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Jimmy stared at the "easy" instructions in dismay. He'd just wanted to get something amazing for his baby, not build a rocket. How could it take, Jimmy flipped through the pages and glanced at the final instruction, over one hundred instructions to put the play set together?
He needed help, but who could he call? His first thought was Tony. Tony had always seemed happy to help out at work, surely the same would be true here.
"Hey Jimmy. What's up?"
"I need your help, Tony."
"When and where?"
"Today, my house."
"Doing what?"
"Putting together a new playset for Victoria."
"Sorry, no can do, buddy. My frat brothers are in town. I could come over on the thirtieth if you want."
Jimmy groaned. "This is supposed to be a Christmas gift for her."
"Sorry, man. I'd help if I could."
"Thanks anyway." Jimmy hung up dejectedly.
His next call was to Dr. Mallard.
"Yes, Mr. Palmer, do we have a case?"
"No, Dr. Mallard. I was hoping you could help me with something."
"Of course, what do you need help with?"
"I'm trying to put together a playset for Christmas for Victoria tonight."
"Oh dear. I'm afraid I already promised my mother that I would read to her tonight."
"What about tomorrow?"
"Oh, no, that won't work either. I have to prepare Christmas dinner if I'm going to stand any chance of having enough food on Christmas day."
Jimmy sighed. "Ok. Thanks."
"Buck up, Jimmy. I'm sure someone will come through for you."
Jimmy muttered, "I hope so," as he hung up the phone.
Oh. Abby helped out with Habitat for Humanity. She could help him. He dialed her next.
"Hey Jimmy."
"Hey Abs. How are you?"
"I'm sorry, Jimmy, but I was just about ready to leave for the club. What did you need?"
"Nothing. It's fine. Sorry for bothering you."
"Ok. Have a great night," Abby cheerfully wished him.
That left Gibbs and Tim. There was no way that Jimmy would call Gibbs without trying everyone else first, so Tim it was.
"Tim." McGee answered.
"Hey Tim."
"Jimmy. What's up?"
"I was hoping you could help me with something."
"Sure. Let me just pull out my laptop."
"Oh. It's not that kind of help, Tim."
"Then what?"
"I need to put together a playpen for Victoria before Christmas."
"Oh no, no, no. I am not your guy. The last time I tried to put anything together I ended up with more pieces than I started with."
"Ok. Thanks anyway, Tim." Jimmy hung up with a sigh and dialed his last resort, Gibbs.
"Gibbs."
"Hey Gibbs."
"Who is this?"
"Oh. It's Jimmy, Jimmy Palmer from NCIS."
"We have a case?"
"No."
"Good. Cause you shouldn't be notifying me of cases."
Jimmy rolled his eyes, not that it did any good since Gibbs couldn't see him. "I won't."
"Good. So what did you call for?"
"I was hoping you could help me out with something."
"Do I seem like the kind of person who helps others out?"
"Uh... Yes?" Jimmy's voice raised at the end in nervousness. He didn't know what the right answer was.
"No. Go bother Abby."
"But Gibbs. Abby already said no," Jimmy blurted out before realizing it was already too late as he heard the dial tone.
Now what was he supposed to do? He still needed to get the playset put together and he'd already gone through all of his friends and coworkers at NCIS. Maybe he should give up, but it was the only thing Victoria had asked for. He couldn't disappoint her like that.
He grabbed the tools and started trying to follow the directions. He made it to step five before he realized that what his playset looked like was nothing like what the picture said it should. With a sigh, he took it apart and took the parts inside the garage to deal with another day.
He helped himself to a beer and relaxed against the kitchen counter. Eventually, he'd have to make something for dinner. He loved Breena, but anything more complicated than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was too much for her.
As he contemplated dinner, he realized that there was one other person he could contact for help. He couldn't say that they were friends exactly, but the bald man had told him to give him a call if he needed something. At the time, Jimmy had written it off as a ploy to get more information about NCIS operations without anyone being aware but if that had been his goal, he'd certainly never acted on it. Jimmy never knew when the other man was in town, so he shot him a text message asking him if he was around.
He got an immediate response, "What's up?"
"Need some help with a playset."
The phone started ringing in his hand. "A playset?"
"Hey. I'm an adult with a kid. It's reasonable for me to be putting together a playset."
"What seems to be the problem?"
"Well, to start with, the instructions have over one hundred steps."
"Oh. That's easy."
"For you, maybe. I tried to follow the instructions and I was already hopelessly lost by step five and had what looked like a bear when I wanted it to look like a squirrel or something. I'm not really clear where it went wrong."
Kort chuckled. "I'll come over tomorrow and get it all fixed up for you, ok?"
"Thanks, Trent. I owe you."
"Yeah. Yeah. I'll collect, later. For now, let's just make sure Victoria has a good Christmas."
"Thank you. Really, thank you. You're the only one who has come through for me on this issue."
"It's no problem. That's what friends do for each other."
"Yeah. Friends." Jimmy sighed and hung up the phone.
He thought he had a decent amount of friends, but this experience had made him rethink that. It seemed that Kort was his only true friend. Jimmy couldn't wait to see Victoria's reaction to the properly put together playset. He knew she'd love it. All the swings and monkey bars would keep her entertained for years. It would be a long lasting present.