Just a little holiday story.

CHRISTMAS MORING

Gibbs stirred and opened his eyes as Abby came bouncing down the stairs in her pajamas. He sat up on the couch and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as Abby bounced over to him and hugged him.

"Merry Christmas Gibbs!" Gibbs couldn't help but smile and hugged her back.

"Merry Christmas Abbs. I'm glad you and Ziva stayed last night."

Christmas Eve Gibbs had dinner with his team: Tony, McGee, Abby, Ziva, and Ducky. However everyone but Abby, Ziva and Gibbs had Christmas Day plans so Abby and Ziva slept over at Gibbs's house and the three of them would spend the day together.

They both turned as they heard footsteps on the stairs and they saw Ziva walking down the stairs, but unlike Abby she was dressed already. Abby got up and ran over to Ziva. She gave her a big hug.

"Merry Christmas Ziva!" Ziva gave her a small hug back.

"Merry Christmas to you too Abby." They pulled away and Ziva turned towards Gibbs.

"Merry Christmas Gibbs." Gibbs motioned for her to walk over to him and she did. She kneeled and he kissed her forehead.

"Merry Christmas Ziver. Now I am going to start a fire." Abby nodded excitedly.

"Good idea Gibbs! While you do that, Ziva and I will start breakfast! Then for my favorite part: exchanging presents! I cant wait to give your present Gibbs!" She grabbed Zivas hand and pulled her into the kitchen. Gibbs smiled after them and got up to make a fire. Before he did that, he looked at the Christmas tree his team put up, and then he looked at the picture he kept on the mantle of his late wife and daughter Shannon and Kelly. He smiled at them and gave each of them a kiss. He then started the fire and before he knew it he could smell coffee brewing and bacon frying.

He walked into the kitchen where Abby had an apron on and was standing by the stove, and Ziva was setting the table. He walked over to the fridge but Ziva stopped him.

"Sorry Gibbs. Just for today think of Abby and I as your bosses for a change. Now sit and let us finish. That is an order." Gibbs gave her look, but gave in and sat down.

About 15 minutes later they sat down to scrambled eggs, bacon, coffee, and freshly squeezed orange juice. Gibbs took the last bite of his breakfast and sat back rubbed his stomach.

"You two outdid yourselves. That was really good. Thanks. Now I'm back to being the boss. You two go put Christmas music on, and get your gifts ready while I do the dishes. If I'm not done by then go relax on the couch."

The girls thanked him and walked out. Gibbs started the dishes and a few minutes into doing that he found himself whistling to Christmas carols and he found he was actually enjoying himself.

About 10 minutes later, he finished and wiped his hands on the dish towel. He walked into the living room and found Abby sitting next to the tree Indian style, and found Ziva sitting on the couch. He sat on the couch next to Ziva and spoke.

"Ok. Who wants to go first?" Abby raised her hand.

"Gibbs I'm so excited I cant stand it. I HAVE to give you your present now. Please can I can I?" Gibbs looked at her.

"Ok Abbs. Since you cant wait, go ahead." Abby got up with a big box in her hands and walked over to Gibbs.

"Merry Christmas Gibbs. I know you are going to love it!"

Gibbs smiled at her as he tore the wrapping paper off. He looked at the big photo album in his hands. He opened it and got a shock look on his face.

"Abby…what in the world..how…when…." Abby smiled.

"Well old wise one. Since you love to keep your door unlocked even when you aren't home which is really dangerous Gibbs but we'll talk about that later. Anyway I've been sneaking over here on my lunch breaks and I put all those pictures you have in boxes upstairs into this big photo album for you. "

Gibbs looked at the book and smiled as he turned the pages where they were all of Kelly and Shannon except for the last couple of pages. Those pages were pictures of his team: Gibbs and Abby, Tony and Ziva, Ducky and Palmer…etc etc. Ziva looked with Gibbs, her head on his shoulder. He closed the book, looked at Abby, and opened his arms and she ran into them. He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed the top of her head.

"Thank you so much Abby. I love it. I will look at it all the time." They pulled apart and Ziva held out her gift to Gibbs.

"Here you go Gibbs. Merry Christmas."

Gibbs put his arm around her and with his free hand he opened up the envelope and took the card out. He opened it and again he got a shocked look on his face. He looked at Ziva.

"Ziver how in the world did you get these?" They were two tickets to see Barry Manilow as believe it or not Gibbs really liked his music. Ziva smiled.

"I have my ways. I know how much you like him, so I pulled a few strings." Gibbs took her hand.

"Thanks Ziva. I see there are two tickets. Of course you are coming with me." Ziva smiled as Gibbs kissed her forehead and got up off the couch.

"Thank you two so much. Now its your turn. Stay here."

He walked upstairs and came down about 30 seconds later with 2 little wrapped boxes in his hands. He handed one to Ziva and one to Abby.

"Merry Christmas you two." Abby and Ziva looked at each other and smiled as they opened up their presents. They opened up the boxes and gasped and looked at each other. Abby spoke.

"Gibbs….wow…its beautiful." Ziva looked up from her gift.

"Abby is right Gibbs. Absolutely beautiful."

Inside were two identical gold lockets, except Abbys had an A on hers, and Ziva had a Z on hers. Gibbs walked over to Abby and put it on and kissed her forehead, and then he did the same with Ziva. Ziva spoke.

"Gibbs I love it I really do, but you didn't have to…." Gibbs cut her off by putting a finger to her lips.

"You two are very special to me Ziver. You know I think of both of you like my daughters, and you both deserve them. They look great on both of you."

LATER IN THE AFTERNOON

Gibbs looked up from his book as he smelled the ham. Ziva and Abby kicked him out of the kitchen as they cooked so he picked up a book that McGee had given him and put on the slippers Tony had given him. He felt his mouth watering at the smell of the ham. He put the book down and walked into the kitchen where Abby was taking the ham out of the oven and Ziva was making the mashed potatoes. Gibbs insisted on setting the table. Soon they were sitting down to turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and corn. For dessert there was apple and pumpkin pie. Gibbs sat back.

"I thought you two outdid yourselves at breakfast but this dinner takes the cake. You both did a wonderful job. Thank you. Now what do you say you two go relax in the living room again while I do the dishes?" Abby shook her head.

"No way Gibbs. This is a super big mess." Gibbs shushed her.

"I don't care Abby. It's the least I can do after you two slaved in the kitchen making this wonderful dinner. Really I don't mind. Now scoot." Abby gave up and she and Ziva walked out of the kitchen.

Gibbs first put left overs into containers for Ziva and Abby to take home, and then put the rest in the refrigerator. He then attacked the dishes. After he was done with the dishes he wiped down the table.

He walked into the living room and smiled at the site. Ziva was laying on her back on the couch, with her legs hanging over the arm and her eyes closed. Abby was laying on the floor using Bert as a pillow and she was fast asleep. He grabbed two blankets and walked over to Abby and covered her. He kissed her forehead. He then walked over to Ziva, covered her and kissed her forehead. He stood up and whispered "Merry Christmas my two girls." He then went back to reading his book as he watched over his little girls.

Ok about the Barry Manilow thing. I am a big Barry Manilow fan and wanted to throw that in there.

HeHHHH