Goodbyes
It was hell. It was just terrible - Gibbs recalls what happened in his living room and his parking area hours ago. He is now sitting on the couch with Kate, who is still crying oblivious to her surrounding, in his arms.
“I hate them for what they’ve done to the kids, Gibbs!” she hisses.
“They’ll survive, Kate…somehow.”
He remembers their tears, their cry and their pain. Jaclyn was wailing, and Joshua was holding his sister’s hand and staying quiet, but the tears were running down his cheeks.
He was mad at his parents for making her cry.
Gibbs heart was broken down to pieces when he saw the two kids were pulled apart in separate directions while they tried to hold on to each other as long as they could.
Kate was still screaming at her brother.
At the end, Jaclyn was screaming for her dad and crying so fiercely that she had to throw up. Joshua was also crying and holding on to Kate’s leg.
Kate, as well, was crying and continuing to scream at their parents. Things went so bad that it was dark when they managed to put the kids in the separate cars.
Gibbs offered Jeremy to stay there for the night, and explained that he has spare rooms that can accommodate them, but he still refused for the reason that he didn’t want to go through this hell again tomorrow. Gibbs thought that he looked also broken. He did recognize the look.
Thus they decided to stay at a motel for the night and to continue their journey tomorrow morning.
Gibbs could just stare at the hysterical kids dragged by their angry frustrated parents, who were getting more impatient and rougher every moment, while Kate was kissing them goodbye furiously and trying to calm them down.
She gave both Jaclyn and Joshua her mobile number and small changes, so that they can actually call her, and then, she promised them that they could call and talk to her anytime they want.
Gibbs closed his eyes when he heard Jaclyn cried out his name over and over again. He felt like as if someone was ripping his heart out. She thought of him as her hero, but in reality there is just nothing he can do to save her. He could just stand at by his door and look at them because they are not his to keep.
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“I am going home, Gibbs.” Kate decides to go home and continue crying.
He doesn’t let her go from his lock. “Stay, Kate…please.” He is drained. He pulls her closer, and her arms are around his and so do his. They are both drown in their sadness, and at the same time, feeling the emptiness in themselves. “I don’t want to be alone, Kate,” he admits.
“So don’t I…” she replies.
They feel the cold emptiness in the house now. It’ll be nice to have some company around again…they thought.
Ducky is surprised when Gibbs told him about the kids on the phone. The M.E. is very disappointed since he was planning to take the tots out to the park to play. Now, he feels so sorry about the divorce.
Somehow in the aftermath of the incident, they both fall asleep in the bedroom in each other’s arms. After a while, Kate is awoken by her mobile - dazed, she reaches for it, but she doesn’t recognize the number. “Todd…?”
“Aunt Katie… It’s me!” Joshua’s voice.
“Joshua?” Kate is jolt awake.
“What is it…what time is it?” She looks at the time. It’s past two in the early morning.
“Something wrong? Where’s your dad? Let me talk to him,” she asks.
”Aunt Katie…” Joshua is crying. Kate panics. “Jaclyn is with me,” he continues.
“Where, Joshua?”
“I don’t know…” he cries louder.
Kate can now hear Jaclyn’s crying voice over the phone as well. “Gibbs!” Kate is in panic, and she doesn’t know what to do. Gibbs is already awake when she calls his name. Gibbs grabs her mobile when she tries to scream his name again.
“The kids…” she tries to explain to him.
He takes over and calmly asks Joshua to read out the number on the phone. After he finds out that the boy is using a public phone, he makes a quick call from his mobile and gets ready to pick the kids up. Meanwhile, he asks Joshua to stay on the line with Kate until the call is cut off.
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Searching for Trouble and Problem
Within minutes, they are out of the door. It is raining cats and dogs. Gibbs drives like a maniac with a purpose, and she doesn’t care.
In less that half an hour, they find their lost babies. Kate sees shadows in the phone booth. Gibbs stops right next to the booth.
They are both in a pitiful state - Jaclyn is shivering, crying, and hugging her knees and her teddy bear; Joshua is howling and hugging his sister. It’s bloody winter! Gibbs thought. He wants to kill their parents. He is so mad that he feels hot all of a sudden.
He grabs both kids swiftly, and Kate follows them to the back seat to stay close to them. She tries to calm them down the entire way home.
As they are drenched to their skin, she takes their clothes off and hugs them, with the hope that her warmth and the heater in the car can warm them up somewhat.
“Shush…guys, it’s going to be all right, you are with me and Jethro…see,” she reminds them. They are still crying on her chest, but slowly subsiding, as they are becoming exhausted.
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Arriving Home
When they arrive, he instructs Kate and the kids to wait in the car first. He rushes into his house and comes out in seconds with huge towels. Then, he covers them up with the towels and quickly carries them inside. He can still feel their shiver.
“It’s okay, guys…we are home…we are here, okay?” he tells and kisses both their heads.
Kate brings them under hot water for a few minutes and dries them quickly. She gasps out loud when she looks at Jaclyn, “Who did these?” Jaclyn is naked and standing on top of Gibbs’ bed. Under the light, Kate can see clearly the greenish blue bruises on her arms and inner thigh.
”Mommy,” she murmurs and wails again. Kate hugs her small body and sways her.
“Mom pinched her, Aunt Katie, and she didn’t want to stop crying,” Joshua tells her.
“Mommy slaps Joshua, too…Aunt Katie,” she tells them with sound effect, “Smack…” she says.
“They were fighting,” Joshua explains.
Kate quickly dresses them in Gibbs’ sweatshirt, and they tell her that they feel much better. “Aunt Katie, I want to stay with you and Jethro,” Jaclyn mutters after she is done crying. “Shush…its okay, pumpkin. I’ll kick your parents’ asses. OK, baby?” she jokes with them.
Gibbs comes back with cups of warm milk and slices of bread.
“I’m not hungry, Jethro… I don’t want.” Jaclyn sobs, but he patiently forces the food and milk down their throats. And, he begs them, “Please, sweethearts, you have to. So you’ll feel better…please.” He feeds them both.
Kate comes with some ointment from his washroom. Gibbs looks angry while he watches her raise Jaclyn’s sweatshirt, in order to put some ointment on her thigh and arms. He heard her talking about the bruised thigh and arms, but didn’t register the incident until he saw the bruises. “Does it hurt?” Kate asks. “No,” Jaclyn replies bravely.
Her mobile rings: “Todd!” she snaps.
Gibbs observes her face turning red and becoming horribly mad.
“What? You lost your kids? Both of them? ...I have no idea, Bro,” and then, she hangs up cruelly.
“Let them suffer a little bit more. OK, kids?” and they both nod.
Kate is glad that they stopped vomiting and shivering. She hears Gibbs telling them that they are the bravest kids he’s ever met, and he tries to put them to sleep while he hugs them both and kisses their heads repeatedly.
Joshua cries because he forgot his gun. Gibbs promises him that he’ll bring it back when he wakes up tomorrow, and the boy nods sadly.
”You can borrow my Mr. Fuzzy, Joshua. I don’t mind,” she tells her crying brother, but Joshua refuses and sobs quietly.
Gibbs realizes after awhile that they must feel safe and comfortable in his arms and in his bed since they fell asleep in such short time.
He watches them - Jaclyn is asleep in his arm, and Joshua moves down to his lap. They look so small and weak, and what they’ve been through is far too cruel and traumatic. How could their parents do this to them; Divorces - shame on them, and shame on him.
He recalled how easy it was to please them. When he gave them their toys, Jaclyn screamed in joy, and she hugged the teddy bear and said that she’d name him Mr. Fuzzy Jethro. Then, she kissed Gibbs’ cheek over and over again until she was satisfied.
Joshua waited patiently like a gentleman, and for three and half year old, it’s not bad at all. His eyes bulged when he saw the gun. “WOW!” That’s all he could manage before a few long seconds later, and then, he thanked him. They loved his boat in the basement, and they thought that Gibbs is the coolest man on earth.
Kate arranges them properly in the middle of the bed, and they both fall asleep shortly after.
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The light and the movement on his bed awaken Gibbs. He, then, sees Kate on the phone, and she looks awfully pale.
“What’s wrong, Kate?” he asks and yawns.
“They have fever, Gibbs.” He is jarred awakened by the news. He doesn’t know what to do, and he feels hopeless while Kate is diligently wiping their foreheads and limbs with cold washcloths.
“I’ve called Ducky. Don’t worry, and go back to sleep.” Like hell he would.
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He opens hid door for Ducky, who, the M.E., looks worried.
“Poor lads,” he says as he examines their little bodies.
Kate goes out from his room. She is sad and at the same time, furious. She needs to keep herself busy. Then, she sees all the dirty wet clothes, and she dumps them in the machine. She is thinking what can she do for them? What can she say to their parents?
“Kate!” Gibbs taps on her shoulder and says, “I’m going to the pharmacy for their medicine. Ducky is staying with them.” He wishes that he can console her, but he has some urgent errands to do.
“Then, we’ll figure out what to do. OK?” She just nods her head and looks at him thankfully.
It is almost noon when the kids are awake. Their temperature has dropped, yet their throats are still sore, and they seem to have gotten the flu. Though they are doing much better, they’re still lying on the bed in Gibbs’ sweats, and they look like dwarfs in giant’s clothes - so comments Jaclyn their attire to Ducky.
Ducky is lying on the bed and talking to them. They talk about everything.
“Aunt Katie…where’s Jethro?” Jaclyn asks her.
“He is out, Sweetie, to kick your daddy’s ass!” Kate tells.
“And Mommy’s, too?” Jaclyn confirms.
“Yes.”
Gibbs dropped by for a while to drop the medicine and to check on the sleeping kids, and then he told Kate that he is going to look for their parents, in order to talk with them.
“Do more than talk, Gibbs!” Kate sounded pissed off. That was seven in the morning, and it is now noon.
Kate has fixed lunch for Ducky and the kids, and they have eaten all of what she prepared for them. She is now waiting for Gibbs. She jumps out of the chair when she sees him enter the house, all tired and damp. She walks to him and helps him take off his coat, and then hugs him.
”Hey…everything will be all right, Kate.”
“Let’s change you before you catch cold.” And, she pulls him towards his room.
“Why, Kate? You want to change my clothes?” he grins.
“Very funny Gibbs. You are fifty and not five, OK?”
The kids are very happy to see him. “Jethro!” Jaclyn walks on the bed to him, then he holds her in his arms for a while, and he pulls out Joshua’s gun from his jeans.
“Thank You, Jethro!” the boy gleams and thanks him with his sore throat.
“Sweetie, let Jethro eat first. OK? You don’t want him to become sick, right?” Kate says to Jaclyn
“Okay,” she replies and lets him go.
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Kate drags Gibbs down to the kitchen and let him eat. Damn, he is hungry; he eats whatever his Katie serves in front of him. His Katie? Yeah right, he thought.
When he finishes his food, “Good Boy, Gibbs!” Kate teases him. He smiles at her.
“So?” she asks him anxiously. “So what, Kate?” he teases her back.
“Gibbs…spill it out! “She says and jabs his stomach.
“Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! What did you do?” she asks anxiously.
“You are going to love me…” he responds and glances at her smugly.
Then she looks at him softly and says, “I already love you, Gibbs. It’s you who never realized it…” she discloses to him.
He gazes at her like he’s never seen her before. Then she interrupts him, “So? The kids? My brother? What happened?” She wants to know everything.
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Gibbs walks to her and embraces her in his arms, and he tells her that everything will be all right. Subsequently, he tells her about his fear, his pain, and the humiliation. And then he tells her how the kids opened his eyes and gave him hope, and now he dares to dream for a better future - he wants a family. They’ve released him from his past.
He went to her brother and his wife.
“They look like hell, Kate,” he tells her.
He advised them not to make the same stupid mistake like he did, and he told them that he was a blind stubborn fool who never believed in family although it is worth fighting for.
He told them that their children have opened his dying heart and would sacrifice everything to have what they have, and then he begged them to consider.
“You don’t know what you’ve missed out on until it’s too late, and you can’t just turn back the time.”
“Kate, marry me!” he suddenly says.
It is not a proposal, but it is a statement.
However, Kate is not prepared for it. One moment, he was talking about what happened today with her brother, and at the next moment, he asks her to marry him.
She laughs and places her palm on his forehead, and she says, “Yep, just as I thought. You have fever, like the kids.”
“Kate…” he sounds very serious.
“You are tired. You are stressed out about the kids. Wet, cold…you are not thinking straight, it’s all my fault…my poor baby,” she hugs him.
“Kate…” he tries again.
“Gibbs, ask me again...in a month time.” She looks at him seriously, and he smiles back and says, “Okay.”
“C’mon, your girl and boy are waiting for you!” “I’m jealous, by the way. I think they like you more than me, and I am…related!” and Gibbs laughs out loud. Kids say the darnest thing.
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God is fair, she thought. There’ll always be light after darkness.
Her brother and wife came to see their kids that evening, and they asked for their forgiveness and told them that they are not going to get divorced. After Trouble and Problem jump up and down, they make their parents let them stay with Aunt Katie and Jethro for another week and they said yes!
Happiness is definitely contagious.
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Kate POV
Last night, my brother’s family decided to stay in Gibbs’ spare room. And, we all went out for a big dinner and my brother pays for the big dinner!
The following day, I am talking to my brother as I serve him the Thanksgiving leftover food.
Out of the blue, Gibbs enters his kitchen, and straight away tells Jeremy his purpose with his sister. My face turns red like a lobster, and I am embarrassed, but flattered by his action.
My brother looks at me and then looks at Gibbs. He swallows his food and has a biggest grin on his face:
“Sure, Gibbs! If you can handle her…” he continues eating.
“Actually, I am glad that you want her. I was beginning to worry that nobody would ask for her hand…” he swallows his chewed food.
“…you know, most of the guys that go for her…got their Asses kicked...to…” Then I choke him from behind, and he tackles me back, but I pinch his tummy so hard that he screams in pain. Then I flip him, and he flips me, and we hear claps.
The kids are clapping their hands excitedly and cheering for their aunt, of course.
Ducky is shocked, and Gibbs tells him that he asked her brother for a permission to ask for his sister’s hands. Ducky is now speechless. Imagine, Ducky being speechless, and he grins at Gibbs.
Suddenly, my brother stops fighting with me and lunges at his kids. He carries them around the living room, and they scream and laugh.
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Ducky POV
I wonder how innocent souls can make the worst cynic believe.
I am looking at the family that was almost shattered to pieces. Then I look at Jethro and Caitlin. I am content because now I can see that they’ll find their way to the family and to the future they deserve.
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Gibbs POV
Kate asked me to ask her again in a month, but I don’t bother to wait that long. The day before her brother and his family went home, I asked her, and she said yes.
I was relieved when she said yes.
The kids were screaming at the top of their lungs: “We are related! We are related!”
I told her that I’ll make her happy, and she can have the big wedding whenever she wants. Kate said she didn’t want a wedding since she doesn’t believe in wedding, but she believes in marriage.
One month later, after getting a license and being married at the city hall: I got married again for the very last time. As I lay in our bed with her tucked beside me, I thank God for Trouble and Problem, and for the last chance that God gave me.
-End-nova2007-
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Trouble&Problem~Marital bliss~Imagine~Cursed&Blessed~Drool~All I have~
Immortality (end)
I based Jaclyn and Joshua’s characters from my two year old cousin, named James. His antics, creativity and boldness give me great idea about kids.
Hopefully, along t he way of the KIBBS’s series, I’ll be able to ADD another kids characters…lets see.
Author's Chapter Notes:
FINALLY...they are related
Chapter End Notes:
Writing the story was a blast!!!! Hope you guys love it too!