Section 35
"Morning, Tony." Jackson smiled as his son-in-law almost ran through the kitchen taking the puppy to the backyard.
"Good-morning, Jackson," Tony called back over his shoulder.
"There's coffee," Jackson said as Gibbs followed Tony into the kitchen at a much slower pace. "Tony seemed to be in a hurry."
Gibbs smirked. "While he was pulling on his shirt and jeans, the fuzzball started looking for a place to squat." Filling his favorite cup, he stood at the sink watching his barefoot husband, and wasn't that still a new thought, following the pup around the yard. The pup was leading him all over as he tried to decide where to mark his turf.
Jackson dished up the potato and egg scramble, then joined him at the window. He snorted with laughter as Tony stepped on something and hopped on one leg. The pup took advantage of his situation and dashed towards Tony's good leg. Both Gibbs men smirked when Tony ended up on his rear on the morning dew soaked grass.
When Tony started towards the house, puppy tucked under one arm, Gibbs retrieved what he had come to consider Tony's mug and filled it. Shuddering at the thought, he generously added sugar. Crossing to the fridge he also added the hazelnut crap Tony liked. Hearing the door, Gibbs moved towards the counter as Tony entered letting the pup down. The small bundle of energy headed for Gibbs and pawed at his shoes especially the leather laces.
"No." Gibbs looked down and said firmly. The pup made a grab for the nearest lace and Gibbs used his foot to gently push him back. "No. If you want to chew, get your toy."
"Jethro, he's just a baby. He doesn't know what you're saying." Tony complained. Gibbs just smirked and handed him the coffee. As Tony leaned forward to accept the cup, Gibbs dropped a quick kiss on his lips. Tony froze, looked around for Jackson and found the older man smiling fondly.
"He needs to learn now. Start him off right," Gibbs continued as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
"Come and get it while it's hot." Jackson herded his boys towards the table. "Yes, yes, I see you." Jackson said to the pup who was pawing at his pants. The pup followed them to the table dancing around his humans.
"Wow." Tony breathed in deeply. "This looks great, Jackson." The older man had made potatoes, scrambled eggs and ham plus hot cakes to go with the bacon.
"You should taste Tony's scrambled eggs, Dad." Gibbs said as he passed the food to Tony. "He made them for us at the cabin."
Tony beamed with pleasure at Gibbs' compliment. He took several slices of the crisp bacon, biting into one with relish. Bacon for breakfast was something he rarely took time to make. If he admitted the truth, it's because he rarely had time to make it correctly in the morning. It was either cooked too fast or too slow
"No." Jethro caught Tony's forearm as he made to slip a piece of bacon to the fuzzball. "No table scraps."
"Jethro…"
"He's right, son. The pup's still a baby. Table food is likely to upset his stomach and make him sick."
Tony looked appalled that he had almost hurt the puppy. "I didn't know."
"It's okay, Tony. No harm done." Jethro gave him a small smile. "I know the movies show it all the time. It really isn't a good idea though. It also teaches them to beg at the table even when the human food is too spicy or rich for their system. It's best to feed him the puppy mix and you can reward him with treats."
"Sorry." Tony looked down at the puppy. "Let me get you some food."
Jackson reach out this time, "I put food in his bowl this morning."
"Thanks, Jackson." Tony leaned over patting the squirming puppy. "Go eat," he shooed him gently. Finally the puppy began to wander around the kitchen poking his nose into corners and nooks.
The three men exchanged small talk at they ate the meal Jackson had prepared. As they tossed around possible plans for the week off; Gibbs kept one eye on the puppy. "Tony, when you took the fuzzball out, did he do all this business?" He asked casually.
"I think he marked about twenty places." Tony said. "Next time, I need to put my shoes on first. That grass was cold and damp."
"Did he do anything else?"
Tony looked at Gibbs strangely. "Like what?" Gibbs simply pointed to the puppy who was squatting in a corner. "Oh, crap!" Tony exclaimed.
"Exactly." Gibbs smirked.
Section 36
The peace of the morning gave way to a knock on the door just after the Gibbs family cleaned up after breakfast. Well, technically the puppy cleaned his food bowl, Jackson cleared the table, Jethro did the dishes and smirked while Tony cleaned the floor. Fresh, hot coffee in hand, the men had moved to the living room to relax when the knock came.
As soon as the door swung open, Abby bounced in. "Gibbs, you locked the door…" Abby pouted. "You never lock the door. Bad Gibbs."
McGee shrugged apologetically as he entered. "She would have been here two hours ago, but I made her wait."
"Hey, Tony. Papa Gibbs." Abby greeted the others. "Where is he?"
"Who…" Tony started.
"There he is. Oh, precious, come to Aunt Abby." Seeing the new person about to pounce on him, the puppy took off with a yelp for Gibbs who had just sat down.
Tony smiled at the sight of the puppy trying to frantically climb Gibbs' leg. He sank on to the floor, unconsciously leaning against his husband's leg. "Silly thing. Abby isn't going to hurt you." Tony scooped the puppy up. Looking at Jethro, he smiled. "I can see he's going to be a daddy's boy, aren't you? Hmm, silly thing. You think daddy will protect you, don't you?" Tony crooned to the puppy, calming it down.
The others in the room were stunned. The look on Jethro's face was priceless and Jackson burst out laughing. He had never wanted a camera so bad in his life. McGee tried desperately to turn his laugh into a cough. Abby was torn between wanting to laugh and being hurt the puppy had run from her. Tony was oblivious to the effect of his words and looked around in confusion before finally just patting the floor next to him and encouraging Abby to sit next to him.
"Tony, he's so precious. I've been dying to see him since McGee told me about him last night. What's his name? You didn't name him Silly Thing, did you? I wanted to bring Jethro to meet him, but McGee said no. Meanie."
Tony patiently pet the puppy and tried to calm Abby. "Jethro and I haven't named him yet. He's part German Shepherd and part Collie."
"Ooh, you could call him Laddie."
"No." Gibbs rejected it flatly as the puppy wiggled away from Abby and went across the room to his toys. He grabbed his rubber bone and began to drag it back towards Tony.
"There's a ton of good movie dogs." Abby started to rattle off a list. "There's Hooch, Buddy, Beethoven, Petey, Bruiser, Einstein, Otis, Marley, Tramp…"
"Actually," Tony interrupted. "I don't think a movie name would be the best fit. I thought maybe we could give him a marine related name." Tony looked up a bit shyly at Gibbs as he spoke. "Something that we can both relate to."
Abby beamed at the two of them. "Let's make a list." she produced a small notepad and pencil from somewhere on her person.
"Well," Tony started, "I looked up the corps and it was started by Samuel Nicholas so I was thinking Samuel or Nicholas." Abby obediently wrote it down.
"I don't think either suits him." Jackson spoke up. "Could call him jarhead."
Tony looked at his father-in-law, disappointed. "You wouldn't."
"What about Marine?" McGee offered.
"What about Parris?" Jackson tried to makeup to his son-in-law.
"Could call him grunt."
Tony looked reproachfully at his husband. "You're going to give him a complex."
"What about Sergeant?" McGee tried.
"No stripes. Could call him Valor." Gibbs said to Tony. It was worth the effort when Tony lost the reproachful expression. "Maybe Honor?"
"Oooo, Sousa wrote the hymn." Abby said excitedly. "You know… From the halls of Montezuma…"
The puppy stopped turned to Abby and howled. Tony laughed. "He wants to sing with you, Abs."
Abby held out her hand to the puppy. "Come on, sing with Aunt Abby…to the shores of Tripoli…"
Gibbs watched the pup and then said to Abby. "Start over."
"What?"
"Start the song over."
"From the halls of Montezuma…" On cue the pup stopped and howled. The others stopped to watch the pup.
"Halls." Gibbs said clearly. The pup tugged on his bone. "Monte." No reaction. "Zuma." The pup lifted his head and howled.
"Zuma." Tony tried the name. The pup turned his head and looked at Tony giving a howl.
Jackson smirked at them. "I'd say he picked his own name. Didn't you, Zuma?"
The pup wagged his tail excitedly as Tony picked him up. "Is that your name? Are you Zuma Gibbs?" The puppy barked excitedly. Tony looked up at Jethro for approval.
"I think Zuma is a fine name."