Chapter 9

WELCOME HOME!

They'd been sitting at the kitchen table talking and now Ducky stood up. "Enough sitting! Jethro will show you to your room and you can settle in or we'll show you around the ranch, including the shelter and The Grove if you'd like."

"I'd like to meet your wife and Tim and Ellie's new baby."

"Then that is what we shall do! Jethro, would you do the honors?"

"Sure. Your room is on the third floor, Abby. Has beautiful views and you're 2 floors away from the mighty lungs of our youngest grandchild."

She chuckled, "Does he sleep all night yet?"

Ducky smiled, "Finally, yes. Our lad slept 6 hours straight one glorious night last month and has continued the pattern; he's up to 8 hours straight now, much to everyone's joy."

"How old is he?"

"Five months on the 16th."

She laughed, "You've had a month of no baby crying during the night and any minute you'll have another one!"

"Three more! Sarah, Geordie's wife Bec, and Maggie are all due the same week. However, the obstetrician feels Maggie's child will be the first of the three."

"Wow, that's going to be chaotic."

Ducky chuckled, "Nearly everyone without infants or a child in the nursery has moved out of the house, at least for a few months. Maisie and I have already decamped to one of the guesthouses; I believe you and Shannon are doing the same, Jethro?"

He nodded, "Yes, we help with the baby during the day and will continue to do that with the new ones but we're too old to do the up and down at night and we need our rest."

"You'll have 4 babies to take care of during the day?"

"Three babies, once they're on the outside. Little Mac will go to Lara Vance's day-care beginning next week. Ellie's been back at work for a couple of months now; she and Tim can see the baby and Lia any time during the day. Ty and Brynie are there after school."

"That's handy! And the new babies will go there too?"

"Sarah will probably keep hers at home most of the time but yes for the other two. Bec is a professor at UNM, not far from NCIS and Geordie's working at Kirtland Air Base, on the other side of the city. No working at home for either of them, at least not until Geo is released to the reserves. But day-care won't be full-time for any of the babies or the older kids; it's good socializing for them but we grands and greats want them with us too."

Jethro grabbed Abby's suitcase and they started their climb to the third floor. Once there, she looked out of every window, loving the views. "Kelly really doesn't live here?"

"No. She and Rob both work at UNM Medical Center. Because they're still seen as the newbies, they work the shifts no one else wants, mostly PMs and weekends. The two of them tried commuting from here for the first couple of weeks and then rented an apartment together. It's a 3-bedroom so Ali, who is Rob's girlfriend and Ellie's cousin, took the third room. They pop in on their days off and Kelly stays over sometimes."

"But not Rob?"

Jethro smirked, "I suppose if Ali is ever called out of town he might, but I think he feels it might be awkward to come home with Ali."

"Do you like her?"

"Yes, she's good for him, draws him out of his shell and he's good for her too."

"Is Kelly seeing anyone?"

"She was seeing someone Tim invited to shelter with us; they've recently broken up. I think you were gone by the time they met. Do you remember the guy who delivered Chinese food to NCIS?"

"Sure, Mateo, great guy, pre-law at GW. He was at the diner the day Kyle and I left."

"That's right. He was one semester shy of his degree. When our teachers pulled together college level information for the others, they included Ali, who's an attorney and between the four college instructors and help from their former professors, they managed to teach Mateo everything he needed for that last semester. He had to take tests to prove he knew the subject matter but he passed them. He graduated and is now attending GWU's Law School in Santa Fe. We're very proud of him. He and Kelly hit it off when they first met and were close while we were inside but he's too busy with work and school, apparently doesn't have time for my daughter. I'm not supposed to know but she's seeing someone else now."

Abby grinned, "How does Kelly's father feel about that?"

"As long as she's happy, I'm happy. I still have problems seeing Kelly as my little girl but Dave, that's Tim and Sarah's godfather, assures me feeling that way is normal. He has a daughter older than Tim and still wonders how it happened. Although he didn't spend 25 years mourning his daughter's death." Shaking off the bitter comment, he shrugged, "Let's go. We have plenty of time to talk."

"Good, because I have something I need to talk about with you. Not a serious problem but something I'd like to run by you and Ducky."

"All right."

When they'd driven onto the property, she'd seen the house, barn, and a few guesthouses but hadn't looked further. Now as they stepped onto the back porch, she looked around. "This place is huge!"

"600 acres."

She frowned at the sounds she was hearing, "Construction?"

"Yes, the ranch house will eventually be home for the Greats, Grands and visitors. When we bought this place it was for vacations, now we live here." He filled her in on the new plans.

"So first the barn and then a new house for Tim and Ellie followed by the DiNozzos?"

"The current lineup is Tim and Ellie, the Palmers and Hubbards, who are Tim and Sarah's uncle and aunt. Then the DiNozzos, Cranes, Tim and Sarah's godparents, and the Chalmers. Geordie and Bec will be last as they're the least crowded and their lot needs less preparation.

"Right now, most of the kids sleep in dormitory-style rooms, school age and up. All the girls in one, the boys in another. The littles aged five and under sleep in the nursery. That's our Lia, Ricky and Teddy Palmer, Arin DiNozzo. Baby Mac will move into the nursery soon. He sleeps there during the day now."

"Yeah, I can see why they need their own places. Geez, Tim and Ellie have four kids!"

Jethro nodded, "It's a big change. Ty and Brynie were toddlers when Tim brought them home and Lia was about 3 ½ months old. Mackie is our first newborn."

"Mackie, is that what he'll be called?"

"Can't call him little Mac or baby Mac forever."

"Do you know names for the other babies yet?"

"No, they all decided they didn't want to know gender ahead of time."

"Sounds like fun!" She looked around, "That's the biggest barn I've ever seen!"

"Yeah, we've got 35 bunkrooms in there."

"How many guesthouses?"

"20 total. We moved all but the ones you see over to the housing development. I'll show you on the ATV, we'll stop at the Mallards so you can meet Maisie. Did you know we're cousins?"

"What? Isn't she Sarah's grandmother?"

"Yes."

"That must be a story!"

"Oh yeah."

She laughed as they climbed on the ATV, glad she'd worn jeans and sneakers. Gibbs drove her around three-quarters of the ranch house first. For the remaining quarter, he drove in a very large circle away from the house and he pointed to a low mound close to the driveway. "We've just driven around the perimeter of the shelter, that mound is the above-ground entrance. There's a tunnel entrance in the basement of the house. Show you that later."

"Ok. Yeah, that's huge." She chuckled, "My word of the day."

She smiled at the guesthouses. Each of them had a shaded front porch, just big enough for a small table, a couple of chairs, a few plants and a ceiling fan. And they faced each other, making a little lane in between. There were six guesthouses per block, three on each side of the lane. The lane was lined with small trees.

"There are three blocks, with different types of trees. We had mature trees but the fallout smothered them; the rains didn't come soon enough. You'll see the rest of these across the bridge in the housing development. Some of them have fenced backyards for those with kids. Don't know what we're going to do with them long-term. Once everyone's back in the country, I guess people could stay and rent from us. Haven't talked about that yet. The kids are calling it a village and say their homes will be a little village too." He drove back up the lane to the first guesthouse and parked. "This is the Mallards."

"Yay!" Abby admired the blooming flowers in their cheerful pots on the porch as well as the scattering of comfortable chairs and small tables.

The door opened and Ducky appeared, "Welcome to the new Mallard Inn!"

A pretty, white-haired, blue-eyed woman stood next to him, smiling. Ducky introduced them and Maisie gave her a gentle hug. "Welcome, my dear! I'm so pleased to finally meet you! The children have been so excited about your visit - I'm surprised they haven't sneaked out of work!"

Abby gave a surprised laugh as she realized the "children" were her friends, not the littles. She was given a tour of the Mallards' home, which looked very comfortable if tiny compared with either of Ducky's previous homes. She smiled at the china hutch with its pretty treasures, recognizing a few things. She nodded in approval at the photos of Ducky and his brother Nicholas; she remembered Breena mentioning that Tim 'rescued' them. She wondered if Maisie had met Nicholas when he lived in London. The timing seemed right.

Over generous glasses of iced tea, she heard the story of Charlotte and Iona Stirling and their descendants. Maisie picked up a photo, showing it to Abby, "This is the ring Donald used for my wedding ring. It was on loan from Eleanor."

Jethro smiled at her, "I brought a box of jewelry home from Stillwater after Jack died and that was in it. When Tim and Ellie were selecting wedding rings, they looked in the box first. This ring originally belonged to Charlotte Stirling Baxter, my grandmother, and Maisie's aunt."

Maisie continued the tale, "At the time of our wedding, we didn't yet know of our familial connection, besides Sarah of course. You can imagine how I felt when I discovered the importance of the ring."

Abby shook her head, "That's amazing! In Gibbs' family, we don't believe in coincidences, which makes this even more special!"

Ducky and Gibbs exchanged smiles, happy to hear Abby once again include herself in the family.

From the Mallards, Gibbs drove over the wooden bridge built over the dry wash between the ranch and The Grove. He waved at some of the residents as he throttled down and slowly drove through each neighborhood. She was astounded and impressed by the setup, the look of the container homes and commented on the street names.

Gibbs pulled up to a house he believed was empty, confirming that with one of the neighbors. "Hey, Henry!"

"Jethro, hello!"

"This is Abby, making her first visit. The Stevens family moved out, correct?"

"That's right, he was hired by a geothermal outfit in California and I believe the new folks won't be here until Monday. The cleaning crew was here yesterday."

"Good to know, thanks. Thought I'd show her what the places look like inside."

The elderly man smiled at Abby, "Nicely decorated, warm and comfortable with everything we need, Miss. Will you be moving in here?"

"No, Sir. I'm also a Returnee but I'm one of the lucky ones, I came home to a job in San Diego."

"Wonderful!"

Abby returned his smile, following Jethro inside the "L" shaped home. When she entered, she looked around, nodding her head. "This is great; you guys did a good job with this. You drywalled?"

"Needed to insulate."

"Makes sense. You'd never know it's the inside of a shipping container!"

Gibbs huffed, "Tony still hasn't been in one. Says they still give him nightmares after being trapped in one with Ziva. He helped with the sites, was on the Exterior team choosing colors, painting doors and trim but never inside."

"On the docks, I remember that. Guess I can't blame him." She moved around, looking into the bedrooms and bathrooms. "Henry is right, there's everything anyone would need."

"The basics, anyway. Be nice to add a wraparound porch or a roof deck. Playrooms for the kids, I'm a big believer in those."

"Is Henry here with his family?"

"He and his wife have three grown kids they say are scattered around the world. When they arrived, the only unit available was the larger one. We were so crowded that at one point they had another family sharing with them."

"They're retired, right? Are they staying or will they have to move out?"

"They've asked to stay and rent one of the single units. Those have a small second room, which he and his wife Bess say will be just perfect. They know the unit they want and will wait until it's available. The LLC, do you know about that?"

She nodded, saying, "Yes, Ducky wrote me about it."

Jethro continued, "Good. We discussed whether we wanted to have rentals, how to handle utilities and then met with our real estate attorney and determined the monthly rent. Before they move, the power company will disconnect their new place from the development grid and add a new box for them and the water company will do the same. The whole community is on a series of septic tanks so there's no change there. Last night Tobias and I decided to build that wraparound porch for them."

"Oh, that will be great! I bet there will be several people who want to stay, a lot of retirees."

"Could be but we're thirty-three miles from the closest hospital and it's thirty miles into town. The Evacuees don't have cars when they first get here and most still don't when they leave." He shook his head, "Banking…I'm grateful Tim told us to clean out our accounts and bring the information with us. Most people live paycheck to paycheck and if they didn't have time to clean out their accounts or haven't had access to their bank, they're penniless when they arrive.

"The banking world is still working with the Evacuees to make their money accessible to them. The financial world is the slowest to respond in this whole situation, frequently the biggest obstacle to a person's recovery. Makes me wonder…the financial institutions suddenly had all this money not immediately accessible to their customers and now they're dragging their feet about releasing the funds.

"Many of the retirees are actually better off because their pensions, annuities and Social Security checks never stopped. The grocery store is within walking distance and the manager stocks household goods too. There's also the bus and there's almost always someone at the ranch to drive people into town but we're concerned about the older folks."

"Maybe when things are sorted, you can research what's involved in a retirement community, what it would need in place and how to run it."

"Yeah, maybe. Anyway, I'm glad you like the place."

"That painting in the bedroom is beautiful."

"Thank Ellie for that! She's taken up painting or resumed painting to relieve stress, says she first started while she was at the NSA. She's also in touch with three artists who live in Greece; one of them is a cousin of our neighbors the Ortizes. The three of them had an auction in Athens for some of their works and then donated the money to the Evacuees. They've also sent clothes and other items to help out."

"Wow, that's something, grass roots help on a global scale!"

Gibbs nodded, "We've heard that clothing, shoes, and household items have been sent from countries, allies or not, on every continent. Tim told me a group of scientists in Antarctica sent boxes, which makes the relief effort truly global."

Abby thought about that. "Sometimes instantly knowing what's happening in the world is a headache - and heartache. In this case, it's pretty cool that people everywhere are responding to our need for help."

They left the house, Gibbs locking the door behind them. Waving goodbye to Henry, they climbed back on the ATV. "By now, the construction crew is done for the day; want to see the horse barn and new home sites?"

"Yes please!"

Gibbs took a long way around, first showing her the rest of the container homes, the Laundry Barns and the small grouping of guesthouses before driving over the bridge. Back on ranch property, he turned left and using a well-worn path, drove through a field of wildflowers to the new barn. Steve's crew was finished with the building and nearly finished with the paddock.

Abby shook her head at the barn. "My tough as nails, metropolitan DC feds have totally gone country! I know Ellie has a horse in Oklahoma, is it moving here?"

"Yes, Acorn and she's here already. Tim owns a horse now too, Vámonos. He learned to ride him over at the Ortiz ranch and he's still stabled there along with Acorn. When the barn and corral are ready, they'll move over. Ty and Brynie are still wild about riding so they'll probably end up with ponies or horses too." He looked at Abby, "You ride?"

"Only carousel horses!"

Chuckling, he maneuvered the ATV back onto the graveled road and headed for the new home sites. Abby gasped as they rode over a small rise. Except for the work on the first three homes, which looked about halfway complete, the surrounding terrain sprawled out before them was beautiful and looked pristine, untouched. She muttered "Lewis and Clark" to herself.

Gibbs was puzzled, "Did you say 'Lewis and Clark'? They were farther north."

"Well yes but the effect is the same. Virgin land untouched by American/European/Western civilization." She looked around, "How far are we from the ranch house?"

"Just over that rise." He pointed, "About an eighth of a mile."

"Wow, this is incredible! Will they be the only ones out here?"

"No, there's room for Kelly and Rob to build if/when they want."

"All your kids."

Not quite ready to address that particular elephant in the ATV with them, Gibbs chose to deflect.

"When they first started the project, they were going to build out beyond the horse barn. Then the architect suggested moving the guesthouses. Much to our relief!"

"Here they'll be close to the main house but far enough away to build the houses they want?"

"Yeah. And we have 600 acres, no reason for all of us to be jammed onto two or three of them."

"How big are the sites?"

"Two acres each. Tim and Ellie's will be the closest to the barn and paddock. You can see a bit of the layout from the first three buildings. There will also be a pool that we'll share, heavily fenced and secured, of course. The fence surrounding the Ortiz pool is 12-foot high with a mechanized cover when it's not in use and we'll do that too. The kids, that is, my kids, have also been talking about a community garden, which means guarding against deer and rabbits and I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with a few goats and sheep. They'd help keep the grasses down and we could shear them and sell the wool. It'll be a lot of work though as the animals have to be inside at night. I know from my Gibbs' grandparents that sheep and goats can be stubborn. So we'll see."

"This road will be paved after construction is done. No sense doing it now, it'd be all torn up by the time the houses are done. If you look closely, you can see the stakes for each site."

"Oh yeah. Those are big sites! Will they all be the same style?" She squinted after she asked; the three houses in progress didn't look like they were the same style.

"So far, no. They've each met with the architect and have their own wish lists. All of them will be one story. Tim and Ellie's is…I've lost track of the number of bedrooms, 6 last I heard, with 3½ baths. It'll be New Mexican adobe with a usable courtyard in front and a very large fenced backyard with a shaded patio, fenced play area, garden and native trees.

"Tony and Maggie's will be rustic modern, built of woods native to the region. Geordie and Bec are going for a cabin-style house built of wood with a metal roof. They're taking that plot," he pointed to one that was nestled closer to the trees. "The Palmers are going with an adobe with an interior courtyard. I haven't seen the plans for the Hubbards or Cranes."

She thought about Jimmy and Breena's plans, "Interior courtyard? Does that mean the house will be built around it? That sounds interesting."

"The original interior courtyard homes were Mexican or maybe Spanish, I'm not sure. Jimmy and Breena have been looking at photos online, some are spectacular."

She nodded, thinking she'd ask her friends to show her.

Once she'd had her fill of looking at the home sites, they drove back to the house and Gibbs took her through the basement to the shelter tunnel, flicking on the overhead light when they came to his workbench. It was still outside the last door into the shelter. Abby smiled at the light and Jethro nodded, "Tim wired an overhead light and an outlet so I had a floor lamp too. Worked well."

"That's so cool you had a workbench. Were you working on baby furniture?"

"Some toward the end. In the beginning, I was making shelves for everyone. Rick and Denise have a shelf that fastens onto their headboard and I made similar ones for the kids and several other people too. And Abby, I brought my workbench from home; I'll show you our workshop later."

She smiled, loving that and then gasped as they walked into the shelter, "It's a giant cave, a giant round cave!"

"Yeah, that's what Shannon calls it, a concrete cave."

She examined the kitchen, approving of the three dressers still in use as a kitchen island and the tables and chairs that were still there. She also liked the setup of the common area with the few pieces of furniture still in place.

He showed her the various rooms, telling her the story of the teens' rooms with the nearly deaf couple on one side, a bathroom in the middle and Ellie's two night owl cousins on the other side. She got a kick out of that.

The NCIS folks still staying in the existing rooms had their names on their bedroom doors. Abby touched the signs of people she knew. When she came to an empty room, she poked her head inside and understood why the dressers were outside the rooms themselves.

"I can't believe this, I mean I can because obviously you lived in here but it's so big and you have everything!"

She saw the garden room, commenting on the still flourishing plants, smiled as she saw the bookshelves in the library, nearly empty now as the books were gradually moved up to the house library. Gibbs told her how the NCIS agents had commandeered the room once they had internet capability. "They could work in private in here but when they needed to make phone calls, they had to go out to one of the tunnels." She just shook her head.

The media room had a couple of TVs, DVD players and a few DVDs still there and Abby grinned as she heard about their daily Disney movies and the marathons of TV shows, movie series and what Tony called "Actors' Showcase" where every film with a specific actor was shown. Vance's boxing ring was still set up in the fitness room as well as some of the other equipment. The cork from the walking path and the other cork flooring was now in the house nursery and playroom but Abby could see the lines where Shannon marked off parts of a mile on the concrete.

She smiled at the aquariums still there and going strong. With the power still on, Tim and Ellie decided to leave the fish and turtles where they were until their new house was ready. The NCIS folks and other evacuees who stayed in the shelter commented on how soothing it was to watch the fish and fun to watch the turtles.

The classroom was empty of textbooks, students, and teachers but some of the tables, chairs and Mel's room divider were still there. From there, Abby looked at the animal shelter, laughing at some of the signs over what had obviously been pet beds. She especially liked the one Tim's kids made for their dog, including a photo of their pet. It said, "This spot belongs to Neo Gibbs. Trespassing is prohibited unless you have treats!"

She was still marveling at everything as they returned to the house and now she noticed the planter boxes in the basement, complete with grow lights and another small water tank and oddly, rectangular chalk marks up high on the wall. "Why still inside?"

He told her about Bec's concerns and priorities, adding in Tim's use of Amazon to ship large bags of clean soil to the ranch, their use of the seeds and rootstock from the Virginia grown plants. He looked around, saying, "Unless we build a greenhouse, which I can see happening after the houses are done, we'll keep plants going in here, we can grow year around that way. Those marks are for clerestory windows we'll have put in. Tim plans to do something to them so they can be opened with a remote."

Abby huffed, "This was a massive undertaking, all of it. So much planning and doing, I'm really impressed."

"That's my boy. Tim was the one who got us going and kept us going. The first night he told Ellie what the threat was they made a list of people, things that had to be done, things that were needed. And then he got to work. Jerry, Ellie's dad, heard the rumors and told Tim when we were here at Easter, geez that's nearly a year ago!" Gibbs told her more of what happened, finishing with, "By the time we heard about it, Jerry had already found this shelter for us and Tim had already moved funds to pay for it."

"He knew all that time? He paid for it? You said that before, that Gemcity bought a luxury shelter."

"Yep, Jerry told him the total and he didn't even blink. Said later it was only money and family comes first. Shannon and I paid for our kids, grandkids, Mac and us. The Bishops paid their share, although we first deducted what Jerry paid for the generators and a few other things. And others have chipped in. Ducky paid for himself and the Palmers, the Slaters paid their way, the Vances, Hubbards, and Cranes paid for their families. You haven't met them yet. Yes, Tim was determined. And no, he didn't know everything when Jerry told him the rumor. He didn't figure out the 'when' until the day before we left. He went over to Ducky's and," Gibbs told Abby how Tim figured out the last piece of information.

"Oh my God, Gibbs, I had no idea! We missed so much. It was hard to get U.S. news where we were living in Belize; we only heard what made it to the international news."

"The President's addresses are all on YouTube."

"I'll watch those." She looked at him in surprise, "You know about YouTube?"

"Sure. They played the All-Star game a few weeks after the attack but we didn't get to see it. Jerry found the game on YouTube when the internet was available again and we watched the whole thing plus the rest of the games we missed. Found some woodworking tutorials too, it's great!"

Wisely, she kept her comments to herself, thinking all he'd really needed to join the electronic world were things that interested him. Things he didn't need a team to find for him in order to solve crimes.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Back on the main floor of the house, Sarah and Shannon were home from Sarah's medical appointment. Sarah was resting while Shannon was heating a bottle for Mackie, who'd gone with them. He was in his little carry seat, sitting on the table, watching his grandmother fix his lunch. As Jethro and Abby entered the kitchen, Shannon turned.

"There you are! Abby, welcome to Rancho La Serenidad!" She handed the bottle to her husband and kissed Abby.

"Thank you, Shannon; I'm excited to finally be here! Gibbs gave me the grand tour."

"Ah, you saw all our houses?"

"Even the interior of one. And met one of the residents. I also met Maisie; we had tea with them, saw the new barn and the home sites and had a tour of the shelter."

"Isn't that something? Took nearly 16 months to rehab this house for family vacations and then those idiots decide to blow up DC. Anyway, here we are, safe and sound, if a bit crowded at present." Shannon smiled as Jethro removed Mackie from his seat and sat down to feed him.

"And this is Mackie. Isn't he beautiful?"

Abby was glad she didn't have to lie, most newborns looked like aliens to her but at five months, little Mackie was a beautiful blend of his parents and...

"He is, looks like both Tim and Ellie. And Gibbs, he looks like you too!"

Jethro nodded, a little smug.

Shannon smiled, "Ellie says she never thought she looked anything like Jerry, her dad, but now she sees him in Mackie. And that's fitting because his middle name is Gerard."

"For Ellie's dad, that's sweet." She looked at Gibbs, "Is one of the others going to have Leroy or Jethro in his name?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Asked them not to. None of them will have Gibbs as a surname so I wouldn't mind that as a middle name but LJ's gone and I don't see any need to perpetuate the names. Rather they use Jackson, Anne, Charlotte or Robert if they want to use Gibbs' family names."

"What about Jack's parents?"

"Zebulon and Esther."

"Zeb's kind of cool and Esther is a pretty name."

Shannon smiled again before saying, "We don't know whether the new babies will have family names or names all their own. I'm pretty sure Baby DiNozzo is a girl but I don't have feelings either way on the other two."

Abby grinned at her, "You think it's a girl because Tony was such a player."

Shannon grinned back at her. "You know what they say about payback!"

Jethro made an amused noise, jostling the baby a little and Mackie stopped guzzling his bottle to give him a look, making all three adults laugh aloud.

Still laughing, Abby said, "He may look like a blend of his parents but that was definitely a Tim look!"

After he finished lunch, Abby held him for a few minutes. He was quiet, examining her with his big brown eyes. She smiled at him, "Brown eyes from his mom."

"Yes and that will be nice for Lia as she grows up, to have a brown-eyed sibling."

Sarah appeared in the doorway, "I'm sure they'll have at least one brown-eyed cousin. I mean besides their Bishop cousins. Hi, Abby!"

She waddled over to give her a hug, making sure not to squish Mackie in the process.

"Wow Sarah, you look like you're ready to go any minute!"

She chuckled, "You think this is bad, wait until you see Maggie! She looks like she's got three kids inside her!"

"How about Geordie's wife?"

"Not quite as elephant sized as Maggie and I are."

Gibbs looked at his daughter, "Had a swim yet today?"

"No, you want to go with me?"

"Sure. Abby, did you bring your swim things?"

"Yes and I'm excited about swimming without worrying about sunburn!"

Shannon nodded, "It's wonderful; we swam all winter. Of course, we drove to the pool, which is a three-minute walk and huddled in blankets all the way back! We're still driving over; it's easier with all of the baby's paraphernalia. It'll be a challenge to see how we fit all four babies and their stuff into one car after everyone's on the outside."

Gibbs frowned, "Is Maggie lying down? I thought she had an appointment too."

"She did but another patient went into labor so Maggie had to wait to see the other OB. Tony's with her."

"He's bringing her home?"

"Yes. Tim and Ellie will bring Arin home with their gang."

Abby shook her head, "It's already hard to keep them straight!"

Shannon laughed, "Oh we know, Abby, we know! It's going to be complete chaos for several months and then things will settle down."

When Jethro snorted, they all laughed and Mackie made a happy noise.

After carefully handing over the baby, Abby went upstairs to change into her swimsuit. She grabbed her towel and then on second thought, emptied out her carry-on bag and put her dry clothes in it. No need to climb the stairs again. When she appeared in the kitchen with her bag, Shannon nodded, "Smart! A couple of times a day are enough on those stairs. The good news is it's quieter up there. Mackie is still sleeping in his parents' room and they're on the first floor until he's ready to sleep in the nursery."

Shannon had the baby in a baby sling and Abby helped Gibbs carry some of the baby gear. Sarah reappeared with a towel. "Sorry I can't carry anything."

"That's all right, Sari. You're carrying enough already!"

Inside the climate control dome, they found Ducky and Maisie relaxing in the water. Mackie sat in a little flotation chair on a deck around the pool built by Jethro, Jerry and Tobias. He watched, mouthing a baby-safe soft toy while his Nonny and Poppy swam a few laps. Sarah floated, moaning in happiness as the buoyancy of the water helped relieve her pregnancy weight. Abby plunged right in, squealing in glee at the warm temperature. She laughed when Mackie squealed back at her.