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Friday morning when Claudia got home from work there was a surprise for her sitting in front of her door. It was a new bottle of her laundry detergent with a big red bow on the top.
She found a note tucked in the bow and laughed when she read it, "Claudia, Thanks for everything the other night. And I was serious about watching the movie with you. Just name the time. –Tony"
He had left his home number on the note and when she called to thank him, she got his machine. She left him a teasing, playful sort of message and hung up.
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Saturday's weather was just custom made for being outside, bright and sunny but not too hot. Joshua was very excited to go to the marina. He loved the ocean and boats. She called him her little Skipper. She packed them some fruit and drinks, planning on buying hotdogs from the street vendor as a treat. Joshua loved hot dogs.
They reached the park and Joshua made a beeline for the playground area that was full of children. He was friendly and outgoing child and fit in well. It gave Claudia the chance to unwind a bit with the newspaper. She was browsing the cultural section when a shadow crossed her paper. Looking up she smiled when she realized who it was, "Jethro. This is a surprise."
He hadn't intended on showing up at the park. He had argued with himself last night over sandpaper and bourbon. But he was curious. He wanted to see what sort of man she was involved with, to see how he compared. So he decided to casually say hello, figuring that he could always say he was meeting a friend at the marina.
"I thought it was you, Claudia. Hi." He tried giving her a little grin but somehow he could tell that she could see right through him.
And sure enough, she gave him an amused raised eyebrow and teased, "You overheard that I was coming here." She wasn't worried about him being a creepy stalker, one of the other waitresses had told her that he was an FBI agent. And she was a little flattered that he had sought her out.
He blushed and with a grin admitted, "Yeah. You caught me."
"Do you want to sit down?" she asked gesturing towards the blanket she was sitting on.
He was about to say no, that he didn't want to intrude on her and her boyfriend when a small boy in a Spiderman t-shirt came flying over, "Mummy. Mummy. I did it. I did it."
"Did what munchkin?" she asked as she straightened his shirt.
"I went down the big slide!" he said in a quick breath, obviously very excited.
"All by yourself?"
"Yep."
"And were you scared this time?"
"Nope. I just did it."
"I knew you could do it, Joshua."
"Mummy, who's that?" he asked pointing to Jethro.
Jethro was standing there with an enormous smile on his face when he realized that she wasn't here with a boyfriend, but rather her son.
"It's not nice to point. Now why don't you tell him your name and say hello." She chided gently.
The little sandy haired boy took a step towards Jethro and said, "Hi. I'm Joshua. Are Mummy's friend?"
Jethro knelt down on one knee, "Hi Joshua, I'm Jethro. I met your mom a few days ago."
"Do you like boats?" the little boy asked him very seriously.
Jethro chuckled, "I like boats a lot. I'm actually building a boat in my basement."
"I like boats. I want my own boat some day."
Joshua turned back to his mother, "Can I go back to the slide?"
She nodded and he took off. She noticed that Jethro had taken her up on her offer to sit as he made himself comfortable.
"He's a great kid." He said watching Joshua on the playground.
"He's my little man. He keeps me on my toes. How about you? Do you have any?" she asked lightly.
She saw a twinge of pain cross his face, and he said quietly, "I had a daughter, Kelly. She and my first wife were killed in a car accident." He didn't know why he told her that, he normally hid that away, but for some reason he wanted to be honest with Claudia and not have anything come back to potentially haunt him in the future.
Claudia felt awful, she hadn't meant to bring up painful memories for him, "I'm sorry, Jethro. I shouldn't have brought it up."
He turned to meet her eyes, "You had no way of knowing. It was a long time ago."
They sat watching the kids playing for a while not saying anything. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, they just didn't feel the need to fill up the quiet with inane chatter.
"So six years in the Navy?"
She laughed, "Yeah. Nuts huh? But I loved it."
"Why'd you leave?"
"That's a long story but I'll give you the short version. I met a Marine and we got married. But it was just too hard dealing with two different deployments and we wanted to start a family. So I quit and had Joshua. Then we ended up divorced almost five years ago and I became a single mom. And here I am now."
"I saw you studying at the diner the other day."
"I feel like I've been studying for the last two years straight. I just finished my degree and I'm getting ready to sit for the C.P.A. exam. It's not as exciting as being a federal agent but it means a good future for me and Joshua."
"How did you know I'm a federal agent?"
"One of the other waitresses mentioned you were FBI so I wouldn't freak if I saw your gun."
Claudia was treated to the very rare sight of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the middle of an all out belly laugh. When he managed to compose himself a little he asked through his laughter, "FBI? You think I'm FBI?"
"Well you don't look like CIA or Secret Service so what else is there? Unless you are just a weirdo stalker."
"Sorry. Let me introduce myself. Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS." He said formally and held out his hand.
"NCIS?" she asked, finding it hard to believe that she would meet two people in the same week that work for the same fairly obscure agency.
"I will be highly disappointed if you spent six years in the Navy and never heard of us."
She shook her head, "Oh no, it's not that. I know all about NCIS. It's a weird coincidence."
"I don't believe in coincidence. What's weird?"
"I just met someone else this week from NCIS that's all."
Before he could ask "Who?", Joshua made another running appearance.
"Mummy, can we go do the boats now?"
"I don't know, have you been very good this week?" she teased as she tickled him.
"Yesssss." He laughed then looked at Jethro, "Are you coming?"
Jethro looked at Claudia who answered the unasked questions, "We're going over to the other side of the park where the pond is, they rent remote controlled boats. You're welcome to come with us."
He looked between Joshua and Claudia and smiled, "I'd like that a lot."
The rest of the afternoon passed quickly, as time often does when the activities are pleasant. They rented a couple of the remote control boats and raced them, Joshua being the best skipper out of all of them. Claudia was surprised at how good with Joshua Jethro was, and how well Joshua responded to him. By the time the boat races were done the two of them were buddies.
They got hotdogs from the pushcart and ate in a shady spot. After they ate they went for a long walk along the marina so Joshua could see all the boats. Anyone that saw them walking assumed they were a family. Joshua was enthralled by the boats and was thrilled that Jethro knew all the different kinds of boats. Claudia couldn't tell who liked the piggyback ride Jethro gave Joshua more, the two of them laughing and horsing around like only boys can.
They headed back towards Claudia's car in the late afternoon, Joshua sound asleep on Jethro's shoulder. He carefully placed the sleeping child in his booster seat in the car and stepped back as Claudia buckled him in.
Turning to face Jethro, Claudia suddenly didn't know what to say. They had had an amazing day. They had laughed and teased back and forth, and she found herself very interested in him.
Jethro was thinking the same thing and said, "Today was a lot of fun, Claudia."
She smiled, "Yeah it was. I'm glad you came."
"I'd like to see you again. Maybe dinner?"
She didn't even hesitate, "Dinner would be great."
He gave her his card and she gave him her number. And as she drove away he stood there watching the car go and realized that he hadn't felt this light and upbeat in a very long time.
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Monday was a quiet day at NCIS and normally that made for an unbearable Gibbs. Tony was at his desk cleaning up some miscellaneous paperwork and trying to look busy. His attention was grabbed by a news article flashing on the internet browser and he goofed off for a few minutes reading about the new children's movie that was opening the coming weekend. He was daydreaming about asking Claudia and her son to go. He hadn't even met her son though and that put a damper on his daydream. He knew some women were funny about their kids meeting the men they dated. His expression must have given away the fact that he was goofing off and a he was brought back to reality by a large paper ball smacking him in the forehead.
He looked in the direction the projectile had originated from to see Gibbs. He met his boss's eyes, expecting to be chewed out for goofing off. Instead Gibbs just shrugged and smirked. Tony was instantly nervous. What was wrong with Gibbs? He didn't play, didn't goof off.
A while later when Gibbs headed out for coffee Tony whispered loudly, "McGee. What's up with the Boss?"
Tim looked a little confused. He hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary, "What do you mean, Tony?"
"He's just in a good mood. And Gibbs is never in a good mood, Probie."
"Now that you mention it, he was whistling when he walked in this morning."
"We should check for pods. Gibbs doesn't whistle."
"Maybe he just had a nice weekend off, Tony. Had some fun or something."
"Maybe he had a date. You know, Probie, one of those dates that lasts all weekend long." Tony said with a smirk.
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Tony took the opportunity to call Claudia while Gibbs was out. He had saved her number from his caller-id and waited somewhat anxiously for her to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Just the woman I was looking for." Tony teased.
"That's a good thing, I would worry if you were looking for someone else at my phone number, Tony."
He laughed, "Yeah, okay, well maybe that wasn't so smooth after all."
"Are you flirting with me again, Tony?"
"You're the one that had her hands in my underwear an hour after we met." Tony could see McGee almost spew soda across his desk, letting Tony know that he was listening in on the conversation.
"Am I ever going to live that down?"
"Let me think about that for a minute," he paused for effect then continued, "Nope. Doesn't look like it anytime soon anyway."
"You're incorrigible."
"Guilty as charged." He dropped his voice down so McGee couldn't hear and said, "Hey I was thinking, if it's not too weird for you, that the new Disney movie opens on Saturday and I'd love to take you both to go see it and maybe get some pizza or something after."
"Both meaning me and Joshua?"
"Yeah. Unless that's too weird for you."
Claudia didn't believe in sheltering her son from meeting new people, and that included the rare few men that she dated. She and Joshua were a package deal and any man that didn't fit well with Joshua didn't belong in her life.
"No. It wouldn't be weird. I think it would be fun. If you're sure."
Tony got a soft expression on his face that would have probably embarrassed him if she had been able to see it, "Oh, I'm sure. So how about we hit the three o'clock showing. Then have dinner after."
"Okay."
"Great. I'll pick you guys up a little after two then.
They said their goodbyes and hung up. Claudia sat there staring at the phone for a minute feeling a little strange. She didn't date often, and now here in the space of a week she had met two very attractive, solid men who were interested in her. And Joshua. She decided not to overanalyze it and just go with the flow. They were dates, not marriage proposals.
Tony had hung up the phone with a smile on his face. He grabbed the report off his desk that he had finished before calling Claudia and stood to go make copies of it when he saw McGee chuckling at him, "What's so funny, Probie?"
"New girlfriend, Tony?"
"Maybe."
"She's already had her hands in your underwear and you don't know?"
Tony just squinted and glared at McGee.
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To Be Continued - FEEDBACK APPRECIATED!!
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