She sent him a Christmas card every year, one of the ones you send that has an updated picture of the family—well, mostly the kids. The ones to you send to people that aren't around all that much so they can see how much the kids have grown over the past year.
He assumed that she sent them to everyone on the team; she didn't. Every year, she found the best picture of the children and made a special copy of it just for him, placing it inside the card that she barely wrote anything on. She didn't have to; he didn't need it. Although they all knew that she did it, nobody ever thought to ask why; they figured it was just another one of her quirks.
She felt arms wrapping around her as she signed the card. She smiled up at her husband, who was now gazing at the picture lying next to the card.
"Wow. How time flies. I can't believe that Joyce is almost a teenager. It still feels like just yesterday that I was constantly hanging around your lab, wishing for moments alone with you and trying to convince you that we ought to give it another try." She laughed.
"Oh Timmy, if only I knew then how happy we would be now!" He kissed the top of her head and hugged her tightly.
"I'm going to go make dinner. You've had a stressful week; you need to relax. Go ahead upstairs and take a nap. I'll come wake you when it's ready."
"Sounds good. Thanks Tim!" Abby started to make her way up the stairs, but then stopped and turned around. Glancing at the card on the table, she grabbed the picture and took it with her upstairs. She sat on the bed examining it, thinking about just how right he was. Time really had flown by.
Tim had proposed on Halloween in 2008. They were married on May 24th, 2009. Abby had actually wanted to be married on Halloween, but they didn't want to wait that long. To everyone's surprise, the delightful goth wore a white gown, but it certainly did not lack her unique taste with the black in it. She wore her hair in pigtails. Tony was their best man, and Ziva the maid of honor. Abby placed a black rose on a seat right in front in memory of Kate. Everything was black and white. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception incredibly fun. Abby danced with Gibbs and wished things could be different.
Caitlin Joyce McGee was born on July 4th, 2010, weighing seven pounds and four ounces at 21 inches. Abby had stopped working only a few months before, and Tim was searching for a safer job now that they had a child. It was an ironic farewell to NCIS that their firstborn child was born on the most important day in the history of their country, which they had both served faithfully for most of their lives. It became apparent all too quickly that it would be just too hard to call the baby Kate. They called her Joyce from then on.