Author's Note: I don't own any of the characters! Thank you all for the kind reviews! I love feedback! Writing about Ducky's past, was fun but challenging, because so little is known about his past, I remember him once saying that his father was cheap, and that was a very Scrooge-like place to start! Please enjoy!

"Goodnight Contessa, Tyson, mother sends her love." Ducky said as he smiled at the Welsh Corgis sitting on the sofa in the parlor. It was Christmas Eve, and Ducky was having the entire team over for Christmas the next day, so he wanted to get his rest.

Much to Ducky's delight the doctor at the nursing home where his mother lived was allowing her to visit for Christmas dinner the next day, and Ducky knew the team would be thrilled to see her. Ducky crawled into bed and switched off the bedside lamp and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

The sound of chimes woke Ducky, which seemed odd. Over the years he had grown accustomed to the sound of the grandfather clock chiming away the hours, and he always slept through it. Ducky pulled back the covers slightly, his throat was a bit dry, and if he was up he might as well get some water. Ducky put his feet on the floor and shuffled towards the bedroom door. He stopped and stared when he saw an red-headed woman standing in the doorway, she was wearing a an argyle sweater with skulls embroidered on it and a pink and black plaid skirt. Platform heels and a dog collar accessorized the look. Ducky was startled for a moment but then the woman spoke.

"Hello Doctor Mallard." The woman said in a soft, kind voice.

"May I help you?" Ducky asked as his eyes grew wide, certain that he was dreaming.

"Oh no...I am here to help you." The woman replied.

"Pardon?" Ducky said, now slightly fearful that someone had broken into his house.

"How so?" Ducky asked quietly, hoping he could stall for time and figure out a way to get this woman out of his house, she was obviously a crazy person, probably on drugs and looking for money to steal.

"I'm not on drugs." The woman said quietly, as if she could read Ducky's mind.

"How does she know what I'm thinking? I must find a way to contact Jethro, he will help me." Ducky thought to himself.

"Ducky, you mustn't worry Jethro, it is Christmas Eve after all, one of the few days he actually stops working." The woman explained.

"Who are you?!" Ducky demanded with a ferocity that surprised him.

"I am Shannon." The woman said with a smile, knowing that it would shock Ducky.

"Shannon?" Ducky asked as he stared at the red-head. That's when he realized the woman standing in front of him seemed oddly familiar...she was the smiling face in a photo frame on Jethro's mantle.

"Abby said the same thing." Shannon said with a grin.

"If you're Shannon...Jethro's Shannon...then...I...I'm...oh dear...I'm dead." Ducky muttered under his breath.

"Relax Ducky, you're not dead, and neither is Abby." Shannon explained quickly.

"Oh...what a relief!" Ducky exclaimed.

"I am here to help you...to take you on a journey of Christmases past." Shannon explained.

"I can see Abigail dressed you." Ducky said with a chuckle.

"She did." Shannon said as she motioned for Ducky to follow her.

"Is this...decent?" Ducky asked as he looked down at his pajamas, it was unusual for him to leave the house without a bowtie.

"It will do." Shannon said as she snapped her fingers.

Ducky looked around at his new surroundings. A radio was playing in one corner, and a small boy with blond hair was laying on a hardwood floor, playing with a train set.

"Mother! Father! Thank-you so much!" The little boy said with a grin as he made the engine whistle.

"You're welcome Donald!" A young Mrs. Mallard exclaimed from the chair she was sitting in.

"Victoria! You've done it again! Spoiling a boy who has no right to be spoiled! Why must you spend money on such things?" Mr. Mallard hissed as he smoked a pipe.

"Christmas comes but once a year Reginald....and besides next year we may not be able to..." Mrs. Mallard stopped short, she didn't want to talk about such things in front of her son and scare him.

"I knew what she was going to say...she never had to finish that sentence." Ducky said softly.

"The war was coming and we all knew it. She was right too, the next year we had nothing, not even butter for dinner." Ducky said as he watched the Christmas scene from his childhood play out.

"That must have been hard." Shannon said with an understanding expression.

"It was, and even as a child I knew, I knew how different we were, far better off than other families. Rationing and price-gouging made everybody suffer. As a boy I spent hours trying to figure it out. If my rich family couldn't afford butter or meat then how did the poor families even survive?" Ducky explained.

"And how did they?" Shannon asked curiously.

"They do what all people do...they make the best of a bad situation, if you can't thrive then you must survive." Ducky explained.

"Let's move on." Shannon said as she snapped her fingers.

Ducky opened his eyes and recognized his surroundings. He would never forget the cramped, drafty room. A young man of about twenty-five, Ducky was sitting on the bed in his dormitory at medical school.

"Are you sure?" His roommate asked one more time.

"Thank you, but I've made arrangements with my cousin Margaret." Ducky lied. He didn't want anybody to know his dirty little secret, not even his best friend.

"If you change your mind...I'm only one train ride away." Ducky's roommate picked up his bags and headed out.

Ducky closed the door and let out a heavy sigh. He would be spending Christmas alone, he didn't have a cousin Margaret. His parents had just divorced and his mother was in Kenya on Safari with her newest boyfriend, and Ducky had been loath to join them. He had all but disowned his father after the divorce.

"Merry Christmas." The younger Ducky muttered in the empty room.

"It was awful, I should have just gone to Liverpool with Peter. His family was always so welcoming." Ducky explained.

Shannon just looked at Ducky sympathetically and snapped her fingers again. They were standing in his autopsy lab, and Ducky realized that it was earlier in the week. Jordan Hamilton made her way through the double doors and glanced around to make sure Jimmy Palmer or Gibbs wasn't nearby.

"Hello Donny." Jordan said as she made her way over to Ducky's desk, as he finished up some paper work.

Ducky smiled as he spun in his chair. Jordan was wonderful, she was intelligent, pretty, and she was the only person in the world who could call him Donny and get away with it.

"Hey Jordy." Ducky said with a smile, using his pet nickname for her.

"Friends of mine are having a big party on Christmas Eve." Jordan said with a smile as she perched on the edge of Ducky's desk.

"Excellent." Ducky said with a grin.

"Are you busy?" Jordan asked.

"Nope just finishing some paperwork." Ducky said with a smile.

Jordan frowned slightly, he hadn't taken the hint.

"Busy on Christmas Eve?" Jordan pressed.

"Work, then time with mother, then an early evening so I am well rested for the festivities on Christmas Day." Ducky explained as he signed a report.

Jordan frowned again. He still didn't get it. So she did what every woman must do now and again. She stared at him, hoping the glare would bring him to his senses soon enough.

"Jordan...thank-you, it is very kind, but now is just not the right time, besides we'll see each other for dinner on Christmas Day." Ducky explained.

Jordan stood up and headed towards the exit.

"Don't go dear...I haven't even started the kettle for tea." Ducky pleaded.

"Donald....I know we're both busy, and we're professionals, and that this can and will get complicated, not that it isn't already, but Easter wasn't the right time, Thanksgiving wasn't the right time, my wine and cheese party wasn't the right time. According to you there never will be a right time." Jordan said as she stormed out of the lab, her heels clicking on the tiles as she walked away.

Ducky hung his head and looked at Shannon.

"She hates me, doesn't she?" Ducky said shamefully.

"Quite the opposite." Shannon said as she waved.

"What? Where are you going?" Ducky asked as Shannon began to float away.

"It's time to move on." Shannon said as she floated off.

"Lovely to have met you!" Ducky shouted as Shannon disappeared.

"Likewise." A familiar voice chirped from behind Ducky. He spun around to see Paula Cassidy standing behind him.

"Paula! I haven't seen you since..." Ducky stopped short, it seemed a bit callous.

"My autopsy...yeah I know." Paula said dryly.

"Well then, if you're the one to bring it up, it will save me the embarrassment." Ducky said with a laugh.

"We have work to do." Paula said, getting right to the point. She snapped her fingers, and Ducky and she were standing in the huge kitchen of a house he didn't recognize. All of the appliances were stainless steel, and the kitchen looked like something from a magazine.

"You don't have to do that!" A female voice scolded.

"I don't mind one bit, besides all of this took hours, and you must be exhausted." Jordan Hamilton said knowingly as she helped her friend clean up from her Christmas Eve party, the last guest had just left a few minutes ago.

"You work so often Jordan, why don't you enjoy your one night off?" A blond woman said with exasperation as Jordan continued scraping dishes and placing them in the dishwasher.

"I need to keep busy." Jordan said blithely.

"Trouble in paradise?" The blond asked.

"Something like that." Jordan said as she pretended to concentrate on the dishes.

"It's not so hard is it? I mean, why is it so much trouble for men to just do something simple? I'm not asking for a hard-core commitment, I just wanted him to be here tonight." Jordan said as she fought back tears.

"Honey!" The blond said in a sweet voice as she ran across the kitchen to hug Jordan.

"At my age I'm sick of spending Christmas Eve alone. I never thought I'd admit this, but even though tonight was fun I spent all evening feeling so alone...in a crowded house. If that's not pathetic I don't know what is. The worst part of it is that I know he's at home probably reading one of the great literary classics, sipping scotch and looking at his dogs." Jordan heaved a sigh as she said it.

"I don't need commitment...honest...I just need..." Jordan stopped short as the tears began to fall freely.

"Companionship?" Her friend offered.

"Yes." Jordan said definitively.

"Maybe things will change." Jordan's friend said hopefully.

Ducky stood there watching the scene, and he was close to crying.

"You know...things can change Ducky, if you let them." Paula said as she began to disappear.

"How! Please tell me how!" Ducky said as he watched Paula leave him.

"She can't show you...but I can." Another female voice that sounded oddly familiar explained.

Ducky whirled around, a smile on his face, knowing that voice anywhere.

"Hello my lovely Caitlin!" Ducky said as he attempted to embrace the woman before him.

"Not going to work." Kate said with a grin as Ducky stumbled right through her image.

"I should have known." Ducky said as he regained his balance.

"Ducky...the last time we saw eachother, well, I guess all I really can say is thanks for being so thorough, and keeping me covered." Kate said with a laugh.

"I know you too well. You like your modesty." Ducky said knowingly.

"Well, it was appreciated." Kate added.

"Let's go!" Kate said happily as she snapped her fingers.

They were standing in Jordan's lab, somewhere in the future.

"I leave in three weeks." Jordan said as she closed a cooler door.

"Jordan, don't do this. It could be different, we could be different." Ducky said sadly.

"I've made up my mind, besides I've already signed my contract." Jordan explained.

"No politics, no heavy workload, just me, a cart of supplies and a rural Indian village to help care for." Jordan said as she turned to look at Ducky.

"What about us?" Ducky pleaded.

"Us? I didn't realize that dinner once a week, and you rattling off useless facts constantly instead of saying anything meaningful constituted an us." Jordan said angrily as she slammed a clipboard on her desk.

"Jordan...I'm sorry. I can change." Ducky pleaded again.

"At your age I highly doubt that. This is good-bye Doctor Mallard." Jordan said as she took a deep breath, and refused to cry.

Ducky stood there frozen, she had used his full name which was never a good sign.

"Leave, now. Before I have to call security." Jordan said as she pointed towards the exit.

Ducky turned and looked at Kate.

"What do I do?" Ducky asked.

"That is up to you. This is a glimpse." Kate explained as she snapped her fingers and they returned to Ducky's room.

"A glimpse?" Ducky repeated.

"Yes, a glimpse of what could be. Not necessarily what will be. You can change this, if you try, but I wouldn't waste much time." Kate said as she began to disappear.

"Kate...thank you!" Ducky shouted as Kate floated off.

"Anything for a friend." Kate said as she made her way off into the night.

Up Next: Tony!