A/N Don't try too hard to fit this into the show's storyline: I'm 99% sure it won't work ;) Consider it set on a generic Christmas Eve sometime in season 11 or later.
It's A Wonderful Working Christmas Eve
He was working on the boat again when his cell rang. There wasn't a lot left to do; she was basically sea worthy, and he was prevaricating mostly because he still didn't have a name and it didn't feel right to finish her without one. For once there was no recently dead loved one he wanted to memorialise, and a foolish, superstitious part of him really wanted to think of a name soon, just in case the world decided to oblige by killing off someone he cared about.
As long as this phonecall wasn't the one he'd been dreading...
"Gibbs."
"Hey Boss, we gotta case." It was DiNozzo, sounding his usually chipper and upbeat self.
Well, at least no one we actually know is dead. "Don't tell me. Dead body at Rock Creek Park?" he asked, only half joking.
"Nope, missing Marine at Quantico."
Missing. At least there was still a chance for a happy ending then. "Meet you there." He cut the line without giving Tony a chance to respond, and headed for the stairs.
"And why are we worried about this guy again? He's supposed to be a Marine, right?"
Gibbs rolled his eyes as he walked into the bullpen and heard Tony kvetching. He'd left Ellie behind at Quantico so they'd have someone on site, and he half wished he'd left the boys down there with her.
"He's been missing less than a day, I thought Marines were supposed to be able to look after thems-"
Thwack.
"Sorry, Boss."
McGee piped up, taking advantage of the sudden lull. "He's an EOD technician whose last assignment was to a multi agency task force in the Middle East. They're concerned he may have been abducted, he could even have been tortured for information."
"Oh." DiNozzo seemed vaguely mollified. "Well I guess that's different."
"Yeah, I thought so." Gibbs dropped heavily into his chair and rubbed a hand wearily over his face. "Do you two have any leads?"
He glanced between them. They both looked rather sheepish.
"Geez. Okay, I want you two calling everyone this guy has worked with, spoken to, emailed, texted, hell, passed in the street since he got back from his deployment."
He gave them both another glare. McGee obediently ducked back down behind his computer. Tony looked slightly mutinous, but then sighed and picked up his phone.
Gibbs glanced at his watch - Ducky and Abby were good, but they weren't miracle workers. He would have to give them a while before he went down to pick their brains in the hope that they had found something useful. With a shake of his head, he opened the personnel file he'd pulled up on his computer, and started to read it.
"Need a psych profile on this one, Duck."
The ME looked slightly startled, obviously so caught up in his reading that he hadn't heard the door. "Jethro! Your timing is excellent, I have just completed my preliminary analysis. What an interesting case you have here, it reminds me of a friend of mine at medical school who disappeared, except that he reappeared and it turned out-"
"Duck!"
Ducky blinked, as if he'd temporarily forgotten Gibbs was there. "What?" He caught Gibbs' glare - only a mild version compared to what one of his agents would get, but still effective. "Oh, I am sorry. Where was I?"
"Preliminary analysis?"
"Oh, yes. Well, our Marine seems to have been a very stable sort of chap prior to his disappearance. There are none of the obvious pressure points that might predispose one to going UA. I shall keep looking, of course, but I'm afraid I don't have much of import to tell you."
"Thought you said it was interesting, Duck?"
"Well, don't you find it interesting that a man with no record of dereliction of duty or impulsive behaviour should simply disappear?"
Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure interesting is the word I'd use."
Ducky nodded, frowning thoughtfully. "I suppose not. Well, at least you haven't found a body; we may yet find your Marine in one piece."
"I sure hope so, Duck. I sure hope so."
Next on the list was the lab, and Gibbs couldn't help noticing that Abby had gone Christmas Goth. All the usual decorations were in evidence, but this year they were all in shades of black, including the Santa Claus and angel guarding the lab door. White fairy lights reflected off of glossy black leaves and black tinsel, and even the fibre optic tree in the corner sparkled monochromatically.
"What do you got, Abs?"
Abby took a last noisy slurp from her Caf-Pow and held out her hand for the fresh one. "Gimme."
"Tell me what you got."
She pouted a little but turned back to her computer. "Well, the only unusual activity on his cell or his credit card is that there's been no activity on his cell or his credit card since a couple of hours before he was reported UA."
"Not helpful."
"Don't know what to tell you, Gibbs." She spread her hands wide in an expressive shrug. "So far that's the only thing that's come up hinky. This guy's, like, a total Marine, he might be even more buttoned up than you!"
"Oh yeah?"
Abby caught the warning tone in his voice and wisely changed course. "I mean, if he's into anything illicit, he has left no trail at all. And you know how hard it is for baddies to hide from me and McGee. This man is either totally on the level or he is, like, a supervillain."
"So whatever he's caught up in, he's probably UA against his will."
"Or he's, like, running the whole thing from an underground lair, with evil minions obeying his every-"
"Abs."
Her hands stopped mid gesture, and she looked at him wide eyed. "Um. Yeah. Sorry. So... He was staying with a friend in DC, left to drive back down to Quantico, and... phoof. Last anyone heard of him."
Gibbs frowned. This case was going nowhere fast. "Call me the second you find anything, okay?"
"Don't I always?"
He gave her a half smile of acknowledgment, squeezed her shoulder and turned to walk away.
"Ah, Gibbs?"
He paused and glanced back.
"Pleeeeease can I have the Caf-Pow anyway?"
"Oops." He walked back to her to hand it over, dropped a kiss of apology on her cheek, and headed back upstairs.
"Okay, this is weird." Tim was muttering, but in the frustrated silence of the bullpen it was a welcome interruption.
Tony glanced up from his computer, and Gibbs decided to let him ask the question. "What's weird?"
"Well, I was checking for chatter on the police scanner, and there's something about a man and a woman appearing at a local hospital, and the guy sounds like he could be our missing Marine."
"So?"
"So I got no hits on the BOLO, and he's not married - the woman was pregnant - and..."
"Grab your gear." Gibbs was halfway to the elevator when he heard the general clattering behind him that showed his team were following. He grinned slightly to himself - he probably did enjoy doing that a little more than he should.
They caught up with him just as the elevator doors opened.
"But Boss, what if it isn't our missing Marine?" Tim sounded out of breath, as if he hadn't quite caught up with being stopped in mid babble.
Gibbs shrugged. "Best lead we got. Might as well go check."
"Doctor Mallard is a friend. He called ahead, said our John Doe might belong to you guys?"
"John Doe?" Gibbs frowned. He'd had the impression the man was alive.
"Don't worry, he's just unconscious. He came in with a woman in labour, wouldn't let anyone even look at him till we'd seen to her..." He shrugged.
"Sounds like a Marine," said Gibbs with a small smile. "He okay?"
"He should be. Exposure, mild hypothermia; we sedated him while we warmed him up. His vitals are good and we aren't too concerned."
"So can we see him?" Tony was jiggling impatiently from foot to foot.
The doctor nodded briskly. "Sure thing. Right this way."
"So he was just helping someone out?" Leon was having trouble getting his head round the situation. "That's..."
Gibbs shrugged. "That's a Marine. She rear ended him in the ice, had no cell coverage to call 911, he repaid her by getting her to the hospital just before her waters broke."
"I'll be damned." Leon chuckled. "I guess being a Good Samaritan is a heck of a lot better than the alternative."
"Sure is."
Leon shook his head. "And wrapped up just in time for Christmas. I'll go make sure everyone who needs to know has been informed and then come down to MTAC for the movie."
Gibbs grinned. "Abby wouldn't take no for an answer, huh?"
Another chuckle. "Miss Sciuto can be persuasive. The kids are with relatives. I decided to give in gracefully this year." He rolled his eyes and then turned to go to his office.
The guys had all gathered in the bullpen when Gibbs found them, and were comparing notes.
"I do hope the young man won't get in trouble over his charitable impulse."
"Don't worry, Duck. Her husband is friends with the Commandant. Somethin' tells me he's gonna be okay."
Ducky nodded. "I'm glad to hear it."
DiNozzo slapped the old man on the shoulder and laughed. "From what I overheard, she's probably gonna name the kid after him."
"Jealous, Tony?"
DiNozzo shook his head at McGee. "Nah, there's only one Tony DiNozzo, and that's the way it should stay."
McGee gave him a sideways look. "Well, technically, Tony, there already are two..."
Gibbs didn't stop Tony from headslapping Tim, but administered one of his own to the back of Tony's head immediately afterwards, then grinned to himself at their twin scowls. One of these days Tim was going to retaliate in kind and Gibbs just hoped he was around to see it. In the meantime, it was at least amusing to step in and even the score.
"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!"
He turned round. Abby sounded both overexcited (which was normal at this time of year) and worried (which was not).
"Yeah Abs?"
"Ellie's still down at Quantico, we need to get her back here or she's gonna miss 'It's A Wonderful Life', and she just can't, it's tradition..."
"Can't have that." Gibbs gestured to DiNozzo to throw the keys over. "I'll go get her." He winked at her. "It's okay if we miss the previews, all right?"
Abby pulled a face but nodded. "All right. But you better be back in time for the main feature."
"You got it."
There was a cheerful hubbub in MTAC as Gibbs let himself and Ellie in, including what looked like some kind of battle involving various Christmas decorations. He couldn't quite believe the director hadn't already broken that up.
Abby spotted them first, of course, running up to throw her arms around Ellie like she hadn't seen her in a month. "You made it!"
"It's a Christmas miracle," said Gibbs drily, though he couldn't help grinning at her enthusiasm. He pulled her to his side in a one armed hug once she'd released Ellie, and nodded a greeting to Ducky.
"I took the liberty of bringing mulled wine, Jethro, since I could not imagine you would have the time to arrange it."
"Nice one, Duck."
Leon accosted him next. "Gibbs, I hope you can control your agents better than I can."
His smile was tolerant, and Gibbs grinned. "Doubt it, but I'll make 'em clear up before I let 'em go."
Leon chuckled. "Works for me." He turned to the room and clapped his hands. "Okay, let's get this show on the road before Christmas Day actually arrives."
Gibbs snagged a glass of wine and let himself sink into a seat. Part of him was more than ready to head home, but spending Christmas Eve with these people - with the little family he'd chosen for himself - that was something he would never willingly miss.
When he finally got home, out of habit he found himself walking down into the basement again. On a rare night of triumph, when for once everything really had worked out for the best, he found he wanted to savour it for a while despite the tiredness in his bones.
He poured himself an inch of bourbon in the bottom of a cleanish jar, and propped his butt against the work bench to stand and look at his latest creation, still nameless.
What memories did he want to entrust to her? Taking a swig of alcohol and swallowing against the burn, he thought about the case they'd just closed.
He grinned. Days like today, that was what he wanted to remember. A Christmas Eve when a wrapped up case had actually meant a happy ending for everyone involved, no dead bodies, presents under the Christmas tree, reunited families...
Suddenly it was obvious. He grabbed his paint and a brush, and a pad to kneel on, and bent to start tracing the name in the graceful italic lettering he liked to use:
"Eve"