A/N: Notes at the beginning because from S6 onward NCIS started doing Christmas episodes sooo… this is actually a tag to S6 Silent Night and picks up right at the end of the episode ;)

Season 6 Christmas 2008

Gibbs hung up on his dad and sat in the car just thinking a while. He opened the picture Quinn gave him and stared at the familiar faces. Until this summer he'd no idea just how much this group of people meant to him and it turned out what he thought he did know wasn't even close to reality. When Vance split them up of course he was angry, but Gibbs had expected that. Anger was his go to response when faced with a situation he didn't like or failed to anticipate. What he hadn't expected, what took him completely by surprise, was the loneliness which came after the anger. Gibbs had always assumed when the time came for Tony or McGee to move on in their careers, though truthfully he never expected Tony to be completely out of his life, he would wish them well and move on himself. But that didn't happen. He found when the time came he couldn't do it. Even though Tony had been an Agent afloat for nearly a month, he'd no contact with Ziva and a new team sitting in the bullpen Gibbs still found himself lying awake at night, not because of a case, but because he was missing them. Part of him reasoned his possessive feelings were because the split wasn't by choice, not one any of them would have made at the time, but knowing that only made it so much harder to adjust to the differences.

Gibbs didn't know when he stopped being a confirmed loner and started openly sharing his life with people, but he'd put good money on it being around the same time he worked that undercover op in Baltimore. He'd been friends with Ducky for years, yet despite being very familiar with each other they rarely connected outside of work. When Abby joined NCIS he took to her because she reminded him a bit of himself in that she liked to work alone. Her being extremely smart and able to understand him was a nice bonus too, but like Ducky they never spent much time together outside of the office, or lab even. Then DiNozzo happened.

Gibbs didn't have much choice about seeing him outside of work. The cocky brat took it upon himself to sneak a peek at his file and find out where he lived. Found out a few other things too. Not that he needed to snoop to get his address, Gibbs would have told him if he asked - didn't leave his door open for burglars that was for damn sure – but that was DiNozzo, always had to do things the hard way. In fact Gibbs recalled the first time Tony showed up on his doorstep, proving although he was a good investigator, he still had plenty he needed to learn. It had been the last day of his first week of FLETC training or the beginning of his two months of hell as DiNozzo had eloquently put it that night…

October 2001

"Oh my god," was how DiNozzo announced his presence, stampeding down the stairs, giving him a tired wave as he walked across the recently emptied basement and fell backwards onto the lounge chair he kept in the corner. "Hey Gibbs," he then greeted brightly as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Hey yourself," Gibbs said, letting his affronted tone ask the question instead of actually asking what the hell he was doing there.

The way he'd strolled in and made himself comfy, it was as if they'd been close friends for years, not mere acquaintances who met only a week ago. Though the familiar feeling apparently went both ways, because when Gibbs got no response he somehow knew something was up.

They stared at each other in silence for a while, or at least he stared, DiNozzo darted his gaze all over the room. To the layman he looked uncomfortable, but Gibbs knew he was actually gathering as much information about him from this one room as possible.

Knowing that was what he was doing, Gibbs waited him out, happy to see where this impromptu visit would take them. As predicted Tony didn't sit still for long. He started out small, rhythmically tapping the arms of the chair, then standing he continued his mini investigation by going through all the things on the work bench, idly picking up one item after another making it look as if he was merely bored as he complained about how tedious FLETC was, how it reminded him of school, how the trainer didn't appreciate his sense of irony.

He was so vocal about it Gibbs offered to pull a few strings and get permission to train him in the field instead just to shut him up. Being as he had been a detective and all it shouldn't be that hard a sell.

"Ah thanks boss," Tony beamed at him, his demeanour changing in an instant from agitated, to completely relaxed as he flopped back in the chair with a Rubik Cube he'd dug up from under some wood shavings.

Watching him work the puzzle without a care Gibbs knew he'd just been played and eventually let his lip curl up to form some semblance of a smile. He knew DiNozzo was good, had seen that in him from the start, what he hadn't realised was how good and quickly made a mental note to teach him from now on those finely honed skilled where only to be used on the suspects.

The night was pretty mellow after that. Tony enquired a few times about what he did down in the basement and wanted to know how he survived without a TV. Gibbs poured them both a drink and then bending under his counter pulled out an old wooden boxed black and white set.

"Family heirloom?" Tony asked all wide eyed and innocent.

Gibbs wanted to smack him just for his cockiness, but held back. If he were his kid it would be a different story, but as his junior partner, being cocky wasn't really a smack-able offence outside of the office.

"So why aren't you home DiNozzo?" Gibbs managed to slot in the question he'd been waiting to ask all evening.

Tony tried desperately to pretend like he didn't understand, but his frozen smile and jumbled nonsense answer gave away his true feelings on the matter. His departure from Baltimore PD had been swift, so swift in fact he was commuting to FLETC every day until he and his fiancé could find a place to live - something that would have to change if Tony wanted to start on his team first thing Monday. So the fact it was Friday and instead of heading straight home to start the weekend with his wife-to-be he was hanging out in his basement? Other ulterior motives aside, if convincing him to let him skip the training was the only reason Tony came by he'd have left as soon as Gibbs gave in.

There was some more nervous babbling before DiNozzo managed to change the subject without making it too obvious and Gibbs let him. Unlike Tony he was willing to wait to get the answers he wanted, but if his failed marriages had taught him anything, it was that if you were avoiding going home before you even committed, then it probably wasn't worth committing in the first place. Only time would tell if the impending nuptials were to be a success, but one thing was for sure, Gibbs didn't need a distracted Agent. If Tony was going to commit to anything, it was going to have to be the job first and he made another mental note to teach him that lesson too.

.

Still sitting in his car outside Quinn's daughter's house, remembering that first night which led to many more late night meetings in his basement over the years, Gibbs' mind drifted back to another, more relevant, memory. Tony's second Christmas with them to be exact. That was the year he'd been hit by the car chasing a suspect, it was also the year Senior blew him off with an email and most pertinent to today's events, was dumped by his girlfriend, a girlfriend who ended up marrying the detective whom they'd been dealing with during their current investigation.

Christmas day 2002, six years ago…

They'd been home from the hospital a few hours now, Gibbs had only gone for coffee, but when he returned Tony had yet again reappeared downstairs, disorientated and looking for him.

"You should be sleeping." He snapped, more than a little fed up with having to chase DiNozzo back to bed every half hour.

"Can't," Tony mumbled and walked past him, clothes rumpled, dropping onto the sofa and pulling the afghan from the back around his shoulders not once look him in the eye.

Gibbs eyed him suspiciously, noting the pronounced tremors running through his entire body, "You cold?"

Tony muttered something to himself, voice raspy and so low Gibbs couldn't understand what he was saying.

"What?" He snapped giving him a narrowed eyed look.

"Huh?" Tony's head snapped up, staring at him like he'd only just registered his presence and Gibbs got a good look at his dilated pupils.

"You heard DiNozzo."

"I-" he scoffed, "What, you're… you know it's…"

The um-ing and arh-ing continued and Gibbs, having had enough by this point after spending all day and most of last night in hospital with him, dropped his coffee on the mantel and moved closer, sitting on the low table in front of the sofa. Tony looked flushed and putting a hand to his cheek confirmed he was burning up too. Gibbs maintained the contact longer than necessary, running his thumb gently under dark eyes attempting to encourage DiNozzo to look at him so he could see if he should be overly worried or not. Tony coughed through the awkwardness of their close proximity, then started laughing and tried to speak, but his emotions swung around so fast he choked up instead, unable to get the words out.

"Ah jees," Gibbs sighed instinctively on seeing the tears pool, and leaned forward, pulling him close.

It appeared the 'high as a kit' stage was over and they were embarking on the downer stage of the drugged up DiNozzo experience.

"I'm fine." Tony squeaked before his face was muffled against Gibbs' shoulder.

"Yeah," He encircled him, rhythmically stroking Tony's back to calm the rapidly increasing tremors, "sure you are."

Tony tried to pull away, "I am, really, you don't have to-"

"You're not forcing me DiNozzo." Gibbs snapped and kept up the stroking, refusing to loosen his hold.

Eventually his own stubbornness won out and Tony slumped against him. "What the hell's wrong with me, boss?" He asked dejectedly, returning the hug full force and finally giving in to the comfort.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing," Gibbs sighed, resting his chin in Tony's hair and rocking him, all the while wishing things were simpler, "just relax, I got ya six."

It was a promise. One he'd made a while ago, the first time Tony ended up pumped full of drugs his body couldn't handle. Reactions to analgesics were rare, but not impossible and he hated that this could happen and there was literally nothing that could be done to counteract it. Gibbs was just glad this time Tony had come to trust he would look after him when he couldn't do it for himself.

"You okay?" He asked for forms sake after a couple of minute's silence.

Tony nodded against his chest, but didn't speak.

"Not good enough, come on I need to hear you," Gibbs took him by the shoulders and pushed back to get a good look at him.

He hated pushing him when he was sick, but it was an evil necessity to ensure Tony wasn't slipping anyway into delirium. One of many symptoms Gibbs needed to keep an eye out for. There was also flushing - which he had - confusion and hallucinations to name but a few. He knew what was manageable at home and what required immediate medical assistance. If they could make it past midday without incidence Gibbs would consider that the home stretch. Unfortunately it could still go either way at this point, given the numerous times Tony had gotten up from bed not necessarily aware of what he was doing.

Gripping Tony's limp wrist as he sat dazed and still in front of him Gibbs took his pulse, checking for a slow heart rate. It was normal, thankfully, but goddamn-it, as much as he complained he'd give anything to have Tony back to being his usual noisy and playful self.

"These aren't as fun as a few weeks ago," he spoke with a watery quality to his voice, head lolling forward on slumped shoulders.

"Well this time it was your butt that took the main hit," Gibbs laughed at the pitiful expression his joke earned, but was simply happy Tony was still communicating with him. "Come on, lie down."

The 'few weeks ago' he was referring to was actually October and he got the snot kicked out of him by several sailors while protecting Blackadder during a case, but Gibbs wasn't going to pull him up on that mistake. Getting a little muddled was the least of his worries. Tony needed to sleep the drugs off and if being on his own upstairs upset him then he'd just have to keep him downstairs with him instead.

"Boss I'm sorry…" Tony said as Gibbs pushed him to lie down on the couch.

"Hey! This was not your fault!" He shouted and pointed a finger at in his face.

Tony crumpled and Gibbs huffed a frustrated sigh, he'd let his anger get the better of him like always and had temporarily forgotten that the 'act like a two year old' thing wasn't an act right now. The drugs messed with his emotional responses as much as they messed with his head. He tapped Tony's cheek to show him he didn't mean it and was rewarded with a fleeting smile. Not his usual way of dealing with DiNozzo by any means, but Gibbs knew Tony wouldn't be remembering any of this tomorrow, so felt he had some leeway. Last time this happened Tony asked he shoot him should he ever have his defences stripped so fantastically again. He'd been so pissed off at the time he'd agreed, but Gibbs wasn't ready to deliver on that particular promise just yet.

Once fully horizontal, head resting on the pillow at one end of the couch Tony seemed to have himself under control again, though he looked so wide-eyed it was hard to remember he wasn't quite as innocent as he looked. He was young though, 'still a boy' as Ducky had referred to him once, not long after being introduced to Tony for the first time. He wondered if that was why he felt the need to protect him that night in Baltimore instead of doing what he should have done at the end of the case and returned to Washington. There was something that made Gibbs want to prevent him from coming to harm and for the life of him he couldn't understand where the paternal feelings had come from all of a sudden.

His thoughts on the subject consumed him for so long that before he realised it Tony was dozing. Looking down Gibbs could see his eyes were at half-mast and it wouldn't be long until he was fully asleep. He thought about going down into the basement for a few hours, but one look at Tony told him if he wanted more than thirty minutes peace at a time he needed to stay right here.

Picking up his coffee from the mantel and choosing a book to read Gibbs got himself comfy at the other end of the sofa, lifting Tony's feet up to rest across his lap. Hopefully the contact would ground him and keep him in place until the drugs were well out of his system. If not, at least if he fell asleep himself he'd know when he woke up. Tony's favourite Christmas movie was already in the old VHS player he'd resurrected from the basement earlier today, along with his telly, all prepared to turn on for when Tony woke up. Satisfied he'd done all he could Gibbs settled onto the sofa cushions, coffee in one hand, book in the other and aimed to enjoy what was left of Christmas day 2002.

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Present…Christmas Day evening 2008…

Thankfully Tony had woken up fully aware later that afternoon. Having the movie ready had been a good call, worked as an excellent distraction as by the time it finished Abby had shown up and any questions he'd wanted to ask about the day's events had been forgotten. This year, instead of letting Tony watch his damn Christmas movie alone or, more commonly these past few years, with him somewhere near by Gibbs had told Tony to bring it to work. It wasn't regulation to use MTAC for a party, but Vance had surprised him yet again with his understanding of his team and okayed the request. Tony had been unsure at first, but Gibbs had convinced him it was about time he shared this tradition with the rest of his NCIS family, and with the case running well into Christmas day and them not injured or stranded somewhere it was the perfect opportunity.

According to Tony he watched the movie every Christmas with his mom until she died, which given he was only eight that probably meant only two or three Christmas' max given it was black and white and not a cartoon, but to Tony it obviously seemed like a lifetime and that's what mattered. So since that first Christmas around his house, when Tony told him about this magical tradition, Gibbs made sure to take the DVD with them wherever they went around this time of year. Not that Tony would be desperately inconsolable if he didn't watch it, but if he was hurting like he was six years ago, or like he was when they went undercover in Long Island, the movie was the perfect thing to cheer him up.

Gibbs suddenly realised how soft that made him sound and what would happen to him if his marine unit could see him now, they'd never believe it in a million years. Hell Mike Franks was still more than a little bemused over his reaction to the Arkady Kobach case two years ago, when he knocked Tony out. Though when they'd met up again a few months later he'd demonstrated some understanding by ensuring, in his own Franks way, that he wasn't going to blame Tony for what happened to Jenny. Mike actually went to bat for Tony by telling the full story of what she had planned and threatening that if he laid a hand on 'that soft Italian kid' – a comment which had Gibbs almost rolling with laughter - a headslap from him would be the least of his worries.

The memory of that made him smile even now. As if he'd blame Tony, or hurt him even. Despite the many complaints Gibbs knew the headslaps only hurt his pride sometimes, though weirdly enough they'd almost become a sort of hug in Tony's eyes, which worried him to be truthful. The last thing he wanted was to encourage Tony to associate love with pain, so he'd stopped doing it quite so often, managing to find other ways to communicate his displeasure. Hovering was working quite well at the moment.

Of course he hadn't had to do much of that recently either. Since returning from the Seahawk Tony had changed, he'd been more focused. He'd changed too Gibbs realised after a few weeks, he found himself smiling a lot more, laughing at Tony's jokes even. There was no doubt things were likely to return to the way they had been eventually, but right now there wasn't a lot Tony could do to piss him off. He's always been hard on him, for good reason, but being so far away those four months he was Agent afloat, unable to check on him when he wanted to and having to rely solely on Abby's postcards just about killed him. Tony was a good Agent, communication from a ship wasn't easy and satellite time was in high demand, so they couldn't just call for a chat whenever he felt like it. Not that Gibbs was the chatting kind, but when an opportunity did arise Tony jumped at the chance to get in touch with him. Seeing him in MTAC for the first time in months had hurt more than expected, but by that time he was well on his way to convincing Vance Tony needed to be brought home. He used that very word too. Vance had looked at him like he had two heads or something and demanded to know where the double b for bastard ex-marine whose coffee he'd spilt all those years ago had gone.

When they'd finally flown out to the ship on a case, Gibbs knew from the moment he set eyes on him there was no way he could leave Tony behind. So had pulled a few strings with the XO and brought him home. Vance hadn't been impressed with his insubordination and made him pay for the trouble he'd caused by not telling him he'd already sighed DiNozzo's transfer back to the team.

He didn't care though, those four months were the longest of his life and the relief he felt on hearing Tony tell Abby about his reassignment to DC outweighed whatever feelings he had towards Vance at that moment. Being on the ship isolated Tony, not something Gibbs approved of, he much preferred to keep Tony close where he could see him. Baby him more like is what Vance had said in private when telling him bringing DiNozzo home wasn't going to happen. Gibbs had to admit, he had a point, not that he thought anyone could accuse him of babying anyone, but for him he was being soft. The only problem Gibbs had after getting Tony back on his team was having Vance know just how much his team meant to him. How much DiNozzo meant to him. He always referred to him as his boy now and it wasn't by accident. There was an unspoken threat in there that he was in control. A reminder of what was really important should Gibbs decide to circumvent him again, or push too hard. Of course they were only at the beginning of their Director/Agent relationship. Only time would tell whether Vance was a trustworthy person to sit in the big chair, but until he proved himself Gibbs was prepared to be open minded and cautious. When he'd left the office that day Vance had said sending Tony to sea wasn't punishment and strangely enough, though he didn't completely trust him yet, Gibbs agreed. He wasn't sure it was possible, but he thought Vance might actually understand Tony as well as he did, or at least close to it.

Realising how lucky he was to have them all back where they belonged Gibbs quickly rolled the picture back up, put the car into drive and pulled away, intent on keeping another promise he made and making it back to NCIS in time to join them for the second half of DiNozzo's Christmas movie.

.

Letting himself into MTAC Gibbs observed his people from the side, the picture secured with in his jacket pocket. Everyone was watching the screen, drinks, popcorn the lot and they didn't notice he'd even entered. He walked down the ramp and came up on Tony's right slipping into the seat next to him. Tony didn't see him at first either, too busy smiling at the screen. Looking at him it was as if the last forty-eight hours hadn't happened. Gibbs didn't know how he'd be doing dealing with the resurrection of a relationship which caused so much heart ache six years ago, but DiNozzo looked positively beaming.

"Hey boss," Tony whispered to him.

Gibbs nodded, offering him a small smile.

"Where you been?" The tone suggested he was trying to hide hurt feelings, but it was so obvious that was what he was doing Gibbs knew he didn't have to worry about it. "What you been thinking about?" Tony persisted when he didn't answer.

Gibbs cocked his head to look at him quizzically, still not answering.

"Remembering Christmas past?" Tony raised his eyebrows.

"One in particular," He answered after a pause, not at all surprised Tony had guessed correctly he reason for his prolonged absence.

Tony frowned then, obviously trying to work out which Christmas he was referring to.

"You okay?" Gibbs asked leadingly.

"Me?" Tony seemed surprised at first, but dawning realisation appeared on his face. "You mean Kemp? Yeah I'm fine." He chuckled nervously. "That's the Christmas you thinking about? I don't even remember much of that one."

"That's because you spent most of it high, having a reaction to the painkillers after being run over by that car." He pointed out.

"Don't forget the fall down the stairs." Ducky interrupted them, leaning over the chairs behind them.

Abby turned around in her seat too, "I remember that, Vivian came into the office having a melt down because you asked her to get Tony a change of clothes."

"Yes poor Vivian, I wonder how's she's doing now back at the FBI…"Ducky said wistfully.

"Poor Vivian?" Tony exclaimed, almost choking on a piece of popcorn. "I got pushed down stairs, hit by a car and then had Gibbs shake the stuffing out of me. What about poor Tony?"

"Ah, you were so cute when you were loopy, weren't you?" Abby cooed.

"Not quite what I meant Abs," Tony hissed at her, obviously preferring to keep the rest of the details between the four of them.

"What's Abby talking about?" McGee asked slyly, Ziva turning around to listen also.

"None of your bees wax McNosey."

"Tony was given a high dose of morphine after he was pushed down a flight of stairs and then hit by a car. It sent him a little crazy and Gibbs had to look after him while he was high." Abby informed brightly.

"High? Like when Worth broke his nose last year?" Ziva asked, getting the lingo right for once.

"Worse," Abby grinned manically and everybody laughed.

Tony looked like he could die of embarrassment right then and there.

"I wasn't that bad," he tried to brush it off and looked to Gibbs for help.

"Don't look at me DiNozzo." He shrugged playfully.

Coming from him that had everyone laughing even harder and Tony sunk low into his seat to finish watching the movie making it clear he wouldn't be answering any of their questions. It wasn't long before the end credits began rolling, and being as they were all back to work as usual tomorrow, everybody said their goodnight's leaving one by one until it was just Gibbs and Tony left.

"Thanks for your support boss," he grimaced.

"What?" Gibbs shrugged pretending not to understand what Tony's accusing look meant.

Gibbs smiled at him. If Tony was communicating his displeasure, upset, happiness, you name it, whichever mood he was in, if they could see it, it meant he was perfectly fine. Only when Tony was hiding his feelings, and hiding them so well even Gibbs struggled to see through the act, did he ever get really concerned.

Tony was smiling at him softly now and Gibbs knew he didn't have to tell him he was happy to have him back. Seven years on and he doubted Tony was plagued by any doubt of where he belonged now. It had seemed like such a long road in the beginning and was hard to believe that part of their lives was over. Things were moving forward, they'd survived tragedies like losing Kate, and now had experienced of what it was like to be apart. DiNozzo belonged here alright, but he was growing up fast, a few more years and he might well be ready to leave the nest if an offer came up to run his own team like it did two years ago. He wasn't ready then, but he might be now. Gibbs guessed they'd have to cross that bridge when they came to it. No sense rushing things, they had time and for now Tony was staying put. He was clearly finally comfortable with his place in their lives and his home at NCIS. Gibbs just hoped nothing much else happened to mess that up for them. This team was special to him, this team, was his family.

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A/N: Did it need an extra fluff alert? Probably. But I don't care, it's a Christmas series - fluff is in its DNA lol ciao for now

(Side note: not completely happy with this, may edit again in future, but a deadlines a deadline so until next Tues..!)

THANKYOU !