're going hiking." Jethro replied with a grin.
"We are?"
"Yep."
"Mom likes walking, why isn't she here?" This whole situation still didn't feel right. Abby would call it hinky.
"I thought your mom could do with a bit of a break from us. Right now she's probably sitting with her feet up, reading a book.
That was a plausible excuse Taylor figured as she watched her father help Vicky slip her arm through a shoulder strap.
Jethro took a step back and quickly checked them over. "All set?"
Taylor nodded. Vicky, though obviously nervous, copied her cousin's gesture.
"Good. Let's go!"
o
Jethro kept a cautious eye on Taylor as she darted ahead of them, and wondered where she got all her energy. The kid must have covered twice the distance he had, as she frequently darted off the track to explore. Vicky was much less enthusiastic about the great outdoors and stayed close by his side. He wasn't sure how the girl would react when she discovered they were going to be camping out.
Gradually he began to move faster, even though a lot of the ground they were covering was uphill. Vicky was now having trouble keeping up and had to stop every so often to catch her breath. The only thing Taylor stopped for was to climb a tree. If his daughter was smoking again, she wasn't doing it on a regular basis. Vicky was the one who was behaving like a smoker. She was even getting jittery. It wouldn't be long until the girl couldn't resist the urge to sneak off for a cigarette. He might as well help her along.
"This seems like a good enough place for a break." Taylor had vanished again, so Jethro gave a loud whistle and she appeared from behind them.
"Yeah?"
"We're taking a break. There should be water and snacks in your bags."
Vicky didn't touch her bag. "I have to find a bush. You coming Taylor?"
"Nah, I'm okay." She produced an apple from her bag and bit into it as she watched Vicky disappear into the trees.
"Don't go too far!" Jethro shouted, before he sat down on the ground beside Taylor. "You having fun?"
Mouth full, she nodded. From where she was sitting Taylor spotted a cloud of smoke from where Vicky was. What the hell was her cousin thinking? At least she was down wind. Taylor quickly swallowed. She had to stop her dad looking behind him.
"How far are we going?" Taylor asked, trying not lo look towards Vicky.
"Oh we have a long way to go yet."
"Really?" Maybe today was going to be good after all. "You been here before?"
"Yep. Quite a few times. It's a great place to camp."
"Did you come on your own?"
"Sometimes."
"Did you bring ….." Taylor changed her mind about asking that question. She didn't want to know."
"No I didn't bring Kelly. That's what you were going to ask, wasn't it?"
"Maybe."
"Kelly wasn't exactly the outdoor type, she was more like her mom than me."
Taylor grinned. She'd finally found something she was better at than Kelly. Her sister might not even have been able to climb a tree properly.
A more relaxed Vicky emerged from the undergrowth and dropped to the ground beside them, mobile phone in hand. "Can't get a signal, not even one bar. Must be the mountains."
"Aw, are you missing Patrick?" Taylor teased. "And they're not mountains, they're hills."
"Whatever!" Vicky wasn't going to bite. "Are we going to head back to the car now?" This was not her idea of fun. She needed civilisation, and her phone.
"We're not going back tonight."
"We're not?" Taylor asked excitedly.
"What?" Vicky was horrified. "Where are we staying then?"
Jethro patted his rucksack. "Tent."
Vicky shook her head. "What about all the bugs, and snakes, or bears?" She stopped short of telling her uncle she wanted to go home, although that's what she wanted to do. This was turning into a nightmare. She hadn't even brought enough cigarettes to get her past dinnertime, never mind two days. Crap, crap, crap!
Jethro checked his watch. "Time we were moving again, we need to reach our campsite before dark."
Vicky's jaw dropped open. It wasn't even lunchtime yet, and she was already tired. Maybe Taylor had been right and her dad actually was trying to kill them.
o
The rest of the day followed a similar pattern. Walk, take a break, then walk some more. If Vicky had of been brave enough she would just have sat down and refused to move, but she wasn't. By the time they reached what her uncle had described as a campsite, Vicky was so relieved she didn't have to walk any further, she didn't even care anymore that they were going to be sleeping in a tent.
Taylor was given the task of collecting wood for a fire, and Vicky, not wanting to be given anything to do, slipped off to smoke her last cigarette.
When enough wood was collected Taylor watched as her dad placed the sticks and some paper inside a small circle of rocks, before holding his hand out. She stared at it for a couple of seconds before she realised what he wanted.
"Oh, right." Taking the lighter from her pocket she placed it onto his open palm. "Forgot about that." She told him sheepishly.
Vicky only showed her face again when the fire was lit and both tents were up. Not feeling the least bit guilty, she joined the other two sitting round the fire.
"Just about to send a search party out for you. Are you okay?"
Vicky felt a tad guilty at her uncle's concern. "I'm fine."
Taylor gave her a gentle shove. "Just avoiding all the work, weren't you?"
Changing the subject Vicky pointed towards the two small tents. "You sure the bugs can't get in there?"
"Not if you keep it zipped up." Jethro told her, not for the first time. He poked at the fire with a stick. "Fire's all ready. Who's hungry?"
o
Taylor was the first one to start eating and the last one to finish. She'd used up a hell of a lot of energy today, and was now fighting to stay awake. What she saw next woke her up pretty damn quick though. Reaching into his shirt pocket, Jethro took out a pack of cigarettes, took one out, lit it, and inhaled deeply. Vicky and Taylor looked at each other in amazement before turning to stare at Jethro again. He didn't even seem to notice they were watching.
"Dad?" Taylor suddenly wished she hadn't eaten quite so much. She'd been having such a good time she'd let her guard down, and now that uneasy feeling in her stomach returned with a vengeance.
"Yeah?" He looked at the cigarette, not her.
"What're you doing? You don't smoke, it's bad for you."
Jethro took another draw before answering.
"Well if it's so bad, why are you two still smoking?"
Vicky's jaw dropped.
"Who told you that?" Taylor tried to sound surprised.
"Didn't need anyone to tell me. Smoke clings to your hair and clothes Taylor, you already know that." He flicked the half smoked cigarette into the campfire.
"Just cause you smell of smoke doesn't mean you've been smoking. We probably smell like that now, cause you were smoking."
"Are you telling me you haven't been smoking again?" He asked his daughter calmly.
Taylor suddenly found the laces on her boots extremely interesting, and picked at them nervously. Her last spanking was way too fresh in her mind to risk either running or lying.
"Answer me Taylor."
"Maybe a couple." She mumbled then looked up at her dad. "That's all, and only sometimes. I don't wanna get hooked again.
Jethro regarded his daughter carefully, as he decided whether to believe her or not.
"She's telling the truth."
Both heads turned to Vicky, who shrugged. "Well she is. Taylor hardly ever smokes, even when everyone else does." For someone who was almost certainly next in line for interrogation Vicky didn't seem to be overly concerned.
"Okay, I'll buy that. Stand up." Jethro stood, and helped Taylor to her feet. "Empty your pockets."
"I thought you believed me." She sounded hurt, but all her dad did was raise an eyebrow in warning and hold out his hand.
"Fine." Taylor did as he asked. For once it wasn't as if she had anything to hide.
Search over, Taylor was tempted to say I told you so, but made do with looking smug.
"No more Taylor, not even sometimes. If I smell smoke on you again it won't just be bad for your heart and lungs, it'll be bad for your backside too. Got it?"
The smug look quickly vanished. "I got it."
"Good." He nodded towards her tent. "Go get some sleep."
"Isn't Vicky comin' too?" She glanced at her cousin who hadn't moved from the fire.
"Vicky and I are going to have a bit of a chat before she goes to bed." Leaning down he whispered into her ear. "Don't you want to fall asleep before Vicky? I thought you said she snored."
That was a really good point, her cousin's snoring wasn't very loud, but could be a bit annoying. Giving her dad a quick hug she disappeared into the tent.
o
"So what do you have to say for yourself?" Jethro had joined his niece beside the fire again.
"About what?"
He rubbed his hands across his face. The girl was starting to sound like Taylor. "About you smoking."
"I don't have to say anything. I'm not twelve!" She spat out.
Okay, maybe she sounded more like Taylor with a whole lot of teenager thrown in for good measure. "You're fourteen Vicky. That's nowhere near old enough to smoke."
"Whatever!" Vicky stood up and spun round. She'd heard enough.
Unfortunately she only managed two steps before Jethro clamped his hand around her arm and stopped her.
"You're not going anywhere. Now sit down!" Not wanting to wake Taylor, Gibbs didn't shout, but left the girl in no doubt he meant business.
"You can't tell me what to do." She complained, but sat down anyway.
"Yes I can. Your father and I had quite a long conversation last night. And just so you know, you won't be treated any differently than Taylor." He paused just long enough to made sure she understood. "We'll start again, shall we?"
Vicky didn't speak, although some of the fight seemed to have left her."
"So what do you have to say for yourself?"
"Alright, I smoke, big deal!" Not all of the fight was gone. "I like it, and I'm not going to quit!"
"Oh you'll quit! The only say in the matter you're gonna have is which way you want to do it."
Jethro gave her the opportunity to speak, but she didn't take it. Instead Vicky tried to stare him out. That was never going to happen , and she quickly looked away.
"On your feet, and empty your pockets."
Vicky's hand moved automatically to her uncle's pack of cigarettes she'd slipped into her pocket when he'd been talking to Taylor, then said the only thing she could. "No."
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