Jethro woke up the morning before Christmas and noted that the redhead laying next to him was already awake, relaxing quietly, no doubt trying to not wake him up.
Noting that he was awake, Shannon moved onto her left said so that they were both face-to-face with each other and smiled warmly over at him.
He smiled at the gorgeous redhead. "Looks like morning happened again."
She gave a happy little hum as she sat up in bed, Jethro doing the same. Then, locking eyes for a moment, the pair kissed.
When they broke apart, Shannon was the first to speak. "When do you have to be at the Navy Yard this morning?"
"By 0700," he replied. "The usual." That didn't mean, however, that Jethro had any desire whatsoever to get out of bed. "What are your plans for the day?"
"Kelly and I are going over to Dad's place for a bit this afternoon," Shannon informed him, "and then, after that, probably helping our daughter pack a few more things."
"Ah," he said, "well, I'll let you know how today goes and see if we can't grab lunch."
She nodded. "Have you made that phone call yet?"
"Yeah," he confirmed, "and Ed Gantry's sending a file over this morning for me to look over." Jethro then leaned over slightly and pulled his wife in for a kiss.
Once they had separated, Jethro checked the clock and, despite wanting to just stay in bed with Shannon, forced himself to get out of bed and get dressed for work.
That morning was rather slow, having zero new leads on the Ellis case, so Jethro had his agents follow up on a new lead that they'd received that morning for one of their cold cases while he got some of his reports done. It had also allowed him to go over the file that had been sent over from Stillwater.
Come noon, Jethro ordered his team some Chinese food for lunch, while he left and met up with his wife at an Italian restaurant that she'd picked for lunch.
Jethro was quite pleased, however, when Abby finally called to tell him that she had something for him regarding the Ellis case.
"Good news?" his wife asked as he hung up the phone.
"Yes," he said, taking his wallet out and putting the money down on the table. He then got up and walked over to his wife, leaning down and giving her a quick kiss. "Abby's got a lead. With any luck, I'll actually be home by a decent hour tonight."
"Can't wait," she replied with a grin.
The restaurant Shannon had picked was five minutes from the Navy Yard, so it didn't take long before Jethro was back at NCIS and headed downstairs to Abby's, extremely Christmasy, forensics lab with both Ziva and DiNozzo. Abby had decorated her lab with a Christmas spider of all things.
McGee was apparently off once again helping Abby with whatever it was that she had asked him to do. Knowing her, though, it was probably for some charity.
"How fun would it be to have a totally impromptu Christmas party, like, right now?" the forensic scientist asked. "We could decorate my test-tube tree, we could warm up dumplings in the incubator."
"Abby!" the three field agents chorused.
"I know," Abby said, "Typing." She then started walking over to one of her computers. "I feel like Scrooge being visited by three grumpy ghosts." The forensic scientist then pulled something up on the computer. "You want to see the attack again, right?"
"The point of impact," he stated.
"Like I said," the forensic scientist reiterated, "whoever did this had agility, speed and power on their side."
"Well, if I don't mind saying so," DiNozzo said, "I have many of those qualities myself."
Ziva eyed DiNozzo. "Ha!"
"Where's that generous holiday spirit, probette?" DiNozzo said, eying Ziva.
"Bah Hum-Bog!" Ziva said.
DiNozzo gave her a confused look. "Bah what?"
"Ziver," he explained with a small smile, "it's Humbug. Not hum-bog."
"Ah," the young Israeli said.
"Here's another angle, Gibbs," Abby said, focusing them back on the case.
Jethro watched the reenactment for a moment. "Freeze it right there." He turned to Ziva and DiNozzo. "Patrick Ellis played lacrosse?"
"Yeah," DiNozzo confirmed, "team captain."
"Abby," he said, turning back to the forensic scientist, "try lacrosse."
"Checking," Abby stated. She immediately started typing away on the computer that she was standing at. "Okay, today's lacrosse sticks are a composite of aluminum and titanium," she informed him, "and the head is made out of nylon and leather mesh." She then eyed him. "The exact same breakdown found in the wound."
Abby updated the reenactment and played it. It was a match there as well.
"Abel and Cain," Ziva commented.
Jethro nodded. "He killed his own brother."
Making the short drive out to the Ellis' home, Jethro and DiNozzo both waited for nearly a half-an-hour for Patrick Ellis to get home.
The Ellis patriarch instantly slapped his youngest across the face. The man then told the boy that no matter what, the First Lieutenant was still his son. Patrick then blamed his big brother for supposedly ruining the family's honour.
"I loved him so much," the teenage boy said, "and he turned his back on us."
"Mm-hmm," the retired colonel said, shaking his head as his son started to cry. "I don't know. Maybe we turned our back on him."
Arresting the boy, they booked him and headed back to the Navy Yard to write their reports, wanting to get them done as quickly as possible so that they could go home for the holidays.
DiNozzo, Ziva, Abby, and Jimmy, were all joining Ducky at his house the next day for Christmas dinner, while McGee went home to be with his sister, mother, grandmother and the rest of his maternal side of the family.
Jethro was just glad to actually be walking through the front doors of their Arlington home just after 1700 on Christmas Eve, which had frankly seemed like a pipe dream for a couple of days by that point.
Taking his shoes and jacket off, he made his way into the house and walked over to where his family was.
"You're home early," Kelly said with a grin.
"Solved the case," he said simply, giving his daughter a peck on the cheek.
"Perfect," Shannon said, pulling him in for a kiss.
After a moment, the pair separated and his gaze flickered back and forth between both his wife and daughter. "Can I have a moment alone with my dad, you two?"
Both girls nodded, having a feeling they knew why.
"Kellz," Shannon said, "why don't you help me with some wrapping?"
"Sure, Mom!" Kelly quickly agreed.
As both women headed upstairs, he went into the kitchen and grabbed both him and his father a cold beer. He then walked into the living room, where, his father was, and passed the older man one.
"Not very traditional," his father deadpanned before taking a sip of the drink.
"Yeah, well," Jethro said, taking a swig of his beer, "let's talk."
"You called Betty Hannigan?" his father guessed, evidently able to read his expression.
He nodded, taking a seat beside his father. "She told me to call the sheriff."
"Ed sent you the report?" the older man asked.
"Uh-huh," he confirmed. "How about you fill in some of the details?"
The Gibbs patriarch sighed but then actually started to talk. "He rumbled up in an old fastback. Whole town could hear him."
"Yeah," he said, "Dirt-kicker looking for trouble."
"I guess," his father said. "The Dobson girl was in the store. She had a friend visiting. I-I never got her name. He said he come there to rob me. He had a gun, Leroy. I told him to take anything he wanted from the register, but... the girls were in the corner, crouching, terrified. He turned after them and..." The older man sighed.
"Well," he said, "that's not the first time you've fired that Winchester."
"No," his father agreed. "It's not the first time I killed somebody, either. But it's the first time I saw the face. Twenty-three. Had a kid, somebody told me."
"Looks different from up there in the cockpit, huh?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah, yeah," his father readily agreed. "From up there, it doesn't look like much of anything. You pull the trigger, feel the release, nothing. I never even thought about it much. Now, that's all I think about." The older man eyed him. "How did you do it all these years, son? I need to know."
"Why didn't you say anything, Dad?"
"It's Christmas," his father replied. "Didn't wanna ruin everyone's holiday."
He swallowed, putting a hand on his father's shoulder. "It's not supposed to be easy."
His father gave him a small smile. "Nobody said it would be, huh?"
"No," he agreed.
He glanced at his watch and then back at his father. "Dad, come on. Give me a hand delivering those toys."
"Sure," his father said, smiling more warmly now.
Heading down to the basement, father and son started to lug the dozens of handmade toys up from the basement and load them into the truck.
"I'll go warm up the sleigh," his father said as they finished.
Jethro just smiled as his father walked out of the basement before grabbing the last toy down there and following the older man outside to the truck.
"Either of youse ladies wanna come?" Jethro asked his wife and twenty-seven-year-old daughter as he three on his winter jacket.
"Sure," Kelly agreed enthusiastically.
His wife gave a half-nod, beaming. "I'm in."
"Well, come on then," he said with a grin. "get in that truck. Let's go."
