"Fear is only in our minds

taking over all the time

Fear is only in our minds

but it's taking over all the time"- Sweet Sacrifice, Evanescence

A/N: Welcome to a new NCIS fan fiction of mine, previous readers and newcomers alike! This was something I devised not too long ago, and have just now decided to get down in the computer. This is my first angst story for NCIS, fairly Abby centric. I was inspired by Evanescence's single "Sweet Sacrifice" on the album The Open Door. This is to be a series of stories of hidden secrets in every team member. This is Abby's story.

It was an average Tuesday morning in NCIS. Ziva was running through old cases for the sake of productivity during the slow start of the day. It was currently 0630. She was completely alone. She had only been here for fifteen minutes, but decided to go for a coffee break anyway since she had gotten an early start to the day. Ziva trudged to the coffee machine, hoping Tony hadn't broken the thing again. As she grabbed the pitcher of coffee, a small huddled figure caught her eye. Black and white and shapeless. A penguin? Ziva stared harder. What would a penguin be doing here in Maryland?

A moment later it was gone. She shook her head and decided to skip the caffeinated beverage for now. Perhaps Somalia had left her a little crazy. She winced at the memory and shrugged it off. Now was not the time to think of painful things. Back to the cold cases. The next file she picked up was utterly shocking. A rapist had attacked a young girl over the period of her high school and college years, along with abusing her. NCIS managed to catch him, but he had escaped. Ziva glanced at the name. Avery Solon. Hmm. The case died out just months later due to a lack of evidence and the fact that the witness had refused to testify. She sighed and set aside the file, just as the elevator dinged.

McGee walked in and sat at his desk, looking exhausted. There were bags under his eyes. It was evident he did not sleep much last night. She barely gave him a second glance and started putting away the cold case files. For some reason, she kept the rapist file that had caught her interest. Perhaps it was because the criminal had never been caught. Maybe it was she had one of those gut feelings.

Whatever the case, this moment on an average day was only the beginning of the unveiling of a monster of a dark demon. Ziva defined a dark demon as a horrible piece of your past that you keep tucked away. But this demon relied on silence to remain powerful, dangerous, and terrifying. She headed into Abby's lab in search of some company of the lively kind. As she walked in, her gut feeling suddenly flared up again, much more intense than before. Abby stood there in the doorway and happily greeted her, normal as ever, for her anyway. But her gut feeling was confirmed as she realized the hug was not as hard and forceful as usual.

"Has any precious evidence come in yet?" Abby asked eagerly. "I hope its mold. I love mold! Its so fascinating, don't you know? If only I could live in a warehouse of all the different kinds of molds and just, analyze them all day long, I would be the happiest-"

"Abby," Ziva cautioned. "Breathe," She stopped and sucked air into her lungs.

"Right. As I was saying, is there any new evidence?" Green irises stared into her face, brimming with excitement and hope, completely naïve and childlike. Perhaps she was wrong about what she had sensed earlier? Nothing could be wrong here.

"Sorry, Abby. Nothing has come in yet," Ziva said. "It is still early. I was the first one to arrive. McGee is here now if you wish to seek a more current update," Abby smiled and nodded. She and McGee were inseparable. As Ziva got onto the elevator, she sensed a presence behind her. Reacting quickly pulled out her knife and threw it at the invisible target. Gibbs neatly caught it and gave her a look. Whether he was pleased at her skill or angry at her rashness Ziva could never tell. Possibly it was both? She could never read hi properly. Gibbs took the bake in hiding emotions. Or was it cake? Yes, it was cake. Tony had told her that last week. Another Tuesday, a lifetime ago now it seemed. Tuesdays were interesting. They were days that cases usually started. Mondays were cold case days. They weren't anything special…but a Tuesday was always something to look forward to. Sighing and recollecting her knife, she returned to her desk to receive news of the newest case.

"Boss, isn't there a case today?" Tony asked, having just arrived at 0640, sharp, two seconds ago precisely. Gibbs said nothing, but continued writing on a pad of paper as if he hadn't heard him.

"Dead Marine in Norfolk , go with Ducky," he said finally. Ziva sighed in relief. It was a Tuesday like any other. Or was it? She couldn't help but think that something was going on with Abby. It left her very distracted upon arriving at the crime scene after a one hour plane flight consisting of Tony arguing with McGee about the peanuts and Ducky going on and on about the Wright Brothers with Palmer. Ziva ignored all of them and stared out the window the whole time. As she took out her camera, intending to take a picture of the body first, Abby popped up into her head once again. Tony bumped into her. Ziva was so startled that she dropped her camera, where it broke. It was a sight to be seen. Ziva never dropped things on accident. Gibbs nodded and swooped in to collect the fallen camera. He swiftly replaced it with a new one and gave it to her, all in less than a minute. She sighed again and continued on with collecting pictures.

"Send that in to Abby," Gibbs said to McGee, who had discovered a bloody fragment of rope.

"On it, boss," he said, bagging the rope and moving on with the crime scene. Ziva, having collected enough photos, stepped off to the side with Tony and waited for Ducky to determine the time of death.

"This young fellow died about three hours ago…though with the given temperature and weather it could very well have been as long as ten hours since he was so well preserved," Ziva listened to Ducky with a mild interest. He normally did not have difficulty in telling when the victim died, which was the first hint to her that this may not be an ordinary Tuesday after all. That seemed to be the most upsetting factor of the whole ordeal.

"Ziva? Hello? We're done here," Tony announced. She nodded and started for her car. Something wasn't right…

"Are you alright?" McGee asked. "You're being awful quiet today, Ziva,"

"I am just thinking, McGee," she replied, starting her car. Tony's car was getting repaired from a car chase during a previous case, so he was carpooling with her and McGee, who decided to take his chances with her driving. Upon returning to NCIS, it was well past lunchtime and Ziva was starving. She went to the vending machine to go get a snack.

Abby's lab- 1300 hours

"Screw you, military time!" Abby shouted at her stubborn computer. She was attempting to change it to regular time, but the hunk of junk wasn't cooperating. It wasn't really a hunk of junk, though, she was just mad. Finally she managed to accomplish her goal, and was able to focus on the evidence in front of her. First things first…DNA. The rope should be scanned first. As she pulled on her white gloves, the door slowly opened to reveal Ziva standing there with a file in her hand.

"What's that?" she asked her friend, rope forgotten for the moment. If only she had ignored her…on an ordinary Tuesday she would have. But this was no average day. It was the day.

"An old file I found," Ziva responded. "I cannot seem to make sense of it. There is not much information on the victim, other than the fact she was very unusual in dress and mannerisms, and would not testify,"

"Huh," Abby said nervously. "Wonder who she could be…" She instantly threw herself into her work in order to prevent anymore possible conversation. If only this were an ordinary, mundane day. But it was obvious she wasn't the only one that could tell everything was about to change…