December 24th 2010
Christmas Eve, the Gibbs men, Jethro and Jack had spent the entire late morning and early afternoon going from one Christmas tree vendor to another. They wanted the perfect Christmas tree to celebrate Mike and Jacqueline's first Christmas. "Dad we need to be home by four o'clock." Gibbs impatiently growls at his father.
"Patients Leroy." Jack chastises his son as he hobbles along with his cane in search of the right Christmas tree.
"I have none dad." Gibbs grumbles.
Jack stops and notices a seven foot Douglas Fir in the next aisle over. "I found it!" Jack smiles.
"Finally!" Gibbs groans and stalks his way over to his father. "Which one?"
"The big one in the next aisle over."
"You got to be kidding me." Gibbs whines as he takes in the size of the tree.
"I want my grandchildren's first Christmas to be special." Jack protests.
"They really won't know its Christmas until next year."
"But I will know it's their first Christmas." "And that's what counts."
Twenty minutes later, Gibbs and Jack struggle to get the tree in through the French doors down in the garage. "How in the hell did you and Abby get the tree in here by yourselves last Christmas?" Gibbs grunts as he backs through the doorway.
"Hayden her boyfriend came over and helped us."
"Like McGee would be any use, he gets paper cuts when he has to review old case files that are not on the computers." Gibbs sighs.
"I noticed that both Tony and McGee don't have a working man's hands."
"Pampered playboy and a computer geek."
Slowly Gibbs and Jack get the tree into the living room and set it on the tree stand. Gibbs secures the tree in place and pours some water inside the tree stand, so that the tree doesn't dry out. "Perfect!" Jack smiles.
"While you're testing out the lights, I'm going to make a pot of coffee." Gibbs nods and walks over to his kitchen.
"Already did that before we left." Jack answers and walks over to the coffee table and grabs the bubble light set.
An hour and a half later, Gibbs and Jack have finished decorating the tree; Gibbs on a step ladder puts the star on top. "When Michael gets to be around six years old I want you to pass on that tradition to him." Jack asks.
"You don't want your namesake to do it." Gibbs asks with surprise.
"No, my father started the tradition with me, I followed through with it with my son, and now I want you to follow through with the tradition with my grandson." Jack answers with a hint of nostalgia in his voice.
Gibbs climbs down the ladder. "If it means that much to you." Gibbs smiles and gets down on the floor and pushes in the button for the power surge.
"Perfect!" Jack smiles.
Jenny descending the length of the stairs. "I thought I heard voices down in here." Jenny calls over to them, as she gets to the bottom of the stairs Jenny takes in the view of the large Douglas Fir that Jack had picked out. "The two of you got that in here by yourselves." Jenny scolds them.
"Don't worry you'll rub out the kinks later on." Gibbs smirks.
"That's if you don't have a ruptured hernia by then." Jenny snaps at him and walks into the living room.
"I wanted a big tree for my grandchildren's first Christmas."
"You could have called Tony and Tim over to help." Jenny mutters.
"You mean Tony and Tim would have had a ruptured hernia helping us out." Gibbs laughs.
"True I forgot how useless the two of them were helping you move 'The Kelly' into the backyard at your old house." Jenny laughs.
"Twins sleeping?" Gibbs shrugs.
"They're up in the nursery taking a much needed nap."
"Soon as I get cleaned up I'll cook up some steaks for dinner and then we'll head on over to the Children's Hospital." Gibbs smiles.
"Abby made a new Goth Elf outfit this year." Jenny giggles.
"I can hardly wait to play Santa Claus again; I had a good time last year." Jack says in awe.
"Kids are looking forward to seeing Santa Claus." Jenny softly says to him.
Children's Hospital
1900 Hours
In a large multipurpose room the annual Children's Christmas Party is being held. Gibbs, Jenny, the twins along with their dysfunctional work family minus Ducky and Palmer, have gathered around the children and their families as they wait for the arrival of Santa Claus with his helper Abigail the Goth Elf. Tony finds a child sitting at a table by himself playing a Nintendo DS Lite. "Chevy Camaro: Wild Ride." "I play that game a few times a week." Tony smiles and sits down at the table next to the boy. "My name is Tony."
"Aaron!"
Tony grimaces when Aaron's car crashes into a wall. "Let me show a few tricks to this game." Tony smirks and takes the game from the child.
Gibbs and Jenny holding Jacqueline and Mike respectively in each other's arms smile over at Tony. "Looks like Aaron has found a new friend." Jenny softly answers.
"So has McGee, one of the parents has found out that he's Thom E. Gemcity and is asking McGee about the ending of his last book." Gibbs smoothly answers.
Suddenly Santa Claus appears with Abigail the Goth Elf in her green and red elf outfit, red spiked leather collar around her neck and wrists with Abby's traditional pigtails. "Abby has out done herself this year." Ziva giggles.
"She wanted to make sure that the majority of her tattoos were covered this year." Jenny chuckles.
"Ho ho Merry Christmas Jack cheerfully calls out to the children and hands Abby his toy sack taking his place in his chair.
McGee rejoins Gibbs, Jenny, and Ziva. "He's a natural at this." McGee smiles.
"I know that's why I accepted the job for him with asking him." Gibbs laughs.
An hour later after the gifts have been given out by Santa, Jenny and Ziva are playing on the floor with the children. Abby holds her godson Mike, and Gibbs continues to hold Jacqueline in his arms. "I can't get over how much Mike looks like you and how much Jacqueline looks like Jenny." Abby smiles.
"Finally her eyes changed green about a month ago." Gibbs smiles and kisses the top of Jacqueline's head.
"Your dad told me about the tree he picked out, you should have asked for help." Abby chastises him.
"And have the tree fall on top of us if Tony and McGee helped us." Gibbs growls.
McGee over hearing. "You say that Tony and I are useless Gibbs." McGee frowns.
"When it comes to manual labor yes." Gibbs barks.
"We'll be by tomorrow morning to drop off your gifts before we head over to Ducky's." Abby smiles.
"You're spending most of the day with Ducky." Gibbs shrugs.
"We figured since it's his first Christmas without his mom, and Agent Wheeler took a job offer as an Operations Manager in London a few weeks ago." Abby sadly answers.
"Job opening came available when Operations Manager in London stepped down to take a job offer with NSA." Gibbs answers.
"We were finally getting along with her." Abby sighs.
"Except for Tony." McGee laughs.
"He has a new foe, Special Agent Abigail Borin from CGIS." Abby giggles.
"You mean NCIS is working with an agency that's lower than us for a change." Gibbs smirks.
"Yeah and it's scary she's a bit like you, head slaps her team members, has the Gibbs stare down and does her investigations through her gut."
"Bad enough that Jenny was like me, now there's a CGIS version of me." Gibbs grunts in annoyance.
McGee smiling down at Jenny with the children on the floor. "That's going to be her in a few years from now."
"I know and I'm looking forward to it." Gibbs smiles.
Later that night, Gibbs, Jenny, and Jack are putting the twins to bed in the nursery. "I can't get over how big they got since the last time I saw them." Jack smiles.
"The one change from August is that the twins now sleep through the night, no more middle of the night feedings." Jenny says with relief.
"Yeah the only thing you get woken up in the middle of-"
Jenny's quickly interrupts her husband by shoving her elbow into the back of his stomach. "Jack doesn't want to hear about the details of our sex life." Jenny mutters and walks out of the nursery.
"Don't worry I'll hear about the details of your sex life when I go down for my middle of the night snack in the kitchen." Jack winks.
Christmas Morning, Gibbs, Jenny, Jack, and the twins are down in garage, sitting in Gibbs' living room. "I want to take a picture of the four of you with my cell phone camera so I can send it to Mary." Jack smiles.
"We sent out a family photo to Mary a few weeks ago." Jenny smiles.
"I want the picture of the two of you sitting on the floor in the front of the Christmas tree holding the twins."
Gibbs and Jenny get up from the couch, Jenny takes Mike from Jack, and they walk over to the Christmas tree and settle themselves down on the floor with the twins on their laps. "Forward this photo to our cell phones so that we can have a copy of it." Jenny softly asks.
"Yeah I want to send one to Mike." Gibbs smiles.
Jack flips open his cell phone, clicking on the side button for the camera, Gibbs, Jenny along with the twins come in view on the display screen. "Say Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas!" Gibbs and Jenny answer in unison.
"Perfect!" Jack says in awe and clicks on the side button, snapping their family photo in front of the Christmas tree.
"Jethro get one of the kitchen chairs." "I want to take a photo of Jack in front of the Christmas tree holding Mike and Jacqueline." Jenny nods over at him.
Gibbs gently hands Jenny their daughter and gets up from the floor. "After this photo I want to take a shower and get dressed, Abby and McGee should be here around eleven o'clock."
"So sad that this is Ducky's first Christmas without his mother." Jenny frowns.
"Mrs. Mallard is at peace now Jen." Gibbs reassures her and walks over to the kitchen table.
"I remember last year at Ducky's both you and Mrs. Mallard had taken a nap." Jack chuckles.
"Between preparing for the wedding, going to Stillwater for Thanksgiving, and then going over to Europe for the wedding and our honeymoon for two weeks, I was exhausted." Jenny sighs.
"Not to mention that you were about eight weeks pregnant with the twins." Gibbs reminds her returning with a chair for his father.
"I don't need to be reminded." "Between being tired all the time and the constant morning sickness." Jenny playfully scolds him.
Jack walks over and sits down on the chair. Jenny one at a time hands Jack the twins; she gets up from the floor. "I'll send one off to Mary and forward the photos to both of your cell phones." Jenny smiles and takes a position in front of the wall.
"Mary will be tickled pink with these photos." Jack grins.
With Jack and the twins in full view on the display panel on Jenny's Blackberry. "Say Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas!" Jack answers with a big smile on his face.
Jenny clicks their photo. "Proud Grandpa on his grandchildren's first Christmas." Jenny says to Jack as she looks at the photo on the display panel.
"Since the photos are done, I'm heading upstairs." Gibbs nods over at Jenny and Jack and makes his way over for the stairs.
"Did you unwrap any of your Christmas gifts yet?" Jack mischievously asks.
"Yes we did, the basic sweaters, flannel shirts, knick knacks for our bedroom and for my study." "I bought Jethro new hand tools, since he's constantly wearing his out." Jenny laughs.
"I was helping him work on 'The Shepard' the other night."
"Can't believe he named one of his boats after me." Jenny sighs in annoyance.
"He loves you."
"I know, but did he have to name a sailboat after me."
Twenty minutes after getting a shower, Gibbs is sitting at the table in the bedroom. "Mike is going to get a kick out of this when he wakes up." Gibbs smiles and opens up his cellphone.
Baja, Mexico
Mike's Shack
0630 PST Hours
Mike sitting on his living room couch watching his granddaughter Amira playing with her new Christmas toys beside the Christmas tree. Suddenly his cell phone rings for an incoming photo. "I bet that's Probie." Mike snorts and flips open his phone, noting that it's an incoming photo from Gibbs, Mike clicks accept. Gibbs, Jenny, and the twins appear on his display panel. "Jacqueline looks more and more like her mother each and every time I see one of her photos and my godson Michael is a spitting image of Jethro."
Leyla returning with a cup of coffee in her hand for Mike. "Did you say something?" She curiously asks and hands Mike his cup of coffee.
Mike hands Leyla his cell phone. "My godson Michael and his sister Jacqueline."
"Beautiful!" Leyla answers in awe as she glances down at the photo. "To think Jethro had that haunted look in his eyes three Christmas' ago when he stayed with us during the holidays." Leyla frowns.
"That's because he was an empty man inside back then." "Now he's married to his second love and with an added bonus a father of two beautiful twins." Mike smiles and takes his phone back from Leyla. "I better call him to wish him and the Mrs. a Merry Christmas." Mike answers and begins to dial Gibbs' cell phone number.
Washington, DC
Gibbs' House
Master Bedroom
Gibbs putting on a powder blue dress shirt on hears his cell phone ringing from on top of the table. "Took him long enough to respond." Gibbs laughs and walks over to the table, he flips open his phone and presses in the speakerphone button. "Merry Christmas boss!"
"Merry Christmas Probie!" Mike smiles…"Twins are beautiful, and so is that radiant Mrs. of yours."
"Thank you, did Amira get my gift yet?" Gibbs curiously asks.
"Yes, she was floored by the pink bicycle that her Uncle Jethro sent her." "Once she's dressed Leyla will go outside with her so that she can ride her bike."
"I was in the store and saw the bike and it brought back a memory of one Christmas when I was all thumbs trying to put a bicycle together for Kelly." Gibbs laughs.
"You'll be putting together two bicycles for Christmas before you know it." Mike snorts.
"I know and I'm looking forward to it." Gibbs smiles.
"I know that the twins got spoiled for Christmas, what did you get the Mrs."
"She'll get that present under the tree later on tonight." Gibbs smirks.
"You dirty dog." Mike cackles.
"It's been our Christmas tradition under the tree in the living room for the past two Christmas'; we have a fire going in the fireplace. The difference with last year is we couldn't drink any alcohol."
"She was carrying precious cargo inside of her."
"I know!" Gibbs smiles and shakes his head. "It's' five months later and I still can't believe that I'm a father again." "I go into the nursery during the middle of the night and watch over them while they sleep." "Jacqueline blows me away." "Her eyes finally changed green last month."
"From the photo I saw that she's a spitting likeness of her mom and my namesake is a mirror image of you also."
"I just hope she does not inherit her mom's temper and attitude." Gibbs growls.
"I find her mom's temper sexy." Mike grins…
"Well her temper has given me the best sex I've ever had." Gibbs mischievous grins.
"I know you got off on seducing Madame Director in her study."
"It was more than a seduction."
Unknown to Gibbs, Jenny had walked in a few minutes ago and was listening in on their conversation. "In the bathroom on the flight back from Baja retired Special Agent Gibbs." Jenny shouts towards the direction of Gibbs' phone.
"I see the dummy has his phone on speakerphone again." Mike cackles and falls off the couch laughing.
"He never learns Mike." Jenny laughs and walks over to the table. "Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas Jenny." Mike smiles and gets up from the floor. "Amira liked the dolls and the new bathing suit you sent her for Christmas."
"I talked with Leyla on the phone a few weeks ago and she gave me Amira's size." Jenny softly answers.
"You and Probie coming down south for a visit, Leyla and Camilla want to see the twins."
"We'll see depending on my schedule." Jenny answers.
"You have an Assistant Director have her do the work." Mike chuckles.
"It's a tempting offer Mike, but I dumped a lot of my responsibilities on to Cassie during my late pregnancy months."
Amira gets up from the floor and runs over to Mike. "Somebody wants to talk to you Probie."
"I'm about to head in the shower, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year's Mike."
"You do the same Jenny." Mike smiles.
"Jethro I put the twins in their play pen downstairs in your living room, Jack is on the phone with Mary."
"Soon as I get off the phone with Mike I'll head on down." Gibbs nods at her as Jenny walks off towards the direction of the bathroom. "You can put Amira on now."
Mike hands Amira the phone. "Thank you for the bike Uncle Jethro." Amira squeals into the phone.
"You're welcome Amira." "Did Santa Claus bring you a lot of presents?"
"I got toys."
"That's because you were a good girl and Santa knows it." Gibbs smiles.
Down in the garage in Gibbs' living room, Jack is on his cell phone with Mary back in Stillwater. "I can't get over how big they got." Jack says in awe.
Stillwater, Pennsylvania
Home of Travis & Mary Tucker
"You'll be taking Michael fishing before you know it." Mary softly says from her kitchen table.
"And deer hunting." Jack grins.
"I still had wished that Jethro and Jenny had come over for Thanksgiving, we had such a good time last year." Mary sighs in disappointment.
"Jenny had an over sea's trip during the first week in December and that was the reason why Leroy and Jenny didn't come up this year, maybe next year." "I enjoyed hunting with my son last year, brought up a lot of memories."
"Is Jethro and Jenny in the room with you?" Mary curiously asks.
"No their upstairs getting dressed before Abby and McGee come over."
"The twins?"
"Next to me in their playpen looking up at me." Jack smiles.
"Michael has Jethro's face to a t." Mary giggles…
"I know the same intense blue eyes when he's concentrating on how to take some away from his sister." Jack laughs.
Gibbs walks down the stairs. "Is that Mary you're talking to?"
"Yes, she called to wish us a Merry Christmas."
Gibbs approaches his father and takes the phone from Jack. "Merry Christmas Mary."
"Merry Christmas Jethro." Mary smiles…"The twins are gorgeous." Mary says in awe.
"Thanks!" Gibbs smiles.
"Are you coming up for fishing in April?" Mary curiously asks.
"Depending on Jen's schedule if the both of us will be coming up or not." "If the both of us come up, we'll bring the twins along." "If I'm coming up alone, then the twins will stay home with their mother."
"Speaking of mom, did she come downstairs with you?"
"No Jenny's upstairs getting a shower; Abby and McGee are coming over."
"Tell her Merry Christmas for me."
"I will, Merry Christmas Mary, give Travis and the McKenzie brothers my best."
"I will, Merry Christmas."
Gibbs hands Jack his phone back. "I'm in desperate need of coffee before Abby gets here." Gibbs grumbles and walks off for the kitchen.
"I bet Abby's had at least two Caff-Pow's by now." Mary giggles.
"I wouldn't doubt it." Jack chuckles.
After eleven o'clock, Abby and McGee are down in Gibbs' living room, with Gibbs, Jenny, Jack, and the twins. "You carried that tree into the house by yourselves, no wonder Jenny wasn't happy with the both of you." Abby chastises them.
"What a way to spend the holidays in a hospital bed." Jenny sighs.
"We would have signed ourselves out." Gibbs growls.
"Not if you were unconscious." Jenny smirks.
"Ok presents!" Abby smiles and hands Gibbs, Jenny, and Jack their presents.
Jack unwrapping his gift first. "Mr. Beer!" Jack laughs at the site of his own home brewing system.
"In fourteen days you will have homemade fresh beer to enjoy." Abby smiles and then glances over at Gibbs.
"Ok, ok!" Gibbs laughs and unwraps his present. "1971 Dodge Challenger Racing Jacket." Gibbs smiles.
"I saw it on e-bay a few months ago and it said buy me for a Christmas present for Gibbs." "It's going to look real cool on you when you're behind the wheel of your car wearing your jacket."
"Thanks Abs!" Gibbs nods over at her.
Abby glances over at Jenny, who begins to unwrap her present. Jenny stares down at her gift. "Abby you shouldn't have." Jenny chastises her.
Abby taking the gift from out from the box, an antique English Mahogany Decanter Box. "When I saw this in an antique store, all I could think of is how nice this would go with your desk in your study." Abby smiles.
Jenny opens the lid and finds a square crystal decanter with four matching glasses. "I'll put this on the corner of my desk." Jenny softly says to her and affectionately hugs Abby.
"Ok now for McGee's presents." Abby smiles.
McGee hands Jack a present. Jack unwraps it noting that McGee had bought him a model of a P-51 Mustang that he flew in the Army during World War II. "Where did you find this?"
"On line!" McGee smiles.
"It's amazing how you don't need to leave your house to go shopping these days." Jack laughs.
"Boss, your turn." McGee nods over at him.
Gibbs opens up his gift; inside the box is an autographed Joe Green Pittsburgh Steelers jersey. "How did you know that Joe Green was my favorite player?" Gibbs says with surprise.
"Fornell told me." McGee smiles and then glances over at Jenny.
Jenny opens up her present and finds a copy of McGee's unpublished new novel. "Your new book?"
"That has not hit the shelves yet." "You will be my first reader."
"Tomorrow afternoon when the twins are taking their nap I'll start reading it." Jenny softly says.
"You think the twins will appreciate their gift?" Abby laughs.
"Two large hippo's in their nursery." Gibbs chuckles.
"Six months from now they'll be trying to ride them." Jenny giggles.
"I can't believe their five months old already." Abby says with surprise.
"I'm so glad I retired, I'm enjoying my hands on dad approach with them."
"You mean when Sofia doesn't have them." Jenny corrects him.
"I change my share of diapers throughout the day." Gibbs barks.
McGee taking in the smell of a messy diaper coming from the direction of the playpen. "Like about now." McGee grimaces.
"I'll do it." Abby volunteers and gets up from the couch.
"I bet you its Mike." Jack snorts.
Abby picks up her godson from the playpen. "Your right!" She laughs.
"He's always thinking with his stomach." Gibbs chuckles.
"Better than where his father's thoughts are most of the time." Jenny sensuously answers and gets up from the couch. "I better get Jacqueline a bath while Abby is cleaning Mike up in the nursery."
"Will she be wearing the dress that Mary bought her for Christmas?" Jack curiously asks.
"I have it laid out already in the nursery." Jenny smiles and walks off towards for the playpen and picks up her daughter. "I believe this is the first time all day that I've been able to pick you up." Jenny softly says to her daughter.
"Gibbs hogging her." Abby snickers.
"Of course he has." Jenny laughs and the two women walk off for the stairs.
"What time do you have to be at Ducky's?" Gibbs smoothly asks McGee.
"He said to come over after one; he's at the cemetery visiting his mother's grave and requested privacy." McGee frowns.
"First Christmas without his mother." Gibbs sighs.
"First Christmas is always the hardest." Jack sadly answers.
Ducky's House
1900 Hours
Ducky's extended work family along with Jack and the twins are gathered around the dining room table for Ducky's traditional Christmas duck dinner. "It's a shame that Palmer and his girlfriend Breena couldn't come for dinner." Abby frowns.
"I believe Mr. Palmer and his lovely girlfriend are spending the holiday with Breena's grandmother." Ducky answers.
"I can't get over how fast things have moved along between those two, he dated Agent Estéves for a few weeks, then the next thing we knew he was going out with Breena." Tony says with surprise.
"They have a lot in common." Ducky smiles.
"If that's the case I guess they'll be announcing their engagement soon." Jack smoothly says.
"Palmer getting married." Tony laughs.
"I can see Palmer getting married, you on the other hand." McGee smirks.
"Ziva and I like our relationship the way it is." Tony snaps.
"Yes, we both go in opposite directions on some nights." Ziva winks.
"After a while that gets kind of old." Gibbs answers in between bites of his beets.
"You and Jenny lived together for almost a year before you got married." Tony nods over at him.
"We were living together for eight months and then I proposed to her on September 1st." Gibbs reminds him.
"At dawn on a beach in Baja." Jenny softly answers.
"I'll never forget your facial expression." Gibbs smiles and squeezes Jenny's hand on top of the table.
"I wasn't expecting a proposal from you."
"I had that planned out for eight months." Gibbs smirks.
"What wasn't planned out was our unexpected gifts that were conceived on Halloween night." Jenny smiles and glances over at Jacqueline and Mike sitting at their high chairs.
After dinner, everybody is gathered in the living room with the exception of Abby and McGee. "Where's Abby and McGrinch at?" Tony curiously asks noting their absence amongst the group.
Jenny standing in the entranceway finds Abby and McGee kissing under the mistletoe out in the hallway. "Celebrating a Christmas tradition." Jenny laughs.
Tony and Ziva get up from the couch and walk over to entranceway. "It's a good thing I have my digital camera on me." Ziva smiles and points her camera towards the direction of Abby and McGee and clicks away. McGee realizing that they have an audience pulls away. "Three Christmas' in a row that we've managed to capture somebody kissing under the mistletoe." Ziva giggles.
"But the first one will always be the best." Abby winks over at her parents.
"Yeah, it was Gibbs and Jenny's first official kiss in front of their dysfunctional family." Tony smiles.
"It wasn't the first time I saw the two of them kissing." Ducky snorts.
Back at the Gibbs' Georgetown home later that night, Gibbs, Jenny, and Jack are down in the garage in Gibbs' living room exchanging gifts. Gibbs hands Jack a box. "Leroy you gave me my gift back in July." Jack protests.
"Open it!" Gibbs playfully barks.
Jack pulls the ribbon on the box and then removes the lid. He carefully moves the tissue paper away and finds three picture frames that Gibbs had made by hand. One frame has a photo of Mike on the day he was born in the nursery; the other frame has a photo of Gibbs holding Jacqueline in his arms in the hospital hallway after she was born. In the larger picture frame is a recent photo of Jack holding his grandchildren in his arms sitting on the loveseat in the nursery. "You just took that photo the other day." Jack says with surprise.
"It's amazing on how quickly you can get a photo developed and printed out." Jenny shrugs.
"I'm putting the smaller frames on my mantle back home and the large frame hanging on the wall behind the counter in my store." Jack smiles with pride.
"Now open mine." Jenny softly asks and hands Jack his gift.
"You-"
Jenny quickly interrupts him. "I bought this for you while I was in London at the beginning of the month so I don't want to hear another word from you." Jenny playfully chastises him.
Jack pulls the ribbon back on the gift box and then removes the lid. Gently he pulls back the tissue paper. "A cardigan sweater." Jack says in awe and pulls the gray Camel Hair Shawl Cardigan sweater from the box.
"It's made from camel hair." "I figured on cold days at the store you could wear it to keep warm." Jenny smiles.
"I wore out my other sweater and haven't found a replacement yet."
"I know Mary told me." Jenny laughs.
"Ok, now on to your presents." Jack smoothly says and hands Gibbs and Jenny their gifts. "Jenny open yours first."
Jenny opens up her small jewelry gift box. Inside the box is a Vintage 1/3 t.w. Buttercup Diamond Stud Earrings in 14 Karat White Gold. "Jack you shouldn't have."
"I gave these to Leroy's mother on our first Christmas."
"Mom wore them every Christmas." Gibbs smiles.
"Starting next Christmas I'm going to wear them every year." Jenny softly says to Jack, she leans over and tenderly kisses him on the cheek.
"Ok Leroy!"
Gibbs removes the lid to his box. Gently he pulls the tissue back and is taken back at the sight of his father's miter saw. "Dad I can't take this." Gibbs answers choking up with emotion.
"You use to use it all the time out in the garage." Jack smiles.
"But it's yours."
"I don't have any use for it son." "I have better things to occupy my time with between running the store part time, fishing in the spring and dating the local widows." Jack winks.
"I don't know what to say."
"The expression on your face says it all." Jack answers and pulls his son into his arms.
Gibbs returning the hug. "It's going to come in handy while I'm building 'The Shepard'." Gibbs smiles.
Jenny gets up from the couch. "Really Jethro!" Jenny sighs in annoyance.
"I'll get off sailing away on you, while you're busy working behind your desk at work." Gibbs smirks.
"You keep forgetting that I already sailed away on her a few months ago." Jenny purrs and starts off for the stairs.
"Do I need to know this?" Jack chuckles.
"No you don't." Gibbs laughs and pulls away from his father. "Going to bed?"
"No I have some work that needs to be done on the boat." "Goodnight Leroy."
"Good night dad." Gibbs smiles and gets up from the couch.
"I know that the two of you want some privacy so I'll stay down in the garage."
"It's not like you haven't heard us before." Gibbs grins and walks for the stairs.
In the Jenny's living room a half an hour later; Gibbs and Jenny are cuddling under the Christmas tree after making love. Gibbs pours them a glass of bourbon. "Before we open our gifts I want to toast to our good fortune."
"Alright!" Jenny smiles and takes her drink from her husband.
"To the best damn year of our lives."
Jenny taps her glass on to his. "And hopefully 2011 can top this year."
They gulp their drink in unison. "Ok you first." Gibbs smirks and hands Jenny her gift.
"Alright!" Jenny laughs and begins to open up her present. She removes the ribbon and opens up the lid. Gently she pulls back the tissue paper. Inside the box is photo album with the events that took place over the past year, starting with their wedding in Paris in early December. "Jethro!" She says in awe.
"And I want you to keep filling it up as the years go by."
Jenny leans up and tenderly kisses Gibbs on the mouth. "I love it and I love you."
"I figured you didn't need any jewelry or clothes." Gibbs shrugs.
Jenny leans under the tree and hands Gibbs a large narrow box. "I saved the best for last."
Gibbs pulls the ribbon away. "Can't be hand tools." Gibbs shrugs and removes the lid. He gently pulls back the tissue paper and is taken back at the sight of an 1885 Flint Officers Fusil rifle.
"My great grandfather owned that rifle and passed it down to my grandfather who passed it down to my father." "Since my father did not have a son, the line of succession ended after his death." Jenny softly answers.
"But you have a son." Gibbs tenderly says to his wife.
"He won't be needing it for a while." "Until then I want his father to be the keeper of it."
Gibbs leans over and passionately kisses Jenny on the mouth. "I love you." He says to her in between kisses.
Jenny breathlessly pulls away. "I didn't think my gift to you could be topped out tonight." Jenny laughs.
"Yes it did, the gift that we gave each other last July topped it out." Gibbs smiles.
"Our beautiful son and daughter sleeping up in the nursery." "We both got what we wanted."
"A son and a daughter."
"And your wish?" Jenny softly says to him.
"What's that?"
"A daughter with red hair and green eyes."
"They do say when you wish for something hard enough it does come true." Gibbs tenderly says to her.
"The only wish I have right now is for my husband to have his way with my body."
Gibbs getting his full weight on top of her. "Looks like we'll both be getting what we both want." Gibbs mischievously answers. Jenny wraps her arms around his neck pulling Gibbs face over, where they passionately kiss one another. Throughout the night they passionately make love to one another under the tree fulfilling their Christmas wish.
Merry Christmas to all of my readers