Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life. I don't make any money on this either.

Holiday Spirits (A Tibbs Christmas Carol)

Chapter 2 – A Lack of Holiday Spirit

It was cold and blustery outside. There had been more snow than Jethro had expected. It must have started falling faster after he had drifted back to sleep. The snow had closed all of the schools and many businesses. Jethro had been surprised to find the coffee shop open but apparently the owner lived above the shop. He picked up an extra cup as he did not plan to go back out until the end of the day.

The MCRT team was off rotation this holiday which was why the most of the team had been able to travel. Jethro found he didn't want to sit around an empty house all day so he came in to keep busy. He expected to be alone in the bullpen to go through cold cases and paperwork. It was a good way to keep his mind off of his disturbing dreams and the persistent thoughts of Tony that kept creeping into his head.

After about an hour of concentrating on a cold case that Pacci had started years ago, he almost spit out the sip of coffee he had in his mouth when he heard a loud, cheery voice yell, "Merry Christmas, Agent Gibbs!"

Jethro looked up to see Jimmy Palmer wearing a green hat with a red ball on the top of it. He also had on the ugliest Christmas sweater Jethro had ever seen.

"To you too, Palmer. Thought you'd be off today with that girl of yours," Jethro said.

"Breena's making her first holiday meal for both sets of our parents and wanted me out of the way." Jimmy blushed as he laughed. "I think she's afraid I'd drop the turkey. I needed a way to kill some time so I thought I'd finish the inventory."

"Sounds nice," Jethro replied half-heartedly. He liked Jimmy well enough. He just wasn't in the right frame of mind for chit chat.

"Here's a present for you." Jimmy held out a small wrapped box. "I didn't really know what to get you so Breena helped. She loves shopping. She could have been one of Santa's elves. I hoped you liked it. I'm never really sure…"

"That's thoughtful of you but you shouldn't have," Jethro said interrupting him. He'd already had enough of Jimmy's holiday cheerfulness.

"Oh – it's nothing really…just a tea infuser mug. Dr. Mallard said he'd finally shown you the proper way to brew tea. Breena found it online."

Jethro took a deep breath to prevent himself from saying something sarcastic as he took the box from him. He doubted he ever used a tea infuser. Jimmy was completely into the holiday spirit and had that annoying joie de vivre that all new couples had when they were in love. It wasn't his fault that Jethro was in no mood to be able to tolerate it.

Just then the elevator dinged and Jethro looked up to see a snow-covered Tony walking in. He ignored how his heart skipped a beat as he saw Tony's face, flushed from the cold. The bright grin warmed Jethro unexpectedly. He didn't think he'd see Tony in the office that day.

"HO HO HO!" Tony greeted the almost empty bullpen loudly. "Oh ho! Autopsy Gremlin, are you delivering coal to all the bad little NCIS agents?" Tony winked at the young man who blushed furiously.

"Tony! I thought you weren't coming in." Jimmy seemed inordinately pleased to see Tony.

"Plans changed. Breakfast was…postponed, shall we say. Since I was already out in the weather, I thought I'd come in. Criminals never take a holiday, isn't that right, Boss?"

Jethro realized he meant his father had stood him up once again but, as usual, Tony was hiding his disappointment under a happy façade. Tony had several bags in his hands which he sat down on his desk before beginning to remove his dark wool coat and leather gloves. Jethro had to hide a smirk as he watched Tony shake his head like a dog removing snow from his fur.

Tony was wearing an expensive, well-cut suit. He must have been hoping to impress his father. Jethro preferred Tony in more casual clothes like jeans and a dark turtle neck. Not so much because of how he looked but because of what it meant. A suit meant Tony felt the need for some kind of armor because he felt insecure. Senior's presence was once again making Tony feeling vulnerable and Jethro didn't like that. "You could have done something else, DiNozzo. Kind of slow in here today," Jethro said.

"What – and miss the instant hot cocoa that's available to warm up with? I even brought real marshmallows!" Tony pulled a package of multi-colored miniature marshmallows out of the bag.

"Ooh – I love those," Jimmy said excitedly.

"I know you do. Thought of you as soon as I saw them." Tony said. "I was going to leave them downstairs for you but seeing as you're here, let's break into them." Tony and Jimmy looked at each other in gleeful anticipation.

Jethro looked between them and suddenly wondered about their relationship. He'd heard that they had become friends when he was in Mexico. He also vaguely remembered Jimmy mentioning that the two of them had taken dancing lessons. Could that be right? Did Tony dance? He felt a surge of what he refused to call jealousy go through him. How much did Jimmy and Tony know about each other? Did Tony know more about Jimmy than he did about him? Jethro didn't like the idea of them spending time together. It made him feel itchy and he didn't know why. Jimmy was with Breena and he was totally straight, as was Tony, right? Jethro shook his head. Why on earth was he even having a thought like this? It was making him uncomfortable.

Tony looked over at Jethro. "How about you, Boss? Do you like marshmallows in your cocoa?"

"What do you think?" Jethro said a little testier than he had planned.

"Right. No marshmallows or cocoa for you, then,'' Tony said looking at Jethro oddly.

"I'll go make it, Tony," Jimmy offered, looking into the bag and pulling out the instant cocoa box. "By the way, we're going to have a game night on Tuesday if you want to come. You can bring your Dad if you like." Jimmy sounded eager to have Tony participate. "Breena thinks she can totally beat you at Apples to Apples this time."

Jethro looked up to see how pleased Tony looked at being invited and his heart felt like it was being constricted. "Don't you have some work you need to be doing, Palmer?" Jethro snapped. He cringed at the tone in his voice. He hadn't meant to sound so sharp. He wondered how he could go from pleasantly amused to irritated by Palmer in the space of a couple of minutes.

Jimmy visibly deflated. "Yeah, I guess I can go do that inventory."

Tony handed the bag of marshmallows to Jimmy. "Here, take them. I'll talk to you later. Don't think Dad will be making it but I'll plan to be there." His voice was quiet and Jethro had to strain to hear him. Seeing Jimmy deflated made Jethro feel as if he'd kicked a puppy. He wouldn't break Rule 6 for the man but he needed to say something. "Hey, Palmer?"

Jimmy hesitated and looked at him questioningly.

"Thanks for the gift and…Merry Christmas, Jimmy." Jethro tried to sound pleasant.

"You too, Agent Gibbs." Jimmy seemed a little buoyed by the effort Jethro had made. His smile was back in place, if not as broad and genuine as before.

"Boss?'' Tony asked after Jimmy left, "Everything okay?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Jethro asked. He was going to ignore the seesaw his emotions seemed to be riding. 'It was the holidays', he reminded himself. They always made him cranky.

Tony walked over to Jethro's desk and sat a brightly and badly wrapped present down on it.

Jethro's heart sank. If Tony was giving him his present now, it definitely meant he was not coming over that evening. Jethro would spend Christmas Eve alone because Tony preferred spending time with a father that had neglected him his entire life over him.

"Here, I thought you'd like this. It's your very own copy of It's a Wonderful Life." Tony was grinning at him. "I thought you'd like to watch it tonight…"

Something in Jethro snapped. "You thought what? That I'd want to carry on the infamous 'DiNozzo' family tradition?! Some family, Tony. Your dad stood you up again? Shocking. No matter how many times you watch that thing, it will never make up for the fact that your 'family' doesn't seem to give a damn about you but you keep chasing your own tail after it. A movie is a piss poor substitute for a real family. Keep it. Much good may it do you. Much good it has ever done you!''

Tony looked as if he had been slapped and his face paled as he backed away. "Er…I guess you're right. You're not really a movie fan. It was a dumb idea. I'll just…um…maybe I'll donate it somewhere. I'm going to the head." He sped out of the bullpen.

Jethro felt horrible. He hated seeing Tony like that and hated it more that he was the cause. How could he have gone off like that? What was wrong with him? He hit Tony right where he knew it would hurt him most. "Tony? I…," he called out after his retreating agent.

The phone rang. He would have ignored it, but it was Vance. "Gibbs," he answered curtly.

"Merry Christmas to you, too," Vance responded, sarcasm dripping in his voice.

Jethro rubbed his forehead trying to stave off a headache. "Director?" Jethro asked, "I thought you were taking a few days off?" Jethro could hear Vance's kids laughing in the background. It soured his mood even more.

"I was but I just got a call. A petty officer's child has been kidnapped. The on-call team is tied up on another case. Can you take the lead? Call in whoever you need."

"DiNozzo's already here. I'll take him."

"How about the others?"

"McGee and Ziva are out of town."

"You can call Balboa. I think he's around," Vance suggested.

"I will if I have to but you know Tony and I manned the MCRT team for over a year with just the two of us. I think we can handle it." Jethro hated it when anyone suggested Tony wasn't enough back-up for Jethro. Tony had had Jethro's six for far longer than any other agent and he trusted Tony with his life.

"Do what you need to," Vance conceded. "Write this down."

Jethro took all the information down that Vance had given him and hung up. He grabbed his and Tony's bags as well as Tony's coat and gloves. He went in search of the other man and found him rinsing his face in the men's room.

"Come on, Tony. We have a case." Jethro considered apologizing but he didn't know where to start. He also knew that once he started, he might not be able to stop and they had a little girl to find.

"Okay." Tony dried his face.

Jethro handed him his coat. Tony shrugged it on and took his gloves as he walked past Jethro without saying another word. He went by close enough for Jethro to smell his cologne. Jethro turned his face to take a deep breath to enjoy the scent and noticed the discarded dvd in the trash. He pulled it out and shoved it into his bag with a grimace. He would have to break Rule 6 later with Tony but for now they had to focus on finding Missy Johnson.

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