By three in the morning Gibbs and Tony were on the road driving back to Gibbs' house. Gibbs drove while Tony sat quietly in the passenger seat checking his phone. Gibbs was happy for the silence. The roads were open but not all of them had been completely plowed yet.
"Boss, do you Maggie ever fight?" Tony asked out of nowhere.
"What?" Gibbs replied.
"You know, argue, and yell at each other?"
"Why the hell are you asking me this?" Gibbs slowed to a stop at a red light.
"People…you know…in a relationship don't get along 24/7. You and Maggie have been together over a year now and I've never seen her mad at you…or you at her…not that you'd show it at work, you never show any emotions like that unless it's at us."
The light changed and Gibbs continued through the intersection. Right now in the car, Tony was family, not someone who worked for him. It was one of those blurring the lines moments.
"Yeah, we argue." Gibbs answered.
"Really?" Tony was surprised that Gibbs answered at all. "About what?"
"What if I said none of your business?" Gibbs asked him.
Tony shrugged. "At least I know that the perfect couple has problems too."
"We don't have problems, we are two people who live in the same house and sometimes we argue. You argue with me." Gibbs told Tony.
"Not often, and I'd never win."
"It's not about winning or losing. It's about being able to say you don't like what the other person is doing and even if you yell at them or lose your temper, you still love them."
Tony looked at Gibbs, his mouth hanging open. This was a surprising insight to Gibbs.
"But don't think you'll be winning any arguments with me any time soon." Gibbs commented as he took the turn down his street.
"So Maggie does things that drive you nuts?" Tony grinned. "Like what."
Gibbs smirked at Tony and pulled the car into the driveway. His father was right, Maggie had been using the snow blower. There wouldn't be much for him to do later. He got out of the car and Tony followed him into the house.
"You get the couch, the spare room is taken. I'll get you a blanket and pillow." Gibbs told Tony.
"I've never slept here before." Tony said looking somewhat perplexed.
"What?" Gibbs asked seeing Tony's face.
"You and Maggie will be upstairs, in bed, together."
"Yeah, that's how we usually sleep."
"I know." Tony was hoping that was all that they would be doing tonight.
Gibbs however had other plans in mind. As he took the blanket and pillow out of the downstairs linen closet.
"Here ya go." Gibbs tossed a blanket, pillow and earplugs he'd found in the linen closet at Tony. "You might need them." He smirked as he took the stairs two at a time to the second floor.
Tony looked at the earplugs and blanched.
Closing the door behind him softly and locking it, Gibbs took in the sleeping form in the bed. Maggie had on one of his tee shirts like she did most nights he worked late. Her foot was peeking out at the bottom of the bed where she had kicked the sheets off. He watched as she sighed in her sleep and turned on to her back. The covers had dipped down exposing the top half of her body to the night air. Instantly the cool air in the bedroom made her nipples hard beneath the thin cotton material of the tee shirt. Slowly he made his way over to Maggie's side of the bed. He sat down gently by her legs, his hands moved up along the shape they made under the blanket. Maggie stirred slightly.
Maggie was dreaming. She could feel Gibbs running his hand up along her leg, the blanket that was covering her body being pulled down, cold air nipped at her body. The blanket was no longer covering her legs and she could feel his work hardened hands slide up the outside of her thigh and back down. Maggie sighed at the feel. This was a nice dream; she wished Gibbs was really there with her. She loved the sensation of his fingers exploring her body.
Maggie moaned into the pillow she was hugging. This was one hell of a dream. Now she could feel Gibbs fingers tracing along the lines of her panties. His touch was light and maddening at the same time. She felt his fingers slip up under the elastic at the waist and his whole hand move under the material in the back to cup her backside. His hands were cold but she moved her hips back into his touch. Then his hand was gone and Maggie whimpered in her sleep. She didn't want the dream to end. Maggie moved her hand down to where she dreamed Gibbs was kissing her and she felt her husband's head just above her stomach. He was alternating between kissing and running his tongue along her stomach.
"This is the best dream I've ever had." She said sleepily. "If you stop now and I wake up and it's not real, I'm going to cry."
She felt him laugh against her skin. Her hands reached down and threaded into his hair. "Am I dreaming?"
Gibbs lightly nipped at her skin. "Nope."
"Good." She smiled. "Don't stop."
"Don't plan on stopping." Gibbs moved his body further up on Maggie's and straddled her hips. His fingers reached under the edges of the tee shirt and slid it up her body exposing her breasts to him. He let go of the tee shirt and put his hands on either side of her breasts. He moved his thumbs back and forth across the hard nipples and Maggie cried out softly. He looked down at Maggie, her eyes closed, her hair spread out on the pillow, arms stretched out gripping the blankets and lowered his mouth down and took a nipple in his mouth. He sucked on it gently and Maggie ground her hips up against him. He released the nipple and moved to the other and did the same. Maggie arched her back, her breathing becoming heavy.
He moved up along her chest, kissing his way up the side of her neck while his hands pulled her tee shirt up and over her head. That too joined the pile on the floor.
Maggie felt Gibbs shift his body and lay on top of her as he kissed her neck. His body was heavy and hard on hers, the hairs on his chest tickling against her body. When his kisses moved up from her neck, along her jawline and to her lips, Maggie's eyes were wide open. In the moonlight coming through the window, she saw the total desire in his eyes.
"Not a dream." She stated tracing his lower lip with her thumb.
Gibbs nipped at her thumb. "No. Not a dream." His mouth lowered to hers, he took her lower lip and sucked on it, nipping gently. Her top lip was next and then he ran his tongue along her lower lip causing her mouth to open. He kissed her greedily, his tongue plunging in and out of her mouth. Maggie found her hips rocking up against his to the rhythm of his tongue invading her mouth.
"Your jeans are still on." Maggie said as she tried to catch her breath. Gibbs had moved his mouth away from hers and was running the tip of his tongue down the front of her neck. He took her hands and put them up over her head on the pillow.
"Don't move them." He commanded her. "Or I'll stop."
"Oh God." Maggie thought as he resumed his kisses down between her breasts. She wanted to touch him, she needed to touch him, but he would stop if she moved her hands. Instead she grabbed at the pillow as his hand moved down her side to her hip and his fingers grabbed the thin strap of elastic there. With a quick twist of his fingers, the elastic snapped and broke away. Gibbs never stopped working his mouth flicking his tongue under her breasts, kissing and sucking the sensitive skin.
Gibbs tried to think of anything to keep his self-control as he shifted his weight to the other side of Maggie's body. He wrapped his fingers around the thin elastic on the other side of her hip and snapped that one as well. With a gentle tug, the scrap of material was on the floor and his wife was completely naked.
Putting his hands next to her, held his upper body off of her and moved down her body. He sensed Maggie's breathing speed up as his tongue found her belly button again. Her hands started to move away from the pillow and he stopped.
"Keep them there." He warned her and when she moved her hands back to the pillow, he kissed his way down below her belly button and from one hip to the other. He knew she was excited, he could feel the warmth radiating from between her legs. He ran his tongue from her hip to her inner thigh and back. He moved his body down until his head hovered above the dark red hair at the juncture of her thighs.
This wasn't the first time Gibbs had done this to her. She loved the things that her husband could do with his tongue. She also knew the reaction she had when he was doing things to her like that and a moment of panic set in. They weren't alone in the house.
"Gibbs." She called out in a whisper.
"You'll have to be quiet." He teased his wife as his fingers moved down along her inner thigh. Maggie's legs moved further apart as his long fingers found their mark and moved slowly up and down along the now wet curls between her legs. "Quiet baby. You can do it."
Maggie bit her lower lip to stop from crying out as he slipped a finger inside her and slowly moved it in and out. She almost had to pull a pillow over her head when the second finger joined the first.
"I don't know if I can." Maggie panted as she felt pressure building in her lower body.
"Sure you can. You didn't send dessert."
Maggie didn't understand what he meant until she felt his mouth and tongue replace his fingers. With a few well-placed strokes of his tongue, Maggie felt her body come apart.
Gibbs loved the way Maggie moved against his mouth as she came. His body needed its release. Quickly he removed the rest of his clothes and kissed his way back up Maggie's body. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he slowly slid into her body. He groaned at how hot and wet she was; he could still feel her muscles contracting as he buried himself all the inside her. Maggie thrust her hips up to his encouraging him to move. Slowly he pulled almost completely out and then thrust back in. Maggie's hands grabbed at his backside urging him to go faster, her legs tightening at his waist. He began moving faster, driving his body harder into hers. Maggie arched her head back into the pillow as another orgasm took over her body. She was biting her lower lip to stop from crying out. Gibbs looked down at her flushed face, her lips swollen from his kisses and her biting her lip and he felt his own release building. Thankful for his wife's flexibility, he hooked his arm under one of her legs and moved it up. His thrusts began to lose their rhythm as his climax got closer.
"Oh. ." Maggie bit out as her another orgasm begin to build.
An explosive orgasm rocked Gibbs body just as Maggie came for the third time. Gibbs felt like he had no control over his lower body as it pumped its way into hers. His breath was ragged in her ear as his body finally began to still. As the last of him spilled out into her, he lowered his body down onto hers trying not to put his full weight on top of her.
For several long minutes the two of them stayed locked like that until he felt his cock soften and slide out. He rolled onto his side, pulling Maggie with him. He reached out and pushed the sweat soaked strands of hair off his wife's face.
"My body feels like jello." Maggie told Gibbs. "I don't think I could move even if I had to. What brought that on?"
"I wanted to show you how I felt."
"I know how you feel."
"I don't say it enough." Gibbs traced his thumb along her chin.
"You don't have to use words to tell me you love me. I know you do."
"I love you." Gibbs said simply.
"I love you too." Maggie said.
Gibbs pulled her into him and wrapped his arms around her. They were soon fast asleep.
The sound of the shower running in the master bathroom woke up Gibbs. Maggie wasn't on her side of the bed, so he knew she was already up. The smell of coffee coming from downstairs told him that their guests were up too. Throwing the covers off, Gibbs padded across the hardwood floor and stepped in to the bathroom.
"Not often you wake up before me." Gibbs said to Maggie as he relieved his full bladder.
"Merry Christmas to you too." Maggie said from inside the shower.
The shower door opened up and Gibbs stepped in behind Maggie. The shower was big enough for both of them to use and not be on top of each other, but that never stopped Gibbs from getting as close as he could to her.
"Merry Christmas to you too." He wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her neck.
"I thought you'd be tired after last night." Maggie pulled her wet hair off her neck giving Gibbs more skin to kiss.
"Just taking a shower." He murmured against her neck.
"That's not what your body is saying." Maggie felt him hard against her lower back as she leaned into him. "I guess I should make sure nothing is wrong." She turned and gave him a wicked grin as she pushed him to lean back against the tile wall.
Gibbs looked down through half closed eyes as Maggie kneeled in front of him and took him into her mouth. His fingers worked into her wet hair holding her head while her tongue and mouth moved up and down his length.
"Hey Maggie, you in there?" Tony knocked on the hall door to the master bathroom. "Ducky called, he's on his way. Any chance I could get in there to take a shower? I'm getting kind of ripe."
Gibbs groaned at the vibration of Maggie's laugh against his cock. Maggie took him out of her mouth and replaced her hands around his solid length.
"Give me ten minutes Tony." Maggie said before taking Gibbs back into her mouth.
"Come on Mags, you'll use up all the hot water." Tony begged from the hallway.
"DiNozzo." Gibbs barked at his brother in law. Tony jumped back. Maggie and Gibbs were in the shower. Together. And from the tension in Gibbs' voice…Tony made a little gagging gesture as he turned and walked quickly down the hallway.
Gibbs forgot all about Tony as Maggie's hands cupped his balls and squeezed gently. Just as he felt his body about to explode, he grabbed Maggie and pulled her up, spinning her around to face the wall. He grabbed her hips and took her from behind. He wasn't gentle and Maggie welcomed his body, both of them climaxing at the same time.
Maggie could feel her husband's heart slamming in his chest as they stood together, her head resting on his finished showering and stepped out of the shower. Maggie could never get enough of watching Gibbs dry off. He had the body of a man half his age. Though you'd never know it by the way he dressed, the muscles he developed when he was younger still existed. His six-pack abs may not be as defined as they once were, but there was very little fat on his body. Just lean muscle and a variety of scars that all had their own story.
"How'd it go last night?" Gibbs asked as they went into the bedroom to get dressed.
Maggie shrugged her shoulders. "Some of it is a little fuzzy. There must have been pure alcohol in the egg-nog."
"Tony told me what kind of whiskey he used. I snagged some orange soda from the vending machines before we left. They're downstairs."
Maggie walked over and kissed her husband on the cheek. For some odd reason, if Maggie drank too much, the only cure she knew would work for her was orange soda. Gibbs never teased her, but knew if she went out with the teachers from work on a Friday night, or with Abby and Ziva, he made sure there was orange soda in the fridge.
"I think I yelled at him. But I don't remember an argument. It doesn't matter. He can spend time with Jamie today and then he'll be gone." Maggie put her jeans and tee shirt on and swore.
Gibbs turned to look at her. That is when he noticed the hickeys on her neck. She turned and gave him the fish eye. "Really Gibbs?"
He smiled and ran his finger over the little love bites he'd left on her neck.
"I hate wearing turtle necks." She muttered as she searched in the closet for one.
"I like the way you look in them." Gibbs told her as he put his socks on. "Especially the black one. Hugs everything the right way."
Gibbs came into the kitchen first. Jackson was checking the turkey in the oven while Senior and Tony peeled the potatoes.
"Oh, if it isn't Mr. Clean." Tony said sarcastically to Gibbs.
"Leave him alone Junior, he's still a newlywed." Senior scolded his son.
Gibbs took a sip of his waiting coffee before he put on his jacket and gloves.
"I gave you earplugs Tony." Gibbs smirked as he whistled for the dog. "I'm going to shovel and get some more wood for the fire. Showers free Tony if you still need it."
"Probably needs to be bleached down after the two of them. Ow!" Tony yelled as Maggie came into the kitchen and smacked him on the back of the head. "What is it, you take the last name of Gibbs and get head slapping rights?"
"That means I get them too?" Jackson asked as he put the turkey back in the oven.
"No it means my brother needs better manners."
Maggie kissed Jackson and then Tony on the cheek wishing them Merry Christmas. After a moment's hesitation, she did the same to Senior.
"You sleep well?" Senior asked her.
"I'm afraid to ask what proof the whiskey was you used in the egg-nog." Maggie commented as she snapped the tab on the can of orange soda.
"You use that too?" Senior asked watching Maggie drink down half the can of soda after taking an aspirin.
"Works on killing hangovers." Tony answered. "Mags taught it to when I was at Ohio State."
"Hmph." Senior muttered. "Guess I passed that cure on to both of you."
Tony looked at Maggie and then at Senior. "Works for you?"
"Only thing that does. That one time I had to stay at Gibbs' house. He didn't have any there. I had to settle for warm milk to help me sleep. Damned headache from drinking too much wouldn't let me sleep."
"Guess that's a family trait you passed down to your young." Jackson quipped from the counter. The two old men had sat up until close to 1 in the morning talking. Jackson may never agree with some of the things Senior had done concerning his children, but after listening to him, he'd agreed to try and smooth a path between Maggie and him.
"What else do we have in common Mags? I mean, you didn't get the tall gene, you are kind of on the munchkin side." Tony teased his sister.
"Well at least I don't have to worry about my hair." Maggie tossed back.
Tony reached up and ran his hand over his head. "My hair is fine."
"Your hair is fine Junior." Senior finished the potato he was working on and set it with the other. "You both got DiNozzo hair, nice and thick, just different colors."
"Yeah Mags, where did you get the red from? A box?"
Maggie stuck her tongue out at her brother.
"No son, Grandma DiNozzo was a redhead too."
Tony looked at his father and tried to remember her.
"An Italian with red hair?" He was skeptical.
"And a temper to match." Senior told him. "Maggie has her eyes too. Somewhere in the family tree an Irishman worked his way in to add the green eyes and red hair."
"Can you cook like your sister?" Jackson asked.
"No. I can cook to feed myself, but Maggie is the family cook. Kind of like Dad."
Maggie opened the second can of soda and sipped it quietly.
"I can cook because I like to, Maggie takes after her mother though. She never needed a recipe to make something; she'd just see what was in the house and create something wonderful. My favorite was rigatoni, butter, parmesan and…." Senior couldn't think of the last ingredient.
Tony and Maggie answered simultaneously "Bacon."
"Yes." Senior snapped his fingers. "That's it."
"Maybe you could make some for us before we go." Jackson said.
"Maybe. But now we have a dinner to get ready." Maggie said changing the subject.
The kitchen door opened and Freckles came in dragging a 3 foot long rawhide bone. She could barely get through the door with it.
"Where did that come from?" Maggie asked Gibbs who walked in behind the dog.
"Santa."
"Merry Christmas." Jamie called out from the front door. He peeked his head around the corner to judge the reception. Maggie walked over and hugged her son.
"Mad at me Mom?" he whispered in her ear.
"Not mad. We'll talk later about it." She smiled up at her son.
"What? You've got that look?" Jamie said to his mother.
Maggie patted him on the chest. "Sometimes I get sentimental, that's all."
Jamie put down the bag he was carrying and went over to hug Gibbs. "Give your Mom a break; she's had an interesting couple of days."
"Understood." Jamie stepped back and nodded his head at Gibbs.
Jamie finished hugging the rest of the people in the kitchen and asked what he could do to help. Maggie gave everyone a job and soon the kitchen was empty except for the dog that was busy chewing on her rawhide. Freckles didn't even get up when Ducky came in the kitchen door.
"Please tell me you didn't take the Morgan out in this weather." Maggie asked Ducky about his vintage car.
"No Dear, McGee picked me up. He's bringing in the extra beverages now." Ducky placed the Christmas pudding on the counter while Maggie went out to show McGee where to put his packages.
"Are you troubled Maggie?" Ducky asked when Maggie hadn't come back in right away.
"I'm not sure what to make of my father Ducky."
"You've never referred to him that way before."
"No I haven't. Like it or not, he is my father."
"Faults and all. None of us are perfect. We all have to deal with what has been handed us."
"You know then that my son invited his grandfather here."
"Yes, Jethro told me yesterday." Ducky put his hand on Maggie's arm. "Let's go inside where it's warmer."
Ducky and Maggie went into the kitchen where Senior was standing at the stove stirring something in a pot.
"Wassail." Senior explained. "Can't have a Christmas gathering without it."
"I haven't had any in years." Ducky took a mug and handed it to Senior who ladled some out.
"Mom used to make it too." Maggie said wistfully.
"This is her recipe." Senior handed a mug to her.
"This is amazing. Just like the ones I had in my youth. Shall we toast to your mother's recipe?"
Senior and Ducky lifted their mugs, but Maggie couldn't. Her eyes filled with tears.
"Excuse me." Maggie put her mug down, grabbed a jacket off the door and ran to the garage.
"Shall I get Jethro?" Ducky watched Maggie's retreating form.
"No, I have to do this." Senior put his mug down long enough to put on a jacket. He picked up his mug and Maggie's and followed his daughter out to the garage.
Ducky was alone in the kitchen.
"Are you going to go after them?" Ducky knew that Gibbs was just outside the door. He knew Maggie ran out the door and Senior followed her.
"No. I think they need some time alone."
"Agreed."
Senior found Maggie inside the garage, her arms bracing her body against the workbench. Her head was hanging forward as she let the tears fall from her eyes to leave spots on the wood below. He put the mugs of wassail down nearby and walked over to Maggie. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her.
"Maggie, I didn't mean to upset you by making this or bringing up your mother."
Maggie nodded; she couldn't get her voice to work. She felt like there was a golf ball lodged in her throat.
"I think it's time that we talked, that you heard my side of it all."
Maggie shot her father a look. "Don't you dare try to tell me that Mom lied to me."
Anger replaced the sadness that had been in her eyes.
"No. I am not saying she lied to you. I'm the one who lied. I'm the one who couldn't stop the snowball of lies from rolling once it started. After a while it was easier to go with the lies than to tell the truth. Please Maggie, sit down and let me tell you my side." Senior begged.
Maggie sat down on the stool at the table in the middle of the garage. Senior sat across from her and handed her the mug of steaming liquid. She lifted it to her nose and inhaled the smells of Christmas past and took a sip.
She looked over at Senior who was waiting for a sign. She nodded at him and he began.
"Your mother and I were very young when we met and married. You came along before we were married even a year." He began. "I didn't go to college and I had a lousy job. I wanted to give you and your mother the moon and the stars, but I couldn't. We lived pay check to pay check. I'd have one job and manage to talk my way out of it. Your mother was unhappy with me. I was unhappy with me. I'd do anything just to make things right. Then I got a summer job in the Hamptons. The job meant I'd have to live there all summer, but they wouldn't take married men. Single only. The money was good and it would help us out a lot. Your mother and I talked long about it and decided she'd thought it would be good if you went back to Boston for the summer. You were five years old and you went to live with your grandmother. Do you remember?"
"I remember Mom saying we were going to Nana's house at Hampton Beach. In New Hampshire. I remember going to the beach every day and thinking that you were on a beach too not far away. Any time I smell Coppertone lotion I think of Hampton. Nana used to bathe me in it before I went to the beach." Maggie remembered.
"You used to get terrible sun burns. Your mother told me when she'd write to me at the country club I was working at."
"Where you met Tony's mom."
"I met her when I was off work, hanging out with some of the other guys who worked at the club. She didn't know I worked there and that was the first lie I told."
"You mean the second." Maggie said to Senior. "You never told her you were married either."
"No. No I didn't." Tony answered truthfully. "I created such a web of lies about me being the son of a wealthy Italian business man sent to America to learn the culture that even I believed it. And before I knew it … one thing led to another."
"And what about Mom and me? Did you ever think of us?" Maggie needed to know.
"I did. I felt terrible about what I was doing to you."
"But not Mom?"
"I came up to Boston to see your mother in August. Do you remember a weekend when she left you with Nana and your cousins?"
"Sort of. She said she had to take care of something. She said things would be better when she got back. I thought she was sick. I was five, what did I know?"
"She came back to Boston to see me. We spent the entire weekend talking about us and how we felt. I confessed to her that I had fallen in love with another woman and I thought she'd be son angry with me. But she wasn't."
"I don't understand." Maggie was confused.
"While you were up in Hampton, your mother re-connected with Seamus. She realized that she loved him. She was unhappy with me, with our marriage and realized we got married too fast. But we'd made a family together. Your grandmother knew something was going on between your mother and Seamus and made your mother feel terrible."
"I knew they used to fight." Maggie admitted.
"Oh, your mom never argued against her mother. Your Nana was Irish Catholic through and through. She told your mother she was a sinner and a quitter if she divorced me."
Maggie snorted. That sounded like the Nana she remembered.
"When your mother came to see me, after I'd told her about falling in love with someone else, she told me about Seamus. For a long time that night, we just sat there on the bed holding each other, mourning the loss of what we had in the beginning but knowing if we stayed together, it would make all three of us unhappy. I told her I'd go back to New York and start the divorce. I wanted me to be the bad guy. I knew your grandmother would make your mom's life hell, but I wanted her to be happy. Your mother told me that Seamus loved her and he would raise you as your own. I actually met him that weekend."
"You did? How come no one ever told me?" Maggie wanted to know.
"You said it, you were five. Seamus was a good man, with a good job as a cop. He could give you a steady life in Boston with all of your mother's family around you."
"But what about you? Why did you walk away? Why did you forget about me?"
"I didn't forget about you. Never, not one day. See when I went back to the Hamptons, I met Tony's grandfather. He'd had a private detective check me out. He knew I was married and had a child. He also knew his daughter was madly in love with me and he'd do anything to keep her happy. So he agreed to arrange the divorce, get me a job and keep my secret."
"But there was a price wasn't there?"
Senior nodded. "A big price. I couldn't tell her about you. Ever or he'd make sure I regretted it."
"It was that easy for you? To forget about me like that?"
"Maggie, if you hated me and managed to let Seamus be your father and love him and let him be there for you, then I could take your hate. Your mother found ways to let me know about you and what was going on with your life."
"Like the first communion picture." Maggie remembered the dog-eared photo.
"Exactly. And that is the one that Mary found. She had known all along that I had a daughter, she'd found the papers her father had from the detective but she wanted me to come clean. By then she was pregnant with Tony."
"And she started to write Mom and ask her if I could come out to visit."
Senior laughed. "Actually, Mary had called your mom when she found the detectives reports. The two of them had written often. Mary needed to know if she had broken up a happy home. They actually became friends. Mary could see how happy you were with Seamus as your father. When you'd come out to visit, I'd have to make myself scarce to keep you hating me. I didn't want you to ever choose between me and Seamus."
"I wanted my real father to love me. Why didn't you tell me later? Mary's dad died, he had nothing over you any longer. Why did you keep up the pretense?"
"When Mary died, my world fell apart. You saw how I shoved Junior off to boarding school and from what I heard, you stepped in where I failed. You took care of him and made sure that he was loved. Your mom and Seamus did too."
Senior got up and walked over to the window and looked at the house filled with lights and laughter and love.
"I screwed things up so bad after she died. I married one woman than another. I passed that gene to your brother. I wish he'd just find someone, get married and have some children. I'm happy that you two managed to be so close. No matter how bad I messed up being a father, my children managed to stick together and be a family. Now you have Gibbs and his father and the others; Ziva, Abby, Timothy and Dr. Mallard. I understand why you didn't ask me to be there when you and Gibbs got married."
"It was supposed to be me and Gibbs and the Navy Chaplain, but somehow word got out." Maggie offered a weak excuse. Even if it had been planned she would not have invited him.
"I am truly sorry you lost James the way you did. Even though Gibbs lost his wife tragically too, you managed to find each other and find love again. You and Gibbs and Jamie and Tony, you have a family here. Jamie's a fine young man." Senior said still looking out the window.
"He is that. He always asked about you growing up. I never knew what to say to him. Tony always came up with the stories about you. He reminds me of Tony in so many ways."
"I hope he doesn't stay single as long as Tony has." Senior returned to the table. "You'd be a good grandmother."
Maggie looked down at her now empty mug. "You'd be a good grandfather too. Jamie really wants to spend time with you."
"You don't mind if I come to DC and visit?"
Maggie shook her head.
"No Dad, as long as you make time to come here and maybe have dinner or something."
"You did it again." Senior said to here.
"Did what?"
"You called me Dad."
Maggie got up and walked over to the door. "Don't get too used to it. I'm just on the trying out phase."
Senior followed Maggie to the door where she had stopped to turn the light out.
"Any chance you could maybe try out a hug?"
Maggie looked up at her father for a minute before stepping up on her tiptoes and wrapping her arms around his neck. Senior wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. She let him go and walked with her arm through his back through the yard and up the steps.
"I don't know what to make of that." Tony said as he and Jamie watched from the kitchen windows.
"Me either Uncle Tony."
Gibbs walked up and slapped them both on the back of the head.
"Stop being gawkers and get these plates and silverware out on the table."
Both men rubbed the back of their heads and did as Gibbs asked.
"Please tell there is more wassail left?" Senior asked as he came in the back door with Maggie. "You really need a heater out in that garage Gibbs."
"That's what jackets are for." Gibbs answered; his eyes on his wife. Maggie looked at Gibbs and nodded. She was okay. He knew he'd find out what happened later when they were alone. Right now they had a room full of hungry family to take care of.
The sounds of a football game came from the living room. Ducky was telling everyone that football wasn't really football like he knew it. Ziva was agreeing with him while Abby was listening to stories from Jackson about his days as a pilot. Tony and Jamie were arguing about some play on the field while Maggie and Senior talked about the Boston and New York team rivalries. Gibbs sat on the couch eating a piece of apple pie and taking it all it. It was actually kind of nice to spend Christmas like this he thought.