Halloween Bonfire
Family bonfire in the DiNozzo backyard Halloween 2031
"I draw the line if we start singing 'Kumba Ya' and holding hands," Tony warned Ziva about the upcoming family gathering in their backyard. It had been Abby's idea to have a bonfire for Halloween using the DiNozzos' fire pit. When Abby had suggested that he play his guitar, and they could all sing along, Tony balked.
"I am sure that Abby was just joking about having a sing along," Ziva patted her husband's cheek. "Well, I hope she was." The more Ziva thought about it, the less she was sure Abby had been joking.
"Being married to Leon has tamed her down a bit, but you know Abby as well as I do, Zi. Once she gets an idea in her head, she's like a bulldog with a bone." Tony was certain Abby had not been joking.
Their discussion was interrupted by the doorbell. Tony moved to answer the door as Ziva finished filling the bowls of snacks for the family to have later. He opened the door to Abby and Leon, and noticed the Palmers pulling into the driveway.
"We brought the stuff for s'mores," Abby hugged Tony and headed to the kitchen with the bag of goodies. Leon grinned at Tony; they both knew that Abby tended to get hyper over Halloween, her favorite holiday.
"Some things never change, do they?" Leon held up a case of hard cider, "I thought we might need this later." Tony nodded his agreement.
"Hey, everyone," Jimmy and his family reached the front door, "We brought candy corn, popcorn balls, and caramel apples." He sent Tori and Charles towards the kitchen with their bags of food. Breena hugged Tony and Leon and followed her children to the kitchen. Jimmy looked at Tony and Leon and grinned as he held up a twelve pack of a locally brewed beer. Leon held up his case of hard cider and gave Jimmy a thumb's up.
"Take those outside to the red cooler; that's where all the adult beverages are chilling. The blue cooler has soda, regular cider, juice, and water. Gibbs is already out back building the fire."
Tony was about to shut the door when the McGees pulled into the driveway and then the Reeves family right behind them. "Come on in; everyone is heading out to the back yard. Gibbs is building the fire, and we have snacks, makings for s'mores, plenty of beverages, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic and whatever food you guys have brought!"
Katie and John carried plates of cupcakes, and Delilah had a sandwich tray. Tim grinned at Tony as he held up two packs of wine coolers. Ellie had a huge veggie tray in her hands and Clay carried two buckets of ice cream in each hand. "Let's get this party started!"
Gibbs had a fire blazing in the fire pit when the others went out to the backyard. The kids had put chairs and blankets around the fire for the family. The dogs were already on one of the blankets enjoying the warmth from the fire. As family members passed by the dogs, they petted each one. Both Daisy and Asher loved the attention.
Ziva was about to take the last bowl of snacks to the deck table when the doorbell rang. She put the bowl on the kitchen counter and answered the door to see Nick, Allison and their kids and Jack Sloane. Nick had a case of beer, Allison was carrying a plate of crackers and cheeses, and Jack had bags of toppings for the ice cream and waffle bowls and cones.
"Come on in; everyone is out in the backyard already. Gibbs has a huge fire going." Ziva motioned to the others to head to the deck, and she grabbed the bowl of snacks from the kitchen and followed the others outside.
When Abby spotted the last arrivals, she got excited. "Everyone's here so we can start the fun stuff! Tony, did you bring your guitar outside? Who is going to tell a scary story? When are we going to have the games?"
Tony and Ziva shared an eye roll; Abby would always be Abby! Leon put a hand on his wife's arm, "Abby, there's plenty of time to do everything. We all know how excited you are for Halloween, but we can do all of the activities, one at a time."
"Games, games, games. Come on everybody. Let's play!" Abby jumped up and down, and the kids followed her to the games she had set up. "EVERYbody!" she emphasized that she was expecting the adults to participate as well as the kids.
"Okay, so the first game is the skull toss." Abby held up skull shaped squishable balls and pointed at the buckets in various locations from the ring on the ground where she was standing. "The more distance to the bucket the higher the points scored. The winner in each group who has the most points after eight tosses will get a prize."
Abby had the little kids line up first; Jason and Savannah Reeves, and Nick's two kids, Harry and Heather, took turns tossing the skulls. Jason had the most points at the end, and Abby handed him a small plush hippo, similar to Bert.
The older kids were next and she divided them into two groups, LJ, Beth, Rivka and Charles; and Katie, John, Tori, Anthony and Tali. Charles beat Beth by a single point and Abby handed him a flashlight with screw on overlays in Halloween shapes. Everyone was expecting Anthony to win his group hands down, but Tali gave him a run for the money. The siblings had to do a tie-breaker round; Anthony finally won by sinking a skull into the farthest bucket on his final throw.
The adults all tried to beg off, but Abby persisted. She had them in one group, and Tony was way ahead in the points until Ziva had her turn. She was on her last throw, and if she made the bucket that was the second farthest away she would be tied with Tony. The farthest bucket would give her the win.
"Go for it, Ima," Anthony gave his mother two thumbs' up.
Ziva tossed the skull; it arced through the air towards the last bucket. They all held their breaths as the skull descended into the bucket. Anthony was about to yell out when the skull bounced out of the bucket and landed in the second farthest one.
"Holy shit, Zi," Tony couldn't believe his eyes. That shot couldn't be duplicated even if they tried. "I concede the prize to you!"
Ziva grinned as the family congratulated her on the amazing shot. Abby handed her a box of Halloween jelly beans. She opened the box of candy and shared it with the others.
The second game was a relay race with foam balls. Each team had to pass as many balls as possible from one end to the other of the team line within a certain time. Abby broke the family into four teams and had each team line up from smallest to biggest. The catch was that they could not pass the balls with their hands; they had to tuck the balls under their chins and pass them to each other that way. In the ten minutes allowed, the teams passed as many balls as they could, amid laughter and joking.
Abby declared all of the teams were winners and the family moved to the deck to make ice cream sundaes. As they ate the ice cream, Abby explained several of the next games. All would be couples games, or teams of two. The first was a three-legged race. The second was an apple eating contest; each couple would hold the apple with their teeth and take bites. The final pairs' game would be carrying a marshmallow through an obstacle course without using hands.
The pairs lined up for the three-legged race: Tony and Ziva; Jimmy and Breena; Clay and Ellie; Nick and Allison; Gibbs and Jack; Leon and Abby; Tali and Tori; Anthony and Katie; John and Rivka; and Charles and Beth. LJ blew the whistle for the start of the race and they all took off. Tony and Ziva were way ahead of the others, with Anthony and Katie second, followed by John and Rivka and Clay and Ellie. Most of the other pairs were still trying to get coordinated when Tony and Ziva crossed the finish line, with Anthony and Katie behind them.
In the apple eating contest, Tali and Tori decided to sit out, and Tim and Delilah joined in. All of the couples were having fun and trying very hard not to laugh and drop the apples. Three drops and the couple was out. It got down to Tim and Delilah and Anthony and Katie as Tony and Ziva were the second to last couple to be eliminated. Tony had taken a big bite and Ziva lost her grip on the apple, causing it to fall a third time.
Tim and Delilah were using an eat-around strategy, taking turns eating around the apple. Anthony and Katie were using a small bites strategy to help them keep hold of the apple as the other bit. Each couple had already dropped their apple twice. It looked to be a tie until Katie sneezed and the apple fell, making her parents the winners.
Tony and Ziva won the marshmallow obstacle course race, remarking that it was an easy task for them. All of the other couples had dropped the marshmallow several times, and some gave up. Tony and Ziva maneuvered the obstacle course without dropping the marshmallow at all. They had placed it between their foreheads and locked gazes. Nick joked that the couple had an unfair advantage and the others laughed. Jimmy and Clay tried to distract them, but Tony and Ziva ignored the comments and the attempts to make them laugh and drop the marshmallow.
The night was starting to get cooler and the family moved closer to the fire. Abby brought the s'mores fixings to the blankets and they all started toasting marshmallows. Adults and older kids helped the four younger kids with the marshmallows. All were laughing and talking about the games as they made s'mores. Couples and families shared blankets, and they all noticed that Jack and Gibbs were sharing a blanket. Tali had the two Reeves kids and LJ wrapped in a blanket with her, and Tori had the two Torres kids with her.
Abby started the telling of scary stories with a ghost story from the Louisiana bayous that she had heard as a child. The family was spellbound listening to the story Abby spun. She was just to the scariest part when one of the cats rubbed on her back. She let out a startled yell and the others jumped. Callie ran to Tony and jumped on his shoulder, causing the rest of the family to burst out laughing.
Others took turns telling scary stories, including Gibbs, Leon, Jack and Nick. As the night grew later, the younger children started dozing off. Both Jason and Savannah had fallen asleep leaning on Tali. Tori was the pillow of preference for the Torres kids. Even LJ was yawning, but he fought to stay awake. He didn't want to miss any of the stories. Jack's story about a haunted cemetery had all of the family that were still awake listening to every word. She told a good story, keeping her listeners on edge and in anticipation.
"The skeletons were chasing me and the others through the cemetery. We ran past headstones and monuments. It seemed we were running in circles as more and more skeletons gave chase. I looked over my shoulder," Jack paused, looking at the family. "Suddenly, I ran into something that didn't move. I turned around to find myself falling over an open casket. Inside," again she paused, building the anticipation.
"There was nothing, thankfully, as I fell head first into the casket. My heart was pounding, my breath coming in gasps. I couldn't believe this was how the skeletons would catch me. I heard my friends run past the coffin. A skeleton stopped at the open coffin and looked inside." Jack pantomimed peering inside the coffin.
"I watched as the bony hand started reaching towards me. If I could have shrunk back into the lining of the coffin, I would have. The hand got closer, inches from my face. I opened my mouth to scream and no sound would come out. The hand was almost on my cheek." She pantomimed shrinking back in fear and watching the hand.
"I closed my eyes as the bony fingers touched my cheek. My mind raced, thinking of all the possible things the hand could do to me. I heard the skeleton take a raspy breath in.
"I held my breath. 'Tag, you're it!' the skeleton screeched." Jack touched Gibbs' face as she screeched the skeleton's words, making him jump. The whole family laughed and agreed that Jack's story had been the best one so far.
Gibbs looked around at his family as they shared laughter. John and Rivka were cuddled in a blanket next to Charles and Beth in their own blanket. Anthony and Katie were wrapped together in a blanket and Katie had her head resting on Anthony's shoulder. Tim and Delilah were cuddled together on one of the two person lounge chairs wrapped in a blanket. Jimmy and Breena, Clay and Ellie, Nick and Allison, and Leon and Abby each had their own blankets and were cuddled in couples. Tony and Ziva were on the other two person lounge chair in what looked to be a tangle of limbs wrapped together and were in their own world, quietly sharing kisses and cuddling.
"Quite a family you have here, Gibbs," Jack remarked quietly.
"Yep, and every time I get a chance to see them like this, I'm grateful they're mine."