Hey! Here is the follow-up to Normal is boring! Hope you enjoy! Please read AND review. Thanks!

Three weeks after the Labor Day gathering, Abby Sciuto Krakowsy's confidence had begun to return. She was really embracing who she was. She didn't tell the two women who had been gossiping that she'd overheard them. For now, she was just going to let it go and act as though nothing had ever happened. But she would definitely be keeping her eyes and ears on those two catty creeps. If she overheard them trashing her or her family again, However, there would never be a place dark enough or far enough for either of them to hide from the Goth mama bear.

That weekend was the company picnic. All NMRI employees and their families were invited. That included the two hateful gossips and their families. Abby decided ahead of time to treat those women as she would any other person she met. Maybe once they got to know her and her family, they'd see how wrong they'd been. When they got to the picnic, Caty and Cocoa, Kelly, Alex, and Danny immediately found some other kids and ran off to play with them.

"Watch out for your brother!" Abby called after the older kids. Kelly translated for Caty who was facing the other direction and all three turned back to nod at their mother. Then Kelly grabbed her baby brother's hand and they all headed over to the playground. Abby and Jesse looked around for a place to sit where they could see the kids. Soon, they saw newbies sitting at a table. Abby led Jesse right over to the table.

"Hey. I'm Abby Krakowsky. You two are new to NMRI, right?" The two women looked very nervous. The man that was sitting next to the shorter woman spoke up and said,

"Hi. I'm Jonathan James and this is my wife Pricilla." Jesse and Abby each shook his hand and then Abby offered her hand to Pricilla, who after some hesitation, accepted in. The taller woman finally found her voice and said,

"I'm Jana Brock. My husband is Captain Joseph Brock. He's the CO on the USS Sea Hawk. Currently deployed. Those are our kids over there. Abby looked where the women pointed and saw a little blonde boy and girl playing with her kids. Kelly was teaching them sign language and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"Yeah, you're kids are playing with our kids right now. The blonde teaching sign language to your kids is my daughter Kelly. Caty and her dog Cocoa are right over there next to the sand box . My oldest son, Alex is talking to her."

"Really? It just looks like they're waving and flapping around." Pricilla said rudely. Jesse put a hand on Abby's shoulder to keep her calm and then said,

"Caty is deaf. That's how she communicates. Cocoa is her service dog."

"But we love her just as she is. She has the biggest heart and would do anything to help someone who needs it. All of my kids are very loving. But Caty has an especially big heart." Abby said, trying to hold in her temper. Jana decided to change the subject.

"So, you have three kids?"

"Four, actually. That little two year old playing in the sand box is our Danny."

"He doesn't look like either you or your husband."

"That would be because we adopted him. In fact, all of our kids are adopted. Danny and Alex are biological brothers who lost their parents in a monsoon.

"That's terrible!" Jana said.

"So what about your daughters?"

"Caty we actually met on our Honeymoon in Romania. She was just two then. My wife saw the children's home when we were out sight-seeing and she wanted to help. We met up with a group who was on a mission trip and did some work there. Abby taught sign language to Caty, and they bonded over that week. We were able to adopt her by the next Christmas."

"We adopted Kelly from Azerbaijan a couple of years later." Abby added, her eyes lighting up as she spoke of her kids. At that moment, Carol arrived. Abby got up and hugged her friend, then introduced her to the group. Over the next few hours, they all talked and ate together, and Jana and Pricilla got to see firsthand how much Abby's kids loved and admired their mother. Pricilla barely said a word all evening. When it was time to go, Abby and Jesse and the kids said good bye to the group.

On the way home, Kelly was talking a mile a minute about her new friends.

"And Sophie and Jaden go to my school. Isn't Jaden in your class, Alex?"

"Yeah. We play ball in the park.

"Justin, Reggie, and Amelia were there too. Justin is in my class Reggie is in Kasie's class and Amelia is Reggie's twin and she's in Shannie's class. They aren't very nice. They make fun of other kids sometimes. They never hit anyone though."

"Well, that's good." Jesse said, when Kelly stopped for air.

"Did Sophie and Jaden like learning sign?" asked Abby.

"Uh huh. They liked talking to Ca-Ca and playing with Alex and Danny too." Kelly said.

"Were they nice to you, Caty?" Abby signed to her oldest. Caty smiled and nodded. Abby was about to ask Alex if he had fun, then saw that the little boy was fast asleep, along with his brother.

When the family got home, the younger kids were tucked into bed while the older kids got ready for bed. Within an hour, all the little ones were snuggled into bed, and Abby and Jesse had time to talk.

"Well, you and Jana seemed to get along great. Are you going to tell her what you overheard?" Jesse asked. Abby shook her head.

"I'm gonna give her a chance. I don't trust Pricilla though."

"I know she was pretty rude the whole evening. I don't get how her husband can be so nice and still be married to a woman like her." Jesse said. Abby nodded.

"I know, right? And Kel said that the three kids are mean, too."

"Well, maybe she'll at least leave you alone at work now."

"I hope so." Abby replied. Then the two watched some tv before bed. A few days later at work, Abby was in the copy room making some copies of a document, when she heard a conversation outside the door where the watercooler was.

"Well, I guess we know now why Abby Krakowsky's kids love her and they obviously aren't embarrassed by her. I guess they really couldn't be. She took them in when no one else wanted them. I mean who besides her would want a bunch of foreign freaks to look after?" That did it. Abby didn't even wait for the other person to respond. She stormed out of the copy room and right over to Pricilla and Jana by the water cooler.

"Excuse me?! Those foreign freaks as you call them are my kids. You can say what you want about me, but you are NOT allowed to say one word about my kids! Oh, and if you wondered how I, the psycho whack-job, got hired here? I've been working in the science field for years. Jesse, Carol and I all went to college together. I majored in Forensics. I have my Masters. I worked for over twenty years as the Forensics specialist at NCIS before coming here. I left NCIS after I had to shoot a rogue Mossad officer who was after my Godchildren. My parents are both deaf and Jesse and Carol Wilson thought I'd be right for this job. As for the way I dress, I'm me, and I don't give a crap about your opinion on that. I have kept record of how you speak about and to people over the last few weeks, and I know I have enough to report you. I was willing to give you another chance after you badmouthed me and my family and Carol in the ladies room last month. No this time, though. I am heading to the chief of staff. Right. Now." Pricilla gulped as she found herself on the receiving end of one of Abby's famous glares. Abby turned to go, but then turned and got right in front of Pricilla until she was almost directly in her face.

"Oh, and by the way, The ONLY reason I haven't said anything before now and why I am not beating you within an inch of your life, is because I need to set a good example for my kids. I've taught them that violence solves nothing. You are not worth being a hypocrite for. With that, Abby turned and walked out of the break room, heading for the Chief of Staff's office.

When Pricilla got over her shock over the confrontation. she put on a false bravado and said snidely,

"Did you hear that? How she just spoke to me? Unbelievable!"

"Yeah, I heard it. And she's right." Jana said, calmly.

"Whose side are you on anyway?" Pricilla snapped at her friend.

"It's not about sides, Prissy. It's about right and wrong. We both judged her and others too quickly. But even after you met her you've still been hateful to her. This isn't like you, Pricilla. I love you, Girl. But I don't know what's with you lately. The Pricilla I know would never continue to be so hateful after she realizes she's wrong about a person. I was wrong to go along with you in that conversation. You were wrong. You need to think about why you are acting this way. When you're ready to talk, I'm here. But now, I'm outta here. See ya later." Jana replied. Then she raced down the hall to try and catch Abby, leaving Pricilla staring after her in shock.

Jana found Abby as she was just about to knock on the Chief's door.

"Abby, wait!" Abby turned to look at her and sighed.

"Look, I know Pricilla's a friend of yours and all, but I can't let this one slide."

"No. That's not why I came after you. You need to do what you need to do. Lord knows she deserves it. So do I. But I really want to say how sorry I am. I got sucked into Prissy's gossip and judged you and some others here without bothering to get to know any of you. Now that I've met you, I realize that you're a great person, an awesome scientist. And a fantastic mom, too. I know now that gossip can hurt. Prissy wasn't always this hateful. I don't know what's going on, but it doesn't give her an excuse to treat others like trash. Anyway, I just wanted you to know. I'm genuinely sorry. I hope we can be friends in the future, but I'll understand if you can't forgive me." Abby hesitated a moment, then she suddenly surprised the other woman by pulling her into a hug. Jana quickly recovered, and hugged her new friend back. As they pulled back, Abby said with a smile,

"Of course. I forgive you, Jana. Thank you for coming to talk to me about it and for the apology."

"Thank you, Abby. I better get back to my office. I'll see you later.

"Bye." Abby said, waving. Then she turned and knocked. The Chief agreed to see her. Abby reported Pricilla, but put in a good word to keep the woman from being fired. Pricilla was called into the office after that and was told that she was being given a warning this time. She was also told under no uncertain terms that if she was caught being hateful or disrespectful to anyone at NMRI again, she would be immediately fired or at the very least, transferred. Abby never had any problems with the woman again after that. Pricilla basically avoided her, Carol, and Jesse, but there was no more bullying. Morael was improved at NMRI once again.

Hope you liked this story. Due to a suggestion made by a reviewer in the last story, there will be one more follow-up that will be posted tomorrow or forget to review this story. Catch ya later! Bye!