Chapter 11

Having never experienced Christmas morning as an adult with 2 young children, Tim wasn't sure what to expect, although his father warned him the boys would probably be pretty wound up. He was glad they'd all gone to bed at a decent hour as Greg and Kyle woke them up at 0600.

"Daddy, Merry Christmas! Daadddy, wake up, we can't sleep anymore!"

Rob opened an eye, groaned and rolled over, pulling the sheet, blankets and quilt with him. That woke Tim up. "'M cold, Robbie!" He squinted at the boys. "What time is it?"

Greg smiled, "0600, Papa! Merry Christmas!"

"Uh, Merry Christmas. Ok, you two stay here with Uncle Rob. I'm gonna go take pictures of what Santa left. Either Grandpa or I will let you know when it's time to come downstairs. Go put your slippers and robes on!"

"Ok" They turned to go and Tim said, "Wait! C'mere." He kissed and hugged each of them, again wishing them a Merry Christmas. Giggling, they scooted across the hall to their room.

Rob muttered something and Tim ruthlessly grabbed the bedding away from him. "If I'm up, you're up!"

"Mean."

"No presents if you don't get up."

Rob gave a rusty chuckle as he sat up, "Okay, okay. Merry Christmas."

Tim had his robe and slippers on, grabbed his camera and on the way out of the room, paused to kiss the top of Rob's head. "Love you, Robbie."

"Aww." With another groan, Rob got up, looked around for something warm, squinting at a dark green something lying across the bed. He picked it up, smiling as he saw it was a new robe, with a big red bow on the pocket. Looking down, he saw warm moccasin-style slippers and put them on while he shrugged into the robe.

With a big smile, he ran down the stairs. "Who's this from?"

"Not us, must have been Santa!"

He grinned as he stroked the warm robe. "It's perfect!"

Dad already had the coffee brewing. While Tim took photos, Rob poured coffee for the three of them. Then the three men called out, "Look what Santa brought! Boys, better come see!"

Tim was halfway up the stairs, a little worried Kyle would be too excited and run down. Instead, he scrambled down holding his papa's hand, pulling him with him. Greg was already in front of the tree, his eyes huge as he looked at the piles of gifts.

"Wow! Is this all for us? The five of us?"

"I guess so. I don't see any notes from Santa saying some things are for other children."

"Cool!"

Tim plunked Kyle down in front of the tree and then picked Greg up and put him next to his brother. "One photo of you two before we see what Santa's left."

"Ok, Papa!"

Kyle grinned, "Hurry!"

Several photos were taken before the adults were satisfied. Finally, finally, the boys started opening their gifts, handed to them by Uncle Rob. When the boys had opened several each, their adults started opening presents too. When Dad put some Christmas music on, Tim smiled, he loved old vinyl and he especially loved old vinyl Christmas albums. His eyes lit up at his next present, a vinyl album entitled "Merry Christmas from Bing Crosby".

"Dad, this is awesome, thank you so much! Can we play it after the album you have on there?"

"Sure, you know how to stack them?"

"Stack records? That won't hurt them?"

"Nah, c'mon, I'll show you."

The two moved over to Dad's stereo and Tim learned how to stack records. "Great, I didn't know about that."

"Now they'll play automatically. Won't flip sides though, have to do that manually."

"That's ok, this is…thank you!" Tim pulled Gibbs' head to him and gave him a big kiss while the boys and Rob laughed.

Each of them got more hugs as they opened gifts from each other. When there was a lull as the boys played with some of their new toys, Dad handed Tim and Rob their letters from Geordie. He explained that Geordie had written him, including the letters and sent one directly to Sarah. Rob went upstairs to read his letter while Tim disappeared into the den.

Tim alternately smiled and fought tears as he read his older brother's letter. Geordie wished him a Merry Christmas, told him he was still working on transferring out of Spec Ops and then expressed his concerns for Tim. Reading his brother's words, Tim nodded, he was right, these past few months had been traumatic and while he didn't think about it much, he'd acknowledged to himself that he needed more adult time.

Now he vowed to make some friends, maybe other single parents. While he wasn't big into sports, he loved to bowl, roller and ice skate. Heck, even a book club would get him into adult company once a month. And he really wanted to find Artie. Remembering the last conversation they'd had in Seattle in 2003 after running into each other there, he thought that by now they were more mature and certainly could handle their differing goals. He wasn't so sure they were all that different now. He knew he still loved her, he'd never stopped.

He smiled as he finished reading the letter. He'd write Geordie tomorrow, there was no way there would be any time to do that today!

There were a few special presents that were held until they had their Skype call with Sarah. She grinned as she watched her nephews open their new two piece snowsuits, by Oshkosh B'Gosh. Greg knew what they were right away and as soon as Kyle heard they were for the snow, he cheered as loudly as his brother. They'd already opened boxes with snow boots, so they were ready!

Sarah opened her presents from home, photos in decorated frames from the boys, some of their best drawings and a special plate done by them; a wooden stand that could move at a slant, up or down, made by Gibbs for her laptop after Tim told him what she needed and drew a sketch for him; a new warm, long jacket from Tim and Rob and a generous gift card to Harrods from her brothers.

They laughed when she exclaimed over the card. She loved going to Harrods but claimed she'd never bought anything there as the store was too expensive. Rob explained, "We were going to buy you a pretty sweater we saw online, excuse me, in Brit-speak I mean a jumper, but decided this might be more fun for you. You know, you might decide you want boots instead."

Each of the men had new cashmere pullovers from Scotland. Tim's was the perfect green to go with his eyes, Robbie's was burgundy to go with his dark eyes and Gibbs' was a light blue. After those were opened, Tim nodded at Dad, smiled at Sarah and turned to Rob with a small gift box in his hand. "Rob, this is from Sarah, Geordie, Dad and I. We want you to know how proud we are of you."

Rob blinked back tears when he opened the box to find a sterling silver ring with the physician's symbol, the Rod of Asclepius, over his initials. Inside, they'd had it engraved with a message of love, the year and their initials. Grinning, Rob slid it onto his finger, "It fits perfectly! Thank you!"

Then it was Tim's turn as he tore the ribbon, bow and paper off what he'd thought was one large package, finding two Dad-made nightstands underneath. "Wow! These are…Wow, Dad! Thank you, they're perfect, I love them!" He gave his chosen father a hug and then kissed his head. With a chuckle, Gibbs explained how he'd started them for the Silver Spring apartment, stopped when the sublet came about and started again when Tim told him about future plans. Examining the drawers, Tim found the false bottom and grinned, that was cool. When asked about what stain he wanted, he immediately said, "Same as the bed frame. I have the name of that somewhere, I'll get it to you. And then can we stain it together? Maybe when we're here in February?"

Taking Dad's grin as a 'yes', Tim sat back to watch the rest of the gift exchange. They held back a couple of gifts each for that evening, being careful to pull those away from the tree. When they were finally finished with the morning 'loot', they again sorted the paper, ribbon and bows into trash bags, making sure no gift cards, photos, drawings or small items were inadvertently thrown away.

While the boys and Grandpa played with the train, Tim took the two large trash bags, intending to toss them from the deck into the backyard for now. He'd move these and the trash from last night into the trash cans when he had shoes on. Instead, he stopped, put the bags on the deck and called to the others, "Hey, come look!"

Gibbs grinned while the kids ran to look. "Snow! Papa, it snowed last night!"

"It sure did, now we get to have a snowy Christmas, awesome!"

"Can we play in it?"

Grandpa, standing next to Tim, whispered, "Better do that it before we eat breakfast; it looks pretty wet, be too mushy to play in within an hour or so."

"Thanks, Dad. Ok, yes, let's go put our snow clothes on, we'll play in it before we eat breakfast. Except for Uncle Rob, he'll eat something now and later."

The kids nodded and Greg raced upstairs while Kyle toddled after him. With a chuckle, Tim scooped him up, blowing a raspberry kiss on his tummy and laughing more at the squeal from his little one.

"Come on, guys, let's see what we need to put on."

After a trip to the bathroom each, they dressed in their new snowsuits with long sleeve shirts, warm socks and their snow boots. Tim grinned, both boys looked adorable in their snowsuits by Oshkosh B'Gosh. Once they had their jackets and boots on, he took pictures to send to Aunt Sarah and to add to Patrick's wall of photos.

Tim threw on his own snow pants, a heavy sweatshirt and new jacket from Dad. Hats and gloves on him and the boys and they were ready to play. Downstairs, Grandpa was waiting in his snow clothes, grinning at the boys. "Have you ever played in snow before?" Greg said yes but that it was before Kyle was born.

Tim looked at Kyle, "This is one time it's okay to throw something. We're going to throw snowballs at each other, try to duck away from them." Grandpa pretended to throw while Papa showed Kyle how to duck down or sideways. The toddler watched, giggling at his silly grownups.

When they went outside, Tim picked him up, which didn't make him very happy. "It's all right, sweetie, I'll put you down in a minute. Watch Greg and Grandpa."

Greg was in snow nearly to his knees, he and Grandpa were exaggerating lifting their feet and putting them down again.

Tim started to put Kyle down carefully, hanging onto him. When his feet and legs sank deep into the snow before he was even halfway down, Tim snatched him up. "Oops, too deep for you, we don't want a frozen Kyle!" He put him on his shoulders. "How about you and I stick together today? When we go to the snow next week, it'll be packed solid, more like walking on the ground."

"Okay, Papa. I like being tall!"

Greg smiled at Kyle, "Kyle, when I was in the snow before, I was too little. Dad put me on his shoulders, just like Papa's doing now."

Grandpa patted Greg on the shoulder, proud of him for encouraging his little brother. "When we go to the snow next week, there will be hills to slide down and sleds and saucers to ride on. Your papa and I will be with you on those." He looked at Tim, "Maybe we can find some snowshoes for them, might help."

"Good idea."

They played snowballs for a little while, Tim making the snowballs and passing them up to Kyle to throw. He loved being allowed to throw and giggled when his snowball knocked Grandpa's Elf hat off his head. "We got you, Grandpa!"

"You sure did, kiddo!"

Greg and Rob had fun doing the same thing, making snowballs and then throwing them at Grandpa and Papa & Kyle. Kyle wasn't sure how he felt about the first snowball that hit him but he got to throw one back at Uncle Rob right away and that felt pretty good.

Grandpa thought he'd find a way to build a little hill in the backyard so the boys could slide down it. But not today! Eventually, tummies were rumbling and they remembered they hadn't had their Christmas breakfast.

Stamping the wet snow off their boots, the five of them took off them off inside the door and Greg remembered sliding on the floor. Taking Kyle's hand, the two of them slid on the polished hardwood, giggling the whole way. That made up for Kyle not being able to play directly in the snow.

Breakfast was a hearty pancakes, eggs and bacon feast. The plan was to have a big breakfast, snacks, if anything, at lunch and then dinner would be eaten fairly early, before presents.

Tim shook his head, not the least bit surprised when the doorbell rang about 1330, just as Kyle had finally fallen asleep. He was still upstairs with him and stayed, chuckling when he heard two sets of footsteps on the stairs. Greg joined him, crawling into his lap. He whispered, "Papa, I didn't know who that was. Uncle Rob and I came upstairs."

Rob peeked in the room, whispering, "I'm going to read for awhile."

"Who's there?"

"Someone Dad called 'Chief'."

"Tony's dad."

"Oh. He just shows up?"

"Yep."

Kyle kicked his feet, making an annoyed sound. Tim picked Greg up and the three retreated across to the hall to Tim and Rob's room. The book Greg was reading was there and he sat on the bed next to Uncle Rob, both reading, while Tim decided he'd better say hello to 'Senior', as everyone but Dad called him.

Before he went downstairs, he sent Tony a text that his father had just arrived. He shook his head in sympathy at his friend's reply: a string of characters meant as curse words. Tim sent a second text that there was a 'just in case' bottle of booze for Senior under the tree, that Tony was welcome to give it to him if he wanted. Tony's reply was that he'd also bought a 'just in case' gift and would bring it with him. Feeling badly for his friend, Tim called him and when he answered, he said quickly, "Just remember, our dad is here and loves you and so does the rest of the family. We got your 6."

"Thanks, man. Does anyone else know?"

"Thought I'd send Ducky a text. Abby can be surprised, she's good with him. And the Palmers aren't joining us tonight, remember?"

"Oh yeah. And no Ellie and Jake. Rob's there, right?"

"Hiding in our room with Greg. Actually, I guess I'm hiding too. I was going downstairs when I thought I'd better let you know first."

"Thanks! I'll see you in about an hour."

"Ok, careful driving and remember what I said!"

"Promise."

Putting on his best fake smile, Tim headed for the living room. He nodded as he saw Senior, "I thought I heard someone come in! Merry Christmas, Mr. DiNozzo!"

"Ah, Timothy, same to you. What's this I hear about you becoming a parent?"

"Legal guardian. It's a long story but my brother's sons are living with me now."

"That must be quite a change."

"Not too much. I raised my baby sister and brother so I've been a parent although it's been a while. And of course I didn't have help from Gibbs and the others then."

"You raised…what?"

Behind him, Tim heard footsteps and turned as Rob and Greg came down the stairs. Rob held out his hand for a shake, "I'm Rob McGee, Tim's brother." Senior introduced himself as Anthony DiNozzo, Sr., having learned years ago that this crowd would never think of him as 'Tony'. Rob smiled, "Tony's a great guy, like another brother to me. You must be very proud of him!"

Senior tried not to look surprised but nodded, "I am, Rob."

Greg had a serious look on his face as he held out his hand for a shake, "I'm Greg McGee-Hart." He stood next to Tim, taking his hand. "This is my papa. My little brother's asleep upstairs."

"I see. How old are you, Greg?"

"Six. And Kyle's 2 ½. Our mom was killed and our dad's in a coma. Papa, only he was Tim then, our uncle, took us to live with him. Now he's Papa and Gibbs is Grandpa."

"I'm sorry to hear about your mother and dad, Greg. You and Kyle are lucky to have such a fine Papa and Grandpa."

Greg nodded, hanging onto Tim. "We flew down to spend Christmas with Grandpa, Uncle Rob, Uncle Tony, Aunt Abby and Granducky. Oh, and Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Breena but they had to go to her Mom and Dad's today."

"Where did you fly in from?"

"Cambridge, Massachusetts. Papa teaches there."

Tim squeezed Greg's hand with a chuckle. "That's right. I'm a visiting professor at MIT."

Senior was shocked. "Why? I mean that sounds great but what happened at NCIS?"

Gibbs shook his head, "It's temporary but it's classified along with his brother's case."

"Oh. So classified that you can't work with your team or at the agency?"

Tim gave him a little nod and Senior reached out to pat and squeeze his arm. "Sounds like a mess, Timothy, I'm sorry to hear that. Seems you've made the most of it, though, and Greg here sure looks like he's happy. I know you're taking good care of him and his brother."

That got a surprised smile, Tim always thought Senior didn't think much of him. The man turned to Gibbs, "And you – a Grandpa, congratulations!"

"Thanks! We're having a good time, aren't we, guys?"

The three younger men nodded. Rob's watch buzzed and he nodded to Tim. "Mr. DiNozzo, may I get you something to drink or eat? I'm on my way to have a snack myself."

"Oh! Well, let's see, Gibbs always makes great eggnog."

Gibbs smiled, "It's in the refrigerator, Chief. It's child friendly this year."

"Of course! I'll just come along with you, Rob."

As they walked, Tim heard him say, "I didn't know Tim had any siblings!"

"Sure, one sister and four of us brothers."

"Four brothers? Will they be here tonight - and your sister?"

"Sarah's in London, in graduate school, we talked with her this morning, opened presents together on Skype. And yes, there are five brothers altogether." Rob wondered if Tony's father knew or would guess that Tony was one of them.

"And he raised all of you?"

"No, he raised Sarah and me. The other two are older than he is. Sarah and Patrick, the one in the coma, are his biological siblings, the rest of us are 'chosen'."

"That must be some story."

"It is but it's long and parts of it are painful. Not really a story for Christmas Day."

"Of course. Have you followed Tim into law enforcement?"

"No, that's not for me. I'm a pediatric resident. I have two more years of residency and then I'll be a full-fledged medical doctor."

"Wonderful, congratulations! I know that takes a lot of dedication and hard work."

Rob smiled, "It does and it's all been worth it."

The holiday glasses were on the counter, Rob picked one up and took the container of eggnog out of the refrigerator. "Do you know where the liquor is?"

Senior smiled, "I do, yes. Can I pour you some?"

"No, thanks. I'm just going to have a snack and then I'll join you all again. Did you want something to eat? We're having dinner in about 90 minutes."

"Then no, I'll wait. What are we having?"

Rob's face lit up, "Tony's made lasagna for us. Actually, we voted on it. I know Christmas dinner is usually turkey but none of us wanted that this year and we did want Tony's lasagna."

"Great! He's become an excellent cook."

When Senior heard heavy footsteps on the front porch, he smiled, "That's Abby, excuse me."

He hurried out to the foyer in time to surprise Abby as she walked in. "Senior! I didn't know you were coming!"

"I didn't either, my plans changed at the last minute."

Abby looked around after she'd greeted Gibbs, McGee, Greg and Rob. "Where's Tony? And McGee, aren't you missing a child?"

"He's upstairs, trying to take a nap."

"Oops, sorry!"

Tim chuckled, "I think it's a hopeless case anyway. And Tony's not here yet, he was putting the final touches on the lasagna when I spoke with him. He should be here in a few minutes, the Fornells, Lu, the guys and Ducky, too. Where's your brother?"

Abby made a face, "Kyle, my brother Kyle's girlfriend decided to take him home to meet her family, on Christmas Day! Gibbs, he said to say Merry Christmas and he's sorry he couldn't make it." Gibbs nodded.

Senior looked at Tim, "The guys, Lu? Are the rest of your brothers coming?"

"Just one more. The 'guys' are friends we grew up with and Lu helped make sure we grew up. She's a family friend."

Tim had his face away from his father, he knew there had been another date or two but nobody was going to talk about it today. They'd all promised. Of course, adding Senior to the mix might change things. He was an incorrigible charmer and who knew what Dad would do if Lu fell for it or Senior laid it on too thick, which he usually did. Then he remembered something he'd heard Mrs. Handley say once, that Lu's husband, the Welshman, had been a charmer who had run out on her. Lu was too smart to fall for another guy like that and Tim smiled to himself, he bet that was what she liked about Dad. He didn't play games. As long as Lu didn't remind him in any way of Shannon, he'd be fine.

Then Tim snorted to himself, like he had any room to talk! His longest relationship with a woman besides his sister was with Carly. Unless he allowed himself to count his feelings for Artie, which he knew were still strong, hadn't changed. While he'd thought his feelings for Delilah were just as strong, eventually he found he was almost relieved when she broke up with him over the boys. Since Larry's mention of Artemis when he and the boys first moved to Cambridge, thoughts of her frequently drifted into his mind.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

After Abby's arrival, there was a lull. Tim went upstairs to check on Kyle and found him playing with one of his new toys. He said he'd been awake since Aunt Abby came, he knew her voice. Tim helped him change his clothes, putting on the new shirt Uncle Tony gave him last night, one that said, 'Engineer' and had a picture of 'Thomas the Tank Engine' on it, the engineer's cap from Uncle LJ and the new jeans with suspenders from Aunt Abby. He wanted to wear his new snow boots but they were still wet. Tim pulled out another pair of shoes, telling him they were just like the shoes train engineers wore. Kyle chuckled as Papa tied the laces for him, "Now I'm a real engineer!"

"You sure are! After all the presents are open, we can run the train like we did last night, how about that!"

"Yay!" Kyle paused, "Um, Daddy, who's gonna be here?"

"Your brother, me, you, Grandpa, Uncle Rob, Uncle Tony, Aunt Abby, Granducky, Aunty Lu and your uncles Bill, Barry, Jose, Freddie, Tobias and a surprise for all of us, Uncle Tony's father."

"What about Emily?"

"She's spending tonight with her mom."

"Oh. What's Uncle Tony's daddy's name?"

"Mr. DiNozzo."

Kyle practiced the name, "That's hard to say!"

"You did great! Now, you ready?"

"Yes!"

"Ok, Engineer, let's go!"

On the way down the stairs, with Papa carrying him, Kyle pulled an imaginary train whistle and called out, "Choo Choo! Train's coming into the station!"

Tim grinned as they hit the main floor, "Engineer on board!"

Kyle slid down, toddling over to Aunt Abby to give her a kiss and then moved on to Senior who was hovering near Abby. "Hi, Mr. DiNozzo, I'm Kyle."

"Hello, Kyle, I'm glad to meet you." The two shook hands and Kyle looked around, "Where's Uncle Tony?"

"I'm right here, Kyle, with Uncle Bill!" Tony was walking in the door with Bill who had two bowls of his chopped salad while DiNozzo had his hands full with two big pans of lasagna. Tim and Rob hurried over, taking one of the pans and one of the bowls of salad from Bill. The four of them went straight into the kitchen where Tony slid the lasagnas into the oven, kept at a low heat to keep the dishes warm.

After that, everyone else seemed to arrive at once and for several minutes there was chaos as people came in, stopping to wish the others Merry Christmas before continuing into the kitchen or living room. Ducky and Tobias joined Senior in adding a 'wee tot' of their favorite liquor to their eggnog.

When everyone was in, the food warming or cooling in the kitchen, Tim, Abby and Rob finished setting the table, with help from Greg and Kyle. Abby smiled at the dishes, "These are pretty, Rob, where did you get them?"

"Bargain store in Baltimore. They're overruns of name brand products, so these are good dishes at a great price."

"That's great, I'm gonna have to go check that place out!"

Rob and all the camp alumni chuckled as Tim said, "Once we had enough money to reach beyond the thrift store, this was our favorite place. I bet each of us outfitted our first apartments from there."

Bill raised his hand, as did Barry, Freddie and Jose. Lu laughed, "I've always shopped there, I think I was the one who told Bill about it."

He nodded, "That sounds right."

Tim and Rob made a seating chart so everyone would have the chance to get to know someone new or not as familiar. While Abby helped them with the table, she watched them put the place cards out, found hers and swapped it so that she was sitting next to Freddie. She grinned at them, "What? He's cute and I like guys who work with their hands." Tim nearly bit his tongue in half to keep from asking her to be careful with his friend. Sitting next to him at a holiday group dinner was not dating him!

That left Barry between Lu and Senior but he was good at small talk and had known Lu most of his life, there shouldn't be any problem. Dad came in, looked at the cards and finding his, swapped with Tobias. That left Tobias sitting next to Bill and Dad sitting between Lu and Jose.

Rob shook his head, "There are only two women tonight!" Joe's girlfriend Chelsea wasn't joining them after all.

Tim huffed, "Yes, a bunch of bachelors here. Although as a new parent, I think I have an excuse."

"You could have invited Carly."

"No, I could not have. She and I have an agreement about that. We don't double date or do family or couple dinners. Besides, she's at her aunt's place in Savannah for Christmas."

"That would be a cool place to spend Christmas."

"I imagine so."

"We need more women in the family."

"And each of us can do something about that, Rob."

"Man, I don't have time to date."

"Neither do I. And those in law enforcement, Tony, Barry and Dad, work crazy hours. Abby, too. It's tough enough if you're already in a relationship but having to cancel dates on a regular basis doesn't usually lead to long lasting relationships."

"If Freddie and Abby date, that doesn't bring anyone in new. We need a rule!"

Tim started laughing so hard he had to leave the table. Tony was in the kitchen and when Tim could finally talk, he told him what he and Rob had been talking about and his last remark. That got Tony going, too. When Dad came in to see what was going on, they shook their heads. "Tell you later."

"All right, I'm going to hold you to that. What can we take out with us?"

"The salads and garlic bread. There are bowls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese on the table along with the bread plates. Then come back and we'll bring the lasagna in."

Bill came in just as they were picking up the salads, "I'll take those, guys, thanks. I wasn't sure if we were serving in here or put everything on the table."

"On the table, Bill, we borrowed an extra table so there's more room."

"Great!" Tim divided the garlic bread onto two plates and followed Bill to the table. Bill sat while Tim returned to the kitchen to help with the lasagna. Gibbs followed with bottles of sparkling cider and wine. The boys' milk was already on the table.

Kyle smacked his lips when he saw the lasagna, "Yummy!" He protested when his papa put a bib around his neck but stopped when Greg, Papa, Grandpa and Uncle Rob also put them on. Tim explained, "We're all wearing new shirts or sweaters and don't want to get them dirty the first time we wear them."

Abby was examining the bibs and then she turned to Rob, "Did you get those at the bargain store too?"

He grinned, "Yes. They had Christmas themed adult and children's bibs and I couldn't resist but I didn't want to push it beyond the immediate family."

"It's a great idea."

The lasagna was a big hit and they ate both large pans of it, much to Tony's delight. Bill's chopped salad was also a hit and both bowls were as empty as the lasagna pans by the time they finished. After they ate, Abby said she needed a walk before dessert and as the weather was clear and the snow was gone, most of them bundled up for a walk. Greg went with his grandpa while Kyle and Papa stayed home. The long day, after an extra busy, albeit fun, week and the short nap was doing a number on Kyle and while he wasn't whining, Tim saw that he was very tired. When the walkers returned, he asked that they open presents before dessert. Nobody minded that!

The boys sat on Tim's lap as they opened the last of their gifts. Tim loved that his family and friends had coordinated enough so that there were no duplicates and no one had spent over the amount he'd asked them to stick to. He didn't want to spoil the boys any more than he already did and he didn't want his extended family feeling that gift giving was a competition. For all that Freddie and Jose's business was doing well and Bill also made good money, Barry was a civil servant and Ms. Lu worked for a non-profit. He did not want any of them to feel uncomfortable with each other or with Tony, Abby, Tobias or Ducky. Nor did he want his NCIS family or Rob and Sarah to spend ridiculous amounts on the kids. Grandpa, well he couldn't stop him but he'd rather make things for the boys anyway. Spending ridiculous amounts on the kids was his job as Papa!

Once the boys had opened their gifts and thanked everyone, Papa and Grandpa took them upstairs for baths, stories, cuddles and bed. While not as tired as his little brother, Greg was overwhelmed and asked to read one of his new books until time for lights out. One of the gifts from Grandpa this morning was a light that hooked onto his bunk bed so he could read in bed without keeping Kyle awake. Mindful that this was the boys' first Christmas without either of their parents, Tim thought they'd done well. When they said their prayers that night, they made sure to remember their mother and pray that their father would wake up.

As much fun as their two day Christmas celebration was, Papa and Grandpa agreed that next year they'd keep it to one day or at least keep Christmas Eve lower-key.

Saying goodbye to Uncle Rob, the boys spent the day after Christmas playing with their new toys and generally recharging. Their papa and grandpa did the same thing. All four of them took naps that afternoon, played with the train set and organized the new toys. Although they had more than a week left before they had to return to Cambridge, Tim didn't want to spend his last days at home looking for lost Weebles, books, Silly Putty or train parts.

New snow was forecast over the weekend and the family planned to head for the mountains on Monday. Friday, Grandpa stayed with the boys while Papa went shopping for snow toys for the kids, coming home with a sled big enough for both boys and one of their adults. Whoever wasn't sledding could use Kelly's old saucer. He also found two pairs of kids' snow shoes on a Facebook local swap group.

Saturday and Sunday they watched it snow, occasionally venturing out to play in it. This snow was nowhere near as wet as the Christmas snow; Tim had the boys test the snow shoes and was pleased with the results. By Sunday evening the snow stopped and the family made plans for the following day.

Gearing up, they drove a borrowed 4-Wheel drive SUV into the mountains of Virginia and Gibbs found the spot where he and Shannon brought Kelly many years ago. Although there were other families sledding, Grandpa insisted on taking the first few runs himself to make sure it was safe. In the meantime, Papa and the boys, their snow boots locked into snow shoes, started building a snowman. Greg noticed when Papa put a carrot in his pocket before they left and wondered. Now he laughed as the carrot became Mr. Snow's nose. Rocks that also came from Papa's jacket became eyes and buttons while smaller ones made the mouth. The boys, with Papa's help, found sticks for their snow buddy's arms and one of Grandpa's old fishing hats covered the top of his head. Papa took photos as they were building him and later sent them to Sarah and the Porters, still in Hawaii.

Finally Grandpa was satisfied with the sledding slope and with his eyes closed, picked which boy would go first. Papa made Grandpa wait as the boys quietly shuffled around, changing places several times. When Kyle was picked to go first, his little face lit up. Used to being the littlest, it seemed like he always had to wait and Greg was a good sport.

The rest of their holiday at home passed far too quickly. They built a snow family in the backyard, consisting of a Grandpa, a Papa and two boys. Kyle's snow boy mysteriously grew a couple of feet one night so that he was almost as tall as Greg's snow boy, making the little guy very happy. They visited not one but two train museums, one in Fairfax VA and one in Silver Spring, which was really the National Trolley Museum. Granducky joined them for that one.

Both were a lot of fun and they followed them up with a visit to the National Museum of Natural History, where they loved the insect zoo. Although, as Greg said, they only loved it if the bugs stayed in their zoo! Another favorite was the 'exact replica' of a North Atlantic right whale. Another morning, Papa took them to the Air and Space Museum while Grandpa and Granducky joined them for a trek to the National Zoo, a fun if chilly favorite.

All too soon, they'd celebrated New Years with their aunts and uncles and it was time to pack for home. Papa made good use of the UPS gift card, shipping home nearly all their treasures. As his classes wouldn't resume until the 12th, he'd be home when UPS delivered everything. He did keep their snow boots, hats, gloves and new, warmer jackets to take on the plane as it was snowing in Greater Boston!

After spending so much time with Grandpa, first at Thanksgiving, the weekend after and the two weeks at Christmas, it was very difficult to say goodbye. The boys were teary and Tim fought his own emotions.

Gibbs had just as hard a time and considered going home with them for a week or so. However, when he looked at the calendar the boys made for him, he saw that MLK day was less than 3 weeks away and he already had his plane tickets. And then Tim and the boys would be down for the Presidents' holiday/winter break less than a month after that. Rob planned to take some time off then so he could join in the fun.

They could handle that, all of them. The Porters would be home from Hawaii in a few days and they'd have lots of stories to tell the boys. And they'd all get back into their routines.

Still, it was a quiet, almost melancholic ride to the airport. Tim cheered up a little when he tucked Kyle into his new pack. It was large and sturdy enough for the little guy to sit or stand and would help his papa and brother as they maneuvered the luggage into the terminal. With Kyle on his back, Tim used a new gizmo to attach his regular backpack and the bag with the kids' safety seats securely to his roll-along and Greg pulled the second, lighter case, holding Papa's hand.

When they reached the house, the family was happy, if surprised, to find the house nice and warm. There was a note from Dr. Donovan that he'd stopped in earlier that day to 'nudge up' the thermostat as the temperatures were supposed to drop into the teens overnight. Tim smiled at the note, which was signed 'Pete'.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

In Maryland, a few days before Gibbs' flight to Boston for the MLK holiday, Dr. Rob, Barry and Freddie gathered in Patrick's room at Bethesda Hospital while Dr. Jimmy, Gibbs, Jose and Bill went straight to Patrick's new home, Restful Haven, the long-term care facility. This was moving day.

At Bethesda, all the photos, drawings and paintings were carefully removed from the walls, the room was checked for other personal belongings and then Rob climbed into the transport ambulance with the brother who'd never met him. Barry and Freddie followed them in Barry's car, carrying the artwork.

Jimmy waited for the ambulance while Gibbs and Jose stayed in the room and Bill met Barry and Freddie at the front entrance. Once Patrick was settled in his new room, the guys got busy putting up some of the artwork. Gibbs took specific photos home, knowing Tim wanted to make professional copies of them for the boys and himself.

They were done with their tasks in less than an hour. After a Skype chat with Sarah, Tim and the boys, the group headed out to lunch before dispersing.

Gibbs' first emotion when he disembarked from the plane in Boston was relief. Although he'd seen Rob a few times and saw Tony every weekday, he'd missed Tim and the boys something fierce. He missed the noise, the chaos, the life of his family in his home. If he'd had any doubts about moving to the UK with the McGees, they'd disappeared in the long days between January 2nd and today.

He grinned as he rode the escalator down to Baggage Claim and the exit, almost immediately spotting Kyle who was sitting on his papa's shoulders and shouting to him, "Grandpa, Grandpa, yay, you're here!" Greg was nearly pulsating with excitement and Tim's grin hadn't wavered since he'd spotted his dad.

Back at the house, Grandpa had to see where their new treasures from Christmas were kept as well as new drawings and pictures from school and day care. After dinner, when the boys were finally asleep, Tim and his dad finally had a chance to talk. The first thing Gibbs did was to hand Tim an envelope with the photos he'd wanted.

"Thanks, Dad! There's a shop in downtown Cambridge I'll take these to."

"Great! You'll send back the originals?"

"Yes, if they're ready before our next trip down, I'll bring them with us. Otherwise, I'll mail them."

His dad smiled at him and then leaned forward, pulling Tim into a hug. "I sure miss you, son. It's only been a couple of weeks but feels like forever!"

"I know, me too. I'm glad you didn't land a case that would have held you over."

"Me too! How's everything going?"

"The boys are doing fine with school and day care and I'm enjoying my classes. But just like before, if I go anywhere, with or without the boys, outside of this area, you know, campus, Greg's school and home, I'm still seeing the guys in suits. Last week, I took the kids to the Boston FBI office to meet some of our protectors, so they'll know who's there to help – or not. We took the SUV and had an FBI car and one other with us there and back. Kyle told our new friends about 'Mr. Green' and we joked about the FBI agents wearing certain color ties but that's too easy to duplicate. Whoever these people are, they're not letting up."

"Yeah, Tobias updated me before I left so I'd know what to expect."

"Have you seen or spoken with Secretary Porter?"

Gibbs shook his head, "Not in months, since before you saw her at the hospital. I've seen her in press conferences on the news and we've had memos from her office but nothing in person. Not that unusual I guess, since the Acting Director isn't aboard the Yard."

"Yeah, Craig. I called and asked to speak with him. Went straight to voice mail. I left him a message but I'm not expecting to hear back from him."

Dad shook his head and they changed topics to the plans for the long weekend. With temperatures expected below freezing, Tim thought they'd probably stay home and play games, cards and watch a few movies.

"Last week, when I saw the forecast for this week I went to the library and took out every Disney movie I could find. Some you might have seen when you were a kid: Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, Swiss Family Robinson, The Gnome-Mobile, the Absent-Minded Professor, Toby Tyler, In Search of the Castaways and The Incredible Journey."

His father's face lit up, "Cool! I remember most of those. We had to go to Bloomberg to see movies and our parents would take turns. My mom would take us one weekend and then someone else's mom or dad would go the next time. My dad never went as he and LJ were always working at the store. At the movie, we'd get hot dogs or popcorn and always a Coke, a big treat!"

Tim grinned, "Sounds like fun, Saturday matinees. I read 'Swiss Family Robinson' and Kyle's too young for it but I took it out anyway. I've never seen the movie, maybe I'll watch it when the boys aren't home."

At Dad's raised eyebrow, he explained, "The Porters like to take them for a few hours on a Saturday, every so often. So I can run errands and have some time to myself." He chuckled, "They did the same thing with Sarah and Rob when I was a student here. Although the sibs were older than the boys are now."

"You done anything about finding a babysitter?"

Tim shook his head, "No. After our trip to the FBI, I decided I'd never trust anyone besides the Porters or maybe the Donovans. And I can't see that happening."

"I can see your point, not knowing who those people are or what their intentions are. Meant to ask you before if you were thinking about contacting your former girlfriend, the one you mentioned."

"Artemis. I think about her but I haven't done anything about it. It's strange, since we returned after New Year's, this place feels temporary. I know we have a few months but then we're leaving. And then we'll stay put for two years. I'm really looking forward to that, having you, Rob and Sarah with us, or nearby, will be great."

"Does that have something to do with you not contacting Artemis?"

"Yes. Even though she's not around here, I don't want to start something or maybe start something while I'm here temporarily. I know that doesn't make sense, but it's how I'm feeling. And I have no idea where she is. Engineers work on projects all over the world and as an MIT educated engineer, I'm sure she's in heavy demand."

"Guess that makes sense. But you know when we get to Brambury, you'll have at least 3 babysitters, and two years for whatever happens."

"Yeah, wish we could go now."

His dad laughed, "It won't be long and you'll be busy between now and then."

Tim nodded. "Greg and Kyle are invited to a birthday party next weekend, so I'll meet some of the parents."

"Good! And are there PTA meetings you go to?"

"Yes, I've been to a couple when Larry or Cyndi were available to watch the kids. Nice to have other adults around."

"I went to them whenever I was home, Shannon was more than happy to send me! I'd be interested while they were talking about the kids but when they got to the administrative stuff, I was bored stupid."

"Oh yeah, know that feeling."

As predicted, the weather was cold and nasty all weekend and the family stayed inside, snug and warm in the house. They watched several of the movies, played board games and cards, had fires in the fireplace where they roasted marshmallows and Grandpa made 'cowboy steaks' for them. With the basement finished and heated, they walked and ran down there, taking turns on the treadmill. Every day he was there, Grandpa led them in calisthenics, challenging Papa to continue after he went home.

Tim and the boys played a game where one of them would start a story and then would pass it along to the others, a round robin. Once Grandpa got the hang of it, he joined them and they had a lot of fun with their 'cowboy pirates' sailing the oceans of the world in their denims and cowboy boots. At one place, Madagascar, Kyle knew the name from the movie, he had their cowboy pirates find a monkey who left on their ship with them. They named the monkey, Friend, and got into a lot of mischief with him.

When Papa and Grandpa wanted to do some adult stuff, they put together a fort for the boys, a card table with a large blanket over it so the kids couldn't be seen. That was a lot of fun and the fort stayed intact for several days after Grandpa's visit.