A Christmas Eve Story

Summary: Gibbs forgets someone. Begins at the end of episode 7X10 Faith. One shot? Possibly OOC.

Disclaimer: NCIS is not mine.

Spoilers: Only if you haven't seen 7X10 Faith.

A/N: This is my first story for NCIS. I'm not sure if I have the characters quite right, so please be gentle in your reviews. This idea woke me up yesterday and wouldn't be satisfied until I wrote it down.

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Chapter 1: Messed Up

As he headed out his basement door, he double checked to make sure he hadn't forgot to pack any of the toys. And, even though, he knew he had all them, he still felt as though he was forgetting something. His gut began to churn a little – it was trying to tell him something, but for the life of him he didn't know what.

At the Children's Hospital, as he and his dad were handing out toys, he felt his phone vibrating in his pants pocket. But he couldn't answer just then as his hands were full of kids wanting their toys and making sure his dad was holding up okay after their talk earlier. His gut began to churn even more – he was missing something.

Returning home with his dad – both flushed with cold and with the joy that comes from making a child happy – he didn't register that coming home to a darkened house was anything but normal even though it was Christmas Eve. His gut was now screaming at him – something was definitely wrong, but for the life of him, he just couldn't figure out what.

After they deposited their coats, he headed over to the kitchen intent on making a pot of coffee. He saw that the door to his basement was slightly ajar but thought he just hadn't completely closed it when they left. He gave it no further thought after pushing the door shut. He could hear his father turning on the tree's lights and starting a fire. By the time he got back to the living room with two cups of coffee, his dad was sitting and staring into the fire with a half-amused expression on his face.

Handing over one of the coffees and sitting down on the couch, he wondered what his dad was thinking and trying to figure out what his gut was trying to tell him. He was brought out of his thoughts when his dad began speaking.

"Thanks Leroy. Being with those kids tonight helped a lot. And thank you for inviting me to come spend Christmas with you. It's been a while since I've had family with me for the holidays and I've missed that."

He felt his gut twist again when his father had mentioned the words 'family' and 'holidays'.

His dad then reached over and gathered him into a crushing hug saying, "Merry Christmas, Son."

"Merry Christmas to you too, Dad."

He father released him, sat back against the couch, and asked, "So what was your going team going to do over the holiday weekend?"

It hit him like a heavyweight boxer's punch to the gut. He now knew what he was forgetting and who he was missing. He had been so distracted by the case, his father coming to visit, and getting the toys finished in time that he had completely forgotten Tony.

He reached into his pocket and took out his phone suddenly realizing who the missed called must have been from. Checking his missed calls, he saw his senior agent's name. There was no message.

Cursing, he hurriedly got up from the couch, leaving his cell phone behind, and headed towards the basement now realizing that it hadn't been him who had left the door ajar.

From behind, his father called out, "Leroy? Leroy! What's wrong?"

Ignoring his father, he continued on towards his basement, hoping he was wrong. Flipping the light switch while heading down the stairs, he didn't notice them until he reached the bottom.

They were sitting where just hours ago there had been toys – three bottles of expensive-looking bourbon with a small card leaning up against them. As he was picking up the card to read it, his father had made it to the basement door.

"Leroy? What's wrong Son?"

He flipped the card over and saw that it was one of Tony's business cards. Flipping it back, he read the short message.

"I messed up Dad," he said rubbing a hand over his face and audibly sighing.

Gesturing towards the bottles, Jackson said, "Messed up? How can suddenly having three bottles of bourbon be considered messing up?"

"They're from DiNozzo. With everything else going on, I forgot about Tony." He said as he was heading back up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs, he handed the card to his father, who read it out loud:

Gibbs - I thought I'd replenish your stash.
Merry Christmas.
See you Monday - DiNozzo

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A/N 2: I have more, but I kind of like how this ends. Should I continue?

Thanks for reading!