So I know that in 'South By Southwest' it seems like Tony has no idea how to ride a horse but given where he grew up and what social class he would have been in I kind of find it hard to believe that he wouldn't at least know the basics so in my head I've decided that Tony hasn't ridden a horse since he graduated from high school and that even when he did do some horseback riding he wasn't particularly good at it. Also, since we learn in 'South by Southwest' that Tony has an Uncle Clive and a cousin Crispian but we don't know of any other relatives so I've decided that there are more relatives in England.

Any recognizable dialogue comes from 'Silent Night'

Spoilers: 6x11 'Silent Night'


Two weeks before 'Silent Night'

"Come on, Tony."

"No."

"You're not going to be intruding."

"No, seriously, Jimmy, it's okay," Tony said trying to get Jimmy to drop the subject.

Jimmy sighed before deciding to play his trump card. "Lizzy and Kevin will be so disappointed."

Tony scowled at Jimmy. "That's not fair."

"I know," Jimmy said smirking; there was no way that Tony would disappoint Kevin and Lizzy, no way in hell. "So, what do you say?"

Tony sighed in defeat when he realized that Jimmy had effectively painted him into a corner. "Fine."

Jimmy smiled. "I'll tell Lauren," he said happily. While Tony would never admit it out loud Jimmy suspected that the senior field agent secretly liked the fussing and mothering that Lauren had a habit of showering on Tony whenever she saw him.

--

December 22nd

Tony waited for Skype to connect.

"Hi, Uncle Clive," Tony said brightly as he waved. "Happy Christmas."

"Anthony! Happy Christmas, my boy," the elderly Englishman said jovially. "How've you been? Are you eating well?"

Tony couldn't resist rolling his eyes, what was it with relatives asking him if he's eating well? "I'm fine, Uncle Clive, and yes, I'm eating well."

Uncle Clive looked like he didn't believe him but he let it pass. "So are there any great nieces or nephews for me to spoil yet, Anthony?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, Uncle Clive, but no."

"What about that lovely young woman you were crazy about a year and a half ago? You haven't talked about her in a while, what happened to her?"

Tony swallowed, he had forgotten that he had told Uncle Clive about Jeanne, his uncle had been thrilled to hear that he had finally found a girl and had told him that it was about time.

"Um, we broke up," he replied quietly.

"I'm sorry," Uncle Clive said with genuine sympathy in his voice, he had been hoping that that young woman that Tony had been smitten with would be the one he would settle down with. It had been the happiest he'd seen his nephew since his possibly his childhood or college.

"It's okay," Tony quickly replied as he flashed a patented DiNozzo grin, a trick his uncle really wished he hadn't learned from his father. "So tell me about what's new with Crispian?" Tony asked in an attempt to get his uncle from asking more questions about his personal life. He'd never liked Crispian, not since he spent that summer with his uncle and, to his disappointment, his cousin. He still couldn't figure out how a guy as cool as his Uncle Clive could have a kid as snotty and as uptight as Crispian.

"Tony," said Uncle Clive seriously after ten minutes of stories and news and that got Tony's attention, Uncle Clive hardly called him Tony unless he really wanted Tony to pay attention to what he was about to say. "Have you talked to your father recently?"

Tony inwardly groaned he had been hoping that this time Uncle Clive wouldn't bother asking this time but he really shouldn't be surprised, Uncle Clive was always pushing for him to talk and reconcile with his father every time they talked.

"No," he said defiantly.

"Tony…"

"Why should I? It's not like he talks to me," he replied bitterly.

"Please try, Tony, your mother would be beside herself if she knew how much your relationship had deteriorated."

Before Tony could come up with a reply the door to his uncle's study was thrown open by his cousin Rose.

"Uncle Clive, what on Earth are you doing? Mum and Aunt Marjorie are getting impatient; Aunt Marjorie says that it you're not out there—"

"Hi, Rose!"

Rose turned to look at the computer screen and smiled brightly when she saw Tony. "Tony! It's been ages! Why haven't you called me?" she demanded.

"Sorry, Rose, I've been kind of busy, we got a string of cases and well, you know how it is…" Tony replied sheepishly.

She nods, ever since Tony started working NCIS she had gotten used to the times when he wouldn't be able to call her regularly or getting calls at odd times.

"So how've you been?"

"I'm fine, how are Michael and the kids?"

"Michael is fine and Emmy and Alex are driving me insane, what else is new? So tell me, Tony, will you be visiting us anytime soon? It's been ages since you've been here," she reminded him and it was true, the last time he had been able to visit his mother's family had been shortly after Kate's death.

"I do have some vacation time saved up," he replied off handedly, human resources was practically begging to take some of the vacation time he had, "If it's okay with my boss maybe I can come visit next month."

"Oh wonderful, we have our annual game of arena polo then, you can play if you want, Anthony," said his uncle smiling.

"Um, I think I'll pass," Tony said inwardly flinching at the memory of the last time he had participated in a polo match, the summer he had stayed with Uncle Clive.

"Oh come now, Anthony, that was twenty years ago and plus Rigby has already passed away, I can assure you that the remaining horses are not as temperamental."

"Yeah, but even the memory is still hurts," Tony muttered under his breath before a yawn caught him.

"I forgot how late is there, get some rest, Anthony," Uncle Clive said.

"Good night, Uncle Clive, night Rose."

"Good night, Anthony."

"Night, Tony!"

--

December 26

"You know, you should really know better by now," Tony admonished from his seat on the hood of Jimmy's car. "The eggnog is always stronger than your average eggnog."

"Don't remind me," Jimmy muttered, having a hangover was not the way he had wanted to spend Christmas morning. "Come on, Lauren hates it when people are late," he said before getting into his car.

"You okay to drive?"

"Not hungover now, Tony."

"I know but it's also extremely early," Tony reminded him. "Remind me again why you wanted to leave at six am?"

"Because Lauren said we had to be there for brunch, Tony, that's why. I just wish there was coffee."

"This will help," Tony said grabbing a cup of coffee from the roof of the car and handed it to a grateful Jimmy. Once the two men had finished their coffees they got into their cars and made the drive to Norfolk.

The minute they stepped into the house a small sandy haired blur in a pretty green holiday dress had thrown herself at Tony and Jimmy.

"Tony! Uncle Jimmy! You're here!" exclaimed a very excited three-year-old.

"Lizzy, how's my favorite girl?" asked Tony picking up the young girl.

"I drew a picture, wanna see?"

"Sure," replied Tony.

"Hey, how about me, don't I get a hug?" asked Jimmy after hanging up his coat. Lizzy just laughed and Tony handed her over to Jimmy.

"Hey, Kevin, how's it going?" asked Tony turning his attention to the ten-year-old, before he could answer Lauren and Tyler came to greet them.

"Lizzy, get down, you're much too heavy for that now," Lauren told her daughter.

"Hello to you too, sis," Jimmy said putting down his niece. Hey, Tyler. Merry Christmas."

"Hi, Jimmy, Merry Christmas to you too," she said giving him a hug. "You're late."

"Sorry, my fault had to make a pit stop," supplied Tony. "Hi, Lauren, hi, Tyler, Merry Christmas."

"Hi Tony, Merry Christmas, I'm so happy that you could come," she said pulling him into a hug as well. "Now come on, brunch awaits."

--

"So how's my little brother really doing, Tony?" asked Lauren when Tony found himself alone in the kitchen with Jimmy's sister.

"He's better," Tony told her truthfully, Lauren was aware about Jimmy's relationship with Lee and that she had died a couple of months ago.

"That's good to hear," she replied as she started to place some of the extra food from dinner into various Tupperware containers. "These are for you," she said indicating three containers, "if you want something else just tell me."

"You don't have to do that, Lauren."

"You need some real food in you, Tony, and no, pizza, take out and TV dinners don't count as real food."

"You sound like Ducky," he said.

"Well, maybe you should listen to him, he is a doctor," she reminded him smiling.

"Yeah, for dead people."

"And I'm a nurse for living people and totally agree with Ducky's assessment," she quipped.

The beeping of Tony's cell phone interrupted the pleasant atmosphere of the kitchen, it was Rose wishing him happy holidays and telling to think about what he and Uncle Clive talked about.

"Family?"

"Yeah, my cousin, Rose, she lives in England, she just wanted to tell me Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that."

"Aww, that's sweet of her."

"I'm hoping to be able to visit her and her family next month; I have some vacation time saved up."

"You're not going to use it to visit your father instead?" she asked raising an eyebrow. "It's been a while since you've seen your father or your family there, right?"

Tony ran his hand through his hair, he hasn't seen his father in almost four years and they had hardly talked during the gap. He really didn't want to visit him and while he also hasn't seen his family in New York in the same amount of time he knew that if he went to visit them they'd find a way to get father and son in the same room to talk. Tony wanted to have fun his vacation and a confrontation with his father did not count as fun.

"You know, Tyler didn't have the best relationship with his father for the longest time either, lots of unresolved issues stemming from his childhood," Lauren commented as she spooned some food into a container.

Tony raised an eyebrow at that; issues from childhood was something he understood and he's pretty sure a therapist would agree with that, the entire psych department of NCIS seemed to be in perfect agreement on that fact when it came to him, they all pretty much said in one way or another that he had issues stemming from what was clearly a dysfunctional childhood and home environment.

"What changed?"

"Tyler was sent to Iraq and saw death in a much more up close and personal way than he ever expected. Sometimes they were able to save their patient and sometimes they weren't. It got him thinking about how many of those young men and women didn't get their chance to say what they needed to say to their family and friends and he decided that when he came back home he would make sure he got to tell his father what he needed to say."

'Been there, done that' thought Tony, in the seven years that he had spent at NCIS he had been shot at, stabbed, nearly died of the plague, lost friends and colleagues in the line of duty, had numerous close calls with psychotic killers, faced down suspects who tended to be more dangerous than the average suspect and had seen the business end of a gun more times than he could count and that's not even including what happened to him in during the six years he had been a cop. While his father didn't know about every close call, every time a colleague was lost or injured in the line of duty he did know about the major incidents, thanks to the various family members that Tony actually liked and talked with on a semi-regular basis, and so far none of them had spurred him to do anything more than to make the obligatory five minute phone call to make sure that he was alive.

"Just think about it, Tony," Lauren said as she placed various containers into the fridge. "Your father might surprise you," she said using what Tony had dubbed her 'older sister voice' before heading back to the living room where Kevin was currently telling Jimmy about his latest soccer game.

Jimmy looked up when his sister came in and raised an eyebrow when he didn't see Tony right behind her.

"He'll be right out, I think he's thinking about making a phone call," she replied before taking her daughter from Jimmy's lap and placing her on her own lap.

"You know, one of these days he's going to realize that you're being the big sister even though you're two years younger than him," he commented.

"Yes, well, I think he secretly enjoys having a big sister."

--

Back in the kitchen Tony had been staring at his cell phone for the past ten minutes as if willing it to make the call itself but it didn't make the call. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair as he thought about everything said in the past four days.

"Chanukah is all about family, is it not the same with Christmas?"

"Please try, Tony."

"You know, it really is never too late, DiNozzo, I should know."

"Your father might surprise you."

Decision made Tony quickly dialed the number before he could change his mind. As he waited for someone to pick up the phone he almost hung up but before he could his father picked up.

"Hello."

"Hi, Dad, it's me, Tony…"