A/N:Merry Christmas one and all!
#46 - Family
Gibbs can taste blood in his mouth, and he's starting to think he's not as fit as he used to be, and certainly no match for the young whippersnappers (and he's been spending too long with Ducky and Zee if he's using a term like that) whose methodically hunting him down. He can hear McGee breathing heavily somewhere to his left, he doesn't have the first clue where DiNozzo is. A branch cracking behind him makes him whirl and twist, managing to avoid the projectile his attacker hurls at him, barely breaking stride as he lobs a retaliatory projectile back. This would be so much easier if he had his gun.
He hears McGee cry out and moves through the dark woods towards the sound, only for a large crash to gain his attention. As he turns towards that side, a projectile crashes into his face.
"Dinner's almost ready boys!" Zee yells into the woods, and Gibbs can see her silhouetted against the lamps in the sitting room, at the French doors nearest to them.
Tony and Russ are grinning as they head back to the house, exultant in their 'win' (Gibbs will get them later, possibly with some help from Zee). The team got Christmas off at the last instant – too late to get a flight except by standby, and Ducky offered up his house for them to share Christmas together. Zee had been invited, and had immediately set to planning the meal – drawing on the greatest traditions of her own family, and the traditions of everyone else's as well. (That said, she'd staunchly refused to serve turkey, claiming that it was a Thanksgiving bird, and instead turning her attention to a large duck and a lamb joint). Zee's mum had sent Russ up, stating firmly that "Il n'ya aucun moyen de l'enfer un de mes jumeaux est passé Noël sur leurs propres!" (Zee had told them that this actually meant that there was no way in hell that one of her twins was spending Christmas on their own after they'd all heard it when Zee had pulled the phone away from her ear).
Once Zee had started cooking, Abby helping whole-heartedly, the two of them planning some untraditional trappings, and Kate had reluctantly joined them, McGee, Gibbs, Tony and Russ had been dispatched to the back garden and the surrounding woods to have one hell of a snowball fight. Ducky had been sat in the kitchen with the girls, chatting amicably (his mother had flown back to Scotland with a nurse earlier that month to spend the holiday with Ducky's cousins).
Zee was stood, holding warmed towels at the back door singing quietly. "Douce nuit, sainte nuit. Dans les cieux, l'astre luit…"
Russ was more than happy to join in, a broad smile on his face.
"Le mystère annoncé s'accomplit . Cet enfant sur la paille endormi, C'est l'amour infini, c'est l'amour infini."
The next to join in was Tony as he remembered the Christmas he'd spent with Zee's family, and singing this particular carol on Christmas Day as they waited for dinner to be served.
"Paix à tous, gloire au Ciel, Gloire au sein maternel. Qui pour nous en ce jour de Noël, Enfanta le sauveur éternel, Qu'attendait Israël, Qu'attendait Israël."
It took Gibbs a minute to bring the words to mind – he'd researched them after Zee had let slip one night that she'd always loved singing the carols in French with her family.
"Saint enfant, doux agneau. Qu'il est grand, qu'il est beau. Entendez résonner les pipeaux, Des bergers conduisant leurs troupeaux vers son humble berceau, vers son humble berceau."
Zee smiled and leant up to brush their lips together quietly.
"Joyeux Noël mon amour," she whispered against his lips. "Now go change into dry clothes. We will be serving shortly."
Gibbs slipped in beside Zee as Tony and Russ quickly took over carrying through the serving platters that all the food had been dished up onto. He leant over and kissed her cheek, resting his hand lightly on her stomach.
"Too early love," she whispered to him.
At the head of the table, Ducky has risen to his feet. "I am aware that not all of us hold with saying grace before a meal, but under the circumstances, I felt it would be appropriate, and while I am no expert, I have borrowed the words of Gertrude B Byram.
"Father, We thank Thee for this day. Bless all we do and all we say. May we each enjoy Thy blessings great, as Jesus' Birth we celebrate. And may the love that we share here, remain throughout the coming year. Amen!"
'Amen' was echoed down the table, before they all started serving themselves, with Gibbs keeping a careful eye on Zee to make sure she had a suitable amount on her plate. She rolled her eyes at him, and returned to her conversation with Russ about their family –of their family two were deployed, and Russ was lucky that his most recent tour of duty had finished barely a week earlier, another was in France with their Grandparents, while the others had all gathered in New Orleans at the Ford family home to celebrate Christmas together.
The meal was warm and friendly, and as Gibbs leant back watching the others chatter, with Zee leant sleepily against his side, all he could think was that this was family.
A Merry Christmas indeed.