Down Time

Since I am really bad at handling a large cast, neither Abby nor Ducky will be in this story after the first chapter.

Thanks to my wonderful betas Jake and Jordre for all their hard work.

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Chapter 1

Ducky came to table late that morning, but he was smiling. "I'm very pleased that the Royal College of Forensics has invited me to present before The British Academy of Forensic Science. The meeting is in Edinburgh, my old stomping grounds. I'll be leaving ..." he looked at his printout. "I'll have to leave day after tomorrow in order to get there in time to have a day to rest. I hate to admit that I'll need it."

Jimmy chuckled a bit. "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." He flushed then started babbling. "Not that I think you're weak ... or old, just that jet lag and change of climate, they can wreak havoc on even the youngest ..." he gulped under the weight of Tony and Tim's stern looks. Ducky just watched with amusement. "Ok, guys, help a fellow out here."

Tim shrugged, "You're doin' a good job of switching feet all by yourself."

Jimmy glowered at him, but shut up.

Ducky chuckled. "Never mind, Jimmy; I know what you meant, and it is sad but true. I am older. So ... you're all going to Remy's family reunion? Sounds wonderful."

Tim shook his head. "I hate to do it, but I'm not going to go. My Mom wants me to come home for the holiday. Sara's going to be there ... and Penny. I miss getting to spend time with them. Dad's ... don't know where, and I don't really care. He's gotten another transfer. Mom decided not to follow him this time; she likes this house a lot and has made friends she doesn't want to leave. They're all Navy wives with the same interests and stuff."

Tony nodded his understanding. "That's good. No reason to miss out on family for us. How's Penny?" Tony had admitted that he really liked the spunky lady. Penelope Langston was Tim's maternal grandmother and still an un-reformed hippy.

Tim grinned. "She's great. She and Mom want to take Sara and me to some sort of retreat for the weekend. I'm not too sure about a retreat after Flower and Bright and their shit, but Penny assured me that this would be different."

Jimmy blinked for a moment then said, "Really? You sure?"

Tim snickered. "Penny had a lot to say about pseudo-existentialistic, self-satisfied, self-serving psychological bullies who pretended to be social coaches. She was not pleased. I think she even had a few words with SecNav and SecDef."

Tony chuckled as well. "That lady is very well connected. Your dad better watch his six."

Tim helped himself to more toast, slathered the piece with jam, and folded it, pinching the edges together to keep the jam in. After a bite he offered, "So ... Remy's family reunion."

Ducky had settled at the table during the conversation and now had his own breakfast. "Yes. It sounds interesting."

Tony got a dreamy look in his eyes. "I love them. There's food, drinks, music. All sorts of games, fishing, hunting, boating, horseback riding… You name it, it's probably there. We're going down on the motors."

Jimmy questioned, "Gear?"

"Won't need more than what will fit in our bags and your trike. Ma'mere will provide everything else. We'll have to help with chores but ..." he shrugged, "a little work won't hurt us." He poured creamer into his coffee and stirred it.

Ducky eyed the amount and said, "AJ, are you sure you should use that much?"

Tony took a sip then offered, "Well, Ducky, you're the doctor, but stop a sec. You've been on me about losing too much weight lately. I eat well, and good food. Not a lot of junk, no matter what anyone says." He gave Jimmy a fish eye. "Shut it, you. Fruit ... along with cookies, for a snack. Lots of greens. Love spinach, avocado, and grapefruit salad. Not a lot of grease or sugar. No matter what anyone says. So, yeah, creamer." He smiled gently at Ducky.

"All right. I do see your point, and you're right. You're much too thin. You should be carrying another ten pounds or so. I'll let it go." Ducky smiled back over his cup of tea. He did so love poking the bear with Tony.

Tony just piled his plate with food and started eating. He never ate anything before his first cup of coffee; said it wasn't civilized. Remy allowed that he just wasn't coordinated enough to tell the difference between food and his tongue before coffee.

Tim agreed, got a smack on the shoulder, then turned to Jimmy. "You gonna get along with Ducky's replacement?"

Jimmy scowled at a piece of bacon before stuffing it all in his mouth at once. He chewed, swallowed, then said, "Hope so. Probably not. That's why I'm glad I only have to deal for a week."

Ducky nodded. "I decided to take three weeks, which gives me time to visit old friends and old haunts. I'm looking forward to it." He sighed, "Jimmy, I am sorry that Vance decided to bring that ..." he cleared his throat. "Dr. Osborne Symons the Third. Pretentious ... Do not let him get to you, walk on you, or put you down." He pointed at Jimmy, looking stern.

Jimmy shrugged. "I won't. If he gets too stuffy, I'll go see Abby. If he really gets out of line, I'll just ... not sure what. I'm not really good at looking fierce."

Tony offered, "Just pretend he's me and won't take his medicine. You look pretty fierce then."

Jimmy shrugged. "It scares me when you won't cooperate. So ... doctor face."

Tim nearly choked on his coffee when Ducky said, "And that is different from bitch face how?"

Tony laughed. "Ducky, you're shocking the children."

Ducky just said, "Meh!" and went back to his tea.

.

Jimmy offered to drive Ducky to the airport and help him get aboard. Ducky was happy to accept, glad for the help with his luggage. He was spending three weeks in Scotland, so he'd packed accordingly. This meant that he had a huge suitcase, a carry-on, and a messenger bag to deal with.

Their first problem came when Jimmy tried to park. His Chevy Silverado was a full-size, but the parking nearest to the doors was marked out for K-cars; this meant that they were so narrow that, if anyone parked on either side of him, he couldn't get the doors open. He let Ducky out with his messenger bag and carry-on, then found a place farther out. He was just glad that Ducky's huge check-through had wheels.

"Ok. Ready?" Jimmy smiled at Ducky's worried look. "Not even sweating. Let's go. You're supposed to be on-site an hour before."

Ducky glanced at his watch. "We're doing well. Two hours. This way."

Jimmy picked up the carry-on and followed Ducky.

Ducky kept checking the ticket in his hand against the gate numbers until he finally said, "Ha! Here we are. Just put my bag there. I can get it onto the check-in."

Jimmy eyed the bag, then the elderly man. "Don't think so. That thing has to weigh a ton. Who's meeting you on the other end?"

"A porter, I think. But I'm sure I can handle it myself. It does have wheels." Ducky eyed his suitcase for a moment then decided that he'd just have to manage. There was no need for Jimmy to hang around on his account.

Jimmy had other ideas. "You do know that I'll get the beat-down from hell, and PT till I drop, if I leave you here to wrestle all this shit yourself? Seriously. Not stupid."

Ducky shrugged. "Oh, well. Far be it from me to get you into trouble with AJ."

It didn't take them long to reach the head of the line, as they were early enough to avoid the crowds. Jimmy hoisted Ducky's bag onto the scale, then sighed; they had to put the carry-on in some sort of bin to make sure it was the right size to fit in the overhead. How Ducky was going to hoist that into an overhead Jimmy wasn't sure. But it didn't really matter, as the older carry-on bag was too big, and they had to check it through. This did not please Ducky, as he grumbled, "And what if they lose my check-through? Now that my carry-on is checked through as well, I'll be starkers."

Jimmy grinned then offered, "Well, they have to pay for the loss, so you could have a nice shopping trip on that street you're always talking about. And buy a kilt."

Ducky thumped him absently. "You mean Carnaby St.? That's in London. I'm going much farther north."

"You've got tickets to Luton. Check it." Jimmy frowned. This wasn't so good.

Ducky eyed his ticket then sighed, "You're right. I'll have to get connections north. Train." He flipped through his tickets as he spoke then said, "Oh, connection from Luton to Edinburgh. It's a short hop. Excellent. And my baggage is checked through, so I won't have to wrestle with it." He smiled at Jimmy. "I'll be fine. If I have to, I'll pay a porter. Now, be off with you. Enjoy your vacation and Illegitimi non carborundum."

Jimmy chuckled. "Said by US Army general "Vinegar" Joe Stillwell. Great quote."

Ducky smiled. "And not actually Latin." There was a soft chime and the runner board asked that everyone who was checked in please proceed to security check and on to their gate.

Jimmy gave Ducky a quick pat on the shoulder, then trotted off, leaving the older man to deal with the rest of his boarding himself.

.

Tony went to have a few words with Vance. "Mr. Director, a minute?"

Leon Vance was not a fool, and he was well aware what Tony wanted to speak with him about. "That's just about what I've got."

"This guy you're bringing in ... Dr. Osborne Symons III. What's with that? Jimmy's more than competent ... and he's a bit pissed. This Symons guy gets out of line, and there's going to be problems. Dr. Palmer is a doctor, as well as being very well versed in the protocols, so Symons better treat him right." Tony's expression threatened a prank war.

"I know ... I wanted Dr. Palmer to have the experience, but SecNav wasn't having it. He wanted someone with more experience on board." Vance scowled at his watch. "Although ... how he expects Dr. Palmer to get experience in lead if he never leads, I don't know. I'm running late but ... if Dr. Palmer chooses to take offense and go on vacation early ... I won't get in the way." He smirked at Tony, shifted his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other, then finished, "After all, if Dr. Symons chooses to step on toes, he'll have to bear the consequences."

Tony grinned after the director, then went down to Autopsy to meet the fill-in.

This turned out to be interesting.

"Hey! Jimmy, where's the fill-in?" Tony looked around with a big grin, white teeth flashing.

Jimmy scowled. "In Ducky's office, rearranging everything." Jimmy went back to his computer.

Tony patted him on the shoulder. "You really think rearranging furniture is going to last long?" he smirked. "Or that ... Dr. Dimwit is going to manage to find files?"

Jimmy sighed. "He's already pissed off Abby, Evidence, and Janitorial. Man has two left feet, and both of them wind up in his mouth at the same time."

Dr. Symons came out of Ducky's office, took one look at Tony, and barked, "You! Come here! I told housekeeping to send up someone an hour ago."

Tony smirked at Jimmy then ambled over to the office. "You want me? Wha'cha need, then?" He followed Symons into the office and shook his head. All Ducky's carefully organized files were dumped on the floor. "I'll have all this stuff out in a sec." He nodded. "Just need a couple of boxes. Be right back." He left to get file boxes, muttering under his breath about "idiots."

Jimmy just went into the office and started picking up files. "I'll have these boxed in a minute. If you'd told me you didn't want them, I'd have done it while they were still organized the way Dr. Mallard likes." He shot Symons a glare. "It's really rude to mess up someone else's files, you know."

Dr Symons just shrugged. "He should have filed this shit away before he left. Deal with it." He stomped off. "I'm getting coffee."

Jimmy muttered, "Jerk." He figured out that Symons had just picked up piles and dropped them on the floor, so he restacked everything in order. Tony came back with boxes and a hand truck, a four-wheeled platform with a push handle. "Thanks."

It didn't take them long to box the files and get them, along with the two two-drawer filing cabinets onto the truck. Jimmy eyed them, then asked, "What should we do with these?"

Tony thought for a moment. "We're gonna be gone ... are all these cases closed?"

Jimmy shrugged. "No idea. My thought is to take everything to the secretarial pool and let them deal. That way, if we need something, they'll be able to find it."

Tony nodded. "Can you deal?"

Jimmy nodded, but gave him a questioning look.

"Never ask those women to deal with a mess like this without doughnuts."

Jimmy chuckled over that and pushed the truck away.

Tony picked up one last box and carefully emptied Ducky's desk of every single thing in it; right down to paper clips and rubber bands. He also took Ducky's tea things, including his beloved Brown Betty pot, and matching cups and tea caddy. He even packed up the kettle. "There. Suck on that." He then rearranged the office, putting the heavy desk back where Ducky wanted it and taking Ducky's chair. This he took to Abby's office.

He left a note on the desk that said, "All Dr. Mallard's personal things are removed. If you need anything, you'll have to contact the Comptroller's Office and file a request."

Dr. Symons was not pleased when he returned to "his" office to find no chair, no filing cabinets, and no side table. The empty drawers also made him fume. He called the Comptroller's office and was told to file a request for supplies and equipment. When he hung up, the clerk opined, "He's pissed in someone's coffee."

Another clerk coughed, "Gibbs." Symons didn't understand that pissing off Gibbs or DiNozzo, especially DiNozzo, usually resulted in lost paperwork, misfiled requisitions, and general uncooperativeness. Add in the fact that he was usurping Ducky's place, and you had everyone in the building gunning for him.

Tony called in a favor from Dean and got him to bring three dozen doughnuts to the pool. All the ladies crowded around to grab a couple, then went back to filing the hundreds of files that Ducky had piled around his office. Dean opined, "Duck's gonna be major pissed."

Tony agreed, but better Ducky pissed over filed things than missing ones. And he wouldn't put it past Symons to pitch or shred things just because.

.

They caught a case, and Gibbs growled, "Grab your damn gear. Someone shot a sailor down at Grace's place. Damn it!"

Tony snarled. Grace's restaurant catered to the merchant marines, but was friendly to the services as well. This was going to cause all sorts of chaos.

They got to the restaurant and checked with the local LEO's. They said the man had been wearing Cracker Jacks, so they'd called NCIS in.

They were just going to take a look when the transport van arrived, driven by Dr Symons. Jimmy was shotgun and looked grim. He went to the back of the van and got the gurney out, silent and sullen.

Tony shook his head. "Boss, Gremlin is flamin' pissed."

Gibbs glanced up from the body. "Don't blame him. That guy's a fuckin' train wreck looking for a damn place to happen."

Symons stormed up, demanding, "I hope you had the good sense to not touch the body."

Tim got up from where he was taking a fingerprint. "Just enough to take a print. Got photos first." He got out of Symons' way with a grimace.

"Well, you're not supposed to touch the body until I say so. I'll write a reprimand and send it to your boss." Gibbs rolled his eyes; that wasn't going very far.

Symons knelt down to examine the body. He started talking, expecting someone to take notes. Jimmy declined, as he wasn't a morgue aide and never had been. Tim didn't take notes because he was a Special Agent, not his job either. Gibbs just walked away, senior agent in the field wasn't even supposed to be on site yet. No one bothered to tell Symons that Ducky used a recorder that he kept in his pocket. Jimmy put the kit down and walked off too.

Gibbs went to let the LEO's know that the man wasn't a sailor of any sort.

The senior officer asked, "How could you tell so quick?"

Tim held up his fingerprint scanner. "Not in the system. Every enlisted gets printed, all prints are in the database. He didn't come up anywhere."

Gibbs smirked then said, "Uniform's polyester."

The cop blinked then turned to Tony. "Polyester? Don't get it."

"Navy uniforms are wool. Polyester will probably never be reg; it melts."

Gibbs sipped his coffee and watched as Symons pissed off the Supervisory Officer, the LEO in charge, and the DC Coroner's Office. He kept out of it; wasn't his job to keep a jackwad from being a jackwad. He did tell the man he was talking to, "Sorry about him; he's an idiot. I'm going on vacation to get away from him." He ambled off to get more coffee, calmly taking it from the drinks station and tossing a five on the register as he went by. "Tony! Coffee. Tim!"

Tony and Tim helped themselves too and left, cups in hand. Tony nodded at Jimmy, who was putting the gurney back in the van. He went to get coffee as well, and settled in the van to wait until Symons was done alienating everyone. He was startled when someone tapped on the window. He rolled it down to say, "Yes? What can I help you with?"

The detective in charge said, "Get that idiot off my crime scene. Take him ... wherever."

Jimmy thought about that for a moment. "Not my job. I'm only the Assistant ME. Ducky's gone to Scotland to present, and I'm stuck with ... him." He glared at Symons, who was still trying to tell the coroner how to do his job. Like the man, who'd been a coroner for nearly twenty years, didn't know his job by now. "If he doesn't watch out, I'm going on vacation a few days early. I'm due, and already signed up for two weeks starting on Friday." He smirked. "At noon."

The detective shook his head. "I'm not dealing with that jackass." He stomped off to read Symons the riot act and send him to the bus.

Jimmy didn't say anything on the way back to the Yard; he just looked out the side window and ignored Symons' bitching. He did offer an occasional "Uh-huh," or "Yeah," but he mostly kept his silence—even as Symons took a wrong turn and got lost in the tangle of dockside dead-ends.

When they got back to NCIS, Jimmy announced that he was cleaning the bus. "It needs restocking, too, so I'll be a while." He watched as Dr. Symons marched away. "And I don't want to be any-fuckin'-where near you, you dick." He started doing inventory, a task he hated, but it would keep him in the garage for at least two hours, more if he loafed. He had every intention of doing a very thorough, and slow, job.

While he was gearing up to do the inventory, at a snail's pace, Dr. Symons was discovering the bare office, sans chair, desk, side table and anything else. He swore, stomped around and sent another request for office furniture, equipment, and supplies. He got a return email that said, "All duplicate requests will be deleted. Please be sure to send only one request." He had a little tantrum and tossed a rolling tray full of instruments onto the floor. He called his cousin the SecNav and demanded his "rights" as a fully qualified Medical Examiner. The SecNav wasn't impressed with this and told his cousin that he'd gotten him the gig, he had to keep it on his own. If he couldn't get his attitude under control, he'd be back in Chicago on night shift in a hot second. SecNav then told his aide not to put the idiot through again.

Tony, meanwhile, was laughing his ass off. "Gibbs, do not ever piss off housekeeping. Seriously."

Gibbs looked up from the report he was writing. "What?"

"That jerk pissed off either housekeeping or janitorial, whatever we're calling it now, and they took out all the furniture in his office. Seems he didn't have the proper paperwork for furniture so they put it all in storage again. He's filled out a requisition but ..." he snickered. "You know how long that takes."

Gibbs shook his head. "He should know better. Wonder why he's here, instead of wherever he was."

Tony thought about that for a moment. "Probably pissed off some higher-up. Don't think he's going to last here. He'll have to go back to ... Chicago, I think, and grovel for his job. I won't work with him."

Gibbs shuddered at the thought of Symons replacing Ducky. "Not gonna happen. He's already shit in his whiskey here."

Tim ambled in with a tray of coffee. "Mission complete. Here." He handed out the coffee. "So whose reputation are we mangling now?"

"Symons." Gibbs tapped enter then pushed away from his desk, coffee in hand.

"He's a mess. I wouldn't work with him on a bet. He's incompetent but he's connected ... some shirt-tail relation of the SecNav. Scuttlebutt is ... he's on his way out of his current job ... SecNav got him this trial, but he's got to keep it on his own. Vance wouldn't put up with anything else." Tony took his coffee with a nod.

Tim settled at his desk to pull up a presentation on his big screen. "I've got all the dirt right here." They spent a few minutes looking over the information before Tim happily emailed the whole mess to Vance. "See how he likes that. Man needs an attitude adjustment via size ten."

Tony agreed, adding, "He's a TBI. An' I'm not dealin'. Maybe we should just ... go UA."

Gibbs shrugged. "I'm not gonna let him run me out but, if he really gets out of hand, we'll just ... sneak out."

Tim blinked for a second then pointed.

Gibbs sighed. "Vance is right behind me, isn't he?"

Leon Vance was very pleased that he'd managed to sneak up on the two masters of stealth, Tony and Gibbs. "I am. I got your email, McGee. I'm not pleased, but we'll let the man cut his own throat. I understand that Dr. Palmer is cleaning and stocking the ME's van. I expect that will take the rest of the day." He handed Gibbs the reprimand that Symons had sent him. "And what's with that?"

Gibbs read it, "I'll File 13 this for you. It's crap." He reached over and dropped the offending page into the shredder.

Vance nodded. "Thought so. This Symons is giving me a migraine already." He made it obvious that he wasn't pleased that Symons had jumped the chain of command by sending the reprimand to him instead of Gibbs.

They talked about the problem for a few more minutes, then decided that the whole thing relied on Jimmy. If he took exception, they were gone. Vacation early was always a good thing.

.

Jimmy finished with the van by 1600 and headed for Autopsy. He ran into Abby on the way.

"Jimmy! That jackwad that took over for Ducky called me a tech! What?" Abby scowled at her boots. "So not! What's his deal?"

Jimmy sighed; pissing off Abby was not wise at the best of times. "No idea. He's just stupid. I think this is his last chance. SecNav is trying to save his bacon while he's doing his best to burn it. Don't let him get to you."

Abby scowled. "Too late. He came in, demanded my chair. My chair! Then, when I wouldn't give it to him, he said he was going to write me up. Have my job. As if! Like he could even start to do it."

Jimmy shrugged. "Sorry, Abby. I've got my own problems with him. If I get back to Autopsy and he's left me any sort of mess. Or treats me like a mortuary assistant instead of an Assistant Medical Examiner. Well, fuck him."

Abby shook her head. "No way. He's too dumb. Not with someone else's pussy. Go! See what sort of what is going on." She stomped off to file a complaint with HR.

Jimmy waited a second for the hydraulic doors to whoosh open. He took one look at the mess of instruments on the floor, the open drawers and general mess, and just shook his head. "I'm not cleaning up this mess. I'll close the drawers as the refrigeration system can't keep up, but that's it." He walked down the wall, slamming drawer doors as he went.

Symons heard the doors slamming and came out of his still-empty office to yell at whoever was making all that noise. When he realized that it was his minion, he barked, "What took you so long?" He glowered for a moment then snapped, "Never mind. Clean up this mess."

Jimmy just shrugged. "You made it, you clean it up. And I don't expect to come back and find all the drawers open again. It's disrespectful to the office and hard on the refrigeration units." He didn't let Dr Symons get started. "And I am not a dogs-body. I'm an accredited Medical Examiner in my own right. I will not clean up after you, organize instruments you've scattered, or put up with bullshit. I'm going to the gym." With that he stormed out and went to the gym to take his temper out on the heavy bag.

He was still there when Tony showed up a 1700 to drag him out to swim.

Tony took one look at Jimmy and snarled, "What part of 'wrap your hands' did you forget?" He took Jimmy's bloody hands in his to examine the damage.

"I did. I just ... it's hard to do it right with one hand. Ow!" Jimmy winced as Tony poked an especially sore spot.

"Yeah, I can see. And where the hell are all the trainers?" Tony looked around for one, but they were all busy with a class of new agents. "Shit."

"It'll be okay. I'm not messing around here for the next four days. I'm going to take early vacation. That jackwad actually dumped instruments all over the floor and left half the drawer doors open. Housekeeping is going to go mental." He obediently stuck his hands in a bucket of ice water and arnica that Tony mixed for him. "Damn it! Cock-sucking son of a bitch. Cold."

Tony smacked him in the head. "Shut up; you'll scare the kiddies."

Jimmy made a rude noise, then said, "Swim? Anacostia?"

Tony shook his head. "No. Coast Guard has smacked that with a ban hammer. Laps."

"Fuck. I hate doing laps, AJ; it's boring." Jimmy took his hands out of the bucket, got swatted for it and put them back. "It's fucking cold, damn it."

Tony snapped, "Don't care. You messed 'em up, you bear the pain. Keep your hands in there until I tell you otherwise or you can't feel 'em. Whichever comes first."

Tim showed up just then. "What the hell?"

"Dumb ass butchered his hands." Tony went to find some bandaging in the first aid-station.

Tim eyed Jimmy. "Stupid. If that jerk made you pissed, you should have ... not sure what. Just ... dumb."

Jimmy nodded. "I know. Losing my temper wasn't smart ... but he is such a douche."

Tony returned, stuffed the bandages into his ruck, and ordered, "Pool. Laps."

They headed for NCIS' swimming pool to do laps, meeting Remy, Dean, and Cosmo there. Gibbs sent Tony a text to say that he was going to be a bit late, as he was hand-delivering their requests for immediate leave to HR. He advised Tony to get his teammates to turn in theirs to him before morning.

Tony snorted. "Already filed request for leave with Belt. All I have to do is text him we want it now." He fiddled with his phone for a second to send the text, tossed the phone into his bag, then dove into the pool to start his laps. He was followed by the rest of the pod, and Gibbs showed up five minutes later to start his rounds.

The seven men made a poolful, taking up all the lanes except one; that they were going to swim at least three miles meant that they were going to be there a while. People came into the pool area, saw who was in the pool and just left again. It was nearly 1900 when they were done.

Tony eyed the group, then announced, "Ok, we'll start fin work next time."

There was some cheering over this as it meant that Tony thought they were in good enough shape that they could use 'aids' like snorkels and fins. SEALs weren't required to make more than 500 yards without fins; Tony was tougher. He expected everyone in the Pod to manage at least two miles in good time, without fins. Most SEALs never swam without fins on an op; it was counter-productive. On an op, you used every advantage you could. As Tony said, "If you're not cheating, you're not doing it right." But, since they were swimming for conditioning, they went long-distance finless. He also made them practice holding their breath.

Gibbs picked up a towel and rubbed his head. He was still wearing a high and tight; his year started the 15th of May, and it wasn't July yet. "Well, one thing I'll say about this hair ... it dries quick." He dropped the towel, then settled on a plastic stool. "We need to all get together in the same place and finalize our plans."

Tim shrugged. "Mom and Penny still want Sara and me to come with them to that retreat. I'm inclined to go, just to be with family."

Tony nodded. "You should go. Family's important. Wish I had one."

Remy draped himself over Tony's shoulder, whining, "Aw, AJ, an' I'm no' your long-lost brother? I'm wounded."

Tony picked him up and tossed him in the pool. "Blood family, bro', blood. Jerk."

Remy surfaced, laughing. "Ok, ok. I do know. Ma'mere will adopt you. Simple."

Tony helped Remy out of the pool. "Oh, no. No, thanks. That old woman's a terror."

"Dat she is." Remy took the towel Gibbs offered and dried off again.

They dried off and changed into clean clothing. Gibbs announced that, since Ducky wasn't at Mallard Manor, they were all going to GHQ for supper and planning.

.

Gibbs decided that tonight was a good night to do something different for supper. He stopped by the local Asian market and picked up the things he wanted. He had driven himself in his old truck today. It wasn't that unusual for all of them to go in one of the three big SUVs, but other times they each took a vehicle of their own. Since the SEALs were sometimes required to go to Yorktown or some other installation, they all owned vehicles of their own, as well as motorcycles, which they kept stored in paid storage when they weren't using them. There was also Tony's chopper if it was really an emergency.

When he got home, a quick honk told the others that Gibbs needed help carrying in. Dean and Tim came out of the back through the garage's back door. "What's up?" Tim took the bags Gibbs handed him. "Where do you need this?"

"Take it to the back table and just start unpacking." Gibbs handed off a couple of bags to Dean, then said, "I need to get some stuff from the kitchen. I'll be back in a sec." He went into the house through the door from the garage to the utility room, then on through to the kitchen. He exited the house with a tray of utensils, which included a cleaver.

They finished unpacking the food, and everyone began to smile. Gibbs' Chinese bar-b-q was so good. He started with purchased ribs and went from there. Since there were also vegetables and other things, the group fell to their assigned tasks. Gibbs' quick orders got everyone moving quick-time. Not that anyone was complaining.

Tim disappeared into the house and came back out with the rice cooker and beer. He was greeted with shouts of, "Beer!" "Life blood!" and "Man, I love ya." He laughed, handed out the beer, and set the cooker down on the grill table.

Tony nodded. "I'll go rinse the rice. Just plain?" Gibbs grunted absently. "Okay, plain."

He got the pot out of the rice cooker and took it inside to rinse the rice and get it started.

When he returned he found Remy, Dean, and Tim cutting up vegetables for a stir-fry. He sighed, then asked, "Anything I need to do?"

Gibbs glanced up from where he was cutting the ribs into sections. "No, I think we've got it covered. Just relax for a bit."

Cosmo, tending the grill, announced, "Grill's ready when you are. Need the flat top on?"

Gibbs nodded. "Please. I'm not about to try to cook that much stuff in a wok. I'd have it everywhere."

Dean laughed as he chopped broccoli into florets. "Yeah. I remember the FUBAR the first time you tried. Seriously. Veg for ... twelve? That's a lot of shit for one tiny wok. We were pickin' onions out of the cushions for a week."

Gibbs laughed then said, "Yeah, that was a mess. Better to do it Japanese-style on a flat top. Less mess." He went back to cutting the ribs into pieces. "I'll have all this on the grill in five. Veg done?"

Tim looked up from stringing beans. "Just about. Just have to string the beans and ... we having tofu?" He eyed the small container with obvious disgust.

Gibbs nodded. "Just need that much for the sauce. Take it inside and rinse it, please. Then mash it."

Tim got up, container in hand. "Ok. You want it smooth or chunky?"

Gibbs pointed at the soy sauce with his cleaver. "Smooth. Add half a cup of that, half a cup of beer, quarter cup of honey and a tablespoon of catsup, dump it all in a pot and bring it back. Thanks."

Tim went into the kitchen to make the base for Gibbs' sauce. He mashed the tofu with a fork, added soy and mashed again. After adding the beer, honey, and catsup, he gave it a quick whiz with a hand blender, then took the pot back out to Gibbs. He put it on the back of the grill, tossed in a few more things, then left it to simmer. He never told anyone that the real secret to his Chinese Bar-b-q sauce was five-spice powder and cayenne pepper.

Tony checked the flat top for temperature then said, "It's hot. Want me to start the stir-fry?"

Gibbs checked his end of the grill. "Not just yet; the ribs need to be on for five minutes a side; the stir fry only takes five. I'll let you know when I flip the ribs." He finished lining the ribs up in the basket and closed the top. He'd had a disaster the first time he'd tried this, as he'd just put the ribs on the grill; some of them were so small that they fell through. The stink had sent Tony and Cosmo inside with flashbacks. It had taken him two hours to get the mess out of the grill.

After closing the grill basket on the ribs and getting it on the grill, Gibbs brushed the sauce over the top, then just held out a hand. Remy obediently put a beer in it, saying, "Smells good."

Gibbs grunted, which Remy took to mean "Thanks." Gibbs turned back to his cooking, as the ribs would burn quickly if they weren't turned on time. He poked at the sample rib, then said, "AJ, start the vegetables, will you?"

Tony just squirted oil on the flat top and dumped the first bowl of vegetables on the grill. He started with carrots, as they took the longest to soften, then added things in time order. "I'll mix up some sauce."

Gibbs finished saucing the ribs, then said, "Just use the left-over stuff and add some saki or something."

"Okay; I'll just add some more beer. There's plenty of that." Tony took the bowl and added enough beer to thin the sauce to the consistency of half-and-half. He picked out a carrot and tasted it. "Veg is done. Ribs?"

Gibbs nodded. "Just takin' 'em off the grill."

Tony spread the vegetables out on the flat top and poured the sauce over them. A few quick tosses later, and the sauce was thickened. "All done." Tony scooped the vegetables into a huge crock bowl and put it in the middle of the table. "I'll check the rice."

He didn't need to do that, as Tim had already fluffed it and dumped it into another bowl. "It's ready. Anything else?"

Gibbs put two platters of ribs on the table. "A few odd things; I think Dean took care of it."

Dean had taken care of the gallon of cole slaw, gallon of potato salad, and some sort of cake. They were also brought from the kitchen to the table. "Everything's on the table." Dean settled in his place and waited while everyone else got seated.

Gibbs picked up a platter and took some ribs. "Stir-fry looks good, AJ."

"Thanks, Jet." Tony took some rice and passed the bowl. He took a bite of rib and moaned, "Mmmm. So good. Man, great stuff."

As usual, it didn't take long before the last scrap of stir-fry was eaten and the last rib bone gnawed clean. Beers passed from hand to hand as Gibbs tossed all the paper into the trash can. As Gibbs said, "Never burn trash where you cook; you wouldn't eat out of a garbage can, don't treat your cook top like an incinerator." Also, there was an ordinance against burning trash.

It didn't take them long to police the area and settle around the patio on chairs and loungers. Beer and chips made the rounds.

.

Tony found his notebook, opened it, and put it on his knee. He used electronic media most of the time, but for this, old-fashioned paper and pen was his choice. "Ok. Planning."

Tim started, "I need to teach someone how to work the intercom system. You can't run a mob with no com."

Cosmo pointed at Jimmy. "Since it's on his trike, he's elected."

Jimmy groaned. "Man, fuck you. I hate messing with that damn thing. What if I fuck it up and short something out?"

Tim shrugged. "You'd have to ... I'm not really sure. It's shielded against everything except a sledge hammer ... or C-4. Just turn it on, plug it in and motor."

Jimmy frowned. "I don't have to turn on a bunch of shit in a certain order?"

"Nope." Tim popped the p in "nope" and grinned. "It's on when you turn the ignition on; just plug in your system and drive. I idiot-proofed it."

Cosmo groaned. "Oh, my God. You just jinxed us all. Damn it."

Remy explained, "You can never idiot-proof anything. Idiots are too ingenious. If there's a way to screw it up, someone will find it."

Tim sighed. "You know? You're right. Sorry." He swallowed beer, then frowned at the bottle. "I did pack parts. Way at the back there's a cubby where the radio is just a bit short; trunk's a weird shape, parts are in there with a false front, just to keep odd shit from drifting in."

Dean nodded. "Okay. I'll remember."

Remy chimed in, saying, "We don't need to pack tents an' that. Ma'mere will have the barn clean; all we'll need are sleeping bags and personals. I've already got one night in a motel on the way down. Not campin' in this heat, me."

Tony shook his head. "Me neither." He poured beer into his mouth, swallowing audibly. After several swallows, he asked, "We need to bring anything?"

Remy shook his head. "No. A bit of money to help out with things would be appreciated."

Dean stood up, picked up a bowl, dumped the chip crumbs out of it, and dropped in a fifty. He passed it to Cosmo, who rummaged in his wallet and produced some money of his own.

The final tally was three hundred dollars. Gibbs tucked it into his wallet. "I'll see that Ma'mere gets it soonest."

They finalized plans by getting Tim to drive them to the storage in the morning. He was on his way to meet his family, but said that, if they were up and going by 0600, he'd drop them off. No one found any problem with that, so they agreed, then settled back to finish off the beer, share stories, and gossip.

The main point was Dr. Symons, and Jimmy started a pool on how soon before Abby killed him. He added, "Although ... I'm not really sure we'll ever really know. She'll get rid of him."

Remy nodded wisely. "Gator bait. She'll cut 'im up and drop the bits all over Atchafalaya. Or some place."

Dean shuddered. "Ugh. So not good. That man. Who's he fuckin', anyway?"

Gibbs shrugged. "No idea, but he's got to be damn good in the sack."

"Or whoever he's between the sheets with is really, really desperate." Cosmo finished his beer. "Wellp ... I'm for bed. 'Night."

Everyone else headed for bed too. Since they were all staying at GHQ, there was a bit of rearranging so that everyone had a rack, but it wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last that some of them slept on a cot, or the couch, in the living room.