Santa's Secret Stuff

Tony sighed as he walked through the overcrowded mall. In only three hours he had to be at Abby's place for her annual Christmas party. He was really looking forward to that gathering. It was December, the 24th and as Tony didn't really have a family to celebrate Christmas with, he would spend it with those people he actually liked, his surrogate family. Just like every year they were doing a secret Santa. A week before, Abby had made them draw lots with names on them. To Tony's dismay, on the lot that he had drawn was Ziva's name.

It was not like he didn't want to get her anything. The problem was just that he didn't know what kind of present he should give her. He didn't want to give her some nonsense that she would never touch afterwards but he didn't want to endow something that was telling her too much, either. He still didn't know where exactly their relationship was heading. He liked that they were back being friends but sometimes he just couldn't help but notice that something was missing between them but he couldn't quite place his finger on what it was.

He passed by some stores selling clothes and toys, occasionally being pushed away by other customers. He really shouldn't have waited so long to go shopping, he knew that, but he just hadn't had the time before. A recent case had been very time-consuming and they had only solved it the day before.
He was nearly pushed against another display window now. He was about to turn around to rail against the person that had done that to him as something caught his eye. It was when he found it. The perfect present. It didn't matter that it was a bit expensive and a touch too personal. He just had to get it.

Later that day, he was standing in front of Abby's apartment, checking the present once again that was in his coat pocket. Then, he knocked on the door and only seconds later, Abby opened it and gave Tony a tight hug.
"You're late."
"I know, I'm sorry, the roads are just terrible tonight," he said, pointing to the snow covered streets.

Once inside, he couldn't help but admire Abby's decorations. Typically for Abby, she had way overdone them but Tony just loved it. When he had been a kid, he had always wished for a Christmas party like that. His mom was not really one for decorations and his dad was just not around to celebrate it with them. It was maybe why Tony loved to go to Abby's place every year.

"Tony," Abby said. "I need your present for secret Santa."
"Ah, yes, there you go," he replied, giving the small box, wrapped in fancy silver paper, to Abby.
She eyed it suspiciously but didn't say anything, just put it under the Christmas tree where the other presents were already sitting. He followed her into the living room, where the others already were sitting and standing, each of them drinking eggnog and seemingly having a good time.

"Merry Christmas everybody," he greeted them before he went to sit beside McGee and Palmer who were currently engaged in a talk about some computer game, so Tony found the time to look around. Gibbs and Ducky were standing in a corner, chatting animatedly, meaning that Ducky talked and Gibbs listened. Ziva and Abby were sitting on two chairs by the Christmas tree, talking to each other in hushed voices, occasionally giggling. Tony wondered what they were talking about but then again, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.

A few hours later, Tony was just talking to Gibbs about how to carve wood and was already feeling slightly tipsy, Abby announced it was time to open their presents.

"As I'm the hostess of this lovely party," she grinned. "I'm the first to open my present, right?"
Everybody laughed and as nobody objected, Abby reached out for a rather big present.
"Who's this from?"
"It's from me," Ziva said.
Abby hurriedly ripped it open to find a bunch of CDs falling out of it.
"All the LPs by Collide. Thank you, Ziva! I meant to buy them forever."

She stood up again and hugged Ziva tightly. Tony caught Ziva's eye for a second and grinned goofily at her. He had suggested it to her the day before as she had asked him almost desperately what to get her. He was glad that Abby liked it.

The next on the list was Gibbs. Abby handed him a rectangular parcel, wrapped in black.
"I take it, that's from you, Abs?"
"Yeah."
Gibbs opened it and then held up a brand new and rather uncommon military knife.
"So you never have to break your very own Rule #9. You like it?"
"Yeah, very much. Thank you," he said, placing a kiss on her forehead.

The other presents were unpacked pretty fast after that. Palmer had gotten four bottles of bourbon from Gibbs, McGee a subscription of a PC magazine from Palmer and Ducky tickets to Madama Butterfly at the Washington National Opera from McGee.

Then it was Tony's turn to open his present.
"Thanks, Ducky," he said, figuring that he was the only one left, before he carefully unpacked it.
Just as he had guessed from the form of the parcel, it contained three DVDs. They turned out to be Sabrina, Roman Holiday and Two for the road. All of them featuring Audrey Hepburn. Tony and Ducky had had a lively conversation about her only a few weeks before, with Ducky stating that she had been England's greatest actress of all time. Tony hadn't objected then but had admitted that he had never been much into old English movies. He now had to educate himself obviously. He shook Ducky's hand, really looking forward to seeing those movies.

He turned away from Ducky now, walking over to the Christmas tree again and took his own present and gave it to Ziva. He suddenly was a little nervous, not sure how she would react. Ziva gave him a smile as she took the small silver box and carefully opened it.
As she looked at the content, she seemed to be highly confused at first. Tony would have given his right arm to read her thoughts now. She stared at his present for a few more moments before she finally blinked again. She looked up at him and looked him in the eyes. Her brown ones seemed to bore into his like they wanted to tell him something.
"Thank you," she simply said, but Tony noticed her slightly shaky voice.

"What is it? What is it?" Abby asked excitedly and Ziva broke their eye-contact.
Ziva reached out for the content and held up a silver necklace with a pendant shaped like the Star of David.
"Wow, that's beautiful, Tony," Abby said, already adjusting it around Ziva's neck.

An hour and a few eggnogs later, Tony stepped out for a moment to catch some fresh air. He was now standing in front of the building, looking around him. The snow hadn't stopped falling yet and the ground was completely white by now. He wished he was still five years old and thus being able to just lie down and create a snow angel. He smiled to himself when he remembered the last time he had done that. It had been that exact date many, many years ago. He had been lying in the snow together with his mom, having lots of fun. She had promised him that they would do that every Christmas eve that was about to come. She never had the chance to do so though. Only four months later, she was dead.

Tony sighed, tearing himself away from those memories.

As he was about to turn around to walk back into the house, Ziva was suddenly standing beside him. He hadn't heard her coming but figured that she had used her ninja skills on him again.
"Are you alright?" She asked, concern mirroring on her face.
"Yeah, I'm good. Just had one eggnog too much."

She smiled at him but didn't keep on talking. She seemed to search for the right words. Tony said nothing, just looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"You know, Tony, I just wanted to say thank you for the necklace."
She touched it with one of her fingers.
"It's really beautiful."
"My pleasure. I noticed that you didn't have one after Somalia and I figured that you might like one again. I know you're an American citizen now but it can't hurt to have something to remember the past, right?"

"You are right about that. Saleem took it from me just after I had arrived there. I never got it back. The old one had always been very special to me as my mother had given it to me."
She paused for a few moments, looking him in the eyes again.
"But yours will be just as special now. Thanks."

She gave him one of the rare smiles that really reached her eyes. They were glistening slightly.
She raised her left hand now and touched his cheek while leaning forward, placing a soft kiss on his other cheek.

"Merry Christmas, Tony."
"Happy Hanukkah, Ziva."

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