Seeing yet another pretty woman on the arm of the Team Leader, and knowing who she was, put a huge smile on the M.E.'s face.
But even Ducky's smile paled in comparison to the one that lit Tim's face.

"Sarah?" Tim asked incredulously

"Merry Christmas, big brother!" Sarah cried as she rushed to him, unwilling to wait to see if he'd accept her need for his hug and forgiveness.

"Merry Christmas, Sis." He choked out as he wrapped her in the tightest embrace he'd ever given her in his life. "Merry Christmas, Sarah." He whispered into her ear, his eyes once again bright with unshed tears. His eyes slid to those of his boss and he silently but genuinely issued a most heart-felt 'thank you' to the man who continued to go above and beyond the call of duty to help Tim and his family recover from this nightmare.

Gibbs nodded at his agent and smiled and then slipped out into the living room to find the missing person in this reunion. Finding Mrs. McGee standing at the porch doors looking out, he walked up to her. "Something wrong?"

"Just wishing Sarah was here. Now that it's just the three of us since…. Well, it's just harder this year not to have both of them home together for the holidays." She admitted. "I heard what Tim was worried about Agent Gibbs. Thank you for taking that guilt off his shoulders. I know that had to be really hard for you, especially today." She offered as she looked him straight on.

"It's still hard, even after all this time. They all know that and they all respect that. No reason any of them should ever feel guilty for needing to come to me with anything because of it. C'mon. You're needed in the kitchen." He gave her in return. Hiding his smile at what was coming up for her, he thought briefly of what he'd just told Tim's mother.

It was true, he knew that every single one of these people he considered to be his family, were always cautious and respectful of how tough days like this were for him and it was one more reason he loved them all in return. It was also one more reason he'd been as quick as he had been to take any guilt about it that he could off Tim's shoulders. Straightening his spine, he rearranged his thoughts and brought the anticipated joyful reunion take center stage in his mind as he led the way to Ducky's kitchen.

As she followed him into the kitchen, wondering what she could be needed for, she watched as Agent Gibbs stepped to the side suddenly and she found herself face to face with the only remaining wish she had for Christmas this year.

"Sarah McGee! You little sneak! You planned this?" Tim's mother asked with a smile on her face as she rushed to embrace her daughter.

"Sure did! Merry Christmas Mom!" her daughter offered as she met her half-way across the floor and hugged her.

"Oh, Sarah! Merry Christmas, Sweetheart!"

Tim stepped up and embraced the two most important women in his life; his family. "Merry Christmas."

As Gibbs stood silently by in the background shoulder to shoulder with his long-time friend – watching this much needed reunion, he couldn't help but think back to the last 18 hours he'd had that had helped bring this much needed reunion together.

**Flashback**

"Thank you so much for picking me up from the airport, Agent Gibbs. I wanted this to be both Tim's and my mom's Christmas present."

"Understandable." Gibbs offered calmly. "I don't mind. In fact, I'm glad you felt you could come to me, Sarah."

"My brother said if I ever needed help and he wasn't around or available; that I needed to call you. He even made me put your number in my speed dial list."

"Yeah?" Gibbs asked her in surprise.

"Yes." She confirmed it.

"When was this?"

"Right after you handed him back his gun and badge even though he'd lied to you to clear my name."

Gibbs was stunned at the information that he'd been told; Tim had enough faith in him, to trust him with his sister and the team leader was sure that the shock was evident in his eyes. "He did that, huh?"

"He trusts you with his life, Agent Gibbs and from what I've seen, since he's never gotten hurt on the job, that trust is pretty well-founded."

"Not as much as you might think, Sarah. I'm human. There's times I've made mistakes, especially where your brother's concerned."

"He's never said anything about it." She answered in surprise.

"That sounds like McGee."

"Mind if I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Why don't you ever call him by his first name?"

"Hmm. Guess it's because when he first joined my team he looked so baby-faced, I was afraid it would come out 'Timmy' and I knew he'd hate it."

"And now?"

"Habit. One I guess I should try to break."

"I think he'd appreciate it."

"Why? Has he said something about it?"

"Tim? Tim never has anything negative to say about you guys. I swear, if I went by what he had to say about you guys, you'd all be wearing halos."

Gibbs grinned even as he hid his surprise. Well, that kinda made sense. If Tim wanted Sarah to be able to call on them for help in a pinch, he wouldn't have filled her head with the less than stellar stuff they'd said and done to him since he'd been on the team.

"I'll bet he was really mad after I left the other day. I'm sorry. I never meant to cross him like that. I was just trying to help him".

"I'm sure he realizes that now. Now that he's had time to talk to your mother about it."

"Do you know, I still don't' know what 'it' is? Neither of them will tell me. What little I know doesn't add up to that explosion or this rift. I can't believe neither one of them will talk to me about it."

"Comes back to not taking that choice away from them, Sarah."

"I know. I remember what you told me, Agent Gibbs. I guess I should have thanked you for respecting Tim's right to privacy so much."

Gibbs remained silent, giving her time to think and himself a moment to appreciate that she'd taken what he'd told her to heart. Soon they reached Gibbs' house, where he'd offered to put her up in his spare bedroom since all the local hotels were full for the holiday. The silence between them during the remaining ride had settled like a thin blanket, neither feeling the need to break it even now.

When he showed her to his spare bedroom, she felt honored, completely seeing all the signs that a little girl once lived here. "I don't want you to have to do this. I'll call Ziva or Abby." She offered quietly.

"Sarah. I want you to stay. Go on. Settle in. You hungry?" he answered in return.

"No. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'll be down in the basement if you need anything. Just holler, I'll hear you."

"Okay."

The hesitant footsteps on the basement stairs sounded thirty minutes later as Sara McGee wandered down the stairs and sat noiselessly down on the fifth step down, content to watch him work on the toys for the children at the hospital.

"Wow. Tim told me about the boats. He never mentioned intricate toys." she said quietly some ten minutes later.

Gibbs smiled as he worked. When she didn't speak again after a few minutes, he put his sand paper down and turned to look at her. Looking at her as she sat there lost in her thoughts, tears sliding down her face, the parental lion in him silently roared that this young lady was, deep down inside, a little girl who had just lost her father two months ago and obviously in need of someone to lend her their sympathetic ear and show her everything was going to be okay.

"Hey. C'mere." He took her hand and gently pulled her up off the step, and enfolded her into an embrace. "Let it out."

"I miss my daddy so much!" she cried as the sobs shook her shoulders.

"I know, hon. I know." he soothed as he held her through the onslaught.

As her sobs filled the air, Gibbs felt his heart break not only for the grieving young woman before him, but for her equally grieving older brother whom he loved like one of the sons he'd never had the chance to have. Inwardly, he offered up a prayer of thanks that these two kids would have the chance they desperately needed to fix the chink in their relationship that Mr. McGee's death had incidentally caused.

Once Sarah's sobs had quieted down, he ushered her up to his living room and settled her onto the couch and took up the space next to her on it. In a surprising twist, Sarah was very quick to burrow into his shoulder, her returning tears soon soaking his shirt. As he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, he offered her the silence in which to cry it out and the squeeze of his hand on her shoulder in support of her letting go of her overwhelming pain and grief.

When her emotional storm had worked its' way through and gone, her silence began to become worrisome, until he realized, she'd literally cried herself to sleep. Gently, he settled her down on the couch and went to get a pillow and a blanket and did what he could to make sure she was as comfortable as she could be, in hopes she'd be able to sleep okay. Once he'd taken care of Sarah, he returned to his basement and spent most of the night listening for signs of distress while he worked through the night.

The next morning found Sarah awake late and pensive even as she took herself silently to the shower and then to the kitchen for breakfast. As Gibbs watched her take a seat at the table, he gave her the freedom and space to start the conversational ball rolling if she needed to or wanted to, offering only the normal polite inquiries to start with.

"Mornin'. Sleep okay?"

"Mm. Yeah. Thank you. Wow, it's really late! I can't remember the last time I slept till 11 in the morning! I'm sorry for last night."

"No need to apologize. That the first chance you've had to let it out?"

Sarah nodded her head. "I had to be strong for Mom, ya know."

"And Tim?"

"And Tim. When Daddy died Tim came unglued. But it was the silent kind. He wouldn't talk to anyone. The only thing he did was make sure Mom and I weren't alone; always making sure someone we knew and trusted was staying with us. He came back here right after Daddy's funeral. I was so ticked off at him for that. He couldn't even stay one more day. We needed him, but then I remember thinking, 'why? When he won't even talk to us, why do we need him here?"

"Sarah, on this job, we see a lot of terrible things and it tends to change people, seeing the worst in people as often as we do. Your brother knew he'd need to have his head clear in order to come back to work."

"Why couldn't you give him the next day off? I know he had leave saved up, Agent Gibbs. He never takes a day off." She threw at him in a sudden flash of anger. "I remember being so angry at you for not letting him take another day off, and that was not long before I'd even met you when Jeff was murdered.

"If I'd known about your father's death,I would have; would have made sure one of his teammates went with him for moral suport, too." He told her sadly.

Sarah's eyes flew to his in shock. "He didn't tell you that Daddy had just died?"

"No. Sarah, he didn't."

"Oh my God! Did he tell anyone on his team?"

"No. he didn't. Matter of fact, Doctor Mallard was the first person to find out and that was only when your brother chose to tell him just last week. He told me after that. He hasn't talked to the others about it. And that's your brother's choice."

"I don't understand, Agent Gibbs, why wouldn't he tell his friends, his co-workers, you? You're his boss! He's always talking about how much he trusts you, it doesn't make sense that he wouldn't have told you!"

"That's something you'll have to ask Tim. Later when none of the others are around."

Sarah nodded in understanding as she pushed her breakfast around on her plate without even attempting to eat any of it.

Gibbs watched her for a long silent minute before he broke into her thoughts again. "Something wrong with your food?"

"No." she answered softly.

Gibbs sipped his coffee and watched Sarah as she obviously struggled to work through something she obviously didn't know how to put into words. "Doesn't matter how you say it, Sarah, just spit it out." He encouraged.

"Has Tim talked to you about any of this?"

"Whatever he has or hasn't told me is between your brother and I. I won't betray that trust."

"I know. It's just… I overheard…."

"I won't betray yours either. You can talk to me."

"I overheard my parents talking the weekend before Daddy died. Actually, they were arguing. It caught my attention because they almost never argued. Daddy wanted to tell Tim …" she broke off and blinked hard a couple of times as she worked hard to drive her tears back where they'd come from.

Gibbs waited; knowing that eventually his agent's little sister would find a way to voice what she needed to say. While he waited he reached out for the box of tissues on his counter and brought them to the table for her and set them next to her.

Offering him a small smile of thanks, she took a tissue and balled it up, using it to dab at her eyes before she took a deep breath and continued what she needed to say. "Tim doesn't know that I know this, but I know Daddy wasn't his father. I never knew realized that Tim didn't know he wasn't Daddy's son. I mean I heard my parents argue about it but after Daddy died, it was like I completely forgot about what I'd heard that night until Mom told me why she didn't stay mad at my brother for the way he yelled at her the last time they saw each other."

"That must have been hard to hear."

"It was a shock. But, there's a lot I still don't understand. I mean there has to be more to this or Tim wouldn't have been so upset that he wouldn't talk to her for two weeks. Me either. I've never seen him so mad at me as he was that day in your office. And, Mom won't tell me anything more than Tim has a different dad and that it was really hard for my brother to swallow that so soon after Daddy's death. I'm guessing he asked you to call her the other day because he wasn't even sure he wanted to talk to her yet?"

"Sarah. When the time comes that your mother or your brother are ready to talk to you about any of this, they will. You're just gonna have to wait for them to come to you. I know it's gonna be tough. But, the important thing here is that you have both of them and they've fixed what was wrong between them and for you to remember not to push either of them to talk about it."

Sarah nodded in silent understanding. After a minute she admitted he was right. "It is gonna be hard not to push them. I guess it's a good thing school will keep me busy and my mind focused on my studies."

"A good reason for your mother not to tell you any more than she has. Your studies come first."

"Before family?" she asked in shock.

"Before their problems that you can't fix for them." He gently corrected her.

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

"I know I am. Let this go, Sarah. Enjoy them for what you have together now. Help each other grieve for your father. Tim's not gonna be able to stop thinking of him as his own father overnight; probably not for a very long time; if ever. Sometimes, Sarah, blood isn't what counts when it comes to who you love as your parents."

"Adoptions. Right."

"Right. For the sake of your family, let this go. Especially, today. It's Christmas Day. Let's get you to Dr. Mallard'ss so you can celebrate it with your family."

"What about you, Agent Gibbs? Isn't the team your family?"

"Yeah. Yeah, Sarah, they are. C'mon. Let's go."

**End Flashback**

The sudden silence that surrounded him brought Gibbs out of his memories with a bang. Looking around him, he was startled to find that he was alone in the kitchen and all of the dishes of food seemed to have disappeared from the stove and counters. Quickly, he refilled his coffee and took himself to the dining room where he figured everyone had gone. Sure enough, the noise coming from the table where everyone was standing behind one chair or another around the table, was almost deafening and as he quickly looked around Ducky's dining room table, he couldn't help but smile at his family; Tony and Ziva exchanging banter over his incessesant movie trivia; Ducky and Abby lively exchanging information they'd each learned about normally insignificant things over the years, Mrs. McGee and Sarah quietly talking about something; with Tim silently watching everyone in turn, his eyes reflecting his sense of fulfillment; of being where he wanted to be; with the family he shared biological ties with as well as the family was his through the ties forged by trust and integrity, real friendship and honor and reliability; unshakable ties, all of them.

As Gibbs walked to the one chair without someone standing behind it, Ducky broke off his conversation with Abby and greeted him.

"Ah, Jethro! Shall we sit down to dinner?"