The ensuing week was a little hectic; both personally and professionally. Kelly threw a small party for Paisley's first birthday and then, of course, they were smack dab in the middle of the holiday season. Jethro's father had arrived on the 23rd.
On the work front, the MCRT team had caught a murder and money laundering case. A Navy lieutenant had returned from a tour in the Gulf to base housing at Patuxent River and found her husband's body. As they investigated, Jethro's team discovered that the murder was connected to a potential counterfeiting ring and the team started working alongside a young up-and-coming Secret Service agent named Ashley Winter. As that was going on, DiNozzo's old man arrived in town so he could celebrate Christmas with his son. That brought its own challenges.
DiNozzo and Senior did end up in an argument, but Jethro ended up stepping in to help Senior reconcile with his son, telling the man to join them at their annual screening in MTAC of It's A Wonderful Life. The team had been forced to work straight through the office Christmas party so just did their own thing. A plan that, thankfully, worked. He knew it meant a lot to both father and son to put the miscommunication behind them. Once that was dealt with they started the movie and dived into the hot mulled cider, caramel popcorn, and some of Shannon's funnel cake. All in all, a really nice evening.
The next morning, he and Shannon woke up to the sound of Bailey playing downstairs in the living room with Jethro's old man. Thankfully, he had yet to be called into work. With any luck, it would stay that way.
Having a quick shower, Jethro dawned a pair of his dark blue jeans and then one of his white crew-neck t-shirts and went to shave.
Walking back into their bedroom, Jethro tried to find his black USMC hoodie with zero luck. Rolling his eyes, Jethro headed downstairs to the kitchen where his wife was. He smiled; Shannon was wearing a pair of light blue jeans and what looked to be a plaid, salmon-coloured, shirt with both blue and white stripes. And his hoodie.
He smirked. Jethro had to admit she looked comfortable. Jethro loved her in his Marine pullovers. Anything of his, really. The rather nice view he currently had of her legs and ass didn't hurt any either. Damn, that woman could make anything look good.
Jethro walked up behind Shannon and pulled her in for a hug, kissing her neck. "Why'd ya have to go and steal my hoodie?"
"Because I love it," she replied happily. "And I love you."
He gave a little hum. "Can't say it doesn't look good on you."
A cheeky smile played on her lips. "Good. Maybe I'll keep this one."
Jethro shook his head with a laugh and headed to the laundry room to grab one of his other pullover hoodies from the dryer. He then joined his father in the living room, the pair chatting while Shannon finished whipping them all up some breakfast.
The first half of the morning was pretty calm. They opened stockings, Shannon played a couple of songs on the piano for them, and both Jethro, his father, and his wife spent time on the phone exchanging holiday greetings with various individuals and munching on the baked goods from Ms. Hannigan that the Gibbs patriarch had brought down.
He'd playfully teased his father about it only to learn that his father had finally decided to give things a try with Ms. Hannigan and the pair was now in fact dating.
A bit of an odd development for multiple reasons, to be sure, but Jethro had more or less just been waiting for it. It wasn't exactly shocking.
Things started to pick up around 1100 when the rest of the family began showing up.
Jethro watched the festive scene in front of him with a small smile playing on his lips. Mac, Tobias, Ducky, Ziva, and Abby were all already there and Kelly and Michael were stopping by later with Paisley after having spent the night before at Michael's parents' place. To say that the house was chaotic was an understatement.
"Thanks for the Mind Trap game by the way," Tobias said. "Emily loved it." Tobias had had his daughter over the night before but had dropped her off at Diane's place earlier that morning. Diane - along with Victor - was taking Emily to Vienna to spend the day with her maternal grandparents.
"Glad she liked it," he replied. It had seemed very much up the twelve-year-old's alley but, at the same time, he hadn't been completely sure of what the girl would think.
Tobias smiled. "So, how are the kid and grandkid doing?"
"The girls are great," he said happily. "Kelly's looking forward to finding out the gender of the baby soon and Paisley's so like her mother at that age it's crazy."
Tobias gave a little hum. "I think the same thing about Emily more often than not. The apple really didn't fall far from the tree."
He laughed. "Kelly's in for a bit of revenge for all the heart attacks she's given me over the years and I love it." Jethro shook his head in fond exasperation. "Although I'm not sure I could handle finding an eight-year-old Paisley on a kitchen counter and playing with one of my pocket knives."
Tobias shot Jethro a cheeky grin. "Well, with any luck, this next time around it'll be the son-in-law that gets the heart attack."
"When Paisley's old enough," he quipped, "I am so helping her mess with Mike."
"That could be a recipe for the world's worst Christmas," Ducky said, "or the best." The man was well aware of the situation with Michael shipping out soon.
He nodded. "Yeah, I don't think giving him a hard time this year would be fair."
Jethro had only ever missed one Christmas with his girls back when he was still in the Corps and in the ensuing years, he'd often asked himself if all the time away from them was really worth it in the end.
Leaving was always difficult but having to ship out around the holidays was even more difficult. On the other hand, the eventual homecoming was that much sweeter for it.
Jethro had just gotten back stateside from Panama and, still dressed in his Dress Blue Charlies, immediately went with Shannon to pick up their seven-year-old from school. It would be the first time that he'd seen his daughter in six long weeks.
He waited by the main doors while his wife continued down the hallway towards Kelly's classroom. Maybe ten minutes later, he could hear Shannon's voice followed by Kelly's laughter as she came running. He quickly slipped into one of the corners so that Kelly wouldn't see him right off the bat.
As his daughter ran past him, he finally pipped up. "Where you goin'?"
The little girl immediately stopped in her tracks and turned around to face Jethro. She froze for a moment, a little stunned.
"Come here," he said, grinning.
His smile grew as his daughter, now beaming, run up and threw her arms around him.
"You runnin' away from me?" he teased.
His daughter hugged him tighter.
"Can I have a kiss?" he asked before giving her a kiss on the forehead.
She snuggled right into him. "Daddy!"
"Kelly." Jethro gave Kelly another kiss before placing their daughter back down on the ground, standing on her feet. "You miss me?"
"Yeah!" Kelly exclaimed happily.
"You surprised?" Shannon asked their daughter. Jethro had come home a week earlier than expected and they hadn't told Kelly about the change in plans.
"Yes," Kelly replied, hugging Jethro even tighter as he kissed her again.
He kissed his daughter on the cheek three times. "I love you." Pulling back, he looked her in the eyes. "You have a good day at school, Princess?"
"Yeah," Kelly replied, playing with his face as she did so. The seven-year-old then tried to tickle him, much to both Shannon's and his amusement.
Jethro stood up, holding Kelly in his arms and giving her another peck on the cheek. "I missed you." He squished her tighter. "So much."
Father and daughter reconnected for another minute or so and then Jethro asked their seven-year-old if she was ready to go home.
Kelly nodded. "Yeah."
"And party," he added conspiratorially.
"And what are you gonna do?" Shannon asked, already knowing the answer.
"Tea party," Kelly announced excitedly.
"Have a tea party," Shannon replied. "That's what she's been saying for days now."
Jethro chuckled softly, oddly looking forward to it as well. "Tea parties are very serious business, Care Bear. Aren't they, Kellz?"
Kelly nodded sagely. "Uh-huh."
His wife chuckled at the pair's comments. "Yes, I suppose, they are."
The doorbell rang a moment later and Jethro knew that it had to be his mother-in-law. Preparing to play nice with Joann, he pushed the slight trepidation down and made his way over to the door with his wife.
Shannon opened the front door, her eyes lighting up with joy. "Mom!" His wife happily gave the Fielding matriarch a quick kiss on the cheek. "Merry Christmas."
Joann smiled affectionately at Shannon. "Merry Christmas, Sweetheart." Her gaze then landed on him. "And to you as well, Jethro."
He nodded politely, a small smile on his face. "Merry Christmas, Joann." Jethro put his right arm around his wife. "We're glad you could make it."
"Come on in," Shannon said with a wave. "Would you like something to drink?"
Joann smiled. "I'd love some, Shannon, dear."
Mac dipped his head slightly as he walked over to where they were. "Joann. I hope the roads weren't too bad."
His mother-in-law gave a little shrug in response as she stepped inside and started to take off her winter jacket. "Oh, I managed. Took it slow."
"Let me go get you that drink," Shannon said, "and then I think Jackson wanted to get into some of the snacks."
Mac rolled his eyes in amusement. "There's a surprise." The man turned to Shannon as he spoke. "I'd love a refill, dear."
"I'll get you one." Shannon turned to Jethro. "Give me a hand, Babe?"
"Sure," he readily agreed.
Taking his wife by the hand, Jethro made his way into the kitchen with her, shaking his head when his father cracked up the volume on a Christmas song and started singing along to it with Abby. His family was really something else.
