Please see chapter 1 for warnings and disclaimers.

Chapter 6

Leroy Jethro Gibbs sat in his living room and sipped at the bourbon in his glass. He'd given up with his woodworking efforts downstairs after the third interruption from the boys alerted him that they were not going to settle down and sleep without some added attention. Their sister's absence had shaken their tentative sense of security and this was reflected in their behavior. The bickering had started on the car ride home and continued up until and even beyond when he had put them to bed.

*Earlier that evening*

"Dad, Cam's kicking me."

"Oh it doesn't hurt you big baby."

"I am not!"

"Are too!"

"AM NOT!"

"HEY!" Gibbs yelled to get their attention. "Enough."

Not two minutes later AJ started to whine, "I'm squished. Cam's taking up too much room." He gave his brother a push.

"Knock it off!" Cam said, pushing back and with far more force than the smaller boy had.

"Boys," Gibbs growled in warning.

"Why do I have to sit in the middle?" AJ whined.

"We'll take the car tomorrow," Gibbs replied.

"Cool! I call shotgun!" Cam exclaimed.

"No, I do!"

"You're too little!"

"I am NOT!"

"You'll both sit in the back."

"Why, I'm old enough to sit in the front?"

"Because I said so," Gibbs answered in a tone that brooked no argument.

When they got home, Gibbs made the mistake of asking if they wanted hamburgers or chicken tenders for dinner. Of course AJ wanted chicken and Cam wanted hamburgers. He'd made a command decision and they'd had hotdogs.

After a heated argument over what show they would watch, the television was turned off for the evening with a threat that they would lose TV privileges for a week next time they couldn't come to an agreement more peaceably. Not fifteen minutes later they were fighting again, Cam insisting AJ had moved his DS. The situation was resolved but after only thirty minutes of relative peace, thundering footsteps on the stairs and angry yells alerted Gibbs that something was wrong once again. The agent set down the files he was reading with a sigh.

"He wrecked my fort!" AJ accused.

"I just jumped off my bed! You should have been building it somewhere else."

"You did it on purpose!"

"AJ, it's time for your bath," Gibbs had interjected, "Why don't you head upstairs and grab your PJs. I'll be right up." The man then turned to his elder son and glared.

"What? I didn't do it on purpose."

"But you didn't try to miss it either," Gibbs replied evenly. "I know you're upset about your sister, but this behavior needs to stop, bud. You're older. I expect you to help your brother with the transition."

Cam's lips pressed tightly together and his blue eyes were defiant, but before his dad could comment further there was a scream from upstairs.

Gibbs went barreling up the stairs to find his five year-year-old son standing on his bed, tears streaming down his face pointing at his dresser drawer where a small garden snake lay curled in his pajamas. After calming AJ down and getting him settled in his bath, the man took the snake downstairs and tossed it out the door. Whirling on Cam, who sat calmly on the couch playing on his DS, Gibbs snatched the small device out of his son's hands.

"Hey!"

Tossing the game on the coffee table, Gibbs folded his arms and glared at the boy before him.

"What?"

When his dad didn't say a word, Cam started to get nervous. Another twenty seconds and he broke.

"It was just a snake. I put it in Ash's stuff this morning and she didn't even blink an eye."

"Well, your brother might not have reacted quite so badly if you hadn't told him that DC was home to a rare and poisonous kind of house snake that likes to settle in dresser drawers," Gibbs observed darkly.

"He shouldn't be so gullible," Cam replied shrugging with an air of unconcern. Before he knew it, the boy found himself yanked from the couch, a hard swat falling on the seat of his jeans.

"OW!"

"Terrorizing your brother is not an acceptable past time," Gibbs informed his son landing another powerful smack on the boy's bottom.

"YEOWCH! Okay, okay, I get it."

"Go up and get ready for bed."

"But it's only-"

"Or you can stay and argue with me and I can explain to you exactly how important rule number one is."

For the briefest moment, Cam looked confused, but within seconds understanding dawned on his face and he turned and raced up the stairs. Jethro sighed. Since the older boy preferred to shower in the morning, he wouldn't have to wait for his brother to finish before going to bed – thank goodness.

He stretched and rubbed his hand over his face before he went up to get AJ out of the bath. Prior to sending the younger boy in to bed, he went to talk with Cam. He climbed up the ladder, standing so that he was eye level with his son.

"I didn't mean to freak him out, it was just a joke."

"He was really upset."

"Sorry."

"I think maybe he's the one that needs to hear that."

Cam only nodded.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, big man?"

"Can I add Gibbs to my last name? I mean it just kind of makes sense. Most kids have their dad's last name, not their mom's and since we're here now I thought maybe it would be okay."

"I think it would be more than okay, son," Gibbs replied with a smile. "I'd be really proud for you to take my name."

The boy grinned and threw his arms around his dad in an impromptu hug, which nearly knocked the man off the small ladder. Returning the hug, he kissed the top of the boy's head.

***

Taking another sip of his drink, Gibbs smiled. It had still taken a great deal of effort to get the two to actually quiet down and go to sleep. Each of them had padded down the steps to the basement in need of some trivial thing, really just wanting a bit of comfort. He'd also had to go up and break up one last bout of verbal sparring. It was nice to have a bit of peace and quiet now that they were finally out for the night.

The NCIS agent's mind drifted from his rambunctious sons to their older sister. He hadn't confronted Ashlynn about her lie. He didn't want to alert her to the fact that he was suspicious. He needed to find out what she was up to. Hopefully she wasn't following in Deirdre's footsteps. After what happened, he really couldn't believe she would be that stupid.

Tony had been able to find out a bit more on Rudy Davis. Apparently the man could get you quite a bit more than tickets to a Wizards' game. He had a reputation for being able to get visitors just about anything that they were interested in regardless of legality. Not to mention he was a suspected fence, which would unfortunately explain how he might have known Deirdre and by default Ashlynn. At least, Gibbs really hoped it was by default. Somehow, he sincerely doubted that Ashlynn had been calling the man for tickets to a sporting or cultural event.

The girl's words from last night rang in his ears. "I'm eighteen and legally an adult,"…. "Being father to my brothers gives you no authority over me."

He kicked the coffee table in front of him. Oh, he was going to find out what she was up to all right and so help the girl when he did!

***

The following morning a rather grim looking Special Agent Gibbs marched two boys wearing hangdog expressions into the squad room. Pulling out two chairs and placing them well away from one another he pointed wordlessly for Cam to take the first seat then indicated that AJ should take the other. Not one word was spoken.

Gibbs settled at his desk and took a sip of his coffee his eyes shooting a warning to DiNozzo who was about ready to make a glib comment. Opting for self-preservation, Tony turned his attention back to his computer. McGee and Ziva shared a look of curiosity, but were also quick to look busy when their boss raised an eyebrow.

Taking a larger drink of his coffee the lead agent started to relax. He hated being late, and being late was the least of this morning's debacles. It was beyond him how a shoe taken off only the night before could go completely missing requiring a thirty- minute search. Cereal had seemed a quick and easy breakfast, but a tug of war over the box while his back was turned had resulted in milk going everywhere and Cam needing a change of clothes. Unfortunately it had also reignited the previous evening's animosity between the siblings and by the time they had reached NCIS headquarters, Gibbs had more than had it with the two boys squabbling.

"Daddy, I need to go potty," AJ said timidly, just as Gibbs's phone rang.

"I'll take him, boss," McGee was quick to offer. Giving his agent an appreciative nod, Gibbs answered his phone.

"Yeah?" Gibbs responded tersely pausing to listen. "Well, it's more than we had. I'll see what Ziva knows, she might have heard of him. Anything on the shooting? No, nothing on this end."

He hung up. "Covas has a legman who handles things stateside. Pretty sure he was instrumental in interacting with if not recruiting strategic players in several government agencies. Intel points to at least one more leak, possibly in the Department of Homeland Security. This guy is a Bolivian and goes by the name Castillo, but he's a real ghost."

"I have not heard of him, but there are some people I can call," Ziva said reaching for her cell phone.

"I'll see what I can find on our database, boss," Tony was quick to add. It was doubtful, but one needed to be thorough and cover all the bases.

"Ah, Boss?" McGee's voice tentatively interrupted.

"What?" the man barked in annoyance, wondering why AJ wasn't with the young agent.

"Ah, AJ, ah couldn't get his pants undone."

"Well, yeah, McGee sometimes kids have a hard time with that and you have to help them," the older man replied in exasperation coming to his feet.

"Actually, I tried, but that zipper was – is – really stuck. It wouldn't come down. And his jeans were too tight to slip over his hips. He, ah, he's gonna need a change of clothes, boss, and ah, he wants you."

Gibbs closed his eyes. The boy was probably humiliated. His jaw clenched as he heard a muffled giggle come from Cam's direction. "Run down to Abby's lab, there's a duffle with a change for each of the boys," the man ordered, thankful for that little piece of advice from their sister. "You," here he pointed angrily at Cam don't move a muscle. We need to have a little talk."

Within twenty minutes, AJ was calmed down and reassured, dressed in a clean pair of jeans, and heading happily down to Abby's lab to watch her process evidence from a robbery that another team was investigating. Needing to calm down, Gibbs focused his attention on following up on the intel from the FBI. In thirty minutes time, however, it was obvious from Cam's fidgeting that the boy couldn't take much more waiting.

"Cameron, with me," he growled, heading upstairs to a conference room.

The boy followed, casting a worried glance at Tony as he passed by. DiNozzo offered a supportive smile, but inwardly he was shaking his head. The kid was really in for it. He had to hand it to Cam, though. It was a great idea. Well, not so much to pull on poor little AJ, but if there were any way to superglue MgGee's zipper up without him noticing...

Gibbs held the door as Cam entered and slammed it behind them. "Give me one reason we shouldn't just move right to me putting you over my knee for a spanking?"

"Spanking? Cameron squeaked. "But I didn't break any of the five rules. It was just a joke. Just like always. I mean, Ash gets mad and yells and then buys AJ some ice cream and gives him a little extra coddling. I mean Ash isn't here, but I'm sure AJ is in seventh heaven with Abby and she probably even bought him a candy bar and a soda."

"What do you mean, just like always?" Gibbs demanded.

"Well, it gets kind of boring, you know in hotels or condos. I just like to liven things up. I do it all the time. It's no big deal."

"Corner," Gibbs stated tersely, pointing his finger.

"Huh?"

"Go stand with your nose in the corner," Gibbs said quietly, wanting a moment to consider what the boy had just shared.

"But that's for baby's," Cam argued.

Taking hold of the boys arm, Gibbs spun Cam around propelling him toward the corner with three hard swats to his backside.

"Now," he said grimly. Taking a deep breath, he ran a hand through his short silver hair. Not for the first time, he wished he had Deirdre here in front of him. One shouldn't think ill of the dead, but honestly if anyone deserved a spanking it was that woman. He looked over at his son and sighed. "Cameron, come over here," he said, taking a seat in one of the conference room chairs.

The boy gladly left the corner though he approached his dad with a certain amount of trepidation.

"Didn't I tell you last night not to terrorize your brother?"

"But this wasn't scary," the boy answered with a look of confusion.

"And if the situation had been reversed? How would you have felt if you were the one who couldn't have gotten his pants down?"

"Well, I wouldn't be dumb enough to let someone superglue my zipper closed."

Cam realized his mistake too late, as Gibbs turned him sideways and landed several painful swats to the seat of his jeans. On top of the earlier swats, this was enough to bring tears to the boy's eyes. He reached back immediately to rub out the unfamiliar sting.

"You need to drop the attitude," Gibbs pinned the boy with a hard look until Cam focused his eyes uncomfortably at his shoes. "Picking on people younger, smaller, or weaker than you isn't funny and neither is trying to scare or embarrass your brother. It's hurtful, and it's wrong. Do you understand me?" He gently tipped his son's chin up as he asked this, wanting to see the boy's eyes.

"Yeah. I wasn't really trying to be mean?"

"I understand that, son, but it's not to happen again. If I ever catch you playing the part of bully, with your brother or anyone else, I guarantee you won't be wanting to sit down for a very long time afterward. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, dad, I understand."

"You owe your brother a pair of jeans." They'd had to cut the pants to get them off. "You can work off the debt by doing extra chores around the house for the next week."

"Okay," Cam agreed.

Gibbs pulled the boy into a hug, which Cam returned in relief. He'd only meant to have some fun. Neither hurting his brother nor disappointing his dad had been his plan. The ten-year-old wondered if perhaps he needed to re-evaluate his idea of a good time. There had to be lots of fun to be had that didn't involving pranking someone littler than you. Really, there wasn't much challenge in that anyway.

***

Much to everyone's relief the following morning went far more smoothly for the Gibbs' household, resulting in a somewhat less irritable Gibbs. Unfortunately, that's as far as the team's good luck went. They had hit a dead end on Castillo. The Navy Captain they had in custody could only confirm the man's existence and give a general physical description, not give any useful information on how to find him or if he were in the country. Somehow the CIA had been able to substantiate the existence of college age son, who might be staying in the DC area.

Gibbs was only on his second cup of coffee when his phone rang. "Any news Tobias?" WHAT? How long? On my way." He slammed his phone shut. "McGee, see if you can get a location on Ashlynn's cell phone and let Ziva know she's got the boys for awhile longer." Ziva had taken the boys to the gym to let them show off their martial arts skills and allow them to get some physical activity. "Tony you're with me."

"On your six, Boss."

"Ashlynn's gone. Missing for about an hour."

"Quite the theme, eh Boss? The FBI misplacing their witnesses?" DiNozzo chuckled but the slap to the back of his head shut him up. Gibbs obviously was not amused.

TBC...