WARNING: Contains mild discipline and veiled references to spanking.

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine. I just borrow them.

Tony dropped his bag on the floor next to his desk and turned on his computer screen. Tim and Ziva were already busily typing away looking like they'd been in the office for hours (and Tony was pretty sure Ziva actually had been – did that crazy Moussad chick ever sleep?) The ding of the elevator heralded the arrival of their fearless leader, coffee in hand, of course.

"Morning Boss," his choir of angels sang out.

"Morning," he grunted back, still clearly waiting for the coffee to kick in. He strode past Tony's desk, made eye contact and indicated that the younger man should follow him.

Tony glanced nervously at Ziva and Tim, but neither of them was paying any attention to him. He followed his boss to the alcove by the stairs, his mind spinning. What could he possibly be in trouble for this early in the morning? All he'd done so far was sit at his desk and offer up a few 'good mornings'. He'd even been ten minutes early. No, it wasn't anything he'd done today. He flipped back through his mental file to yesterday: Murder investigation in Rock Creek Park (complete with a mental note to stay away from that place as people seem to die there a lot), one headslap for a stupid comment (which was actually below par, so that couldn't be it), a visit to Abby's lab for…

"Relax, Tony. You're not in trouble," Gibbs said with a knowing grin.

"Phew! Ok, we're good," Tony's brain told him. "What's up?" he asked as nonchalantly as he could.

"What are you doing tonight?" Gibbs asked, taking a long sip.

"Oh, um, I was just going to stay home and watch some movies or something. I didn't bother planning anything this year. I've had to cancel my plans every year so far because someone always has to go and get themselves killed…Uh, I mean, we, uh, just always get called out on cases, so I…"

"I get it Tony. Stop talking." The smile was a welcome relief to Tony. Uncharacteristic, but welcome. "Come to Ducky's tonight."

"What?" Tony said, suddenly very confused.

"It's Ziva's first Christmas in the US, and Ducky thought it would be nice to throw a little Christmas Eve party."

"And…you're going?" Tony asked.

There was that smile again. "Yes, Tony. I'm going. And so are Abby, McGee and Palmer."

Tony thought about that for a moment and then, "Well…how come I'm just finding out about it?" He was a little hurt. Were they just not planning on telling him at all?

Gibbs shrugged it off. "It was Abby and Ducky's idea. And they figured if they got everyone else on board, you and I would have no choice. Ducky only told me about it this morning." Tony looked doubtful for a moment, but then he sighed. "So does that mean you're coming?"

"Wait, aren't we expecting a big storm?"

Gibbs grinned and walked away. "1900. And bring candy canes." he called back.

* * * * *

When Tony arrived at Ducky's, the driveway was already full of cars. For some reason, no one thought to carpool.

He let himself in the front door and was immediately hit with a wall of warmth, cinnamon and pine, what sounded like maybe the Boston Pops, and laughter. He hung his coat on the hook by the door and paused for a moment to take it all in. The last time he'd encountered that particular combination, he'd been ten. A smile broke out on his face but before he could take a step, he heard a shout.

"You came!!" And then he was nearly bowled over by an already-hyper Abby.

"Of course I came," he said, planting a kiss on her cheek. "There's no where else I'd rather be tonight," he told her. And to his surprise, he discovered that it was the truth. He pondered that while Abby dragged him to the living room where everyone else was gathered, glasses of champagne in hand.

He took in the scene – fire in the fireplace, a beautiful live pine decked out in the corner, pine bows draped on the mantle, candles flickering – it was like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. "I'm uh, gonna go put this…" he mumbled and lamely held up the bottles of beer he was holding before turning toward the kitchen.

Alone in the kitchen with the sounds of his friends laughing and telling stories in the background, Tony leaned on the counter and looked out the window at the lights on the neighbor's house. For some reason, a lump was forming in his throat and tears prickled his eyes. He swallowed hard, trying to get that maddening lump to go away, but it continued to grow.

He didn't hear Gibbs come in, but suddenly, there was a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you ok?" He nodded, but didn't trust his voice. "Tony? What's wrong?"

Taking a deep breath, he started to speak, but found that he had no voice. Even worse, a single tear escaped his eye. He could feel Gibbs staring at him and he turned away slightly, hoping his boss hadn't seen the tear. Finally, he cleared his throat and straightened up. "It's just been a while, that's all."

"Yeah, me too. But I think, maybe, this year is a chance to make some new memories," Gibbs offered. Tony nodded.

And then Gibbs pulled him into a hug.

Immediately, the tears were threatening again. The only time Gibbs had ever hugged him was after he'd gone to town on his butt for some stupid prank. This was new. And a little off-putting. Tony hesitantly returned the hug and was grateful when Abby flew into the kitchen.

"What are you guys doing in here?" she asked excitedly as Gibbs released him. "The party's elsewhere."

Tony chuckled at her, in spite of all of the thoughts and emotions floating around in his head. "Ok, ok, we're coming," he said and strode out of the kitchen.

Abby put her arm through Gibbs' and looked up at him. "Is he ok?" she asked, worry lining her face.

Gibbs grinned as he watched Tony walk away. "Yeah, he'll be fine."

The evening passed in a cloud of stories, laughter, sugar and just a little bit of alcohol, and no one even noticed that it had started snowing. But they did notice when the wind picked up.

"Wow!" Jimmy exclaimed as the windows suddenly rattled. He, Abby and Ziva jumped up and hurried over to the window. "I can't even see the house across the street!" Soon, they were joined by the rest of the current occupants of the house.

Somehow, they had missed nearly eight inches of snow falling which was now, not only being added to by the second, but also being blown around wildly.

"Hm," Gibbs grunted. He turned to Ducky. "Well, Duck, it looks like you've got some overnight guests."

"Indeed I do, Jethro," Ducky agreed. He didn't look at all disappointed.

"Wait, what?" Tony asked. "Come on, it's not that bad," he said as a particularly vicious gust rattled the windows again.

"No one's going anywhere," Gibbs said, well, ordered.

Ziva and Abby looked at each other excitedly. "My first wizard!" Ziva squealed and she and Abby started jumping up and down. Apparently, sugar was her Kryptonite, Tony observed.

"Blizzard," he corrected, rolling his eyes and then quickly moving out of reach of Gibbs' arm – just in case.

"I want more hot chocolate," Abby giggled as she grabbed Tim and Jimmy's arms and dragged them to the kitchen, Ziva following close behind. "This is so exciting!"

Tony stared out the window, watching the snow blow around. Suddenly, he wheeled around to Gibbs and Ducky, who, he found, were grinning at him. "You did this on purpose, didn't you?" he accused.

The two older men exchanged smiles and looked back at Tony. "Eh, it'll be fun," Gibbs said.

"Fun?" Tony spat out. "You think getting snowed in is fun?" They kept grinning like Cheshire cats. Finally, he took a deep breath and returned their grins. "Yeah, ok. I just hope we don't get called out."

Gibbs and Ducky exchanged another smile and Abby, Ziva, Tim and Jimmy piled back into the living room, loaded down with mugs full of hot chocolate with marshmallows. They handed mugs to Gibbs, Ducky and Tony and flopped down on the floor in front of the fire place.

Gibbs took a sip and then put his mug down. "Hey, give me your keys and I'll go get your bags out of your cars."

Immediately, Ziva, Abby and Tim rummaged in their pockets and produced their keys.

"I'll help you, Boss," Tony offered, taking Abby's.

"You guys all have overnight bags in your cars?" Jimmy asked.

"You don't?" Tim answered.

"Um, no."

"Ah, don't worry, Jimmy," Ducky said, "I'm sure between Tony, Tim, Jethro and myself, we can rustle up everything you need. Well, except underpants. Oh, wait…I think we've got those too." He walked to the tree and picked up one of the three wrapped packages underneath it. He tore the paper and opened the box. "Ah yes, here you go," he said as he held out a pair of boxer shorts festooned with moose wearing Christmas lights on their antlers. "Mother gives me a new pair every year. They may be a little loose, but they should serve the purpose."

Jimmy took the proffered shorts hesitantly, obviously a little embarrassed. "Um, thank you, Doctor," he said, glancing around.

Gibbs and Tony donned their winter apparel and went out into the winter wonderland as Ducky began thinking out loud about where everyone would sleep.