He can see it in her face the moment he walks in the door. She wants something. Abby always gets that certain look on her face when she wants him to do something for her, the one she knows he can never say no to. It was how she convinced him to get a tattoo, to go to a goth halloween party with her, to adopt that huge dog that had bitten him.

The way she runs up to him and links her arm through his, the way she looks at him with that smile, and he`s helpless; putty in her hands.

They exchange pleasantries, and she introduces him to her friend.

She segways with "speaking of families..." and McGee can feel it coming.

Sure enough, she tells him what she wants.

"We thought you could help," she finishes, looking hopefully up at him.

He explains why it can`t be done, why getting the Indian Ocean online on Christmas Eve would be nearly impossible, but in his mind, he`s already calculating how it can be done.

He can`t refuse her. He never can. Not when she`s looking at him with those luminous green eyes.

"MeGee`s a miracle worker," Abby explains to her friend. "And if anyone can do this, he can."

So he sighs, and goes away to plan how he can do this task that she`s set out for him. Because she`s Abby, and she`s smiling at him, and he knows he won`t be able to refuse.

-----

It takes a lot of phone calls, a few called in I-owe-you`s, even a bribe or two, but he`s able to get the airtime. The light in the little boy`s eyes as he talks with his mom makes McGee feel warm and fuzzy inside, and he thinks that he likes playing Santa. But it`s the look that Abby is giving him that cements it for him.

"Not bad, huh?" he says to her. "I pulled it off."

And then she grabs his face and pulls him towards her, kissing his cheek.

"You make a great Santa," she tells him, grinning.

"I guess you`ve just got to believe," he says back.

"I do believe," Abby responds, looking at the screen again.

McGee is looking at her. Wishing he could tell her how much he believes in her. And so he wraps his arm around her, and presses a kiss to her cheek.

And she`s glowing in that happy way she has, and his cheek is tingling for her kiss. And he knows that whatever he had to go through, it was worth it, for this.