He had made his decision, but he had to take care of business first. Let no one say he didn't do what he had to do: duty always came first.
"Got anything yet, Walker?" He asked as soon as he walked into the lab.
"No, Major Mass Spec's still working on it"
"Major who?" Gibbs replied, two seconds before realizing the other voice was too feminine to be the Dr.'s. He went to the office to see who the intruder was, and what he saw surprised him.
Sitting on the floor and reclining against the wall, there was a young girl in all-black, except for her lab coat, wearing pigtails and eating some Lo Mien. He thought she was really pretty, but also pretty strange, and what was she doing in the lab anyway? Wasn't a girl like her supposed to be in school at that time?
She raised her head to look at him and smiled.
"Hi! I'm Abby, who are you?"
He couldn't help but smile back. She was certainly charming. "I'm Special Agent Gibbs, nice to meet you. Are you Dr. Walker's granddaughter?"
"Nope, I'm his new intern. My name is Abigail Sciuto, but people call me Abby."
"Aren't you too young to be an intern?"
"I don't think so." She patted the floor next to her and pointed towards her food. "Want some?"
"No, thanks" He replied, but took her offer and sat down next to her, against his better judgment.
"So you catch the bad guys, huh? You're like a superhero?"
"Superheroes don't exist, Abby. We just do our jobs. And we wouldn't be able to catch the bad guys without the science people, like you" he said, and Abby blushed a little.
"But you carry a gun and a badge and you get to arrest people and be on undercover missions, right?"
"Well, yes, we do that. Would you like to do it?"
"Hhhmm... Nope," she said pensively. "I like science better. I wouldn't like to kill anyone."
"No one does."
"Hhhmm. Would you like to do science?"
"I didn't have the chance. This is what I know how to do. It has its good things and its bad things, like everything. It's a good thing that you like science. Innocence is a great thing to keep. And those machines look cool too, I don't know what they do, but..."
"They're cool," Abby said, taking a bite of the fortune cookie she had just broken, "but I can't use them without supervision yet. Dr. Walker won't let me and he's not here yet, that's why I can't search for results faster. If I could I totally would"
"I'm sure you would," Gibbs said, feeling strangely sincere.
"Here, have the fortune" Abby offered, putting the small note in Gibbs' hand, who kept it in his pocket. "I just read it, I think this is about you."
Dr. Walker walked in to the toughest, least friendly of the agents sitting on the floor (!), laughing and chatting it up with the newest addition to his lab. The two of them turned to look at him and grinned like cats that just ate their canaries. A smile on agent Gibbs's face. Now he could die happy: he had seen everything.
"I don't have the results yet, but I can confirm the blood is, in fact, the victim's. Now, staring at my equipment won't make it work any faster, agent Gibbs."
"O.k., I get it, I'll leave."
"I'll escort you outside. Abby, I need you to go over the paperwork, o.k.?"
"Yes, sir. Goodbye agent Gibbs!" she said, waving her hand enthusiastically.
"See ya Abbs," Gibbs said, waving back.
-oo-
"I never thought I'd see an intern in your lab" said Gibbs to the doctor once they were outside.
"Yeah, I saw you were… pleasantly surprised."
"It's nice to see new people every once in a while."
The doctor shot him a glare. Saying the agent wasn't a social butterfly was an understatement.
"She's a good intern, won't be for long."
"What do you mean not for long?" The agent asked.
"Worried much?" Dr. Walker said. "I mean she won't be an intern for long because I'm about to retire and go to Florida, so she'll take over the lab sooner rather than later."
"Ah, ok then" Gibbs said, and left.
"I'll miss you too," Dr. Walker replied.
-oo—
Today's new friend is tomorrow's family.
Back home, Gibbs took that little fortune from his pocket and read it for the umpteenth time, then put it in his wallet. Then, he took the matches from the kitchen and went up to his bedroom.
He unloaded the gun he had put on his bedside table up and put it back in his closet; then, he took the note he had written, burned it to the ground, and cried.