Girl Talk

Summary: Part of the 'Future Perfect' Universe. Abby and her daughter have a little chat about Rule #12.

Disclaimer: Katie and Leigh are mine; the rest belong to other people.

A/N: This is set in the 'Future Perfect' Universe, which features Caitlyn and Leigh, the twin daughters of Tim and Abby.

Abby glanced briefly at the display on her phone and flipped it open with a smile.

'Hi, Katie. How was your day?'

'It was fine, Mama. You?'

'Overworked, as always. Are you sure you don't want to switch to forensics? Come help me out for a while? Tony brought in another briefcase that had been blown up, and you know how much I hate jigsaw puzzles...'

Katie chuckled.

'I think I'll stick to systems design, Mama.'

'Ok. How's it going, anyway?'

'It's fine.'

'You don't sound very sure about that.'

'I'm just getting tired of working with stubborn Marines.'

'Don't let Gibbs catch you saying that!'

'I'm not that stupid, Mama!'

'So what happened today?'

'What makes you think...'

'I'm not stupid, either, Katie. I can hear that something is wrong. What. Happened.'

'Well... Captain Thomas asked me out...'

'Finally!'

'Mama!'

'What? He sounds like a nice boy. You should go...'

'Rule number twelve, remember?'

'You may have noticed that your father and I pretty much ignore that one...'

'Yeah, well, I told him that I don't date co-workers...'

'And what did he say about that?'

'He said we'd only be working together for another few weeks, and that he was willing to wait...'

Abby burst out laughing, amused by her daughter's consternation.

'Mama! It's not funny! He's a Marine! You can't seriously think I'd want to date...'

'A nice young man who's smart enough to talk to you about systems design and wears a hot uniform?'

'Mama!'

Abby grinned, imagining Katie's horrified expression, and wondering how she'd react to a comment about the benefits of a Marine's stamina.