She Thinks She Needs Me
McGee came into the bullpen early to see if he could get caught up on some of the files that Tony had nonchalantly put on his desk the night before. He picked up the first one, made a disgusted noise, and threw it back on the desk sipping at his coffee casually. Early mornings were always best because he didn't have to deal with Tony or Ziva's constant banter.
He put the cup of coffee down next to his keyboard and went to open the file again, staring at the page. Six pages of what looked like a dead end case, though he knew there was no such thing as a 'dead end' when it came to cases and workload. As long as a killer was still free, there was no rest in the bullpen.
But McGee also knew that it was impossible to catch every single killer to roam the streets. He gazed at the image on the folder and shook his head. Angela Roxas, age twenty-seven, petty officer, killed in Norfolk on the twenty-third of January. He couldn't read much else. The words were merging together.
He sighed and shook his head, remembering why he had really come in early. He wanted to meet Abby's new boyfriend, Zeke. Zeke was a 'bad boy', as Ziva had put it. And, from one profiler, he'd heard that Zeke was tall, dark, and handsome. Everything Abby was looking for in a boyfriend. He was perfect, from what everyone had been saying.
But he felt differently.
McGee stood up and stared casually at the elevator doors, then shook his head and went down to Abby's lab. He made up some excuse about going down there, since it was early in the morning and he really didn't need to be there. Going down to the subterranean level, he could hear the music blasting long before he even stepped off the elevator. He blinked several times and waited for the doors to open.
There was Abby, standing in the middle of the room, tapping her hand on the table while she ran some sort of test in the system. He waited for an opportune moment to make his presence known. She turned with a smile. "Hey, McGee!"
He froze in place and smiled back. "Hey, Abbs. What are you working on?"
"Gibbs asked me to run some hair samples from the Graft case, but nothing's really coming up in the system. What are you doing down here?" She asked, leaning back against the desk for a moment. She turned the music down so she could hear him, but didn't want to at the same time. "Here to yell at me for disturbing the peace?"
"I was going to ask if you got those tests done for the Graft case, but that answers that question," He sighed. "Listen, can I ask you a personal question?"
"If this is about Zeke, I don't want to hear it." She turned away, staring at the monitor again.
McGee couldn't help himself. Before he could think, he blurted out the question. "What do you see in him?"
Abby stared at the monitor for a long time, then turned on her heel and took one step towards him. "Why do you care, McGee?"
"We're still colleagues, and I don't want another Chip ruining your life." He answered rather quickly, hoping she didn't see through his lie. "It worries me that you're dating people you don't even know."
"Isn't that what dating is?" She asked, scanning a paper into the computer so she could analyze it. "Or have I been getting it wrong all these years?"
"I'm worried about you, is that okay?" He asked quietly. "I don't think this guy is as 'good' as you say he is." McGee quietly added.
"I think you're a little jealous." Abby replied, bringing up the scanned file and running over it with a cursor. "I think you need to focus more on your career and less on me."
"Maybe you're right, but I still can't help but shake the feeling that this guy isn't the man you think he is." He paused. "What do you really know about him?"
"I've looked him up, you know. I do have some kind of self-respect. He has two parking tickets in his name and a few overdue library books. What else is there to know? He's not a murderer." She turned to McGee and frowned. "Don't you trust my judgment anymore?"
McGee opened his mouth to speak.
Abby stared at him condescendingly. "McGee! How could you doubt me? Don't you know what I'm capable of?"
"Oh, I'm well aware." He sighed and turned on his heel. "Just watch out for this guy, would you? I get this weird feeling when you talk about him."
"Yeah, you know what that feeling is called, McGee? Jealousy." She smirked and went back to work as he walked onto the elevator.
Tim climbed the hill where Tony was currently standing, camera in hand. He glared at Tony through dark green eyes, growling something under his breath incoherently. "When did I suddenly become a probie again?"
"Since Ziva decided to take vacation time," Tony put a finger to his lip, tapping innocently. "I wonder who her new beau is."
"I don't really care," McGee answered taking pictures of the corpse. "To be honest, dating is overrated."
"Hell hath no fury like a man scorned," Tony continued kneeling beside the body. "Why so hostile towards the dating scene? Can't find a date that you can't inflate?"
Tim turned to Tony sharply. "Have you met Abby's new boyfriend?"
Tony let out an ahh, "Suddenly it all makes sense. You still love our resident Forensic Specialist, don't you, McFreak?"
McGee snapped another picture and turned away for a moment. "Never speak of this again, got it? If you do, I'll tell the whole office about your pictures of Ziva naked."
"Hey, now!" Tony shrieked absently following Tim. "Let's not get too hasty. And how did you know about those?"
"Like I don't see what's in your drawer every time you open your desk," Tim murmured, looking around the scene for other evidence. "Boss, I found a baggie over here."
"Is there anything in it?" Gibbs asked coming up the hill to make sure his two senior agents weren't killing each other.
"It looks like it had some kind of drug in it." Tony casually added, taking the bag from McGee's hands. "I'll bring it down to the lab when we get back."
"Fight nice, Children," Gibbs added as he poked around the scene. "Where's Duck?"
"Not sure," Tony answered quietly. "I think it has something to do with his new girlfriend, Shirley."
"Does everyone have a significant other but me?" McGee asked bitterly. "I mean, really? Ducky?"
"Any girl would be lucky to date you, McGee," Gibbs spoke with authority as he walked over the body. "Now get back to work."
"Thanks boss, that means a lot to me," McGee commented while poking around some more.
"I'm sure it does, but you've got a job to do. I'm sure Lieutenant Daley's family would be happy to know what happened to their daughter," Gibbs quietly added, his voice raspy and rusty. He looked at McGee with a silent gaze that spoke volumes. "The dating problems stay at home, got it, McGee?"
"Ouch, McGeek got scolded by the boss. Oooooooiiiii." Tony stood straight when Gibbs looked at him. "Got it, Boss. I'll call Ducky again."
Gibbs smacked Tony up-side the head as he walked by. "Stop taunting the younger officers."
Tony held onto the file that had been stacked neatly on Abby's desk in the lab. He stared at McGee with curious blue eyes. "Hey, did Abby say anything to you about leaving early tonight?"
McGee shook his head slowly. "No, not a word. She's not down there? It's not like her to leave work unfinished." He tapped his pen on the desk, curiously listing all the places she could possibly be. "Maybe she's with Ducky?"
"He hasn't heard from her either. Abby never leaves early. Think she might be sick?" Tony inquired.
"No, she doesn't leave, even when she's sick." He looked down at his phone and saw it flashing repeatedly. "Hold on, I have a message."
He touched the screen to open the message. It was Abby's number, but not her voice. "Turn on your webcam, McGee."
McGee hesitantly reached over and pressed the button to turn on the webcam. The room was dead silent, nearly dark, news articles of his press releases were posted all over the room. The dark figure moved out of the way and allowed light to feed into the room. Sitting in the middle of the room, her eyes covered, her hands tied tightly together, was Abby.
McGee sat up straight and stared at the screen. "Shit!"
Tony paused and stared at the image, memorizing it for any details of where they might be at. He put a hand on Tim's shoulder and shook his head. "This is pre-recorded."
McGee closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "They could have killed her by now!"
Tony shook his head and looked on as the image continued. "Without Miss Sciuto, it's rather difficult for you to finish any cases, isn't it?" The voice replied. "So, that being said," the person paced. "Find me before its too late."
"Miss Sciuto will participate in a game of Russian roulette, for every misstep you make, she must take a shot. If she dies in the first level, then, I suppose you don't need to search anymore." The voice cackled. "Better not make any mistakes, McGee."
AN: My chapters are going to be really short because I don't know much about this universe. I just had this idea and had to write it out. It's my first, and probably only, NCIS fic. Please read and review. : )
