"Rise and shine sleepy head!"

Zach groaned, batting the arm that was shaking him away. It must have been early in the morning because he was far too tired to get up.

"Kiddo, come on!" Tony shook him harder "It's nearly eleven and I'm bored of waiting for you to wake up"

"Too tired" He grumbled, rolling away.

Tony rolled his eyes, why did teenagers think anything before midday was the crack of dawn? He had allowed him some leeway seeing as he had passed out from exhaustion but he had waited for ages to give his nephew his birthday present and if Gibbs wouldn't wake up the boy he would.

"Happy Birthday to you!" Tony yanked the covers off the boy, singing loudly and obnoxiously "Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Zaaaa... upmh!"

The blond teen grinned, rising from his bed and throwing a pillow in his uncle's face to shut him up. His uncle was quick though; taking the pillow he tackled the boy back to the bed and started beating him with it mercilessly.

"You're such a jerk!" Zach laughed, unable to over throw the much bigger and stronger man.

Tony feigned being insulted "How could you say such a thing to your favourite, most handsome and most funny Uncle."

"You must be deluded Uncle Tony!"

"Or maybe I've just hit him in the head one too many times" Gibbs came up behind him, delivering another head slap to the agents head. "I told you to leave him be Tony"

"Yeah, well..." Tony shrugged, climbing off the teen to a sitting position next to him. "I don't want him to sleep through his birthday"

Zach frowned turned and frowned slightly at the older man. "You know it was my birthday yesterday right?"

"Course we do kiddo!" Tony smiled widely, draping an arm over the teen's shoulders "But you slept all day yesterday, and Aunt Abs had a whole day planned out, unless you'd rather we didn't have a redo birthday? It can't be too hard to tell Abby the day is off..."

Gibbs bit back his smile and joined in the light teasing "And it won't be that hard to make Grandpa throw out the chocolate cake he made..."

"Or to tell all of your friends not to turn up to the party later on..."

Gibbs was openly smiling now "It won't be too hard to take all your presents back to the shop either"

"No! It's fine, I wouldn't want everyone going to all that effort to take the presents back. I'll take one for the team and open them" He smiled and his dad and uncle, happy that things seemed to be going back to normal with both of them. He wanted to put everything that had happened in the last week in the past.

"It will be no bother, don't worry Zach. You just go back to bed while we get rid of everything" Gibbs smirked watching his son's face drop.

"No, it's okay. I want them"

"Oh no Zach, I really wouldn't want to put you out like that"

"Daaaaaad!" He mock glared him only to be laughed at by the two men.

"Get dressed and join us downstairs" Gibbs ruffled his hair "Happy Birthday son"

He went down the stairs and was greeted by the whole of his family and decorations strung everywhere and a huge pile of presents on the floor. He didn't think he had ever seen so many presents for him in his life!

"Happy Birthday day to you..."

He was smiling widely as he looked around his whole family singing happy birthday to him. Grandpa Jack, Grandpa Ducky, Mike and Shannon were sat on the couches together, while Ziva was on the armchair holding baby Ant with Abby perched on the arm. Gibbs, Ashlee, Jimmy, Kelly and Tim had all got chairs from the dining room to sit on whilst Tony, Jayden, Tyler, Sarah and Kate sat on the floor.

The room was barely big enough to fit them all, but they had still all made room for Zach to sit front and centre while Kate and Jayden passed him presents, reading out who they were from.

"No way!" Zach ripped of the paper excitedly, looking at his grandpa Jack "You got me an Xbox?"

"Glad you like it sonny" Jackson beamed back. He was glad that his grandson was back to his usual care free self.

"Like it? I love it!" He looked over to Tyler "I'm so going to kick your ass at every game"

"Dream on bro"

Zach continued to open presents. He had got spoilt rotten from his family getting a mountain of British sweets, the newest sports tops from all of his favourite teams, a stack of games for his new Xbox, a new television to go in his bedroom along with a ton of other stuff.

Zach thanked each and every one of them, he was truly grateful for everything they had given him, but he was more grateful of them just being there and wanting to spend time with him. Looking around at all of them now, he felt ridiculously silly about how he had been feeling the past few days. It was clear to him that they all cared for him and would do anything for him.

He had thought he had opened all his presents now when his dad pulled out a small box from behind his back. He idly noticed that everyone was watching his reaction carefully.

He opened it carefully, pulling out a key in disbelief "No way! Are you kidding?"

Gibbs shook his head, smiling. "No, it's all yours. Happy Birthday son"

"Thank you so much!" The blond was practically bouncing, darting over to his dad to pull him into a hug, before dragging Tyler and Jayden outside to the garage to see the car. Only just hearing his dad telling him the car better not move an inch from where it was.

"Jayden you get shotgun" Zach called, unlocking the yellow challenger and climbing into the driver seat.

Tyler slid into the backseat, whistling in admiration of the car "This car is so cool. I can't believe he gave you this. You should have seen my first car; it was a heap of junk."

The blond teen ran his hand over the wheel, imagining driving it "It really is. It's kinda funny he's giving it to me though, because he caught me driving one of my friend's cars not too long ago and he went mental"

"I remember that" Jayden winced "Didn't he say you wouldn't be driving until your eighteen?"

"He exaggerates sometimes" Zach shrugged "Think he would calm down quick if we drove around the block? Tyler's twenty-one, it's not like he can't be the responsible adult in the car"

The elder of the three boys shook his head "Not a chance Zach. We are in enough trouble with dad as it is, and I'm not adding to it with a joyride"

"Come on Ty, I'll take the fallout for it"

Tyler snorted "Yeah, I don't think that works with dad."

"Please Tyler" Zach begged "It's my birthday"

The elder brother knew he would cave before long so instead he distracted him; he pulled out an envelope out of his pocket and passed it over to him.

"You've got me tickets to watch a Lakers game?" Zach went wide eyed at the gift, reading the details on the ticket carefully "It's in LA though; I'll never be able to get there"

Tyler smiled, glad he liked the present "Dad's already agreed to it, you and him are going to come and spend the weekend with me in LA."

"That's so cool, thank you so much." The blond grinned, before his face dropping as he turned in his seat to look at his brother "But why are you going back to LA? I thought you were going to stay here?"

"I told dad I'd think about moving to a college closer, but I love LA and my girlfriend and all my friends are there. I'll be back here every break I get though"

"Make sure you do" Zach was really starting to like his elder brother and he had assumed he would have wanted to stay around here, so he was slightly disappointed to find out. He realised he was being unfair to expect Tyler to drop his whole life and move this way just like he wouldn't want to do the same.

"I promise I will. And there's nothing stopping you coming to stay with me"

After the boys came back from seeing the car Abby had announced that the first part of their day was underway, and after Gibbs practically having to wrestle the car keys out of his son's hands they were on their way to the ice rink which had been booked out solely for their use.

"It's my birthday though, why can't I drive?" The blond whined, unhappy about riding shotgun in his own car.

Gibbs gritted his teeth, willing himself not to lose his patience "Because you don't know how to drive and the roads are busy."

"I know how to drive enough! There's a go pedal and a stop pedal, what more do I need to know?"

"Zacharriah, I've told you more than once now the reason and if I have to tell you again I'll be using more than just my words" The silver haired man snapped at him, he really didn't want to shout at the boy on his birthday but he wasn't leaving him much choice.

"Zach sweetie" Shannon intervened from the back seat, knowing whatever the boy was going to say next would land him in trouble "What your dad is trying to say is that we have a busy day planned out and we just need to get to places as quickly as possible. He'll be able to take you for a drive later tonight okay?"

"Yes!" He agreed energetically, turning around in the seat to face her "Can you make sure he does though? He might forget, he is pretty old after all"

"You cheeky brat" Gibbs slapped him on the back of the head, but only softly so he knew he was joking. He looked at Shannon in his rear view mirror, silently thanking her for breaking up the argument before it even started.

"I'm the same age as him Zach" She looked at him pointedly, but with a smile on her face.

"Well, you've aged so much better than dad has. You don't look a day over thirty" He threw one of his dazzling smiles at her, trying to charm her.

She laughed at him "I wish I looked that young again, but it's nice of you to say"

The rest of the day went perfectly and Zach saw that Abby had really out done herself. They had gone to the ice rink, which she had decorated with Happy Birthday banners and played all his favourite music as the skated as a family. Then they went for a late lunch at one of his favourite places to eat, which included a massive chocolate cake. And to finish the day they were at a party filled with all of Zach's family and friends.

"Who's that hottie that's with sat with your dad?" Tom Jenkins, one of Zach's best friends asked.

The three boys, Zach, Tom and Jared Vance were stood away from the dance floor catching up, while watching everyone else have a great time with the hired DJ and mass amount of food. Zach had been worried at first because all his school friends were used to having parties filled with alcohol and drinking games so he was glad that everyone was having a good time without.

"His step-mom?" Jared frowned "Dude she's like fifty."

"No, not her" Tom shook his head "The red head next to her"

Zach looked over to where his dad was sat, before turning horrified at his friend "That's my sister you pervert!"

The blond didn't know when he had started thinking of her as his sister but when he friend had started thinking she was hot he couldn't think of help but feel protective.

Tom shrugged unapologetic "Well she is smoking, what I would do to..."

"Stop!" Zach yelled, putting his hands to his ears "Keep it to yourself."

Tom and Jared both grinned at each other now, seeing how much it was winding the other boy up. This would definitely be used against him in the future.

"Sorry Zach, but Tom's right she is hot."

The blond teenager looked exasperated between the two, both of them talking about his sister. He was glad when the conversation stopped about her, but he could see this was going to be used for a long time to come. He didn't blame them though; he teased them about stuff just as much as they did to him.

The party went well, with everyone having a great time especially Zach. He knew he was popular in school but he hadn't realised how much because it seemed like the entire school was there. But it had to come to an end at some point and the seventeen year old was exhausted when they had finally pulled up on the drive outside their home.

"You go and get ready to go for a drive Zach and I'll see everyone home" Gibbs told his son, passing him the keys over.

He walked down to Jack's house, saying a quick goodnight to all the occupants before walking back and getting into the passenger seat. He smiled to himself, seeing his son slumped over the wheel and fast asleep.

The elder man got out, doing his best to not wake up the boy as he picked him up effortlessly and carried him upstairs. He wondered if this time next year he would be able to carry him, the boy was due a growth spurt but for now he cherished being able to pick him up. He knew he would have no hope in lifting his eldest son who was a lot taller and had a bigger muscle mass.

He placed him in the bed, taking of his jeans, socks and shoes before pulling the blanket over him and kissing him goodnight.