Silent Night
Chapter 7
Gibbs woke at about 7 am, too many of years of early rising, made sleeping in difficult. Careful not to wake Tony, he dressed and went to make coffee. At the bottom of the stairs he stopped and looked at the tree, he wasn't sure how this had happened or whom he should thank, but he owed someone big, filling his cup he headed to the basement. He had a gift to complete.
Once Tony woke, he was given a look over by Ducky, and comfortably settled on the couch with a coffee and plate of scrambled eggs with cream cheese. Tony and Gibbs, both anxious to find out how the tree ended up in their home, pushed Ducky to tell the tale of the Christmas tree. Ducky always glad to share a story did not need much encouragement.
"Shortly after you called to inform me that Anthony, Abby and Timothy had been found and that you would be at Hospital with them. I received a telephone call from a delightful young man, an Officer Connors of the Fairfax County Police. He was kind enough to give me an update on Anthony's condition and asked that I let Anthony know that his vehicle would be recovered this morning and towed to a garage in Burke."
"Did he say where, Ducky," Tony inquired.
"He did not Anthony but he did leave his number and I think if we call him now Officer Connor can also fill in the details of how this marvelous tree found its way home." Pulling out his cell phone, Ducky dialed the number and put the phone on speaker, while older than Gibbs, the elderly medical examiner had readily embraced some of the new technology that continued to frustrate Gibbs.
"Officer Connor's, this is Dr. Mallard, I am here with Agent Gibbs and Anthony, they are quite interested to hear how the tree made it here."
Tony and Gibbs exchanged a look, wondering what Officer Connor had to do with all of this, as the last time they had seen him had been on the side of a snowy road.
"Merry Christmas, Agent Gibbs, Tony. I'm glad to hear you're home Tony, are you OK?"
"Have some healing to do but should be fine in a couple of weeks. Thank you for getting us out of there."
"Glad I was able to help," Officer Connor proceeded, " I'm sure you are wondering how the tree got from here to there. Well you see Agent Velazquez and I thought that you already had a pretty awful Christmas Eve and since the tree was not damaged in the accident, we decided to see that it made it home. I had the assistance of Mike and Stephanie; they were part of the rescue team from the fire department. We just figured we could drop the tree off and leave but with Dr. Mallard inviting us in, we all pitched in to decorate, I hope you don't think we went too far."
Looking at each other Tony and Gibbs shook their heads, taking Gibbs' hand Tony responded for the both of them, "No, I'm just really touched that you did that for us. We can't thank you enough."
"Your very welcome, it was our pleasure. Can you let Miss Sciuto know the puppies are all doing well, if any of you are interested Bella's owner said you could have first dibs."
"Not sure we should tell her that, she will try to get us all to take a puppy," Tony laughed.
The rest of Christmas day filled with laughter and joy, Abby and Tim were as shocked to see the tree as Gibbs and Tony had been. When they arrived Abby had carefully inspected the evergreen. "It's our tree," turning to look at Tony and Gibbs, "how did it get here, oh my God it's a miracle." She chanted as she hopped around the tree.
As Gibbs and Ducky worked in the kitchen, Tony who was restricted to the sofa filled Abby and Tim on the story of the tree. Tim then went to help with the cooking and Abby with her injured shoulder sat in the recliner keeping Tony company. Ellie and Jake came in time for dinner with several homemade pies. Jimmy had called to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, after hearing what had happened, he and Brenna with baby Victory stopped to check on their friends and have coffee and dessert.
The team had agreed not to exchange gifts; Tony and Gibbs would wait until everyone had left to exchange their own gifts. The evening wound down early as Ducky watched Tony faded on the sofa, everyone quietly said good-byes to the sound of Tony's snoring.
Letting Tony sleep, Gibbs went to the basement to bring up gift he had been working on. A fresh cup of coffee in hand, Gibbs watched Tony sleep, one accident almost cost him everything that was important to him, he had lost so much but finding Tony and finally opening his heart, gave him a joy for life he had not experienced since Shannon and Kelly. Once he thought he would be a lonely old man, he had pushed the limit at work, taking too many chances, feeling that dying on the job would be better then the alternative.
Leaning over he kissed Tony's cheek, as Tony's eyes fluttered open, "You have a good nap."
"Where is everyone?"
"They left while you were snoring away."
"Why didn't you wake me to say good-bye."?
"And risk the wrath of Ducky, I don't think so."
"Good choice," Tony chuckled, "Here, help me up I have to pee."
"Ok, then I have something for you."
"Ahem, yours is in the garage, but we can go look after together."
"Not walking that far on that leg, I'll go look," Gibbs said with a smile, "plus I might have an idea of what is out there, and I think we will have some fun riding to do this spring."
"Hey," giving Gibbs an elbow in the ribs, "you haven't been in the garage in awhile, thought they'd be safe."
"Well, some of the Christmas boxes were out there."
"I thought you said all that stuff was in the attic."
"Most of it was but I forgot I had moved some out there when I cleaned out the guest room, for a certain someone who always seemed to have problems with their boiler. Lets get you back on the sofa and I'll get your gift."
On the way back from the bathroom, Gibbs picked up a plate with apple pie for them to share and a coffee for Tony. Once Tony was seated, Gibbs pulled a box from under the tree.
"I'm impressed, you wrapped it."
"Just open it."
Taking his time, Tony unwrapped the package with extreme care.
"You know, you could just rip it. Its not like we're saving the paper."
Gibbs watched as Tony took his time, carefully opening the box he peered inside, lifting the small wood box he glanced up at Gibbs with a huge smile, "You made this?"
"Yeah," Gibbs smiled with a twinkle in his eye.
The box was a beautiful tiger maple with Tony's initials inlayed in the top. When he opened the box, Tony found the inside lined with a green velvet material; there were spaces for several rings, in one of the ring slots was a beautifully hand crafted wood ring, with the box on his lap he pulled out the ring and carefully examined it.
"Tony," Gibbs looked uncharacteristically nervous, his voice almost a whisper, talking the wood ring out of Tony's hand, he held it, "Tony this is just a place holder, I hope that you will say yes and that we can replace this with a real wedding ring someday."
"Are you asking me, are you?" Tony stuttered out.
"I am Tony, I know I've done this too many times, but I found something with you that was missing, I want you in my life forever, now that we can legally marry here
and keep all our federal benefits, I want to marry you."
"What about work, we can't stay on the same team."
"I was thinking of that, as much as I hate to admit it, I will only be allowed to be a field agent for another other year or two, I can't deny my age and knees are not going to last much longer without knee replacement. If we have a long engagement and it will all work out."
"I can't think of my life without you. Yes, yes I will marry you, I haven't wanted anything in my life more, I have loved you for years and I would be proud to be your husband." Wiping tears from his eyes as he looked at the man he loved.
Tony pulled Jethro in, their lips meeting to share a kiss. Sitting together in the warm glow of the fireplace, the lights from the tree flashing, this was the first of many Christmases to come.
"Merry Christmas, Jethro."
"Merry Christmas, Tony."
"Jethro?"
"Yes, Tony."
"Do you think we could get one of those puppies? They were pretty cute."
Gibbs just looked over his eyebrows raised as his forehead crinkled.
"Guess that wasn't such a good idea with our jobs."
"Ya Think."
The End.
10/7/2015
A/N: Thought of this story as I was remembering a near miss with a deer in Clifton, VA. I lived and worked in Northern VA in the late 1980's. One Christmas Eve I was driving from my sister's house in Manassas, heading to work in Springfield, it was a very snow night and I frequently cut through Clifton, a huge deer leaped out in front of me, luckily for me, I didn't hit it or get into an accident, but it sure scared me.
Hope you enjoyed this story and I want to thank everyone who read, reviewed, followed and favored. Originally was not going to have Tony and Gibbs discuss keeping a puppy but after reading reviews that asked if they would get one, I adjusted the ending to include the "Puppy" discussion, thank you to all of you who mentioned that for the inspiration.