Moving In Day

Previously on NCIS

“Jen, I want Kelly to live with us. She’s the only connection I have to Shannon; that okay with you?”

Jenny set down the book she was reading before she answered Jethro.

“It’s more than okay with me, Jethro. Kelly is your daughter and the girls’ sister; she’s family. She belongs here.”

“Thanks Jen, it means a lot.”

With that the two of them returned to their reading before falling asleep.

            “Kelly; Jen and I would like you to move in with us and the girls.” Jethro said to his daughter the next time he had seen her.

            “Ah…”

            “Ah is that all you can say?” Jethro asked his daughter.

            “You’d have your room; in fact it would be an apartment over the garage that you can furnish yourself.”

            “Why are you so eager for me to be in the same house? I’m twenty-eight, dad; I am fully capable of living on my own just as my sisters are. Your girls are all grown up.”

            “You girls maybe adults, but you’ll always be my little thirteen and three year olds no matter what age you all are.”

            “Dad, why do you want me to move in?”

            “I want you to move in because you’re my daughter; I’d like to have you and your sisters together. I want you, the girls, Jen and me to be a family.” Jethro answered.

            “I don’t know, Dad.” Kelly said as she turned around and went to pour herself a cocktail.

            With her auburn hair pulled back and her back facing her father allowed Jethro to take note of his twenty-eight year old daughter’s artwork on the back of her neck.

            “Kelly.”

            “You want some bourbon, Dad?”

            “No, what is that on the back of your neck?”

            “Dad you of all people should know what it is when Jenny, Jaylyn, Abby and Ziva all have them.”

            “What is it a tattoo of?”

            “It’s my zodiac sign, I’m a Sagittarius; remember?” Kelly answered as she turned to face her father.

            At that point the girls came into the house. Like Kelly the girls had their hair pulled back since they had just came back from the pick - up game they had  been playing in the drive way.

            “You girls have them too?” Jethro asked as he was completely astonished at the fact that the quads each had a tattoo on their necks just like their sister did.

            “Yeah we do dad. We just had our zodiac sign tattooed.” Madison said.

            “Gemini.” Delilah said.

            “Kelly took us to get them done a few days after we graduated. It was her gift to us.” Emiliana said.

            “You should get all bent out of shape about this, Dad. We’re adults now. Mom, Aunt J, Ziva and Abby have them too.” Arabella said.

            “And the last time we checked you were perfectly alright with the fact that your wife, sister-in-law and surrogate daughters have them. You shouldn’t have a problem with your daughters having a tattoo.”

            Not liking the fact that his teenage age daughters were ganging up on him and the fact that his eldest daughter was standing on the sidelines smirking as her sisters spoke their minds, Jethro had started to change the subject but Kelly had beaten him to it.

            “I will move in, Dad. It’s just too entertaining seeing them gang up on you and I’m sure Jenny does the same. Missing all this would be a crime.” Kelly said.

            At that point Jenny was headed over to the kitchen. There was a smile on her face when she overheard that the girls picking on Jethro.

            “Remember you wanted this, Jethro.”

            “Oh dad, I think you’re going to need to spend some time with the guys soon.” Kelly said.

            “I might have to with the way the six of you are ganging up on me.”

            Later on that day the clan was helping Kelly move in. By 7pm they were done, Noemi was making dinner; Jenny had suggested that she and Kelly decorate Kelly’s newly acquired apartment over the garage. After dinner as Kelly walked by Arabella’s room she overheard the conversation her sister was having on the phone.

            “How else would you explain it, Anna? He basically invited her to live with us.”

            “Aria, that’s a good thing. All your dad wants is for all of his daughters to be under one roof. This is his way of dealing with you, Lila, Lena and Maddy going off to college in a few months.”

            Arabella had left her bedroom door open.

            “But still she’s old enough to live on her own.”

            “She’s your sister, that’s all that should matter.”

            “Yeah I know; I know but can you see how Lila, Lena, Maddy and I would explain our family situation on the first day of our human relations class?”

            “Aria, it’s not that hard at all. Just say that you’re the third oldest of five; that you have two younger sisters, an older sister and an older half sister. And leave it at that.”

            “Basically leave out the semantics.”

            “Yeah, they don’t need to know everything.”

            It was then that Arabella realized that she had left her bedroom door open and that Kelly had overheard everything. Kelly was still learning her sisters’ personalities. Madison from what Kelly had gathered was the outspoken one, Arabella was the one who was concerned with how she and her family was perceived, Delilah was more reserved like their dad, Emiliana on the other hand was just like her mother; reserved when she needed to be and outspoken when it was required.

            Kelly started down the hallway towards her apartment as Arabella followed Kelly to fix things. Kelly had closed her door clearly not wanting to have anything to do with anyone at this point in time. Arabella, being the way she with an air of her mother’s attitude mixed with a bit of their dad’s barge in/no nonsense attitude; had barged right on in.

            “I don’t want to talk to anyone, especially you; Aria.” Kelly said.

            “I know; I just wanted to apologize and explain myself.”

            Kelly just looked at her younger sister.

            “I am sorry and I know that Dad says that apologizing is a sign of weakness; but between sisters it isn’t. I was just saying how insane things are with the family now and how hard it is to explain it to people who just don’t get it.” Arabella said remorsefully.

            After that things were copasetic between Kelly and Arabella. They then went into the lounge on the same floor that had separated Arabella’s room from Madison’s. Their sisters were already in the room watching an episode of Chicago Hope.

            “Dr. McNeil looks a lot like Dad.” Emiliana said.

            “He kind of does.” Kelly agreed.

            “Dr. Hanlon looks a lot like Mom.” Delilah said.

            “There’s quite a resemblance.”

            Midway through the episode Jenny and Jethro stood in the doorway of the girls’ lounge watching over the girls. Before the episode had ended all five girls had fallen asleep with their heads resting on a lap of one of their sisters. One by one; Jethro had carried each of his girls back to their respective beds. Once that task had been completed it was time for Jethro to haul Jenny to bed. This time around Jethro was the one that was tired, but Jenny wasn’t taking no for an answer.