Fun and Games

An hour later, out in the yard, the men finally decided to return to the indoors. Standing up and stretching, Ducky spoke, "Well, look at that. We haven't heard a word out of them in quite a while, Jethro. That means they have been entertaining themselves without any complications. How about that?"

Jackson clapped him on the back and nodded, "See, Son, sometimes you've got to just turn loose of the reins. Enjoy life a little bit-"

Not willing to concede, Gibbs shook his head and contradicted, "Maybe, but we haven't seen the house yet. For all we know, there are huge holes in the wall. It's taken me until this year just to train Abby and Tony not to throw inside, or to run when they're inside, for that matter."

The kitchen was pristine when they entered and the three nodded appreciatively to each other. Then they became cognizant of the music blasting from the living room. Jackson held a finger to his lips for silence and motioned to the other two to follow to the living room doorway. The younger set was so engrossed in the fun that they didn't even notice the spectators.

Ducky, taking in the scene before him, murmured, "Oh my….."

Flo Rida's Low was rocking the room, compliments of McGee, the acting deejay. McGee was spinning cds around and had found a hat, which he proceeded to remove, then put back on, remove, then put back on, and finally, to sail it across the room. He was dancing as he supervised the cd player.

The rest- Tony, Jimmy, Ziva, and Abby were dancing as well, completely uninhibited, in the cleared living room floor. Jethro stood stunned as he watched Jimmy and Ziva. He'd suspected that Tony and Abby would be good dancers, but he was genuinely surprised at the other two. Ducky regarded his assistant with some pride, thinking to himself that Jimmy never ceased to amaze him. Jackson marveled at the gyrating and movement of the four, and determined he had never seen dancing like that.

Before the onlookers could speak, Abby took her turn to go "low, low, low" while the others sang out loudly with the blasting music, "those apple bottom jeans, and the boots with the fur,". Then the others followed with their turns at the center of the room.

After a couple of more choruses the music changed to another obvious favorite. Scrambling in position, they began calling out, "Go Tony!" or "Go Abby!" as they hit the floor for a Sean Kingston song that chorused, "Somebody Call 911, Shorty's fire is burning on the dance floor!"

Gibbs turned to Jackson, who asked, confused, "Who's Shorty?"

"Oh my," spoke up Ducky, "One of them is going to sprain or strain something. How can they dance like that without self injury, or injuring one another, for that matter?"

Neither of the other two responded- they were still glued to the spectacle before them. Jethro felt a twinge of pride watching Abby and Tony- they were dancing with abandon, and had gravitated towards each other as the song started to wind down. Abby was lithe and moved gracefully, and Tony's sports prowess was understandable watching him move.

Spinning suddenly, like a top, Jimmy spun around the perimeter of the room and came face to face with the onlookers. He stopped immediately, embarrassed and certain that somebody's wrath was going to rain down on his head. Ziva, right behind him, slammed into him during the abrupt stop. The two fell to the floor, which caused the entire proceeding to come to a halt. McGee stood with his finger jammed on the player's stop button and a horrified look on his face.

Abby was the first to recover. "Oh hey, Gibbs," she called out. "Aren't we good?" The others were attempting to catch their breaths and recover from the unanticipated cessation of their fun.

Tony moved over to her and whispered comically, "I think we're going to get sent to our rooms."

She nodded, but forged ahead. "Do you want to join us?"

Jackson and Ducky burst out laughing, and staring at the Goth with affection, Jethro joined in. The three older men turned and made their way to the kitchen, where Jethro started a pot of coffee, and Ducky started a pot of tea.

After a couple of minutes while the guests agreed that it was ok to resume, the music and dancing continued another half hour until the dancers were completely exhausted.

Running into the kitchen for drinks, Tony leaned on the back of Jethro's chair and asked, "Boss, can Jimmy and Ziva and Tim just stay and spend the night here with us? It's late, and you know we've got room."

Gibbs instantly opened his mouth to say no, but Ducky and Jackson looked pointedly at him.

Sighing, he accepted defeat and responded, "Ok, but I want the living room clean and all of you up those stairs and in your rooms in half an hour. No more- and you are not sitting up talking all night in one of the rooms. The girls are going to bed in Abby's room, and you three boys in your room."

Tony had moved in front of his Boss and was nodding agreeably with the instructions.

Recalling night after night of dealing with Tony and Abby, Jethro narrowed his eyes to a glare, though. "In addition, none of you are leaving your rooms, even to say or do just one more thing, or to get another drink of water, or anything else. There is no reason for you to stay up all night. I mean it. You and Abby have enough clothes here to give the others some night clothes. You know where the extra toothbrushes are. I don't want to regret this. Got it?"

"I got it, Boss. May I say something?"

"Only if it has to do with going to bed- I want all of you up those stairs and getting ready to sleep in the next thirty minutes."

"It does. Thanks for the Gathering, Boss."

With that, Tony jogged back to the living room. The sounds of furniture moving, laughter, and running up and down the stairs and back and forth across the hall followed.

Then finally, peace permeated the residence of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs.