Author's Note: I just have to say that writing about Abby with ghosts/spirits (whatever term one prefers) was incredibly fun.

Abby Sciuto turned off the television in her tiny apartment and headed to her bedroom. She let out a yawn, and grabbed a blanket. She loved the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" but it was so long that it always made her tired at the very end. Abby held on tightly to Bert and hopped into her coffin, drifting off to sleep.

"Just think Bert...Santa will be here when we wake up!" Abby said as she squeezed the animal who made noise.

Abby awoke to the sound of something chiming, which was odd, because nothing in her apartment chimed. Abby opened her eyes to try to locate the sound when she saw a beautiful woman with shiny red hair standing over the coffin.

Abby blinked quickly, knowing that she was dreaming.

"It's not a dream." The woman said softly.

"What?" Abby said as she sat up quickly, tossing Bert to the side.

"I'm very real Abby." The woman said in calm voice as Abby hopped out of the coffin.

"You! You freak! Get out of my house! My friends carry guns and they will find you and hurt you!" Abby yelled.

"Don't you have anything better to do on Christmas Eve than break into people's houses? Why do you know my name?" Abby yelled as she reached for her cell phone.

"Abby...I"m not a thief...I'm a ghost." Shannon said quietly. She had noticed the very Gothic style of the apartment, and Shannon hoped that if she explained everything that it might calm Abby.

Abby stopped and set her phone down slowly. A wide grin spread across her face.

"Why didn't you say so before! I'm Abigail Marie Sciuto...pleasure to meet you!" Abby said as she stuck her hand out.

"I'm Shannon." Shannon said simply as she shook Abby's hand, or at least she attempted to shake Abby's hand, Shannon's transparency made that difficult, and her hand slid right through Abby's.

Abby stood in her bedroom wide-eyed. She was thrilled to finally actually see a ghost, a ghost that seemed really nice.

"Cool!" Abby whispered as her hand slipped through Shannon's.

"Did you say...Shannon?" Abby asked as she raised an eyebrow.

Shannon only nodded.

"I only know of one Shannon with red hair...and she's..." Abby stopped short, not sure if it would be insulting or not.

"Dead?" Shannon completed the sentence for Abby.

"Yeah." Abby said as she glanced at Shannon's outfit.

"What is that?" Abby grimaced at the white eyelet gown Shannon was wearing.

"Standard issue...and not exactly fabulous." Shannon said dryly.

"Do you like plaid?" Abby asked as she headed towards her closet.

"Love it!" Shannon said as she followed Abby.

"Oohhh! I like this one!" Shannon said as she pulled out a pink and black plaid skirt.

"I wear it with this." Abby said as she retrieved an argyle sweater in the same color scheme, where the diamonds on the pattern intersected were embroidered skulls.

"Rock on!" Shannon said as she eyed herself in the mirror fifteen minutes later.

"It suits you." Abby said as she handed Shannon a pair of platform boots.

"Now that I'm dressed...we have work to do." Shannon said as she looked at Abby and snapped her fingers.

Abby glanced around. She was suddenly very warm, and the air was muggy. She was in the living room at her parents' house in Louisiana. Abby glanced around. There was a four-year old girl laying by the fireplace, a slightly older boy with the same dark hair was curled up on the opposite side of the fireplace, they were both sound asleep hoping to catch Santa.

"Hey that's me and Derrick!" Abby said loudly.

"It is." Shannon said quietly as a young man and woman entered the living room loaded down with stacks of presents.

"Mom and dad!" Abby yelled happily.

"They can't see or hear you." Shannon explained.

"Duh." Abby said as she looked at Shannon...she knew how this ghost and time-travel stuff worked.

"They sign?" Shannon said in delight as she watched Eric and Gloria Sciuto arrange presents under the Christmas Tree, communicating silently in their own way.

"Yep...they're both profoundly deaf." Abby said with a smile. She had loved helping her parents when she was growing up.

Shannon looked at Abby and signed "Really? From birth?"

Abby nodded and signed back: "Mom yes, Dad had a fever when he was six, and his hearing was destroyed." Abby explained.

"And you?" Abby signed again.

"I was a speech therapist...that's how Jethro knows." Shannon signed back.

"It makes sense now!" Abby signed back. She had just assumed that Gibbs had learned sign language when he was a Marine.

"He taught his entire unit...it saved their lives more than once." Shannon signed back as she smiled and snapped her fingers.

"Why do we have to be here?" Abby whined. A fifteen-year old Abby was sitting in the pew of a church, her head bowed in prayer.

"Without pain, you will never appreciate joy." Shannon said softly as they stood in the back of the church.

"This was the hardest Christmas Eve of my entire life." Abby said as tears stung her eyes.

Abby watched slowly as she and her parents processed out of the church, all dressed in black. They stood in a small huddle on the stone steps of the church as mourners passed by hugging her and her parents.

"Derrick." Abby whispered softly as if it would bring her brother back.

"It was a stupid way to die!" Abby said as she stomped her foot, still frustrated all these years later.

"He should have never been out in the bayous by himself! All for some stupid Frat prank...I still can't figure it out...what was he thinking? What was he trying to prove?" Abby said as tears fell down her cheeks.

Shannon knew that this situation was going to get worse before it got better. She snapped her fingers yet again.

Abby recognized the gazebo instantly. It was the first Christmas after she had met Timothy McGee. They were in a small park in Georgetown, and they had just exchanged gifts.

"It's beautiful, but I can't accept it." Abby said as she shoved the black velvet box back into Tim's hands, and exited the gazebo before Tim could see the tears fall from her eyes. She wanted it so bad. To be with him, and love him completely, but that was against the rules, and Abby loved Gibbs too much to ever be disloyal to him, or his rules. Tim had been too stunned to run after her. He walked the full twenty-seven blocks home that night, stopping once to hand the discarded gift to a homeless woman.

"Take care of yourself with this." McGee had whispered, knowing that if the woman took the antique cross to a pawnshop she'd be able to feed herself for a few days and get some decent shoes.

"Thanks." The woman had grumbled as she stuffed her shoes with newspaper.

"What's this all about?" Abby asked as she stood next to Shannon in the empty gazebo.

"Torture? Because we're in America, and torture is illegal." Abby said dryly.

"Abby, this isn't torture...think of it as a Heaven-sent headslap." Shannon explained with a quick smile.

"A wake up call?" Abby asked as she looked at Shannon in surprise.

"Yep." Shannon quipped.

"I think you've seen enough though. You're a quick learner. I'm the first, but I won't be the last. Expect two more visits." Shannon said as she snapped her fingers and returned them to Abby's bedroom.

"Shannon...it was really nice to meet you." Abby said with a smile as she climbed back into her coffin, and drifted off, not sure of when she'd wake up next.

"It was nice to meet you too Abby...thanks for the clothes, and the dog collar!" Shannon said as she snapped her fingers and headed off to Ducky's house.

Abby woke up again to the sound of chimes. She opened her eyes and grinned widely.

"Hey Paula!" Abby said cheerfully as she sat up and greeted the woman.

"Abby...I should have known you'd actually be happy to see me." Paula teased.

"Sure am!" Abby said as she climbed out of her coffin.

"DiNozzo wasn't kidding...you really sleep in a coffin..." Paula said awestruck.

"Made it myself." Abby explained.

"So, what are you here to show me?" Abby asked.

"The present, the here and now." Paula said as she snapped her fingers.

Abby and Paula were in a bustling shopping center, and Abby had just left the electronics store empty handed. She had wanted to buy it, but she had talked herself out of the purchase, it was too expensive, too over-the-top and too intimate, she didn't want McGee to know she still hung onto every word. The wine rack that chilled six bottles in fourteen minutes. He had mentioned it once in passing at lunch, and Abby had been waiting to surprise him, but now it didn't seem right.

Abby's heart sank as she looked at Paula.

"You're lonely, he's lonely, why can't you two just admit it? Paula asked.

"I don't know." Abby said honestly as Paula snapped her fingers.

Abby observed as McGee stood there in the lab, watching her turn the machines off. Now that she was actually paying attention she could tell there was something he wasn't saying. Abby had a sinking feeling that she knew exactly what he hadn't said. It was the same invitation she hadn't extended.

Paula snapped her fingers again and they were in Abby's kitchen, it was Christmas morning and as usual Abby was making breakfast for one.

"I don't miss those days." Paula sighed, as they watched Abby sit down at an empty table and eat her waffle.

Abby finished her waffle, and glanced at her phone. She did exactly what she had done every Christmas morning for the past eight years. She dialed the phone number and hit send, but hung up before it could ring.

"I don't know what to say...where to even start." Abby said as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Hello...I love you would be a good start. They would love to hear from you." Paula said knowingly.

"Yeah...but it would be so awkward...using the translator service and all. Maybe I should text them. If only I knew their cell numbers." Abby said thoughtfully.

"You could always start with a card or something. Let them contact you after that, but I must say the ball is in your court." Paula added.

"I know." Abby said with a sigh. Gibbs reminded her of that all the time.

"I'm going to head off now." Paula said as she turned and disappeared from Abby's sight.

Paula's words haunted Abby. She knew that it was the righ thing to do, but it was so hard to actually do it. Abby crawled to her coffin-bed and waited for the final visitor, hoping that she'd figure out how to talk to her parents...eventually.

Abby tossed and turned, waiting for her third visitor. At the sound of the first chime Abby's eyes flew open in anticipation. Ghosts were so much fun!

"Kate!" Abby screamed as she jumped up, bruising her shin in the process and running over to her best friend. Abby attempted to hug Kate, but she slid right through her.

"Sorry about that." Kate said sheepishly as Abby collided with her dresser.

"Never apologize." Abby grumbled as she rubbed her shin.

"I know." Kate said quickly as she looked around.

"Some things never change." Kate mused. Abby's apartment was the same as it had always been.

"So how's it going?" Abby asked her best friend, as if a casual conversation were the most natural thing in the world.

"Not bad. I'm meeting some pretty cool people." Kate said as she looked at Abby.

"Yeah...Shannon seems pretty cool, no wonder why Gibbs was never the same without her." Abby said as she stood and stared at Kate, it was so good to see her again.

"She's awesome! She's helped me learn my way around up there...they're pretty big on hierarchy. Kelly is amazing too...she is a mini Jethro." Kate said with a smile.

"So, let me guess, your task is the future." Abby said as she reached for her robe.

"It is." Kate said as she smiled and snapped her fingers.

"Wow...I always forget how magnificent it is." Abby said as she and Kate stood in the front hall of Ducky's house.

"It's lovely." Kate said as she admired the beautiful home.

Kate led Abby into the Parlor. Abby stood in the corner as she observed Tim McGee excitedly holding the hand of a blond woman, they were standing next to the fire, and McGee's other hand rested on the woman's large stomach.

"No...no...he can't...she's a preppie!" Abby spit the last word as if it were a vulgarity.

"Abby...he's going to give up soon. He can't do this much longer, it 's killing him inside. If you don't do something...he will. She's not all beauty either, she's got brains. She works at NASA. She speaks Klingon. She writes fantasy stories on the weekends, she's got a wild side, and she can cook." Kate said.

Abby shuddered at the thought. This woman, this preppie imposter was McGee's perfect woman, which made no sense, because although Abby was far from perfect, she was meant to be with Tim, of that much she was sure.

"Enough!" Abby yelled as she stomped on the hardwood floor. She couldn't bear to watch McGee with little miss perfect.

"Fine." Kate said as she snapped her fingers and they appeared back in Abby's room.

"Kate...thank-you." Abby said as they stood in her room.

"You're welcome...we all need a wake-up call." Kate said as she began to slowly vaporize.

"Kate! Don't go!" Abby yelled, hoping she could cling to her best friend, but she knew better than that.

"I don't want to...I have to." Kate said slowly as she finally drifted off.

Abby went back to her coffin. It was only three a.m. and Abby slumbered peacefully for the first time in weeks.

Next up: Ducky!!!