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Sweet child of mine?
by Ceindreadh
“What do you mean; you don’t have Carolyn Morgan in custody?” Gibbs yelled down the phone at McGee.
“Um,” said McGee, “She said she needed to use the bathroom first, and we were on the second floor, but she didn’t come out and when I broke the door down, she was gone. She must have climbed out the window and down a drainpipe or something.”
Gibbs swallowed his anger with difficulty. Yelling down a phone line wasn’t going to accomplish anything. Far better to wait until McGee returned to base and *then* yell at him. “Okay,” he said finally. “I want you to pack up her office. Every computer, every file, she so much as scribbled on a post-it, I want it back at NCIS, *now*.”
“There’s another problem, Boss,” said McGee.
Gibbs could hear a high pitched wail in the background. “McGee, is that a baby I hear?”
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“Yep, that’s a baby all right McGee,” said Tony, looking at the infant wriggling on the autopsy table. Ducky had given the baby a quick once over and pronounced him to be a healthy if not exactly happy baby boy, approximately three to four months old. “Hey little Jeremy,” said Tony, reading the name off the bib the baby was wearing. “Think you can tell us where your Mommy stashed her secret records?”
The baby took one look at Tony and started howling. Tony backed away quickly, “I never laid a finger on him!”
“Oh Tony,” said Ziva, smirking. “Even I know that you cannot just get in a baby’s face like that! You have to be gentle, allow them to perceive that you are no threat.”
“It’s a baby, not a dog,” said Tony, watching as Ziva reached out to the child, who grabbed at her finger and held on tightly.
“There now little one, did the big bad man scare you? Why you!” She pulled her hand away, making the baby cry again, “He bit me!”
“I take that back, maybe he is part puppy after all,” said Tony.
“Do you think he’s older than you first thought, Doctor Mallard?” asked Jimmy as he carefully picked the baby up and rocked him gently. “My Pediatrics notes said that Primary dentition usually starts at about eight months.”
“That is only a general timeline,” said Ducky, who was putting the final touches to his report. “It can vary considerably from person to person. I remember hearing of a case where an infant was born with a full set of teeth already through.”
“Bet that made for some fun with breast feeding,” said Tony, trying to keep out of the baby’s line of sight now that he had quietened down. “And your studying must have paid off if you know where the ‘off-switch’ is, Palmer.”
“Oh we don’t get to examine real babies in my class,” said Jimmy. “I have a niece and two nephews. I used to babysit them for my sister when they were younger.”
“Looks like you’re on baby minding duty until Social Services gets here,” said Gibbs, making the team jump as he walked into the room.
“What? I...but, but...” Jimmy looked to Doctor Mallard for help, “But I have work to do here.”
“Oh I should be able to muddle through without you, Mr. Palmer if your services are required elsewhere,” said Ducky. “However, Jethro, I would not like to think that my assistant is being set up as unwitting bait should Ms. Morgan attempt to retrieve her son.”
“One of the team will be with him at all times, Ducky,” said Gibbs. “You have my word.”
Tony clapped McGee on the back, “Looks like you’re on Gremlin watching duty, McPoppins!”
“Guess again, DiNozzo,” said Gibbs. “McGee is going to be going through every piece of information, electronic or otherwise from Morgan’s office to find who her contacts are.”
“And if you even *think* that I would be best suited for the task simply because I am a woman, I shall be forced to hurt you, Tony,” said Ziva,
“Morgan had a lot of dealings with French Canadians. Half her paperwork isn’t in English. McGee will need Ziva to help translate.” Gibbs handed Tony a changing bag. “This was left behind with the kid. It’s got pretty much everything you’ll need for the next twenty-four hours. After that, he’ll be social services problem.”
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“This is the worst assignment ever,” grumbled Tony as he paced up and down his living room.
“Worse than the time you were chained to a killer?” asked Jimmy, the baby cradled expertly in his arms as he fed it from a bottle.
“Hey, at least that guy didn’t start crying every time he saw me. I mean, what is it with me and kids? I do my best to make friends, but they always hate me.”
“Maybe you just come on a little too strong,” said Jimmy, “Like with some of your dates. You have to take it slowly, let them get to know you first. Come here,” he indicated the seat beside him. “You can give him the rest of the bottle, that’s a sure fire way to bond with him.”
“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?” Tony reluctantly sat down on the couch beside Jimmy and the baby, “Okay, but if he starts crying again, you’re paying for the earplugs.”
“Easy now,” said Jimmy, as he carefully handed over the baby. “Remember to support his head.” Jimmy waited until the baby was settled before handing over the bottle. “Okay, now easy does it. Keep the bottle tipped so he’s not taking in too much air as well. You’re doing fine.” Jimmy coached Tony all the way to the end of the feed. “There you go,” he said, taking the now empty bottle away. “Now you just need to be careful…”
Before Jimmy could finish, the baby let out a loud burp…and deposited what looked like half his bottle onto Tony’s shirt. Tony looked at Jimmy, a look of resignation on his face, “Worst assignment ever.”
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Half an hour later, Tony was still complaining about the destruction the baby had wrought on his clothing when the phone rang. “Hey Boss,” he said brightly. “You got a lead on junior’s mom yet, cause I’m about ready to hand him back.” His voice trailed off as he listened to Gibbs. “Oh…okay. You want us back at NCIS? No?”
Jimmy looked up in alarm at the sudden change in tone. “What’s wrong?” he asked, instinctively tightening his grip on the infant as Tony broke the connection.
“Well, the good news is that we found Carolyn Morgan,” said Tony. “The bad news is she’s not going to be taking her son back.”
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“This is my fault,” said McGee looking down at the body of Carolyn Morgan. “I should never have let her out of my sight.”
“She made the choice to run,” said Gibbs. “Not your fault that the people she ran to, turned on her.” They’d managed to track Carolyn to a safe house, which hadn’t been as safe as she’d hoped. By the time NCIS had arrived, her accomplices had already tried to force information out of her, and once the bullets started flying, she had been the first casualty. Her so-called friends had gone down fighting, leaving Gibbs and his team at a dead end.
“I just never thought she’d leave her son behind.”
“She didn’t, at least not her biological son,” said Ducky. Gibbs and McGee looked at him in surprise. “This woman on my table has never given birth.”
“So whose kid *is* it with DiNozzo and Palmer?” asked Gibbs.
“I took a blood sample when he was here earlier,” said Ducky. “I’ll have Abby run DNA on it. Since Ms. Morgan was apparently so well acquainted with the criminal underworld, perhaps little Jeremy is the offspring of somebody already in the system.”
“Keep me updated,” said Gibbs. “McGee, finish going through Morgan’s paperwork. Something in there was worth killing for, and whatever it is, we need to find it. Have Ziva check with missing persons. See if there’s any lost babies out there.”
“On it, Boss,” said McGee.
“You should probably check adoption agencies as well,” added Ducky, “Perhaps this child was the one legitimate legal dealing in her life.”
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“So what’ll happen to him then?” asked Jimmy, a sleeping Jeremy cradled in his arms.
Tony shrugged, “If we can’t track down his parents, Social Services will take over. Find foster parents for him if he’s lucky, a care home if he’s not.”
“Poor little guy,” said Jimmy, softly. “You don’t deserve to be shunted around from home to home. You need somebody to love you.”
“You’re a natural, Palmer,” said Tony, with grudging admiration.
“It’s just practice,” said Jimmy. “And confidence; if you’re nervous when holding a baby, they pick up on it. The first time I got to hold my niece, she just wouldn’t stop crying until my sister took her back.”
“Yeah, well maybe I’ll give it another shot when he wakes up. Let sleeping babies lie and all that.”
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A few hours later, Jimmy came back from the bathroom and stopped in the doorway to the living room.
“Yes, I’m Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo,” he heard Tony say. “And I’m looking after you until Social Services get here. Well, when I say looking after, I’m really looking after the Autopsy Gremlin while *he* does all the hard work. I mean, the feeding is all very well, even if I did end up wearing half of it. But dealing with the other end, that’s a job for a trained professional, maybe even a Hazmat team. Now me, I’m good on the entertainment side of things.” Jimmy watched as Tony pulled a rattle out of the changing bag. He waved it in front of Jeremy who was sitting up in the baby seat, watching Tony with rapt amazement.
Tony frowned as he waved the toy. “I don’t call this much of a rattle,” he said, shaking it again as Jimmy crouched down on the floor beside the pair. “Hardly any noise at all.” He shook it even harder, but with the same result.
“Maybe it’s broken,” said Jimmy.
“Must be a dud,” said Tony. He gave it one final furious shake away from Jeremy, and watched as the head of the toy flew off and hit the wall. “Oops, my bad!” He scrambled to pick up the pieces, turning back to Jimmy with a look of surprise on his face. “Now I know I’m not exactly experienced with these things, but I’m pretty sure that flash drives aren’t what they usually put in them to make a noise.”
“Do you think that has the information Agent Gibbs was looking for?”
“Better get it to him and find out,” said Tony. “Come on, Social Services shouldn’t be too much longer. We can wait for them at NCIS.”
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As expected, the flash drive contained enough information to put a number of people away for a long time. McGee bemoaned the fact that he had spent half the day searching through files and computers, only for Tony to solve the case while playing around. “Work smarter, not harder, I always say,” Tony had cheerily informed him.
Somebody who wasn’t quite so cheery was Jimmy, later that day when his time babysitting came to an end.
The DNA tests run by Abby had confirmed that Carolyn was not his mother, but to everybody’s surprise, she had turned out to be a blood relative. Her sister Julie had been brought to NCIS a few hours later and confirmed that Carolyn had offered to take Jeremy off her hands for the day so she could get some much needed rest. A background check had been run, and Gibbs had interviewed her, to confirm in his own mind that she had had no connection to Carolyn’s illegal activities. Whether Carolyn had really been doing her sister a favor or had had an ulterior motive, was something that the team had been unable to determine. “If it helps any,” Gibbs told Julie, “Whatever her motives, leaving Jeremy with my Agent was the safest thing Carolyn could have done.”
“It doesn’t really help, Agent Gibbs,” said Julie, “But thank you for trying.”
They were interrupted by Jimmy carrying a freshly fed and diapered Jeremy who gurgled excitedly as he was handed over.
The relevant paperwork was signed, and Gibbs and Jimmy watched as the pair were escorted from the building. “You did good today with that baby,” said Gibbs, glancing at the younger man.
“Looking after him was the easy part,” said Jimmy, without thinking. “Saying goodbye…I mean it’s not like he’s de…um, that is, I mean…he’s with his mom and…”
“I know what you mean, Palmer,” said Gibbs. “I know.”
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Later that night, Jimmy sat in his empty apartment trying to concentrate on his studies. He was happy that Jeremy had been reunited with a mother who clearly loved him, really he was. And his brief fantasy about petitioning Social Services to act as Jeremy’s foster parent if required, that had just been a fantasy. Raising a child was a full time job, and certainly not one for a medical student holding down a position at NCIS as well. No, Jimmy was sure that the emptiness he was feeling inside was because he hadn’t eaten properly all day, so busy had Jeremy’s care kept him.
Making a quick decision, Jimmy closed his books, and dialed his sister’s number. “Hey Lise it’s me…no, everything’s fine.”
“Yes, work’s going well.”
“I was just calling, I thought I might visit this weekend, maybe take the kids to a movie.”
“I know, it’s tricky trying to find one they’ll all watch.”
“No, no particular reason…just I haven’t seen them for a while, and I..I miss them.”
“And I love them too.”
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The End