A/N: This fits into the timeframe of the Ashley/Gibbs story I am in the process (sorry its been ages) of writing but can be read stand alone too :)

2003

Rapping on the door and stamping his boots on the porch step to shake most of the snow of them Gibbs allowes himself a rare smile as Ashley answers wearing a robe he knows used to hang in his own bathroom. She looks happier than when she left his apartment last weekend and he's glad he decided to take the weekend off and drive up here to surprise them.

"Merry Christmas."

He holds up the mistletoe over their heads, the wry smile stretching further across his face as her eyes light up and she lets out a squeal. Wrapping his free arm around her as her lips crash against his, and her hands curl around his neck he smiles even more broadly against her lips as they deepen the kiss, pouring all the words they don't need to say into the simple action.

"It's kinda cold out here you know." He mumbles against her lips, more worried about her being in a state of undress on the front stoop than being cold himself. He's dropped the mistletoe at some point but he doesn't mind at all as she pulls him inside out of the cold and he fumbles with his foot to shut the door behind them.

Ashley looked up from making Hanna's dinner to where her daughter was sat doing her homework at the table, Jethro helping her surreptitiously as he sneaked looks up at Ashley. She was so glad Hanna and Jethro got along, he completely was superb with her as well as it being good she had a great male role-model back in her life, even if he wasn't here as often as either of them would like.

"Dinners up Han, how's your homework?" She spoons sauce over the plate, and puts the pan in the sink to wash up later as she grabs the plate of food.

Hanna's smile is the thing Ashley has missed most since Tom walked out on them but right now it feels like they might actually be getting back to normal, or as normal as they can get. Jethro catches her eye and she easily interprets his raised eyebrow, nodding her agreement as she puts the plate of spaghetti in front of her daughter. "You can finish it after dinner if there's any left. Eat up hon."

"Hey Han." Jethro opened, waiting for her to finish a bite of her spaghetti before continuing. "I was thinking that maybe tomorrow we – you, your mom and me – we could go and get a Christmas tree? Would that be okay do you think?"

The grin suddenly stretching across Hanna's face as she yelps out a yes is quite possibly the best thing Ashley has ever seen, she rests her hand on her boyfriends shoulder – a secret thrill running through her as she uses that word in her head - and gives it a squeeze of thanks, marveling as she has been all day that they're at this stage in their relationship already; that they've reached the point where a simple touch can be interpreted easily between them. She has to remind herself its only been five months, five months of stolen moments between his job and her daughter meant it was amazing to think they'd made it this far and were still going strong.

"Thanks again Ella!" Ashley calls back to her friend who's agreed to watch Hanna while he takes her out for dinner. He obliges with a wave of his own, he's not met her friends properly yet, their time together isn't often long enough for them to spend time with anyone but Hanna, he's trying to be nice though.

He opens the door of his car for her with a smile, he likes Hanna a lot and she's a great kid but he can't deny he's looking forward to some time alone with Ashley this evening. Ella Montgomery is still stood in the doorway as he slips around the back of the car to his own door and he smiles awkwardly in her direction before climbing into the drivers seat. There's more mistletoe strewn across the back seat and he glances back at it apologetically.

"Sorry about the mess, they wouldn't let me buy just one thing. Had to get the whole bunch." He'd gotten the idea from Tony, his youngest team member had been prattling on about his huge romantic gesture for the holidays and how he was going to hang mistletoe all around his current flames apartment and it had struck him that perhaps the idea wasn't the most terrible he'd ever heard.

Hanna's running ahead of them down the row of tree's and her excitement is more than infectious. The Christmas spirit has hit the Marin household completely. Its been years since Ashley had a real tree in the house; Tom was allergic so they had a crappy plastic one they hauled out from the garage every year and she couldn't wait for the smell of the pine needles to be transplanted into their home.

She smiles up at Jethro as he tugs her to the side, letting herself be pulled along but keeping an eye on Hanna she wonders if he's spotted a good tree when suddenly they stop and his lips are pressed to hers in a gentle kiss. She's surprised but not going to complain, cutting it off with a confused tilt of her head and a glance over to Hanna before.

"Mistletoe." Jethro indicates above them at the hanging plant, brushing his lips across her forehead and slipping his arm around her shoulder. "C'mon love, lets go check on that daughter of yours before she explodes from her excitement."