A/N: Blame Alexa for the present Gibbs gives to Lily. Once she gave me the idea, I had to run with it.
Chapter 4: Dec 25
Jennifer Shepard stretched languidly as she woke up. What to do, what to do. No need to get up immediately – her children had yet to jump up and down on the bed in an attempt to wake her up. And the room was too cold to consider getting up any time soon.
She was enjoying her lie-ins this week. No agency to run meant no early mornings, no alarms, no phone calls in the middle of the night when a certain agent pissed off another agency. In theory, she could stay in bed all day.
As if reading her thoughts, a warm body shifted next to her. "Merry Christmas," he whispered.
She smiled in the darkness. "And a very merry Christmas to you too," she replied.
"No kids yet?" he checked, sitting up slightly and looking all around as though they were about to pop up.
Which they seemed to do on a regular basis, always when they were about to start something as well. Gibbs had made noises about putting locks on doors but Jenny knew he would never follow through – he would never forgive himself if their children needed something urgently and he turned them away.
"Here's hoping Lily's keeping them occupied," she wished.
He groaned, having a few suspicions of his own of what she would be doing with them. "We should probably track them down…" But he didn't sound convinced.
"She won't kill them," Jenny promised. "You know what she's like – she'll have been up for hours and they won't be bothering her. We can have a little time to ourselves…"
A few hours later, after some quality time together, more sleep and individual showers, they emerged and headed downstairs. Abby's squeals could be heard from the top of the stairs.
"No presents," Lily repeated, Jenny suspected for the umpteenth time that morning. "Everyone has to be up and dressed before then."
"I think she means you have to put on more than your boxers, my little hairy butt," came Ziva's voice.
Jenny grinned as Jethro ran a hand across his face.
"DiNozzo!" he bellowed. "Put some clothes on!"
They rounded the doorway to find everyone minus McGee. The group had arranged themselves on the floor, Gabriel in Abby's lap. From a glance, Jenny suspected the presents had all been shaken and prodded, but not yet opened.
Tony had turned an interesting shade of red and rapidly pushed past them, hopefully on the search for clothes. Abby seemed delighted to see more faces, waving Gabriel's hand in their direction. Her nephew's face lit up and he gurgled something incomprehensible.
"Sit down," Lily ordered. "The floor's comfortable, although I've slept on enough concrete floors that I consider just about anything else to be comfortable."
"Where's McGee?" Gibbs asked as they sunk to the floor. Jenny decided it was more comfy than Lily let on.
"We have not seen him yet," Ziva offered.
"Camilla and Rose have been up for hours," Abby added as the twins launched themselves at their parents. "I've been up since 4 and they were awake then."
Jenny made a mental note to make sure her children had a nap at some point. Lily would have let them stay awake and had possibly given them sugar already.
Tony wandered back in, fully covered this time. "If the Probie isn't up in five minutes, I say we open everything anyway."
Paper was strewn everywhere and they were only halfway through everything. By the time McGee had appeared, Lily had ordered everyone into the kitchen and made them help her prepare lunch.
These days, away from the CIA, she was finding herself hungry on a regular basis. She supposed she had finally broken the habit of eating whatever she could within the two seconds she had had for mealtimes. Nowadays, she couldn't survive on pure coffee. And having Jasper living with her meant she had to stick to fairly normal mealtimes.
It had definitely been a culture shock, going from running around the world causing havoc for the CIA to raising two children full-time. She liked to think she was getting the hang of it but she couldn't let go of some old habits.
Including sleeping for only a handful of hours.
She found herself jogging in the early hours of the morning, throwing herself into cooking to keep her occupied and keeping Gabriel with her just about every hour of the day.
Part of her longed to return to her old job. Another part, the stronger part, kept reminding herself of just how much of Jasper's life she had missed and her desire to see at least one of her sons grow up properly. She had been offered a regular 9-5 job behind a desk at the agency, but turned it down – desk work always frustrated her. For the moment, she was sticking to her retirement plan.
Lunch had been enjoyable, especially as she had been able to assign LJ all the jobs she knew he hated. Abby had been so full of energy that Lily had quietly asked her to keep the children out of the kitchen, while she also attempted to keep Jenny from burning the whole place down.
The house still standing, everyone had tucked into an enormous meal. She had somehow ended up sitting next to one of her nieces – LJ's fault – so she found herself helping to mash food up and make sure it ended up in a mouth rather than on her. Gabriel and Jasper had been easier; the former had settled for a bottle of milk while the latter was capable of feeding himself.
And now they were back in the living room, in front of the fire, with piles of presents everywhere. Camilla and Rose were running around in delight, still unsure why they were being given so many gifts at the same time but clearly delighted with it. Lily wondered how much more sugar she could slip them before her sister caught her.
A present was handed to her and she checked the label.
"LJ! I'm surprised you bothered," she grinned.
He shot her a glare, which reminded her that she had gone out of her way to get him a good present this year – a 'good' present meaning something Jenny would agree with. Cufflinks. And an FBI hoodie.
She unwrapped the gift with her usual trepidation; she couldn't quit shake the urge that every wrapped thing was a bomb in disguise. A plain box greeted her.
"Open the lid," LJ suggested lazily.
Lily gave him a look which promised a slow death if it was something dangerous. The lid was slowly shifted upwards and she peeked inside, before pulling the whole thing off and glaring at her adversary.
"It's empty," she growled.
He leant across, checked the box for himself, and shrugged his shoulders. "It'll turn up," he countered.
Leroy Jethro Gibbs was keeping a close eye on his daughters.
He loved seeing the happiness on their faces as they opened each present. They needed a little steering away from the fire in the corner but everyone was helping out with that. And they seemed to enjoy prodding the tree so hard he was afraid it would fall on them.
But that wasn't entirely why he was watching them carefully for the moment. Lily's present was not in its box, which meant it could be anywhere. The last thing he wanted was for his children to find it before their aunt did.
Jenny quietly pulled him under the nearest bundle of mistletoe – Lily had literally stuck it everywhere, including his shower, the main downstairs bathroom and halfway up the stairs. After a quick glance to check someone had their eye on two redheaded menaces, he turned his attention to their mother.
A scrunched-up piece of wrapping paper hit him in the head and he broke their kiss, turning to glare at Lily. "You guys were scaring everyone," she grinned. "Even I know oxygen is needed at some point."
"Scram," Jenny ordered.
For once, Lily obeyed an order, heading in the general direction of the kitchen. Ignoring the hoots from DiNozzo which Gibbs knew Ziva would cut off in a moment, he kissed Jenny again.
It was a scream that interrupted them the second time.
A scream from the kitchen.
His first thought was that Lily was messing them about again. But then he remembered her missing present and decided it was entirely possible she had found it. Or possibly it had found her.
Everyone charged into the kitchen, guns drawn, ready for any intruder. Gibbs hadn't bothered reaching for his gun; he knew exactly what to expect.
Lily stood on top of the kitchen table, pale as a ghost. She was slowly backing towards the far side of the table. One hand shakily pointed to a spot in the corner.
Gibbs bent down and picked up the snake, lifting it up so the redhead could see it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jenny take a few steps back.
"That's where your Christmas present got to," he informed her, as innocently as he could manage.
Lily jumped off the table and disappeared out the back door at top speed. Still grinning, Gibbs began to look for a place to put Lily's new pet.
"Guess I forgot she's scared of snakes," he smirked.
It was the night of Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring.
Except for one person, who closed the front door quietly behind them as they left.
