Abby stood in her basement lab waiting for the mass-spec results to come back. She tried to type something on her computer, but promptly stopped because her hands were shaking violently from too much caffeine.
"There's nothing else that you can do tonight, got to sleep and fix it tomorrow," Kate's voice cut the silence.
"Hey," Abby said. "What are you doing here?"
"Just checking up on you, making sure you haven't died from caffeine overdose yet. You do realize that you're shaking, right?"
"I'm sorry; I just haven't found anything yet."
"Which is a great reason for you to start over tomorrow. You have to leave for the first time in what, four days?"
"Five," Abby replied automatically. She hated herself when she got like this, but she was terrified of letting her team down. She continued alternatively typing and checking her equipment.
"Abby!"
"What? She snapped.
"Leave now." Kate ordered. Abby stayed where she was, not even bothering to look up.
"Why?"
"Gibbs wants you to leave."
"I don't care. The faster I process this shit, the less likely he will be to chew my head off." Kate just laughed.
"Abby please, it's late. Or rather, early. I want you to leave.
"Just leave me alone, Kate. Go home, get laid, drink yourself into a coma. Go do whatever it is that you do."
"Jesus Abby, you're going to hurt yourself."
"Why do you care?"
"I don't know, I just want you to be okay."
"Leave me the fuck alone Kate!" Abby suddenly exploded.
"You are alone."
"What?" Abby croaked.
"I died two years ago, Abby. Ari shot me. Don't you remember?"
"No!" suddenly Abby was pacing around the lab, trying to work things out in her head. "You're right there! You're talking to me right now. I can hear you!
"No I'm not, Abby. Listen to me. You're hallucinating." Abby slammed her fist into the wall, and came away with her knuckles bleeding. "Fuck!" she screamed. She staggered back to her desk, reaching for the bottle of painkillers she had stolen from the hospital a month ago. She downed a handful with the rest of her Caf! Pow. Without thinking, her hand came to rest on the syringe she kept in her drawer. The only way to get Kate to leave her alone. She filled the barrel with a packet, and slid the cool metal into her arm. She pushed the seventy percent pure heroin into her veins, quickly feeling it erase the world. The pounding in her head faded for a moment before coming back full force.
"Abby, Stop." Kate demanded from behind her.
"Shut up!" Abby screamed. She slid to the floor, yelling at the empty lab. Her mass spec beeped, signaling that the tests were done. For the first time in her life, she really didn't care. She could almost feel the drug fading away already, so she pulled herself back to the desk and refilled the syringe with twice as much as last time. The needle was once again pressed into her arm. This time, as she toppled to the floor, everything went black. Before she lapsed into complete unconsciousness, she realized that Kate had finally shut up.
Twenty minutes later Gibbs walked into the lab. "Abby! I called three times! Where the hell are you? His eyes scanned the lab, finally resting on the unconscious pile of black cloth and chains. "Oh shit!" he yelled at the empty lab. He ran over to Abby's limp form, checking her pulse. Not finding one. He shook her, trying to get her to miraculously wake up. The girl that had basically become his closest connection to being human in the last few years, and she no longer existed. He had always known that she was very self destructive, but he usually tried to ignore it. He couldn't let himself believe that she overdosed. He pulled out his cell phone, and shakily called Ducky. Her autopsy would be performed in the morning, just one floor below her lab.
"It's okay Gibbs. There was nothing you could have done." Gibbs spun around and found himself staring at his former agent Kate Todd.