The Squad Room was full of people. Even Abby, Jenny, Ducky and Palmer were there. Gibbs made it to his desk and smiled. There was a big cake on it.

McGee quickly pressed some buttons in his keyboard and a writing "Happy Birthday, Gibbs!" appeared on both of the two plasmas.

"And I was hoping you had all forgotten," Gibbs said with a smile.

Abby acted offended. "Gibbs! How could we ever forget?"

"It's not something to remember," Gibbs told them.

Jenny smiled at him understandingly. "You say that every year, Jethro."

"So do you," Gibbs fired back.

Other people in the room looked from Gibbs to Jenny and back to Gibbs, not knowing what to say. Abby was the first one to break the silence.

"So, are we gonna eat this cake or will we put it up for display?" she asked cheerfully.

"Yeah, let's eat the cake," Tony agreed.

They all looked at the birthday cake. Gibbs was the first one to realize what was missing.

"Anyone have a knife?" he asked, looking around, his eyes sliding over everyone in the room.

"I do," Ziva said, trying to be helpful.

Tony gave her a weird glance. "Um, Ziva," he started. "I think he wants a kitchen knife, not a knife that is meant for killing people."

Ziva opened her mouth to defend herself, but Gibbs cut her off before she could even start.

"No fighting on my birthday," he declared, giving the two agents a warning glare.

"Well, Jethro, as you know, I happen to have quite a wide selection of edged tools down in autopsy," Ducky started helpfully. "But I doubt any of us would like to eat a cake cut with a scalpel."

"Ya think, Duck?" Gibbs asked amusedly.

"I think I have a knife in my office," Jenny interrupted, blushing slightly. Tony looked at her, slightly shocked, and asked the first thing he could think of. "For what?"

"Ah, you know, Tony, in case things get a little out of control," Gibbs teased.

Seeing Gibbs' smirk, Jenny laughed. Tony looked at her in confusion.

Jen felt like she owed the poor man an explanation.

"It's still there since the time when Jethro and I..."

"Enough. Could you bring it down?" Gibbs interrupted. Jenny smiled at him with a little nod and left.

"Last time Gibbs and she... did what?" Tony asked Ziva in a low voice. Ziva's eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Ate cake," she said, trying to remove all other ideas that might have been taking root in his mind. "What were you thinking of, Tony, that would require the use of a knife?" she asked her partner teasingly.

Jenny rushed up the catwalk to her office. Yes, the knife had been in her office since she and Gibbs ate cake there on her birthday. Other things had come after the cake, but she refused to think of those at the moment. There was no way she would be able to hide her blush.

She rushed past Cynthia, who was on the phone with someone, and straight to the cupboard in her office. Jen took the knife and headed out of the room, again passing Cynthia.

The secretary had now finished her phone call and looked up when Jenny rushed past her holding a knife with a blade at least 8 inches long. She looked startled.

"Wha... what is this for?" she asked hesitantly.

Jenny stopped and looked at the other woman, then at the knife in her hand. She smiled.

"To cut Gibbs' birthday cake," she assured her warmly.

The secretary nodded with relief. Suddenly an idea sprang into Jen's mind.

"Cynthia, would you like to come down too?" she asked her invitingly.

Cynthia was surprised. "Oh, Director, I don't know," she hesitated. "Wouldn't Agent Gibbs mind?"

"Nonsense. Come." And Jenny made her way down the catwalk.

The team looked up expectantly, amused smiles appearing on their faces as they saw her coming down the stairs with a knife in her hand and Cynthia following in a rush.

"The Director's keeping pretty dangerous weapons in her office," Tony commented to Ziva quietly. Not quietly enough, making Gibbs glare at him. Ziva elbowed Tony in the ribs, earning a girlish yelp from him.

"I brought Cynthia with me," Jenny said unnecessarily, when she made it to the team, pointing at Cynthia with her big knife. Cynthia raised her eyebrows and chuckled. Only then did Jenny realize what a stupid gesture she had made and occupied herself with cutting the cake, doing her best not to ruin the decorative chocolate swirls on it. The cake had definitely been chosen by Abby, since it had a chocolate spiderweb on it. Jenny put the pieces of cake on paper plates, which Abby had brought, and they ate the cake with plastic spoons.

"Mmm, that's a really good cake," Palmer commented, breaking the silence, after swallowing his first spoonful.

They all looked at him.

"Inappropriate?" he asked hesitantly.

Ducky nodded at him. "Not inappropriate, but obvious, Mr. Palmer."

Abby looked at Ducky happily. "But Ducky, it is a good cake," she said, defending Palmer. "Right, Jimmy?"

Palmer looked startled at Abby asking his opinion, especially considering he had just voiced it.

"Uh, yeah. Good cake," he stuttered.

"Actually this reminds me of a time when I was still in Medical School," Ducky said, holding up his spoon thoughtfully, remembering the incident. "A good friend of mine, Tom, had a birthday and we decided to hold a surprise party, much like this one." Ducky looked around in the room pointedly. "We played games there and when everyone was starting to get a little tipsy, they brought out the cake. This young man was not so fortunate as our Jethro here. His cake had not been placed on the table, it was carried through half the room." Ducky looked around as if checking if they were listening.

The sight before him seemed to please him, so he continued. "Yes, and when the poor fellow was almost by the table, his path accidentally crossed with Tom's. They collided and the cake was thrown in the air. The ceilings were quite high in that room, so the cake fell back down and straight on Tom's head," Ducky said with a chuckle. Laughter erupted in the bullpen.

"Just a little tipsy?" Gibbs asked with a skeptical look, still smiling.

Ducky shrugged slightly. "Well, more than a little tipsy," he corrected himself.

They laughed again.

"Who carried the cake?" Abby asked excitedly.

Ducky smiled apologetically. "Sadly I must admit to having been the unfortunate fellow."

That coaxed another laugh out of those assembled.

Several hours later Gibbs was sitting at his computer. He checked his email and chukled quietly when he saw a letter.

"Happy Birthday, Gibbs," was written in it. But what made Gibbs laugh was not the letter itself, but the name of the sender. Fornell. Fornell had sent him birthday wishes.

Gibbs decided to wrap it up for the evening. His team had already left, each having wished him happy birthday again upon leaving.

He opened his desk drawer to get his ID. He reached for it... and stopped. A white envelope caught his attention. There was a writing on it in Jenny's elegant handwriting. "From all of us."

He opened the envelope and pulled out it's contents. There were two pieces of paper. One of them was a plane ticket to Mexico and back. The other seemed to be some sort of a note. Gibbs unfolded it and chuckled when he saw the writing.

There were four words in Tony's handwriting. "You better come back."

"I will, DiNozzo," he mumbled to himself. "I will."

And when he headed for the elevator, stepping into it for the last time that day, he felt a surge of happiness. He felt good that his team had remembered his birthday after all.

Again he thought of the family he had once had. The only one of his four wives that he still loved, and their daughter. He would love them both forever.

But even if his team was not a very normal family, they were still his family. They were the best he could have and he was thankful.

The End

So, here's your happy ending. And SherryGabs, part of your idea is in it, thank you. I hope you all enjoyed reading the story. Also, I thank you all for the reviews, alerts and favorite stories. It means a world to me. And please review this chapter too. I would really like to know what you think of it. Did you like the ending? Please let me know what you liked or didn't like.

Thank you all for reading!