Chapter 4

Why does Gibbs hate Christmas?

"OK everyone out!"Kate screamed, Jazper on her hip.

Grere had taken quiet a liking to Gibbs and was settled in on his hip.

The boys came running out of the house, grabbing there beanies and gloves as they went. Paul had said they should take the sleds and ride then down then hill. On one side of the street was houses the other was vacant land, perfect for sledding.

They had three sleds. Paul went down first so he could help everyone "bail" at the end.

After about an hour Gibbs said he would walk Jazper down and that he didn't want to ride down. Kate was extremely curious by this point. Why was Gibbs so quick to steer clear of family/Christmassy type things? It had been an hour and all he did was make up excuses as to why he didn't want to ride.

She decided to drop it as she speed down the hill with Grere. The twins were beside her and rapidly over taking her.

"Go faster Auntie Kate! Faster!"

"Hahaha you guys are so slow" Tyler cried out

"Yer girls suck"

"Hey take that back Fletcher! And we are soooo going to kick your butt!" Kate screamed.

They were more than 3m away from each other therefore making communication hard.

Paul, who had noticed they weren't paying attention to where they were decided to remind them they were less than 5m away from the road.

"BAIL" he shouted.

Kate immediately realizing what was going on grabbed Grere around the chest and stomach and rolled off the sled leaving Paul with enough time to grab it before it flew across the road.

"I SAID BAIL!"

Kate suddenly became very aware that the twins had not bailed yet.

"BAIL GUYS!" she screamed urgently

The boys had started screaming and moving around causing the sledge to slow down, but not enough. It flew past Paul almost cutting into his leg. It skidded across the road coming to a halt on the other side. The boys, now very scared, ran straight into there aunties arms.

Gibbs felt a serge of sadness cross his body. He saw Kate looking at him and quickly pulled himself together.

"Shall we head back now?"

Grere jumped up immediately

"No way! We haven't built a snow man and snow angels or"

"A snow fight!" Tyler pitched in now breaking free of his aunt's grasp.

The next hour past with them building a snow man making many snow angels on the ground and then starting a massive snow fight. They decided to play pairs. Kate and Paul, The twins and Gibbs and Grere were the teams. Jazper was going to sit on the sledge and play with snow.

They fought for half an hour until it was just Kate and Paul on Gibbs. Grere had deserted him when she had found a small tree to climb.

Paul and Gibbs were throwing balls at each other when Kate crept round behind Gibbs and was about to bombard him with snow balls when he turned around causing her to fall bring him down too. They both burst into laughter.

Once Kate had pushed herself off him she just flopped in the snow beside him.

"Well that's not what I expected"

"Of course not Gibbs" Kate Giggled.

Gibbs jumped up offering his hand to Kate. She accepted and he pulled her up with force causing her to almost fall into his arms. They stared into each others eyes for what seemed like eternity, until there heard the whinging voices

"I'm cold"

"I'm hungry"

"I'm bored"

"Auntie Katie it's almost dark, maybe we should head back now"

"Alrighty then Paul, everyone back up the hill! Jazper, Grere I want each of you to sit on a sled ok?"

"Yep"

"Oh why can't we sit on a sledge why do they get too?"

"Because you 2 are big 10yr olds now. Now march!"

Gibbs was starting to enjoy this and was sure this Christmas would be a Christmas to remember. He had hated Christmas ever since he was 7. Now Gibbs knew that that would be a Christmas he would always remember.

Flashback

A young boy ran down the stairs of his beautiful home. It was Christmas Eve day. Tomorrow was Christmas. He ran out onto the porch to where his mother was sitting at the end. He grabbed a flower from the over hanging vines and walked over to his mother.

"Morning mummy. I got you a flower, do you like it?"

"Oh Jethro it's beautiful! Do you know what day it is?"

"Yup the day before Christmas. I am going to stay up all night and wait for Santa to come. Do you wanna join me?"

"No you can't do that darling" his mother said gently as she lifted him into her arms. "Santa won't come if you are not sound asleep in bed. Now you want Santa to come right?"

"Oh yes of course! I am going to bed at 8 tonight mummy" Jethro exclaimed as he took off to the shed upon hearing his father coming.

"What the hell is that boy doing!"

"He is playing Sandy, let him be, he his only a kid and he worked so hard yesterday."

"So I work hard every friggin day of my life!" Sandy screamed

Jethro looked over towards his parents. His father scared him. He towered over his mother. She was small built, medium height and very skinny. She had porcelain type skin and beautiful curly brown hair that stoped just below her shoulders. Jethro loved playing with it. He would pull one ringlet only it would immediately bounce back up. She was so loving and soft.

His father on the other hand was tall, muscly and a grump. He had brown skin from being in the sun his whole life. His black hair was at a respective length.

He was so much taller than mum yet she never felt intimidated by him. He hadn't always been mean, just the last 2yrs the crops were failing, wild dogs killing the sheep and horses being stolen. Now that was enough to put anyone in a bad mood but he was also mean to Jethro and his mother.

"Sandy calm down you are scaring him" she hissed glancing over to Jethro

"Scaring him! SCARYING HIM! Nancy I don't give a damn. TELL HIM IF HE DOESN'T GET HIS ARSE OVER HERE AND HELP COLLECT WOOD FOR THE FIRE THERE IS NO CHRISTMAS!"

Now Jethro heard this and took off toward the house as fast as his little legs could take him.

That night his mother sang Hush little baby, Jingle bells, Rudolf the red nose reindeer and Silent night to him. They said a short pray to god.

"Dear God

We pray that on Christmas you will be watching over our family and ensuring they have a happy and safe Christmas. We also pray for all our friends and there family.

Keep them safe from harm."

"And I pray that Santa gives me lots of presents!" Jethro piped up.

Nancy had to laugh at this.

"Amen" they said in unison.

"Jethro, you remember what I told you? About how Christmas is not all about Presents?"

"Yes mum. It's about Jesus and seeing your family……………..AND presents!" In a matter of fact, yes you told me a million times before, tone.

Crying from laughing so much, Nancy kissed him on the head and tucked him in

"Goodnight my precious little boy. And remember I will love you always and will always be proud of you."

"I love you toooo-yawn-ooo mummy."

"Merry Christmas babe" she said as she closed the door on the way out.

"I DON'T CARE SANDY! YOU CAN'T DO IT!"

"WATCH ME!"

"I WONT LET YOU!"

Jethro woke up at the sound of his parents yelling. He crept out of bed. He could see a small amount of light under his door. He opened it as quietly as possible, silently walked down the hallway and down 5 stairs exactly before sitting down. He could see his mother. She looked terrified. He suddenly felt cold. She was always so strong, why was she shaking?

His father was wobbling. He was drunk again, but Jethro had never seen him this drunk. What was going on? Why were they yelling?
"Argh"

That scream pulled Jethro out of his thought and that scream would continue to haunt him along with the events that followed for the rest of his life.

His father had slapped his mother him the back of his hand with such force she was on the floor, blood coming out of her lip.

His father then started laying into her, punching her and kicking her before picking up a paper weight and bringing it down on her head.

Jethro screamed as he saw his mother hit the floor. He ran down the stairs and jumped on his fathers back in a desperate attempt to get him away from his mother. He was thrown onto the wall then picked up by his pj's and held to the wall. His father stared into his eyes, the hatred evident in them.

"Anyone that wants one of you beings are idiots" he snarled before hitting him with the back of his hand and walking out.

Jethro sat up; he could here the car zooming down the street, and crawled over to his mother.

"Mummy? Mummy please wake up?"

He sprung up. His mother had always taught him what to do if either of his parents got hurt working on the farm and the other wasn't home. He didn't think this was any different so he ran to the phone and picked it up only to drop again. His hand was killing him. Using the other hand he dialled 911 then picked the phone up.

After hanging up he looked at the clock. It was one minute past 12. He glanced over by the tree. Santa hadn't been. He went over to the dinning table, picked up a chair and carried it over and placed it in front of the chimney.

"GO AWAY SANTA!" he screamed tears pouring down his little face.

He walked over to the tree and grabbed his present for his mother. Grasping it in his little hand he sat by his mother and cried holding onto her.

He didn't want to let go off his mother when the ambulance came. The let him ride with her in the back but he lost her in the hospital. A young nurse named rosy came and took him into an exam room where she bandaged his hand up, cleaned his cuts up and gave him a quick check over to for safety.

He sat in a chair outside the room his mother has in. They had to take her into surgery when she first came in. His nanna and pop were on there way.

He walked into the room to see his mother lying there in the bed eyes closed.

"Mummy" he whispered

She didn't respond.

"Merry Christmas mummy" he said tears streaming down his face. He carefully unwrapped his present to her and placed in around her neck. It was a necklace with shells, seeds and rocks threaded down the string. His grandparents were watching from the window. They walked in to tell him the bad news.

"Jethro, my little man come here and sit on poppy's lap." He waited until he was curled up and had his arm around the little guy before continuing. His wife had moved over to her daughter's bed and was holding her hand. "Your mother was hit pretty hard on the head and it has caused some damage. The doctor said she has suffered and will probably have problems for the rest off her life."

"I don't understand poppy"

"The paper weight made her very weak. From now on she is going to need special treatment and special care also. There is also the possibility that she might have memory loss but they wont know that till she wakes up." tears started to run down his face.

He hugged Jethro and looked across at his wife who had been silently crying the whole time.

"This necklace you made your mummy is beautiful baby"

"Thanks nanna."

"Come on lets go champ" his pop lifted him up and placed him in the centre of his stomach. He was so small his head barley reached his pops chin. His nanna walked out first followed by his pop. He peered over his pops shoulder at the last look he would get to see of his mother. He placed his head down on his pops shoulder and allowed himself to be carried home.

It was all through the news the next day but he didn't care. His grandparents had tried to cheer him up but nothing could. His mother had been moved to a special facility for her needs so Jethro couldn't even see her Christmas day.

He had found out that morning that his father had passed out at the wheel last night while driving away, swerved onto the other side of the road and hit a car with a young couple and there baby girl in it. He had died instantly and the girl's parents had died in hospital.

He felt bad for the little girl. She was just like him now. But he felt nothing for his father. He had taken his mother away from him and wrecked Christmas. He hated him and he hated god. His mother always said he would look over him and he believed it but not anymore.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS GOD? HOW" he screamed up at the roof. This caused his grandparents to run in.

"Hush now baby. Its 4 in the morning. Try to get some sleep."

Jethro never believed in Christmas again. Never celebrated it. To him it was just another day. His grandparents tried to get him into the Christmas spirit but never succeeded year after year. He never did go to his father's funeral and to this day had never visited the grave site and never would. He never saw his mother again either. When he was 16 he left his grandparent place and tried to find his mother but didn't succeed. And still to this day the young Jethro had no idea what his parents where fighting over. That day he walked out of graduation he vowed to one day find his mother, find out what they were fighting about and try to stop this happening again to another family.

END FLASHBACK

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Ok so here is the next chapter. Hope u like it.

The bail thing actually happened to me at Christmas in 99 except the twins was a friend and paul was my dad. Scared the hell out of us all coz cars actually used that road he went across. Lol

Ok reviews:

99 CDN-thanx and I want you to know that if its not kibbs I don't read it lol talk about stubborn.

Borgprincess-I totally agree therefore I vow to write as many as possible(only if u like them but lol)

OK thanx heaps prinnie reading your fics and talking to you helps me

And thank you so much Blue roses!

I will take all that you told me on board and try my hardest to use it.

Plus I love you picked up on the house/cuddy hint. I was going to do a Catherine/Gil thing but didn't don't know why.

And thankyou everyone one else reading reviews keep me going :p and if you want to see something happen in this story just say.

And now I command u REVIEW! plz