A/N I told y'all I'd die after school started again. Today I had an emotional breakdown in the counselor's office. So that's great. Literally my counselor is like one of my favorite people at the school tho. But um thanks Ms.(enter last name) for dealing with my shit. ALSO TO THE GUEST REVIEWER WHO QUESTIONED HOW DELILAH GOT TO THE BASEMENT (wanted to make that stand out) thank you. I didn't even think about it tbh. I went back and added detail there so you can go read that if you want.
Tony.
I awoke early due to Ziva moving at my side. I picked up my phone. 05:27. It's to early for this. I lightly shake her awake. "Hey, baby. It's ok. What's up?" I whispered to her shaking her awake.
She jumped slightly, but just replied with, "Bad dream." I tried to pry more out of her, but she wouldn't budge.
I finally gave up and fell back asleep with my arm even tighter around Ziva.
We got another hours worth of sleep until noise was coming from the other rooms. Ziva and I decided we'd go socialize. We went through our morning routines and I went to the kitchen to find Ellie, Delilah, McGee, and both of the twins inside. Ellie was cooking breakfast and Tim and Delilah each had a twin.
"Good Morning, McDad." I said towards Tim.
"Hey, Where's Ziva?" Ellie asked.
"Out on a run with Samara." I replied. Ziva still runs every morning. She had changed so much, but yet not at all.
"Does she still run every morning?" Tim asked.
"Yes. Her favorite time is at an ungodly hour when I'm in a sleep just light enough so she can wake me up, but still deep enough that it's a good sleep." I replied.
Bishop and Delilah laughed as a small smile spread across McGee's face. It sounded like a typical Ziva thing to do.
The next person to come downstairs was Gibbs. He was wearing a 'USMC' hoodie and some jeans. "What's with all the noise?" He asked.
"Nick moves to much in his sleep and he kept kicking me." Ellie said quickly.
"Ellie started making noise and woke up the twins." Tim defended himself and Delilah.
"Ziva's a crazy Israeli ninja." Was all I said.
"You guys do realize he can't ground you for being uo early right?" Delilah continued. "I just witnessed what looked like 3 children defending why the vase was broken."
Bishop and I sent her a dirty look and Tim just looked confused. Gibbs started cooking some breakfast sausage over his fire to go with Ellie's pancakes. The kitchen would be a hectic mess by the end of the day, but no one really cared.
Along with pancakes and sausage for breakfast, Breena was making muffins, Reeves was making a british breakfast pastry, and I was making eggs.
Ziva ran in the door and shut it quietly. She was wearing a tank top, some leggings, and tennis shoes. She jogged up to me and I kissed the top of her head. Her curls were pulled back into a ponytail. "Aren't you cold?" Delilah asked.
"If I can feel the cold, I am not working hard enough." Ziva replied.
Her skin felt freezing, but she wasn't acting cold. She was just standing next to me with my arm around her. "Yeah, Ziva, I get that, but it's December in DC." Tim joined in.
"She's a cold blooded killer."" I said.
I got a light slap for that. Before Ziva ran off to change. Abby wandered downstairs still in her skull pajamas and made a beeline to the fridge where she had a caf-pow.
Sloane followed shortly after looking a little more put together. Jack had day clothes on, but still looked exhausted. She walked to the coffee machine where no coffee was left sitting. "Who took the last of the coffee?" She asked.
I got a series of people looking at me. "Ok. Technically I took it for Ziva." I tried defending myself. Everyone had a cup and I poured Ziva some when she went off to change. Jack started a new pot and walked next to me and grabbed the mug with Ziva's coffe in it and walked over to the table with it.
I was pouring Ziva coffee into a different mug when i felt a tug at my sweatpants leg. I looked down and Tali was looking up at me. She was still in her pajamas and her hair was a mess. I picked her up and continued pouring Ziva's coffee. "Do you want juice?" I asked her. She gave a simple nod and I went to the fridge where the apple juice was. I put some in a sippy cup and handed it to her. She ran off with it and the next I saw of her she was with Ziva.
Ziva came back into the kitchen in shorts and an OSU shirt. She had Tali in her arms and was tickling her. It was a good 20 minutes before anyone else was up. Nick was first to come. "What time is it?" He grumbled walking towards the coffee maker. He was not wearing a shirt and had on simple sweatpants.
"Well, goodmorning, Sunshine." Ellie said to him.
"It's to early." Nick complained.
"Maybe if you didn't try to be in the fifa cup in your sleep you wouldn't be exhausted constantly." Ellie said.
Jimmy and Breena were next, along with Tori. They were all still in there pajamas. They all matched and it was funny, yet cute. "We should do that." Ziva said to me.
"All we'd have to do is buy Tali a worn out OSU shirt because that's what both of us wear everynight." I replied.
Ziva laughed slightly. "This is true."
Soon enough everyone was downstairs and breakfast was all ready. Everyone except Jack and Ducky were in pajamas. Delilah was in a t-shirt and leggings, Tim was in sweatpants and had a MIT shirt on, Ellie was wearing plaid shorts and a black t-shirt that said "Baby it's cold outside." Reeves was surprisingly dressed down. He was in only shorts and a t-shirt. After breakfast we all gathered around the tree and opened presents.
Tali got a dollhouse from Santa, a doll from Ziva and I, a wooden train to go around the Christmas tree from Gibbs, A tricycle from Ducky, The book 'The Night Before Christmas' with a speaker at the bottom so she could listen to Ellie read it to her when she wasn't there from Ellie, and a knitted blanket from Abby.
I got Ziva a new watch. It was very simple. It had black straps, but the actual clock part was rose cold. "Matches your ring." I told her. She seemed to genuinely appreciate it and as long as she was happy I was too.
Delilah spoke up. "I'm sorry, but I have to know. What is that ring? Are you getting married?"
I looked at Ziva and she laughed a little as Tim added, "Yeah, that used to be on your right hand and you've had it forever now."
"No, we're not getting married." Ziva explained. "Tony gave me this ring a while ago. I believe he said it was a promise ring. To never let me down."
"I think that was it." I said to her.
"That is officially the cutest story ever." Ellie said.
Ziva, Jimmy, Breena, Tim, Delilah, and I all pitched in on one present for Gibbs. We had a piece of wood that was around 1'x8" and Ziva painted it black. We also had a bunch of tinier squares that were 3"x3" that she painted black. On the bigger board she wrote "Promoted to Grandpa." in white. I drilled holes at the top and bottom of 4 of the tinier boards.
We then had Tori, Tali, Morgan, and John make a footprint in each, all in white. Next, we labeled each footprint on the back in white. I took a drill and put 2 holes at the bottom of the bigger board. Then, I looped a thin rope through Tori's board at the top and hung it on the larger board. Then I took Tali's and did the same. John's came next and the process was the same except, I looped it through Jon's and attached it to Tori's. I did the same with Morgan's and Tali's.
Tim and I had been planning this and decided to let Jimmy in on it. We made the collective decision that we would add another pendant for each grandchild. When we gave it ti Gibbs I saw a small smile spread across his face.
"Ladies and gentlemen here it is. The first time Leroy Jethro Gibbs has smiled ever." I received a head slap for that.
We had an early dinner with the whole family. We all gathered around his table. He brought out a card table for Tali and Tori, but they weren't at it for very long. Tali climbed onto Gibbs' lap and sat there while we ate. Tori did the same with Ducky.
We ate and talked. Eventually people started fading away and Ellie, Zica, Tali and I were leaving. We said goodbye to everyone and promised to return.
That Christmas was one of my favorite. I was with Tali, Ziva and my family. It was good to be back with everyone. Only thing was I didn't want to go back to France.
