"Why the sudden change?" Chris wondered. She didn't seem herself.

"Family is important but I want to do it my way. I'm so sorry I said no to your proposal. If you want to get married then I want to do so before the year ends. Just surprise me." She told him.

"I don't know. The Christina I know wouldn't say this."

"I'm full of surprises. I love you. No man has made me as happy as you do." She said before kissing him.

"We need to talk. I don't care how long they have to wait. I know you're very impulsive but marriage is a big thing. I don't take it lightly and I don't want you to either. "Christian told her.

"A baby is much bigger. We are living together and that is commitment. It's the same as marriage but the only difference is that the piece of paper gives security for us two and our baby. I swore to never ever live with a man a guy but the hardest thing for me during those first months was that I knew had to move. I didn't want to move and that feeling was overwhelming. It became more overwhelming for each day that passed. You push my buttons the right way. I don't need a lot of time to know that. My previous relationships may have failed but I've learned from them and they can't be compared to this." Christina explained to him.

"You've never said so much at the same time about our relationship. You really mean it do you? I don't want any lies."

"You told me to tell the truth or move and I understand that. I've never admitted it before but I kind of missed my family. I couldn't be on the run for the rest of my life. I figured that if I started with you…You would tell them how I had changed and slowly they would enter my life again. "

"I've never seen you as scared as you were out there. I'm glad you can share that with me. It means the world to me."

"I know and it feels good to know we have our own common ground." Christina said to him. Then he hugged her.

"I thought you would be very scared when you told me you were pregnant but you weren't. It was me who went nuts." Christian said to her remembering the day.

"I anticipated a calm Chris who would be upset but you shocked me."

"If you told me straight away that my reaction shocked you I would have probably got even more shocked. I was angry at you and myself. We had never talked about protection and most often we got carried away. I assumed you were on the pill. I learned my lesson and I will never assume things again." He said. Then they sat down on the bed.

"I didn't want to use the pill and I've always used condoms but with you…I didn't want to get pregnant but I didn't care if we used it or not. I know it doesn't make sense and maybe unconsciously I wanted to get pregnant…I don't know." Christina said feeling embarrassed and bad.

"It takes two to tango and if you didn't remember or want to use it then it fell on me to remind myself. Maybe unconsciously I didn't want to use it either. To keep you with me. I've always wanted a family and you were there…I know considering everything this isn't the best foundation for us but I want to build on it…I love you too…I think that we should get married on the 2nd of January in New York. I'll surprise you soon with the proposal." Christian said to her. He knew that everything she said meant she loved him.

"I like that. Hold me a while before we go back out. I love you" Christina said while putting his hand on her stomach.

………………….Meanwhile out in the living room…………

"They do seem happy." Daniel stated.

"I don't want to push her away again so if they are happy… I'm just convinced that they will get married soon. Not with family present though." Diana explained to them.

"They are both seekers. It just happened that what they both sought had all along been so close but they wouldn't have found it if they hadn't all the experience they had." Kate said.

"Remember that because I want to write that down. Just in case we need it one day." Diana said quickly picking up her notebook to write it down.

"They are like two pieces of a puzzle. Some of each piece is different but they fit perfectly together." Tony then said.

"You two are geniuses. That was so lovely. If we were invited to the wedding someone has to say this in their speech." Diana explained to them.

"You're the one who can come up with great ideas. I love that idea." Kate said to them.

……………….The New York bash……….

Everyone was there. The families and the friends. Chris had flown in every friend him and Chrissie had but also everyone who should be there when he proposed to her in front of everyone.

It was two hours before midnight and Chris went up on stage.

"Christina Alexanderson can you come up on stage?" Chris said in the microphone.

She came up and she knew what he was going to do. Every close friend who could come was there. Chris was going to propose to her. They had already got a marriage licence but that was because he wanted to get married in city hall on the 2nd of January. A small ceremony with the immediate family. They would have the party at this party. Everyone was prepared for this but some were prepared for something else.

"Will you marry me?" he asked her.

"I do."

"Will you marry me now?" he asked her.

"What?" Christina asked shocked.

"Everyone has to change to new clothes and we have to rearrange some things here. I can surprise you too." He told her.

…………………

An hour later everyone and everything was ready. There were now flowers everywhere and chairs. The aisle ended with a big flower arrangement and the priest stood there. Their sisters and friends were bridesmaids. They had lovely purple dresses on them. The groomsmen had black costumes. The children had also changed and they were in the wedding as flower girls and the boys were their escorts down the aisle. The parents to the bride and groom had changed too. Chris had told Christina that the only ones who knew were their sisters who planned everything with him. For everyone else it was a big surprise.

The wedding started and it was very beautiful. The live band played during the wedding. The wedding was over 15 minutes before midnight. Then everyone celebrated their marriage and the New Year. They had a wedding cake and speeches. The ones who had children went home after the last speech at 1 AM but the rest partied to 3 AM.

……………….

Christina gave birth to a son named Erik. Three years later she gave birth to their daughter Shannon.

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

On the day Christian and Christina got married Melissa made a big decision. She decided to write the story about how all these families became friends. She interviewed everyone and when Melissa Tyler was 23 her first book was published. She called it Crossing Paths- One big family. The proceedings all went to charity and the families involved agreed on which charity it would go to. It went to a charity which helped military families in need. Melissa had never thought about being a writer like her mother, her mom's best friend and her great aunt but she loved it. She had already come up with an idea for her next book. She worked part time at a book store while working on it. When she was 25 Gibbs died. There were so many at the funeral. She saw how many people he had touched including her. A member of her family had died and she cried so much during his funeral. Because she had lived with her grandparents who were close to Gibbs she had become close to him too. She changed the direction of her book and decided to divide it into two books instead partly because of his death and how her first book got more popular after his death which was much to her disliking. The books got released when she was 28. They were based on the lives of Vanessa McGaahd and her husband Thomas McGaahd, one about Mrs McGaahd and the other on Mr McGaahd. Everyone wondered how she came up with the last name because it seemed so unusual. Only a few families knew the truth. Mc stood for McGee. G stood for Gibbs. A stood for Alexanderson. A stood for Abby because everyone knew her and her family by her first name. H stood for her grandmother's maiden name Hallberg and last but not least D stood for Dinozzo. Melissa got so surprised over how popular they became. She never wanted to become famous because she had seen with her own eyes how just being a little famous and having a powerful job destroys families because of her mom and Amanda. Melissa took the big decision to never write again but her grandmother convinced her it was a stupid idea. Amanda had become boss at the magazine her best friend's aunt Jacqueline started to work on many years ago. Jacqueline gave Amanda and Caitlin their jobs and Amanda gave Melissa a job when a position was open. Melissa then realised she couldn't run away from her family. The same year she became 29 her little brother Marcus got married to his boyfriend Jacob and she was happy for him but started to wonder even more about what she would do with her life.

………………….

When she was 30 she had the most awful year ever.

Her cousin on her father's side died just 35 years old leaving two kids who were 10 and 8. Then her great aunt Jacqueline died of cancer which crushed her grandmother. Her grandmother's younger sister had died and they were very close. Melissa's other brother on her mother's side, Matthew was in a car crash and he was in a coma for two weeks before he woke up. Just before Christmas her grandfather got really sick and he died six months later. Her grandmother never came over her husband's and sister's deaths so a year later her heart stopped working. Melissa inherited the apartment due to her grandmother's wishes. She lived there all alone until she was 33. Her "aunt" Amanda and her mother set her up with a guy and she wasn't really up for it but she went anyway. Three years later she got married to Ian who was three years older than her.

It was then she finally understood. The realisation hit as hard as tennis racket hits a ball. She looked differently at her three books especially her first. Everything Gibbs told her was so important and it wasn't until now she could clearly understand what he meant. He truly believed his rules were very important. You have to obey them and if you don't then you have to be completely right in your reasoning. Only break rules if you're right and can take the consequences. That's how he knew Tony and Kate would be happy together. That's why he knew it was important to explain the essence of his rules to her when she interviewed him. They weren't only job rules they were life rules. She had to find her own rules and her own way. That's what he wanted to teach her.

Melissa wasn't lost anymore like she was when she wrote her books. She got secure of herself and got through every tough thing which had happened to her and she knew now she could handle what the future had in store for her.

What everyone else said in book seemed so powerful to her that she wanted people to get it too. She agreed on letting the book get filmed after being asked for several years. The legacy needed to be passed on and never forgotten.

Melissa wrote the script and got an Oscar for it.

She was very proud of it and she visited her statue as often as she could. It was at a museum dedicated to the team at NCIS, their families and the Alexandersons. It was located in New York in the Alexanderson building. Melissa granted her grandparents' wishes that everyone's story and legacy shouldn't be forgotten. So if any of their future relatives wanted to find out about them in a hundred years time they didn't need to look so hard.

………………………………….

THE END