p class="MsoNormal"strongspan lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Note: I know it isn't Christmas yet, but this story popped into my head. Please enjoy, and as always, please let me know what you think of it./span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"It is December 14supth,/sup and the snow is slowly starting to fall over Washing DC. Gibbs comes home from work. His wife is in the kitchen, preparing dinner. The smell of the food in the oven is hitting Gibbs in the face. Gibbs walks into the living room. On the dining room table are a bunch of shopping bags with what seems to be Christmas presents./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""hey, handsome," Shannon says the moment Gibbs steps into the kitchen. He wraps his arms around her and kisses her passionately. Usually, Shannon will end the kiss when it gets heated and reminds him of their four-year-old who could walk in any second, but today Shannon doesn't end the kiss, which makes Gibbs wonder./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""where is Kelly?" he asks, looking around in the kitchen. He doesn't hear her anywhere./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""she is upstairs." Shannon says and returns to stir in the vegetable on the stove. "she is very upset." Shannon says and is trying her very best to keep a smile off her face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""why?" Gibbs asks, really confused. Usually, Kelly being upset, doesn't amuse Shannon like this./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""We went to the mall today, and she went to talk to Santa."br /"okay?" Gibbs says. That doesn't clarify anything for him. Usually, Kelly loves going to talk to Santa Clause at the mall./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""you should go ask her herself," Shannon says. Gibbs looks at Shannon, really confused, before he leaves the kitchen and walks upstairs. Gibbs knocks on his daughter's closed door. Kelly always leaves her door open when she is playing in her room; when he doesn't sound from her, he slowly opens the door./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""permission to come on board?" Gibbs asks. Kelly loves when her dad talks to her as she is a marine, but today. He doesn't get an answer. He looks around in the room and notices Kelly sitting in her bed with a blanket over her head. She has her back to the door. Gibbs walks into the room and closes the door./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Hey, Kell." Gibbs says and walks over and sits down on the bed next to Kelly. "how was your day?" he asks and tries to pull the blanket off his little girl's head, but she holds on to it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""not good." He can hear the little girl is crying. It always breaks his heart, hearing his little girl in tears. He kan train to handle any situation as a Marine scout sniper, but one thing he can never train for or learn to deal with is seeing his little girl in tears./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""how about you come out of there and tell me what is going on?" Gibbs asks. He leans back against the wall and waits for Kelly to come out of the blanket herself. After a few moments where he has been rubbing her back over the blanket, Kelly finally gives up and pulls the blanket down from her head./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I hate Santa Claus." The little girl says with tears in her eyes and her hair electrified by the blanket. Gibbs gently runs his hand over her hair and wipe a tear falling down her face away with his thumb./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""why? What did Santa Clause do?" Gibbs asks. Kelly usually loves Santa Clause, and since Wednesday, Kelly talked about how excited she was to go and see Santa. Kelly had talked about a very special wish for Christmas this year, but she had been very secretive about it. Every time her parents asked her about it, Kelly would giggle without giving away the wish. She had told her mom that she only wanted to say it to Santa Clause./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""he doesn't want to give me what I wish for Christmas. It is not fair." The little girl complains and climbs onto her dad and leans into his chest. "I have been nice this year, daddy."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I know you have, sweetie." Gibbs places a kiss on his little girl's hair. "why don't you tell me what your Christmas wish is?" Gibbs asks./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"The little girl signs heavily and takes a moment before she finally tells her dad what her special Christmas wish is./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I want a little sister," Kelly says. That was not what Gibbs was expecting. Kelly looks up at Gibbs. "I told Santa that, and he didn't want to give it to me."br /"why do you want a baby sister?" Gibbs asks, even though he isn't sure he wants to know the answer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""because my friend Sofia is getting a little sister for Christmas. I want one too, daddy. So I told Santa, and he said I couldn't have that, and I have been nice." Kelly says, persistent./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I know you have Kelly, but I think there is a limit to what Santa can make in his workshop on the north pole." Gibbs tries his best to reason with his 4-year-old daughter. He now understands why his wife had a hard time, not smiling./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""why daddy?" Kelly asks, /"But Daddy…" Kelly says after a few moments of silence where Gibbs has been trying his best to come up with an explanation. Gibbs looks at his little girl./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""can you make one for me? Mommy always says, you can make anything?" Kelly asks. Gibbs has absolutely no explanation or answer for that. Shortly after, he is saved by his wife, who comes in and tells them dinner is ready. Gibbs knows from the smile on Shannons face that she just overheard what Kelly said, but she is not going to comment on it. She had just decided to save him from Kelly's impossible question./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"After Shannon has put Kelly to bed, she walks downstairs, where the living room is dark. She doesn't hear any noise from the basement either, which is usually where she will find her husband at this time of day. Shannon turns off the light in the kitchen and then notices a tiny light coming from the basement but still no noise. Shannon slowly pushes the door open. Her husband is sitting on the top of the stairs./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""what are you doing?" Shannon asks and takes a seat next to him. she places a hand on his leg./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""thinking." He responds./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""careful. It can be dangerous." Shannon says, and it does generate a small smile on Gibbs's face. "about what?" she asks when her husband doesn't elaborate on his thoughts./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Kelly's wish," Gibbs says while looking into the darkness of the basement. He ignores the shocked look on his wife's face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I don't know if I should be concerned or…"br /"We have been talking about it," Gibbs /"Yeah, we did." Shannon interrupts. She waits for her husband to look at her before she continues. "before you got another deployment. I can't be alone with an infant and Kelly with you overseas for 6-9 months." Shannon says, almost angry at him for even thinking about it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""what if I didn't deploy again?" Gibbs asks and looks at Shannon with a rugged look. "what if I retired?" he continues. When she doesn't respond, he continues. "what if I got a normal job, like an office job? Then I would be more home with you and Kelly. You have sometimes talked about how it feels like you are rasing Kelly by yourself."br /"no. stop," Shannon says with a serious look. "don't even think about it." she almost sounds angry now, which surprises Gibbs./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""don't even consider for a moment to retire from the marines to please me." Shannon stands up and walks into the living room again. Gibbs look surprised after her and then quickly follows her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I am not saying this to please you. I have been thinking about it for a while. I love being in the corp, but what I love the most in my life is being with you and Kelly."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""so what, you want to be a suburban stay at home dad?" Shannon asks, irritated./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""no. I was thinking of maybe get an office job. Maybe as a cop or security. Many marines do that when they retire." Gibbs argues./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""is that really what you want?" Shannon asks with a serious look at her husband. "some office job?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""what I want is to have the most time with you and Kelly," Gibbs says, walking closer to Shannon. he wraps his arms around her and kisses her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Were you serious about having a second child?" Shannon asks when they end the kiss. The kiss seems to have softened up her emotions./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""though about it," he admits honestly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Let's talk about it after your next deployment." Shannon says and starts walking towards the staircase. "come on. Let's go to bed." Shannon says, and Gibbs follows his wife upstairs with a big smile on his face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongspan lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Note: we all know what happened doing his "next deployment" /spanspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-symbol-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';" /span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"It is December 14supth,/sup and the snow is slowly starting to fall over Washing DC. Gibbs comes home from work. His wife is in the kitchen, preparing dinner. The smell of the food in the oven is hitting Gibbs in the face. Gibbs walks into the living room. On the dining room table are a bunch of shopping bags with what seems to be Christmas presents./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""hey, handsome," Shannon says the moment Gibbs steps into the kitchen. He wraps his arms around her and kisses her passionately. Usually, Shannon will end the kiss when it gets heated and reminds him of their four-year-old who could walk in any second, but today Shannon doesn't end the kiss, which makes Gibbs wonder./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""where is Kelly?" he asks, looking around in the kitchen. He doesn't hear her anywhere./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""she is upstairs." Shannon says and returns to stir in the vegetable on the stove. "she is very upset." Shannon says and is trying her very best to keep a smile off her face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""why?" Gibbs asks, really confused. Usually, Kelly being upset, doesn't amuse Shannon like this./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""We went to the mall today, and she went to talk to Santa."br /"okay?" Gibbs says. That doesn't clarify anything for him. Usually, Kelly loves going to talk to Santa Clause at the mall./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""you should go ask her herself," Shannon says. Gibbs looks at Shannon, really confused, before he leaves the kitchen and walks upstairs. Gibbs knocks on his daughter's closed door. Kelly always leaves her door open when she is playing in her room; when he doesn't sound from her, he slowly opens the door./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""permission to come on board?" Gibbs asks. Kelly loves when her dad talks to her as she is a marine, but today. He doesn't get an answer. He looks around in the room and notices Kelly sitting in her bed with a blanket over her head. She has her back to the door. Gibbs walks into the room and closes the door./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Hey, Kell." Gibbs says and walks over and sits down on the bed next to Kelly. "how was your day?" he asks and tries to pull the blanket off his little girl's head, but she holds on to it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""not good." He can hear the little girl is crying. It always breaks his heart, hearing his little girl in tears. He kan train to handle any situation as a Marine scout sniper, but one thing he can never train for or learn to deal with is seeing his little girl in tears./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""how about you come out of there and tell me what is going on?" Gibbs asks. He leans back against the wall and waits for Kelly to come out of the blanket herself. After a few moments where he has been rubbing her back over the blanket, Kelly finally gives up and pulls the blanket down from her head./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I hate Santa Claus." The little girl says with tears in her eyes and her hair electrified by the blanket. Gibbs gently runs his hand over her hair and wipe a tear falling down her face away with his thumb./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""why? What did Santa Clause do?" Gibbs asks. Kelly usually loves Santa Clause, and since Wednesday, Kelly talked about how excited she was to go and see Santa. Kelly had talked about a very special wish for Christmas this year, but she had been very secretive about it. Every time her parents asked her about it, Kelly would giggle without giving away the wish. She had told her mom that she only wanted to say it to Santa Clause./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""he doesn't want to give me what I wish for Christmas. It is not fair." The little girl complains and climbs onto her dad and leans into his chest. "I have been nice this year, daddy."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I know you have, sweetie." Gibbs places a kiss on his little girl's hair. "why don't you tell me what your Christmas wish is?" Gibbs asks./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"The little girl signs heavily and takes a moment before she finally tells her dad what her special Christmas wish is./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I want a little sister," Kelly says. That was not what Gibbs was expecting. Kelly looks up at Gibbs. "I told Santa that, and he didn't want to give it to me."br /"why do you want a baby sister?" Gibbs asks, even though he isn't sure he wants to know the answer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""because my friend Sofia is getting a little sister for Christmas. I want one too, daddy. So I told Santa, and he said I couldn't have that, and I have been nice." Kelly says, persistent./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I know you have Kelly, but I think there is a limit to what Santa can make in his workshop on the north pole." Gibbs tries his best to reason with his 4-year-old daughter. He now understands why his wife had a hard time, not smiling./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""why daddy?" Kelly asks, /"But Daddy…" Kelly says after a few moments of silence where Gibbs has been trying his best to come up with an explanation. Gibbs looks at his little girl./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""can you make one for me? Mommy always says, you can make anything?" Kelly asks. Gibbs has absolutely no explanation or answer for that. Shortly after, he is saved by his wife, who comes in and tells them dinner is ready. Gibbs knows from the smile on Shannons face that she just overheard what Kelly said, but she is not going to comment on it. She had just decided to save him from Kelly's impossible question./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"After Shannon has put Kelly to bed, she walks downstairs, where the living room is dark. She doesn't hear any noise from the basement either, which is usually where she will find her husband at this time of day. Shannon turns off the light in the kitchen and then notices a tiny light coming from the basement but still no noise. Shannon slowly pushes the door open. Her husband is sitting on the top of the stairs./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""what are you doing?" Shannon asks and takes a seat next to him. she places a hand on his leg./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""thinking." He responds./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""careful. It can be dangerous." Shannon says, and it does generate a small smile on Gibbs's face. "about what?" she asks when her husband doesn't elaborate on his thoughts./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Kelly's wish," Gibbs says while looking into the darkness of the basement. He ignores the shocked look on his wife's face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I don't know if I should be concerned or…"br /"We have been talking about it," Gibbs /"Yeah, we did." Shannon interrupts. She waits for her husband to look at her before she continues. "before you got another deployment. I can't be alone with an infant and Kelly with you overseas for 6-9 months." Shannon says, almost angry at him for even thinking about it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""what if I didn't deploy again?" Gibbs asks and looks at Shannon with a rugged look. "what if I retired?" he continues. When she doesn't respond, he continues. "what if I got a normal job, like an office job? Then I would be more home with you and Kelly. You have sometimes talked about how it feels like you are rasing Kelly by yourself."br /"no. stop," Shannon says with a serious look. "don't even think about it." she almost sounds angry now, which surprises Gibbs./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""don't even consider for a moment to retire from the marines to please me." Shannon stands up and walks into the living room again. Gibbs look surprised after her and then quickly follows her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I am not saying this to please you. I have been thinking about it for a while. I love being in the corp, but what I love the most in my life is being with you and Kelly."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""so what, you want to be a suburban stay at home dad?" Shannon asks, irritated./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""no. I was thinking of maybe get an office job. Maybe as a cop or security. Many marines do that when they retire." Gibbs argues./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""is that really what you want?" Shannon asks with a serious look at her husband. "some office job?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""what I want is to have the most time with you and Kelly," Gibbs says, walking closer to Shannon. he wraps his arms around her and kisses her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Were you serious about having a second child?" Shannon asks when they end the kiss. The kiss seems to have softened up her emotions./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""though about it," he admits honestly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Let's talk about it after your next deployment." Shannon says and starts walking towards the staircase. "come on. Let's go to bed." Shannon says, and Gibbs follows his wife upstairs with a big smile on his face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongspan lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Note: we all know what happened doing his "next deployment" /spanspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-symbol-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';" /span/strong/p