Tony had found Abby’s singing reindeer, and was now making a racket.
‘Jingle Bells’played over and over again, before Tony decided he didn’t want to hear the whole song play and just kept pressing the button repeatedly, laughing loudly, ‘Jingle Bells, Jin…Jing….Jingle Be….Jingl….Jingle Bells’.After about 5 minutes of hearing the ‘Jingle Bells’ rap, Gibbs had had enough and took the batteries out.
Tony, not appreciating his dad’s lack of support in his new musical career, gave him a dirty look before crawling quickly away, pacifier wedged in his mouth, over to his toy box.
“Oh thank goodness,” Kate said from the kitchen, where she and Ziva were busy cooking for the evening’s feast, “If I had to listen to ‘Jingle bells’ one more time…”
“Daa-Dee!” Tony called loudly, his voice sounding a little panicky, “Daa-Dee…”
“Tony…” Gibbs called back; as he returned to the lounge room. On seeing Tony he started to laugh, “Kate, Ziva look at this.” He said, gasping out between bursts of laughter. They turned around from their spot in the kitchen and burst out laughing as well. Tony had fallen head first into his toy box and was now stuck, little legs kicking in the air.
“Daa-Dee!” The little boy’s voice was now sounding shaky, like he was about to cry.
“Ok Tony, sorry…. Come here.” Gibbs said, lifting his little boy out from the clutches of the toy box and giving him a cuddle, tears clinging to the little boy’s eyelashes as he started to mumble, ‘Bub-bub.’
”Hey, it’s ok. No need to cry bubba,” He said, wiping the little eyes dry with the sleeve of his shirt, “I know - how about we decorate the tree, huh? Won’t that be fun?” He said, trying to distract Tony before he had a full melt down. Tony had been teething the last few days and because of this his moods were a little, well, fragile.
Gibbs walked over to where the tree was located and opened the bag full of decorations, gold and silver tinsel and baubles shined from inside. Tony caught site of the shining objects and wriggled to get down. Gibbs placed him standing on the ground and watched as he peered into the bag of newly bought decorations. It was now 3 days till Christmas and it was the first time in years that Gibbs had actually celebrated the event. For the first time since Shannon and Kelly’s death he wasn’t working over the Christmas break, for the first time he wasn’t confining himself to the office in order to escape the memories.
“Ba!” Tony said with excitement as he took out a shining bauble and threw it as far as he could - lucky they’re plastic Gibbs thought.
”Ba.” he said again, holding out another shiny bauble towards his Dad.
“No Tony, that’s not a ball,” Gibbs said picking up the boy, taking another bauble out of the bag, “It goes on the tree, see, like this.” He said, placing the bauble neatly on the tree.
Tony looked at the bauble in his hand, confusion clouding his face. Gibbs had to chuckle; Tony looked like he was really trying to process what had just been done.
Tony’s eyes lit up, “Ba!” He said again as he threw the bauble at the tree. Tony clapped his hands and laughed as the bauble got stuck between the branches.
“I guess that’s one way to do it.” Gibbs had an amused tone to his voice, putting Tony back onto the floor.
Kate and Ziva, who had till this point remained quiet, laughed from the kitchen and continued to cook.
It had been decided that since everyone was going to be away for Christmas day with their respected families that they would have an early team Christmas and as usual Gibbs’ house had been nominated. Gibbs himself didn’t mind, it made things easier with Tony to have everyone here anyway.
“Oooh!” Tony said, as he grabbed some tinsel out of the bag and tried to eat it.
“Tony,” Gibbs sighed, “It’s not food.” Taking the full length out of the bag and placing it over Tony’s shoulders. The little boy turned around slowly, trying to grab the other end behind his back, before he toddled off into the kitchen to show Kate and Ziva what he had found.
Tony eventually came back to the tree where his dad was busy decorating it, tinsel in one hand trailing behind him, cookie in the other.
“Who’s getting spoiled huh?” Gibbs asked Tony, who just looked up at him smiling and offered his slobbered on cookie to his dad, “No thanks Tony, you eat it.” And he did, getting crumbs and slobber over his shirt and the floor.
Eventually, the tree was close to finished, no thanks to Tony who decided his way of putting the baubles on the tree was better and continued to throw them, resulting in Gibbs having to pick them up off the floor before placing them carefully on the tree. There were only three special items left. Gibbs picked Tony up carefully, cuddling him gently before he spoke quietly to the boy.
“These Tony,” He said, opening a box on the coffee table with care, “Are very special. They belonged to your Aunty Shannon and Kelly.” Reaching inside the box Gibbs pulled out two delicate Christmas baubles. They had beautiful hand painted pictures on them, one with a reindeer and sleigh flying through the night sky with the name Shannon painted in gold, the other a picture of an angel surrounded by twinkling stars and the name Kelly.
Tony looked up at his dad before reaching out and gently touching the bauble with his little hands. It’s almost as though he knows how special these are, Gibbs thought to himself, before placing them gently towards the top of the tree - just in case Tony explores., Gibbs reached down to get the final item.
-----------------------FLASHBACK--------------------------
Every year as a tradition, the Gibbs family decorated their Christmas tree together. And every year they saved one special item till last, a beautiful glass star which had been handed down through Shannon’s family for years. Every year since Kelly was born they stood together at the base of the tree, and with Kelly in their arms placed the star on top and gave thanks for what they had. That was until Kelly accidently broke it. This year they would have to find something new.
“Honey, Jethro, I found it!” Shannon exclaimed, as she put the shopping bags on the table.
“Found what Shan?”
“Yeah mum, found what? Is it for me?!” Kelly asked, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the bag.
“Not exactly Kells,” The little girl’s face fell, “It’s for all of us.” As Shannon spoke she carefully lifted out a beautiful angel for the top of their tree. The angle had a childish porcelain face, and long brown hair. Her flowing dress was a sparkling white pearl shimmer, with flecks of silver and gold. Her wings were as delicate as silk.
“Wow mummy she’s beautiful!” Kelly gasped eyes wide, “She looks like me!”
Both Shannon and Jethro laughed.
“Yes Kells, she’s just like you. That’s why I chose her.” Shannon smiled down at her daughter, who was trying to climb up Jethro to get a better look. Indeed the chosen angel did look remarkably like Kelly.
Walking over to the base of the tree, Jethro spoke, ”Hey Kells, since you’re a big girl now, would you like to put the angel on the tree?”
“Oh, yes please Daddy!” Kelly said, her excited voice getting louder, “You’re right I am a big girl now - I’m 5, I can do it!”
Kelly’s little face was beaming as she took the angel in her hands and Jethro lifted her so she could reach the top of the tree. Using all the care she possessed, Kelly positioned the angel on top. Jethro held Kelly on his hip and put his other arm around Shannon. They all stood and looked at the tree.
“Perfect.” Kelly giggled, and Shannon put a kiss on top of her daughter’s head. And together they gave thanks for what they had…each other.
--------------------END FLASHBACK----------------------
With Tony in his arms, Gibbs reached in and removed the angel from the box. She still, even after all these years, looked as beautiful as ever. Just like Kelly. Standing at the base of the tree, Tony in one arm, Gibbs put the angel on the top. Giving Tony a kiss on top of his head, Gibbs gave thanks for what he had and what he found… Tony and Family.
After a moment of quiet contemplation, Gibbs got back on task.
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“Hey Tony,” Gibbs said to the little boy still in his arms, “Let’s go help Aunty Ziva make cookies.” Taking Tony into the kitchen where Kate was putting the Turkey into the oven and Ziva was mixing the cookie batter, he handed Tony to Ziva, who put him on the bench next to the bowl.
“I’m just going to cut up some more firewood so we don’t run out.” Gibbs said, his normally gruff voice remarkably soft.
“Of course Gibbs, we shall watch him. We will make and eat lots of cookies won’t we little cookie-muncher? Just like that blue thing on that street show you watch.” Ziva tickled the baby on the bench and he giggled childishly.
“It’s Cookie Monster,” Gibbs chuckled, shaking his head, “And the show is Sesame Street.”
“Oh,” Ziva said, “Either way we will eat all the cookies, wont we Tony?”
Gibbs laughed again, “Kate you had better be the responsible one I think.” He smiled, ruffled Tony’s hair, and headed outside.
To say Tony was helpful would have been a lie. Tony was anything but helpful, and Ziva was ready to pull her hair out.
“Tony, NO!” Ziva said, removing Tony’s little hand from the cookie batter. Every time she went to start mixing, Tony would stick his hand in the bowl, grab a fist full of batter, and shove it in his mouth, “If you eat all the batter, there will be no cookies.” Tony just smiled at her, mouth full and drooling. Ziva rolled her eyes.
“Kate, can you help me with him, please?”
“Sorry Ziva, I have to finish cutting the vegetables. And I’m pretty sure he would be safer with cookie dough than with a knife.” Kate laughed.
Ziva just sighed and again removed Tony’s hand from the batter.
“Why don’t you give him a spoon, then he can think he is helping.” Kate’s suggestion sounded like it might even work, so Ziva did just that.
BANG, BANG, BANG. Tony was bashing his spoon on the baking tray as Ziva positioned the cookies. She had made reindeer shaped cookies from a cookie cutter she had found in one of Gibbs’ kitchen draws and they looked wonderful… up until Tony started beating them with his spoon. There were a few casualties, Oh well they can be Tony’s ones she thought. Tony was waving his spoon around, yelling a mixture of gibberish and words ‘Car’, ‘Daa-Dee’, ‘Up’ and ‘Yum’ being the discernable words along with a few ‘Uhh-Ohh’s’ as his spoon whacked the cupboard.
“Oww!” Kate exclaimed as Tony’s spoon connected with her hand as she was putting the vegetable scraps in the bin under the bench.
“Uhh-Ohh!” Tony said, laughing eyes shining brightly at Kate.
“Maybe giving him a weapon wasn’t such a great idea.” Kate said,
Ziva replied smiling, “At least he isn’t eating all the batter anymore, yes?”
Ziva took the spoon out of Tony’s hands and carried him to his highchair, handing him one of the biscuits from the batch she had already made. The others she sat on a plate on the kitchen table well out of Tony’s reach and went back to the kitchen to clean up the mess largely contributed to by Tony.
“I’m just going in to the study to wrap my gifts.” Kate called to Ziva, who was busy crouching down on the floor, cleaning up mess. Ziva was so preoccupied with cleaning the kitchen; that she missed the mischievous look on Tony’s face and the way his little eyes flashed.
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Gibbs had spied Abby and McGee as they arrived and commandeered them into helping him carry the firewood inside.
Kicking off their snow covered boots and stepping through the sliding doors into the lounge room, Abby and McGee gasped.
“Uh, Boss,” McGee said trying to stifle a laugh, “You might want to look at this.”
Gibbs stepped through the door, and laughed. Ziva’s head popped up from behind the kitchen cupboards at the sound of the laughter. She started laughing too as she saw Tony.
Tony was sitting in the middle of the kitchen table looking very guiltily at his daddy, his mouth stuffed full of cookies. Gibbs placed his load of firewood down in the box and made his way over to where his son sat.
“Uhh-Ohh” Tony mumbled mouth full of cookie " ‘Uhh-Ohh’ was right. It appeared Tony had climbed from his highchair and crawled onto the table over to the cookies, and bitten the heads off about half the reindeer.
“At least now we know he has a new trick - Houdini from the highchair.” Abby said between laughter.
Gibbs picked up his boy, who had finally finished his mouthful of cookie,
“Tony! You silly boy.” Gibbs laughed, he couldn’t get angry with his little man - this was just too precious. At 16 months old Tony was continually surprising him, and this was no different. Gibbs (followed by Abby) took Tony upstairs to change his diaper and clothes. Abby had insisted on dressing Tony in a long sleeved T-shirt she had brought him, it was white and had the words ‘Baby’s First Christmas” written on the front in red and green writing. Technically it would be Tony’s second Christmas, but it was the first he would really get some enjoyment out of, the first with his new daddy and family.
When Gibbs, Abby and Tony arrived back down stairs, they were met with laughter as Ziva relayed to Kate and Ducky (who had just arrived) why they had reindeer cookies without heads.
“My, my Jethro. I hope young Anthony doesn’t get a stomachache from all those cookies…. Ooof!” The elderly M.E grunted as Tony ran smack straight into his legs, wrapping his little arms around his leg giving him a hug. Ducky picked up the boy, who snuggled into his arms. Ducky’s eyes lit up in the presence of the boy - it was no secret Ducky was fond of little Tony, a fact that was growing increasingly more obvious as the months went by.
“Ok,” Abby called out, “Now that everyone is here, I propose, it’s present time!” She beamed like a 6 year old, bouncing on her toes.
“Seems like a good idea to me,” said Kate, “Dinner will be an hour and a half away, so it should fit in perfectly.”
“Alright,” Gibbs conceded, “Presents in 5 minutes. Do what you got to do, get comfy and we’ll start.” He said as he moved around the house, closing up all the curtains to keep the warmth in. It had begun to snow quite heavily outside and the temperature was dropping rapidly.
Finally everyone was settled; there were more presents under the tree than expected. Abby had decided that this year everyone was to draw a name out of the hat and the name you drew was the person you were giving to. That idea seemed pretty logical except, Gibbs noted with amusement, that according to the nametags on the presents, not only did everyone get one person but they also all got Tony. The kid sure was spoiled.
Tony made his way into his Daddy’s arms and was playing contentedly with Gibbs fingers as the gift giving went on, deciding that while Tony was settled they would exchange all the adults’ gifts first. Gifts were given and accepted with heartfelt gratefulness. Tony was entertained with all the brightly colored paper, squealing with excitement as another piece got stuck to him.
When Tony began to whine, they distracted him with his gifts, although he seemed more entranced by the paper. With the exception of the shiny new cars Kate had given him,
“Car!” Tony said over and over again until Gibbs started driving them up and down Tony’s legs and arms making him giggle, before he toddled off to show Abby his shiny toy. Then there were only two gifts left.
“Ok, I’ll go next,” McGee spoke with confidence, none of the usual stumbling in his voice. He grabbed a small relatively flat square present from the tree. “Happy Christmas Boss.” He said, handing the gift over.
Gibbs took the gift with a smile, and started to unwrap it. Tony toddled over to him and sat back in his lap to ‘help’. Everyone looked on in anticipation as he unwrapped the present. It was a CD of some sort; the only clue as to what was on it was the word ‘Tony’.
“Well Timmy, what’s on the disk?” Abby asked curiously.
“It’s a DVD, of photos and videos of Tony - I’ve taken a lot over the last few months and thought maybe Gibbs would want them as keepsakes; I even have his first steps and those photos with Santa we took last week.”
Gibbs stood up putting Tony on the floor and walked over to McGee, giving him a warm genuine smile. Gibbs put his hand on McGee’s shoulder. “Thank you Tim. Thank you very much.” McGee smiled with pride, the use of his first name was an uncommon event.
“So, that leaves one more present. And it must be for Ducky,” Kate said, smiling as she read the card, “Dear Grandpa, Happy Christmas, Love from Tony and Jethro.” Gibbs handed the gift over to the elderly M.E sitting in the armchair closest to the fire and took Tony back onto his lap. Ducky’s eyes sparkled with unshed tears as he saw the gift. It was an enlarged black and white photo of himself with little Tony in his arms both sound asleep looking peaceful and content. The beautiful silver frame was engraved with the words, ‘Grandpa " Christmas 2005’. For the first time in the many years since Gibbs had known the M.E, he was silent, a single tear running down his cheek.
“That’s not all, I have one surprise left,” Gibbs stated. Holding his little boy in his arms he spoke softly, “Tony,” The little boy looked up smiling. Gibbs pointed over to Ducky, “Tony, who’s that?”
Tony looked over to whom his dad was pointing at. “Pa.”
Ducky was crying now, tears falling freely down his cheeks. Gibbs looked around; everyone it seemed had tears in their eyes. Tony stood and toddled over to where Ducky was sitting, lifting his arms up to the older man
“Pa.” He said again. Ducky took the boy into his arms cuddling him gently and whispered through his tears, looking over to where Gibbs was sitting “Thank you. Thank you so very, very much.”
*************************************************************************************************
The remainder of the evening went by pleasantly, the food was once again fantastic and everyone was stuffed by the time they had finished. Tony, although he hadn’t eaten much due to the cookie incident, had still managed to cover himself in his food - apple sauce matted his curls together, and he had also managed to get applesauce on Gibbs’ shirt.
“Timmy and I will clean up, since Kate and Ziva cooked.” Abby offered.
“Jethro, I’ll bathe young Anthony while you go change.” Ducky spoke, and lifted Tony out of his highchair, taking him upstairs
Tony’s squeals could be heard along with shouts of “Daa-Dee!” and “Pa!”
“Jethro, may I ask for you assistance for a moment?” Ducky called from upstairs. Taking the stairs two at a time in case there was a problem, Gibbs dashed upstairs where he found a flustered Ducky, trying to catch Tony, who was toddling naked from room to room.
“I’m sorry Jethro, but the arthritis in my knees is playing up with all this cold weather, and I can’t seem to catch him.”
“Not a problem Duck.” Gibbs said, as he hid behind the doorframe of the room.
“Roar!” Gibbs yelled as he grabbed Tony, as the naked boy crawled past the door, deciding that crawling was still faster than walking. Tony squealed loudly as Gibbs tickled him.
After finally managing to wrestle Tony into his pajamas, they went back downstairs. It was still relatively early when everyone went home - they all had busy days and flights to catch tomorrow.
Tony, after his busy day and no nap, had crashed out on the floor underneath the Christmas tree, buried in his blanket, leaving Gibbs to his own thoughts.
Visions of Shannon and Kelly flashed through his mind, visions of his family then and now flowing through his thoughts. Memories new and old cascading like waterfalls, names and faces - Shannon, Kelly, Ducky, Abby, Kate, Ziva, Tim and Tony… Ah Tony, the little boy who had, in such a short time given him back so much, mending his wounds and fixing his heart.
He watched the little boy sleep under the tree, peaceful breathing echoing in the quiet calm of the room, his little face being illuminated by the glow of the fire. The boy was slowly giving Gibbs back his heart and his family.
Gibbs suddenly knew what he needed to do. Picking up the phone, he dialed a number he should have dialed a long time ago.
“Hello?” Came the voice on the other end.
“Hello…. Dad.”
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Pretty please leave a comment and let me know what you think???
Author's Chapter Notes:
OK, here is the start of the christmas chapters.... There will be three in total....
With the story i plan to get the family all together and progress through Tony's life, dealing with the many ups and downs the will experience.
Daddy DiNozzo will also make a return eventually.
As always please leave a comment and let me know what you think!
With the story i plan to get the family all together and progress through Tony's life, dealing with the many ups and downs the will experience.
Daddy DiNozzo will also make a return eventually.
As always please leave a comment and let me know what you think!