Hello Faithful Readers,

I debated posting this story because I don't have a lot of time to write but, I decided I would post it anyway. :)

I can't promise to update very regularly so please be patient with me. I have a houseful of little people to attend to and my youngest is on the move constantly these days...she keeps me on my toes...busier than all my others combined.

This story will be about Makayla and her parents. It will be about Riley struggling with his past and struggling to trust and let people in. It will be about Gibbs, Aimee and Janessa and their adjustments to being a family. It will be about Gibbs trying to figure it all out. It will include some of the team as well.

Let me know if you are reading along...if I have readers and reviewers, it will spur my writing along.

Happy Spring...cold, wet spring here in Canada.

Blessings,

Jenny Wrens :)

Makayla closed her eyes enjoying the night sounds as the porch swing glided silently back and forth. Ever since the first time she'd seen an episode of the Walton's when she was a little kid, she'd wanted a porch swing. There was just something magical about it. It seemed that Gibbs was a very industrious man when he had time off from NCIS. He'd woken one morning and announced he wanted to build the swing on the front and he'd done just that. Makayla adored it! She loved curling up with her art supplies or a good book and staring at the stars at night, except now it had gotten so cold in the evenings that she had to bundle up. Thanksgiving had come and gone and the day had arrived that her parents were returning from Europe. Her stomach ached when she thought of it. No matter how many times she'd spoken with them, Makayla still worried. Her father seemed okay with her but her mother remained distant, even after she'd told her about apologizing to the headmaster and being reinstated. Her mother wasn't impressed by her at all, and her expulsion from school had infuriated her, despite the fact that Makayla had been re-admitted and was working hard to pull up her grades. She'd pretty much given up hope to ever pursue her love of art in New York. Reality told her that her dreams of that were useless. Staying with Gibbs as often as she did had grounded her in some ways. Not that it was him that persuaded her to give up her dream; it was quite the opposite actually. Gibbs seemed to inspire her to dream bigger but, lately, knowing her mother was returning, she'd lost all hope of aspiring to anything she wanted. There was no point because her mother would always get her way. Always.

"Want some company?"

Makayla looked up startled to see Riley smiling down at her. The dark-haired teenager was dressed in blue jeans and a red USMC sweatshirt. Makayla felt her heart flutter a little. Since Riley's hair had grown in and he'd put on a few pounds, Mak couldn't help but notice him a lot more and it made her face flush. Riley Janssen was a good looking guy, no doubt about it but he was way out of her league.

"Is that Gibbs' sweater?"

Riley smirked. "Yep."

Makayla moved over and Riley sat down, pulling her blanket across his legs and helping her sway the swing.

"He's gonna notice you took it," she said, trying to sound less breathless than she felt as she caught a whiff of his aftershave. She didn't know a single boy other than Riley that shaved. It was intriguing to her.

Riley shrugged with little care. "He left it in my room…"

"You mean his room," she laughed. "Have you seen the back room yet? It's almost finished and it looks fantastic. I think you're gonna like having your own space. You'll have a good view of the stars from the skylight."

Riley grinned. "It can't come soon enough for me. Aimee and Janessa have been driving me crazy the past few weeks, ever since Jackson went back to Stillwater to sell his house."

Makayla pulled her knees up to her chest as she shivered. "They like you, Riley. You're like a big brother to them."

Riley put his hands behind his head and stretched out his feet. "I like them too. It's fun having little sisters. I could get used to this life if only..." His voice trailed off causing Makayla to turn and look at him in the shadow of the evening.

"If only what?"

Riley sat forward again. "Never mind, I wanted to be a shoulder for you to lean on, Mak, not the other way around. You were quiet at supper tonight. Are you worried about your folks coming tonight?"

Makayla's mouth dried up and she found she couldn't reply so she nodded. A sheen of tears washed over her eyes and she had to blink quickly to force them away. Now wasn't the time to cry. Riley had been through way worse in his 16 years. Getting expelled from school was no comparison to being water boarded or beaten up.

Riley seemed to recognise her discomfort and asked another question to alleviate the lull in the conversation. "What's your dad like?"

"He's cool. We talked and he's not mad at me …like he's not going to punish me or anything."

"I bet that's a relief."

"It is, but it was never him I was worried about. My mother is a whole other story. My Aunt Jenny is a pushover compared to her."

Riley and Makayla's eyes met momentarily before Makayla looked away, wiping away a tear that had escaped down her cheek.

"What's the worse she'll do? Yell at you?"

Makayla cleared the lump from her throat, not really wanting to answer him. She turned to look at him, this time allowing him to see the anguish on her face. Riley clenched his jaw when he looked her in the eye. He reached out and wiped away a stray tear. Makayla froze and her heart almost stopped when his hand made contact with her cheek. Colour came to her face and she could feel the heat creeping up her neck. She forced herself to keep talking despite the pounding pulse in her head.

"It's not about being yelled at. I can take that. It's the power she has to literally rip away everything I care about."

"You mean your art," he said dropping his hand away and she nodded. "I'm sorry, Mak…that must be tough."

Makayla sniffled and wiped at her eyes deciding she'd had enough wallowing. If she wasn't so afraid Gibbs would kill her, she would just take off for a couple of hours until her Aunt Jenny picked up her parents at the airport. Her aunt had wanted her to go with her but Makayla declined. It was better to have the dreaded conversation here rather than the airport. She knew her mother was going to flip out on her and she didn't need the public humiliation. Of course, sitting around and waiting for them to arrive wasn't making her feel the greatest either. It was like waiting for the axe to fall on the guillotine. It was inevitable. She stood up, dropping the blanket to the ground and let out a frustrated scream.

Riley chuckled. "You're wound up like a top, kid.

Makayla frowned. "Kid? Who are you calling kid?" Her hands found her hips as she glared down at him. She didn't feel much like joking around and his words irritated her.

"You, silly. Who else?" He kicked her playfully with the grin widening on his face.

Makayla considered Riley for a moment before seeing the glint in his eye. He was teasing her and she knew it but she just felt too grouchy to play along. One thing she'd come to appreciate about Riley was how genuinely nice he was. She didn't know why or how but for some reason, Riley chose to be kind to everyone. It seemed like nothing dragged him down, and if it did, he kept it to himself. In some ways, Riley was a complete mystery to her, but she couldn't help herself from admiring him…maybe even loving him, which was dangerous for her heart, especially if he really did see her as just a kid.

"Hey," said Riley, interrupting her thoughts. "Why don't I take you out for ice cream or something? It'll help take your mind off things. There's no sense sitting around here waiting for the axe to fall."

Makayla hugged herself as a chill from the evening enveloped her. "Gibbs will kill you."

Riley smirked, "Nah, he might be a little ticked off that I took his truck without asking, but he won't kill me. C'mon, live a little, Wallace. I'll leave a note. Besides, he took the girls to the movies; we'll probably be back before he gets home anyway."

Makayla considered his invitation for a moment. It was better than her idea of taking off on her own. Gibbs would kick her butt, and it would just make everything worse than she already anticipated. This way, Gibbs could kick Riley's butt instead. She sighed. Riley was probably right. Gibbs would be irritated but it wouldn't be a huge deal in the end; after all, it was just a few ice cream cones at the local ice cream parlour down the street.

"Ok, let me grab my sweater, but if Gibbs freaks out, it better be your ass on the line and not mine."

Riley grinned. "I promise."

Gibbs pulled in the laneway and clenched his jaw to keep from saying anything he might regret. He looked over at Aimee who sat with her arms crossed, stubbornly refusing to move to help Janessa unbuckle her car seat.

"You could offer to help your sister, you know," he all but growled at his pouting older daughter.

"It's okay, daddy. I cans do it," piped up five-year-old Janessa, fumbling with the buckle.

Gibbs watched for a moment, allowing the youngster a moment to try on her own then reached back to help her while still staring intently at Aimee who refused to meet his eye. Janessa continued to struggle to pull out the buckle from between her legs. Food often found its way into the mechanism jamming it. It was a source of endless frustration for the blue-eyed little girl.

"Move your hands, Ness. I've got it." Gibbs gave it a firm yank and the buckle finally released and Janessa climbed over the seat, landing in her father's lap with a satisfied giggle.

"One day, I'm gonna gets stuck in there forever, daddy."

Despite his grouchy mood, Gibbs had to laugh at his pixie girl. She was sunshine and lollipops most of the time, and his heart cherished it. He often needed to remind himself not to spoil her because she was so easy going. Janessa needed guidance and discipline too. It just seemed like Aimee needed it constantly and frankly, it wore him down. He glanced back at Aimee who sat motionless with a scowl settling on her face and he sighed. It was going to be a long evening, and he was afraid it was going to end in tears. His heart pinched a little. He hated being the bad guy and lately, it felt like it was his permanent role when it came to Aimee.

Gibbs pressed a kiss onto the giggling, squirming little girl's brow. "How about you go wash the chocolate from your face, while Aimee and I have a little chat." Gibbs opened the car door and set the wiggly child to her feet. "We'll be inside in a minute. If you need help to reach the facecloths, just ask Mackie or Riley. They're around somewhere."

"I gots stuff on my face?" she asked, looking astonished. She put her fingers to her mouth and scratched at the chocolate sauce around her mouth.

Gibbs poked her nose. "You do…all the way up to your nose."

Janessa crossed her eyes trying to look at her nose, and Gibbs laughed out loud at the sight. He turned her around and shooed her towards the house with a playful swat to her backside. She squealed and skipped towards the house. Gibbs watched until she managed to open the door and disappear inside then he turned to glare at his pouting daughter.

"YOU, my friend, can knock that chip off your shoulder right now," he said sternly.

Aimee narrowed her eyes at him and turned her face towards the window.

Gibbs got out of the car, opened the passenger side door and leaned inside to look closer at his rebellious daughter. "We came home early because of your poor choices, not mine or Nessie's. We could happily be watching our movie right now…"

Aimee's head spun to face him with a mutinous glare. "Shut up." She puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms tighter. As if to make him more upset with her, she kicked off her shoes and one shoe flew in his direction.

Gibbs silently counted to 10, which he'd taken to doing far too often lately. Aimee had settled down a lot over the past month. He was thankful for that. He was also grateful and relieved that Aimee had stopped trying to run away every time he turned around, but her stubborn willfulness was something that never quite ever went away. It wasn't that Gibbs disliked her determination; he didn't. He admired her tenacity, but it also made him very weary; especially, when she chose to use it against him to get what she wanted.

It had started out as such a wonderful evening, something all three of them had looked forward to all week. Gibbs had promised to take them out to dinner and to see a movie. He had to admit it was for selfish reasons he'd done it. He didn't relish being home when Jenny arrived with Makayla's parents. He'd hoped to miss the theatrics of Julia Wallace. Knowing himself as well as he did, Gibbs knew he would put his foot in his mouth and make everything ten times worse. Gibbs was angry at how selfish Julia Wallace was when it came to her ideologies. Jenn's sister never listened to anyone. Julia had her opinions and no one else's mattered, including her husband and daughters. He saw a lot of the same penchants in Jenny as well, and if the truth was known, in himself. It was probably why it bothered him so much.

"You can stand there all night for I all care. I'm not going inside," huffed Aimee in an angry voice.

Gibbs would have liked to call her bluff on it, but he was already shivering in the wind. The temperature was dropping fast, and it was going to likely drop down to below freezing before the night was over. Too cold for a child to sleep in a car, even if he could trust her to stay put which he didn't.

"Too cold to stay out here," he said, not allowing his voice to betray his frustration with her.

"I don't care."

"You will when you have icicles growing from your nose." Gibbs saw her shiver a bit as well. Leaving the car door open had quickly cooled off the inside of the vehicle. Tears were pooling in the little girl's eyes, and he hoped she would relent and come inside. He'd made his point for the evening. Poor behaviour would only bring them home no matter what he'd promised. He was thankful that Janessa was content with ice cream. His youngest was an ice cream addict. If Janessa got ice cream, she was content and he'd made sure she'd gotten a heaping dish of it after dinner. The movie hadn't even been all that important the little girl. Had he denied her ice cream? It would have been a whole other story. He was smart enough to know he'd gotten off lucky in that respect.

"You're a meanie," Aimee whined, this time the tears spilled down her cheeks.

Gibbs' ire cooled a little as a gust of wind picked up behind him. He couldn't help but feel sorry for Aimee as he peered in at her. Her lower lip was trembling and she looked more dejected than rebellious now, which he hoped was a step in the right direction. Aimee was a feisty girl and her calling him a meanie was tame in comparison to some things he'd been called by her.

"I warned you…"

"I just took Nessie to the car," she attempted to explain, her eyes suddenly meeting his. "Nothing happened. Why do you have to make such a big deal about it?"

"Aimee, you very clearly disobeyed what I asked you to do. And it wasn't just once. Several times this evening you choose to disobey me, but the last time you put your sister's life in danger."

Gibbs felt his heart beat a little harder when he remembered. He'd told the girls to wait at the table while he paid the bill and used the washroom. The waitress had kindly said she'd keep an eye out for them but must have forgotten as the restaurant grew busier with evening guests. When Gibbs returned to the table, both girls were gone. Gibbs had kept his presence of mind enough to stay calm, but when he looked out the window of the restaurant, he saw Aimee leading Janessa across a very busy road to their parked car across the street. Two cars had slammed on their brakes to avoid hitting them as Aimee jaywalked quite boldly across the road. Thankfully, they'd made it safely but not before Gibbs had grown more grey hairs to match the rest on his head. When he arrived at the car, he scolded Aimee stating they were going home and Aimee was going straight to bed for her careless disobedience.

"I'm not a baby, Gibbs. I know how to cross the street without you holding my hand," she snapped in belligerence. Gibbs bit back an equally angry response. Aimee often reverted back to calling him Gibbs when she was upset with him. He chose to ignore it, but he couldn't overlook the disrespectful tone in her voice.

"Not the point. And for your information, Miss, two drivers slammed on their brakes to avoid hitting you! That was a very busy road and you had no business crossing right there. If you did know how to cross a road safety, you would have walked further down the street and used the crosswalk." Gibbs sighed heavily as he looked into his girl's deep blue eyes. He could see she seemed surprised by his words and he truly wondered if she hadn't even noticed the cars avoiding them. Could she have been that oblivious to the danger? "You disobeyed me, Aimee and that's not okay in my books. You're lucky I'm not putting you across my knee," he stated sternly, giving her a poignant glance.

His words made her face pale and she looked away from him again.

Gibbs heard the doorbell ring. Frowning, he looked up to see Janessa on the front porch standing on her tiptoes ringing the doorbell. "Ness, what are you doing?" he shouted above the wind so she could hear him.

She spun around, the wind whipping her hair into her face and eyes. She attempted to sweep it out of her face to no avail. He could see her mouth moving but the wind snatched her words away so he couldn't hear her response. She turned to ring the bell again. He shook his head wondering why Makayla or Riley hadn't stopped her. The front door was wide open and he gave up trying to figure out why Janessa felt she needed to ring the bell. He turned his attention back to Aimee who remained transfixed on staring out the window opposite to him.

"C'mon, Aims, we can talk about this inside. Your sister is heating all of Washington D.C."

Aimee shook her head obstinately. Gibbs puffed out his cheeks and straightened up to look towards his front door. Janessa continued to ring the doorbell and Gibbs shook his head in defeat.

He ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair and debated his choices. He could leave her in the car and hope she'd get cold enough to come inside or he could snatch her up into his arms and forcibly carry her inside. The latter was guaranteed to cause a rip roaring fight that would force him into doing something he'd regret. He knew his daughter and he knew he had to pick his battles carefully. It would be better if Aimee chose to go inside under her own steam.

"Okay, fine. Stay in the car. Come in when you're ready but don't even think about wandering off, Aims. I'm in no mood for any theatrics."

Aimee looked up at him, scowling once more, even daring to poke her tongue out at him. Gibbs chose to ignore it and walked towards the house. He walked up behind Janessa and scooped her up in his arms and she squealed in surprise.

"Why are you ringing the doorbell?" he asked her, cradling her like an infant so he could look into her eyes.

"I needs a facecloth."

Gibbs could see that the little girl still had ice cream around her mouth. "Why didn't you ask Mak to help you?" Gibbs peered into the house, wondering why Mak or Riley hadn't come to the door to see what the commotion was about or at least trying to stop the girl from ringing the blasted bell over and over.

Janessa shrugged and squirmed to get free. "I can't find her."

Gibbs set the child down and she immediately went to ring the doorbell again. He reached out and took her little hand in his. "No more, Ness. Let's go in and find them."

Janessa frowned. "They must be hiding."

Gibbs smiled at her. "Well, if they are, then they are making it a really fun game, dontcha think?"

Janessa considered his words for a moment then her face lit up. "I like hide and go seek. I'm gonna hide too. Bet you can't find me!" She ran into the house and shut the door in his face.

Gibbs couldn't help but chuckle. He reached out to open the door to find it locked. The little stinker had locked him out. He turned to look at his car to see that Aimee hadn't moved from her spot, not even to shut the door he'd left wide open. He'd hoped the cold air would encourage her to come inside sooner rather than later. He glanced at his watch to see that it was half past eight. Jenn would soon be back from the airport with Makayla's parents. He wasn't looking forward to being in the same room with Julia Wallace again. He still had a bad taste in his mouth from five years ago when they'd met.

Gibbs began to walk towards the garage and pushed the button on the side which opened the large door. He could gain entrance to his house via the door inside the garage. That door didn't even have a deadbolt on it so it could never be locked. He never locked his doors as a rule; that is until the girls came into his life. Now he did tend to lock the doors and garage, but he hadn't tonight knowing that Jenn was coming and that Mak and Riley were home. The large oversized door rose slowly and he groaned out loud when he discovered that his truck was missing.