Disclaimer: Of course NCIS… characters… and such belong to the powers that be & not ME!!! Story created for purely entertainment value.
You know the drill…
A/N: This is an interlude (flashback) type tale explaining Kate's tumble down the path of poor credit choices. She's just finished the 8th grade, is prepping for her first fancy boy/girl dance, and is celebrating with her best-friend the throw-all-caution-to-the-wind Ms. Stacey. Both girls are 14, although Stacey is about 6 months older and has picked up her mom's casual attitude regarding money and men.
Here's the 3rd installment of Type II Family… The boys will NOT be featured in this story at all.
A/N: Sit back, suspend belief and enjoy it as the fiction it's meant to be.
Warning: THIS STORY will CONTAIN NON-SEXUAL SPANKING; ABORT THE MISSION… DO NOT READ… TURN BACK NOW IF THIS ISN'T YOUR THING.
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He'd been back and forth all day. Conferences in MTAC, meetings with the director, trips to see Ducky and even a call to Mike Franks for a reality check. Jenny had been under for more than a week. Gibbs could see and hear the angst in her body ever time they spoke. Jennifer Sheppard may have been a probie, but she was amazing undercover. The only difference this time was that Stan was her sole back-up. There was no way Jethro was missing his daughter's graduation, so everyone had to step up and improvise. Stan was holding his own as her handler, but Jethro wanted them both back in DC faster than the mission was allowing. Things settled for about an hour so he went out to meet Stephanie for coffee.
"You look tense Jethro. Everything alright?"
"You know I can't talk about it Stephanie."
"I'm not asking you to tell me national secrets Jethro just maybe how you're feeling."
"I'm feeling like we need to change the subject."
"Fine, but you could remember to act like you called me."
Letting a rare smile creep to his eyes Gibbs leaned over and kissed his latest long term girlfriend. "Thanks for coming out to the graduation yesterday. Kate really appreciated it I know."
"If you say so Jethro. I have to tell you Tony seemed to be the only one decidedly interested in my presence."
"Kate takes a little longer to warm up. I may have exhausted her in the get to know your future step-mom department."
"I hope that wasn't your attempt at a proposal." Stephanie was only teasing him because they'd already discussed it at length and she knew one wouldn't be coming anytime soon.
"So how did she say dress shopping went? Did you approve?"
"She refused to let us see it. You should come over tomorrow for the big night. You could help her get ready. I'm afraid if she goes over to Stacey's her mom will help and my daughter could end up looking like she's going to meet the fleet."
"Jethro!"
"Did you see what that woman had on yesterday?"
Laughing Stephanie couldn't help but cringe a little. "Alright those earrings were a bit large for a ten o'clock ceremony. I have to say she surprisingly pulled off that heavy make-up."
"Pull it off being the operative phrase. It looked like a mask."
"Now this is the Leroy Jethro Gibbs I fell in love with all those months ago."
"Is that an anniversary hint Steph?"
"Not to worry Jethro I know not to do that anymore. I would just like to have a visit from happy you more often." Stephanie knew his mood had something to do with missing a mission. At least that was what she kept telling herself when doubts crept into her mind that it was more about his newbie female agent then the mission it self. She much preferred when he was literally on a three man team.
"Working on it," Gibbs stated knowing exactly what she was referring to as he reached in his wallet to hand the waiter his card. Damn it he'd gotten so wrapped up he'd forgotten to call the company to check the balance. He would get to it as soon as he got back to his desk. Placing his arm around the slim redhead Gibbs guided her in the direction of her car.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kate was up with the chickens. She made breakfast for her brothers and then begged Tony to drop her off to Stacey's under the pretense of going to the country club for a swim. He didn't really have anything planned, so the compromise was that he'd be the ride if he could hang out. Kate made a call getting an emphatic yes. Stacey was crazy about her big brother. They had to make a stop to take Timmy to his friend's house on the way. The kid loved his little nature nerd friends and had no interest in sitting by a pool watching girls all day.
Once they got to Stacey's Tony hung out downstairs talking to their housekeeper Mona, a hot Swedish exchange student. When Kate walked into her friend's bedroom she almost fainted.
"Please tell me you're just trying that on? Please tell me the tags are still on it?" Glancing around the room she could see all the new stuff out on the bed. Tags were strewn everywhere. She was starting to hyperventilate.
"Katie you're freaking out on me again. Come on how cute are we going to look in matching shirts."
"How am I supposed to explain matching shirts to Tony? Did you forget he was downstairs? Besides I was planning to take all this stuff back today… like before we go to the club, today… like right now, today!"
"Well how was I supposed to know that? Your message just said you were coming over early."
She really did want to cry. "I can't keep that stuff. I should never have bought it in the first place. I have to tell my dad and I at least wanted to say I had taken it all back."
"Sorry. If you're gonna get in trouble anyway you might as well have new clothes to do it in." Tossing the shirt to her friend Stacey urged Kate to change.
"I guess I can't tell him now." Making the shirt exchange the girls finished packing Stacey's swim bag and headed down.
As they got into Tony's car he observed their outfits. "Great I'm traveling with the Double Mint twins."
"Stacey's shopping rule number one: When it's super cute always buy two." Stacey chimed up from the back seat.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It had been an excruciatingly long day. At 4:30 things finally slowed down enough to focus on paper work. By 5:30 Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was willing his head not to explode, again. The operator on the other end of the phone must have her information mixed up. There was no way on God's green Earth that a child of his would be this incredibly stupid. Apparently, yelling at customer service representatives, banging the receiver in their ear and stringing together expletives as he attempted to have her walk him through the on-line screens so he could see what she was seeing didn't change the facts either. That fool daughter of his not only spent well over her allotted budget but she proceeded to lie about doing so the whole day.
When he finally got off the phone after speaking to two different reps and a supervisor Gibbs was in a murderous mood. He went about wrapping things up for the day after checking in with Director Morrow. This was when he needed a wife. He was used to the types of messes Tony got into, but Kate didn't usually pull that sort of crap. He had to think about what to do before he came face-to-face with the duplicitous little spend-a-holic.
As soon as he walked in the door he saw the note left by his kids with a full run down of their day. According to said note they would be home soon so Jethro headed to his basement to do some temper soothing sanding. There was no need to call them in early.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They were having a blast at the club. Tony thought he could definitely get used to living that way. When lunch was delivered to their private cabana, he was ready to make the soon to be freshmen his girlfriend just for the perks. They were in the game room when a call from Tim dragged them back to reality.
"Grab your gear Katy-dids that was the boy genius. I told him I'd pick him up when he called."
"Can you drop him off and come back for me?"
"No, do I look like Jeeves your private butler? Let's go, I need to change and take my new tan out for a test drive. I'm meeting the guys at eight."
"Call your dad and see if you can spend the night with me."
Reaching in for her phone Kate dialed her father's cell. She started in as soon as he picked up. "Hi daddy is it alright if I spend the night at Stacey's… why, what's wrong… I… daddy… daddy!"
"What's wrong Katie?" Tony shifted into serious big brother.
"Dad said no then he hung up on me."
"Oh, whatever you did it must be HUGE!" Kate and his father weren't prone to the sort of shouting matches the two of them got into. Slamming the phone on his son was often Jethro's way of saying end of discussion nuclear reaction imminent.
"He hung up on me Tony. Dad doesn't do that to me. I haven't done anything that…" Suddenly the room started to spin and Kate had to sit down next to the foosball table. She had done something that big indeed.
"What is it Kate?" Tony asked seeing his sister go as white as a sheet.
"Kate you're scaring us." Stacey breathed out having a much better idea then Tony why her friend was in such a state.
"Well kiddo whatever you did to piss him off we need to get going. Take it from someone with a lot of screw up experience putting off the inevitable doesn't make it any easier."
Kneeling next to her Stacey hugged her friend and pulled her up. "It'll be okay. You can totally blame me everything."
Kate hugged her back knowing that that sort of argument would never work with the Gunny. The man was totally into taking responsibility for ones actions.