Author's Note- Well, I think it's now officially 2013 everywhere so HAPPY NEW YEAR! This year has been pretty tough for me personally, and while I have a lot going on this year medically, I think 2013 is going to be fantastic Thank you for standing with me. You lot keep reading and I'll keep writing. Meantime, I wrote this for Woody2792 as a Secret Santa gift this year and seeing as she has now read it (and I think loved it) I thought I'd share it with you. Happy Holidays, I love you all, be happy and stay safe. NYLF xx

Pen Name: Woody2792

Words:1,696

Written by: NotYetLostFaith

Jethro sat in front of the roaring fire, playing with the jewelry box in his hands, turning it end on end over and over, as he had been for more than an hour now. It was his and Ziva's first Christmas together and she was at work.

She'd been scheduled in for the Christmas shift every year since she'd joined, volunteering to work so the people who celebrated the holiday could spend it with their loved ones.

This year, Vance had automatically written her name down.

Seeing as they were yet to announce their relationship to the wider agency, only their team, Ducky, Abby and Palmer knowing, they had no way of telling the director that she would in fact have a reason to be at home this year and thus needed the day off.

They were stuck.

Ziva had promised to try really hard to make it home for at least a couple of hours at some point in the night so they could exchange the gifts they had both told the other not to buy and eat together, but so far that was looking less and less likely.

She'd sent him a text him not half an hour before to say that she was yet to find the time to get away, even for just a little while.

Jethro sighed. The first year he'd actually planned to do the whole Christmas thing again and the reason for the change couldn't even be there.

Ziva sighed for what must be the hundredth time in the last few hours; she was seriously starting to sound like she had a puncture.

She would have given anything to be with Jethro.

More than anything else, she wanted to see his face light up when she gave him the first half of her present: a brand new chisel, hand carved- and engraved with their initials and the date they had finally admitted they loved each other.

The second half, she thought with a sly smile, despite the delicate blush coloring her cheeks, would do much more than light up his face if she had anything to do with it. The scrap of deep red silk, with lace sides, that barely covered her, which she had the audacity to try to call a thong, would certainly make it a merry Christmas, not to mention the matching demi cup push up bra. She smiled to her self, bringing her lower lip in between her teeth as she pictured his face when he saw her.

Her smile fell, however, when she remembered that in all likelihood- while she knew he would wait up for her, as he always did-she would be too tired and it would be too late for them to fully appreciate it.

She sighed again and started typing as fast as she could. At least if she could try and get it all done she'd be home before Christmas day was over.

"Hey, Zi." Ziva looked up startled as Tony's voice entered her universe.

"Tony? What are you doing here?" He flashed a winning smile at her before sitting on the edge of her desk.

"In the spirit of Christmas and all things pantomime, I, am your fairy godmother." Her brow furrowed and he laughed. "I'm relieving you. Go home."

"B-but I thought you had plans?" She faltered, not allowing her hopes to rise too far in case she was dreaming this. He smiled.

"Ziva, you have someone to go home to, to spend Christmas with. Go enjoy it while you still can. Please." She hesitated. "Go Ziva!" He laughed. She smiled, shook her head and smiled again.

"Okay." She murmured, hesitating for one more moment before quickly gathering her things. "Okay. Thank you." He waved her off making his way to his desk. "I mean it, Tony. Thank you." He smiled warm and broad.

"Merry Christmas, Ziva." She smiled.

"Merry Christmas, Tony." She quickly made her way over to his desk, laid a gentle hand on his cheek and softly kissed the other. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

"You're very welcome, Ziva. Say 'hi' to Bossman for me." He whispered back. She chuckled.

"I will. I shall see you soon." With that she practically ran for the elevator while Tony booted up his computer and got to work.

She hadn't let him know she was on her way, deciding it was far more fun to surprise him. She pulled up in the driveway and switched off the engine, taking a few deep breaths. Now she was here, she was suddenly nervous. Their first Christmas together as a couple was kind of a big deal. She shook her head to clear it from any small lingering doubts before grabbing her things and heading inside.

"Jethro?" She called out softly as she entered the vestibule. He appeared in the doorway, a smile on his face that melted her heart. "Hi." He chuckled before extending his arms to her.

"Hey, thought you couldn't get away?" He asked as she flew into his arms, burying her face in his chest for a moment, breathing in his warm, familiar smell that always made her feel safe and at home. She pulled back slightly, just far enough to look him in the eye.

"Tony came to relieve me." Jethro smiled, he was going buy that man scotch, expensive scotch. "He says hi by the way."

Jethro chuckled before gently fitting his hand around Ziva's cheek and gently stroking his thumb back and forth across her cheek bone. She leaned into his hand, staring up at him with warm loving eyes.

"So glad you're here." He murmured softly. She smiled.

"Me too." They both leaned in and met in the middle for a soft, chaste kiss.

"Now," she started in a whisper as she pulled back just far enough to rest their foreheads together. "It is Christmas day and we have presents to exchange." Gibbs smiled and kissed her gently once more.

"Yeah," he murmured. "Come on."

As she had predicted, Jethro's face lit up when he opened his first present. He'd turned it over and over in his hands for several minutes while Ziva watched on, grinning like an idiot, so glad she'd gotten it right. He finally put it down and kissed her, them both smiling into it, before pulling her onto his lap, her back to his chest, while they watched the fire.

"Got you something too." He murmured in her ear, making her shiver. He placed the jewelry box on her knee and felt, more than heard, her gasp. "Bit early for that Ziva." He chuckled. "But I will give you that box soon, too."

Ziva's heart skipped a beat at the murmured promise before she reached for the box with shaking fingers. Jethro subtly tightened his arms around her waist as she took hold of the box and hesitated for just a moment. "Won't explode, I promise."

She chuckled, a husky sound that betrayed the emotion she was feeling, making him press a kiss to the side of her neck. She opened the box slowly and gasped again. Before her sat a beautiful tri-colour gold charm bracelet. She turned to face him, surprise and unadulterated love shining in her eyes. He smiled at her and nodded to the box, non-verbally telling her to keep looking.

Affixed to the bracelet were ten charms. She picked each one up individually. The first was a tiny yellow gold gun. She chuckled.

"For your work." He explained softly.

She picked up the next, a full colour Israeli flag, barely the size of her pinky nail. "And that's your life before us." She nodded, not trusting her voice at the moment.

She moved onto the next, the American flag version of the one before it. "Was so proud of you that day, even though I wasn't there." She leaned into him slightly, comforting them both.

The next one she found was a tiny Magen David pendant.

"Pretty self explanatory." She chuckled quickly, ignoring how her vision swam with unshed tears.

The next one sent a couple of tears down her cheeks; a rose gold ballerina mid-pirouette.

"Know how important it is to you." She sniffed but made no move to remove the droplets from her face.

A tiny white gold heart sat next to it, a 'J' and then an oval of the same colour beside that with the same date that currently sat on his chisel.

"Guess we both had the same idea on that one huh?" She nodded slowly, tracing the tiny numbers before moving on.

The next was a key, Ziva smiled, displacing more tears as she remembered the day she had woken up with her very own key to his house laying in her palm.

The last was a miniature full colour Christmas tree.

"First one, thought it deserved a charm." She chuckled thickly. "Plenty of room for more." A lifetime more. She heard it despite him not saying it.

They sat like that for more than five minutes, tears streaming down her face as she stared at the perfect gift he had given her.

"Ziva?" He asked softly, suddenly worried he'd done the wrong thing, pushed her too fast. "Ziva, say something."

"Will you help me to put it on?"

He smiled softly, choosing, for now, to ignore the tears in her voice. He slowly took both ends of the chain and fixed it around her wrist. It fit perfectly just as he hoped it would.

"You okay?" She nodded, tracing each charm with a feather touch.

"Better than. I am perfect. Your gift is perfect. Thank you." She whispered so thickly that he could no longer take it. He turned her around so her right side was leaning into his chest and held her tightly, dropping a kiss to her forehead as she snuggled her head into his shoulder. "I love you so much."

"Love you, too. Merry Christmas, Ziva." She smiled before sitting up to kiss him properly.

"Merry Christmas Jethro." They sat and watched as the fire dwindled for a while before Ziva dragged them both to bed.

Jethro still had another present to open…