Gibbs: No matter how many times I come here, it still gets to me. You look at a name; you have to look at a reflection of yourself. You are among the fallen
Quinn: Yeah, the difference is, you can leave. The names can't.
Gibbs: No, death is permanent.
--
Permanent. Enduring. Lasting. Eternal. Death was all of those things to Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He knew better than most that nothing would ever bring them back except the occasional memory…and tonight he would remember one in particular. He set Quinn's sketch into his desk drawer and dug under a few files to pull out a familiar keep sake. As he flipped through the old sketches his mind took him back; from the night he hired her to the afternoon on the roof top and everything in between. He stood up moments later and imagined her sitting at her old desk; as alive as ever and smiled.
"Merry Christmas Kate…"