Abby gave Major Mas Spec the best glare she could manage. The results that came back from the computer were positively the last thing that she wanted to get. She hung her head, looking at her reflection in the plasma screen. She didn't look anything like Abby. Her hair hung down around her face, and her lips and eyes were void of any black.
And her face was red with tears. Kate was gone. Her best friend Kate was laying on a metal slab in autopsy. Tears fell freely down her cheeks. She pulled out a picture of her and Kate. She was so beautiful, even with a hole in her skull. She died the way she lived: Bravely and beautifully.
Rain was pouring into the open window of her lab, threatening to overtake the evidence. Abby just gave a look over her shoulder and felt hot tears blur her vision. She had taken Kate's cross and crucifix, as well as her badge. They weren't evidence. They were all that was left of her best friend.
She ran her fist over her eyes and looked at the ballistics and statistics. Without a doubt, the bullet in Kate's skull came from Ari Haswari's weapon. Dammit. Gibbs was not going to like this.
She layed down on the floor, scrolling through her iPod to find a song appropriate to the occasion. He finger settled on "Rose's Theme", the lullaby from the Titanic. She didn't particularly like the song, but Kate had loved that movie, and Abby had become a Titanic expert thanks to her.
The music flooded the lab much the same way her heart was overflowing. She found her reflection in the plasma again, and let the tears go. In an instant, the screen and her fist were bloody and broken. She stared horrified at what she had done, at the bloody shards of plastic and fiberglass.
Jenny walked up behind her. "Director Shepard! I'm so sorry! Replacement's probably not in the budget...." Her voice wavered and she lowered her eyes.
Her new director just smiled, a tear escaping her eye. "It's okay, Abs. It's okay." She grabbed Abby in a hug that neither woman wished would end. "Kate would be proud of you, I think."