Christmas

Gibbs drove the truck through the entrance to "Dowling's Christmas Tree Farm" and wound his way to the farthest part of the parking lot. He put the truck in park, turned the ignition off and turned to face his stunned wife. Maggie had no idea where they were going. Gibbs had been putting off getting a real Christmas tree for days, she was about to give up and have Jamie go with her to find one.

"Gibbs?" Maggie's face showed surprise. "I thought you didn't want to go get a tree."

"I didn't." He smiled and tugged at Maggie's ponytail.

"Then why are we here?"

Gibbs leaned closer to Maggie and cupped her cheek with his hand.

"Because my wife wants a real Christmas tree and if it makes my wife happy…" Gibbs didn't finish the sentence but instead, he kissed her. Not the typical 'my wife rocks' kiss, but the kiss he gave her when he wanted he to know that she could rock his world. One kiss led to another and before Maggie knew it she was almost flat on the front seat and the trucks windows were fogged up.

"Hey buster." Maggie pushed teasingly at Gibbs' shoulder. "Is this why you parked all the way over here? You wanted to go parking?"

Gibbs laughed. "Figured my plan out. Take you parking and forget about the tree."

Maggie swatted him on the shoulder. "Not going to work Gibbs. But I'll make you a deal."

Gibbs sat back up and took a second to adjust himself. "I'm listening."

"Help me pick out a tree and I promise you lots of sex when we get home."

"Lots huh?"

Maggie scooted up and went for her husband's weak spot, his earlobe. She nipped it between her teeth and whispered in his ear. "Lots."

The 6' Christmas tree was in its stand in front of the windows. Gibbs stood in front of it drinking his morning coffee. He smiled when he thought of how quickly they got the tree home, sized, into the house and it the stand. He was going to hold Maggie to her promise and she had more than delivered. He smirked to himself thinking how flexible his wife was.

"I hope that smile is because of me not the coffee you're drinking." Maggie said as she came down the stairs.

Gibbs smirked at Maggie as she walked past him and into the kitchen. A cup of coffee was already waiting for her on the counter along with the morning paper.

"You could have slept in today." Gibbs mentioned as he walked up behind Maggie and kissed her on the neck.

"Your Dad is going to be here soon. I don't want to be in bed dreaming about my husband when I need to get things ready around here." Maggie said as she tipped her neck to give Gibbs more room.

"What would be dreaming about?" he asked as he continued his attack on her neck.

Maggie didn't answer; instead she tipped her head back and kissed him. Gibbs' hands wandered over the soft material of Maggie's sweater. As they kissed, his fingers found the hem of the sweater and were about to slide up underneath when the front doorbell rang.

"My father has great timing." Gibbs said reluctantly as Maggie moved away from him to answer the front door.

"Hi Jackson." Maggie greeted her father in law at the door while Gibbs worked to calm his body parts some.

"Maggie, why don't you call me Dad?" Jackson hugged Maggie and stepped back to look at her.

"Because she has a Dad…Dad." Gibbs walked out to greet his father.

"You off to work already?" Jackson asked as Gibbs put his coat on. "Don't you want to have breakfast?"

"Coffee." Gibbs picked up his keys "Not much of a breakfast person."

"I try Jackson, but he just wants coffee." Maggie stepped on her tip toes and kissed Gibbs goodbye and then hooked her arm through Jackson's "But I've got all the makings for a wicked omelet."

"Wicked huh." Jackson grinned "That Boston accent again."

Gibbs watched his wife guide his father into the kitchen. That woman had a way with the men in his family.

"We still on for the annual Christmas tradition?" Tony asked the other members of the team.

"Wouldn't miss it." Ziva answered.

"I'll be there." McGee added.

"Boss? How about you? You coming?" Tony asked Gibbs about the team tradition of watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' in MTAC on Christmas Eve.

"Yup." Gibbs answered not looking up from his desk.

"Mags okay with it?" Tony wondered. The tradition hadn't involved significant others since none of them actually had them in the past. Well the year before his father had come, but this year his father had been vague about his holiday plans.

Gibbs took his glasses off and looked at Tony. For the past 4 months that Gibbs had been married to Tony's sister and for the few months before that they'd managed to keep work and personal apart. Except for the time that the lines crossed when Maggie was kidnapped.

"My Dad is in town and they'll be busy cooking for Christmas Day." He answered.

"What time are we due at dinner?" Ziva asked.

"Around two." Gibbs answered as he left the bullpen and went upstairs to the Directors office.

"We still are not exchanging gifts remember." Ziva reminded the other two. "We made a deal."

"Money to a charity." McGee stated that he remembered. "And we bring dessert or wine tomorrow."

"Maggie makes the best pies, so I'd go with wine or beer for Old Salty." Tony nodded up towards where Gibbs had gone.

"Or Bourbon." McGee added.

"Is this still strange for you Tony? Being related to Gibbs?" Ziva wanted to know.

"I'm getting used to it. Plus you have to admit, he is less grumpy."

"You've been around him before when he was married haven't you? I mean you've known him the longest." McGee asked.

"No. We met when he was divorcing #4. So this is the first time I've been around a married Gibbs." Tony told them.

"Who else is coming?" Ziva asked.

"There's us, Ziva, Ducky, Gibbs' Dad and Mike Franks daughter in law and granddaughter are coming too." Tony listed off the people.

"Jamie can't come?" Ziva wondered.

"He's on duty, hazard of being low man on the team."

"What about Senior?" McGee asked about the one person left in the family.

"I honestly don't know."

Maggie and Jackson spent the morning buying food for Christmas day. School was already on break so they were going to spend the day making cookies and pies. She'd had a good time with her father in law. He told Maggie what Gibbs was like when he was a child, how he was a happy child until his mother passed away. Jackson was a lot like her father in many ways; they would have loved meeting each other.

"You expecting company?" Jackson asked when he saw a car parked in front of the house.

"That's Jamie's car. I wonder what he's doing here."

Maggie pulled into the driveway and let her and Jackson in the back door.

"Jamie? You here?"

"In the living room Mom." Her son called out.

"Where is my grandson?" Jackson bellowed from the kitchen.

Maggie followed Jackson into the living room and stopped dead in her tracks.

"He's in here with his other grandfather."

"Special Agent Tony Di…..whoa…whoa…slow down Mags. What are you talking about?" Tony held the phone away from his ear. "He's what?"

Gibbs was coming down the steps from the Director's office when he heard Tony answer the phone and new Maggie was on the phone.

"Hey, you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Tony asked his sister who was letting a string of swears loose on her end.

"She kisses me with that mouth and I like it." Gibbs said to Tony as he turned the corner. Tony cringed at Gibbs answer but Maggie was still yelling on her end.

"Okay, I'll deal with it." Tony hung up the phone.

"Maggie upset about something?" Ziva asked.

"Ya Think?!" Tony snapped back at her.

"Don't yell at Ziva cuz you pissed Maggie off." Gibbs said as his phone rang. He saw Maggie's number and knew he was about to find out what she was so mad at. "Yeah. Gibbs."

"Can I shoot my brother?"

"No." Gibbs laughed. "Why."

"He told my father where I live."

"We. Where we live." Gibbs corrected. "And that was almost a year ago."

Tony tried to make himself small at his desk. Gibbs was just about to give him one hell of a head slap.

"Well Senior is sitting in OUR living room with your father and my son."

"What?" Gibbs looked over at Tony.

"It's not my fault Boss." Tony said.

"Senior is in town for the DiNozzo family tradition and wants to stay with us."

Gibbs was staring daggers at Tony when he hung up the phone.

"Your father invited himself to my house for Christmas. So now I have my father and your father." Gibbs informed Tony.

"You know, it may be time that Maggie tries to forgive Dad. I mean you and your Dad made up. Christmas miracles and all." Tony shrugged.

"Tony, you gave out their address?" McGee was shocked.

"No. I swear I didn't." Tony defended himself. "Wait, how did he get the address?"

Gibbs knew the answer to that question and knew his stepson had his heart in the right place. Jamie told Gibbs that they'd had been communicating by email since they met. Jamie thought Senior was a good guy and that Maggie had given him a raw deal. Gibbs doubted that Jamie knew the entire story.

"Do you think it's a good idea; Maggie alone with Senior?" Tony wondered out loud. "I mean she has some crazy big knives in the kitchen. You know the ones I'm talking about Boss."

Gibbs didn't answer; Maggie wouldn't hurt Senior but she may threaten him.

"Maggie?"

Maggie stood at the kitchen sink, arms bracing herself, her head hung down as she tried to calm her emotions. The last thing she needed was Senior here.

"Hey Jackson." Maggie straightened her shoulders and turned to face her father in law.

"I'll make him leave if you want." The older Gibbs sat down on a stool. "This cane isn't just for walking."

Maggie smiled, like father like son, she thought.

"No. I have to figure this all out. That's all." Maggie walked over to Jackson and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm right here if you need me. Just holler." Jackson told her.

Maggie walked into the living room. Jamie was sitting on the couch; Senior was looking at the photos on the fireplace mantle.

"You were a beautiful bride." Senior said as he held the picture of Maggie and Gibbs on their wedding day. "I wish I could have been there to give you away."

Maggie took the picture from Senior and put it back where it belonged.

"You didn't the first time. Remember?" Maggie said rather snarkily.

"Mom." Jamie was shocked at how his mother was talking to her father. "I asked Grandpa to come here."

"Grandpa?" Maggie was shocked at how Jamie addressed Senior.

"I am his grandfather." Senior smiled. "What was he supposed to call me?"

Maggie opened and closed her mouth and decided to not answer that question. Instead she walked over to the still undecorated Christmas tree. Her plan had been to start baking cookies and decorate the tree with Jackson. That had been all shot to hell now.

"Jamie, can I have a minute with your Grandfather?"

"I don't know Mom, maybe I should stay in the room…."

"James Sullivan, I'm trying to keep as calm as I can right now. Go in the kitchen with Jackson. NOW."

Jamie knew that tone and when his mother used it, you had two choices; do what she said or you'd wish you had.

"You're so much like your mother Maggie. You've got that Irish temper that I loved about her." Senior looked at another picture of Maggie's mother holding Jamie as a baby. "You've got her hair and eyes too."

Maggie pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to focus. Losing her temper would not help things now.

"Listen Senior, it's taking all my self-control to not throw you out on the street. I'm still not ready to forgive you for what happened with Joe."

Senior walked over to Maggie and put his hands on her shoulders. Maggie didn't flinch, but her body stiffened.

"Maggie, I swear to you that I never ever meant any harm. I honestly believed that he was just trying to set things straight with you."

"A total stranger comes up to you in a hotel bathroom, knows that you're the father of a daughter whom you're not close to and convinces you to go to DC to find me. You'd of had a better chance of getting Tony to bring you here."

Senior released Maggie's shoulders and went to stand by the tree.

"I actually did ask Tony to tell me where to find you. He said no."

"Maybe you should have listened to him."

Senior said nothing as he looked out the window. Dark clouds were forming in the sky. The weather man had predicted a Christmas blizzard. When he didn't speak for a few moments, Maggie turned to look at him. Senior had aged recently, he seemed so much older than the last time she had seen him at Gibbs' house.

"Why are you here Senior?"

"You just can't call me Dad can you?" Senior said quietly.

"You aren't my Dad. Seamus was my father, he was the one who raised me and was there for me."

"And I wasn't." Senior stated. "I've made a lot of mistakes with you and with Junior."

Maggie saw Gibbs and Tony pull into the driveway. She watched as they walked to the back door and waited...

"I suppose Gibbs will throw me out now." Senior said somewhat dejectedly.

"Son, I'd give them a few minutes." Jackson said to Gibbs when he took his jacket off in the kitchen. "I told Maggie I'd be here if she needed back up." Jackson tapped his cane on the floor.

"Don't worry Dad." Gibbs told his father and then turned to look at Jamie. He gestured for Jamie to follow him out the back door.

"Ooh, someone's in trouble." Tony said quietly to Jamie which earned him a head slap from Gibbs.

"Better you than me." Jamie told his uncle.

"Yours is coming." Gibbs told his step son. "Follow me."

Jamie followed Gibbs into the garage and shut the door behind him. Standing at attention, Jamie waited for Gibbs to say something.

"You don't have to stand at attention." Gibbs told him as he searched his work bench for something. "I just want to know…" Gibbs turned to face Jamie… "Why in the hell did you bring Senior here?"

Jamie relaxed and walked over to the work table and sat down on one of the stools. He ran his hands over his buzz cut hair a few times.

"When I met Grandpa DiNozzo, I really liked him. He's a lot like me or I'm a lot like him."

Gibbs sat down on the other side of the work table with two small jars filled with bourbon and handed one to Jamie.

"You're nothing like Senior. Trust me; I've seen him at his worst." Gibbs took a sip of his drink.

"I know what happened was bad." Jamie agreed.

"Ya think?" Gibbs replied.

"But I've been talking to him a lot lately and he really does sound like he wants to make amends with Mom. He keeps talking about all the time he's missed with Uncle Tony and her."

Jamie took a sip of the drink and choked a little. "Bit hard don't you think?"

"Acquired taste." Gibbs finished his own drink.

"I just …." Jamie continued. "Things are really great now. We're a family. You, me, Mom, Uncle Tony, Grandpa Jackson and it's Christmas and I just wanted Mom to try and even if she still calls him Senior that she just tries to listen to him and make him feel welcome."

Jamie looked up at his step-father.

"Am I making any sense?"

"Yeah son, you are." Gibbs

"They've been out there a long time." Tony said to Jackson as they sat at the kitchen island. He ran his hands over the granite top. The back door opened and Gibbs and Jamie came back in to the kitchen. Gibbs stopped at the refrigerator and pulled out a beer for himself, popped the cap off and took a long sip of it.

"Everything okay Boss?" Tony asked.

"He makes you call him Boss even here?" Jackson was shocked.

Gibbs gave his father the 'really Dad' look as he walked into the living room.

"Habit." Tony told Jackson. "Things may get really ugly now."

"I guess congratulations are in order Gibbs." Senior walked over to Gibbs and shook his hand. "Maggie's a wonderful girl."

"Yes she is." Gibbs let go of Seniors hand and bent down to kiss Maggie on the top of the head.

"Well I guess I should ask Jamie to take me back to the hotel." Senior walked over to the chair where he had put his jacket.

"Where you going?" Gibbs asked. Maggie reached out and grabbed Gibbs wrist and gave him a look that screamed 'what are you up to?'

Gibbs reached for Seniors jacket and hung it in the hall closet. Senior and Maggie's faces showed different levels of confusion.

"Stay for dinner. I'm going to grill some steaks." Gibbs told Senior.

"In this weather? It's freezing out."

"Nah, just a bit chilly." Gibbs and Senior walked back down the hall to the kitchen leaving a completely stunned Maggie alone in the living room.

Maggie was very quiet, too quiet Tony thought as he walked into the living room. A quiet Maggie was a scary Maggie; Tony knew.

"Mags?" he approached his sister quietly "You okay?"

"I don't know Tony. Pinch me." Maggie turned to face her brother

"What?" Tony shook his head confused.

"Pinch me. I need to know if this is a dream or nightmare."

"Okay." Tony reached out and pinched Maggie on the arm.

"Ow!" she yelped.

"You told me to."

"So it's not a dream. My husband is out on the patio grilling steaks for Senior."

"Fraid so." Tony wrapped his sister in a hug and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"My husband invited Senior to dinner." Maggie's voice was muffled since she was speaking into Tony's chest.

"Yup. It's our own family version of 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'. The 1967 classic…Spencer Tracy. Sydney Por….Ow! What was that for?"

Maggie had pinched Tony back on his side. "I know the movie Tony."

"You sure about this son? Maggie doesn't seem too happy with it." Jackson brought out the tray of steaks to Gibbs at the grill.

Gibbs placed the steaks on the grill and watched them for a few minutes.

"Dad, we didn't talk for a long time." Gibbs started.

"No, no we didn't." Jackson sat down on one of the patio chairs near the grill.

"And it took us time, but we're okay."

"Yes, yes we are."

"What do you know about Maggie and her father?" Gibbs closed the top of the grill and sat down across from his father.

"I know he walked away and never looked back. Didn't give a rat's ass about her."

Gibbs took a drink of his beer and nodded his head. "More or less."

"And because he wasn't smart enough to see through that bastards lies, he almost got her killed."

Again, Gibbs nodded.

"But you think they can come to some kind of an impasse? You sure you want to step into this son?"

"Maggie's my wife, Dad."

"Un huh." Jackson agreed.

"Jamie is my step son and he's the reason Senior is here. He thinks the guy wants to make some kind of amends for the past."

"And you? What do you think?"

Gibbs was silent for a few minutes. "I think if he's conning his way in again, I'll kill him myself."

"Can I help with anything?" Senior asked Maggie as she set about working inside making dinner.

Jamie had gotten called back to base and Tony was sent out to the garage to grab the extra stools for him and Senior to use at the island.

"Can you reach the wine glasses?" Maggie asked Senior. There was no avoiding him being there so she promised herself she'd at least be a polite hostess in her own home.

"Absolutely." Senior opened the cabinet where Maggie had pointed. "How come you don't have a regular dining room?"

"The house didn't come with one. Gibbs and I are thinking about adding an addition off the kitchen in the spring."

"I suppose he'll build it." Senior placed five glasses on the table.

"He will."

"Are you happy? Married to Gibbs I mean?"

Maggie put the asparagus in the steamer and stepped back a little from the stove.

"Yes, I'm very happy. Gibbs is wonderful." Maggie looked up at Senior. "I don't just marry for the sake of marrying."

"How is Junior handling it?"

"Tony wasn't happy at first, even if he said he was, but it took time. He seems to be okay with it now."

"What about Jamie? He avoids the subject of Gibbs when we talk." Senior pulled out a bottle of wine and uncorked it to let it breath before pouring it.

"Jamie knows there is tension between you two. But he and Gibbs have really bonded. They have a lot in common."

"Marines?"

Maggie nodded and took the baked potatoes out of the oven. "That and fishing and other things guys his age confide in their fathers about."

"I am sorry about what happened to James." Senior said.

"Senior." Maggie faced him. "If we are to get through this meal, you have to avoid things like that with me. Understand?"

"Understand."

"Understand what?" Tony asked as he came in carrying the tray of steaks, followed by Jackson and Freckles who was drooling hoping someone would drop something on the floor for her to get.

"Mags, Gibbs needs you outside." Tony whispered as he passed his sister.

Maggie wrapped herself in one of Gibbs' jackets that was hanging by the door. She smiled at the sight of her husband standing there in his off work uniform of jeans, work boots and a Marine sweatshirt. Cold never really got to him. Man was a master of layering clothes. Just like she was a master of getting him out of all those layers. She couldn't help staring at his butt; it was such a nice butt.

Gibbs was cleaning off the grill with a brush, he heard Maggie's footsteps as she crossed the porch and came down the stairs. He also caught the scent of her perfume in the cold evening air. Maggie walked up behind Gibbs and wrapped her arms around him, burying her nose in the soft sweat shirt material and squeezed him tight. She loved the smell of his deodorant and the ever present scent of saw dust on his sweatshirts. Gibbs used his free hand to bring one of her hands up to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.

"I take it you're not that mad at me."

"No, I'm mad at you, but not mad enough to kick you out of bed and make you sleep on the couch tonight." Maggie moved around to stand in front of her husband, her arms still wrapped around him. "But I'd like to know what you're up to."

"Who me?" Gibbs smirked. "What makes you think I'm up to something?" he asked as he finished with the grill brush and put it next to the grill.

Maggie cocked an eyebrow and looked up at Gibbs.

"On a good day you would tolerate Senior, but after what happened with Antonelli…"

"He's lucky I didn't kill him when he came to the house that day." Gibbs finished and kissed Maggie on the nose.

"So, what miracle happened that you and Senior are breaking bread together?"

"I know Jamie brought him here under honest motive, but I don't trust Senior." Gibbs used his thumb to brush off a snowflake that had fallen onto Maggie's cheek. "And before he hurt someone else in our family, I want to see what he's got up his sleeve."

The snow had begun to fall hours earlier than the weather reports had said. Maggie looked up at the skies and sighed. Gibbs loved the look on Maggie's face as she looked skyward, snowflakes falling more frequently on her face.

"We'd better get in before I decide to take you over to the garage and make all this up to you." Gibbs leaned down and kissed her.

"Hmmm…maybe they won't notice if we disappear for a few minutes." Maggie smiled.

"I think I need more than a few minutes for what I have planned." Gibbs kissed Maggie again while Tony called to them from the back door.

"I'd tell you two to get a room, but I'm afraid you really will."

"Sometimes I really don't like your brother." Gibbs put his arm around Maggie's shoulder and began walking for the door.

"Sometimes, neither do I." Maggie whispered to Gibbs.

"Looks like the snow is starting early." Jackson said as he used a fork to put the potatoes on everyone's plates.

"Any one hear the forecast?" Maggie took the asparagus from the steamer and put it on a plate.

"Saying 6-12 inches." Tony answered as he sat down.

"I heard 12-16." Gibbs added his information.

"Guess we'll be heading back to the store in the morning." Jackson told Maggie.

"God, up in Boston the stores must be going nuts. People hear Nor'easter and it's like the world is ending." Maggie told the men at the table.

"Blizzard of 78." Senior said. "That was awful."

"A whole month off of school." Maggie said. "One week of February vacation, then the week off for the blizzard, then I got pneumonia…"

"From the blizzard?" Senior asked. Maggie tried to convince herself that he was being sincere.

"I honestly don't remember, but the next week the doctors said I couldn't go to sleep away camp."

"Sleep away camp? Teenage girls from an all-girl Catholic school. In the wilderness, trying to keep warm." Tony let his imagination run for a bit and Maggie smacked him in the back of the head.

"Hey, that's my move." Gibbs laughed at his wife.

"Yeah Mags." Tony rubbed the back of his head. "And you hit harder."

Tony may be a lot of things, but one that helped that night during dinner was his ability to avoid awkward moments in conversations. If Senior strayed in to territory that involved his past and exploits and name dropping, Tony brought him back to the here and now. Jackson did his best to keep stories of a young Gibbs to a minimum so that his son wouldn't make him leave and stay at a hotel. Before long, the dinner plates were cleared and coffee was being refilled in mugs.

"It's getting late Dad. I should get you to your hotel before the snow really starts." Tony brought his coffee cup to the sink.

"You may want to rethink that." Jackson said from the kitchen door where he had just let the dog out into the yard.

"Holy hell, when did that happen?"

During dinner the intensity of the snow fall had picked up. In two hours the snow had begun to fall heavily and almost 3 inches was on the ground.

"I'll get my shovel and clear a path." Gibbs said as he put on his jacket and grabbed a pair of gloves from the basket next to the door. But before Gibbs got the second glove on his cell phone went off.

"Yeah, Gibbs." He looked at Maggie as he listened to one of the NCIS agents tell him where he was needed. "Okay, DiNozzo's with me, call McGee and David and tell them where to go."

"Boss?" Tony knew they weren't going out to shovel.

"Crime scene. Quantico. Gear in the car?" Gibbs asked Tony who was already starting out the door.

Gibbs walked over and kissed Maggie on the cheek. "Not Jamie." He whispered.

"I know." She cupped his face and kissed him. "Be safe. Roads are getting slippery."

Gibbs loved that Maggie was more concerned about the roads than about a crime scene.

"You going to be okay with the two of them?" he nodded over to Senior and Jackson.

"Oh, just ducky."

"Hope I won't need him here." Gibbs kissed Maggie quickly and went out the back door.

Senior clapped his hands together.

"I guess I'm spending the night." He declared.

Maggie shook her head and wondered if she'd be crazy enough to go grab Gibbs' bourbon in the garage.