Reverse Psychology - NCIS Story

Testing the Waters

Chapter 19 Testing the Waters

By Friday afternoon Gibbs was, to say the least, totally exhausted. He had a new found admiration for single parents and vowed he would never criticize again. It was damn hard work. But, it was now Friday and, despite not actually going to a place of work through the week, he still had that Friday evening joy.

Tim had rung earlier to see if he and Abby could come for dinner, they were bringing Chinese, and Jen had also called to offer her assistance to the dinner arrangements. He had to say, he was feeling decidedly loved, cared for and well fed! The only missing link tonight would be Ducky who, when Gibbs rang, was quick to inform him that he and Brigitte were otherwise engaged tonight having secured tickets for the opera to see La Boheme. Gibbs smiled. He was very happy for his friend and hoped that he and Brigitte would enjoy many more evenings in each other's company.

The last two days had been busy but satisfying. Thursday was spent visiting the library and both Tony and Ziva had stocked up on a range of books more suitable to their comprehension age.

They had then visited a toy library. Having never heard of one before, the librarian had suggested it to Gibbs, when she heard Tony complaining that he was going to need more than just books to make his life bearable. Gibbs had been extremely impressed when they entered the smaller building attached to the community centre. It was wall to wall toys, games and puzzles including a section dedicated to outdoor equipment. Each child was allowed to pick up to ten items to borrow with a limit of two items each for the outdoor section. They could keep the toys for up to four weeks and, should no-one have specifically requested one of their toys, they could renew it for a further four weeks. In Gibbs' opinion, this concept was brilliant. It allowed Tony and Ziva to explore where their new interests lay without having to spend a huge amount of money on toys and games.

Thursday afternoon was spent discussing the practicalities of their tree house and climbing fort. Both Tony and Ziva were full of ideas of what they wanted and neither one was prepared to listen to, or compromise, with the other. It was only after Gibbs threatened to boycott all ideas of a tree house, that they suddenly became a little more cooperative.

In the end, it was decided that the tree house would sit along the bottom branches of the oak tree, about 8ft off the ground and a climbing fort would adjoin the tree house to the neighbouring Silver Ash and continue along to the second, but smaller oak in the garden. A wooden ladder would enable easy access to the tree house and several rope ladders would adorn the climbing fort. Metal pegs would be knocked into the trunk of the Silver Ash to create a ladder that would connect the two parts of the climbing frame and Gibbs decided he would finish it off with a tyre swing hanging from the second oak. All in all, it was quite a monumental task and one which would keep them all, but particularly Gibbs, busy for quite a few weeks.

When Friday morning had dawned, Gibbs had been quite excited about going to the hardware store and stocking up on all the supplies that would be needed. Unfortunately, Tony and Ziva didn't share his enthusiasm. To them, walking around a 'wood store' and Ziva called it, was boring and didn't compare in the least to the fun and excitement their new toys were currently bringing.

"Do you want this tree house or not?" Gibbs had finally asked when, after telling the two children to hurry up and get ready for the third time, they still hadn't moved. Both were currently engaged in a winner takes all checker game.

"Yeah," said Tony. "But you're the expert on wood and stuff. Why can't we just stay here?"

"Because it's against the law to leave you unsupervised," reminded Gibbs.

"Abby could look after us," suggested Ziva.

"Abby has to work... AND so does Tim and Jenny and Ducky," he added when he saw Ziva about to suggest one of the others.