A/N: This was the story I wrote for a Zibbs Secret Santa gift exchange. Takes places in my Safe Haven universe, the Christmas after that story ended. Having read Safe Haven is not necessary for being able to follow this story. Enjoy.

Miracles

Stepping from the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee in hand, Gibbs purposely made his way toward the couch. He couldn't help smiling at the sight outside his living room window as he carefully maneuvered around all the holiday decorations that had overtaken his home. Laughing to himself, he shook his head in wonder at how drastically his life had changed. A change, no doubt, brought on by one Ziva David. Her playful antics outside at the moment drew him like a magnet toward the large window behind the chocolate colored couch.

Reaching the window shining with the multi-colored hue of Christmas lights, he stood sipping his coffee and felt a warm rush of emotions over take him. Ziva was playing around in the snow-filled front yard with Mike Franks' granddaughter - his goddaughter - Amira. A winter storm had blown through the area, and the result had been a substantial snowfall the night before that had just begged to be played in this morning. As the sound of Ziva and Amira's laughter filtered through the window, Gibbs found his thoughts drifting back over the past eighteen months.

For as long as he lived, Gibbs was certain he would never forget how he felt the day he thought he'd lost Ziva forever. After the mess that ensued following the death of Rivkin, he'd left her behind in Israel. Months had gone by without any word or form of communication from her. After doing some digging, they had learned that while on assignment with Mossad, a ship she was believed to have been on had sunk off the Indian Ocean. The reports they'd received indicated there were no known survivors. More intel surfaced a short time later, though, indicating that she had survived the shipwreck, only to be captured and killed by a terrorist group while trying to complete her mission.

Just as he'd begun to think that he and his team would not survive her loss, by some miracle they'd gotten Ziva back. She had been a mess when she returned, but had allowed him to be there for her. As the months passed, Gibbs had noticed the special bond that had always existed between them grow even deeper. He'd tried hard to deny it, but couldn't escape the fact that his feelings for her were becoming more and more complicated. He had convinced himself that nothing good could possible come out of acting on his feelings; after all, what in the world did he have to offer Ziva? Honestly, he was a grumpy, aging marine who was so emotionally broken from the painful losses that seemed to punctuate his life and he would not delude himself into thinking that Ziva could ever feel that same way about him.

As unexpectedly as finding Ziva alive in Somalia had been, he'd been even more surprised by what happened the day last January when Ziva had stood in his kitchen in the middle of a heated argument with him. He'd demanded to know why she'd been distancing herself from him, and she'd explosively confessed her love for him. Those words of love meant the world to him, and would forever be burned into his memory.

"I cannot be around you like this anymore. I cannot take it. It is killing me. YOU are killing me! I cannot stop thinking of you. I miss you every second I am away from you. My body aches to be close to you, for you to hold me at night. The dreams are bad enough, but I have learned to accept them, to live with them. But this longing and pain of not being with you is more then I can handle. I feel like I cannot breathe when I am not with you. I am completely and utterly in love with you, Jethro."

Gibbs had been momentarily stunned, but he'd recovered quickly, and had made his way across the room to do something he had been longing to do for far too long. Their first kiss had been electric. All those months of longing to be with her spilled over into that one kiss. It had left them breathless and wanting more, and had been the kiss that changed everything. Even now almost a year later, Gibbs couldn't help that a quiet little, "Oorah," escaped his lips as he thought about their first kiss.

The sudden squeal of excitement from Amira drew Gibbs' full attention back to the front yard. Not realizing how long he'd been lost in thought, he saw that the girls had been hard at work building a one-of-a-kind snowman. He couldn't fully see their masterpiece from his current position, but as he took a sip of his coffee Ziva and Amira both stepped back to admire their handiwork, giving him an unobstructed view. Their snowman was sight to behold, and just about caused Gibbs to choke on his coffee as he fought the urge to laugh out loud. Instead of a traditional black top hat, their snowman was wearing a blue NCIS issued cap. They had draped one of Ziva's scarves around his neck, covered most of his body with one of Gibbs' old USMC shirts and on the end of his twig arms, instead of mittens, they had put on him Ziva's scrap fighting gloves.

Gibbs glanced down at his watch and saw that it was a few minuets past 11am. That meant that rest of his team would be over in a couple of hours. This year was his team's turn to be off for the Christmas holiday, and even though Ziva didn't usually celebrate Christmas, she had insisted that they have everyone over for an all-encompassing holiday dinner. She had informed him that since this was their first holiday season together as a couple she wanted it to be as memorable as possible, and that of course meant they should share it with the rest of the team.

Looking back, Gibbs couldn't believe how quickly time had flown by, and how far they had come in that amount of time. Knowing that they wanted to be together, there had still been a lot they'd needed to work out. Ziva had still been dealing with the aftereffects from Somalia, and they weren't sure if jumping into a relationship was the best thing for her. Added to this had been approval she'd received to apply to NCIS as a full time agent who was permanently assigned to Gibbs' team, assuming she passed her citizenship exam. And finally, there had been the team to consider.

After a long talk they had come to an understanding and agreement. Being together was second only to Ziva fully recovering, so if that meant they should take things slowly at first, that was what they would do. They had agreed that Ziva would continue to stay in her new apartment, giving her the space and time she would need to continue working through the residual effects from Somalia. Even though she had lived with Gibbs for the first several month after her return, once she had moved into her own place, they'd both been a tad hesitant for her to move in right away, fearing it would hinder her progress.

However, once their feelings had been laid bare, sleeping in apart proved harder then they assumed it would be. As the weeks and months passed, they were forced to throw in the towel and in April Ziva moved back in; they hoped the possibility of any set backs was slim to none, since she had actually only spent a hand full of nights at her own place, and she seemed to still be steadily improving.

They were both confident Ziva would pass her citizenship test. He had offered to help her study, and most nights they could be found in his basement; Ziva studying while he worked on his various wood projects. On the weekends they had off, he would take her around D.C to show her the various places and things she had read about during the week. This actually worked in their favor since they had decided to hold off on telling the team anything concerning their relationship.

It hadn't been a secret that upon returning from Somalia Ziva had lived with Gibbs for several months. No one had seemed to care; they'd all been relieved to have her back, and glad to see that she was allowing someone to help her work through things. Thinking that it might raise some questions if anyone found out exactly how much time she was still spending with him - especially since the team was still under the impression she lived at her own place- the excuse of him helping her study provided a honest enough reason for her to be spending so much time with him.

They agreed that after she passed her test they would figure out what to do next, but neither felt that keeping their relationship hidden from the team for too long would be a good idea. At the same time, neither was sure how it would affect the team, and the last thing they wanted was to have the team break apart. However, they were both clear about the fact that they were in this relationship for the long haul, and if that meant one of them had to transfer to another team, so be it. He had even throw out the idea of retirement, but Ziva had just rolled her eyes at him, and simply stated, "Good luck with that!"

Ziva passed her test a few months later, and true to their agreement they filled the team in on their relationship at her celebration dinner party. Abby had been a little hurt that they had not told her sooner, but she admitted she wasn't surprised. She thought something was "a little hinky" with all the time they had been spending together, and she noticed something seemed different between the two - she just hadn't been able to put her finger on what it was. Tim was as Gibbs suspected - fine with it all. If Gibbs remembered correctly his exact words were "Cool." Ducky seemed a little concerned, but after talking with them later that evening he gave his blessing.

Tony had been the only one who had struggled with them as a couple, which hadn't surprised him or Ziva. Gibbs had always been fairly certain his senior field agent secretly had unresolved feelings for his partner, but he also knew that given time, if Tony really cared about Ziva he would come around. His ego was sure to have taken a beating, but sure enough, a few weeks later as they were making their way out of the bullpen he approached them and gave them his blessing as well.

Vance had been the only one Gibbs had really been worried about. He figured if anyone were going to give them problems it would be the Director. But Gibbs had already made up his mind and told Ziva for a second time that if it came down to it and Vance decided he wanted to break the team up he would just retire.

That next morning (in true Gibbs fashion) he'd barged straight into Vance's office with Ziva right on his six and told him about their relationship. A few seconds of stunned silence followed directly by a silent stare down between Gibbs and the director was the immediate result. That was quickly followed by several minutes of rapid-fire question and answer, but in the end Vance agreed to let them continue to work together. He gave the obvious warning that if at any time he felt their relationship was becoming a hindrance, he would not hesitate to break the team apart.

Spying the reflection of the Christmas tree in the window, Gibbs smiled, thoughts returning to the present. He had to admit that it felt good/great to be able to enjoy the holidays again. It had been so long since he had found real joy in much of anything, but being with Ziva was changing all of that.

He had been amazed when she suggested that they bring out the holiday decorations. His face must of shown his surprise because she smiled and simply said, "Just because I am Jewish does not mean you have to pretend it is not Christmas Jethro. You were perfectly fine with me putting up some Hanukah decorations, yes? So I am more then okay with you putting up Christmas decorations." Giving him a soft kiss to emphasize her point, she'd finished, "Now lets get to it", and had thrown a wink at him over her shoulder as she turned and headed toward the basement.

In less then a day, Ziva had managed to perform a complete transformation of the inside of their home with a well-meshed Christmas/Hanukah theme. He had to admit, the woman knew how to decorate. Considering what his place had looked like prior to Ziva moving in, anything would have been consider a huge upgrade.

Ziva had found keepsakes packed away in his basement that he hadn't even realized he had owned. Not surprising though, considering he hadn't usually been the one to decorate, and most of the items hadn't been touched since Shannon and Kelly had died. Occasionally while unpacking, something would spark a special memory and he would start to feel the grip of sadness wash over him, dragging him into the past. Each time, with nothing more then a gentle comforting touch that transcended the need for words, she would bring him back to the present.

Gibbs took the final few sips of his coffee as he made his way to the front door. Placing his now empty cup on the entryway table, he grabbed his jacket off the coat hanger and made his way out the door and down the front steps. Stopping on the edge of the snow covered grass, he called out to Ziva.

"Ziver, the team will be over in a bit. You guys should probably head in. We still-"

"Gibby!"

Gibbs was cut off mid sentence by his goddaughter, who at the sound of his voice had stopped what she was doing and was now running across the yard full speed right at him. Gibbs had just enough time to brace himself as Amira launched herself at him, confidently knowing that Gibbs would catch her mid flight.

With an emphatic, "Umph!" Gibbs caught her and managed to keep both him and the little girl upright. Without missing a beat Amira continued to ramble on, talking as fast her little mouth would allow.

"Nooo, Gibby. We not done yet. Did you know you can make angels out of snow? Ziva showed me how." At this the little girl wiggled her way out of Gibbs arms and began pulling him across the yard, still talking a mile a minute. "Come Gibby. You can make some with us too. You just have to lay down on your back and do this your arms and legs, " she explained while demonstrating at the same time.

" Wow, that looks great, Peanut. But I think I would rather just watch you make them," Gibbs replied, trying his best to convince the little girl there was no need for him to get down and roll around in the snow.

"Pleeese Gibby," she cooed at him.

"Yeah, please GIBBY," added a smirking Ziva, making sure she over emphasized his goddaughters nickname for him, knowing it would get a rise out of him. Gibbs hated being called "Gibby" by anyone other then Amira. The little girl had started calling him that while learning to talk, and he just didn't have it in him to tell her otherwise. There was something about that little girl that just melted his heart and had him wrapped around her little finger.

"Watch it Ziver, " Gibbs replied, sending Ziva one of his trademark glares in the process.

"Fine, but if you do not wish to make snow angels with us, you will just have to pay the price then," Ziva said matter-of-factly.

"Oh yeah, and what's tha-" Gibbs stopped mid question turning just in time to see a giant snowball headed his way. Before he could even register where the snowball came from, he found himself being pelted by several more. Apparently while Amira had preoccupied him, Ziva had been stocking up on snowball ammo.

Not having anywhere to hide and not enough time to make snowballs of his own, Gibbs did the only thing he could: he charged at the two girls. He caught Amira fairly easily, scooping her up in his arms to use her as a human shield while he continued to chase after Ziva who was zigzagging across the yard and toss snowballs his direction. A few trips around the front yard, and fresh out of snowballs, they collapsed in a heap in the middle of the yard; all three of them overcome by fits of laugher.

As they laid on the frozen ground trying to catch their breath, fresh snow started to fall again. Amira jumped up, squealing with excitement and took off running around the yard, giggling and trying to catch the falling snowflakes. Gibbs got up, reaching down to help pull Ziva up. Yanking a little harder then was necessary, he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her for a loving kiss.

A short time later, the three of them made their way back into the house. Ziva and Amira headed toward the kitchen to start fixing lunch for everyone while Gibbs hung their coats up in the entryway. Still smiling, he made his way into the living room. As he passed the couch he looked down at one of the decorations sitting on the end table. Picking up the angel, and examined the writing on the base of the stand.

"Never stop believing in miracles".

"You can say that again," Gibbs thought to himself. He had been on the receiving end of two miracles in the past eighteen months. First finding Ziva alive, and then when finding love again. He wondered if it was possible for there to be just one more miracle with his name on it. Placing the angel gently back on the end table, he reached into his pocket. Feeling the small little box that held his future in it, he couldn't help but smile in anticipation.

One ring.

One question.

One last miracle.