Sorry for the late update. I was having two of my hardest finals last week.
Thanks to A'serene for Beta-ing and for Tori who keeps reminding me to post/ update already.
Thanks for hanging in with me! We're halway done with this fic (:
Reviews, greatly appreciated.

Chapter 5

Gibbs looked around at his team. It was the week before Christmas and they were all sitting in their desks trying to finish their paperwork as soon as possible. They all knew that as soon as they were finished. They'd be able to go home and spend the rest of the year off. Doing whatever they did.

This year had been different for Gibbs. Hollis had insisted that he go back into celebrating the Christmas spirit so he had decorations up. Though, the only person who was set to celebrate it with him was Hollis.

The team hadn't invited him to join them in their celebration this year. Usually, Abby would be begging him to come and join them on the holidays. Especially around this time, she would be bribing him in her own little ways trying to get him to go, knowing that he would eventually cave in. This time though, there was no word from anyone on his team. They were all tight lipped about where they were going to spend Christmas Eve at which was usually his place exchanging gifts before they went to their own families on Christmas Day.

He figured that this new development, whatever it was had to do with the (now) still mother figure of the team.

"If you're finished, you can leave," Gibbs said looking up at McGee who was just sitting at his desk looking at his two colleagues expectantly.

"Actually boss, we're all heading to the same place so we'll just ride together," McGee responded.

Gibbs nodded his head getting out of his seat. "Coffee break. If you three aren't here when I come back I expect you guys to be here 0700 first thing on the second."

With that Gibbs had left the team to themselves. As soon as he got in the elevator, Tony dropped what he was doing and started talking to his colleagues.

"You think we should tell him why we aren't spending Christmas with him?" Tony asked them nodding at the direction Gibbs just took. He was feeling a bit guilty being the 'eldest son' and not spending time with their 'father' like they usually did in that time of year.

"I think he already knows, Tony," Ziva pointed out. Gibbs knew a lot more than he let on most of the times and if the blue car outside Genvieve's house one night when they were having dinner was anything to go by, Gibbs knew exactly where they had all been going and spending time for months. With that the team had finished their paperwork as fast as they could to go to Genivieve's home to celebrate Christmas.

Gibbs had gone back into the bullpen with no trace of his team. He had a CafPow in his hand knowing that Abby wouldn't leave without saying goodbye to him. He knew that she would be spending the holidays with the rest of the team, and the night at Genvieve Staton's to have dinner in like they did every Friday night.

He entered the elevator pressing the button that would take him to the basement where Abby would be.

"Hi Gibbs!" Abby greeted him hearing the ding of the elevator. She turned around with a smile of her face wearing a black sweater with Santa Claus stitched in red.

Gibbs smiled at her handing her the CafPow that he had gotten specifically for her.

"Aw Gibbs! You shouldn't have!" Abby said taking it with a smile on her face and taking a sip of it. Abby put down the CafPow looking Gibbs in the eye. "What are you doing for Christmas, Gibbs?"

"Can't go to your party Abs," Gibbs said immediately knowing what she had wanted to do. It was coming a little later in the year but he had to stick to his script. Refuse some then agree as if annoyed.

"Come on Gibbs! You can even bring Colonel Mann!" Abby replied pouting. "Genvieve said it was fine! She told me to invite anyone I wanted."

"You picked me," Gibbs stated. He knew that Abby knew the awkwardness he felt when he was around the new Jennifer Shepard. When she was in the room, it seemed like he was the only one who remembered, because he was. She didn't know who he was and what kind of relationship they had in the past. To her he was just a stranger, but to him she was so much more. At one point, she was his life.

"Duh, Gibbs," Abby replied looking at his expectantly. "So are you going? You have to!"

"Abs…"

"I told you, bring Colonel Mann! We don't care; we just wanna spend time with each other. It's the holidays! It's tradition!"

Gibbs sighed nodding his head. He thought about what he had done throughout the rest of the walk to the elevator. How was he going to break to Hollis that he – they were going to be celebrating one day in the holiday season with his team and quite possibly Genvieve Staton.

The thought of spending the holidays with a woman who … he couldn't even explain what she was to him. A woman who he had once, in her former life, loved with his team and his current girlfriend sent jolts in his gut that he couldn't determine.

"You okay?" Hollis asked coming from behind him and wrapping and arm around her waist.

"Fine," Gibbs muttered to Hollis turning her and giving her a kiss.

"We still on for the holidays?"

Gibbs looked down at her though not trying to meet her eyes. "About that…"

"No," Hollis countered not letting him continue. "I won't let you get out of this one. We're spending it together, end of story."

"I know Hol, but my team…"

"They can join us," Hollis replied. "I have no problems with that."

"They want us to join them on Christmas Eve," Gibbs told her. "It's the tradition that we have; the team on the Eve, family on Christmas. "

"Did they want to have it here, at the house?" Hollis asked excited at the fact that she could decorate the house even more and cook to impress Gibbs' team. It seemed that it was easier to crack them the first time around. This time they were more detached and cold.

"It's at Gen's house," Gibbs replied remembering what Abby had told him about the location of the festivities. Hollis looked up at him questioning the name that had just come out of his mouth. He had said it in the same tone that he would use when he would say former Director Shepard's name. The same softness and affection mixed with a hard facade. It made her wonder what exactly had happened to the other woman. "Genvieve Staton."

That was all the information that Hollis had gotten, and it hadn't prepared her at the very least for what she faced on Christmas Eve. Gibbs had driven them up to a perfect-gated neighborhood and straight to a house identical to all the others around it. The only difference was the reef on the door and the curtains were open showing the living room where she could make out Tony and McGee playing around.

"You're still not gonna tell me who Genvieve Staton is?" Hollis asked as Gibbs parked the car in the driveway. The team had taken one car and Ducky's Morgan was on the parallel side of the road while next to Gibbs' car was a black Benz. Definitely something Jenny Shepard would get. It was sharp, sleek, mysterious and very sexy. It just screamed Jennifer Shepard.

"You met her before," Gibbs replied taking the wine bottle and the bottle of bourbon he had bought for the owner of the house, her favorite brand of bourbon at that. "Blonde, 'bout 5'4 in the elevator.

Hollis scrunched her face. She had run into many blonde in the NCIS elevator. Gibbs' description didn't help her much to distinguish which out of all of them was the person he was talking about. So she stood silently beside him waiting to (apparently) re-meet this "Genvieve Staton" woman.

They rang the doorbell waiting there for a few moments before the door flew open. The couple stood there shocked at what they say. Genvieve Staton no longer had her long blonde hair that she had when Gibbs had discovered about her. She had her hair down in waves hallway down her back but it was in a particular shade of red that reminded Gibbs of old times, that had given her more than a passing resemblance to the former NCIS Director. It made her look exactly like the former NCIS Director.

"Agent Gibbs," Genvieve said welcoming them into her warm home. It was nothing like how Jennifer Shepard had her home. This was a home that was warm, not because of it's looks but because of the people in it. Genvieve let Gibbs walk into the living room while she turned around to the blonde that she didn't at all recognize. "Hello, I'm Genvieve Staton. Colonel Mann… am I right?"

"Yes, but it's out of uniform. Call me Hollis," Hollis replied with a genuine smile on her face though still trying to figure out how this woman was connected to Jennifer Shepard. If she had thought that the woman had a passing resemblance to the former Director with blonde hair, they looked like twins in red hair. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Oh yes," Genvieve said escorting Hollis to the living room. "Eric was a great man."

"I was talking about your sister, Director Shepard," Hollis said as they approached the living room, Jethro walking to the tree and leaving the big black bag under it.

"Oh, she… Jennifer Shepard wasn't my sister," Genvieve replied. "I don't know her."

"Really?" Hollis asked surprised. "You look a lot like her."

"That's what they say," Genvieve said motioning to the team that they had finally approached smiling at their childish antics as they ran up to the tree trying to extract the gifts in the bag that Gibbs had brought. Shaking them to see exactly what Gibbs had gotten them.

Hollis sat back that whole night just observing Jethro and how he reacted with the team, more specifically the newest member of the little circle, the Shepard look alike, Genvieve Staton. She was fairly surprised to see that there was no longer any tension in between them, especially coming from Genvieve Staton. It was just a normal and relaxed atmosphere that she never pictured could happen if she was Jennifer Shepard. There was too much history between them for it not to be awkward.

That was how Hollis convinced herself that Genvieve Staton wasn't a threat anymore. Even though she looked an awful lot like former Director Shepard, she acted like a completely different person. The complete opposite of what Hollis had pictured Jennifer Shepard was like out of work.

They were all sat around the dinner table laughing and enjoying the wine that Ducky had brought for them.

"So tell, me Ms. Staton, what is it you do for a living?" Hollis questioned, no way was she in law enforcement or else there would've been talk already about how she looked a lot like the former Director.

"I'm working at one of the law firms as a paralegal," Genvieve replied. "I'm taking it one step at a time while I regain my memory."

The conversation around them died down wanting to hear Genvieve talk about herself, she rarely did when she was with the team. She always loved to listen to what they were currently doing; how their lives were so that she felt they were a part of it. A part of her always felt better when she could hear Abby whine about how Vance was still refusing to approve her CafPow machine and Ducky's stories about anything and everything. It made her feel home.

"You have amnesia?" Hollis concluded, stating more than asking.

Genvieve smiled. "That's what they tell me. It's temporary amnesia, or so the doctors had told me after my crash. What they don't tell me is when I get to be Genvieve Staton, the one I knew from before."

It was the first time that she had talked about her accident, something she hadn't even told the team. She found herself waking up in a coma being told that she had temporary amnesia thought not knowing when her memories would be coming back. A second, a month, a year, two years… She often wondered late at night why it was called 'temporary' when her memory hasn't come back making it really… She shook her head meeting the team's eyes with a smile on her face.

"So how do you guys like the food?"

The rest of the night went flawlessly, they exchanged gifts with one another, Abby getting the biggest and most as she was the 'baby' of the family and so did Genvieve. It was her first Christmas with the team and the all thought that they would make it special going over the top with their gifts for her and she had done the same to them.

By the end of the night, Hollis and Gibbs were the first ones to call it quits right after the exchange of gifts. They seemed invisible while this was all happening being ignored by the constant "ooohs" and "ahhs" of the team. Not that Gibbs minded, but Hollis did a bit.

"You okay?" Gibbs asked Hollis as they got into the car.

"Fine."

"Told you she was nothing to worry about."

"She seems nice," Hollis commented. It was the only thing she could say about her. She wasn't a threat, but she wasn't sure if she wasn't dangerous.

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