Tim watched the small six year-old play in the sandbox with his toy turtles. For two months now, Tony had been obsessed with turtles, and every opportunity he got, he'd tug on McGee's shirt sleeve and start rambling on random facts about said sea animal. He'd never known things like that the first known turtles existed 200 million years ago, or that certain land turtles could outrun a human, either.

So lost in thought he'd been, that he only now realized a commotion had started in the playground. Shit, he thought instantly; Tony hated loud conflict, it scared him half to death. Tim got up from the bench, bag in tow, and ran to the play area.

"Where are your parents young man?" A tall, rubenesque middle-aged woman with dark blonde hair in a messy bun was asking Tony, "Answer me, boy, where the heck are those irresponsible parents of yours?"

"Excuse me ma'am, I would appreciate you not talking like that to my child." Tim stepped in, feeling very over protective of his Bosses little boy, even though it seemed Tony hadn't reacted much at all to the woman, his eyes glued to the new turtles Abby had gotten him last week, to add to his collection.

"Oh, you're the boys' father, then?" Before Tim could get a word in edge wise, the woman continued, clearly upset and causing quite the scene, as parents and their children alike began to gather like black crows pecking at a body in the desert heat. "You might want to go 'head and teach that kid of yours a few things called manners!" she outright yelled, this time startling Tony in the process, as he dropped one of his turtles into the sand, becoming very still suddenly. "Your son threw sand into one of my boys' eyes! Sand! Do you know how dangerous that is? I should damn well teach that boy a lesson-"

"First off, you won't be teaching anyone any lesson, second, control yourself; this is a playground full of impressionable young children, lady. And third, if he did anything that deserves a good talking to, you aren't the person he needs to hear it from, I'm sure he had his reasons, Tony doesn't do things unprovoked. He's a very quiet child who keeps to himself." Tim replied, standing his ground, and hiding the six year-old from the rabid woman's view.

"You have the audacity to say it was my kids who provoked yours into kicking sand at 'em? The nerve! My children aren't the ones sitting there, ignoring everyone else like they're too damn good for 'em." she screamed, growing red in the face.

Her two children, both clearly a couple of years older than Tony, stood at either side of her, one of them rubbing dirt from his eyes, glaring at his young charge. "He's a retard Mom!" he shouted. "He's just sittin' there, not paying us any attention."

The woman sneered, "That's right. If anything, keep your freak of a nature child away from the public!" And then it happened, the moment she crossed the line. It had been so unexpected Tim hadn't had a chance to intercept it. The woman nabbed at Tonys' arm, shaking him a little, so that he'd pay attention, her press on nails practically digging into his little forearm.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Tony shrieked, pulling away frantically.

SMACK!

"Bitch, if you ever lay your dirty hands on our son again I will beat you within an inch of your life, and that is not a threat, that is not a promise, it is a fact." Kate seethed, after slapping the woman in the face with as much force as she could muster. Kate had been off getting ice creams for the three of them, when she'd heard all the ruckus. The cones now lay splattered against the sidewalk a few yards away. She was seeing red at this point.

The woman held a shaky hand up to her now reddening cheek. "How dare you!"

At this point, Tony, the womans' two children, and several others had started to sob very loudly.

As Kate and the woman argued, Tim knelt down next to Tony, who's tiny chest was heaving. "Tony, it's Timmy, can I pick you up? We can go back to the car and go see Daddy." he suggested, with zero success. Tony was inconsolable, and shook his head, big hot tears rolling down his cheeks, entire body trembling as he attempted to pick up all of his little turtles from the sand, tucking as many as he could inside his pockets clumsily. The whole thing nearly broke Tims' heart in two. "Hey, Tony, did you know that many turtles are expert climbers? And that umm, that sea turtles can swim up to 35 miles per hour, didja' know that, Tony?"

This slowly got his interests, and Tony stilled long enough to spare a glance at Tim and nod rapidly, still sniffling, "Some turtles can live up to a year without food." he said, voice cracking. "A-and land t-turtles ears are sensitive to ground vibrations." he whimpered.

"I didn't know that, Tony, that's amazing." Tim praised. "What else is there about turtles?"

"The tomium is," he paused to let out another sob, still shaking. "It's the sharp beak of a turtle." he finished, "Pick me up, I want Daddy." he demanded after a minute of silence, huddling into himself, crying.

Tim sighed in relief and carefully cradled the boy in his arms.

In the car, Kates' grip on the steering wheel was so tight her knuckles had turned an alarming shade of white, but she was taking deep breaths and trying to keep her cool. If Tony, who was still sobbing in Tims' arms in the backseat, saw her lose it again, he'd get even more nervous, and it was really the last thing the poor kid needed.

"Can I see your arm, Tony?" Tim asked quietly.

Tonys' breathe hitched. "No!" he cried, holding his arm close to his body. "Hurts!" he sobbed. He could still feel that strangers' nails clutching at him, the touch had been unexpected and forceful, and Tony couldn't tell why anyone would do that!

It was hard to comfort a child like Tony at times like these. He clearly didn't want to be touched, he didn't want to talk, and no one really knew what it was he wanted. All Tim could do was give him space and that only made him feel useless.

Abby and Ducky were in their individual labs, Abby finishing up cataloging evidence from their recent closed case, Ducky sewing up the bodies with Mr. Palmer. Gibbs had stayed to brief the Director, with Ziva in tow, to explain to the Director of NCIS why she'd found it 'necessary' to roundhouse kick that man in the face, breaking his nose. Kate and Tim had gone to pick Tony up from school and keep him entertained while they waited for Gibbs to finish up business at the building.

Abby, Ducky, and Palmer stepped off the elevator together, only to meet up with Gibbs and Ziva, both who were headed downstairs from the directors office. The bullpen was nearly empty now, and they were all pretty much set to leave for the weekend. "I can't wait to see how it's going at the park with those three." Abby peeped happily.

"I cannot wait to see that little bundle of enjoyment, period." Ziva said.

Abby giggled. "You mean bundle of joy?"

"Is it not the same thing?"

Gibbs was enjoying the easy banter between the girls until the elevator doors slid open and in McGees' arms, his boy was wailing something awful, little face redder than a tomato. Kate looked pissed as hell, and Tim looked helpless.

"What happened?" Jimmy was the first to question.

"DADDY! DADDY!" The child cried out, once he realized where they were. McGee immediately brought the boy to his father, who took him with ease, and held him close. His eyes were red and puffy, and he had snot everywhere. The picture of a kid who'd been crying for a good long time now. Gibbs definitely wanted answers. But those could wait 'till his son calmed down and felt safe again.

"It's okay baby, you're okay, tell Daddy what's wrong." he rocked him back and forth, kissed his forehead, felt as helpless as Tim had looked five minutes ago in that elevator.

One hour later, working together, the seven had worked together and calmed Tony down enough so that he had stopped sobbing. Afterward, he quickly fell asleep in his dads arms, completely worn out.

Kate and McGee explained everything, from the turtles, to the sand, to the boys, to the loud-mouthed woman, to Kates' first assault, to the car ride there.

Even Ducky, who rarely showed his anger, was absolutely enraged by the whole thing. "Ugh, that gank!" Abby whispered loudly, so as not to wake the baby boy sleeping. "I would have curb-stomped her and gutted her and pushed her off a plane and-"

"Agreed." the usually gentle doctor spoke up, shaking his head in dismay, when he saw the scratch marks on their childs' tiny arm, from where the woman had dug her claws. "You poor thing." he tsked, as he put ointment cream and wrapped a small white bandage over the area with more precision and care than he showed any patient.

It was fair to say they were all outraged.

But at the end of the day, Gibbs was a happy man. His son was safe, Tim had stood up for Tony, Kate had socked a woman for Tony, Abby would go to the ends of the world to make Tony happy, Ducky would always have his sons' well being in mind, Ziva would gladly assassinate anyone who stepped out of line when it came to the small boy, and Palmer was Tonys' go to guy for-well, anything-Jimmy spoiled the boy rotten.

Gibbs smiled down at the sleeping form in his arms, looked up to see all six concerned faces, all of them gathered at one desk, surrounding his-their son. It was good to have family.

A.N. This was (loosely) based on actual events that took place a little while ago. I dramatized what happened by like ten fold, but yeah, here's the story:

I babysit, and I took two of the kids out to the park one day, a brother and a sister (the little one, 5, has Down Syndrome, and the older one, 8, she is very over protective of him-she's like a mini mommy, I swear. :])

So I'm like three feet away, watching them play, when this small girl, about the boys' age walks over to them, and starts trying to take the boys stuffed dog, and naturally, he tugs at his toy, and moves away from the girl, and just before I was going to step in, the girl leaves, and doesn't seem upset about it.

So I stay where I am, near the kids, when all of a sudden the girls mother walks over and starts arguing with me! She says something along the lines of: "That kid made my child cry! I can't believe how rude that is! Don't you know how to teach those kids any manners?" etc. etc.

So I shot her in the face-Okay, no, I didn't have a colt on me that day! BUT, I called her rude, and told her A. They're childen, relax, and B. This is a PARK FOR SMALL IMPRESSIONABLE KIDS, and she's yelling obscenities at the top of her lungs making a scene?

Both my kids and her kid ended up crying, and before it got any uglier, and I said some words that weren't meant for small kids ears that I'd regret later, I picked up my bags, grabbed the kids, and left the park, completely disgusted with that woman!

I mean, really? She was pointing at my five year-old charge and yelling at the both of us! He's FIVE for Gods sake! And as far as I saw, it was her kid who hadn't been taught properly to ask for permission before deciding to make something hers (spoiled much?) but I didn't point at her and scream, because she's a CHILD, and that would be STUPID, to stoop to such a low level (I'm seventeen and I know that -_-); something that that childs mother clearly knew nothing about.

Alright, sorry, I just needed to vent, I was so frustrated and hopefully now it's out of my system!