A Christmas Eve Story

Summary: Gibbs forgets someone. Begins at the end of episode 7X10 Faith. Possibly OOC. The end is here.

Disclaimer: NCIS is not mine.

Spoilers: Only if you haven't seen 7X10 Faith, 5X1 Bury Your Dead, or 6X11 Silent Night. There are some other references sprinkled throughout, but I don't have time to look them up.

A/N: Many thanks for your continued support and kind words! They inspired and kept me going.

I hope you enjoy this last chapter…

ooooooo

From chapter two:

"Well then, Leroy," his dad clapped a hand to his shoulder and smiled yet again. "We'll just have to find Tony whether or not he wants to be found. It's a simple misunderstanding and it's nothing that can't be explained or forgiven."

Gibbs quietly replied, "I hope so, Dad. I've messed up so many times and yet he's forgiven me each and every time. I just hope he has it in him to do it again."

"From what I know of Tony, I'm sure he will. Now. How do we find our boy?"

ooooooo

Chapter 3: Found

Gibbs had tried to explain to his dad that all the usual tricks to find someone weren't going to work with Tony. His senior agent knew all of them and would probably use them against him.

Tony's phone had gone straight to voicemail which meant it was most likely turned off – so no GPS tracking.

If Tony was even half-way thinking clearly when he left Gibbs' house, he had probably taken cash out of the closest ATM in order to throw everyone off his trail.

He knew Tony's car was lowjacked as too many things had happened to his previous cars for him to not take that precaution. But, he would bet a lot money on Tony knowing how to disable it so he couldn't be tracked.

Suddenly, a vision of being in MTAC and watching Tony's Mustang blowing up flitted across his memory bringing with it more guilt and worry for his friend. He let the feelings have free reign for only a few moments before suppressing them and refocusing on trying to find his senior agent.

Gibbs knew Tony was too smart to leave any electronic trails for anyone to follow therefore it was pointless to even try. That meant he'd have to use everything he knew about Tony personally in order to find him.

His friend could be just about anywhere by now – or at least as far as a tank of gas would take him. Tony would probably avoid gas stations for fear of security cameras spotting him. Ditto with airports, bus terminals, and any other modes of mass transit.

Staying with a woman? No, Gibbs thought to himself. Tony hasn't mentioned going on any dates or any of his sexual exploits in quite awhile.

Staying with a teammate? Not likely. He thought. Maybe Abby – if she wasn't staying with the nuns tonight. But, then again, his teammates don't even know that Tony spends some of his time outside of work with me. It just isn't in Tony's nature to let anyone, even his teammates, get that close to him.

He smiled a half-smile and mused. So, just how did I get the honor of Tony's trust and manage to keep it all these years?

He had put a stop to that train of thought and continued going through the list of possibilities with his dad.

A hotel? Possibly. But which one of hundred or more? Checking them all would take too long especially since Tony wouldn't register under his own name. He might as well just resign himself to seeing Tony on Monday at the office if he went down that path to find him.

He knew the duffle Tony kept in his car usually only had one change of clothes so probably the first place he went was to his apartment. But Gibbs thought Tony would be long gone from there by now.

His father had insisted it was at least someplace to start saying, "Do you have any better ideas?"

Gibbs had had to admit that he didn't. He'd started towards his front door intent on getting his coat so he could go warm up his car and scrape the ice off the windshield.

As he'd opened the door, he heard his dad say, "I want to come with you."

"Dad, no. Someone should stay here just in case he shows up."

He didn't want to risk the chance that DiNozzo might show up to his house drunk like he'd done on a few previous occasions and have no one be there for him.

"But, Leroy, you're the one who said he won't be coming back here."

"I know I did, but it's one of my rules to not assume anything, so can you please stay here?"

"Your rules?" he said with his voice full of mocking laughter.

"Yes, my rules. Do we have to do this now?" he asked with impatience.

"Sorry, Leroy. You're right. It's probably best to cover all the bases. Go! Keep me updated!" he'd heard his father say as he shut the door.

ooooooo

Now he was in his truck only a couple minutes from DiNozzo's apartment. His gut was telling him that Tony wasn't there, but maybe there was some hint as to where his friend had gone. Not that he believed Tony would really make a mistake like that, but he had to hope.

As he drove up to the building, he saw that Tony's assigned parking space was empty. He parked his car in the spot and headed towards the entrance.

The elevator was out again, so he had to climb the four flights of stairs up to Tony's apartment. He'd have to remember to talk to his friend once more about moving into a better place.

He knocked on the door even though he knew no one would answer. After waiting a minute to be sure Tony wasn't going to answer, he picked the lock. Once inside he noticed how cold the place was and wondered if the heat was simply off or broken – again. He checked every room and closet on the off chance his senior agent might try to bluff him. But, as he'd suspected, Tony was not there.

What he found odd about Tony's place was that there was no evidence of a quick retreat. Nothing seemed to be out of place in the apartment – both the master bedroom and bathroom looked as though nothing was missing.

People might think that DiNozzo was a slob, but actually he was very organized and clean – when he wasn't spilling food down the front of his shirt. He smirked briefly.

Every room was spotless, nothing was out of place except –

As Gibbs fully entered the living room area, he immediately noticed two items that would be considered out of place any other time of the year. The first was a plastic container nearly full of Tony's homemade caramel popcorn. The second was the DVD of "It's a Wonderful Life".

Gibbs thought back to last year when he'd made it back from taking Ned Quinn to see his daughter just in time to see the end of the movie as it played on the big screen in MTAC. Tony had sprung from his seat and thanked everyone for taking part in the DiNozzo family tradition.

His friend had seen him standing in the back, smiled broadly, and added that he hoped everyone had enjoyed themselves. Everyone else had then left, leaving Tony to clean up the mess and shut the equipment down. Gibbs had stayed behind to 'supervise' and….

His gut picked that moment to finally give his brain a clue.

"Of course!" he said aloud and then smacked himself on the back of the head.

He got his phone out and called his dad.

ooooooo

He'd driven as fast as was safe given the road conditions. His father had protested several times, but he'd ignored the protests in his haste to get to his friend.

He still had no idea what to say to Tony in order to make it up to him. Gibbs guessed that this incident had likely brought up the unpleasant memory of Tony's father forgetting him in Hawaii when he was a kid. And, for that, he felt especially guilty. He never wanted to be thought of in the same way as that man.

Gibbs and his father had grabbed the items they'd brought with them and got into the elevator. As they stepped out of the elevator, Gibbs saw that his senior agent was quietly sitting at his desk going through some files.

There were no words to describe the relief he felt at the sight of his friend.

He motioned to his dad to wait and approached DiNozzo's desk. He knew that Tony knew someone was there – the ding of the elevator was loud without the din of a busy office.

"DiNozzo," he greeted.

"Gibbs," replied Tony, who was pretending to keep reading the file he had in his hands.

"My dad and I missed you this evening."

"Was that before or after the Children's Hospital?" Tony replied evenly. He had yet to look up.

"After."

"I see," his friend's voice sounded strained.

"Thanks for the bourbon. I was running low."

Tony finally raised his eyes; he cleared his throat, and said, "You're welcome."

"Get my message?"

He nodded affirmative, also saying aloud, "Yes."

"Were you going to call me?"

"I hadn't decided." Tony said, dropping his eyes back to the file.

"Did you volunteer to be on duty?"

Tony nodded but didn't look up.

Gibbs put his hands on DiNozzo's desk and leaned into Tony's personal space.

"For the whole weekend?"

His senior agent shrank back a little but otherwise he still didn't look up.

"I don't know yet. Weber said he'd check in around 1500 hours tomorrow after his family had exchanged gifts and had dinner."

"It wasn't intentional."

Tony nodded and finally looked up. He looked relieved.

"You know how I am around my dad," Gibbs said, which got him a big grin.

Gibbs reached out and tapped his fingers under Tony's chin.

His friend smiled shyly and tipping his head to the left said, "Is your dad just going to stand by the elevator all night?"

Gibbs lightly head slapped his senior agent and gestured for his dad to come join them.

ooooooo

In the darkened room, the movie played on with the sounds of caramel popcorn being munched on in the background. His friend was sitting beside him with a goofy expression of joy on his face. His dad was sitting behind them, enjoying the film and his own little bowl of popcorn.

The stress of the last few hours had morphed into a sense of peace now that his family was together and all was forgiven.

He checked his watch.

Gibbs leaned over and whispered, "Merry Christmas, Tony."

Tony smiled and whispered back, "Merry Christmas, Boss."

ooooooo

The end.

ooooooo

A/N 2: I couldn't help the sappy ending – it's Christmas after all. I just didn't have the heart to continue the angst fest.

I hope this turned out OK as I didn't have the usual amount of time to check grammar and make corrections. I also had several other plot ideas, but just simply ran out of time. In fact, I'm running late!

Christmas plans with my family are an irresistible temptation…

Thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!