Being Part of the NCIS Family

Fifteen

Gibbs POV

After we got Liv and Andrew into Liv's place, McGee and I secured the apartment and then went back into the main area of the apartment, where Liv was pacing in circles. I caught her shoulders and her head jerked up. She tried to fight me for a second, then seemed to realize it was me.

"Sorry." she said. "Military training. I still need to retrain myself a little."

"Why?" I asked. "You work for NCIS. I haven't retrained myself a bit." Liv nodded.

"I guess. But you don't attack me every time I come up behind you."

"Like this?" McGee asked, suddenly clamping his hand on my shoulder. Before I knew it, I had grabbed McGee's hand and twisted it and his other hand behind his back like I was about to cuff him. Horrified at both of us, I dropped his hands, and Gibbs and I smacked him upside the head at the same time.

"Really?" Gibbs and I asked together.

"Sorry." McGee said, blushing. I glared at him and he paled. I grinned, then winced.

"Ouch." I said. "Nobody make me smile." Gibbs looked at the long gash. Now I would bear a scar like my kidnapper's. But I didn't mind, somehow. Instead of reminding me of the pain and suffering that I had been through, it reminded me of what I'd survived, how strong I'd been. I could live with that.

"How did that happen?" Gibbs asked. "No way flying glass did that."

"I had been thinking the same thing." I said. "I must've hit a corner or something on the way down. I was too panicked over Andrew to notice anything happening to me."

"I'll have Abby see if your blood is on any of the corners of any of her tables." McGee said, pulling out his phone and dialing. "Hey Abby." he said after a few moments. "Can you see if Liv's blood is on any of the corners?" he asked. "Yeah. We're trying to figure out if she hit a table or something as she fell that left that long gash on her face." he paused. "Yes, we're all fine. Ish. Okay. Okay, I will. Thanks, Abbs." McGee hung up, smiling. "This is from Abby." he said, then enveloped me in a hug. I hugged back. McGee and I pulled away, but McGee caught my shoulders and held me at arm's length, inspecting me.

"I'm fine." I said, resting my hands on his forearms.

"Somehow, I think we both find that hard to believe." Gibbs said, kissing me on the top of my head as he walked to my kitchen. "Got any beer?" he asked.

"Who do you think I am?" I asked, feigning being offended. "Of course I have beer. Take your pick." I said, making Gibbs smile. The left side of my face smirked, but the right side of my face stayed just as it had been, not disturbing the long gash.

"How do you do that?" McGee asked, attempting to imitate what I had just done.

"If you ever get a cut this long, I'll gladly teach you." I said. "For now, enjoy the use of both sides of your face." McGee grinned, and I smirked with half of my face again. McGee shook his head and went to grab a beer.

"Want one?" Gibbs asked.

"Hell yes." I said, holding my hand up. Gibbs tossed me a beer. He made like he was going to toss the opener, too, but I told him not to. Instead, I tugged on the lanyard hanging out of my pocket. On the other end was my keys and a few keychains, including a bottle opener. I could've shown off and used my teeth like I used to do with my USMC and Navy buddies, but I had a feeling I couldn't open my mouth far enough at the moment without tearing a few stitches.

"Hit me with a beer, too!" Andrew called. Gibbs tossed him one and I tossed Andrew my keys so he wouldn't use his teeth. I had taught him a while back, and he did it every chance he got. When he'd opened his bottle, he tossed my keys back and I caught them deftly and shoved them back into my pocket. I raised my bottle.

"To family, blood or not." I said. Andrew, McGee and Gibbs raised their bottles.

"Oorah." (Marine service call) Gibbs and Andrew said together, then grinned at each other. We all clinked bottles, then took long swigs.

"Been a hell of a day, hasn't it, Reynolds." Gibbs said. I nodded, smiling. As much as I could anyway. I caught McGee watching in wonderment. Suddenly, a knock sounded at my door. "Stay in here, Reynolds. McGee, let's go."

"Yeah, right." I muttered, drawing my gun along with McGee and Gibbs. "I know this place way better than you two." I followed them and went to the other side of the entryway. I nodded at Gibbs, and he opened the door and pointed his gun straight ahead.

"Relax, Gibbs, it is just us." Ziva said laughing.

"We brought food and the rest of the gang." came DiNozzo's voice. He held up maybe eight pizza boxes. Then my brothers came thundering in. I made them line up and come in again for kisses. They blushed and even Gibbs laughed. Once we were all inside, I turned the TV on and pulled up Netflix. We piled on the couch and on the floor around it with blankets and pillows, mostly with USMC on them and a few US NAVY pillows and blankets, too. I was the last to sit down because I was grabbing beers for everyone, even Abby, Ducky, and Jimmy. We let DiNozzo pick the movie, and we ended up watching a couple James Bond movies.

Gibbs POV

I woke up the next morning with Liv, Abby, and Ziva snuggled together using the same blanket. Same pillow, too. Me. I shook each of them awake, and in turn, Liv got everyone else up.

"OORAH, PEOPLE!" Liv yelled in her Commander voice.

"Spoken like a true Marine." I said, grinning. Liv's brothers all jolted awake and shot into formation. DiNozzo and McGee sat up, startled. They had bedhead, but not quite as bad as Liv's. Her hair tie was halfway down her hair and any hair that wasn't in the hair tie looked as if it wanted to be anywhere but her head at the moment. It was standing up, sticking out to the side-- anywhere hair could go, Liv's hair had gone.

"Nice hair, baby sister." Monty snickered. Liv's eyes sparked, and she leapt at him and got on his back. Liv had given him a real good noogie before he managed to get her off and pin her on the floor, straddling her. Liv brought her knees to her chest and then straightened her legs out again. Now they were both on Monty's left, her right. She swept her legs to the left and he landed on his side. Liv straddled Monty, making sure that her legs were on top of his. We all thought she'd gotten him, but he kicked his legs up and Liv bounced just enough for Monty to bend his legs and catch Liv on them. Then Monty rocked backwards and kicked. Liv flipped and landed hard on her back, her head to Monty's. They were both breathing hard, but looked the happiest we'd ever seen them.

"Marine sibling fights get intense sometimes." Liv panted, grinning at McGee and DiNozzo's shocked looks. Ziva was just grinning. Abby was somewhere between terrified and wanting to know how they did that, and the rest of Liv's brothers had been cheering for the whole fight. I pulled Liv up and Derek pulled Monty up. Josh rushed at Liv and caught her up in his arms. Liv struggled, grinning and yelling, but he just scooped her up and put her on one of his shoulders. Liv yelled at him, but she was still grinning. Josh put her down after she had touched the ceiling. He gave Liv a noogie for good measure.

"How about breakfast?" Liv asked, panting. "I'm starving."