A/N: I know, this one is a little late in terms of seasons, but I hope you'll forgive me that.
Enjoy and do leave me a review!!
Merry Christmas
It's five to five in the evening, the host has been talking about the fairy-tale snowfall and how happy we all are about it for half an hour or so, the only change being Annie Lennox and singing about how happy we all are about the snow.
Kate is in her bedroom, trying to decide which pullovers she'll take. Eventually, she settles for a red one and her favourite cream-coloured cashmere one, folds them neatly and stows them away in a black travel bag. In her mind she goes through the list of things she needs to take to her parents', already now feeling like she's forgetting half the stuff.
Well, never mind, she thinks as she drops a pair of high heels on top of the pullovers. It's Christmas after all, her family will forgive her being a little forgetful. And she can't bring herself to feel a lot of Christmas spirit anyway this year, so she doesn't really care if that particular shade of red matches the eye shadow she packed without really looking at it.
Then again, her Mum might just be a tad pissed this year.
Kate called her a few days ago, telling her she wouldn't have the time to go shopping herself, so could you please go and get the presents for Mary and Joe and Jonathan?
Kate adores her niece and nephews, but this very Christmas she was glad she'd remembered that there was such a thing as presents at all.
Margaret Todd, however, was not too pleased with her daughter's behaviour, she deemed it careless.
Kate had been obliged to listen to a quiet yet reproachful lecture about how her mum thought she got too caught up in her job, how she had to take care not to forget her private life and her family over it. How her mum could see her calling next year saying she didn't have the time to come at all and how disappointed the kids would be.
Kate had been silent all the while and had just said "Don't worry, Mum, I won't forget you", when it was over.
Now, standing in the semi-darkness of her bedroom, she feels bad about it all. She knows she's made her mum sad because Margaret fears that, eventually, all her children will stop showing up for Christmas, for Thanksgiving, for birthdays, like Kate's oldest brother has done.
Slowly, she picks up the phone from where she has dropped it earlier after a brief chat with a riend, and sits down on her bed.
She knows it wasn't fair. She knows she hasn't called half as frequently as her mum would have wanted her to lately, and she knows that when she did call, she wasn't too attentive to what her mother told her. She never explained, either.
She dials a number, but then she hesitates – and deletes it. Then she dials again. "C'mon, Kate", she mutters irritably. Acting like a school girl.
After three dialling tones, there's her dad's voice on the other end of the line. "Todd?"
Kate swallows. "Hey Dad, it's me", she says softly.
"Katie! Hello, girl! How are you?" He sounded pleasantly surprised at first, but already she can hear a bit of concern creep into his deep, smooth voice.
"I'm fine Dad, thanks."
"Why are you calling, Katie? Shouldn't you be on your way already? Don't tell me you can't come, your mum will go crazy if you do."
Kate chuckles and shakes her head. "No, Dad, everything's okay. Of course I'm coming. I'm just done packing, actually." She gives her bag a sideways glare, as if to dare it to object to her use of the word done.
"Oh," she hears him say, sounding relieved, "good." They are both silent for a few moments, something that she's always found very awkward – silence on the phone has something very superfluous about it.
"Katie? Is something wrong with you?"
Kate closes her eyes, shaking her head although, of course, her father can't see that. "No, I'm fine." She pauses, Have yourself a merry little Christmas drifting over from the kitchen radio. She starts chewing her bottom lip, biting at the chapped skin she always gets during winter. Stop it, she tells herself, or the lipstick will look crappy tomorrow.
Kate takes a deep breath.
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"Did Mum tell you about the presents for Mary and the boys?"
"That you asked her to get them for you?"
"Yeah."
A grumble on the other end, her dad's special way of confirming something. "She did." Kate sighs and starts fumbling with a corner of her silk plaid. "She angry about it?"
"No, not angry. Just surprised, I guess. And a bit worried. You know her."
Kate laughs softly and nods. She is silent again, frowning.
"You know, Dad," she says after a while, "you don't have to worry about me. Next year, I promise I'll go shopping myself again."
Her father doesn't say anything in return, but waits. She knows he's figured out there's something else she wants to tell him by now, and since he does, Kate reckons she can just as well stop beating round the bush.
Still, she has to clear her throat before she begins.
"My boss has been in hospital for a little over two months now. I spent a lot of time there, you see? He's in a coma," she says, and then breaks off abruptly. She realizes that she's never spoken it out so clearly before, and the sound of the words silence her.
"Princess," she hears her father say after a few seconds, "why didn't you tell us?"
Kate smiles. "Because you would have worried about me, and Mum would have worried and called me all the time, and she would have messed up her cranberry cookies and put the wrong name tags on the presents and it would all be big chaos instead of happy Christmas now."
Her dad laughs. "Yeah, well, you're probably right."
"So…don't tell her, okay? I just wanted …", she trails wondering herself what exactly it was that she wanted. "I just wanted you to know that if I'm a bit low tomorrow, it's not because I don't want to be with my family on Christmas Day anymore, 'kay?"
"Okay, princess, I know that. Come home now and I'll give you a big hug."
"That always helps!" Kate replies with a laugh. "See you later, Dad."
"See you later, honey."
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"I…I'll be later tonight, is that okay?"
"Of course. Drive safely."
They hang up and Kate drops the phone on the bed. She throws a glance at her travel bag. It's sitting next to her with its mouth wide open, as if to say Come on, pack me! There's a whole lot of things that are still missing in here!
"Shut up," Kate replies and determinedly pulls the zipper. She hadn't intended to say that last part to her dad. She hadn't been planning on being much later that 7. Apparently, however, something in her is having other plans.
So, ten minutes later, she's in her car, turning the ignition. It's 5:30 now, it's still snowing like crazy and the traffic will probably be nuts. "Driving home for Christmas," Kate sings mockingly, not quite hitting the tone.
The route to the hospital, however, is passable. There's a traffic jam downtown, but she gets through alright and half an hour later, she's there.
The team said good bye, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays earlier in the office, but she knew Tony wanted to come round since he's obviously not going to see his family, and Ducky said something about tagging along.
In a way, though, Kate still isn't too surprised to find the rest there as well. Everyone seems to still have a little time before whatever they have planned for tonight, so, eventually, they're all sitting in their chairs in Gibbs' room again, chatting and trading embarrassing childhood Christmas Stories.
It's a good way to cover up the low feeling they've all got. Neither Kate nor Tony or McGee can quite help thinking about last year's Christmas.
They'd just finished a case, and would have had every right to leave the paperwork until after the holidays, but Gibbs would have none of that. He told them to get through with it while all the details were still fresh in their heads.
Not that he wouldn't have had a point there. They both knew what a pain it could be, having to go through all the evidence anew just to put it all together correctly in your memory again. Only it had been Christmas Eve, and paperwork always took a lot longer than you expected.
Eventually, of course, it had all been done and, somehow, the day had then ended with an impromptu Christmas party, with a bottle of champagne Kate had found in her desk (and whose origin she couldn't quite remember at the time) and ice cream from the parlour round the corner, that was owned by an Indian couple and consequently didn't close on Christmas.
Abby had been there at the time, but Ducky and McGee both heard the story for the first time and found Kate's recollection of Tony singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer exceedingly funny.
"It was that champagne of yours," Tony mutters, feigning hurt. "God knows how long you'd already kept it in there."
"Oh no, DiNozzo," Kate laughs, "it was the fact that you had champagne at all! One glass, and you're done with."
Tony grins mischievously. "Wanna bet?"
Instantly, Kate is all alert. "No," she replies determinedly, "I'm not playing drinking games with you, Tony."
"Pity."
Around nine p.m., there's a quiet knock on the door (a very superfluous one, actually, because even a bat wouldn't hear it if someone knocked on that kind of door from outside, which means the door's open already anyway).
Five heads turn, and the team finds Emma standing there, looking at them.
"Woah," Tony says, "now don't tell us you've got different visiting hours on Christmas Eve."
Emma scowls at him, but it's a somehow good-natured scowl. "I wasn't intending anything of the sort, Special Agent DiNozzo." she tells him. She shifts her weight from one foot to the other, poinsettia-red clips sparkling in her mouse-brown hair as she moves.
Abby suppresses a giggle at that. She finds the sight of a relatively large woman who adores putting her hands to her hips and telling someone off for whatever, topped off with a few glitter-hairpins that would look sweet on a five-year-old girl, immensely amusing.
"Actually," Emma continues, "I wanted to ask all of you whether you care for a cup of hot chocolate." She shrugs. "It's Christmas after all."
They all look at her with surprise rather clearly written over their faces, and Emma smiles. "That is, if you think you can leave him alone for long enough", she says with a nod towards their boss.
The team exchange glances, and eventually Ducky speaks for them. "Thank you,that would be wonderful. I think we could all use something warming."
Emma nods and gives a deep, throaty chuckle. "He'll be sick and tired of your company anyway when he wakes up." she declares as she walks out.
One by one, they file out into the corridor behind the head nurse, Abby giving her boss a tiny wave as she slips through the door, and follows past a row of door into a room that turns out to be the nurses' room.
It's quite spacious, naturally equipped with a high-tech coffee-maker, a stove and a microwave, a sofa and a table with a number of chairs around it.
The fridge is covered with children's drawings, postcards and photographs showings rosy baby faces and happy families. Now, of course, there Christmas decoration everywhere as well, red and green and gold, candles, plastic mistletoes and everything else that's part of the programme.
Emma motions for them to have a seat around the table and starts to make the chocolate she promised them.
The team sit in relative silence for a while, taking in their surroundings and exchanging one or the other amused glance.
Then, however, steaming mugs are placed in front of them, followed a short while later by small plates with apple pie.
"Oy," Abby says with big green eyes, "feels like I'm home for Christmas! I think I love you, Emma!"
The nurse smiles and pats the goth's head. "Anything for you, sweetheart."
She moves on down the line of chairs, and as she puts a baby blue plate in front of Tony, she gives him a big, smacking kiss on the cheek. Then she scuttles away with a very naughty, self-satisfied giggle. Tony sits there frozen, his eyes gone from normal to the size of saucers within an instant.
Opposite from him, Kate doubles over with laughter and McGee fails miserably in trying to save himself from the slaps that are surely to come later as a revenge for his gloating.
Tony slowly turns to Abby, who's sitting next to him and looks at him with a fat grin on her blood-red lips.
"I feel like that thing from Star Wars just sucked me in," he hisses, and Abby arches her eyebrows.
"The earth-worm-thing on Tatooine in Episode VI?", she asks innocently.
"Yeah, that's the one", Tony replies miserably. A moment later he's pointing a finger at Kate, glaring at her. "Don't you dare!" he tells her, but receives only a mischievous grin in return.
Kate's taken out her sketchbook and is busily drawing the hilarious scene that just passed.
Tony lets his hand sink in defeat, only too well aware that he's fighting a losing battle here. None of them (probably not even Ducky) will ever let him hear the end of it, and they'll all conspire to save the evidence.
"You'll pay for that", he growls at Kate and viciously stabs his apple pie with his fork, using it as a substitute target for his frustration. (He can't very well stab a colleague with a fork, after all.)
"Mhm", Kate replies merrily, "but that's definitely worth it."
Tony glowers at her for a few minutes, but when Kate gives no sign of being intimidated, he gives up and concentrates on his pie instead.
"Ah, Tony", Abby grins, "no more naughty comments about girls eating chocolate when we're upset, you hear me?"
Tony only grunts in return and Abby sympathetically strokes his hair. "It's alright. We love you still."
Emma, in the meantime, switches on a small portable CD player and puts on Christmas songs, and Kate begins to hum along without really being aware.
Everyone seems lost in their own thoughts for a while until, suddenly, Tony's head comes up again from his plate and he glances over at where Emma's busy with some paper work.
He's got a look on his face as though he's just worked something out.
"Hey, Emma!" he calls, "Do we have to hear that one song over and over again?"
"Yes, Agent DiNozzo," Emma replies without turning around to face him, "Because it is Christmas Eve, it's a Christmas song and I love it."
"Hm. Fine", Tony says, dropping his fork on his plate and rising from his chair, "Care for a dance, then?"
Kate, Abby and McGee's heads simultaneously snap up and they stare at their colleague, the two women with something like amused shock, and McGee with utter disbelief written across his face.
Emma peers at Tony over her shoulder, quite suspiciously. When she sees the young agent standing there with his arms spread out and a smile you could actually describe as nice (and rather handsome, which she definitely can't deny) on his lips, she shrugs good-naturedly. "Well, why not", she says and puts away her pen, the nurses' duty roster for the next week a matter of minor interest for the time being.
Tony gives a slight, yet very gallant little bow and they begin to waltz through the nurses' room to the jingling of a kitschy Christmas tune.
The others watch and giggle for a while, and all of a sudden, Ducky stands up as well. "Caitlin," he says solemnly, holding out a hand to her, "would you like to dance?"
Kate stares at him in surprise for a few seconds, then she grins and accepts the hand he offers. "It would be a great pleasure, Dr. Mallard."
Ducky nimbly guides her to the makeshift dancefloor, and a short while later Kate finds herself mourning (as she's done on one or the other occasion before) the fact that men her age just don't seem interested in learning to dance like this anymore.
McGee, meanwhile, throws Abby a worried, or maybe rather horrified glance, but the goth pretends not to notice in the least. Eventually, however, she can't help it anymore and her blackberry mouth splits into a broad grin. Looking at McGee, she asks: "What, Timothy? Scared to ask me? Or would you rather I'd find us a cosy little broom cupboard or a vacant bed?"
McGee gapes at her, going a fiery red within a matter of moments. "Ah…uh, no, I…ahm…", he splutters out, eyelids fluttering rapidly the way they often do when he's extremely stressed. Abby laughs and finally takes pity.
"It's alright, McGee, relax", she tells him, slapping his arm playfully. "Just jokin'."
He gradually returns to his normal colour and while he recovers from his shock, Abby props her chin on her forearm and idly turns the pages of Kate's sketch pad.
"Oh, look, Tony and Emma!", she exclaims after a while, studying the portrait of the two dancers. "Wow, she did that quickly, didn't she?"
"Yah, she's amazing", McGee agrees.
Abby purses her lips and shuts the book. "Think I wanna go back to Gibbs," she says at length, straightening in her chair. "You coming too?"
McGee nods. "I'll come and say good bye. I'll miss my plane if I don't get going soon, and my mum will kill me if that happens. Not to speak of my gran."
The two rise and quietly slip out of the room, leaving Tony to his flirt with Emma and Kate and Ducky to their soft conversation.
"Why," Abby asks as they walk back down the corridor, "is she a wolf?"
"Huh?"
"Like in Little Red Riding Hood!", Abby explains. Then she lowers her voice and speaks in a deep grumbling tone: "The better so see you, Timothy!"
McGee tuts and rolls his eyes. "No", he says. And, after a pause: "She's way too senile to remember fairy tales."
"Oh", Abby says, and they both burst out laughing. "It's not funny, McGee.", Abby scolds when she's calmed down again.
"No, but it's not that bad either. She's happy, anyway."
They stop in front of Gibbs' door and the goth turns to face McGee. "Well, she's got a sweet grandson after all, right?" She grins as her friend blushes a bit and then kisses him on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, McGee. I'll see you when you're back." She waves at the door behind her. "I'll let you say good bye." And with that, she heads further down the hallway towards the ladies' room.
After a few steps, however, she turns once more. "Ahm, McGee?"
"Hm? Yeah?"
"Or maybe you don't…", she hesitates and wrinkles her nose, the way she sometimes does when she isn't quite sure what so say. "Don't say Good Bye. Say See you, or something like that."
McGee smiles at her. "Don't worry, Abbs."
TBC … still
Well? Still like it?