December 16th
Tony slowly woke from a really restful sleep. The matress he was lying on was the most comfortable one his back ever had the pleassure to meet. The pillows were as soft as clouds and he smelled a mixture of cinnamon, vanilla and coffee. Frowning at the bitter smell between the sweet ones he opened his eyes and could only stare.
"Finally awake?"
He heard the deep raspy voice of his boss but he was too distracted by his surroundings to even wonder why Gibbs was in the room he just slept in.
"Not sure."
He answered looking from the deep red heaven of the bed to the warm orange of the walls, which were, by the way, exceptionally high. Confused by the oversize of the furniture and happy colours he finally looked at Gibbs and if his jaw already had lay in his lap he didn't knew where it was now. His boss was essentially looking just as always but his clothing was that out of place that they fitted perfectly into this room which seemed to be extremely out of place itself. Tony couldn't tell the fabrik, and he wasn't really surprised to find himself wanting to touch and find out, but the colour was enough. Magenta. The shirt emphasized the broad chest and the pants, Tony noticed when Gibbs turned around to get a coffee from the tray, was thight in all the right places. All the right places, Tony thought when Gibbs turned back to him. A chuckle pulled him back and he realised that Gibbs must have seen his gaze. Blushing deeply that it matched Gibbs' shirt he started to climp out of the sinfully comfortable bed.
"Where the hell am I?"
Gibbs chuckled again.
"I thought you might want to guess."
Tony checked that he was dressed before he stood up and looked around the room again.
"I'll give you a hint. I'm Santa and this is my winter residence."
Gibbs said and the warm chuckle was still evident in his voice.
"Sure, now you tell me this is the north pole...don't say it!"
He held up a hand, partly to stop Gibbs and partly so he wouldn't see the older man, and sighed.
"Just...bring me back."
He said exasperated.
"I'm afraid I can't."
"Gibbs! I got a daughter to care for."
"Don't worry. She's here."
"SHE'S HERE? And you tell me not to worry!"
He stormed to the huge wooden door and swang it open only to slam it shut again.
"I wanted to warn you, but you were to fast."
Gibbs said nonchalant and sipped his coffee. Tony stared at the door as if he could still see what was behind it.
"There were...that was...this is a dream! That's it! A dream!"
He said closing his eyes and repeating the words like a mantra. He was surprised that his mind didn't want to believe what his mouth was saying.
"It's not a dream, Tony. I'm Santa Clause, this is the north pole and what you just saw was..."
"Don't!"
Tony had started to pace up and down still repeating the words. After a while Gibbs sighed and sat down letting the younger man pace until he was nearly running a whole into the floor before he sat down taking a deep breath.
"Where am I?"
Tony said and Gibbs waited until he was sure he wouldn't be interrupted.
"North pole."
"And you are..."
"Santa Clause, yes..."
Tony nodded slowly before he started to laugh hysterically.
"And you want me to believe that? God...why am I believing you?"
Gibbs smiled slightly and shrugged. Tony buried his face in his hands.
"And what am I doing here?"
He mumbled.
"I have to show you what's important. But before I'll give you a tour...oh, and don't be shocked. You'll see some familiar faces."
"What?"
Tony's head snapped up and he looked at Gibbs with big eyes.
"Abby, Ducky, Gerald and McGee. They're elves."
"Elves? What about Ziva?"
Tony asked desperately trying to get his mind around this.
"She's jewish."
Gibbs said as if it was a completely stupid question to ask but for once in life Tony really thought there weren't any stupid questions. He took deliberate slow breaths.
"I told Abby to bring Nick after you... were unconscious."
"I don't wanna know what happened, right?"
Gibbs shook his head.
"And you can't bring me back?"
"Listen, I just want you to talk to Nick. When that's done you can go, if you want to."
Tony nodded slowly and followed Gibbs out of the room. The whole time as they wandered through what Tony only could call a factory...like the chocolate factory of Willy Wonka though, he kept staring at everything. He looked from the small elves to the big ones that actually looked like humans except for the ears. He barely listened to Gibbs telling him the different functions of the rooms they passed but he did notice the happy tone in Gibbs' voice and thought that maybe this was he and his daughter actually needed. He shook his head again repeating the words "This is just a dream" only this time mentally.
"This is the computer center."
Gibbs said when they stopped in front of a steel door.
"You've got computers on the north pole?"
Tony asked with a frown and Gibbs returned a grin.
"Only since McGee's here. Abs tried to talk me into it for years but when there were two of them I couldn't say no anymore...the bastards know when I'm vulnerable."
"Vulnerable? You?"
"Around Christmas I...I can barely say no. Goes with all that magenta clothing and stuff, you know. Being Santa Clause..."
Tony shook his head when Gibbs opened the door. Tony couldn't say he had seen many computer centers but those he had seen had nothing to do with this. The computers were colourful and there were blinking lights everywhere. He heard two fimiliar voices behind a monitor but he saw only the tips of four ears.
"Tim, Abs. Tony woke up."
The ears shot up and reveilled the heads belonging to them. Next thing he knew was that he had Abby hanging on him.
"So great you finally know! And believe! You do believe, right?"
"I believe this is a dream...I guess...I hope."
"It's not, DiNozzo, I told you, can we move on?"
Gibbs said with an slightly annoyed sigh although it seemed as he couldn't get the smile out of his face. Moving around the factory and meeting Ducky and Gerald Tony still couldn't wrap his head around all that. He sat in the room he had woken up in with Gibbs eating dinner.
"Can I see Nick?"
"Not just yet. She's...acclimatizing. Abby's looking after her. She woke up short time after we were at the computer center."
Tony frowned deeply what vanished when he tasted the delicious meal.
"Ok, just how do you know? I was with you all day!"
"I'm Santa Clause...No, Felicy, one of the elves that looked after Nick when she was asleep, told me when you were hitting the head."
"Five minutes..."
Tony muttered.
"So...how old are you?"
Gibbs looked up at the sudden question.
"You know how old I am."
"Actually, no, I don't...and I'm sure you're ways older...hundred...two hundred..."
"Tony. I became Santa Clause about fifteen years ago."
Tony looked as if he suddenly understood everything but then frowned.
"How?"
Gibbs sighed.
"I don't wanna talk about it right now."
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs' winter residence
Chapter End Notes:
I really like that chapter. I was reading "Life, the universe and everything" by Douglas Adams just before I wrote this so I couldn't help and adapt the writing style. Wasn't intentionally but this is what came out, a bit funnier than the rest.