Redefining The Future

The Wayward Mouth

Chapter 7 - The Wayward Mouth

When the alarm sounded at 6.00am Thursday morning, Jenny took a moment to comprehend what it was. When realization dawned, she flung out her arm and flicked off the annoying sound. Turning over, she squinted to see if Gibbs was awake. Noticing he was lying on his back and just beginning to stir as well, she nuzzled into his side, laying her hand on his chest.

"Did you hear that?" she said sleepily, rubbing along his chest with her fingers.

"What, that incessant buzzing?" he replied sarcastically, his eyes still closed.

"Yeah," she acknowledged. "Do you know what that means?"

"We have to get up?" he quipped.

Laughing lightly, Jenny slapped him softly on the chest.

"Very droll," she said. "No, it means we did didn't get a visitor through the night, unless you took her to bed without waking me."

Opening his eyes, Gibbs turned to look at Jenny.

"Hey you're right," he said. "Maybe it's finally working."

Since returning from the lake cottage, Gibbs and Jenny had made a concerted effort to train Ziva to stay in her own bed at night. In the beginning, it took all their will power to continue. When Ziva would crawl into their bed, usually around three in the morning, they would wait for her to fall asleep then carry her back to her own bed. Inevitably, Ziva would wake again and the cycle would continue, sometimes five or six times a night.

That first week had been a living hell for the three of them. Gibbs and Jenny found themselves going to bed just after Tony at nine o'clock each night, to ensure they were getting at least five hours of uninterrupted sleep. Ziva was not overly keen to help out either. With her stubbornness and iron will, she made no effort to stay in her own bed, insisting that she couldn't sleep. Yet, after only two or three minutes of Gibbs rubbing her back, she was sound asleep and carted back to her room.

Finally, after two weeks of consistency and sheer determinedness on Gibbs and Jenny's part, they had managed to get Ziva to stay in her own bed until about 5.00am. It still meant taking her back to bed a couple of times between five and six in the morning, but at least they were now enjoying an extra two hours of uninterrupted sleep. They also found, that while Jenny still set the alarm each weeknight, with the early morning escapades of their five year old, they never actually needed the alarm to wake them at six.

Unfortunately though, with the arrival of Douglas nearly a week ago, the routine had once again been shattered, and Gibbs and Jenny were finding, not only a little visitor from about 3.00am onwards, but regular wake up calls from a cranky, teething six month old as well. So, when the alarm was the first thing to assault their ears that morning, they were, to say the least, surprised.

"Actually, I didn't hear Douglas last night either," said Jenny.

Suddenly concerned for the infant's welfare, she sat up and crawled forward a couple of paces to look into the porta-cot positioned on the floor at the end of their bed.

"He's probably still doped up on the paracetamol we gave him last night," replied Gibbs, chuckling to himself.

"Ahh, Jethro?" Jenny's voice held a vague tinge of amusement.

"What?" he said, sitting up and squinting towards the porta-cot.

"You've gotta see this," she said, turning around and looking at him. "Come closer."

Also leaning forward and crawling a couple of feet across the bed, Gibbs was soon kneeling next to Jenny as the pair of them peered into the porta cot.