NCIS Season 23 Episode 9 (mid-season finale) was titled 'Heaven and Nature' and aired on CBS on December 16. The official synopsis for the episode reads as follows:“McGee and Torres try to recover a stolen truck filled with toys for the Navy’s annual Christmas drive while the truth about Parker’s mother is finally revealed.''While McGee and Torres basked in some Christmas cheer, Parker was still embroiled in the mystery of his mother, Eleanor Parker's, death. He was having constant dreams about a little girl who looked very familiar, but he couldn't recognize her. Things came to a heated conclusion when he saw the little girl in an article about his mother's death and finally exhumed her remains from her casket.Here is the complete NCIS Season 23 Episode 9 recap.NCIS Season 23 Episode 9 recap: Parker finally lays his mother to rest View this post on Instagram Instagram PostThe fall finale of NCIS Season 23 finally gave Parker some much-needed closure about his mother's death. While the little girl from his dreams was keeping him up at night, he made a shocking discovery when the team exhumed his mother's remains. As it turns out, the woman in Eleanor Parker's casket was not Parker's mother but a murder victim, as Jimmy had concluded. Parker had the mammoth task of finding his mother's remains and solving the murder mystery of this unidentified woman.While Jimmy assisted with facial reconstruction on the unidentified woman, Parker and the team tracked down the state trooper, Lester Burm, who was assigned to the case. While Lester was old and did not remember the case at all, he remembered a little girl from the crime scene, who Parker thought could be the one from his dreams. However, when Jimmy presented the team with the facial reconstruction results in NCIS Season 23 Episode 9, Knight realized it was quite similar to the woman in one of the photos at Lester's house. It turns out that the woman was actually Lester's first wife, Judy Burm, who also had a daughter named Lily. Lester revealed how his wife left him with his daughter because of his job and changed her name to Nelly.Lily brought back memories for Parker and he remembered that she was her childhood friend. While Judy took piano lessons from Eleanor, Lily and Parker used to play together and she once confessed that her father is abusive towards her mother. Now that Parker had a strong lead, he found Lily, who now goes by the name of Penelope Johnson, who told him the complete story about his mother's death. Lily revealed how Eleanor was helping Judy and her escape from Lester one day but he drove them off the road and killed Judy.With Judy gone, Eleanor protected Lily and took her to Toledo to live with her cousin. However, Lester found them in a motel and dragged Eleanor away, while Lily hid behind some furniture. While Lily did not see Lester kill Eleanor, she remembered a nearby lake to the motel. The NCIS Season 23 fall finale also revealed that Eleanor never abandoned Parker or her family. She was just trying to save Lily and always planned to go home to her little boy before she was killed by Lester.In the final moments of the episode, Parker went to Director Vance and they finally discovered Eleanor's car and remains from the lake. While Parker's sister could not attend the funeral, he and his team had a beautiful ceremony and honoured Eleanor's courage and finally put her to rest. Lester Burm was put behind bars for his crimes.NCIS Season 23 Episode 9 recap: Torres and McGee saved Christmas and Knight got her first Elite mission View this post on Instagram Instagram PostWhile the NCIS team was busy solving the mystery around Parker's mother's death, Torres and McGee took it upon themselves to buy Christmas presents for kids in need. The list of toys was extensive, with one particular new toy in demand, which ended up on both of their shopping lists. However, the truck with Christmas toys was stolen at the last minute by some bad guys who were looking for military swag. This gave Torres the perfect opportunity to dress up as Santa. He teamed up with McGee to get the stolen toys and they saved Christmas in NCIS Season 23 Episode 9.The final moments in NCIS Season 23 Episode 9 saw Knight receive her first Elite mission, which was to locate former NCIS Special Agent Eleanor Bishop (played by ex-cast member Emily Wickersham), who went undercover in Season 18 and had possibly gone rogue. Knight was naturally surprised by her first assignment and immediately thought about Torres, who shared history with Bishop. Now that the stage for Bishop's backstory is set, the mid-season premiere of Season 23 will pick up pace with Knight's first mission.NCIS Season 23 Episode 9 is streaming on Paramount+.For the latest scoops on your favorite TV shows and movies, follow SoapCentral.