Christmas morning was pretty calm. Jethro woke up a few minutes before the redhead in bed beside him did. The curtains in their bedroom were drawn, only small cracks of light peeking through and illuminating the room. Jethro yawned slightly as he took one of his wife's red locks and absentmindedly twirled it with his fingers.

Shannon fidgeted a bit, scrunching her nose up slightly before blinking her eyes open and turning onto her left side and giving Jethro a sleepy smile.

Jethro smiled over at her. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Tiger." Shannon kissed him on the cheek before she spoke again. "And Merry Christmas."

Jethro smiled over at Shannon. "And merry Christmas to you too, Care Bear." He then gently pulled his wife in and kissed her deeply.

When the couple finally parted, Shannon snuggled up close to Jethro's side and gave a contented little hum. Both of their attention was then pulled to a scratching sound that was coming from right outside their door.

"Bailey," his wife said simply.

He chuckled softly. "Yep." He snuggled up closer to his wife. "Unfortunately for her, I'm in no hurry to get outta bed."

His wife gave another little hum and rolled on top of him, pressing a kiss to his lips. "I can think of some fun we can have right here."

"I like the way you think," he replied with a smirk. Jethro then pressed another kiss to her lips. "God, you're beautiful." He gently maneuvered his wife so that he was on top. He then reached into the drawer of the bedside table, more than happy to engage in that particular activity with the gorgeous redhead.

With that very pleasant start to the day, he and his wife laid in bed resting for another couple of minutes or so before they both finally forced themselves to get out of bed and begin their day in earnest.

The pair took their time showering and getting dressed, but finally headed downstairs, Jethro noted that his father was already wide awake and was currently enjoying a hot cup of joe on the couch while chatting away quite enthusiastically with Betty Hannigan on the phone. The Gibbs patriarch said that he wasn't seeing Ms. Hannigan but Jethro wasn't entirely sure that he believed that. She'd been after his old man ever since his mother passed away and Jethro wouldn't be surprised to find out that his father was also interested in the woman.

They opened their stockings and then Shannon whipped together some scrapple, eggs, toast, and diced hash browns for the three of them.

They ate, exchanged some presents, and then Shannon played a couple of songs on the piano and the three of them relaxed in the living room. His wife didn't play the piano quite as frequently as their daughter did but Shannon still played really well. He also got a few messages in response to the photo he'd sent to his team from the night before. Apparently, it had helped Palmer and Mr. Slater to bury the hatched as well.

When 1045 rolled around, Jethro went to grab Emily Fornell's gift from the basement. They were going to Tobias' for a bit and the man had his daughter until the afternoon, so they were going to give the young her gift while they were there.

Jethro was finishing wrapping up the Christmas gifts for Emily when DiNozzo walked into the basement. "Shannon let me in. All-Natural Lip Balm Boutique. Nice, Boss. I'm guessing that's for a certain eleven-year-old girl?"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "It's for Emily."

"Awesome," DiNozzo stated. "So, how are Kelly and the granddaughter?"

"They're good," he replied with a warm smile. "Mike, Kelly, and Paisley are visiting with his parents this morning and coming over for dinner later."

DiNozzo smiled and gave a curt nod. "Good, good."

"Plans cancelled, Tony?" The younger man had recently got an invitation to Christmas brunch with his ex-fiancée, Wendy Miller, and her seven-year-old son Fred.

"Ah. I went." Jethro eyed the man doubtfully. "Sat in the car for about twenty minutes debating. I didn't go in. Decided to swing by Casa de Gibbs instead."

Jethro wracked his brain for what to say. "Well, we all make our own choices, Tony."

"You think I made a mistake?" the Italian-American questioned.

"I think you made it twice now," he replied.

The Italian-American spoke up from behind him as Jethro made his way to the stairs. "Well, when I joined NCIS, I knew what you expected of me. Everything." The veteran Marine stopped halfway up the stairs and sighed. "Doesn't exactly leave a lot of room for the Wendys of the world."

He had a point that he wanted to make but he also wasn't exactly sure about the best way for him to make said point. "Did you come here to blame me, Tony?"

The younger man shook his head. "No, Boss."

"Good," he replied.

DiNozzo picked up two glasses. "Family and job. Two different cups."

Jethro dipped his head slightly in agreement. "That's right."

"And if I couldn't fill both," the younger agent said, "that was my problem."

He gave a little hum in response.

DiNozzo looked up at him questioningly. "What if I can now?"

"Then get out of my basement," he replied firmly but gently. "Man up and move on."

DiNozzo chuckled in a way that Jethro knew to be as close to a sneer as the younger man was willing to get with him. "Like you had?"

Jethro locked eyes with the man who had become like a son to him. "Don't make the same mistakes I did, Tony. Learn from 'em." Jethro had denied for a long time, even to himself, just how lonely he had often felt over the years. That was something that was easier to say and see in hindsight. It was a huge part of why the combat veteran had developed a reputation as a rather serious workaholic and had several divorces. He'd married the wrong women over and over again. Jethro didn't want the younger man going through life the same way that he had. He wanted better for him.

Jethro climbed the rest of the staircase, Emily's Christmas gift tucked safely under his arm and then turned off the lights to the basement.

"Good talk," he could hear the Italian-American man quip.

He reappeared at the top of the staircase a moment later. "Hey, are ya coming or not? Visiting Fornell this morning and then coming back here. Scuttlebutt is that Joann's makin' her homemade sticky buns for dinner later." One thing that Jethro would credit his mother-in-law with was her amazing cooking skills.

"You sure it's alright?" the younger man asked.

"Yeah," Jethro stated simply, "You're family, Anthony." He gave DiNozzo a pointed look. "And trust me, you're not gonna find what you're looking for down here." He gestured for the younger man to follow him. "Come on."

DiNozzo smiled and stepped towards the stairs. "On your six."

It was definitely shaping out to be a strange Christmas - because Jethro never in a million years would have expected to play midwife for a woman he'd only met a couple of hours before - but sometimes strange was a good thing.