By the time the group finished sharing their Christmas memories, Abby had enough of sitting still. "So, who's up for a snowball fight?" she asked brightly.
Laughter burst out around the table but it was clear that Abby was completely serious. "I'm in," Tony agreed. McGee was a given, he'd do almost anything she asked, within or without reason. Ziva looked at Tony like she would enjoy the competition and Jimmy instinctively wanted to know what Ducky was doing.
"Not this time I'm afraid," the ME said reluctantly. "But I'll be happy to referee."
All eyes shifted to Gibbs and Jenny. Gibbs stared at them for a moment, then shrugged. "Gear up."
The familiar words propelled them all into action, but Gibbs snagged Jenny's arm, holding her back. "Do you think you should Jenny?" he asked, concerned. "Maybe it would be better if you sat this one out."
Jenny read into what he wasn't saying, about the baby, but she brushed off his worry. "I'll-we'll be fine Jethro." She grinned. "I'll just be quicker than the team." Gibbs' frown did not approve. Jenny touched his face lightly. "You being protective is cute. But don't make a habit of it," she warned before joining their guests in the entryway.
Once dressed and outside, the group went around to the backyard and began discussing teams. "Captain!" Abby and Tony shouted at the same time, so they marched to separate corners to call their players.
"I get Gibbs and Jenny!" Abby announced excitedly.
Tony crossed his arms. "No fair, why do you get two?"
Abby gestured to their bosses' linked hands. "I think they're a package deal DiNozzo."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Fine. I want the assassin, McGeek, and..." he cast a glace at Palmer and waved him over. "Come on Autopsy Gremlin, you can be on my team too."
Abby arched an eyebrow. "Now who's not playing fair?"
Gibbs nudged her arm. "I think we can take them Abs."
Her face brightened. "Alright. Strategy time!"
The two teams huddled together and Ducky eyed the yard and drew a line in the snow to divide sides, marking it with a couple of empty stone planters. Suddenly Abby stood up with an 'I've got an idea' look and stared at the rest.
"Wait!" she called. "I have a better idea."
Tony's jaw dropped. "What could possibly be better than a snowball fight?" he demanded.
"Snowball freeze tag!" Abby said gleefully, clapping her hands. "You get hit by a snowball, you're frozen. A hug unfreezes you. You're allowed to hide but no crossing the center line to hit your mark. The game is won when all the players on the opposing team are frozen. Well?"
No one seemed to have a problem with the change and they all set about building up a stash of ammo. After five minutes Ducky called time and counted them down. "On your mark, get set, go!"
Gibbs immediately scooped up a snowball from his pile and tossed it at Tony, who was hit before he could send his first shot. Ziva was closest and rolled her eyes, but hugged him quickly, then dodged Jenny's snowball and caught the redhead in the leg.
"I've got you Jenny!" Abby cried, launching herself at her frozen teammate.
McGee meanwhile, hid behind a tree and landed a snowball in the center of Abby's back, glad she couldn't see who got her. Gibbs took care of unfreezing her while Jenny nailed the unsuspecting computer tech in the side of the head. A silent debate went on between Tony and Ziva about who would unfreeze McGee, and finally both pointed at Jimmy.
He quickly and awkwardly hugged Tim and then threw a snowball without looking, stopping in shock when it glanced off Gibbs' shoulder. Gibbs froze instinctively but the glare he leveled at Palmer was strong enough to melt snow and make the ME's assistant cower under its force.
"I'm-I'm so sorry Agent Gibbs," Jimmy spluttered, but Jenny's hug distracted Gibbs.
"Be nice," she whispered in his ear, spinning around and aiming for Ziva again.
The game continued with much running around, screeching, yelling, laughter, and victory yells when targets were both acquired, locked on, and taken out. Partway through Jenny tried to take a deep breath to fuel her muscles, and frowned when she realized she couldn't. Jenny coughed and tried again, but it worried her enough to call a timeout.
"Sorry all," she smiled, covering her concern, "but I think I'm going to keep Ducky company for awhile. We'll get the hot chocolate ready for when you decide to come in."
"Okay Jen?" Gibbs mouthed, and Jenny shook her head.
Fine, she signed briefly before moving over to sit with Ducky.
Prior to play resuming, Gibbs jerked his head at Ziva. "Over here Ziva, gotta even out the teams." Tony whined but fell quiet at Gibbs' look.
Once Jenny was seated beside him, Ducky called the game back to order and they watched for a few minutes as Ziva froze Tony again and again, and Abby managed to get McGee back for the snowball he threw at her. Though Tim couldn't figure out how she knew it was him and wondered if Gibbs was the tattle-tale.
Finally Ducky glanced at her. "Are you really fine Jennifer?"
Jenny sighed. "I was having trouble catching my breath," she admitted. "I thought something might be wrong."
Ducky patted her hand. "Actually, it's a very common symptom my dear, I wouldn't worry about it. Just sit here and rest for awhile and your breathing should get easier."
Jenny smiled and leaned against the ME's shoulder. "Thanks Ducky."
When they left to go into the house a few minutes later, the group on the lawn engaged in a snowball freeze tag war barely noticed. But Gibbs' eyes followed Jenny into the house and Tony was able to take advantage of his distraction and hit Gibbs square in the chest. Abby and Ziva looked at each other and both tackled him with a hug as the game continued.
Finally, after some strategic plotting, mostly Abby and Gibbs with sign language, then letting Ziva in on the plan with hand signals and eye motions, Abby's team managed to freeze Tony, McGee, and Jimmy nearly simultaneously. Abby threw up her hands. "We win!" she shouted jubilantly.
Tony dropped to the ground grumpily. "You took the Ninja, of course you won."
Ziva patted him on the shoulder. "Maybe you will win next time Tony."
Abby put her arms around Tony. "Don't be sad. Didn't you have fun?"
Looking at Abby's flushed cheeks and the expressions of the rest, Tony grinned. "Yeah. Good idea Abby."
They trooped back into the house and shed all their winter wear, tiptoeing around puddles of melting snow in Jenny's entry. In the kitchen Ducky and Jenny were just finishing up hot chocolate and Gibbs took the tray from her to set on an empty end table in the livingroom. She shook her head at him and got Ducky a stack of dessert plates for the cheesecake he was slicing.
Once they were all settled in the livingroom with dessert and hot drinks, Tony's eyes began to stray to the table of present between the couch and chairs. Finally he couldn't take it any more. "Can we?" he asked, sounding like a little boy.
Jenny smiled, noting that Abby was wiggling in her seat as well at the mention of presents. She looked at Gibbs who exchanged glances with Ducky, and nodded. Why not?
As soon as he was given permission, Tony fell to his knees beside the table and began sorting the presents into piles. When he finished, he, Abby, and Ducky came out on top for number of presents, with McGee, Ziva, Palmer, and Jenny and Gibbs just slightly under in amount.
Ducky began handing the gifts out and when everyone had a small pile at their feet, the kids played Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who would go first. Not surprisingly Ziva won and picked up her first gift. The label read 'From: Abby', though she would've been able to tell from the black wrapping paper. Tearing it open, Ziva found a framed picture of the team, taken at last month's Thanksgiving bash.
Abby reached forward as Ziva looked up to thank her. "It's so you don't forget who your family is," she said softly, and the friends embraced.
Tony was next but only because he was too excited to wait any longer. He eagerly ripped open his Abby present to reveal a gift certificate for Blockbuster. His eyes lit up. "Thanks Abby, this is great."
She smiled. "I never know what movie to get you, but I figured it's hard to go wrong with Blockbuster. They even have movie snacks!"
"It's perfect," he assured her, glancing at Ziva. He would probably take advantage of his gift for one of their movie nights. If she was good, he might even let her pick the treats.
Abby took her turn, opening two at once. She immediately moved to hug the unsuspecting ME's assistant. "Thank you Jimmy!" she said excitedly. "A one month supply of Caf-Pow, what more could I ask for?" The rest of the friends exchanged glances, wondering why none of them had thought of that idea first.
Before she took the paper off the second one, she showed it to McGee. "It has both our names on it Timmy, you open it."
McGee did and looked at Ziva, then Tony. "Hey, thanks guys," he grinned, giving it back to Abby for her to see.
"A restaurant gift certificate?" she asked.
Ziva shrugged. "It was a movie night inspired idea."
"That's so sweet, thank you," Abby smiled.
"Take her somewhere classy McRomeo," Tony teased and Ziva glared at her partner. He couldn't even give up the nicknames for a day.
Jimmy was next and his present from Tony was a copy of the Gremlin movie. Everyone had to laugh. Then there was looks exchanged between the team members and finally Ziva was prompted to hand Ducky a small flat item. "It is from all of us," she explained.
Ducky took his present, intrigued, and pulled off the paper. "Tickets to the opera!" he exclaimed! "How wonderful."
"Yeah," Tony added, "those things are expensive." He leaned away when Abby tried to hit him.
"We thought you might like to take Dr. Jordan or your mom sometime," she elaborated.
At last Gibbs and Jenny were the only ones who hadn't opened something, and McGee pointed to the large item leaning against the side of the couch. "That one's yours, from everyone."
Sharing a look with Jenny, Gibbs lifted the package and laid it across both of their laps. Together they untied the ribbon and took the wrapping off their gift. Jenny gasped. "Oh my."
It was a portrait sized picture from their wedding day. Gibbs was holding Jenny off the ground, her arms were around his neck, and the moment was captured exactly as their lips met. Joy exuded from both of them and practically leapt out of the snapshot.
Gibbs and Jenny turned, their eyes met, and she could see the memory alive in his face as well. Without a second thought Gibbs kissed her in front of the whole team, forgetting for a moment that they weren't alone, until a few whistles pierced the air.
Jenny pulled back, laughing and blushing a little, and faced the group. "Thank you all, it's beautiful."
Gibbs put his arm around her waist. "Yeah, thanks."
Seeing their boss happy was all the thanks the team wanted. For a minute or so there was muffled silence as people fiddled with their gifts. Jenny was almost overwhelmed by the team's thoughtfulness and couldn't stop looking at the portrait, but she knew they had one more gift left to give.
She looked at her husband. "Stand or sit?" The words were whispered so only he would hear.
Gibbs shrugged. "Gonna get tackled either way."
So they stood and Gibbs cleared his throat. All eyes were on them. He held Jenny's hand and she smiled at the group. "Jethro and I," she began, and Tony snickered, "Jethro." Jenny's eyebrow lifted and he coughed and looked away. Jenny rolled her eyes and continued.
"We have a present for all of you as well." She turned to meet her husband's gaze and Gibbs nodded, content to let her share. The team sat up straighter, giving her their full attention. A smile spread over Jenny's face. "We're going to have a baby." She chuckled silently as eyes widened and mouths fell open. But as if they had suddenly become statues, nothing happened. Jenny bit her lip and spread her hands, trying again. "I'm pregnant."
All of a sudden their friends came alive and Abby flew at them, grinning like there was no tomorrow. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Bracing for the hug, Gibbs caught her first and held on tight. "Congratulations Papa Bear," she whispered.
Then Jenny got her hug, but a gentler version as if Abby were afraid of hurting the baby if she hugged the redhead too tight. Letting go, the Goth jumped up and down. "We're going to get a Gibblet!" she squealed, dancing around and hugging whoever was near her. "Yay, yay, yay!" Abby spun back around and hugged Gibbs and Jenny each once more for good measure, before pulling back and giving them a stare that was taking lessons from Gibbs.
"When?" she demanded impatiently.
Jenny laughed. "Not until early summer I'm afraid. I get my official due date at my next doctor's appointment, but I'm just three months now." Her hand strayed to her lower abdomen and Abby tentatively put her hand there as well. "No change yet," Jenny said almost apologetically, when Abby looked disappointed that there was nothing to feel.
By the time Abby was done with her well wishes and interrogation, the others were standing, ready to offer their own words. Ducky smiled and shook Gibbs' hand, then put his hand on Jenny's arm and she welcomed his hug. "Congratulations my friends. What a blessing this child is going to be."
Tim was next in line and held out his hand to shake Gibbs' firmly, nodding. Quickly and tentatively he hugged Jenny. "That's great news. I can't wait to meet Baby Gibbs."
His nickname for the baby made Jenny chuckle, but before she could mentally add it to her list, Ziva hugged her, squeezing briefly. "I am happy for you Jen." Then she reached out to put her arms around Gibbs. "Mazel tov Abba," she said softly, and he held her eyes, touched to the heart by her words. They were a reflection of something she'd once told him, that he was the closest thing she had to a father. Gibbs stroked her cheek. "Thank you Ziva."
Jimmy stayed in his place beside Ducky's chair and kind of waved at them. "Congrats Director...Agent Gibbs." But he made no attempt to move. It was no secret that Gibbs scared Ducky's assistant, but it couldn't be helped. Some people got used to Gibbs, some never did.
Tony was last of all. He stood in front of the couple and put a hand on their shoulders. "Took you long enough," he grinned and felt the sting of Gibbs' hand connect with the back of his head. Tony winced. "Thank you Boss." He shook it off. "Seriously though, that's awesome. Good job."
He took his chair back and shrugged at Ziva's glare. "What?" She rolled her eyes and gave up. It really was hopeless.
Gibbs and Jenny finally sat back down and looked at the smiling faces around them. It was great to see everyone so happy about their news. The team was finally getting a Gibblet. Apparently it didn't get any better than that.
