The sound of laughter filled the room, as Gibbs looked around and realised for the first time in years he was actually enjoying a Christmas party. It had been Abby's idea of course, the bubbly Goth had decided that since most of the group had separate plans for Christmas day then they were going to have pre Christmas drinks, and then bullied Gibbs, his team, Ducky and the Director to attend. So determined not to disappoint the one person in the building who actually seemed to enjoy the holidays the entire guest list had shown up with very little in the way of grumbling beforehand.

Jethro looked around the room, Tony was currently winding up McGee, something about mistletoe, and how it was a shame that McGee could only use that once a year to convince girls to kiss him, it looked like he had finally given up on flirting with Ziva, her quick comebacks had obviously been to much for him, although he kept shooting glances in her direction. Ziva was trapped in a conversation with Ducky who was in fine form this evening and was currently caught up telling Ziva all about the symbolism of the holidays, still thought Gibbs it was better that than rule 12 getting shot to hell. And Jenny was currently saying her goodbyes to Abby, insisting she had to get back to the office and get some paperwork done, she had given her detail the night off and had brought her own car, having not driven for a while she wanted away while the roads were relatively quiet.

He watched as she made her way over to him, green eyes glittering, drawing him in.

'Leaving so quickly Jen'

'Someone has to clear up your mess'

'That journalist was far to nosy for his own good'

'Well now I get to spend Christmas Eve convincing that paper not to bad mouth us, and calming down Sec-Nav'

'Well you took the job'

He smirked at her, she glared back at him infuriated that he could wind her up with only a few sentences. She shook her head slightly, then suddenly realising how close they were took a hurried step back, her heel catching on the edge of the rug, Jethro stepped forward and wrapped his arms round her waist to steady her.

'MISTLETOE'

The couple both turned to see who had uttered the exhilarated cry, and saw Tony standing grinning from ear to ear as he gestured above their heads, where sure enough a sprig of mistletoe was hanging from the ceiling.

Tony was practically bouncing, thinking of the money he could end up collecting from this as he informed the couple:

'Got to kiss her boss, no choice it's tradition, or Director you can kiss him, take charge, I don't mind which'

Gibbs silenced Tony's rambling with a glare, and quickly glanced around the room, finding all it's occupants were now standing watching them with interest. He turned his attention back to Jenny who was actually blushing slightly, her bottom lip caught between her teeth, she looked sweet, and innocent, and if they weren't surrounded by people he would definitely be taking advantage of this situation. Then as quick as lightning Jenny leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

'That's cheating' cried Tony, voice filled with anguish, yet another glare silenced him, as everyone turned back to what they had been doing. Jenny brushed a loose curl away from her face, and smiled softly at him.

'I had better go, it's already 6, don't want to be working all night, Merry Christmas Jethro'

'Merry Christmas Jen, and next time I piss off the press, I'll time it better'

'So thoughtful'

With that she turned and left the room, Jethro watching the enticing sway of her hips as she went.

Another hour passed and Abby had decided that they were all going to the park, since the ground was covered with a thick layer of snow and it was only three blocks away, so warmly wrapped up the group headed out. They were only a block away when they saw the lights from emergency vehicles surrounding a burnt out shell of a car and a mangled black car, the make of which was now unrecognisable. The group approached the officer who was currently closing off the scene. It was Ducky who spoke first:

'Do you need any help, I'm a doctor'

The man looked up:

'We might, drunk driver ran a red light and ploughed into the black car, he was going at least 70, he managed to crawl out before his car went up, he's fine, shocked and incoherent but that seems to mainly be the drink'

'The other driver?'

'Female late thirties to early forties took the impact of the crash, there cutting her out now, but I've seen enough of these things to know it's not looking too promising. Talk to the paramedics, the rest of you have to stay behind the yellow line though'

Jethro watched as Ducky headed towards the wreckage, he had a bad feeling that he couldn't shake off, he saw Ducky look into the car and almost reel backwards, he said something to the paramedics and then turned back toward the group looking as though he had aged 10 years in the last few minutes.

As he reached them, they could see the pallor of his skin and the thin sheen of sweat on his brow. He focussed on Jethro as he broke the devastating news to the group

'The other driver, it's Jennifer'

Jethro felt his world collapse around him, the buzzing in his ears drowned out the gasps of horror from the others. Refusing to believe even his oldest friend, he shoved past the police line and ran up to the car. Jenny sat in the driver's seat, her neck encased in a brace, her face white making the blood that was trickling down it stand out even more in comparison, her eyes were tightly shut, he touched her hand, it was ice cold, but he could feel the faint pulse beneath his fingertips. Jethro felt someone pull him away, telling him he needed to let the emergency services through.

Everything after that passed in a blur, he found himself sitting in the waiting room in Bethesda praying to God they would hurry up and let him see her, she had been driving because of him and the guilt was eating away at him. He looked up as the door opened and the doctor stepped into the room and surveyed the obviously distressed group.

'I am very sorry, we did all we could but Miss Sheppard's injuries were too severe, and she passed away a few moments ago'

Jethro heard Abby's wail, Ziva's sobs and Tony and McGee's shocked gasps, he felt Ducky's arm around his shoulder and he was aware of the tears that fell freely from his own eyes, but all he could focus on was the sharp, agonising pain that was ripping through him, she was gone, his Jenny was gone.

Jethro woke with a start, and drenched in sweat. He looked at his alarm, it was 1am Christmas Eve, it had been a nightmare, just a nightmare he muttered.

'Anyone ever tell you nightmare's can become a reality'

His head jerked up and he let out a shocked cry as he saw the ghost of Kate Todd sitting calmly on his dresser.