InsaneJournal

Who: Lydia Martin, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and Evelyn Martin
What: Kids from the past!
When: Saturday morning
Where: Lydia's place
Warnings: None
Status: Closed/Complete gdoc



Evelyn Martin woke up in a strange place. It didn't scare her a ton, since sometimes when Papa visited, they went on trips and traveled while she slept. It was usually to the same place though, one town over. This room was different, the home a little less homey and safe. She was a big girl though, so she didn't burst into tears like she wanted. She took a few moments to collect herself and then climbed off the bed to go find Mama.

Each door was opened, the dark rooms inspected from the doorway. There were some rooms that were so unfamiliar to her that she shut the door right away and moved on to the next one. By the third door, she heard movement in the bed and her reaction was immediate. The door got flung open and Evelyn launched herself toward the bed and into her mom's bed underneath the covers.

"Mama where are we? Where's Papa?"

***

Lydia was finally, after several months, getting used to the whole sleeping alone in the house thing. In some ways it was better this way, she always slept more soundly alone, even if the trade off some nights was loneliness. She’d never admit that to anyone.

She roused slightly to the sound of footsteps and to doors opening and closing, and was about ready to go full on warrior banshee by the time a little girl came flying into the room, giving Lydia no time to do anything more than not screech before she was crawling up into bed.

And Lydia has been around long enough, she was plenty smart enough, to put it together that this was what that weird announcement meant and this was some future her’s child.

“I don’t know,” she admitted with a soft sigh, turned to just wrap an arm around the little girl. She had no idea who this child was much less who her father was.

***

Evelyn felt much better in her mother’s embrace and snuggled in closer. It was weird that Mama didn't know where Papa was, since if they weren't at home, they were always together. They couldn't be together all the time though, since Papa had so much business in town, but this house was different than any of the others. She didn't like it. Being with Mama was better though. At least until a weird noise started to go off.

"Mama," she whispered quietly, sounding a bit afraid. "What is that?" It didn't sound like any bell she'd ever heard before, or any music that they sometimes got to listen to. Evelyn tried not to be afraid, but she was. She had her Mama but she really wanted her Papa.

***

She could almost have gone back to sleep, did manage to doze for a few minutes until her alarm started to go off. Whatever Lydia had had planned for today, it wasn’t happening now. She turned to grope blindly for her phone before answering. “Relax; it’s just the alarm.”

Shifting a little she peered at the screen, taking a quick look at the network to see if anyone else was going on about kids yet. Unsurprisingly that was a yes. People were always quick about that kind of thing.

“I guess you want breakfast or something.” That wasn’t as simple a task as it sounded. Lydia was a smoothie, maybe a bagel, for breakfast kind of girl. She wasn’t even a cereal kind of person and definitely didn’t have anything kid friendly.

***

The brightly lit screen wasn't so scary, just incredibly unfamiliar. Being the curious little girl that she was, Evelyn pulled it from her mother's grasp and turned it in her hands. "What is this, Mama?" It was way more than just an alarm, which she figured out by accidentally clicking into the music app and a song started to play.

"It's a music box!" That was cool and she looked up at her mother excitedly. "Play your's and Papa's song!" She didn't know what the particular song's name was, but it was very clear that the modern convenience of having music in such a small container was unfamiliar to her. She came from a time and place where such things didn't exist, which could possibly clue her mother in as to who her father was.

Evelyn felt better knowing that something familiar and soothing, a special treat, was on the way.

***

It was absolutely not a music box and that the child didn’t know that it was a cell phone gave Lydia pause. Any future kid of hers should know that. It was in thinking that that she actually took a good look at the girl in her bed. She was young and sweet and in a night dress that was very telling.

So she wasn’t a child of any future and she wasn’t a child of hers so much as another version of her in another time. Not her but still a part of her memories now. A life that caused some complications she didn’t need in this one.

“I can’t,” she said gently. “I don’t know… I’m going to explain something to you and I need you to listen very carefully and try to understand, okay?”

***

Evelyn knew that tone. It was the same tone that Mama used when she wanted to make sure she understood why she had to behave or not talk about her Papa to too many people. She trusted her parents and did as they said because that made them happy. Now, it was just as important to listen so she sat up and pushed her hair out of her face, haphazardly tucked behind her ears. Her braids never stayed no matter how tightly they were done.

"I can listen, Mama," she promised earnestly. Something was going on, something important and necessary, so she needed to pay attention. That meant putting the music box down so it wouldn't distract her. Whatever it was, so long as she had her Mama and her Papa, everything would be okay. They were going to be together forever.

***

She was a good girl, and smart, that was pretty obvious. Lydia almost felt bad that she had to tell her the truth about things. But she wasn’t cruel enough to try to pretend she was someone she wasn’t. Especially not when there wasn’t any chance of her pretending believably. She had the memories of that life, sometimes still struggled to separate the feelings from it from her own. But she couldn’t be whatever version of that woman this girl knew.

“Okay.” It wasn’t easy to find the words. She just had to go for it. “First things first, I’m not actually your mother. I’m guessing you’ve come a long way into the future and your mom’s….” What was she, though? Not someone she’d been or someone who looked like her. It was too complicated for a little girl; it was too complicated for Lydia. “She’s not really me. Your dad isn’t either.”

And Lydia couldn’t say for certain that she knew who the girl’s father was, either. She didn’t remember ever giving birth in that life and the way things had gone gave her a good idea, but it wasn’t fo sure.

***

Evelyn looked skeptical when her Mama said she wasn't her mama. She looked like her Mama. But if she was in the future, maybe it was someone Mama was related to. That happened sometimes. Papa said she looked an awful lot like Mama, so it wasn't too hard to imagine that someone in the future would look just like Mama.

"It's not 1832?" she asked. That was the easiest thing to focus on. Still, if not-Mama was related to Mama, maybe it would be okay to stay with her. "If Mama and Papa aren't here, are they okay?" Evelyn was always going to worry about her parents, but hopefully they were safe. "They're going to worry about me. Will I get to go home?" Her Mama needed her. They were always together. They couldn't not be together.

***

“It’s 2018,” Lydia explained, though the year was telling. If things went the way that version of her had assumed it would, it was a definite clue as to who she should be texting. “And they won’t even know you’re gone. I promise.”

She couldn’t be sure but it had to be just like when people came to town regularly. And she didn’t mind promising that much even if she didn’t know for sure.

“You’ll go home soon,” she promised too. That much they’d all been warned about. “And until you do, I’ll still take care of you, okay?”

***

Her jaw literally dropped at not-Mama's pronouncement. That was a lot of years! Evelyn did feel better knowing that her Mama and Papa would be okay and that she would go back to them once her time here was done.

"I'm Evelyn Kelly Martin," she introduced herself. "My Mama is Lydia Martin and Papa...I'm not supposed to talk about Papa to strangers. He loves Mama very much, it's just that people are mean sometimes because they don't like Mama." That was a gross oversimplification of things, but it was what Evelyn had grown up knowing and understanding.

"Thank you for looking after me." It was important to have manners, especially since not-Mama was going out of her way to look after her. She needed to make sure she was very well behaved so that she wouldn't disappoint her Mama and Papa.

***

“Evelyn,” Lydia repeated with a nod. What a terrible name. She supposed it was probably pretty and popular in the right time, maybe even a bit modern or something, and it was telling that she’d taken Lydia’s last name. As was not being able to talk about her father, a man who was obviously still in her life. It made her pretty sure. “Okay why don’t I show you a picture of someone and you tell me if it’s your dad? Then you’re not talking about him.”

It seemed like a good compromise and Lydia didn’t give the girl a chance to answer before she was scooping up her phone again and finding a picture of Gibbs. If it wasn’t him like she suspected, then Lydia had a handful of pictures of the others she’d consider. She’d go through every man in town if she had to. She didn’t think that she’d have to.

“Is that him?”

***

It seemed a little bit like cheating, but clearly Ms Lydia had an idea of who her Papa was if a picture would get her an answer. Evelyn thought about that for a long moment and then nodded. She watched with rapt attention as the older woman picked up the music box and found a picture on it. It was clear even before the little girl nodded that he was her Papa. She was a completely open book when she got to spend time with her Papa, so even though she didn't talk about it with people she didn't know, it was something of an open secret that she was the former Mayor's daughter.

"That's Papa," she admitted quietly, since she felt a tiny bit like it was against the rules. However, it would help Ms Lydia to look after her, after all. Evelyn didn't understand how people who looked like her Mama and Papa were here in 2018, but she reminded herself that it would be okay. She'd get to go home, soon. "Or...not Papa? Like you're not Mama?" Evelyn reached out to touch the picture.

"Papa smiles more. He has laugh lines!" Mama teased Papa about them all the time.

***

Lydia couldn’t help but smile at the exclamation. Of course that Gibbs had laugh lines. A lot more than the one she knew here did, that was for sure, though she’d seen him smile a little and she was sure that give it a few more years and he’d have at least one or two of his own. He had it in him to smile, but the one Evelyn knew clearly had more to smile about.

“Yeah, just like that. I bet, though, that he’ll want to say hi anyway…” Lydia sent a quick message his way, felt like it was weird to be talking to him when they weren’t really friends and they definitely weren’t anything more than it despite her still confused emotions. “I think I’ve got some clothes somewhere that might fit you.”

She couldn’t take the girl out wandering in her nightgown but luckily this kids thing had happened before and Lydia had anticipated needing things again.

***

Evelyn nodded, fully prepared to get ready to meet the man who wasn’t her Papa. She wondered if he had the same name, if Aunt Emily or Uncle Roxas were here but not here, too. It was all a little confusing.

Gibbs was definitely having a Morning. He’d woken up with Karen, not unusual, and a child had shown up claiming to be theirs, which was very unusual. He wasn’t ready to have children again, wasn’t sure he ever would be, so when Lydia had texted saying that there was someone he needed to meet, he was almost relieved. That child had a clear origin and had nothing to do with his life here. So he let Karen know what was going on and promised to come back with more food from the grocery store to account for the extra mouth.

He knocked on Lydia’s door not twenty minutes after her their quick text conversation. When it opened, he was greeted to a small child hugging his legs.

Evelyn stepped back with an apologetic look on her face. “I’m sorry, sir,” she said softly. “I forgot. You’re not Papa.” After a careful look to Lydia, she held out her hand to him. “My name is Evelyn Martin. It’s nice to meet you.”

Gibbs crouched down to her level with a small smile. “Hi Evelyn, it’s nice to meet you too. I’m Jethro,” he introduced as he shook her hand.

“Hi Mr Jethro.”

***

Asking Gibbs to come to the house was low on Lydia’s list of priorities but it was the right thing to do and they only needed to be in each other’s lives like this until the kids went back home. Until Evelyn went back home. She stood back as the girl greeted him, arms crossed across her stomach. She hadn’t bothered with her usual dress up, was dressed down with no makeup and her hair pulled in a loose ponytail across one shoulder. Looking a little more like the mother the little girl remembered, she’d hoped.

“You might as well come in,” she invited, unable to stop herself from smiling a little. He was obviously good with kids, would have made a good father if he’d wanted to be, and there was a part of her that wanted to know why he hadn’t. There was a part of her that wanted to believe that in some life he was her daughter’s father. She couldn’t let herself think about anything like that, though.

Her emotions did enough to betray her as it was.

“There’s probably a few things to talk about.” She’d been through this a couple times, had met children with a few people, knew that they should at least figure out the details of what they were going to do with her.

***

Gibbs looked from Evelyn to Lydia and inclined his head in agreement. They did have some things to discuss, although he had a feeling they would be focusing on the care of the child who'd arrived between them. They hadn't talked very much at all about what had transpired in the West, only that he'd offered to continue to help her even in the face of those memories. They were nice memories, a beautiful what if in a different time and place.

He could even admit that he was relieved that those versions of them found happiness together. Raising such a well mannered, kind young girl certainly proved that much. He stepped inside and went with it as Evelyn took his hand in her's while they walked towards the kitchen.

"Do you live far away, Mr Jethro?" the little girl asked, wanting to know more about the man who wasn't her Papa.

"Not too far," he answered her easily. "About fifteen minutes by car."

Evelyn's eyes went wide. "You have a car?" It was clearly super cool. "Ms Lydia has a music box that has pictures on it!" She didn't want Mr Jethro to think that Ms Lydia wasn't also super cool. Nor did she want Ms Lydia to think she wasn't as cool as Mr Jethro.

Gibbs chuckled and nodded. "I do. Maybe we can go for a ride later," he offered. "But for now, would you mind giving me and Ms Lydia a few minutes to talk?"

Evelyn looked between them and then nodded. "I can do that, Mr Jethro," she answered earnestly. Another moment later and she'd gone toward the living room to find something quiet to occupy her time while the adults talked.

Once she was out of earshot, Gibbs tilted his head a bit toward Lydia. "You alright?"

***

The child was honestly so sweet that Lydia couldn’t help but adore her. She was cute, she was clearly adaptable, and despite whatever complications it brought, she couldn’t can start to be irritated about her being there. Even if she did think she should be at least a little.

Pausing to watch her run off into the other room, Lydia smiled gently right up until she realized that had left her alone with Gibbs and that given the situation she probably couldn’t afford to let herself get comfortable. Comfortable was going to wind up letting another life seep in again and she’d worked hard to try to separate the memories.

Smile faded she looked at him, nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine.” At least it wasn’t a total lie. She didn’t actually hate having Evelyn so far, the same way she hadn’t hated when a daughter with Thomas had shown up in the past. “She seems like a good kid. I think I can manage keeping her around for a week.”

There was no question in her mind that Evelyn was staying with her, and she didn’t stop to think about why that seemed the natural answer.

***

He took a moment to carefully consider Lydia's reply before he inclined his head. Gibbs didn't think it was fair that she would have to look after Evelyn for the entire time she was here, but it was the most convenient and least complicated for him if she did. That was just a little bit too much like their lives in the Old West, where their relationship had been strained in certain ways by their respective jobs.

"I appreciate that," he replied, shifting a bit to put his hand in his jacket pocket. "I woke up this morning to a ten year old boy who said Karen and I were his parents. I've got the room for Evelyn though, if you need me to take her for a few days." Kevin could stay with Karen, or they could all figure out a way to stay together if need be. Gibbs was confident that they'd figure it out though.

"And I'll make time to spend here, too." With the both of them, or just Evelyn. Gibbs wasn't the kind of man who would just abandon his child, no matter how impossible any child would be. Another family just wasn't in the cards for him, but it was nice to know that another version of him got that with someone he loved.

***

She wanted to protest, say she didn’t need him to do anything for her, that she could take care of her own child but before she could get the thought together, Lydia realized it was stupid and selfish. Evelyn was as much his as hers, which really wasn’t that much at all, and honestly it was nice that he wanted to help, that he wasn’t just going to leave her hanging with a kid to take care of. Lydia didn’t know enough about him to be sure that he wasn’t the kind of guy to do that.

She didn’t really know anything about him at all.

“Sure,” she wound up agreeing with a nod. “If you want to. I mean, it’s not like she’s actually our kid or anything like that.” So he wasn’t obligated, shouldn’t feel like he was. Not when one thing she did feel like she knew was that he didn’t want to remember the lives they’d had in the past.

***

"Maybe not ours," he agreed, "but she is our responsibility while she's here." Gibbs almost liked her best because of that fact. There wasn't anything overly complicated about Evelyn's existence because she was their daughter from their lives in another world and it was even more removed from the lives they had here. He'd have been more concerned if Evelyn was from their future.

"I'm glad they got to have her, though," Gibbs admitted softly as he turned toward the doorway she'd slipped through. She was a good kid, so the fact that she was quiet didn't bother him at the moment. It wasn't that he wanted to ignore what had happened. He just didn't see any need to complicate things when those were clearly different lives from the ones they had now. "She seems like a good kid." He was honestly looking forward to getting to know her better.

***

Following his gaze, Lydia nodded. “Me too.” Knowing how that version of herself had felt about him made her sure that it would have been welcome news, despite the complications it would have brought with it. She had no doubt that they’d worked things out and it was very clear that somehow he’d still managed to be in the little girl’s life. “She’s a smart girl. And taking this all really well all things considered.”

She couldn’t imagine any of this was easy on any of the kids whenever it happened but Evelyn seemed relatively unscathed by it.

Lydia wondered how often the poor thing had woken up somewhere new and strange and without her parents.

“If you want to hang out a little today,” she invited, looking to him again and fully expecting him to turn her down, “you’re welcome to stay for a while.” She was sure he had better things to do, at least one child he’d mentioned that he’d rather spend time with, and there was nothing between them to keep him there. It made more sense for him to want to leave.

***

“Very well,” he agreed, and it was said with a bit of a frown. That wasn’t a good thing as far as he was concerned, but there wasn’t anything he could do about that other than ensure she enjoyed her time here. Hopefully it would go reasonably well and she'd enjoy her time with them. The last thing he wanted to do was be party to ruining a young girl's Christmas.

Gibbs glanced at his watch, more to buy himself a moment to think it through than anything else. "Yea, I can stay for a bit," he agreed. He hadn't exactly put a time limit on how long he'd be gone for. "Have you two had breakfast yet?"

At that, Evelyn came back to the doorway, not quite running but about one step just below it. "I'm hungry!" she chimed in, polite and earnest even as her tummy rumbled.

Gibbs chuckled. "I bet we can rustle something up in Ms Lydia's kitchen," he replied, assuming that she'd have at least the staples. He looked to her to confirm that she did have something to be scrounged.

***

Lydia had meant to feed the girl, but she wasn’t much of a cook, and honestly didn’t have much of anything around because of it. But Gibbs had the right idea that she had a few things in the house, at least enough that between the two of them they could manage to give Evelyn something to eat.

She’d have to come up with a plan to keep her fed for as long as she was around, but that was a concern for later in the day.

“I’m sure I’ve got something,” she confirmed with an inviting gesture toward the small kitchen. “But unless you’re looking for a bagel or a badly fried egg, I’m not going to be any use.”

***

Gibbs wasn’t much better, but he could manage breakfast with relatively little fanfare. “Well, you provide the food, I’ll provide the labor and that leaves the fun for you, Miss Evelyn,” he replied with a slight grin.

The little girl giggle. “We’ll have fun!” Though they weren’t her parents, there were enough similarities that it was very likely she’d forget herself multiple times throughout the duration of her stay in the future.

Gibbs nodded in agreement and began to rifle through her cabinets. They were sorely lacking and as he pulled the eggs from the fridge he said, “I think after breakfast, a trip to the grocery store will be in order.” He had to go anyway, so hopefully Lydia wouldn’t mind his company or his contribution toward the bill.

***

Having to resist being defensive was going to turn out to be a continuing thing where Gibbs was concerned, Lydia surmised very quickly. When it hadn’t been just her in the house things had been a little better stocked but one person who didn’t cook didn’t need a whole lot. She definitely wasn’t prepared to host a child. Or anyone else for that matter.

That didn’t mean she was okay with being judged. Whether he meant to be doing it or otherwise.

She only tilted her head slightly. “Thank you.”

For now she’d let him help her. For Evelyn.