Ziva lay sprawled out on the couch, half on top of Tony. She was barely able to stay awake. The movie they were watching made no logical sense, and most of the dialog wasn't even made of real words. Little green men with a dog posing as a reindeer, stealing from a race of Christmas loving midgets, and eating 'roast beast'? What kind of a movie was this?
"Hey, Ziva!" Tony poked her, "Stay awake, okay?"
She groaned, brushing his hand aside, so that he would stop poking her, "You said I would like this movie. It is very confusing."
"Dr. Seuss confuses you?" it sort of made sense. It was confusing enough if English was your first language. For Ziva, trying to make sense out of nonsense, it was just a headache, "Okay, how about Miracle on 34th Street?"
"No, no more movies," she groaned
"Okay, I'm all for laying here like a lump until New Year's!" he pulled the throw off the back of the couch and covered the two of them up
"You know, there is more than one blanket in the whole house," Gibbs said, standing less than two feet behind them, "If you're cold, I have more. You don't need to spoon"
Tony and Ziva instantly flew apart, much to Gibbs' amusement. He chuckled, "How ya feeling, Tony?"
"Not good, boss," Tony groaned, "First off, you just took probably four years off my life, thanks a lot. I don't think the head trauma is helping either. And I'm fighting the phlegm, but the phlegm is winning." he blew his nose into a tissue, and added the wadded kleenex to the large pile accumulating on the coffee table
"David?"
"Tired," was all she had the energy to say, laying her head on the arm rest as she closed her eyes
"Both of you, back to bed," he ordered gently, "If you want a snowball's chance in hell of having that party tomorrow, you need to rest." he took Ziva by the arm, leading her back upstairs, "Sleep is the best thing for you right now."
Ziva nodded, barely listening, but clearly trying, "It must get worse before it gets better, yes?"
"Something like that."
By the time he'd returned to the living room, Tony was already asleep on the couch. He sighed, "Come on, DiNozzo." he half carried, half dragged Tony down the hall to his room, "I do not have the energy to deal with you..." he unceremoniously tossed Tony onto the bed. Surprisingly, he didn't stir as he bounced on the bed, landing face down.
Tony reached for his pillow, covering his head with it, "Too bright..." he moaned
Gibbs looked out the window. The sun had finally emerged, its bright rays reflecting off the freshly fallen snow. The light glistened brilliantly through the icicles hanging from the gutters, and shone into the room. As much as he enjoyed the beautiful sight, he knew it was bothering Tony's eyes, so he closed the curtains, "Better?"
"No...the other light," he gestured in the general direction of the hall
Not seeing anything too bright, Gibbs tried shutting off the digital clock on the wall, "What about now?"
"Good," he smiled, "No more light."
"You got a fever, Tony?" Gibbs felt Tony's brow. You could cook an egg on his head
"Heh, yeah probably."
Ziva woke up nearly six hours later, still dressed and laying on top of the sheets. Feeling sick, but refreshed, she made her way downstairs. Gibbs was sitting on the couch, Jen and Abby on either side of him, "I take it that you decided to have the party?"
"Not sure yet," Gibbs didn't sound too surprised to hear her voice, "I'm not canceling Christmas, if that's what you mean. Guests or no guests, there will be a Christmas."
"Ah, I suppose that is good. What is it you are doing?" Ziva sat down in the overstuffed armchair across from them
"We're making garlands," Abby held up a string of popcorn kernels, "Wanna help?"
"As long as you don't eat them," Jen smiled, "Tony offered to 'help' but every time we'd finish a strand, Tony would be at the other end, munching at it." the popcorn they were using was stale and ancient, but that didn't slow Tony down a bit
"Hey, it was good!" Tony lumbered in from the kitchen, carrying mugs of hot cocoa, "You never said we weren't allowed to eat it."
They each took a mug, setting them on the coffee table to cool, "I see, so why popcorn?" Ziva asked
"I have no idea," Gibbs told her honestly, "Their idea, not mine."
"Alright," Ziva gave it a try, stringing on a few pieces, "What do we do with it once we have...whatever we end up with?"
"You put it on the tree, silly," Abby smiled, "We have to decorate, its Christmas Eve! And Grinchy Gibbs didn't have a tree up yet!"
"So...where is the tree?" Jen asked, noticing its absence
"Palmer and McGee were supposed to be getting one," Abby said, "I'm getting kinda worried, they've been gone a while." she looked out the window, to see if they'd returned yet, "They're back! And they...got this sickly little twig! McGee!"
McGee walked proudly to the door, carrying the pathetic little tree, "We found one!" he announced
"Okay, Charlie Brown," Tony laughed, "You've got some explaining to do!"
Palmer followed McGee in, rubbing his hands together for warmth, "Well, the first 'lot' we tried turned out to be private property, and we got shot at. The second lot had a bunch of dead ones. And the third lot started at thirty bucks a tree. So we found this one at the fourth lot, all by itself! We were the only ones there, and it was just going to get turned into compost."
"So we decided to give it a good home," McGee told them, "What do you think?"
"I think that it is a lovely tree, Jimmy," Ziva smiled, not quite sure what to make of the wilting sapling
"Thanks!" Palmer started to set up the stand, since there was no way that this tree would stand on its own
"I think it has personality," Jen said, looking over the tree, "And if you turn it around like this," she rotated it around, "Its not...too awful."
"McStocking, I hate to break it to you," Tony sighed, rubbing his eyes, "But I am actually worried that if I sneeze, I'll kill that thing. Ziva's never even seen a real tree, and the Director's too nice. Its a twig with flocking, Probie."
"Tree stays, DiNozzo," Gibbs told him, "McGee, you tried your best." he reassured the younger agent
"Thank you boss, but it was actually Jimmy's pick."
"It was that of a fake one, and its just not Christmas without a real tree," Jimmy added water to the stand, not that it would help much. It was already losing needles faster than they could sweep them, "I like it."
AN: Reviews make me happy! Sorry for the slow update, heat wave knocked out power.