What Makes America Great?

It was a picture perfect Fourth of July, and Leon Vance reminded himself again how much he loved this group. They were truly the best of the best, and he was pleased that they could celebrate such a patriotic holiday together. It was not often that they were together outside of the NCIS office.

Spying Dr. Mallard he went over to shake hands. "Well," Leon commented, "I guess the British don't celebrate the Fourth, seeing as that is when we gained independence from our Mother ship."

Ducky smiled and his eyes twinkled, "Of course the British celebrate- it's the day we got rid of the troublemakers!"

The two laughed and Ducky patted Vance on the back.

Within minutes of her arrival, Abby looked like the Pied Piper of Hamlin, and spent the day with children trailing her or swinging from her hands. She was in her element, and every time Gibbs went to check on her, he found himself laughing out loud at her approach to the younger set. She was a natural with them, and they responded to her with open affection.

Tony practically danced around the field with joy when he discovered that Agent Sacks, or Slacks, as he called him, aka his nemesis, was part of the FBI baseball team. It would be fun to stomp the three letter boys, but knowing that Slacks was going down was just delightful! Even Gibbs couldn't resist a grin at the news. His money was always on Tony, and he knew Tony would outdo himself for the victory.

Jethro and Fornell, lead FBI man, grabbed chairs and staked out prime vantage spots by the diamond.

"Impressed with my team, are you?" Fornell baited, "I don't think your boy will stand a chance this year. He's been lucky, but we've been practicing."

"I was just profiling your offering of victims, Tobias. It must be humiliating to get beaten summer after summer. My interest is in how quickly Tony and the NCIS boys whip their FBI butts. It must be so discouraging to come out here like lambs to the slaughter." Jethro smirked, and seeing Tony glance his way, he waved a greeting.

Abby and her charges ran up to be ready for the start of the competition, and they arranged themselves around the perimeter of the diamond.

Gibbs frowned and called out, "What are you doing, Abbs? That might not be safe having them there."

Abby grinned jubilantly in response. "We're the NCIS cheerleaders!"

Shading her eyes with her hands she directed two of the little ones to cover third base.

Gibbs roared with laughter, and the start of the game was called.

It was a nail biter, all right, and the teams played like they were in the major leagues. Tony slammed a homerun right out of the gate, and made it to home plate with Abby's cheerleaders screaming his name, but the rest of the team didn't score.

In the next inning the FBI managed to rack up a couple of runs. The game went back and forth, and back and forth until they made it to the bottom of the ninth and the score was tied. NCIS was up, and the FBI managed to rattle them with two outs. Fornell was screaming in excitement from the sidelines, anticipating the thrill of victory.

Tony came to bat and as usual, the spectators went wild as he got himself into position. Searching the faces of the onlookers, he found his boss and Jethro nodded slowly to him, grinning in support. Tony dramatically tipped his hat to his mentor, grabbed his bat, and connected on the first pitch. The bat nearly cracked with the force of the impact and Tony slammed the ball so far that the outfielders watched it disappear into the tree line. Eyeing its path, they did the smart thing and didn't bother to give chase. Tony jogged into home with Abby and the kids escorting his run from second base to the victory.

Fornell stuck his hand out to Gibbs and Jethro roared with laughter. "My money's always on Dinozzo, Fornell!" Making his way to the star athlete of the day Vance joined him, beside himself with pride at the win. Tony saw his boss and his face lit with a megawatt smile, then he jogged to meet him and threw his arms around him.

Tim, Ziva, and Jimmy delivered the goods for their portions of the day, as well, and the festivities were, without question, unparalleled. At dark, the entire team gathered together for the fireworks, saluted the American flag and joined voices to sing the national anthem, then sat on the quilts Jackie Vance had brought for the occasion. The spectacle of the fireworks above them silenced everyone, and it was with awe and wonder that they watched the rockets launch.

Gibbs studied each one of his team in the glow of the night sky and said a silent prayer of gratitude that they were part of his life. It was a Fourth of July celebration of what he loved.