A/N: I haven't said anything about the death of our beloved David McCallum except that I'll always miss him, will always be thankful for all the wonderful characters he portrayed, especially our Ducky and I'm also grateful that as long as films and TV shows are available, his characters will be as well. As this series will end before September 2023 (we're still in 2014), he will continue to be featured.
If you aren't getting email alerts for new chapters from me, please check on Archive of our Own (no spaces) dot org under the same screen name (the search bar is in the upper right hand corner). This site (Fan Fic) has been giving me more grief than posting on here is worth and I'm ready to leave here (although zi'll leave completed stories up) and just post on A03 (Archive of our Own) where posting and editing is simple and clear. This chapter, 11, is the first of 2 chapters I haven't been allowed to post until now, so here goes. I'll also post Chapter 12 as soon as I'm sure this one actually shows up.
Ch 11: Home in Jaxton, School, Athena, Storm!
While they were glad to be home, it felt a bit odd after 2 months away and being with so many of their family and friends. However, it didn't take them long to settle in, after all several of their family lived with them in Jaxton!
By the time everything from their stay in Greece had been put away, preparations were in motion for the twins' First Day of School!
The Welcome Party held in the school hall Thursday afternoon helped refocus Tim and Artie, who were happy to reconnect with the nursery parents and children who would continue to be their children's classmates, possibly for the next 12 or 13 years as well as meeting a few new families.
Tim told his wife later that it suddenly hit him their first babies were starting their school careers! From now until their youngest child was 18 and through secondary school, their lives would be more or less governed by the school system. Both were happy that the system allowed for time off throughout the year, believing that would be easier on the children and themselves.
Thinking back to their days and months of travel while he was cross-training NCIS and FBI employees, Tim was thankful they did it all at once so that the twins had plenty of time to reconnect with their nursery friends before beginning school. That also held true for Liam and Chloe, he was glad they'd arrived when they had, giving them a year or two to make friends at nursery, friends who would likely continue with them into their school years.
On Sunday, although young Jack was a bit reluctant, both he and his sister dressed in their new uniforms, putting on a little preview for their family, including their resident and local aunts and uncles and of course the senior Powells. The Clachers and most of the US family joined them via Skype.
Chloe giggled when Liam told her he hoped no one would make the two of them do that next year! Ava, their cousin in France, later spoke with the twins, telling them what she remembered of the first day of kindergarten. Even though that had been in the United States, it helped. She'd already spoken with Naomi, her younger sister, who was also starting maternelle, similar to her cousins' reception classes and her older sister's kindergarten classes.
Monday morning, all four of the children had breakfast with their grandfather and father as they usually did although today their mother, grandmother, Uncle James, Aunt Nikki, Uncle Bill, a sleepy Jasper who was staying home today, the Grandpas, Uncle LJ, Uncle Charlie, Aunt Tricia and even Aunt Sarah also joined them. After eating, the children washed up and then dressed, the twins again in their new uniforms while Liam and Chloe wore their favorite 'going to nursery/ preschool' clothes.
Today, both parents would take them to school. Usually, their dad or grandfather would take them to school while Grama or their mother, when she wasn't working, or sometimes Aunt Sarah, would pick them up after school.
Glad it was a sunny day, the four children stood in a line, the twins in their uniforms. Several photos were taken until Uncle James said it was time to go.
Liam and Chloe watched with a bit of awe as their sister and brother hugged them goodbye at the school and then walked to class holding hands with their parents, Poppy staying with the two younger children.
Artie and Tim hurried back to the car, holding onto their emotions until after Liam and Chloe were delivered to the nursery. Tim was all right by then but Artie cried and Tim held onto her while Jethro wondered if this milestone might result in another grandchild down the road. He mentally scolded himself, he and Lu had plenty of grandchildren, he just wished that everyone lived closer, at least on the same continent!
When he got home, he told Lu he'd like to make an effort to spend each grandchild's birthday with them. Lu had to think about that, it would be a challenge with the children living in 3 different countries! Still, with 2 grands in France and 8, including Alec, in the UK, birthday visits for them weren't difficult. As for as those living in the US, Donnie's birthday was in late August with Tommy and Liam in December and then back to France for Ava's birthday in January. It would take some careful planning but she thought they could do it.
Nikki took the day off, spending the day with her husband and son. It felt wonderful to be home and Bill was very glad he'd be home late Thursday afternoons through Monday night bedtimes for Jasper. He would talk with his wife and son every day he was away so they would be all caught up when he got home.
While Artie stayed home, she and Bill would leave after an early dinner this evening, Tim felt he needed to be at the office, working. When they reached home after delivering the children to school and nursery, he found James had waited for him. Kissing his wife and father goodbye, Tim grabbed his laptop case and joined James. The two walked to the tube station, taking it into London. Tim was grateful to his friend for waiting for him. This felt like it might be a "double whammy" day, the twins first ever day of school and Tim's first day back in his own office after two months working either at the US Embassy in Athens or the small NCIS office in Piraeus!
When they walked into the office and Tim saw the 'Welcome Home (again!)' banner, he grinned, glad to be home.
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While Tim was fully aware of everything going on in his personal and family life that week, he was so busy at work that he didn't really have time to think much about any of it.
Monday afternoon when he got home, the twins were full of news about their new teacher, some children who were new to them and everything they'd done that day. Liam and Chloe also had fun things to report and he was glad all four of them had enjoyed their day. Artie said she'd slept half the day and then puttered the other half. He wanted to have a swim and she joined him.
Later, after the children were in bed, with many kisses and hugs exchanged, Dad and Malu drove Artie and Bill to the airfield for their flight to Athens. They would send a text when they landed and would take Uber from the airport to Varkiza where both would stay with Mimi.
After tossing and turning for what seemed like the entire night, Tim finally received a text hours later saying they'd arrived safely and Papa Peter was there to meet them! He smiled at that, nodding his head in approval of his father-in-law, who was, like his own father, everything anyone could want in an in-law or a father. He sent an emoji kiss and a bouquet of flowers to his wife and then found he was finally able to sleep.
After breakfasting with the children Tuesday morning, Tim and James again took the tube into London, this morning also joined by Nikki, leaving earlier than they had on Monday and catching what had been their usual train.
That felt fairly normal with the three of them, although James had to remind Nikki to put her mask and gloves on before they boarded their carriage! He'd already pulled on a mask and now Tim also pulled one from his pocket and put it on. When James and Nikki both looked surprised, Tim's brother-in-law explained, "Your mask no longer blends in with your face as well as it used to. I know you worked for all but the reunion weeks but you definitely have a tan!"
When a few of their fellow passengers nodded in agreement, Tim shook his head with a laugh. "Amazing after all the sunscreen I used!"
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That first week went smoothly, the twins excited about the new things they were learning, Jasper, Chloe and Liam enjoying their adventures in nursery and with their grandparents, who'd taken them out for a special picnic lunch Wednesday and the return of Artemis and Bill late Thursday afternoon. The children swarmed their mother and father, very happy to see them in person after speaking to them on Skype on Tuesday and Wednesday.
While Tim had been busy at work there weren't any crises or disasters although he was enjoying being closer to the teams and hearing about their cases. He was relieved to have his wife home for several days, hoping he, Nikki and their children would get used to what would be a weekly 2 ½ day separation from Artie and Bill.
Although it was now past Jethro's birthday, his family insisted on celebrating it again that 2nd weekend home. He thought they were silly but had fun anyway, surprised when all of his kids attended, either in person or via Skype. He laughed when everyone sat down at their own tables in three countries to eat cake and ice cream. His kids' gift to him was a new photo of all of them together, on the beach in Varkiza, although no one was wearing swimsuits, they were mostly wearing casual clothes, some more casual than others.
He was told it had been taken by a professional photographer one morning after Tim, Nikki, Bill and Artie had supposedly left for work, after Dad returned from his walk on the beach and was eating breakfast. He was happy although surprised to see Ziva and Brian included in the photo and James laughed, "Jethro, they were photoshopped in."
Ziva grinned, "We went to the beach here with Brian's sister and she took several photos of us, hoping the background would blend in well enough."
Brian chuckled, "I'm glad we were told to wear casual clothes or we would have been the only ones in our swimsuits!"
Jethro grinned, "A well-organized and executed plan, thank you, everyone! Bill, did you make the frame?"
"Artie sketched out what we agreed we wanted, I penciled the sketch into pieces and then numbered them by each sibling's place #, or their spouse's place #, in the sibling lineup; Abby is with Freddie. But no, Dad, I didn't make the whole thing, each of us worked on it." He sat back in relief, glad he'd remembered not to say anything that would hint at Abby's real place in the age lineup, which was between him and Tony.
Tony grinned, "Maggie and I didn't have much to do since I'm the eldest, just had to stain it, wait for it to dry, sand the edges, print our names on it, put a clear coat on that and hand it off to Bill for his part."
Rob snorted, "I got the whole thing, Dad! And of course Bill put my piece in between three other pieces so I had more delicate work to do."
Bill grinned, "That was fun, Robbie! I figured with you a surgeon you should be able to seamlessly put those pieces together." They chuckled when Rob rolled his eyes at his older brother.
"Did you have to mail it back and forth?"
"Only once, for Ziva and Brian's part and that was just their name piece. They already had a copy of the photo. Everyone else worked on it in Greece or last weekend."
"Wow, that's really something, thank you, everyone!"
With a chuckle, his father handed him a flat box with birthday wrapping paper on it and looking up, Jethro smiled, "More, Dad?"
"Yes, we couldn't resist after we heard what the kids were doing."
Curious, Jethro carefully removed the wrapping paper and then grinned, "Hey, this is great, you all did the same thing!"
LJ smiled, "Almost the same thing, Junior, that's the North Sea, not the Mediterranean and all of us, the older members of our family, were there. We cheated and had the frame made but we did sketch out what we wanted first, including our names and the year. They're also written on the back of the photo, in order, along with who we are to you."
Barry nodded, "On ours, too, Dad."
Jethro had tears in his eyes, "These are wonderful, thank you everyone!" He looked around the room, "I know we have family photos from every Christmas we've had together and most of the reunions. How about we do four of those a year, the entire group at the reunions and Christmases, plus a separate one with all the Greek, Scottish, English, Italian and American offspring at the reunions and Christmases." He looked a little sheepish, "That will help all of us grandparents remember what years the babies were born."
On Skype, Fiona Clacher nodded, "Yes and on our individual copies we can include notes to help people in the future know who we were and how we came to be part of the family."
In his drollest voice, Geordie added, "You mean more than 'I met one of them at work, a lecture, a party, when they spilled coffee on me, walking down the street, through my fourth cousin's husband's nephew's stepbrother's roommate and suddenly found myself part of the family'?"
Laughing at themselves, they agreed.
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Lonely at home by herself and feeling at loose ends although she worked on the items she was crafting for birthday and Christmas presents and also shared several meals with Peter and Rhode and a few with Sophia, Athena decided that she would fly to London the next time Artemis and Bill flew home.
She would have nice long visits in Jaxton and Edinburgh. Then she might just take the train to Sorrento and stay there for a few weeks. There was no reason she had to stay home and she'd found that as long as she had someone she knew fairly well with her on a flight she didn't mind flying as much. Looking at her calendar, she wondered if anyone in the family or perhaps one of Tony's cousins would be flying to the US later in September. Although visiting her family would be lovely, surprising Ducky for his birthday would be even better.
Determined now, she found the bookmark for the Paddington Flights and opened it up, smiling as she saw there was a flight scheduled on the 15th with seats available. She decided to leave here as planned, the next time Artemis and Bill flew home, and would then take the flight overseas on the 15th. That would give her 6 days, 3 for Jaxton and 3 for Edinburgh, although perhaps she should visit Edinburgh first. As she couldn't see who else was flying, she sent an email to her eldest grandson.
In London, Tony smiled at the email. His father-in-law mentioned that Sophia thought her mother was lonely and a bit bored after the busy summer and might be looking for an adventure. Tony sent a quick email to the appropriate Security Officer, who'd become a friend as Tony learned the business, asking to see the passenger list for the September 15th flight to Houston, Texas, with a stop in DC.
He had the list within the hour and nodded to himself when he looked at it. There was one person booked on the flight who knew Athena well and had previously been on a Paddington flight with her, Cousin Richard Baxter. Since their return from Varkiza, he'd been staying in Jaxton where his daughter Tricia was now living with Charlie Camilo. He'd mentioned the other day that he was heading home soon to celebrate his oldest son's milestone birthday. This was perfect! Tony also noted three other familiar names, Paddington employees he knew had been on other flights with his Yaya. He smiled again at the names of the flight crew, they'd also know her.
Happy, he answered her e-mail, telling her about Cousin Richard, the flight crew and the three Paddington employees she knew and asking if she also wanted to book her flight home. Her reply was that she'd prefer to fly home with Donald, whenever he planned to return.
Tony wasn't sure about that and instead of requesting multiple passenger lists, asked instead for a listing for Donald Mallard flying east from the DC area FBO to Luton's FBO. He added that he was trying to help his grandmother set up a surprise visit with her partner.
Instead of an email, his phone rang with the caller ID of his Security buddy. When Tony answered the phone, the man was laughing, "It appears to me that your American friend is also planning to surprise your grandmother! There's a note attached to his east bound reservation not to mention it to anyone, it's meant to be a surprise for someone and that reservation is from DC to Athens." Telling Tony the date of Ducky's east bound reservation, he waited for the other man to stop laughing.
Tony finally took a breath, shaking his head. "All right, this is what I get, what we get for getting involved! I'll tell her there isn't anything for an eastbound flight, he can tell her when she gets there. At least she'll have a few weeks there, enough to get through jet lag and visit the US family or whatever else she wants to do!"
"I'll go ahead and pencil her in for the eastbound flight and leave a note about the two-way surprise. I'm sure that won't confuse anyone!"
Both laughing at that, they disconnected and Tony sent an email to his grandmother saying he hadn't seen any information about dates for an east bound flight for Ducky, which was the truth as he had not seen anything. He added that at least they knew Ducky wouldn't be flying east to Europe while she was flying west to the US!
In Varkiza, Athena chuckled at Tony's quip, appreciating his time and efforts. She'd certainly been blessed with her family, from her three children to her 6 "original" grandchildren, 7 counting Sophia's oldest child Dimitri, although she hadn't heard from him in many years, to all the children and adults who'd joined their family in the six years since Artemis and Tim's wedding and more recently her relationship with Donald. It was truly amazing!
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With Nikki's work going well, she decided to return to Varkiza with Jasper, staying with Bill at their Yaya's. Jasper had been happy at the day care there and they were open early enough for her to take him before she went to work. That way, her son would have both his parents every day. She thought some weekends it would be nice not to leave, to stay in Varkiza and see more of the country. She knew Tim planned to bring the children for at least one weekend, probably two, a month. She smiled, realized that would also mean visits from Jethro and Lu and probably some of the others. That was good, she wouldn't mind at all!
Making up her mind, she looked at the SAC's schedule for the week, sending Cynthia a note asking for about 7 minutes of his time. She, James, Ned and Tim worked hard to treat each other as professionals and that included scheduling meetings during their work hours, not on the walk to the tube, the walk home from the tube or worse, at home. Of course, Ned had a time difference to contend with but it was only an hour and Tim was good with anyone calling early or late with an urgent problem.
She chuckled when Cynthia sent her a meeting notice for that afternoon with 10 minutes scheduled.
When she met with Tim, she saw right away that he wasn't surprised. He shook his head, "If the twins weren't in school, we'd be doing the same thing. However, they are so we aren't. I do have a question: where do you propose working?"
"I'd prefer to work at the Embassy again, if they have the space. If not," she sighed, "I don't think working in the bedroom upstairs in the Athens office is a good idea, not for more than a few days. I believe Jasper will be all right with both of us there as well as Mimi, Peter and Rhode. He'll miss all his cousins but he also made friends with some of the other children at the daycare."
Tim nodded, professionally he could not ask about Jasper unless he was ill, injured or in immediate danger and personally, well it was Nikki and Bill's decision, not his or anyone else's.
His concern was that Jasper tended to think he was as much a part of Tim's family as he was of Nikki and Bill's. Tim felt that although Jasper called Liam, Chloe and the twins cousins, he really thought of them as siblings and perhaps that was the adults' fault. In wanting to give the little boy as much love and support as possible, they may have taken it a bit too far. Still, that wasn't something he would or could ever say to the little boy's parents or anyone else. And with Jasper not quite 30 months old, trying to explain it to the little boy would likely confuse him or worse, break his little heart.
Tim remembered something Sarah had once told him, after she was grown, that she and Rob had always thought of Tim as their father as well as their brother; that it wasn't until they were nearly teenagers that they realized that no one else's older brother was also their father.
Maybe it didn't matter that Jasper thought his cousins were his siblings. He had different parents but they all lived in the same house and had the same grandparents, aunts, uncles and other cousins who came to visit. However, that brought him back to his original worry, that Jasper would miss his resident cousins and wouldn't understand.
Putting those thoughts aside, he nodded at Nikki, "I agree about the Embassy, it would also be my choice. All right, once again, if it's all right with your fellow Intel Analysts, I'm fine with you working in Greece, it's one or two fewer time zones between you and your contacts. When you're ready, let me know and I'll contact the Embassy about office space."
Nikki agreed, realizing that he was the SAC and would have to be the one speaking with the embassy staff about the office space. She briefly wondered if she could have his former office space before remembering there would be times when the children would be off school but he'd still need to work, which he would likely expect to do in that former office space at the embassy.
She sighed as she walked back upstairs, feeling she took Tim too much for granted. He was the head of NCIS: Europe. Throughout the continent he had nearly as much authority as Director Vance and Vance could grant him even more authority any time it was necessary. He'd already done that twice in the past year and Nikki would not be surprised if another promotion happened within the next couple of years.
She apparently hadn't mentally separated his position as her boss from his place in her life as her brother-in-law and friend. An old friend, one whom she felt she'd watched grow from a shy, somewhat awkward and smart young man to the confident, polished, even smarter man he was now. That was Tim as SAC.
Her brother-in-law Tim was also confident, had gained more 'people smarts', loving, funny, caring, imaginative and creative, sometimes stubborn and still allowed his inner child out to play.
Tim was quiet the rest of the day, thinking about his wife's schedule. It wasn't just the Remises' new home, she and in all likelihood Bill would also be away during the months it would take to build their own home. Thinking of the guesthouses and duplexes, he mentally changed months to more than a year. As thinking of everything involved gave him a headache, he dug out a bottle of pain relievers and took one with a bottle of water.
Returning to his thoughts about Jasper, he remembered something Yaya had said to him once when he was worrying about a situation. She'd asked who owned the problem and he'd replied and then understood what she meant. In that particular case, it was not his problem to solve and neither was anything concerning Jasper!
When he walked from his office to Cynthia's work area later, she looked up, winced and shook her head. "Have you taken anything yet?"
Not even trying to look surprised, Tim also decided not to nod, knowing it would make his head hurt worse, "Yes, one pill."
"If it's been longer than 30 minutes, you might want to take a second one. Water?"
"Drank a bottle, thanks and I haven't had any coffee or tea."
"Lunch?"
Tim thought about that. "That might be the problem. I was in the middle of something and found a packet of crackers and cheese in my desk, had that."
"We need a cafeteria here!"
Chuckling, Tim said, "Sure, we'll conjure up more money. We might be able to afford a vending machine with real food, not just sweets. For today, I'll have something delivered."
"I'll do it, just don't tell anyone, don't want to ruin my reputation!"
That made Tim laugh out loud and surprisingly, laughing didn't hurt.
Later, after happily eating the sandwich, apple, carrot sticks and drinking the bottle of water Cynthia ordered for him, he sat back and closed his eyes. His headache was nearly gone, maybe he'd just been hungry after all although he also admitted he was tired.
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Although Nikki's solution worked well for her and Bill, Jasper had a difficult time without his cousins. The first weekend that Tim and the children visited, Jasper was very happy and when the others left, Nikki and Jasper returned to Jaxton with them. It was a bit of a juggling act but once Jasper understood that his playmates and dearest friends hadn't disappeared, he was happier. From then on, Nikki and Jasper spent two weeks of each month in Varkiza and two weeks in Jaxton. That worked better. Tim watched, a bit envious, trying to work out the logistics in his head.
In the meantime, everything was going well on the project and the weather was cooperating by cooling down several degrees. Now Artie and the crew began to think about the winter months, hoping there wouldn't be any big storms. Although the outside of the Remises' new home, including the roof, was nearly complete, nobody wanted to deal with another winter of storms, the possibility of evacuations or damage to property.
Unless Tim and the children or Nikki and Jasper were planning to visit them in Greece or there was a problem that needed the Chief Engineer or the Construction Manager to stay over a weekend, Artie and Bill continued their schedules, spending Tuesdays through Thursdays on site, leaving London Monday evenings after dinner so they could have an early start in the morning and returning home late Thursday afternoons.
As the weather also began to cool in Jaxton, Tim and the children spent more weekends in Varkiza, frequently accompanied by other members of their family. In the meantime, Yaya and Ducky were now 'at home' in Varkiza and the Jardine-Gibbses loved having them there with them.
Artie was now staying with her father and stepmother and when Tim and the children visited, they also stayed there. As only the youngest of Peter and Rhode's children was still living at home, there was plenty of room for the family of 6.
Lu, Jethro, Sarah, James, his parents, Susannah, Ian and his parents also visited for occasional weekends or in the senior Gibbses' and Powells' cases, sometimes an entire week. Then they stayed in Tim and Artie's favorite vacation rental, much to the owner's delight. Tony, Maggie and their girls also visited, sometimes during the week, sometimes on a weekend, almost always staying for several days. Maggie laughed as she told Artie that when they were away, her dad, missing his summer companions, frequently stayed in Jaxton, enjoying the company of the older men and using the indoor pool on a daily basis.
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One Friday in early November, the schools and nurseries closed in the greater London metro area early due to a particularly nasty storm brewing in the Atlantic, quickly moving toward the British Isles. As it was a Varkiza weekend, Tim made sure he and the children had their rain gear as well as the usual items. He also packed some of Artie's favorite rain gear, including rain boots. Although none of the forecasts mentioned the Mediterranean, who knew how far the storm would travel?
Two hours later, LJ, Jack, Richard Baxter and Mac, both of whom planned to return home after New Years although Mac thought Richard should stay in Florida for the winter instead of Massachusetts, Charlie, Tricia and Dick climbed into the aircraft carrying the London, Jaxton, Edinburgh and Castleton households to Greece for at least the weekend. They'd also invited Ducky's relatives in Scotland to join them although the storm wasn't forecast to reach the Highlands. is cousin Morag replied, thanking them, saying they'd decided to stay home and wishing them well.
When the family had decided to get out ahead of the storm, to fly southeast to Greece, Tim called Kayla Vance, now in her first term of college in greater London. She was glad to hear from him, saying she was packed, although she and her roommate weren't sure where to go. Telling her they'd pick both of them up on the way to the airfield, Tim waited while the roommate called her parents in Canada and then spoke with them about taking her with his family to Greece to sit out the storm.
Tim and Lu both spoke with the parents, who knew Kayla fairly well and had met her parents when both young women first arrived. They had also been given the Gibbs' family names and contact information by the Vances and now were reassured when they were able to see them on FaceTime. They also remembered that Kayla's family visited an American family in Greece every Christmas and they had those people's contact information. Tim sent a hurried text to Pete, who replied several minutes later that the parents had called and talked with them, reassured that both young women would stay with them, they'd meet them at the airport and they would be safe.
Making a face at his absentmindedness, Tim then sent a text to Leon that he and the entire UK family were evacuating to Greece to avoid the oncoming storm and that they were taking Kayla and her roommate with them, that the girls would stay with the Russells who'd already spoken with the roommate's parents. When Leon saw the text, he was shocked, he'd heard there was a storm that would hit the British Isles but had no idea it was likely to be that bad. That also meant the London office would be offline; finding Tim's email to him and to the other European offices, the director nodded, his SAC had everything under control with his contingency plans.
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With the rest of the family in their various vehicles which, while they were gone, would be parked in an empty hanger, courtesy of the Paddington North Sea Oil Company, at the FBO, Tim had Uber pick him up at the office, which was nearly empty by then. He'd closed it well over an hour ago. Most people, including the field and CCU teams, would be able to work from home or wherever they took shelter as long as the power held out, he'd alerted the other European offices who would respond to any new cases, although once the storm hit, there wouldn't be any way for them to get to the UK for any cases there, although he wasn't sure about the tunnel under the English Channel, he knew at least that ferries and flights would be suspended until it was safe to operate. He was glad when the head of Security sent out an email telling people to buy double the amount they thought they'd need of extra batteries for their flashlights, also known as torches, to make sure they had food that could be eaten cold, enough to last a few days, as well as several gallons of potable water, warm clothes and blankets.
Tim had also emailed Pete Russell that James Powell would need to work in their office to reroute the agency system through Piraeus rather than London. James said he would prefer to do that as soon as they arrived in Greece and Geordie offered to drive him to the office and then to Varkiza. He'd already reserved a rental vehicle and Bec would catch a ride to Varkiza with Jethro and Lu.
Now, Tim sat back in the Uber vehicle as they drove through empty streets, spotting an occasional walker hurrying along, usually with groceries. When they arrived at the university's residence hall, he helped Kayla and Laura, her roommate, with their bags, making sure they'd notified their advisors where they would be staying until after the storm. From there, their Uber driver, a young man who said he had his emergency supplies in the boot and would head for shelter after dropping them off, drove them to the FBO at Luton airport. After handing over their luggage to the flight crew, the trio boarded the jet.
As he walked down the aisle toward his family, Tim saw that the Nigel Paddington family was also aboard. He smiled to himself, this was indeed an exodus. He was surprised and then a little worried about the house when Nikki, Jasper, Rob, Geordie and Bec, Sarah and James, his parents, Edie and George and all five of the Clachers joined them but Tony later told him he'd already contacted their security company with instructions that if the power in Jaxton was off for more than 12 hours, they were to open the house to those Jaxton residents who were without power, heat, potable water or food. He had also contacted Jaxton's mayor who was very happy and relieved to hear that Mr. Barnes-Gibbs was continuing the tradition he'd started a few years ago.
In the meantime, the owners of the vacation rental homes, apartments and Airbnbs in Varkiza were very happy to have renters this late in the season, even if it was only for a weekend. Tim and Tony laughed when they thought about their landlords watching the progress of the storm in the UK, perhaps hoping it wouldn't blow away until Tuesday or later in the week.
Once the group was on the ground in Athens and had retrieved their bags, texts were sent to the American family, letting them know they were in Greece, heading for Varkiza and were safe. Tim also sent Leon and Kayla's roommate's parents a text that they'd safely reached Athens and the Russells were there to take the girls home with them. He took a photo of Pete and Trina with the girls and sent it to both sets of parents. The Russells first greeted the girls with hugs and then hugged everyone else they knew. First off the jet, Geordie quickly had his rental vehicle and after James was given the security information he needed, he and Geo set out for the NCIS office in Piraeus.
The travelers laughed at themselves when they unpacked. Although by now they were all seasoned travelers, a few of them had mostly cold weather clothing with them rather than the clothing they usually wore here. Although each had his or her swimming attire with them, they didn't have a lot between that and their jackets, boots, gloves and hats! And while it wasn't as hot as it had been when they left in late August, it wasn't cool enough to wear the winter clothing they wore in the much chillier UK.
Those who had some of everything promised to share, Peter, Ducky, Bill, Jethro, Tony and Tim would share with the men while Lu, Rhode, Artemis and Athena shared with the women. Thankfully the children had everything they needed. Instead, on Saturday, most of those who'd left out what they needed drove into the city of Varkiza to shop for what they needed. Successful, they returned what they'd borrowed.
Although their trek had seemed a bit of a lark, when the storm raged throughout England and parts of Wales and Scotland all weekend and continued into Monday, they were very happy not to be there and of course worried about their friends and neighbors.
When London proper was hammered as badly as its suburbs, Tony contacted his security company, giving instructions to open the London townhouse as well as the Jaxton house.
He reported that there were close to 150 people in the Jaxton house, that the mayor had ordered pregnant women and families with children or elders, as well as those who lived by themselves, to be moved there. One of the town's markets without generators had delivered all their perishable foods and many canned goods to the house while others delivered their perishables as well as canned goods to the schools, where more people had taken shelter.
Tony said his security manager reported that the 'refugees' from the storm in Jaxton were eating what the store brought before they'd eat what was in the house refrigerator and freezers. And yes, the generators were still running.
The London townhouse wasn't as crowded, Tony reported there were about 80 people taking refuge there and most of them brought food, water, bedding, towels and whatever else they thought they'd need. Security there reported that many people brought flashlights or battery operated lanterns, along with extra batteries and that there were enough blankets for everyone. The generators were also still running there.
With the power out in London and the server re-routed, on Saturday Tim logged on and was happy to see there were no new cases in Europe and that each of his London employees had reported to their supervisor that they were safe. He wondered if the news of the storm had scared off any miscreants. In the meantime, Pete invited Tim, Nikki and James to work in their office on Monday. While they appreciated the invitation, Nikki and Tim knew from experience that they would need more privacy than the small Piraeus office could provide nor did they want to negatively affect the workflow of the staff.
Accordingly, while James would monitor their system from the Piraeus office, Tim contacted the Embassy once again asking for workspace for Nikki and him. He also contacted Leon to advise of London's outage and James' work. While Leon was appreciative of their work, he was still somewhat shocked at them actually evacuating their homes. He was surprised again when Tim told him of the refugees in both Jaxton and London.
By Wednesday morning, the storm had moved on and the residents of England, Wales and Scotland began mopping up. The Varkiza group decided not to leave Greece until power had been restored in London and Jaxton. The Clachers and senior Powells reported that Edinburgh, Manchester, where George and Edie worked and Castleton, where they lived, hadn't been hit as badly but they would also stay, leaving with the others.
They flew home Friday, a week after they'd fled the storm, with the jet continuing to Edinburgh to deliver the Clachers. Even after a couple of days of cleanup, they saw plenty of storm damage on the drive from the airport home to Jaxton. They were relieved and grateful when they found the house in good shape. There was no visible storm damage to the outside and they were grateful to find a note that the temporary occupants had not used the elevator, it was in the basement, that everyone had slept on the main floor or in the empty rooms on the second floor.
After blind copying the director on an email to all NCIS London employees to return to work at the office on Monday, Tim sent several photos of some of the damage to Leon, who shook his head, now thankful his family and friends had evacuated!