Chapter Nine: Trouble's Brewing
Just when Gibbs started getting used to the new noise level caused by his three young children, it increased again. He froze in place when he heard the stampede behind him and moments later Abby raced by him on one side and Mason on the other. As soon as he took another step towards the kitchen, Sadie ran by followed by Tim. He turned around to see if anyone else was coming and LJ leaped into his arms. Gibbs caught him with a grunt, snatching him up seconds before Dash skidded by. The boy let out an ear piercing scream and wrapped his arms around Gibbs' neck so tightly he nearly choked him.
"Easy," Gibbs said. He loosened LJ's grip and turned to see why he was screaming.
"Tony, what're you doing?"
"Uhh—"
"Take that off."
"Sorry, Boss," Tony said as he removed the gas mask he was wearing. "Did you really have to wear this thing? It's not very comfortable and it's kinda smelly. Did you get it in the Corps?"
"Yes and I only had to wear it during training exercises," Gibbs said. He took the mask from Tony and tucked it away on the top shelf of one of the built in bookcases in his living room.
Tony walked into the kitchen where the others had gathered and couldn't resist teasing them a little more. "Boo," he said.
Mason and Sadie screamed and took off running again. LJ wiggled free from Gibbs' arms and chased after them followed by Dash. After shoving a handful of chips into his mouth, Tony hurried off as well.
"Lively group," Jack said.
"This is what it is like at work every day," Ziva said, tossing the salad before adding the tomatoes.
"I remember," Jack replied.
"Speaking of work, are you excited about your time off, Gibbs?" Abby asked as she leaned back against him.
"I am," Gibbs answered with a smile, wrapping his arms around Abby's waist. Usually he loathed time off and avoided it at all costs but this was different. Now he had a life outside the office and a reason to take time off. "And you guys don't have to stay away. The kids and I would love to have you over any time."
Abby's mouth dropped open and she jerked her head in Jack's direction. "You ratted us out!" she accused.
"Guilty," Jack admitted, "but in my defense I know each of you well and communication isn't always your strong suit."
Gibbs kissed the back of Abby's head in an effort to hide his smile but he was pretty sure his father knew exactly what he was doing. Despite living four hours away, the man always seemed to have a handle on what was going on and he wasn't one to hold back. If there was a problem he had no qualms about trying to solve it.
Abby shrugged the whole thing off and the conversation continued. "What're you gonna do with the kids when you come back to work?"
"I decided to look for a nanny," Gibbs answered. "That way Dash won't be alone all day and I know there's one person focused on my kids, not a couple people focused on a big group of kids." He'd gone back and forth on the issue and decided with his work hours that bringing a nanny into his home would be the best, least stressful option, even if he did end up paying a little more.
"One of my friends just got married," Abby said. "She and her hubby don't have any kids yet but I know she loves them. She runs the children's program at my church. She's young, has lots of energy and she's very creative. I could ask her if she's interested."
"How well do you know her?" Gibbs asked.
"Well enough to recommend her to take care of three of the most important people in your life," Abby answered.
Gibbs hesitated briefly before replying. "Alright, no promises but you can talk to her and give her my number if she's interested."
"I hope she is," Abby squealed. "You're gonna love her, Gibbs, and so will the kids!"
Lisa felt like she'd been waiting in line to use the phone forever when in reality it hadn't even been a half an hour. She followed the somewhat complicated instructions to place an outgoing call and to her relief the other line was picked up after only two rings.
"Yeah, it's Gibbs."
"Jethro, it's me. You've gotta get me outta here, please."
"Lisa," Gibbs said as he separated himself from the group of people at his house. "Where are you?"
"I'm in jail!" she practically yelled.
"I spoke with the prosecutor yesterday morning," Gibbs said calmly. "There's nothing else I can do."
"But I can't stay here."
The desperation in Lisa's voice tore at Gibbs but there really wasn't anything more he could do for her.
"I'll disappear," she said. "If you get me out of here, you'll never hear from me again. You can even have the kids. I promise."
"Lisa, the kids aren't bartering chips you can use to get what you want. They're people and there's nothing more I can do for you. You'll go before the judge on Monday. Until then you've gotta stay there." That was when the sobbing started. A lot of sobbing. He could hear some of the inmates in the background yelling at her and then someone right next to her trying to calm her right before the line went dead. Whether she ran out of time or someone hung up the phone, he didn't know.
"Your lasagna's getting cold, Son," Jack said, "and Mason picked all the olives out of your salad."
"'m comin'," Gibbs said.
"Something wrong?"
Gibbs considered telling his father about the phone call but decided against it. "No," he replied, "everything's fine."
It looked like there had been an earthquake in their dining room when they returned. The kids were trying to suppress their giggles and the adults trying to hide their smiles with the exception of Ducky who looked like he was ready to raise the white flag in surrender.
"Would anybody like to tell me why there are peas all over the table?" Gibbs asked as he sat down.
The group looked to Tony, unanimously electing him to be their spokesperson.
"Uhh… because Dash isn't allowed on the table so he couldn't clean this up for us," Tony answered.
Gibbs resisted the urge to smack the back of Tony's head and also managed to successfully hide his smirk. "And whose peas are they?"
"Some of them are mine, a few are Abby's, one or two might be Sadie's and the rest are LJ's," Tony said. He thought for a moment then amended his statement. "Actually, I think Sadie's rolled on the floor and Dash ate them."
Gibbs narrowed his eyes at his agent but a little hand squeezing his refocused his attention. He looked down and saw Sadie smiling at him. Gibbs smiled back and brought her hand to his lips for a kiss.
"What about you, LJ? What do you have to say for yourself?"
LJ looked from Tony to his daddy and erupted into a fit of giggles.
"No more food fights," Gibbs said in a tone that said he meant business but also told the kids he wasn't angry.
"Mm-kay," Mason said.
"And of course the only one I get a response from is the one who wasn't involved, or was he?"
"He probably would've been if he hadn't been so busy eating," Tim said. He wiped the sauce of Mason's face before ruffling the boy's hair.
"As much as that boy's been eating, I predict a growth spurt in the near future for him," Jack said.
"LJ's a good eater too when he's not throwing his food across the table," Gibbs said, "and I bet Sadie will be too once she shakes the flu."
"Has she had anymore seizures?" Ducky asked.
"No," Gibbs answered. "We've been able to keep her fever down. Hopefully the next time it spikes, we can catch it before she has a seizure."
"Well, as scary as a seizure can be, it is fairly common in young children with high fevers," Ducky said. "They almost always go away on their own."
"I hope you're right, Duck," Gibbs said, "but if it happens again we'll deal with it."
"That's right," Jack said, winking at Sadie. "Now, who's ready for dessert?"
After a week of not hearing from Abby's friend about watching the children, Gibbs and Jack started the stressful search for someone they could feel comfortable leaving the triplets with. They spent days looking through candidates, interviewing the ones that stood out and introducing the kids to a few of them. The process was long but the importance of the task spurred them on.
Two and a half weeks after starting the search, over fifty candidates, thirty interviews and less than ten introductions to the kids later, Gibbs and Jack had set up what they hoped would be the last one. Twenty seven year old Allie Linton was scheduled to come over the following morning for her second meeting with the kids. Gibbs and Jack had hovered over the first meeting but for the second meeting Allie would be taking advantage of the first somewhat nice day of the year and taking the triplets to the neighborhood park. If all went well the search would be over.
Unfortunately, due to a call from Kathryn James about some business at the store that only Jack could take care of, he was headed back to Stillwater, leaving Gibbs to make the final call on hiring Allie. After one final day of fun with Grandpa, it was almost time to say goodbye. It had been a wonderful four week visit and he found himself not wanting to go. He'd offered to take care of things at the store and come right back and he'd even briefly considered moving but Gibbs assured him that he had everything under control and Jack knew his son was fully capable.
After losing his wife all those years ago and Shannon and Kelly's untimely deaths, Jack was tempted to start looking for a place in DC anyways. Family was more important to him than his address and now that he and his son had repaired their relationship and he had three grandchildren to dote on, there were four good reasons to at the very least consider a move. There would be time to contemplate that later though.
Mason toddled into the downstairs guestroom, carrying one of Sadie's doll suitcases and put it on the bed next to Jack's suitcase.
"Hello there," Jack said with an amused grin. "What are you doing?"
"I go," Mason answered.
"I wish you could but Daddy would miss you and so would LJ and Sadie. We'll see each other again real soon though."
Mason's bright, happy expression quickly turned to one of devastation. He was under the impression they were all going on a trip. How would they survive without Grandpa and why was he leaving anyways? Did he not like them anymore? What would happen when Daddy decided he didn't like them anymore either, just like Mommy and Grandpa had?
All of a sudden Mason's sobs were echoing through the entire house, startling everyone. Mason never cried.
"Hey now," Jack said as he picked his grandson up, "everything'll be okay."
"What happened?" Gibbs asked as he hurried into the room.
"I don't know," Jack answered. "He came in here with his bags packed and I told him he was going to stay here with you and his siblings. Next thing I know he's crying."
"Aw, we're not that bad, are we, Mason?" Gibbs asked as he took the boy from his dad.
"No," Mason sobbed.
"What's the matter, buddy?" Gibbs rubbed the boy's back and bounced him on his hip, trying to calm him so he could figure out what was wrong with his normally happy child.
Mason wasn't sure how to put his fears into words so he just clung to his daddy tighter. Gibbs held Mason closer and peppered his head with his kisses.
"It's okay," he said gently. "You're okay. You and Sadie and LJ and I are gonna live here and Grandpa's gonna come visit us all the time. He's just a phone call away."
"That's right," Jack said.
Mason decided that didn't sound so bad and let Gibbs' soothing touches calm him.
"That's better," Gibbs said.
"This isn't goodbye, Mason," Jack said, "this is I'll see you later. In fact, somebody has a birthday coming up in a few weeks and I wouldn't miss that for the world."
After a few more sniffles and a kiss from both Daddy and Grandpa, Mason seemed to be over whatever was bothering him so Gibbs lowered him to floor and let the boy help him carry Grandpa's suitcase to the front door. Everyone got their shoes, coats and hats on then they headed out to the car.
The ride to the train station was somber with the looming goodbye. Gibbs and Jack carried the conversation which reassured all three children. Nothing bad was happening and Grandpa wasn't leaving because they'd done anything wrong. Everything was okay. After one last round of hugs and kisses, Jack headed off to catch his train and Gibbs took his crew back out to the car.
Lisa could hardly believe her luck. After a fight at the jail that hadn't been her fault she'd been taken to the hospital with seven other inmates. Doctors popped her dislocated shoulder back into place and diagnosed her with a mild concussion then hurried off to treat the other patients. When the guard assigned to watch her and three other low risk inmates stepped into the nurse's break room to get himself some coffee for the long night ahead, Lisa knew what she had to do.
Because of the chaos at the jail and in the emergency room, she hadn't been handcuffed. She slipped out of bed and quickly rearranged the pillows to make it appear as if someone was still under the blanket then turned off the light in hopes the guard would think she was sleeping. She scanned the busy hallway and when she didn't see anyone she recognized, she squared her shoulders and walked out with confidence as if she belonged there.
The scrub top she'd been loaned to replace her bloodied top helped her blend in while she casually made her way down the busy hallway and out the side exit that the ambulances used. She smiled and gave a friendly nod to the paramedics who were unloading a patient from their ambulance, waited for them to go inside then disappeared into the night.