Christmas had always been a difficult time for Timothy McGee especially since the Christmas of '96 bringing the tragic death of his beautiful mother Susan. She had always brought Tim and Sarah everything they wanted, she was truly magical in that respect, she had the intuition and love that only a mother has. She cared for them on the naval base while their father was away- not that the absence of him had ever bothered Tim too much.

A military man, Robert McGee wanted the best for his son and by that of course he meant that he knew what was best for his only son, to follow his navy heritage, but little Timmy was never interested. After years of trying to impress his father, winning awards for academics and the accolades that came with his passion for the field of technology. Tim gave up, telling his father no for the first time, he wanted to be involved with computers and coding and decryption, not having to deal with sea sickness every hour of the day. That was the day that his father left and would not be seen again.

His mother was battling depression, in the past she had pinned all her hopes on the day Robert would come home from his posts though now the days seemed darker knowing he was never coming back. Through her pain she focussed on her children, Timothy, 16 and Sarah, 12. Every prize, every award ceremony or presentation she was there and to the best of the family's knowledge, she always would be. But on a routine trip to the grocery store she made one mistake. She didn't recognize a stop sign and collided with a truck.

It was a miracle that Tim would survive but not with a mother to share the horrible memory. He remembered the screech of tyres, screaming and the contorting of metal, but worst of all was after the crash, yelling to his mother's dead body 'Wake up Mom, I can't do this without you!" that image would be printed in his mind forever and was all he ever saw when he closed his eyes for years.

He remembered telling a similar story to Tony, only he was driving and his mother's death was never mentioned. He was faced with either foster care or college and knew that without his unsupportive father he followed the path his mother and he had dreamed of, moving into a dorm at MIT the following night, Christmas Eve. Ever since then Tim avoided Christmas like the plague which had become extremely difficult with all that holiday-Abby-Christmas-cheer.

This year she had a favour to ask of him. He was greeted by Abby and one of her friends.
"There's a little boy I'm looking after while his Mom is away and the one thing he asked for when sitting on Santa's lap was to see his Mom on Christmas." The woman had puppy dog eyes and Tim gulped knowing his past trauma was going to get him into more trouble than he ever expected.
"How sad is that Timmy!" Abby whimpered, Tim could tell she was manipulating him but he really didn't care. He knew that he had had the same Christmas wish since he was sixteen,
"And what do you want me to do about it?"
"We were wondering if you could do something very tech… and a little bit, well bad."
"Fine."

He shouldn't have agreed to using MTAC for private use, it wasn't 'bad' it was downright illegal, he could have been fired… or worse. His only reward was a kiss on the cheek which was sadly a worthwhile reward for his hard work, although he wished for something more from her, yet another unanswered wish he'd had for years.

"MCGEE!" Gibbs yelled and pointed toward the elevator, Tim had never been so frightened in his life and he had more near death experiences than the average guy. He hesitantly followed his boss into the elevator watched the elevator stop, the lights turn off and the scolding begin.
"I AM DISGRACED TO CALL YOU MY AGENT!"
"I'm sorry boss I shouldn't have…"
"No you should NOT have and this could cost you your job! It was a personal thing for a kid you don't even know. HOW COULD YOU BE THIS STUPID?" He spat the last word and it pierced Tim right through the heart. All these insults coming from the man he could really call his father were starting to remind him too much of his poor excuse for a father of which he was only linked to biologically.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, YOU DON'T KNOW."
"What?" Gibbs tone changed as he had never been yelled at by Tim, who had been comparatively shy until this point.
"This kid, all he wanted for Christmas was to see his Mom and I made that happen because it was possible. I can't bring the same happiness to myself and it kills me, it's my only wish for Christmas too. But it's not an ocean dividing us. I can't see her again Gibbs but I sooted the pain for a kid who feels exactly the same as me and that's the best I can do. So go ahead, fire me, my badge will be on your desk but I did the right thing today Gibbs and there's one kid out there sleeping easier cos I did."

'That felt amazing' Tim thought, he had never been one for letting out his feelings and he was probably about to get slapped into the elevator wall but for once he let his guard down and told someone just a bit of the pain he was feeling, he shared a part of himself he had spent his lifetime trying to hide and it felt, amazing.
"What happened Tim? I can help you through this, I know your pain sickeningly well." It was then that Gibbs and McGee found a relationship Tim could only dream of with his biological father.