Rating: K+
Summary:
The military turns friends into family… even friends you've never met.


He's Not Heavy, He's My Brother

"What about this one?" Tony asked.

"Too big," Gibbs answered.

"This one?"

"Nah," Gibbs said shaking his head. "It's too full, looks overgrown."

Tony walked a little further and pointed at another tree on the Christmas tree farm.

"Too many pine cones."

Tony turned around and pointed at another one and Gibbs silently shook his head.

"Ugh! I give up. You pick one," he said angrily.

"Alright," Gibbs said.

The two continued wandering around the tree farm, Tony following behind Gibbs and making faces at him the entire time. Choosing a tree wasn't supposed to be so complicated. After a little contemplation Gibbs stopped in front of a nice looking Christmas tree and smiled. It wasn't huge but it wasn't tiny either. It was filled out with being over grown and was nicely shaped.

Tony walked around it, examining it from every angle before nodding. "Nice, I like it."

"Good," Gibbs said. "I'll go get the truck. You wait here with the tree and, Tony, I'll know if you move to a different one."

"After spending four hours here, I wouldn't dream of it," Tony said.

Gibbs walked back to where he and Tony had left his truck and headed back towards where Tony was waiting. He'd just made the turn down the path when a child ran out in front of the truck. He slammed on his brakes, narrowly avoiding hitting the little one. He threw the truck in park and hopped out.

"Hey kiddo," he said looking around for a parent. "Whatcha doing?"

"Pickin' a tree," the little boy said.

"Where's your mom and dad?"

"Daddy's fightin' a war and Mommy is somewhere."

Gibbs smiled at the answer. "I'm Gibbs, what's your name?"

"Gibbs is a funny name. I never heard nobody named that before."

"Gibbs is my last name. That's what everybody calls me. What do people call you?"

"Jacob," the little boy answered. "I'm five!"

"Let's see if we can find your mom, Jacob," Gibbs said holding out his hand.

Jacob took Gibbs' hand and the two headed back in the direction Jacob had come from. They weren't walking long before Gibbs heard a woman calling out Jacob's name. He followed the voice and a young lady sitting on a blanket on the ground in front of a tree with a little girl, younger than Jacob, in her lap.

"He belong to you?" Gibbs asked.

"Oh my gosh. I am so sorry," the woman said. "I hope he wasn't bothering you."

Gibbs contemplated telling her he'd almost hit the boy with his truck but she looked like she was already well passed stressed. "Need some help?"

"I-I-I couldn't bother you," she said.

"It's no trouble," Gibbs said. "Is this the tree you guys picked?"

"Yes," the woman said. "I started cutting it down but I had to take a break."

"Jacob, let's see if we can help Momma finish cutting your tree down. What do you say, Buddy?"

"But I'm just a little guy. I don't even eat my peas so my musk-cles don't work good."

"I don't eat my peas either," Gibbs said making a face. "Maybe we if we both use our muscles we can get it down."

The woman stood with her daughter and moved off the blanket so Gibbs and Jacob could lay down.

"I'm Gibbs, by the way," he said as he got Jacob positioned in front of him.

"I'm Courtney," the woman said. "This is my daughter, Emma and it would appear you've already met Jacob."

"Your husband deployed?" Gibbs asked as he helped Jacob get his hands positioned on the saw and they started cutting.

"Yes," Courtney answered. "This is our first Christmas without him." She paused to try to compose herself. The last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of this stranger. "I'm sorry," she said, fighting back tears. "I think this is the hardest I've ever done... not having him here."

"It's okay," Gibbs said. "We'll get you all taken care of. Right Jacob? We're gonna help Mommy, aren't we?"

"Yep! Daddy says I'm the man of the house till he can come home."

"That's right," Gibbs said. "The tree's getting ready fall. What do we say?"

"TIMBER!" Jacob yelled.

Gibbs pushed the tree over and Jacob clapped at their success. "Good job, partner," Gibbs said holding his hand out for a high five.

Jacob slapped his hand dramatically and danced around the newly fallen tree.

"Do you have a car or a truck I can help you load the tree in?" Gibbs asked Courtney.

Courtney let out a defeated sigh and slumped her shoulders ever farther. "I didn't drive back here. Our car is up front at the little shop."

"If you don't mind waiting for me to cut my tree down I can give you guys a ride back in my truck."

"I um, I don't know," Courtney said nervously.

Gibbs reached into his pocket and pulled his badge out. "I'm with NCIS. I'm also a former Marine. You can trust me."

Courtney breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I hope you're not offended. It's just, the kids."

"I understand," Gibbs said with a wink. "Jacob, can you help me drag this tree back to the truck?"

"Uh-huh," Jacob said.

Gibbs helped Jacob drag the tree and the group headed back to Gibbs' truck. Gibbs lifted the tree into the bed of the truck while Courtney got the kids into the warm cab then they headed farther down the path to where Tony was still waiting.

"Did you get lost?" Tony asked when Gibbs got out of the truck.

"Nope," Gibbs answered. "Picked up some passengers."

"Oh," Tony said looking into the truck. "Who are they?"

"Courtney's the mom and Emma and Jacob are her children. Her husband's deployed."

"Okay," Tony said.

"Gibbs! Ya need my help again?" Jacob called from an open window in the truck.

"Sure, kiddo, come on over," Gibbs said.

Courtney got out with the kids and Jacob raced over to Gibbs. Gibbs introduced everyone then Tony let Jacob help him cut their tree down. Both yelled 'timber' loud enough Gibbs was pretty sure everyone at the tree farm heard them. They put the tree in the bed of the truck with the other one then Tony climbed back there with Jacob so the girls could ride in the warm cab with Gibbs. Gibbs took them back to the little shop and everyone piled out.

"Which car is yours?" Gibbs asked Courtney.

"That one," Courtney said pointing towards an older model Buick.

"Alright, take your kids inside and get 'em some cocoa and I'll get the trees shook out and wrapped and make sure yours gets on your car."

"Thank you," Courtney said. "I can't thank you enough."

"Not a problem. Tony, you wanna help her with the kids? I'll take care of the trees."

"Yep!"

"I gotta help with the trees too," Jacob said.

"Alright," Gibbs said with a smile. "We'll be in in a minute."

Jacob watched in awe as the attendants shook the trees out and got the all wrapped up. After making sure Courtney's tree would be secured to the roof of her car, Gibbs took the price tags inside to pay then he and Jacob joined the other group at the table where they were drinking their cocoa.

"Did you help Gibbs with all that manly tree business, Jacob?" Tony asked.

"Yep!"

"Good job. Got ya some hot chocolate."

"Careful, Jacob," Courtney said. "It's very hot, sweetheart."

"How long has your husband been deployed?" Gibbs asked.

"Five months," Courtney answered.

"Which branch?"

"He's a Marine," she said. "We were high school sweethearts and with the economy being so bad he had no choice but to enlist when I got pregnant with Jacob, not that he doesn't love his country and love being a Marine."

"People enlist for all kinds of different reasons," Gibbs said.

"I should probably go pay for my tree before they think I'm trying to steal it or something," Courtney said.

"It's been taken care of," Gibbs said.

"Let me pay you back. How much was it?"

"That's not necessary," Gibbs replied. "So, is Emma always this quiet?" he asked wanting to change the subject. He knew how little money soldiers made and how tight their budgets were, especially around the holidays. He and Shannon had sometimes had to borrow a little money from their parents just to make sure Kelly had a Merry Christmas.

"Yes she is," Courtney answered. "Quiet and attached to mom. Her daddy's job doesn't really provide a lot of mental stability. He disappears so much. Sometimes I wonder what she's thinking. Does she wonder if I'm gonna disappear too and that's she won't leave my side? I don't know."

"It's hard being a military family," Gibbs said. "Just love 'em and everything'll be okay."

Once they were finished with their hot chocolate, Tony lifted Jacob onto his shoulders and they all headed back out to the parking lot.

"I don't know how I would've made it through this morning without all your help," Courtney said. "Thank you both."

"It's no trouble at all," Gibbs said. He pulled a business card out of his wallet and handed it to her while Tony and Jacob made sure the tree was securely attached to the roof of the car. "If you ever need anything, anything, call me, day or night."

"Thank you."

Gibbs nodded and smiled at little Emma, still perched in her mother's arms.

"Tree's good," Tony said. "It's not going anywhere."

"Thank you, Tony. Jacob, can you say thank and good bye to our new friends?"

"Why goodbye?" Jacob asked.

"Because they're going home to decorate their Christmas tree and we're going home to decorate ours."

"But I don't wanna say goodbye," Jacob said. "I wanna cut more trees and shake 'em and tie 'em up and drink more hot chocolate."

"We only need one tree, baby," Courtney said.

"Will Daddy have a tree too?"

"I don't know. We can ask him in our next letter. Say goodbye to Gibbs and Tony."

"Bye," Jacob said with a little wave.

"Goodbye, big man," Tony said as he patted Jacob's head.

"Make sure you keep helping your momma," Gibbs said as he tickled Jacob's cheek.

"I will," Jacob promised.

Gibbs and Tony helped Courtney get the kids in the car then waved goodbye before returning to their truck.

"How did you find them?" Tony asked as they buckled up.

"I almost hit Jacob with the truck," Gibbs answered. He turned it on and pulled out of their parking spot. "He ran out in front of me when I was heading back towards you. Courtney looked like she was on the verge of a meltdown."

"He's got a lot of energy, that's for sure," Tony said.

"I bet he's a handful," Gibbs said. "Deployments are just as hard on the families as they are on the soldiers."

"How else could we help them?" Tony asked.

"For Shannon and I money was always tight," Gibbs said. "Shannon was good a stretching a dollar but if it weren't for my dad and her mom there's no way Santa could've gotten Kelly everything she wanted."

Tony smiled as he reached over and held Gibbs' hand. He loved hearing stories about the man's past. "I have an idea," he said.


Courtney got up at the crack of dawn on Christmas Eve just like she did every other day. She'd grown accustomed to getting up with her husband and even though he wasn't there, she'd continued it. With two little ones to care for it was her only quiet time.

She started a pot of coffee then headed for the front door to retrieve the newspaper. When she opened the door her mouth fell open in shock. Bags of groceries filled one half of her porch and the other half was filled with bags of brightly wrapped presents. She looked out at the quiet street but saw no sign of the do-gooder. After wiping the moisture from her cheeks she stared up at the sky and whispered a quiet thank you before she started taking the bags inside. Her family was going to Merry Christmas after all.

Gibbs and Tony watched from just out of sight as Courtney wiped the tears from her eyes before taking the bags into her house.

"Look what you did," Tony said as he whacked Gibbs in the chest, "you made her cry."

"We made her cry," Gibbs corrected, "and I'll take those happy tears over the defeated tears that were streaming down her face at the tree farm any day."

It had been Tony's idea to buy presents for the family and Gibbs' to make sure they had a feast big enough to feed half the neighborhood. To them it was a small gesture compared to the sacrifice the family was making but they knew to Courtney, Jacob, Emma and their father still serving overseas it meant the world.

End