Epilogue

Saturday morning dawned with a few clouds but mostly sun for the Gibbs' barbecue. The yards, both front and back, had been cleaned, clipped, weeded and mowed the day before. By mid-morning, the men had set up the various picnic, patio and folding tables they'd borrowed from everyone they knew – including the extra long patio table Tim and Rob had assembled at the Hubbard family gathering so many weeks ago. Two grills stood side by side, ready for action. Chairs and benches sat along the tables, with additional chairs scattered throughout the backyard. Beer, iced tea, bottled water, soda and lemonade were chilling in tubs of ice placed in shady spots. Sarah had an extra table on the back deck set up for any extra treats people might bring. Ziva was preparing a few special dishes with Tim and Rob's help, Claire had made vast quantities of potato salad, Ducky and Maisie were bringing something and they'd heard that Jackie Vance would be bringing something as well. Geordie, Callum and Ainsley had gone shopping for the watermelons the day before and those were now resting in various coolers. Inspired by all the preparation, Damon had made five large pies after he got off work on Friday; four of the pies were now hidden away from hungry thieves. The fifth one had been torn apart, er, enjoyed by the family the previous evening. Tony was bringing ice cream and his date, Dar D'Amato, was bringing cannoli from her bakery. Whatever else happened today, no one would miss dessert!

Tobias and his daughter were the first to arrive, close to noon. Emily and her mother had arrived home from Australia the previous day; Diane and Victor had declined the invitation to the barbecue, opting to spend some time alone after the time apart. Now, Emily greeted her Uncle Jethro with a hug and an extra kiss for helping her dad. She hadn't met Callum and Ainsley before and was excited to have more kids close to her age within the extended Gibbs family, along with Kayla and Jared Vance. Tobias was glad Jethro had clued him in the other day about the preparations and plans for this or he would have been stupefied by all the activity, the setup and the number of people invited. Because the Gibbses hadn't just invited the agents who had protected them, they'd invited their families too, along with Dr. Bwookie and a couple of other hospital staff, including Rob's crush, McKenna.

After the Fornells' arrival, people started arriving in clumps, Tony and Dar, Ducky and Maisie, Jimmy Palmer and his girlfriend Breena, Ron Sacks and his girlfriend Ginny. The Vances were next with their kids who immediately joined the other kids. The Cookes, senior and junior, were the next to arrive; Junior, who introduced himself as Brian, was relieved and happy to meet Sarah, Rob and McKenna, all close to his age. Although he'd been told about Sarah and Rob, he had figured they were as old as Tony, having heard Gibbs call him 'son'. Sarah had lost track of the young man she'd been dating when all their troubles started, so she was very happy to have another young guy there and not to be a 'third wheel' with Rob and McKenna.

After everyone familiar had arrived, a little early as planned, the other guests started arriving. Rick Carter and his wife, O'Brien and his date, Agent Muller from the Pentagon team, Agent Tack, Agent Jee and all the others who had kept the Gibbs/Hubbard/Mallard clan safe during the investigation. Lawrence Calloway and his wife had been invited and they were warmly welcomed. Calloway joked that his doctor had approved the visit after learning there would be at least three doctors there. There were four actually, as Dr. Bwookie, two of Tim's favorite nurses and the head of Bethesda Security showed up. At one point, Fornell stood on the back deck along with Jethro and just looked at the crowd, marveling at how they'd all gotten through this safely. He'd been introduced to more people today than he had at his wedding to Diane, the last time he could remember being at least part of the center of attention.

They were both dumbfounded, however, when the Secretary of the Navy suddenly appeared with his wife to greet Fornell and welcome him home. Geordie, Damon, Dr. Bwookie, the nurses and every agent in the place immediately snapped to attention when they spotted him on the back deck, leaving the few civilians in the bunch to wonder just who this was. The Davenports wouldn't stay long but the Admiral knew this party was to unofficially acknowledge the massive and successful protection effort and he wanted to make his own contribution. Grabbing a beer he called for attention, welcomed Fornell back to civilization and thanked everyone 'for their considerable efforts' in protecting the large extended family. He shook hands with Geordie, Damon, the other military personnel there and as many of the agents as he could reach; gave Fornell a two armed shoulder grab and then sat with his wife and the Vances to enjoy a burger, Ziva's Thai salad, Claire's potato salad and Jackie's coleslaw while his wife, a vegetarian, enjoyed one of the meatless burgers and bits of nearly every dish offered.

At Vance's insistent expression, Fornell and Gibbs grabbed plates of food and sat down with the Vances and the Davenports. Emily appeared, was introduced and cleverly questioned about her stay in Australia. She was giggling within no time; Gibbs remembered the Davenports had grandchildren; evidently the Admiral had developed some decent 'kid' skills with them. With a sly look, the Secretary asked to meet the Gibbs clan. Gibbs smirked, leaned back and whistled. The Gibbses appeared, trying not to be embarrassed, dragging their 'non-Gibbs' brethren, that is Ziva and Tony, along with them. They stood, looking questions at their dad.

He laughed, "The Secretary of the Navy wanted to see who you are. Here they are sir." And he introduced them by name and title, using "newly published author" for Sarah and "Doctor" for Rob. The man nodded, impressed; two authors, a doctor, a Marine Lieutenant, two NCIS agents and a Mossad officer, that was pretty amazing for one family.

Mrs. Davenport, having tasted nearly everything, was curious about the cooks in the family, "Now who's the chef in the family, I know someone made this wonderful spicy Thai salad! And the brown sugar baked beans are so yummy, perfect for today and all these wonderful tropical fruits, the delicious potato salad, so nice and light and the coleslaw with poppy seeds and a hint of orange?"

Tim decided to speak up, knowing the others might not. His voice had improved to the point of a loud whisper, but he kept it soft today knowing Drs. Bwookie and Mallard were keeping a close eye on him. "Ziva made the Thai salad, our aunt Claire Hubbard made the potato salad, Mrs. Vance made the coleslaw, my brothers Rob and Geordie made the brown sugar beans from a recipe of our grandfather Gibbs' and our gram Maisie – and Dr. Mallard – brought the tropical fruits."

"Oh, so there are several cooks in the family! This is wonderful, truly a gourmet feast, thank you so much!" The various cooks murmured back.

Admiral Davenport thought for a moment, "Claire Hubbard, you're Jim's wife, correct?" Claire nodded, "Yes sir."

"Sorry he had to miss this, are those your children, that red hair has to belong to you two!" Callum and Ainsley, summoned, tried not to sigh as they put their Navy Officer's children's faces on. Davenport shook their hands, "Now I met Miss Emily already, aren't Kayla and Jared here too?" The two Vance children had been edging toward the back of the crowd, hoping for once not to have to be on display. They knew their duty now though and came forward, "Here we are, Sir." "Nice to have other kids your age around, isn't it?" The faces of all five of the younger ones lit up with smiles as they nodded. "Good, that's the way it should be, plenty of young ones around to keep us old fa…folks on our toes."

Dismissed with a look from Mrs. Vance, the kids melted back into the crowd. Sarah and Rob glanced at each other, glad they hadn't had to be on display like that when they were growing up. The Davenports rose, thanked their hosts for the company and the delicious meal and then were on their way. When their vehicle was heard driving away, there was a collective sigh from the crowd and Leon Vance started laughing, he couldn't help himself. He knew the tough old Admiral pretty well, knew he loved kids and wasn't all that crazy about the pomp and circumstances of his job, although he also knew the position commanded respect. Since the NCIS folks rarely if ever actually witnessed or even heard rumors about Vance laughing, the crowd was in awe, watching the man.

Gibbs was sitting next to him and he nudged him, "You know you're scaring everyone?" Vance nodded, trying to stop. "They've seen you, heard you laugh, your secret is out now, you're off the pedestal; they know you're human."

That set the Director off again, but he stopped suddenly and looked Gibbs straight in the eyes, "You have seven kids and have been seen smiling and heard talking! You fell off first." Gibbs cracked up at that and Jackie, shaking her head, got up and moved away, leaving the two lunatics to get it out of their systems.

The Vance kids and the Gibbses shrugged; nothing new here. Even Tony was getting used to this new human version of Gibbs. Most of the agents who had been on protection detail had seen Gibbs with his family and were not surprised. Ducky stood nearby for a minute, listening to the lovely sound of the two men laughing. Smiling, he moved away and to his lovely Maisie.

The barbecue lasted nearly until dark. The younger agents started to edge out a little earlier; Tim supposed they had other plans for the evening. Carter and O'Brien were among the last of the agent group to leave. The Calloways left mid-afternoon but not before the man, still recovering from the poisoning, had a bit of a rest in the shade by order of Drs. Bwookie and Mallard. Tim's vitals were also discreetly checked however he'd been careful to not overtax himself today and he was not required to rest. However, he was forbidden to help clean up or do anything more than relax for the rest of the day. Ziva was playing volleyball with Sarah, Brian Cooke, Rob, Geordie and the younger kids, so Tim sat and watched them for awhile, sharing referee duties with DiNozzo.

Fornell sat with Gibbs, thinking about everything that happened. He'd had a great time today and was enjoying his new freedom, both from the attacks of S.A. Gehob, now modeling an orange jumpsuit behind bars, and from his career. His daughter was healthy, happy to be with her new friends, Tim had forgiven him and his old friend Jethro had welcomed him back into the fold, now quite a bit larger. Vance had pulled him aside this afternoon to ask him about consulting and Tobias' reply was, "Yes, but only for NCIS." He was excited about that too. He smiled, thinking about working with Gibbs' team as an independent.

Jethro leaned over, "Whatcha thinking about, Tobias?" Sitting up straight, shoulders square, Tobias grinned back at him, "I'm thinking that I'm the luckiest guy in the universe, Jethro, that's what I'm thinking."

The End

NOTES: FYI: S.A. Gehob is an anagram for "Hosebag", Bomlundering is an anagram for "Mob Underling" and Stud Diopiti is an anagram for…"Stupid Idiot". Last but not least the rather vague/drugged agent Cresspin 's name is an anagram for "Princess" and writing that part was particularly satisfying. Don't ever mess with an author while she's writing!

Although this is the last story currently written for the At What Price series, I've been kicking around several ideas and knowing me, you can count on another story or three at some point.

Thanks for coming along with me throughout this series, I've had a blast and I hope you've enjoyed it as well. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed favorite or just read, I've enjoyed all of it. And one last big shout out to my awesome beta, harmonfreak1 for all her support: THANK YOU!

The next story I'll be posting is almost done, the title is "Pirates, Traitors and Goats, Oh My!" It's a tag to the wonderful Season 5 episode "Chimera"; the story is one I started in my head after seeing the episode 5 years ago.

Also, for fans of McBaby, there are two sequels, one of which I'm co-writing with harmonfreak1 called "An Unexpected Love" , under our combined author title of gottahaveharmonfreak. We have 9 chapters posted and Chapter 10 is on the way soon. In addition, harmonfreak1 has posted the first couple of chapters of an alternate ending and continuation to the original McBaby story.

See you soon - Happy Reading!