Palmer's Apartment. A Few Days Before Christmas.
"Honey, I'm home." Jimmy calls out as he hangs his coat on the peg by the front door. Breena enters as he turns around and observes a large parcel under the Christmas tree that definitely wasn't there when he'd left for work that morning.
"Have you been shopping again?" He queries with a smile before cutting off her reply with a quick kiss.
"Special agent Gibbs brought it around earlier."
"Gibbs did?"
"Sure. Not to be opened until Christmas though."
"Hmm. I wonder what it could be..."
Christmas Day.
"We'll have to open this before we go to Dad's. It's too awkward to fit in the car."
They smile at each other then together rip off the paper with an almost childlike excitement.
"Ohh." Before them is a beautifully handcrafted wodden toybox with an envelope resting on its top.
"Bet Gibbs made this himself. Would you like to do the honors?" Jimmy passes her the envelope.
Breena opens it. "It's a card from Abby." She reads the contents aloud. "Dear Baby Palmer, Welcome To The NCIS Family. Love Abby and Bert, Tim, Tony, Ducky and Gibbs. How sweet. There's a P.S. too. When he or she arrives we hope you can use these."
Palmer takes the top off the chest and gently places it on the floor. He reaches inside the toybox and pulls out several envelopes.
"What are those?"
Jimmy opens them, takes out the cards from within and quickly glances through them. "These are gift vouchers for all sorts of things a child might like. Tony's promised our child a baseball bat, gloves and uniform or piano lessons if we'd prefer that. Abby's promised a My First Science Kit. Tim is going to give us some children's books. Dr Mallard's promised the board game Operation."
"What a thoughtful gift."
"Abby's always calling us a family." Jimmy responds glancing at the clock on the wall. "We'd better get going. Don't want to be late to your Dad's."
"I'll just grab my coat." Breena rushes from the room as Jimmy replaces the lid on the chest.
"Baby Palmer" he whispers. "You couldn't find a better family to belong to."