Settling the Estate

Gibbs arrived at McGee's just as Maggie Hopkins was walking away from the house with Tiana and Jethro. The little girl waved to her Daddy then turned to wave at Gibbs as he pulled in. Maggie waited with her until Gibbs was parked and out of the car so he could have a goodbye hug and kiss, too.

"Going to spend the day with Grandma Maggie?"

"Yep. Daddy said it's gonna be boring with just big people talk so Grandma Maggie and I are going to play instead."

"And Jethro get to spend the day with Lady?" Everyone had been amused by the German Shepard's infatuation with Maggie's collie.

Tia nodded and tugged Gibbs closer to whisper in his ear. "She's his girlfriend."

"She is?" When Tia nodded again, Gibbs turned to the dog with his most stern voice. "You be good, Jethro, and treat her right, you hear?"

Jethro cocked his head as if considering the words before barking and Gibbs ruffled his fur as he stood.

"Well, we'll be off. Come along you two." Maggie smiled and started them on their way, Tia giving one last wave to her Daddy and Papa.

Gibbs took a few steps back to meet up with Tim on the side porch. "You're not going to end up with puppies, are you?"

"Nah, he's neutered."

"He is?" Gibbs was surprised since the dog certainly looked intact.

Tim sounded a little embarrassed as he explained. "I had it done the same way they do a show dog." Gibbs looked confused, so he explained further, his ears turning red. "Instead of removing everything, they just remove the testicles and replace them with implants."

Gibbs felt the side of his mouth twitch. "And you didn't have to tell Abby."

"Umm, yeah."

"Smart man."

Now that they were alone, Tim turned serious as they climbed into Gibbs' car. "Thanks for offering to come along. I'm not looking forward to dealing with Gladys today."

"Are you expecting her to cause problems?"

"Maybe. Grace was very successful in her career and, well, I know they had some fights about the money. Grace paid off her mother's house a few years ago, but Gladys was hinting to the lawyer that she deserved more."

Gibbs thought about the various options "If Gladys managed to bully Grace into changing her will, how much of a problem will that cause you?"

"None, really. The only thing I might do differently would be to sell the Porsche and replace it instead of buying a second car. Tia will be getting survivor's benefits which will cover most of my child care expenses. Anything else we get will just be tucked away for her college. I guess it's more of the principle of it. If Gladys refuses to be involved in her grandchild's life, I don't want to see her get any more of Grace's money than what she's already gotten."

"Works for me."

The two men lapsed into a comfortable silence. They made good time and it wasn't long before they were pulling into the parking lot of Whiteside, Bunn and Allan Legal Offices. Gibbs smirked at the name, but didn't comment.

Inside the office, McGee walked up to the receptionist. "Timothy McGee for Mr. Bunn. I'm a few minutes early."

She smiled and picked up the phone. "He's running a few minutes behind schedule, but I'll let him know you're here."

Ten minutes later they were seated in the attorney's office. Just as he was about to start, Gladys Miller was escorted in with her own lawyer. Bunn didn't seem surprised to see her and immediately handed a copy of Grace's will over to the other man before handing a copy to McGee.

"I'll keep this brief, Agent McGee, as the estate is very cut and dried. Miss Miller's wishes were very simple, she wanted her daughter taken care of. There is a trust fund for Tiana, to be administered by you, Agent McGee, until Tiana turns twenty-three. Her life insurance policy list you and Tiana as joint beneficiaries. She also has a list of jewelry and personal items that are to go to her daughter. Her car, a 2013 Lexus, is willed to you, Agent McGee. It was ordered and paid for several months ago, but was just delivered this week."

Tim was surprised at that. He hadn't considered that Grace still owned a car at the time of her death, let alone that she'd ordered her dream car, but it did solve the problem of what to do about daily transportation as the Porsche was a bit snug with a car seat.

Mr. Bunn turned to Gladys. "Grace's estate lists a private loan made to you for the express purpose of paying off the mortgage on your home."

Gladys turned to her own lawyer. "No, that wasn't a loan, Gracie gave me that money."

He had already read the details. "Listen to the rest of what your daughter's attorney has to say."

"As I was saying," Bunn continued without missing a beat. "Grace's will states that the loan will be called in immediately if you contest any part of the will, now or in the future."

Gladys had a pinched look on her face. "I see. Well, it appears that you have won, Mr. McGee."

"This isn't a contest, Mrs. Miller. Grace wanted to make sure that Tia had everything she'd ever need and that is exactly what I intend to do."

There was no warmth behind the smile. "Of course you do."

Mr. Bunn wasn't quite finished. There was a large stack of papers to be signed and then he had one more bombshell for the angry woman. "Mrs. Miller, I've been told that you drove your daughter's car here this morning. Would you give the keys to Agent McGee please?"

"And how do you expect me to get home?"

"A deputy sheriff will drive you home and supervise the release of the rest of the physical property listed in the will." Bunn gave her a smile that was just as cold. "I'm sure you want this settled as quickly as possible."

"Fine." She practically threw the keys at Tim before storming out of the office. As promised, the deputy was waiting in the lobby.

Once she was out of the room Mr. Bunn handed a bulging manila envelope to McGee. He looked inside to find dozens of smaller, letter sized envelopes. Most of them were addressed to Tiana and a few to Tim, each with a particular date or milestone written on the top left corner. Letters from mother to daughter for each birthday, for her first school dance, first crush, every moment Grace knew she would never get with her little girl.

Bunn nodded as Tim looked up. "Grace was a planner."

"Yeah." Tim had to stop and clear her throat. "Yeah, she was."

"All right, then. If you have any questions, or if Mrs. Miller gives you any problems, feel free to call me." Bunn stood and held out his hand.

Tim took the offered hand. "Thank you for everything." Gibbs also shook the lawyer's hand before following McGee out the door. In the parking lot he let out a low whistle.

"Nice ride." He'd been expecting a traditional sedan, but the Lexus sitting in the parking lot was a luxury SUV. Deep blue in color with a tan leather interior, it really caught the eye as Gibbs walked around to inspect it. "Guess you won't have to sell the Porsche now."

Tim ran his fingers across the roof. "Grace always talked about getting one of these, I just figured it never happened."

Having heard enough over the last weeks to feel like he knew the woman, Gibbs ventured a guess. "I bet she bought it knowing you would be the one to actually drive it."

"You're probably right." Tim flashed a smile as he remembered. "Blue would have been my first choice, but if she'd been buying it for herself, she'd have ordered it in red."

Gibbs followed McGee back to the house Grace had spent her final months. Under the supervision of the deputy sheriff, Gladys already had a large pile of Grace's personal effects stacked up. She fussed a little over the family jewelry, but a pointed reminder in front of the sheriff that Tia was Grace's only child quieted her instantly. A second reminder got them the spare set of keys Gibbs knew had come with the Lexus.

When the back of the Lexus was filled, Tim turned to Gladys one last time. "I hope that someday you realize that part of Grace lives on in Tiana. When you do, call me." He stood in front of her for a few more seconds before turning and walking out the door, Gibbs and the deputy following behind.

Final papers with the Sheriff's Department were signed before McGee gave Gibbs a tense smile. "Let's get out of here."

Part of the reason Gibbs had invited himself along was so that McGee wouldn't have to drive himself back after dealing with the estate and with Gladys, but the new car left him no choice. As a compromise, he suggested they stop at a restaurant they'd passed when turning off the main highway and Tim readily agreed.

-NCIS-

"So, how's it handle?" Gibbs slid into the booth and took the cup of coffee the waitress offered. Tim slipped in across from him and accepted his own cup.

"Like a dream. My one objection to the Porsche has always been the way it handled on ice and snow, but that thing's all-wheel drive and the transmission even has a snow mode."

"Really?" Gibbs always considered himself more of an old car guy, but he was intrigued. "We're supposed to get one more good snow storm next week, we'll have to give it a try. How bad is the mileage going to suck?"

Tim's grin could be seen even from behind his coffee cup. "It's a hybrid."

"So, great mileage, no power?"

"Try 295 horsepower." Tim set down his coffee to pull out the spec sheet he'd found in the center console. Gibbs was already pulling out his reading glasses.

He quickly skimmed the page, nodding in approval. "Nice, but aren't fifteen speakers a bit much?"

Since becoming a full time father, Tim was much more comfortable around Gibbs, finally able to tease the older man. "Bite your tongue, there's no such thing as too many speakers."

Gibbs smirked but dropped the subject as he continued to read. "Rear seat entertainment system, Tia should like that. What's the memory system?"

"Oh, that's really cool. I've got the seat, mirrors and steering wheel all set the way I want them and I'm already programmed in as driver one. You'll be able to change it to be the most comfortable for you and program yourself as driver two."

"Really?" In truth, Gibbs was more pleased with the assumption that he'd be with them enough for it to be an issue. Judging from the suddenly bashful smile on Tim's face, he wasn't the only one.

-NCIS-

After several cups of coffee and a slice of pie each, they got back on the road. Several hours later they pulled into McGee's driveway. The boxes were carefully stacked in the office closet, giving Tim the option of going through them at his leisure and deciding when Tia would be ready for any of it. The box of photographs went on top, to look at first.

Once that was done, Maggie was called and since it was time for Lady's evening walk, she offered to walk that direction with the dogs and Tia. After thanking her and calling his insurance company to add the Lexus to his coverage, Tim went out to move the car seat into the new car before sitting on the front porch with Gibbs to wait for Tia.

Tiana saw the car before she saw her father. "Mommy? Mommy?" She pulled away from Maggie and ran across the yard to the driveway, Tim running to catch her.

"Whoa, there Sweetheart. You can't run away from Grandma Maggie."

"That's Mommy's car. I helped her pick it out. She came back."

"Oh, Tia, Sweetie." Tim picked her up and carried her to the porch steps to sit down with her on his lap while Gibbs went to retrieve Jethro from Maggie. "You're right, Mommy did pick out this car and you helped her, but she picked it out for us. It was her way of taking care of you and me when she couldn't be with us."

Tia started to cry and Tim held her, gently rocking. Maggie shook her head as she handed Jethro's leash over to Gibbs. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea."

"Not your fault, neither did we. It was delivered after Grace died, but she willed it to Tim."

Maggie nodded before telling him the rest. "I had Agent Comstock's little boy with me for a few hours today and he was so excited about his mom coming home today. I'm sure it didn't help."

"Can't be helped." Gibbs looked over at Tia and Tim. "As much as we might want to, we can't shield her from the world."

"I know, call me if you need anything." Maggie squeezed his arm and smiled at Tim before leaving with Lady. Jethro whined until Gibbs tugged on his leash.

"Come on, Loverboy, you'll see her again later."

They all went inside and Tim sat on the recliner with Tia, who clung to him, quietly sniffling. Gibbs sat on the arm of the chair as silent support, his hand cupping her head as she hiccuped. The last of the storm passed and Gibbs leaned close to McGee. "I'll go get us some dinner. Does she like Chinese?"

"Yeah, beef and - "

"Brock-o-licki."

"Okay." Gibbs shared a smile with Tim. "Beef and brock-o-licki it is." He kissed the top of Tia's head as he stood, not really registering the hand he automatically brushed over Tim's head at the same time. "Be back soon."

"Take the Lexus." Tim handed him the spare set of keys. "See what you think of it."

Jethro was curled up on the floor and when her tears dried up, Tia climbed down to lay against him, rubbing his silky ear as she sucked her thumb. Tim watched her as she settled. He'd been worried about the return to thumb sucking, but all the books had mentioned temporary regression and to not make a big deal about it, so he kept his worry to himself and started pulling out dishes and making a pot of coffee.

-NCIS-

Order placed, Gibbs retreated to the car. The seat had been comfortable enough, but he was just curious enough to want to play with the settings without an audience. He was used to forwards and backwards as far as adjustments for the seats, but this had ten different ways to adjust the bucket seats, not counting the lumbar support. Then he found the seat heater controls and decided warm seats weren't for sissies after all. The steering wheel was heated, too, which was a surprise and after he had it at the exact angle he wanted, he turned his attention to the mirrors.

Owner's manual in hand, Gibbs found the button to set his preferences as driver number two when there was a knock at the window. The manager of the restaurant was standing next to the car with a box of food and Gibbs quickly rolled down the window. "Mr. Lee, that was quick."

It had actually taken long enough that Mr. Lee had added an order of egg rolls as an apology. "No, not quick. You're playing with your car. I did, too." Grinning, he pointed to a mid-sized Buick in the parking lot. "New cars have so many gadgets."

Gibbs was a little embarrassed at being caught. "Yeah, they do." He pushed the button for the automatic lift on the back gate before climbing out of the SUV to take the box. The cargo net kept the box securely in place as he closed it back down.

Mr. Lee looked over the car, noting the car seat immediately. "Never met your family, bring them in next time. Family is important."

"I will, and you're right – family is important."