A CHRISTMAS STORY
Tony was happy to finally be out of the office. The day had been long and the case depressing. Christmas can be a hard time for a lot of people. People who knew the gunney said he was acting depressed and he was concerned that his marriage was over. He had heard from buddies on leave of men visiting his home, his wife in D.C. So, when Gunney Grant Williams did go home and find his wife with another man in his bedroom, he took care of the situation.

When NCIS arrived on the scene there were three bodies to take care of, along with two frightened, now orphaned, little girls: Nova, aged 6 and Bethany, aged 7. The dead were Gunny Grant Williams-husband, Danielle Williams-cheating wife, and Chris Donaldson-boyfriend.

Tony had been the first agent to enter the house. The local LEOs had been called. But Team Gibbs had been closer and was, therefore, the first to respond. The agents methodically entered the house and cleared it room by room. They called an all clear and converged on the crime scenes, which consisted of the bedroom and the living room. It appeared the gunny had killed the Danielle and Chris in the bedroom and had then went into the living room and had shot himself.

Tony was on photograph duty in the bedroom and had been taking pictures of several minutes when he started to hear small sounds. They were not consistent with the sounds he normally heard at other crime scenes they had been to.

“Boss?” Tony said as he drew his weapon and pointed to the closed bedroom door across from the master bedroom/crime scene.

Gibbs looked at Tony, puzzled for a moment, he then listened and nodded as he too heard the sounds and drew his weapon.

Gibbs opened the door and Tony stepped through. The room looked like one typical of a little 5 or 6 year old girl. The noise they realized was coming from the closet and sounded, now, like crying. It sounded like a little girl, crying, actually more than one.

Tony moved to the door and pulled the door open as they both stood clear. There was a sudden hush to the crying. Then there was shuffling, sounding like someone trying to move away from the door.

Gibbs knelt down to the girls’ level and spoke quietly and gently trying to coax them out of the closet. But it only took one look at Tony when he came around from behind the door and knelt down to get Nova to come out.

“Daddy!” Nova said through her tears as she tried to climb into Tony’s lap and throw her arms around his neck, still holding tight to a stuffed rabbit she had in her hand.

Tony was a little taken aback at first but recovered quickly. He took the little girl in his arms and hugged her tightly. “No sweetheart, I’m…my name is Tony.”

Bethany came out of the closet. “That’s not daddy, Nova.” She stood and stared at Tony for a moment. She nodded. “You look like daddy.” And indeed Tony had the same hair color and similar facial features. “But you’re too skinny.”

Tony laughed. He then smiled at Bethany. “So, this is Nova.” Tony said, indicating the little girl he had in his arms. “What is your name?”

Bethany smiled and nodded. “I’m Bethany. I’m seven. Nova’s six.” She showed Tony proudly by holding up the correct number of fingers each time. But it was difficult; she had to shift her stuffed dog from hand to hand.

Gibbs was forgotten in the background for a moment, and he was glad. He had been watching the interaction with fascination. He had no idea Tony was so good with children. He was a natural. These little girls seemed enamored by him and Tony took to them easily also.

“Well, Bethany, I’m Tony. It is very nice to meet you.” Tony said, flashing one of his winning smiles. It must work on little girls too, because she then put her arms around Tony’s neck and hugged him.

“DiNozzo charm?” Gibbs asked, smiling.

“Hey, I have no control.” Tony said, hugging the girls back. “Nova, Bethany, this is my boss, Jethro.”

“Hi, Jethro.” Bethany and Nova said in unison.

Bethany looked at Gibbs for a minute. “You got a weird name.”

Gibbs smiled at her. “A lot of people tell me that.”

By this time Tim and Kate had wondered where Tony and Gibbs were. They had each poked their heads into the room and were each amazed at the small bit of the interaction they saw between the girls and Tony. Ducky and Jimmy had also arrived and were taking care of the body in the living room. Gibbs needed to go out and talk to Ducky before he and Jimmy left with their cargo.

“Girls, Tony here is going to stay with you until for a little while. I’ll be back soon.” Gibbs said. The girls nodded and Gibbs left the room.

Tony was sitting in the middle of the floor when Gibbs returned wearing a pink feather boa around his neck and a plastic bejeweled crown that was much too small for his head. The girls had on dresses and high heels over their clothes and were serving him and the sorted stuffed animals sitting at a child-sized table tea from a plastic play tea set.

Gibbs had to bite his lip to keep from laughing out loud at the sight. He, instead, smiled broadly, thinking about similar tea parties he had had with Kelly.

“The girls said I was not properly attired to have tea with the queen.” Tony said, justifying his current costume. He gestured to the biggest teddy bear in the room. She was sitting at the table, wearing a pink dress, and she had a crown on her head also.

“Ducky?” Tony asked, wanting to know if the bodies had all been removed and the scene cleared as much as possible.

Gibbs nodded. “They should be here in about 30 minutes.” Gibbs said, speaking of social services.

“But...it’s Christmas.” Tony pleaded.

“What can we do, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders.

Tony nodded and sighed. By this time Bethany had decided to sit in his lap also.

Just then Tony heard Kate call his name. He turned in response, forgetting he was still wearing the crown and boa. Two flashes went off. They were from Kate’s and Tim’s cameras. He then heard something about a posting on Utube.

“McProbie, Katie you’re both…” Tony was going to say ‘dead’…but given the situation…. “I’ll…” He was going to say ‘kill you,’ but again thought better of it. “I’ll TALK to you both back at the office.” He finally said.

Kate and Tim nodded and smiled. Finally glad to have something on Tony. He heard Gibbs laughing, too, just outside the door and figured that the three of them were looking at the pictures.

When Kate and Tim had been realized that there were children in the house, they had tried their best to make the both crime scene areas look as normal as possible. But the problem with blood IS that it splatters. They had bagged the bedding for Abby. They had then covered the blood-stained mattress with a blanket in case the girls came into the room. They then tried to clean the floor in the living room where the husband had fallen after he had shot himself. They then decided the best course of action was to cover the area with a rug.

“OK girls,” Tony said taking off his boa and crown and standing up. “It’s time to go.”

Nova and Bethany got up off his lap to let him stand.

“Mama, is ‘posed to come and tuck us in. I want Mama.” Nova said as Tony bent to pick her up.

Tony took Nova in his arms and hugged her. “Mama’s not going to be able to tuck you in, OK sweetheart.”

“Why not?” Nova said.

“Mama had to go away.” Tony said, struggling to explain.

“Why?” Nova asked.

“Because of that man who comes here.” Bethany spoke up.

“What man, precious?” Tony asked, knowing she was speaking of Donaldson.

“Chris. Mama told us not to tell Daddy about him when Daddy called.” Bethany said.

Nova nodded. “I like Chris.”

“Why…?” Tony started.

“He was Mama’s boyfriend.” Bethany explained. “Mama’s not coming back, is she?” Bethany asked wiping her eyes. She had begun to cry.

It broke Tony’s heart to realize that she was much wiser than her 7 years. He shook his head, unable to speak. He then scooped her up into his arms too.

Gibbs, Tim and Kate watched the interaction between the three of them and were very impressed. Tony really had a way with these two little girls.

“Boss, can we get them out of here?” Tony asked holding both girls close. “I’ll sit in the car with them…until….”

Gibbs nodded and Tony carried them out of the bedroom, past the open door to the master bedroom, and through the living room as quickly as possible. He sat them both on the back seat of the NCIS car and sat down beside them.

“We waiting on the ‘social people’?” Bethany asked.

“What ‘social people’?” Tony asked.

“Those that comes and gets the kids when the parents do bad things.” Bethany explained, holding her stuffed dog tight to her chest. “They come to my school sometimes.”

“Yeah, Precious...” Tony said nodding. “…that’s who we’re waiting for.”

“I don’t want to go with the social people.” Nova said, crawling again into Tony’s lap.

“I don’t either; those kids never come back to school again.” Bethany said. She too then crawled into Tony’s lap.

Tony still remembered their first meeting like it was yesterday. But today, 7 Christmases later, Nova Marie Ellis was 12 years old and Bethany Ann Ellis was 14 years old. Nova was into sports and was a cheerleader at her middle school. Bethany was into music. She was taking piano lessons and guitar lessons and played the clarinet and flute in the high school band.

Bethany, Nova and Tony had, over the years, kept in touch with letters, pictures and holiday and birthday cards. Tony had had the great pleasure of seeing the girls grow up. He had been invited to and attended numerous recitals and games. He had been allowed to be a large part of the girls’ lives by their adoptive parents and he was eternally grateful. It had made him very happy when they had asked permission to call him ‘Uncle Tony.’

Tony had checked his email before leaving work and recognized the one email address in particular. He smiled when he scrolled the message and clicked on the links. A picture of Nova popped up in her cheerleading uniform, mugging for the camera. She had turned into a beautiful young woman. He clicked on the next link and a picture of Bethany popped up. She was in her band uniform holding her clarinet.

Tony sat smiling when he saw the pictures. He teared up when he went back and read the message.

(Uncle Tony,

We wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas. I loved my book on advanced guitar techniques and Nova loves her cheerleading stuff. (She’s such a girl!) I just realized writing this that we met you 7 years ago, today. I still miss my mom and dad. I don’t say much to Nova though. I don’t think she really remembers them that well. I’m not sure. But I guess, considering what happened, it’s for the best, no bad memories for her.

Anyway, I wanted you to know. I remember the tea party very well. I’m surprised you let us dress you up in a boa and a crown. Daddy wouldn’t even let us do that. He didn’t play with us like that. He especially never sang to us. He tried, but he didn’t sing well. But I remember your voice. Every time I get up in front of people to sing, or to play an instrument. I think about the NCIS agent who sang Christmas song after Christmas song to me as we waited for social services. I don’t remember every song, but I remember the voice. It took a long time to get settled with the Ellises, as you know. I kept the sound of your voice in my mind. It helped me through some rough times. I was inspired to go into music by your voice. I never told you or thanked you for that. We never thanked you for opening your heart to two little orphaned girls. You have NO idea how much that meant to us. Thank you!

With much love, your ‘nieces,’

Bethany and Nova)


Tony printed out the pictures. They would join the others they had sent him over the years. He wiped tears away he didn’t know he had been crying. He hit ‘Reply’ and started typing.