Work Text:
Beta: Tove Magnusson, thanks dear.
All Alone On Christmas
Monday, Dec. 19th
„No way, Abs."
"Oh come on, boss-man," Abby pleaded. Her long black ponytails were dancing in rhyme to her steps as she followed Gibbs who did his best to leave her lab as fast as possible. At the door, she almost got him, but in the last second he turned around, and pointed one finger at her.
"I said no, Abby. And I mean it."
She made a few very harsh signs with her hands, and he signed something similar back. Offended, she turned around, and moved back to her work.
"Okay. But don't come crawling to my house again when you suddenly feel lonely on Christmas Eve," she muttered under her breath.
He wanted to say that sure as hell he wouldn't crawl to Abby's house but then he remembered last year, and how he indeed had shown up at Abby's doorstep. He had tried to work on his boat, had tried to forget the fact that he was once again alone. And that the only one he wanted to have with him at this night was somewhere out there, a beautiful girl in his arms (or in his bed...or both), and after torturing himself for more than three hours with pictures of a naked, love-making DiNozzo, he had thrown himself into his car, and had driven to Abby.
For a second he had considered to go to Ducky. He was his oldest friends, in the truest sense of the meaning. But then he thought of Ducky's mother. Of all the questions she would ask him. Again. And again.
And again.
So he had ended up on Abby's doorstep. Feeling like a lost puppy. And he was relieved to no end when she took him in without asking any questions.
Now he turned around and left, without replying something,
With a deep sigh, Abby's gaze followed him sadly. Stubborn sonofabitch. She had invited him over to her apartment to spend the Christmas Eve with her and McGee. But he had declined.
She knew that McGee would be relieved to be alone with her. But somehow she felt disappointed, because one of her best friends would be alone once again.
At Christmas...of all nights.
***************************************
"My dear Anthony, I must admit that I can't quite understand you."
Tony smiled at Ducky, and replied, "Why? It's simple. It's just a day like every other."
Now the old man snorted. "Why don't I believe you, Tony? You seem to have so much...friends, and now you tell me you want to spend the most important night of the year all alone in your apartment?"
Tony turned his back to Ducky so the pathologist wouldn't see the sad expression in his eyes. Did he want to? No, he sure as hell didn't WANT to spend this night alone. But if he had the choice to either spend the night with his father and all his drunken friends, listening to them singing loud and false, or alone in his apartment, together with a good DVD and a big bowl of popcorn...he preferred the DVD and the popcorn.
But he couldn't tell Ducky this. Ducky was sure that there HAD to be a girl out there waiting for him. But there wasn't.
There was only one person he wanted to spend this night with. Preferably in his bed all day long till late in the night. But this special someone was not only a member of his team, a colleague, no, it was also a man. A very male man. A very STRAIGHT male man. A hand on his shoulder startled him, and he turned around to face the gentle eyes of the old man.
"My dear boy...why don't you come over to my place. Mr Palmer will be there, too. And Gerald. You are more than welcome, you know that, don't you?"
Tony smiled slightly. "Yes, I know that. Thanks Ducky. But...no. I'll stay at home, watch some old sappy movie on TV, and go to bed early."
"Are you certain of that, Tony?"
The younger man nodded, and smiled once more his brilliant, dazzling smile. And Ducky couldn't help himself but to reciprocate that smile. Still smiling he shook his head slightly, and went back to his work.
And let it rest. Much to Tony's relief. He called the old ME a quick "Bye, Duck," and practically ran out of the morgue.
In his haste to get upstairs, back to his place, and back to the man he had so deeply fallen for, he didn't notice Abby, who stood silently in a corner next to the morgue's door, with a wide smile on her face.
***************************
"Ducky, please. Tony looked like a kicked puppy. And Gibbs...you know him. We can't leave them like that. We have to help them!"
Donald Mallard turned around, and looked at the young goth woman with a mild _expression on his face. "And what do you have in mind, Abigail?"
The young woman's eyes began to sparkle with amusement, and Ducky recognized that look. "You have a plan, my dear girl?"
She nodded, and a wide smile spread over her lovely face. "My dear Duck-man, I have indeed a plan...worth an Abby Sciuto. I just need a little help from you. What do you say...are you with me?"
For a few seconds the ME seemed to consider the pro and contra of everything the young woman had ever come up with. Then he nodded. "I'm with you, Abigail."
She beamed at him, and put on arm around his shoulders.
"I already have a plan," she whispered conspiratorially.
Over the next two hours, Abby explained in every little detail her plan, told him everything she needed, and Ducky's part in this.
And Donald Mallard smiled.
********************************************
Tuesday, Dec 20th
The message appeared with a little 'ping' on his computer. Frowning, Gibbs looked up. He read the few words on his screen. Then his frown deepened.
With a slight shook of his head, he deleted the message and went back to work. It was late in the night, he was alone in the office, working on some paper stuff. Bothersome, but necessary. A few minutes later, a second message appeared. Gibbs read it again, and was surprised to see the same text. Again he deleted it.
When the same message appeared a third time on his screen, he got curious. This time he didn't delete it at once. He read it once more.
*Dec. 24th, 2100 hours, La Bella Italia. Better be there.*
He snorted. A blind date? Sure thing. He was the perfect guy for blind dates. Right?
Wrong, Mister. And no way he would make such a stupid thing at Christmas. Maybe he was just the wrong address, and the message was meant for someone different.
Delete.
*ping*
He looked over to McGee's desk for help, but in the same moment he remembered that the younger agent, just like all the other's had gone home hours ago. Except maybe for...
"Jethro?"
...Jen Sheppard. With a big sigh, Gibbs closed his eyes. No, not her. Not now. Quickly he deleted the message once more. Her curios questions were the last thing he needed now.
He looked up, and saw her stepping at his desk, a smile on her face.
"What are you doing here?"
He didn't reciprocate the smile. In his eyes, this question was incredible stupid.
"Work." He said shortly.
"At this time? It's..."
"I know what time it is, Jen," he interrupted her, "and if someone could just let me do my work, I'd be already at home by now."
She gazed at him, her smile slowly vanished.
"I'm sorry, Jethro. I think I better..."
*ping*
Jethro groaned inwardly. Perfect. Just perfect. Before he could turn the screen away, she read the message. And her face got stony.
"A date, Jethro? On Christmas?"
He said nothing, just looked at her. And she became nervous.
"I thought you would spent Christmas like every year, alone in your basement, working on your boat."
Now he let a little smile shine through, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Well, it seems as if you don't know me as good as you thought then, Jen."
Her back stiffened, and her face was now a stoic mask. She simply nodded, turned around and practically fled back to her office.
Gibbs looked back at his computer and at the message on it. Then he hit the delete button again.
Wrong address.
With a dark expression on his face, he went back to his work.
****************************************
Abby sighed. This was not going to work, if Gibbs didn't co-operate. She had send the messages to his computer last night to make him curious. To make him wonder who it might be who wanted to see him.
Nervously, she clicked with her fingernail on the desk, nibbled on her lower lip and tried to think of something else.
Should she make it an order? As a former marine, maybe he would follow an order...or what if...
"ABBY
"DAMN it, McGee. Do you want to give me an heart attack?" she shouted back at Timothy McGee, who came in running at this moment.
"I...I...just wanted you to know that...I know why, I mean...why not...why..:"
Abby walked closer, took McGee's face in her hands and looked him deep in the eyes.
"Tim."
He stopped abruptly.
"Take a deep breath."
He did as he was told.
"And now...very slowly, say what you wanted to tell me."
For a few seconds, McGee simply stared at her. Abby waited. And waited. And waited. Then...
"MCGEE! Forget it! Talk!"
"IknowwhyGibbsdidn'treacttothemessages.Hethoughttheywenttothewrongadressandweren'tmeantforhim." he bubbled out in one big rush.
It took Abby a few seconds to decipher every single word, but then a big smile spread across her face, and she hugged Tim enthusiastically. Then she turned back to her computer, and began to...re-form her plan a little bit.
*********************************
Wednesday, Dec 21st
Gibbs was fuming.
He didn't mind working late, but that Abby had handed him this very important piece of evidence two minutes before he was about to head home...he gritted his teeth.
*ping*
Oh no...not again, he thought.
And decided to ignore the blue window that had appeared on his computer. He went on reading through Abby's report.
*ping*
Obstinate.
Reading.
*ping*
Okay...he gave up. He looked up and was more than surprised to see his own name staring back at him.
*GIBBS*
Delete. Delete. Delete. And there was always the same word in the messages.
*Gibbs*
His name. No mistaking him for someone else. For a few seconds he only stared at the message. Back to work, Gibbs. He deleted the last message.
Another hour went by without any interruption, and he was able to finish his work. At one am he stretched himself, felt his back protest, and winced slightly when several muscles popped back in place.
The second he reached out to shut down the computer, another *ping* caught his attention. He read it, and involuntarily he smiled.
*Will you come? Dec. 24th, 2100 hours, La Bella Italia. I'll wait for you.*
Would he go? It could be fun.
It could be a disaster.
It could be a welcome change in his routine.
He would go.
**********************************
"How do you know this is going to work?"
Abby looked up, an excited shimmer in her eyes. "I don't know for sure, McGee, but I know Gibbs. And I know that he's more curious than any cat you might have ever known. Now the next part in this plan, is to get Tony to the restaurant. And that's your part." She pointed at McGee who paled significantly.
As he opened his mouth for a reply, she was afraid for a second that he would start to stutter again, but suddenly he closed his mouth again without saying a word. Unbelieving, she stared at him, and was just about to say something to him, when McGee finally seemed to find his voice again.
"Hi Tony."
Abby whirled around, and beamed at the young agent, "Hey Tony. What can I do for you on this beautiful day?"
Involuntarily, Tony reciprocated the smile. Abby was too cute, and if his heart wouldn't belong to Gibbs...she'd be a real temptation.
But so he handed her just the DNA sample. Ducky had asked him to do this, and just like everybody else he was unable to deny the kind old man something.
The second he was gone, McGee found his voice again, and began to explain Abby why he was absolutely the WRONG man for this.
And after listening to him for almost half an hour, Abby almost wished he would lose his voice again.
*************************************
They talked for nearly three hours, making plans, throwing them away, discussing every little detail, and when they finally found something that should convince Tony to go on a blind date at Christmas Eve, hell broke loose.
It all began with a kidnapping. One of the nasty kind, involving a mother and her six-year-old daughter. They found little traces of blood, thankfully neither from the mother nor from the little girl. Gibbs was like a big, wounded grizzly bear, and Tony was the only one who was able to handle him. For that reason, he was stuck with him for hours without end on observation. It took them almost two days to finally find the stakeout of the kidnapper.
But to find out that one of the men involved was the godfather of the little girl, almost made Gibbs go berserk. It took all of Tony's strength to keep the older man from strangling the bastard who had frightened a little girl almost to death. Only for money.
When they finally made it back to headquarters, they were sad, dirty, and hungry. McGee made a quick escape, mumbling something that sounded like 'merrismas', and was out of the door before Gibbs could call him back. The older man dropped into his chair, closed his eyes, and let his head fall back. There were times in this job when he felt every single one of his forty-something years. Like now. All he wanted now was a shower, a very HOT shower, something to eat, and then he wanted to fall into his bed and sleep for at least 48 hours. A noise startled him slightly, and with some trouble he opened his left eye. And closed it again with a deep groaning, this time not hiding it.
"Jen. What do you want?" he asked, harsher than intended. But what the hell...he had just lived through one of his worst cases, and she had the nerve to stand before his desk and make this big puppy-dog eyes...but he had hurt her. He could hear it clearly in her voice when she replied,
"I only wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas. And wanted to know if I should cancel your appointment for tonight."
Merry what? Now Gibbs opened both eyes, and cursed slightly. Damned. It was already Sunday, and his dinner date had been thirty minutes ago. Jen wanted to cancel it? Sure thing. And then she would take pity on him, and would take him home with her, huh? But only when hell froze over. Gibbs was far beyond being tactful, or even subtle. So he gathered all his left-over brain, and told Madam Director Jen Sheppard, that it was not her fucking business to cancel this dinner. IF he wanted to cancel it, he would do it himself. But he didn't. So if she would no leave him alone so he could go home and get dressed properly.
She looked at him with an unreadable expression in her eyes, and her voice sounded like nails on a school board, when she said, "I know that you're very tired, Special Agent Gibbs. So I'll forget this conversation happened. I order you to go home and sleep. You and your team are on leave for the next three days. When I see you back on Tuesday, I expect a written apology on my desk. Good night, Special Agent."
She turned around, and walked away, the sound of her high-heels on the floor sounded like gunfire.
A small movement caught his eye, and he looked over to Tony's desk. There, lying on the floor, hidden by his desk, was Tony, sound asleep and dead to the world. Apparently, he had decided to rest for a second and had fallen asleep instantly.
Slowly, Gibbs got up, walked over to Tony and knelt down beside him. He looked so peaceful that he almost didn't want to wake him. But then he thought of the three days time-out, and was sure, that the young man was better off sleeping in his own bed. Though Gibbs would willingly offer his own bed...if not only for the sleeping part. He reached out, and carefully shook Tony's shoulder.
"Hey, Tony. Wake up. Come on."
Groaning in agony, Tony opened his eyes. He seemed to be far away, and for a second the older man wondered what the other one might have been dreaming. What happened next was something he really hadn't expected. With a dreamy smile, Tony reached out, pulled Gibbs down to him, and kissed him.
Soft, warm lips gently caressed his, and for a second Gibbs simply gave in to the sensation the young man provoked in him.
"Merry Christmas, Jethro," Tony breathed against his lips, before he closed in again, and kissed him again.
Carefully, Gibbs pulled back, and looked closely at Tony. "Are you aware of what you're doing, DiNozzo?" he asked, his own voice rough with arousal. He wanted this, god he wanted this so much. But he needed Tony to be sure about this. He didn't wanted the other man to wake up the next day, and regret it. But Tony's eyes were clear and bright, even in the dim light of the office.
"What I'm doing, Jethro?" His name sounded like a caress and a mighty shiver run down Gibbs' spine. "I kiss you. Take it as a gift. For Christmas. Tonight everything is possible. And I don't know if I'll have the guts to tell you tomorrow. "I love you, Jethro. Love you so much. And though I know that there is no chance in hell that this might work between us, I..."
This time it was Gibbs who stopped all this rambling and babbling with a kiss. A soft, quick peck to those irresistible lips. Then he smiled.
"Got any plans for tonight, Tony?"
The young man tried to think for a few seconds, but then he shook his head no. "Probie wanted to tell me something these last few days...something about a girl, a dinner, I don't know. Sometimes I just don't understand him."
Suddenly a very possessive expression appeared on Gibbs' face, and with a slight growl, he grabbed the front of Tony's shirt and pulled him a little closer. "No more women, DiNozzo. You want this? Then it's all or nothing," and with these words he kissed him again, harder this time, more demanding.
Panting, they broke off, and Tony scrambled to his feet, pulling the older man with him.
"We shouldn't do this here, where we can get caught by Director Sheppard. Let's go home. Your place or mine?"
"Mine. It's nearer and has a king-size bed."
Tony made an almost purring sound deep in his throat, and with a loud laughter, Gibbs dragged him across the office to the elevator, and pushed him in.
Down at the garage, Abby cursed very colorful in different languages. She had planned on a quiet little dinner with McGee, and then some heavy sex afterwards. And then she had discovered that she had forgotten his present in the lab.
Again she pressed the button. And again. And again. But the elevator seemed to be stuck between two floors. After a few moments she punched the button almost violently, when suddenly the little light moved on, indicating the on-going ride of the elevator. She muttered something about modern technic, holidays, and missed opportunities.
Right at that moment the doors opened, and Abby stared open-mouthed at Gibbs and Tony who were stumbling out of the elevator, holding hands and looking rather deranged.
Flushing deeply, Tony tried to pull his hand out of Gibbs' grip, but the older man just gave Abby a quick kiss on the cheek, mumbled a little "Merry Christmas, Abs," and pulled Tony with him to his car.
Tony cast Abby a quick look and was relieved to see her bright smile and her two thumbs-up. Then he was pushed into his boss' car, and off they went.
Abby stared after them. And suddenly she knew that both men had gotten for Christmas what they had silently wished for. With a big smile, she went down to her lab to grab the plushy handcuffs she wanted to give her Timmy for Christmas.
The end