By the time they all arrived at the cabin it was beginning to get dark and had started to snow. The mountains around them were already covered, and the trees looked like they'd been dusted with icing sugar.

Each car stopped in the snow covered parking area outside the cabin, and each team member gasped with delight as they looked at the sight before them. They all climbed stiffly out of their cars and looked at the large three storeys high, six bedroomed wooden cabin in front of them. It had a large window from the top floor down to the bottom of the gable end of the building, facing the stretching mountains beyond.

As they all walked in through the front door, they were amazed by the sheer size of the rooms, and their beauty. The front door opened immediately into the living room which was made from solid oak. There was an oak spiral staircase towards the back wall of the room, behind which was the kitchen. Adjacent to the kitchen was the dining room which opened immediately onto the living room. The living room itself was large, with two three seater sofas and several armchairs dotted around an open fire.

After a few moments of silence, the "kids" suddenly looked at each other before making a mad dash towards the stairs, shouting who was going to get which room. They were stopped immediately in their tracks by a loud whistle. They all turned round to find Penny standing behind them, slowly removing her fingers from her mouth.

'Wow Penny, where did you learn to whistle like that?' Tony asked in awe.

'My dad taught me when I was like six, when he took me to my first baseball game. Anyway, now that you've had a little Shepard history lesson, perhaps you will all be so kind to let mommy and daddy have first pick of the bedrooms?' She said, receiving a grateful smile from a very exhausted looking Jenny.

The team sheepishly took a few steps back and allowed Jenny and Gibbs to pass them. They walked immediately up to the top floor into the room on its own. It was the largest room in the cabin, with a double four poster bed against the back wall, adjacent to a small bay window complete with window seat. Opposite the bed was a small wardrobe, chest of drawers and a dressing table. To the left of the bed was their own en suit bathroom, complete with a shower.

On entering the room the first thing Jenny did was to flump down onto the bed, almost falling asleep immediately. Gibbs smirked at her as he watched her sleeping form, and carefully placed their suitcase beside her to begin unpacking. He carefully placed their items of clothing in the drawers or in the wardrobe, occasionally stopping to look at the woman he loved.

Downstairs the rest of the team were still arguing about who was going to have which room. Abby had already sent Ducky up to choose his room, and he was grateful to be able to get out of the firing line.

Although the cabin was large and had six bedrooms, only three of these had en suit bathrooms. Jenny and Gibbs already had one, and Ducky had taken the only single room with en suit. That left only one double room with en suit. Given that Abby and Jimmy would be sleeping on their own, they had resigned their fate to getting a room without a bathroom, leaving Penny, McGee, Tony and Ziva to argue over who got the remaining en suit bedroom.

'Well I'm senior field agent, therefore Ziva and I should have the en suit.' Tony shouted as he raised his voice over the din being made by the others.

'Tony you always use the excuse that you're the senior field agent, so I think Penny and I should get the en suit room. Besides, it was her mom who arranged this trip.' McGee argued back.

'PROBIE!' Tony shouted as he chastised the younger agent in his usual tone.

Penny, Abby and Ziva rolled their eyes as the two of them continued to argue. The three of them quietly discussed their options before coming to a sensible conclusion. Abby and Ziva indicated to Penny to once again whistle to bring the arguing to a close. They all covered their ears and winced as the loud noise bounced off the walls.

'Jeezo guys you're enough to wake the dead.' Penny said, and smirked when Abby gave a little cheer of delight at that thought.

'Right we have decided that Jimmy should take the remaining en suit bedroom, then we will share one bathroom and you two can share the other.' Ziva explained calmly, indicating Tony and McGee.

'Wait, you expect us to share?' Tony stammered in disbelief as he pointed from himself to McGee a couple of times.

'Well count yourself lucky they're only making you share a bathroom DiNozzo.' Gibbs said as he made his way down the stairs.

Penny looked behind him in the hope of seeing Jenny, but was dismayed when she didn't appear.

'Where's Mom?' She asked hopefully.

'Out for the count I'm afraid. We'll be lucky if we see her again before morning.' He said as he joined them.

They all went their separate ways to their agreed bedrooms, with both Tony and McGee begrudgingly placing their toiletries into their shared bathroom. Once everyone was unpacked they all made their way to the living room, where Abby and Penny began to hang some tinsel and decorations. They did not, as yet, have a tree, but that was something Gibbs was going to do the next day. Until then the team enjoyed the rest of the decorations, with Ziva and Tony cutting out some snowflakes to stick onto the patio doors.

When the team tired of their decorating they gathered round to watch a Christmas movie, which marked the start of many movies to come in the two weeks that they would be together. They stayed up and watched the Nightmare before Christmas, because it was Abby's favourite, and then watched White Christmas, because it was, in Tony's opinion, a cinematic masterpiece. By the time they'd finished the time was going on for well passed one in the morning. Gibbs and Ducky had long since decided to go to bed, leaving "the kids" to it.

'Ok, ok, what about the time Probie ended up running through a car wash?' Tony laughed as the team discussed some of their funniest arrests and chases.

Tony sat on the sofa next to Ziva, his arm draped round her shoulders as she lovingly leant into him. McGee sat sleepily on the sofa next to them, a beer in his hand and Penny sat on the floor at his feet. She preferred sitting on the floor, resting her head against his legs. Abby also sat on the floor leaning against the coffee table. Jimmy sat in one of the armchairs next to the fire, something he was regretting as he became over hot from the emanating heat. They all sipped on their beers and laughed quietly, enjoying each other's company without a case getting in the way, or the need to urgently visit a crime scene.

'You know Kate would have loved this.' Abby said, referring to ex special agent Kate Todd.

'Who's Kate?' Penny asked as she took a sip of her beer.

'She is your predecessor. You'd love her Pennla!' Abby stated with excitement.

'Oh right cool. So what happened to her to make her leave our happy family?' She asked with curiosity.

'Well about a year ago we dealt with a murder on board Yankee One, you know, the President's airplane. Anyway, the head of the secret service was so impressed with her performance that he offered her a position protecting the President. She wasn't going to accept the offer originally, but Gibbs persuaded her that it was an offer too good to pass up.' Abby explained enthusiastically.

'Wow, she sounds like my kind of girl.' Penny replied with a laugh. 'Any chance she may be able to join us?'

'Well I could ask her tomorrow I guess. The only problem is where she would stay though.' Abby replied.

'I'm sure we could figure something out Abs.' Tony said thoughtfully as he tried to figure out a solution in his mind, excitement building at the prospect of their friend joining them.

As the early hours of the morning dawned, one by one each team member left for their bed. They were all very excited about their trip and about what adventures they could get up to; but for now the most important thing was for them to get some rest.