Title: A Christmas Tree Story

Summary: A misunderstanding on Christmas Day may destroy Gibbs and Tony's friendship forever.

Disclaimer: NCIS is not mine. I'm just borrowing the concepts and characters for a little while.

Spoilers: Anything up to the most recently aired episode (9.11) is fair game. There are some minor, blink-and-you-miss-it references to some of my previous stories and also for a possible future story.

A/N: This is a sort of sequel to last year's A Christmas Day Story. Reading that story is not necessary, but down below I've provided some excerpts to help fill in any potential gaps. Episode 9.11 Newborn King makes the majority of this story AU.

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Prologue: Excerpts from A Christmas Day Story

Chapter One: Fulfilling a Promise…

For me it's pointless to decorate my apartment for Christmas when most of the time, I'm not even home to enjoy it. But, there's one thing I've managed to hold onto all these years that I put out without fail every Christmas. Each year when I get it out of its box (it's had probably half a dozen or so over the years) I am reminded of a life that was lost long ago.

I can see every detail of the object and its original owner in my mind's eye, but I know that image is flawed compared to the real thing. The original owner is long dead and the object doesn't look like it once did.

The object of my memories is a candle holder in the shape of a Christmas tree that once belonged to my mother.

After her death, my father got it into his head to get rid of everything that once belonged to her. During the purge of all that was my mother's, I managed to rescue some photographs and the one thing I so closely associated with her at the time.

She bought it shortly before we spent what turned out to be our last Christmas together. When she showed it to me that first time, my seven-year-old self was not that impressed with it.

But, then she lit the candle.

That's when it became magical. That's when it went from being a small iron tree to a little Christmas tree glowing brightly in a beautiful array of colors.

She lit a candle every night that year and every night it was transformed from cold iron to warm light. That last year together is also when she introduced me to my favorite Christmas movie, It's a Wonderful Life, staring Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey.

Thankfully, it was on T.V. more than once that year because I didn't quite make it all the way through on my first viewing. We sat down in front of the T.V. to watch all snuggled up in blankets with caramel popcorn and hot mulled cider to snack on, but I fell asleep at some point.

I'll always remember that last Christmas with her all snuggled up in her warm, loving embrace watching that movie with that candle holder glowing brightly in the background.

…

That next Christmas, the first without her, there were no decorations allowed in the house and barely any mention of the holiday. In my room, I took out the little tree and at the sight of it; I finally cried my eyes out at the loss of my mother. Prior to that night I had not shed a single tear because I was sternly told 'DiNozzo's don't cry'.

My eight-year-old self made a vow that day. With the candle holder held tightly in my hands, I promised that I would recreate as much of my last Christmas with my mother as possible every year – even if the only thing I did was to watch It's a Wonderful Life.

…

Every year since then I've managed to fit in one or all of the elements of that last Christmas.

…

The holder is not as beautiful as it once was. One year during college, a drunk frat brother knocked it over and all the colored bits of glass broke. Only the iron frame remains to this day. As an extremely poor college student, I couldn't even begin to be able to afford to fix my precious heirloom. And over the years, when I've contemplated getting it fixed, I've feared it wouldn't look the same as it does in my memories. I honestly have no clue where to get it fixed anyway.

In my memories, I can still see the way the stained glass glowed. And, I can still see my mother's joyful face – she loved Christmas more than any other holiday.

…

Chapter Two: Gift of Family…

"I know I practically ordered you to come here this afternoon, but at the time I was angry that you made us all think you had these big plans for today and in reality you were spending it alone."

Tony forcefully opens the door and takes a step out of the bathroom to face me. "I wasn't alone, I was spending time with my family," he says indignantly though he doesn't quite meet my eyes.

"So what did you and your family do today Tony?"

"We did our traditional thing of making caramel popcorn to eat and hot mulled cider to drink while snuggling up in blankets in front of the T.V. watching the greatest Christmas movie ever!"

…

"You made us think you had all these plans – why?"

He shrugs his arm out of my grasp and turns to full face me. Finally daring to look me in the eyes, he sadly says, "I may have been physically alone today, Boss, but in keeping my promise, keeping my traditions; I wasn't truly alone.

"Does that make sense?" He asks with pleading eyes. He desperately wants me to understand, and I think I finally get it.

"Your mother."

The relief in his eyes is almost palpable. "Yes," he says just above a whisper.

…

There's much more to this story if you're interested including a chapter three epilogue.

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And now on to chapter one of A Christmas Tree Story…

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A/N: I hope that this has given you some context for the story that follows.

Thanks for reading!