Hello!

This is my first fanfiction! Have fun reading it!

Gibbs house

Kelly loved Christmas – and she did not. She loved being with her family. They would all come, they would give each other presents, they would eat, talk, lough. They would have fun. But she knew that there was at least one person, who just pretended to enjoy himself.

Kelly knew why her father invited that many people. Of course it was fun with Abby, who was like Kelly's crazy older sister, or with McGee, her clumsy brother. She even liked to spend her time with Ziva, Palmer and Ducky on Christmas Eve. It was totally fine, that they all spent every Christmas Eve with her and father. They were her family, even if they weren't bounded by blood.

But Kelly didn't like that her father invited them to fill an empty chair. The chair, were her mother used to sit until some drug dealers murdered her eight years ago. Kelly didn't like to see her father suffering, trying to pretend, that he was happy, and trying to distract his beloved daughter from their loss.

Kelly wished to spend Christmas alone with her father. It would be totally fine, if they both cried. At least her father would show his honest feelings.

But that wouldn't happen. Never.

Therefore Kelly packed her presents for everyone. Kelly was quite busy buying and making that many gifts.

The doorbell rang, Kelly could hear, how her dad greeted McGee and Abby. Happily Kelly smiled.

Her father squeaked as Abby hugged him.

Maybe it wasn't that bad pretending being a happy family.

Tony hated Christmas. He hated it more than anything else. Well, that was a lie. He was pretty sure that he hated his father more than Christmas.

But Tony had to pretend to like it. He had to because of his little sister Sofia. At least she should have something like a normal childhood.

Tony spent the last week buying a little Christmas tree, buying presents for his sister and convincing their family's cook to make something special for both of them before he left for holidays.

Tony just hoped that Anthony Dinozzo Senior wouldn't ruin everything.

Sofia was a brave child. Sometimes Tony thought that she was tougher than he was. Tony watched her decorating the Christmas tree, which was hidden in the corner of his room, where his father wouldn't notice it. At least he hoped so.

The tree was small, smaller than his ten years old sister. Actually it wasn't even a nice tree, its needles were dry and falling off. But it was a Christmas tree and it made Sofia smile.

After Sofia finished, she turned around and had a happy, big grin.

"I'm finished Tony, let's eat. I am pretty hungry and the meat smells quite nice."

Kelly wondered who would be able to eat all the things Ziva and Abby cooked. There was so much! She was already full and just watched hers father's team eat and talk.

Abby seemed to be not be hungry anymore, too. She jumped up, walked to Kelly and took her hand.

"Let's go upstairs, sweetie. I want to know everything what happened in the last month."

Abby blinked, Kelly blushed.

Abby was about fifteen years older than her, but she loved to talk about high school. Maybe, Kelly guessed, Abby never had the chance to have normal high school-life. She was far too smart for that.

As they entered Kelly's room, Abby jumped on her bed.

"Who is it?" Abby asked.

"Who? What are you talking about?"

"You fall in love. I can see it on your face. Who is it? Someone in your class? That would be great, because you can see him often, but it would be also complicated, I mean, what if you …"
Again Kelly blushed and stopped Abby from talking.

"Abby… I really don't want to talk about it."

"What? Why? Does he have a girlfriend?"

"No. But…"

"He doesn't like you?"

"He does but…"

"But he didn't fall in love with you?"

"Don't know… He is kind of a troublemaker."

Abruptly Abby changed from her "best-friend-mode" to her "protective-sister-mode".

"Troublemakers are no good. You are the smartest and nicest kid I know. You don't need a troublemaker. You know those guys just want to have fun and ignore other people's feelings. They are lazy and stupid… He is lazy and stupid, isn't he?"

Kelly shrugged her shoulders. "He is bad at school; he had to stay down a year. But he is quite smart, I guess."

Abby shook her head in disbelieve. "What kind of troublemaker, is he?"

Kelly looked away.

"Really I don't want to talk about it."

"You have to. Come on, I will not tell anyone. You know, I will worry, if you don't tell me."

"He often has fights. Teachers hate him. Like you said... he is lazy. When he does not skip or sleep on classes, he is cheeky and argues with teachers… You know that kind of troublemaker."

Kelly didn't want to mention that Tony also hang out with a gang of badasses, who probably sold drugs to pupils. Kelly also didn't mention that Tony was the son of Anthony Dinozzo, one of the richest man in D.C. and who is suspected by her father to not earn his money as honest as it seemed.

Kelly knew that her father was very unhappy with Dinozzo being in the same class as her. He wanted her to promise that she would hold off from that Dinozzo boy. If Kelly wouldn't, her dad would have probably forced her to change school.

Gibbs would flip out, if he knew, that Kelly actually spend hours talking to Dinozzo.

"You know Abby; I know that he is no good. But he is the first person… the first person who understands me. No, I mean, you understand me, too. But Tony lost his mother, like me. He doesn't talk much about his feelings. But I think he feels the same as I do. He is a good listener. And he is funny, he can make me laugh. And I think he is happy, when I laugh. He can't be that bad, can he?"

Abby face showed that she was concerned.

"I don't know, Kelly… Be careful."

Sofia and Tony had barely eaten anything, -and their Christmas Eve was already ruined. It was ruined that moment, when the siblings heard their father drunken voice shouting their names, while he was climbing up the stairs.

Tony sighed. His eyes met with his sister's. Her eyes were already filled with tears. They both knew what will happen know.

"Hide yourself in my wardrobe. Do not come out until I say so, clear?"

She nodded.

"But, Tony, he will hurt you… again."

Tony grinned.

"Come on, little sis. Do you think I am such a softy? I will just bring our drunken dad to his bedroom, so that he can sober. No one is hurting me. Then we will finish our dinner, okay?"

"Okay, Tony…"

Tony opened his wardrobe and waited for his sister to hide herself.

"Tony…"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

Tony was confused, when he woke up. He was laying on the floor, his father standing next him.

"Stand up, you worthless goof-off. Dinozzos don't pass out. So stand up."

Tony's head hurt. He felt blood on his face. His father must have hit him with his bottle, so that Tony passed out.

Tony tried to stand up, but he felt dizzy and fell down again.

"You are such a wimp. Sometimes I wonder if you really are my son. But there is no mother I could actually ask."

He kicked his son.

Normally his father stopped, when Tony was lying on the ground, it never happened that he treated him, after he already lost conscience once. But today was not a normal day, today was Christmas Eve. And there seemed to be no chick in his father bedroom.

His father kicked Tony, again, again. Then Tony realized that his dad wouldn't stop today. Today was a good chance that his dad would not stop until Tony stopped breathing. That's why Tony gathered himself, stood up, hustled his dad and ran into his room. His dad fell downstairs. One moment Tony wondered if he just killed his dad, but he knew he didn't, as soon as he heard an angry voice screaming after him.

Tony opened his wardrobe.

"Sofia, climb out of the window, okay? Here take my coat; we will meet at the gate, okay? We will go for a Christmas walk. Maybe we will see Santa. You can do it, right? You can climb down?"

Tony couldn't; he felt to dizzy to climb. Tony would have to take the front door, where he would have to fight with his father again.

"Yeah, I can do that Tony. I climb trees all the time. But what happened? You are bleeding."

Tony smiled.

"I'm fine. Don't worry. We will meet in five minutes."

It was already late. Everyone was full; McGee and Palmer were quite drunk. Abby was sleeping, her head rested on McGee's lap. Gibbs listened quietly to Ducky's story. Normally Gibbs hadn't got time to hear that old man's stories, but at least on Christmas Eve, Gibbs had to show respect to the man, he considered to be his best friend.

Ziva was sitting next to Kelly. Kelly knew that Ziva had difficulties to build a friendship with her. Ziva was too different. Ziva never had a childhood like an American girl. Sometimes Kelly wondered if Ziva feared her; Feared Kelly, who was that kind of girl that Ziva never could be.

"Ziva, what do you think about falling in love with a badass. And I mean a real badass."

Kelly didn't why, but it felt right to ask Ziva.

Ziva was surprised that Kelly asked her something like that. But she was happy to be able to have a conversation with her boss' daughter.

It was freaking cold. And he didn't have a coat. At least his sister had.

Tony took a bit of the snow to wash off the blood in his face, so that his sister wouldn't see it.

He was happy to see the little girl patiently waiting at the gate.

She looked tired; it was past two o'clock, too late for a ten year old girl. But what could he do? He couldn't stand fighting his dad all night.

"Sofia, are you alright?" he asked, smiling again.

She nodded. Her eyes were barley open.

"Hop on, I will piggy back you. Then we will do a nice walk."

Tony felt that his sister was relieved by the idea to not walk herself. And Tony liked the idea of her warming his back, even though he knew that every step was hurting him.

Tony didn't know where to go, but he couldn't return home until dawn. He didn't know when his father would go to bed. It was snowing a little, Tony freeze, but he could hear his little sister snore quietly.

Tony also could feel that someone followed them. Tony knew that the FBI was watching his father, therefore him, too. They suspected his father to be the head of a criminal organization and Tony knew that they were right. But neither they nor he could prove it.

Tony wondered if they suspected him to be his father's heritage. Maybe they thought he was a criminal, too. Why else would they follow him? Even on Christmas Eve.

But it felt save to know that feds are watching him while he walks with his sister in the middle in night through DC. Actually he wished that they would stop him from walking and ask him what the hell he and his sister are doing. But they wouldn't. They didn't want his father in prison because of child abuse. They wanted to destroy a whole criminal organization.

Ziva wasn't much of help with Kelly's problems. But Ziva told Kelly about many messed up relationships she had. And Ziva thought the same as Abby: troublemakers, well, they made trouble. They weren't fine boyfriends. Maybe they were right. Maybe she should stop being with Dinozzo for hours.

It was tree o'clock in the morning. Ziva was sleeping, too, next to Abby, McGee and Palmer on the couch. Kelly smiled. It always ended like this. Although everyone had planned to go home after dinner, they ended up sleeping at Gibbs house.

Gibbs was still having a conversation with Ducky; he didn't notice that Kelly was awake.

Kelly wanted to go to sleep, too. She went to her bedroom. Her phone rang. She got a message. Kelly expected a "Merry Christmas"-massage, therefore she was quite surprised to read this:

"Hey Kelly, sry to bother you. Are you awake? Is your dad sleeping? Can I come to your house, have some troubles at mine. Please."

Kelly sighed. Yes, Tony was trouble.

She turned her phone off and went to sleep.

Ducky and Gibbs talked for hours. It was already four o'clock. Gibbs was quiet drunk by now. It was not like he could listen to Ducky that long sober.

Gibbs just purred him and Ducky another glass whisky, when Gibbs phone rang. Who would call that late on Christmas Eve?

"Gibbs?"

"Here is Fornell."

"What happened, Fornell? Got lonely on Christmas?"

Fornell snorted.

"Well, no, I am working. Monitoring a suspect. Just wanted to ask you, if you have an idea why Dinozzo's son is sitting at your veranda."

"What?"

"He is sitting there for about an hour. Have no idea why. Thought I should warn you."

"Yeah, thanks. Don't worry; he is in my daughter's class. I will check on him. See you."

Tony was dead tired. His head was spinning and he was freezing. His sister was sleeping next to him. At least she wasn't cold. He was happy that he had bought a really warm coat.

He left Kelly not less than ten messages, but she must be sleeping already. Though, Tony had no intention to leave the veranda. It felt safer and he was a bit warmer here than on the street. But his actual reason, why he stayed, was that he couldn't move anymore. He felt dizzy and his body sore. His father beat him up badly today.

Tony cringed as the door opened and a tall man with blue eyes stepped out. Full of fear Tony jumped up, thinking hardly how to explain to Kelly's father what he was doing here. Tony knew that he was something like a cop and most importantly Tony knew that that guy didn't like him.

The only idea Tony got was running.

He took his sister, who was in deep sleep and didn't even wake up. Tony had noticed that Kelly's dad didn't have his shoes on and he wouldn't bother to run after him and get his socks wet.

Tony ran, but that guy [i]was[/i] running after him. Wet white socks didn't seem to bother him.

He was a lot faster than Tony, who was not only hurt, but caring a ten year old girl.

Tony hasn't even left the garden, when the man grabbed him and turned him to his face.

"What do you think are you doing here?" Gibbs shouted at him.

Tony shivered. Was Kelly's dad going to beat him, too? Tony didn't think that he could handle any beating more.

Tony wanted to answer, but he lost his voice. He was to cold, tired and dizzy to talk.

Kelly's father tightened his grip around Tony's arm.

Tony gave a wince of pain; he looked at the man, not knowing what to do. Sofia was still sleeping. That girl really could sleep deep.

"What are you doing here? Keep off my daughter, or I will beat the hell out of you, Dinozzo. Get in my car, I will drive you home. I really don't know why you are showing up in the middle of the night at my house, but that little girl should be in her bed at her home. So do you. "

There was another man coming out of the house. He was older, wearing glasses and dressed quite nice. His appearance was much less fearful than that of the blue-eyed man.

"Jethro, please. Aren't you seeing that you are hurting the poor boy?"

Gibbs rolled his eyes. He didn't seem to be bothered by that, but he loosened his grip.

The elder man stepped next to Tony. He seemed to look at his face. Than he took Tony's chin, turned his head carefully but forcefully around and examined the wound from his fight with his dad on his head.

"You have quite a laceration there, my dear boy. Jethro, I would like you to invite our young friend to your home so that I can take a look on that wound."

Jethro didn't seem to be happy about that, but he dragged Tony with him into the house. Tony wanted to protest, but he felt too weak. Nevertheless it felt nice to enter the warm house.

They went through the living room, where a lot people were sleeping. Tony barely noticed what happened around him.

Kelly's father took Sofia from him and laid her down at another couch, covering her with a blanket.

Then they went downstairs to the basement. Maybe they didn't want everyone to wake up, Tony guessed.

There Gibbs hustled Tony into a chair, while the other, nicer man looked angry on Gibbs.

"I am Dr. Mallard, young man. But you can call me Ducky." The man introduced himself, noticing that Dinozzo had a hard time concentrating.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Mallard. My name is Anthony Dinozzo Jr." Tony didn't realize that he just had answered. It was a trigger reaction. His father taught him well to be polite to grown-ups.

"My dear boy, what happened? That looks quite bad. Do you feel dizzy?"

"I'm fine." Tony whispered confused. He didn't know why he was lying to the elder man, maybe because he was used to.

"I don't think so. Most likely you have a concussion. Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"No. I am alright." Tony lied again.

Gibbs smirked, bent forward to Tony and knocked him very lightly on his rips. The young man winced in pain and Ducky knew that Tony was anything but "alright".

"Please, Anthony, may you take off your shirt? I can help you, I am a doctor."

"No, it's alright. Just had a fight with my… a friend."

"Right now, it's of secondary importance, what you did or why you showed up." Ducky looked at Gibbs while talking and then turned to Tony again. "But please let me help you."

Tony looked up at the man's face. Tony was too tired to resists.

Tony had a hard time taking off his shirt. Everything felt sore. Even Gibbs' eyes showed pity for the teenager.

"Well, your "friend" beat you up quite badly. You have some nice bruises there. But you are lucky, nothing is broken." Ducky explained. "Jethro, can you please give Anthony something to change, he is wet and cold."

Gibbs sighed, but nodded.

After Tony changed his clothes, now obviously wearing Gibbs sportswear with "NCIS" written on it, Ducky took his blood pressure, asked a few medical questions –most of the time Tony lied, when he answered- and finally allowed Gibbs to question the young man.

"So, Anthony, why did you come in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve to my house?"

Tony stared at the man. What should he answer? He knew that Kelly didn't want her father to know that they were friends.

"Was a coincidence. Didn't want to walk whole night, felt saver at some veranda." Tony explained briefly, hoping that Gibbs was buying it.

"But you know me, don't you?"

"You are Kelly's dad, I saw you sometimes at school. I am good at remembering faces. But I didn't know that Kelly lives here."

"And why the hell are you not at home at that time in the night on Christmas Eve? Why is your sister with you?"

That one was harder to answer. Should Tony be honest? But the man was a cop; he would most likely call the police. His dad would be accused for child abuse, but his lawyers would save him. And Tony would end up having a fight with his dad. Who knew how many people would end up losing their jobs because they wanted to help them.

Tony decided to lie again, although the first lie wouldn't work anymore and though he didn't want Gibbs to have a worse impression of him than he already has, Tony explained: "I like your daughter. But she doesn't like me. I wanted her to pity me and my sister. I wanted her to think that my dad expulsed us on Christmas Eve. I thought she would like me more, if she didn't think that I am just a spoilt brat. I am sorry."

Gibbs examined Tony's face carefully. Gibbs was one of the best agents of NCIS and he knew that. But why couldn't he say if that brat was lying or saying the truth?

"Well, if everything is fine at your home… I will call your dad and tell him what happened. He has to know that you have a concussion, too. Ducky said that you don't need to go to the hospital, but at least some should watch you for the next 24 hours. You should see a doctor tomorrow, too." Gibbs explained, carefully watching Tony's face. Did the boy seemed frightened by the idea of him calling his dad? Was he more frightened then he should?

"You know, don't call my dad, please. He is sleeping, having a lot of stress. Teachers call all the time at home, please don't bother him, too. He is a good dad; I don't want him to be more disappointed."

Tony thought he would have to puke as he told Gibbs that his dad was "good".

"Well, you should have thought about that before you came here to win my daughter's heart. Or do you actually have a problem with your dad?"

"No, I don't, …" Dinozzo Sr. would beat him up like hell, but he would beat him up even more, if there were pressed charges against him because of Tony. Tony gulped. "You can call him, but he might be drunk. You know, it's Christmas Eve and I wanted him drunk so that I can leave."

"You got your dad drunken, so that you can act out the poor guy?"

"Yes." Tony knew it. Kelly's dad would hate him forever. Probably Kelly would, too.

Gibbs' gut said that the guy was lying. But if he lied, he was a damn good liar. He didn't show any signs of lying. Actually Gibbs hoped that Tony wasn't lying. If he did, than the boy had some serious troubles at home.

"Okay, let's go upstairs. I will call your dad and bring you home, alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine with that." Tony was absolutely not fine with that.

They went upstairs; Gibbs took his phone and gave it Tony to dial his father's number. Ducky followed them. He was worried. He didn't buy Tony's story, so didn't Gibbs. But they could do nothing, if the boy didn't accepted their help. Moreover it was obvious that Gibbs didn't like the guy. Right now his instincts as a father ruled over him, wanting to protect his daughter, not thinking about Tony as a possible victim.

"Tony! Where are we?" It was his little sister, who was crying. She must have been scared waking up in an unknown living room with a couple of sleeping strangers.

"We are at Kelly's house, sis. Mr. Gibbs, her father, is calling dad, we will go home, now. I think our Christmas walk was long enough." Tony smiled at his sister. He hoped that he didn't notice that he was scared to death.

"Tony, but… dad…"

"… will be happy when we return home."

Tony dialed the number and gave Gibbs the phone.

"But Tony!" Sofia screamed. Both, Gibbs and Ducky, seemed to be confused by the desperate voice of the little girl.

"Shut up, Sofia. Don't wake everyone up."

"But Tony." The little girl ignored her brother's objection and didn't understand why Tony had lied to the man. "Tony, dad will beat you up again, if that man calls him. Tony, please, I don't want you to get hurt anymore, please. Mister please, do not call our father…"

Sofia didn't have say it twice, Gibbs hang up the phone and stared at Tony.

"She is making things up. Dad never laid a finger on me." Tony tried to excuse himself.

"She is? She sounds perfectly honest to me. But I am not sure about you."

Ducky stepped forward to Tony. His eyes were filled with worry.

"Anthony, was it your father, who gave you those bruises? That would be a serious crime, please let us help you."

"You can't help me. You will just make everything worse."

"We are from NCIS, we do can help you."

"Well, we will talk tomorrow about that. Take my bed, you have to rest, you have a concussion. Take your sister with you. It fine if she sleeps with you in one bed, isn't it? You will not leave my house until I say so. We will talk tomorrow about what we will do from now. Good night, Anthony."

"Please, Mr. Gibbs, call me Tony. Thank you."

Even though Tony hasn't wished that, he was happy to at least have a chance to rest.