Notes: Oneshot, written for the "Original Character" Challenge. The main character is Bill Nelson, an OC I introduced in Tag, You're It. This story takes place around season 2, when Tim and Abby were kinda sorta together. He's an OC that I've taken to writing, and I was excited to use this challenge as a springboard for his character development. I got the idea for the title from the Natalie Imbruglia song of the same name.

The elevator dinged at the Lab level, and Bill Nelson stepped from it and headed toward Abby's lab, toting a bin full of evidence. He didn't hesitate when Balboa asked him to take it to Abby's Lab. He never needed to make an excuse to see his favorite Scientist in the middle of the day. The lab door swished open, and Abby turned around, an excited smile on her face for a moment. It was gone as soon as she realized who had come in.

"Hey, Billy."

"Hi Abby... I've got some stuff from the crime scene for you to analyze," he said, indicating the bin in his hands. "This case is so cool- we have a dead navy lieutenant, and he was found with a pentagram-"

"That's great, Billy. You can tell me about it later. Just leave the bin there, all right?"

Bill was taken aback, but complied, setting the bin on her lab table. She turned back to Major Mass Spec. Bill lingered by the evidence bin, holding his clipboard. He'd been waiting for a chance to catch her alone in her lab. He'd been waiting to ask her something for quite some time now.

He fingered the concert tickets in his pocket. He'd found out one of Abby's favorite bands was going to be giving a concert at one of the hottest clubs in DC, and Abby had been going on about how bummed she was that she couldn't get tickets. He'd gone out and bought the last two tickets, planning to surprise her with them. The concert was that night, and Bill still hadn't drummed up the courage to ask her to go with him.

Bill took a deep breath, and took a couple of steps forward.

"Abby," he said aloud, for a moment not believing that he actually said anything. She turned to him.

"What's up, Billy?"

"I have something to ask you."

"What's going on?" she asked with a smile, noticing his nervousness.

"Well-"

"Abby!"

Bill turned to see Agent McGee entering the lab, balancing his laptop and a tub of evidence. Abby rushed over to him and took the evidence bin, alleviating McGee's strain.

"Thanks, Abby. I was going to drop that for sure!"

"Anything for you, Timmy." she kissed him on the cheek and took the clipboard to sign his chain-of-evidence form. "Oh my gosh, I have to tell you about this great concert coming up!"

"Awe Abby, you know I hate those concerts… do I have to go?"

"You're going, even if I have to drag you there," she said with a smile. "A friend of mine is the drummer… he scored me a couple of free tickets. Isn't that awesome?"

Bill took his hand out of his pocket, leaving the ticket he planned to present Abby with. He took a step backward and knocked into a bench next to the lab table.

So much for a smooth exit.

Tim and Abby turned around.

"Billy, is something wrong?" Abby asked, showing concern.

"I-I um," he stammered. He remembered the chain-of-evidence clipboard in his hand, and stuck it out in front of him. "I forgot to have you sign this… for the evidence."

"You're right! I'm so sorry, Billy!" Abby took the clipboard and signed the chain-of-evidence form. "Here you go!"

"Thanks," he said quickly, snatching the clipboard. He turned quickly and left the lab. He could feel himself start to hyperventilate as he jammed his finger into the elevator call button repeatedly. As the doors opened, he fished his inhaler from his pocket, and took a few puffs as the elevator started its ascent back to the squad room. He suddenly reached out and pulled the emergency stop, as everyone had known Gibbs to do on more than one occasion.

"Damn it," he cursed, punching the wall. How could he ever think Abby would be remotely interested in him? It was the most asinine thing he'd ever thought of. How could a woman like her be interested in a skinny, four-eyed, socially awkward computer geek? It was ridiculous.

The elevator dinged at the squad room, and Bill hurried over to his desk.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Bill couldn't concentrate on anything for the rest of the afternoon. Balboa was on his ass to get into the Lieutenant's e-mail, and he was having a lot of trouble bypassing the password to get in.

I bet Agent McGee wouldn't have a problem with this… he would have been in hours ago. What a pompous show-off.

The e-mail program denied him access once again, and frustration finally won over. He jumped out of his seat and started to leave.

"Where the hell are you going, Nelson?" Balboa demanded.

"I need a break. I'll be back in five minutes," he said quickly, and left the squad room. He headed into the men's room. He went to the sink splashed water on his face, trying to wake up. As he rubbed a hand over his face, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He looked terrible, and if he were to be honest with himself, he felt terrible. He just wanted this day to be over, so he could hole up in his apartment. Alone.

He dropped his gaze as the men's room door opened behind him. He didn't look up as the person conducted his business and made his way to the sink.

"You all right, Nelson?"

It just had to be Agent Gibbs, of all people, alone with me, in the men's room.

"I'm fine, Agent Gibbs. Thanks."

Gibbs leaned against the sink when he finished washing his hands.

"You're a bad liar."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You sure?"

"Yes. I just want to be alone."

Gibbs nodded and made his way to the door.

"You know where I am, Nelson."

Bill didn't respond as Gibbs left the men's room. He looked at himself in the mirror. He was making himself sick over this whole thing.

Grow up and be an adult. So one woman doesn't have feelings for you. Find another one.

Bill straightened himself up and finally left the men's room.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Later, approximately 2100 hours…

"Damn it!" Bill shouted in frustration, slamming his fist into his keyboard. He just couldn't bypass the encryptions on the lieutenant's e-mail to save his life. It had never been this hard for him to get through an encryption before. What about this was so difficult? He tried again, using a program he'd written to assist.

"Are you all right, Bill?"

Bill looked up to see McGee standing near his desk.

"I'm fine."

McGee took a few steps closer to Bill's desk.

"The hole in the elevator wall says otherwise."

Bill continued to type, ignoring his colleague.

"What have I done to you today?" McGee asked, annoyed. "You've been acting like an ass all afternoon."

"I can't talk right now. I'm trying to work," Bill said coldly.

"Wait a minute - does this - this has something to do with Abby, doesn't it?"

Bill finally stopped typing.

"What if it does? What business is it of yours?"

A look of realization finally came over McGee's face.

"You have feelings for her."

"Very astute, Agent McGee."

"What the hell is your problem, Nelson?" McGee said angrily.

Bill had finally hit his breaking point. He'd tried to ignore McGee, but he couldn't stop himself. He jumped out of his seat to confront his co-worker.

"Yeah, I do have feelings for Abby. I have for a long time. Then all of a sudden you come galloping in from Norfolk, and suddenly all of her attention is focused on you! Bill Nelson is suddenly invisible to her!"

"Acting like a jealous idiot is not going to make her like you, Nelson. We're federal employees, not teenagers. You want her to notice you, to be friends with you? Quit being an idiot and just go talk to her."

"I'm not taking any advice from you." Nelson switched off his computer and picked up his coat. "Good night." He left the squad room before McGee could reply.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Bill trudged into the squad room the next morning, still tired as hell.

"Nelson! Where have you been!" Balboa shouted as Bill dropped his things next to his desk. Bill was a half hour late.

"I'm sorry, Boss… I got stuck in some traffic on the Beltway-"

"I don't care. Get your ass back on that e-mail!"

"I just can't get past the encryptions on this one," he said, pulling it up on his computer. "Whatever is on here is something beyond my knowledge."

"Take it down to Abby… see if she can get in."

Bill visibly gulped.

"You got a problem with Abby?" Balboa asked.

"No, not at all, Boss. I'll head down there right now."

Bill e-mailed himself the program specs, and went off toward the elevator to head to the lab. He stopped off to get her a Caf Pow on the way. When he got off at the Lab level, he suddenly felt his gut twist into knots.

Get over it! You're not a teenager!

He took a deep breath and entered the lab. Abby turned around with a smile, but it faded when she saw him.

As usual.

"How can I help you, Agent Nelson?"

Wow, that's cold…

"I was hoping you could help me… I'm trying to break into an e-mail account for our dead lieutenant and I just can't bypass the encryption."

"Sure, I can take a look."

Bill pulled up the specs from his e-mail, and stepped aside. Abby pulled up his specs and immediately saw the problem.

"You've been trying to go through the same back door, Bill. If you keep going in the same way, it's going to keep blocking you. Let's try another backdoor."

Abby did some typing, and within seconds, the e-mail inbox popped up.

"There you go!" she said with a smile.

"Thanks," Bill said, stunned. He couldn't believe he'd been trying all night, and she'd gotten in within a matter of seconds. He took out his phone and called Balboa.

"I'm in, Boss," he said, scrolling through the e-mail. "There's nothing of note in here. A few online bank statements, but there's no suspicious account information here."

"All right. Good job, Nelson."

"Thanks."

Bill hung up and saved everything to his e-mail. He glanced over at Abby, who was busy with a chemical test. At that moment, he started to give his recent behavior some thought. He'd been so jealous and resentful of McGee for winning Abby's affections, that it'd turned him into a pompous ass. He closed his e-mail and turned to Abby.

"Abby, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"I-I need to apologize to you. I-"

Damn, why is this so hard?

"I sort of, well, have this, um, crush on you. My God this is embarrassing," he said, his cheeks turning rosy. "I was jealous of you and Agent McGee, and it turned me into someone I'm not. I-I'm sorry for disrespecting you like I did. It was unfair to you and McG-Tim. I um, hope we can still be friends."

Bill dropped his eyes to the floor when he was finished. He didn't deserve to look at her. It wasn't until he felt her finger push his chin up, forcing him to look at her.

"We'll always be friends, Billy. Nothing will ever change that."

"Really?"

"Of course! Just because Timmy and I are dating, doesn't mean you're not one of my favorite geeks!"

Billy smiled.

"Now that's the Billy I know!" she said, hugging him.

"Oh yeah! I have something for you." Bill reached into the inside pocket of his sport coat and produced an envelope. "I was going to surprise you with them yesterday."

Abby took the envelope and opened it.

"Oh my God! You got tickets to Android Lust? How'd you get these? They sold out the first hour they went on sale!"

"You mean you didn't have tickets already? You said yesterday…"

"That was for another concert. This is huge! Thank you so much, Billy!" She enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug. "You're going with me, right?" Abby asked excitedly.

"Really?"

"Of course! We're friends, aren't we?"

Bill nodded. His phone vibrated in his pocket.

"Oh no, it's Balboa. He's going to kill me if I don't get back upstairs."

"You and me, Billy, tomorrow night! I'm so excited!"

"It's a date," he said. He turned and left the Lab, a huge grin plastered on his face. He was so excited that he didn't see McGee coming in, and nearly bumped into him.

"Oops, sorry Tim," Bill said.

"It's all right."

"I'm sorry for being an ass," Bill said quickly, before McGee could walk away."

"It's forgotten, Billy," McGee said with a smile, and held out his hand. Bill shook it.

"You're a good friend, Tim."

"So are you, Billy... and as my friend, I'm glad that you're going with Abby to Android Lust, instead of me. I hate that music."

"I'm willing to suffer for a good friend," Billy said.

"Timmy! Come on! I need your help!" Abby shouted impatiently.

"I have to go. Take care."

"You too."

Bill left the lab and pushed the elevator button. Today was going to be just fine.

END