Recap: Thursday, 26th November 2009. (Includes scene from 'Child's Play' !)

~ Thanksgiving ~

"Hey Ducky."

"Anthony, Ziva!"

"Hi Ducky!" Ziva grinned widely, while trying to look at the older man, despite the hat which hung halfway over eyes.

Ducky laughed and stepped aside to let them inside. "You've a nice hat there, my dear." He looked amused at the black woolen headgear, a sparkling purple heart visible on its front. Though, the motive was slightly tilted to the side of the hat.

The little girl beamed, "From Abby!"

"Just a bit too big," commented Tony, tugging said hat from Ziva's head.

"Toneeey!"

Ducky smiled, "It's too warm to wear a hat inside."

For a brief moment Ziva continued to glare at Tony but then broke out into a grin, wrapping her arms around the teen's neck as he bent down to unzip her jacket. "Love ya," she innocently mumbled into his jacket.

Tony smiled, "I love you too, bug." He cast a glance to Ducky, who was smiling fondly at them, "I'll go and get the bags out of the car." Since their celebration of Thanksgiving might as well could take till the late evening, Ducky had suggested that they should stay over for the night. So they had packed overnight bags and some toys for Ziva, before driving over.

The older M.E. nodded, "Certainly." He then concentrated on Ziva, "Do you want to help me prepare dinner, my dear?"

Mini-Ziva first looked at Tony, deciding if he would leave her here alone or not and then back at Ducky. "O'tay..." With a grin she darted into the direction of the kitchen, leaving two slightly stunned men behind.

After a few seconds, Tony merely shrugged and went to get their bags out of the car. Ducky chuckled to himself and then also made his way to the kitchen, not wanting to leave Ziva unsupervised for too long.

Ziva watched as Ducky prepared the turkey a final time before placing it back in the oven, "Ducky?"

"Yes?"

"Whatz T'anks'ivin'?" She tilted her head to the side, a puzzled look on her face.

"Don't they have explained this to you in preschool?" Tony leaned on the doorway. Taking the bags inside and partly to the guest rooms had taken longer than he had expected.

"Nuhu!" Mini-Ziva shook her head.

Tony grinned, "You sure?"

Ziva squinted at him, "We made 'urkey hands..."

"It's most likely that Ziva wasn't there when the purpose behind this holiday was explained," Ducky intervened before they could get into an argument.

The little girl nodded in agreement and stirred the cake batter in front of her some more, feeling a bit sad about having missed out.

"Well," started Tony in hope to save the situation, "I guess we can tell you all about Thanksgiving, too. Right, Ducky?"

"Certainly." He smiled at their little companion.

Hearing this, Ziva's head shot up again and she gave the men a wide smile. "Please!"

By the time they had finished making desert, consisting of three pies, Abby and McGee had joined them. Now they sat in one of Ducky's sitting rooms. Only Ducky himself was missing, as he wanted to clean the rest in his kitchen up.

"We should make some decorations!"

"Abby..."

"Oh, come on, Timmy. It's fun!"

Ziva tilted her head, a frown on her face. She was about to ask what Abby meant, when Tony beat her to it. "You serious, Abs?"

"Yes! Like cards, turkey hands and some other stuff."

Ziva's ear perked up at the mention of turkey hands. She was proud of those she had made in preschool. Gibbs had even hung them onto his fridge. Along with other pieces of her 'art'.

Meanwhile the excited goth had run over to Ducky, not wanting to waste any precious minute till the turkey was ready to be served. "Ducky? Do you have some papers, scissors, glue and something to write with?"

Ducky nodded, a smile tugging on his lips. "I assume you want to do some handicrafts before dinner?" He walked from one cupboard to another, getting the requested items out for Abby.

"Yes! It will be so cool! I haven't done this in years!"

Taking the items from Ducky she skipped back to the others, leaving a silently laughing Ducky to go back to cleaning.

"I got it!" Abby exclaimed, stopping short at the scene in front of her. "What are you guys doing?"

Mini-Ziva giggled. "We play!"

Abby raised an eyebrow, "Play? Looks like you guys were romping about!" She took in their tousled hairs and rumpled clothes.

"Just having fun," replied Tony, quickly getting off the floor and pulling Ziva with him.

McGee grinned and got off the floor also, "Nothing wrong with that..."

Abby glared at the men, "You..." she shook her head and smiled, "Let's do some handicrafts!"

With a sigh, Tony and McGee resigned themselves to their fate and took their seats on the carpet, opposite from Abby and Ziva, at the coffee table.

They were soon joined by Ducky, who pulled a chair close to the table, starting on his very own turkey hand. "This reminds me of a time..."

(Time for the turkey)

"Oh Ducky!" Abby exclaimed as the older man came into the room, bearing a large serving platter with the turkey on. "Yay!" She clapped slightly.

"It is such a pleasure to have you all here. Even though our togetherness was not your first choice." Ducky smiled and placed the platter on the table.

Tony grinned at the large bird, "Turkey got a nice tan, Ducky."

McGee gave him a strange look and smirked, "Relax, Tony. Plenty to drink." Next to Tony, Abby smiled and filled the teen's second glass also, eliciting a frown from Tony.

Ducky continued, "Well, then... I suppose it's time to carve." He paused, his gaze drifting to the empty spot at the other side of the table. "And, apparently, we have a quorum."

As the others looked dolefully at the empty seat and Ducky had started to carve the turkey, the front door suddenly was heard. Ducky turned around, delighted when he saw his friend approach, "Jethrooo! You remembered the rolls!"

Gibbs looked at the paper bag in his hand before giving it to the older M.E., "There's not a lot available out there, Duck." He turned to Abby and kissed the side of her head as she poured him a glass of wine.

Ducky cast a quick glance into the bag, dumping it into a nearby basket with a laugh. "A superb selection."

The team looked amused at the different kind of chips.

"A toast." Ducky raised his glass, causing the others to do the same. "Close friends and dear family all. A bountiful thanks and good things for fall."

"And to all a good night!" Abby chirped in with a smile, which soon dropped as everyone looked strangely at her, "Wrong holiday..."

Gibbs tilted his head, agreeing silently, "Yeah." He guided his glass to the middle of the table, "Cheers."

After having clinked glasses, they retook their seats and Gibbs walked around the table. He briefly stopped to place a kiss on top of Ziva's head, before he hung his jacket onto the back of his chair.

"Did ya had fun before dinner?" He then asked, receiving a beaming smile and a nod from his shrunken agent.

"We made 'urkey hands!"

"And place cards." McGee looked a bit embarrassed to have participated in such an activity.

"While Ducky told us lots of Thanksgiving stories," Abby added.

Gibbs smirked.

"Can we eat, now?" Mini-Ziva suddenly piped up, causing everyone to look at her.

Gibbs laughed, "You hungry, squirt?"

The little girl looked earnestly at him, while nodding her head. She really was hungry and all the food in front of her didn't helped at all.

"Well then," Ducky looked at Gibbs, "Jethro, would you do us the honor?" He pointed at the turkey.

The team leader smiled somewhat and stood up, "Sure." He briefly stopped to tickle Ziva under her chin, cheering her up a bit, before he made his way over to the other side of the table.

Tony groaned as he let himself fall on one of Ducky's couches, "I feel stuffed."

"You ate half a pie." McGee commented from next to him, smirking but nonetheless feeling the same way as his shrunken friend.

"Did not. You ate it."

"Nope."

"You both did," stated Gibbs as he came into the room with a tray of drinks, followed by Abby and Ziva who both had a bowl of chips in their hands.

"Fortunately, I made enough," added Ducky as he opened his TV cupboard, revealing a surprisingly new flat screen TV.

As they saw this, both, McGee and Tony, simultaneously breathed out a "Nice," causing the rest to smile.

"What we watch?" Ziva asked, curious at what would happen next. Dinner had been great for her. Everyone had chatted and laughed with each other, creating an atmosphere which wasn't creatable with just three persons.

The answer to her question came instantly. Though, not unified. "Game/Football/Parade."

Ducky and Gibbs, who had kept quiet, exchanged an amused glance. The latter then momentarily looked at Ziva, who had been 'taken hostage' by Abby and now sat on the scientist lap, in one of the arm chairs. "McGee, Abby... You can watch games every weekend, but the parade is something special." He gave them a pointed look, silently telling them not to argue with his decision.

Abby frowned first, but then realized that the parade was a better choice for Ziva. "I guess if we can watch a recording of the parade, I can watch a recording of the game..." She looked at the HDD Recorder, on which Ducky fiddled about.

"I'm sure we can find it somewhere on the internet," McGee agreed a bit subdued.

"Great," Tony smiled widely. While he loved football, he enjoyed the parade, too, "Can we start then?"

Ducky looked at his wristwatch, before switching to the right channel, "First, let's move those a bit around." He pointed to the couches. One standing with its back to the TV cupboard and the other standing too central for the other to be moved next to it.

With small groans of protests, the younger men moved the desired furniture, turning them to face the TV directly.

Gibbs smirked as he took his beer from the tray on the coffee table and went to sit on one of the freshly moved couches, "Thanks."

To the dislike of the younger people, he had also taken the larger bowl of chips with him. McGee and Tony silently glared at him but quickly made their way over to the other couch, on which Abby had already gotten comfortable.

"Youth certainly has it advantages," Ducky whispered to Gibbs as he took a seat next to the agent.

The team leader smirked, "I think they would disagree right now."

Halfway through the parade Mini-Ziva had managed to wound herself out of Abby's grip and had climbed in between Gibbs and Ducky, snuggling up to the older M.E., since she hadn't often time to do.

"'ibbs?"

The agent detached his gaze from the TV and turned to Ziva, who regarded him with questioning eyes, "Yeah, squirt?"

"How do they f'yy?"

"The balloons?" Gibbs checked, smiling.

Ziva nodded, marveling at the large figures, "They so high!"

Gibbs grinned. "When they were blown up, a special air was used. One that is lighter than the air which surrounds us, causing the balloons to fly." He explained in simple terms, in hope it would be enough to satisfy her curiosity. Besides Ziva, Ducky smiled amused.

"Okay, Ziv?"

Mini-Ziva nodded, smiling brightly at Gibbs before she turned her gaze back to the TV.

Ducky stood in front of his bar cabinet, "Are they all asleep, Jethro?"

"Yeah, even the dog..." Gibbs smirked and took the offered glass of bourbon from his friend.

"Poor lad, his paw really troubled him. To unfortunate he stepped into a shard, on yesterday's evening walk." Ducky went to sit next to the agent on the couch again.

Gibbs smirked slightly, "At least Ziva understood this and left him alone most of the time."

"They all seemed to have had a great time, today."

Gibbs cast a side glance at his friend, a mischievously gleam in his eyes, "You not, Duck?"

The older man laughed heartily, "What for a question!" A bit more quietly he added, "It's been quite some time since I had such a relaxing Thanksgiving."

"I bet," murmured Gibbs, letting a pleasant silence fall over them. With Ducky's mother having become more and more reliant on others over the years, Gibbs knew that Ducky rarely must have had a quiet minute for himself. A stark contrast to what the older man now experienced, when he comes home to a quiet house.

After a while, in which both men had been sipping on their drinks, Ducky broke the silence, "Did Director Vance said anything to you about the scientists' progress?"

Gibbs slowly shook his head, "Nah, but I got the feeling that they'll soon stop looking."

"Your gut, Jethro?" Now it was Ducky's turn to grin mischievously.

The team leader looked mock-affronted at his friend, "Duck..." Both men broke out into quiet laughter.

~ Fin ~