Tim was sitting at his desk in the main NCIS building. He was updating a BOLO, and unfortunately for him, Tony was in a playful mood. "Psst… McGiggle… psst!" he hissed at the younger agent.

Tim tried to ignore him, but Tony threw a crumpled piece of paper and it hit him on the side of the face. "McGoogle, what are you doing after work?"

"Nothing that involves you," Tim replied crisply.

Tim clicked out of his programs and retreated to Abby's lab and away from Tony, eager to have a break.

"Hi Abs," he said as he entered.

"Timmy!" Abby almost dropped the vial she was holding, "You scared me! What are you doing down here?"

Tim sat in one of the chairs by her main computer. "Tony's doing it again," he explained.

Abby nodded. "I see. Who is it this time?"

"I don't know," Tim admitted, "I didn't give him a chance to actually offer. As soon as I knew it was coming, I got out of there."

Abby was the only person that Tim had told about Tony's numerous attempts to set him up on blind dates, although there was no telling how many people Tony himself had told.

"That's good Timmy. Don't let Tony ever set you up with some sleazy bar girl. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Tony, well, not like that, but you know what I mean. He doesn't exactly have the best taste in women, and I highly doubt that any of the women he knows are right for you. Well, maybe there is one, but that's not for anyone else to decide," Abby took a deep breath, "Right, I'm babbling again. I'm going to go back to work and pretend that you're not here for a few minutes, alright?"

Tim nodded. Abby's ramblings had given him plenty to consider while she pretended that he didn't exist. She was his best friend and she knew him better than anybody else. She was there for him with kind words whenever something went wrong for him. He couldn't even begin to keep count of how many times she had told him that a girl wasn't good enough, but it was a new thing for her to criticize Tony and his preference in females.

He sat quietly in the middle of the room and updated all the firewalls on Abby's computer. After several long minutes of silence, Abby set down a box of evidence and turned to Tim. "Did we ever figure out why exactly Tony is trying to find you a girl anyway?"

"No," Tim sighed, "He probably thinks he's helping me when really it's just annoying."

"I just don't understand why he's concerned. You date, even if most of them are horrible, superficial nasties who only want to be with you because you're a published author…" she trailed off for a moment. "Does it bother you that he does this?" Abby asked in her best therapist voice.

"A little," Tim admitted, "I suppose it wouldn't bother me as much if it was just once in a while, but it's a constant thing. Every time I see him, he gives me a girl's number and tells me to give her a call. Actually, I think some of them are men's numbers…"

Abby stopped stroking her non-existent therapist beard and looked directly into Tim's eyes. "So it does bug you. You need to tell Tony."

"Tell me what, Abs?"

Tony came in, setting a Caf-Pow in front of Abby. She looked at Tim expectantly. He opened his mouth to speak, but Abby beat him to it. "Tim doesn't like it that you're trying to set him up with women, or possibly men."

"Probie, what is this madness? You don't appreciate the help I am giving you?" Tony put his hand over his heart in a gesture of mock self-sacrifice. "I spend my precious time finding women that I think you would go well with, and you come down here to badmouth me… I don't know you anymore."

"Tony, stop being such a drama queen," Tim said, "I would just like it if you would back off a little."

"And why should I do that?" Tony took a step closer to Tim.

"Because…"

"Because he has a date tonight," Abby jumped in, sensing that Tim was going to have a difficult time if Tony was going to continue interrogating him.

"He does?"

"I do?"

Abby glared at Tim. "Yeah, remember…"

"Um, yeah," Tim faked a smile, "Sure."

Tony rolled his eyes. It was just like Abby to try and bail Tim out of situations in which he was not comfortable, but making up a date for him was taking it a little bit too far. "So, Probie, who's the lucky lady?"

"It's…" Tony held up a hand to stop Abby from speaking.

"Excuse me, Miss Sciuto, but I believe I was asking Mr. McGee. Come on there McStutter, who is she?"

"Um… Abby!"

"What?" Abby looked up, confused.

"Yeah, me and Abby are going on a date tonight," Tim was sure it was the best idea he'd had all day; if she was going to throw him under the bus, he was going to take her with him.

Abby glared at Tim from behind Tony's back. "Really?" Tony crossed his arms in front of his chest, "I thought you two were just friends. Didn't you already try this whole dating thing?"

"Yes, but we decided to give it another try," Abby jumped in, knowing that Tim had reached his limit of believable lies for the day.

Tony was momentarily stunned. "Alright then, I'll leave you two crazy kids to it. I just need the…" Abby forced a folder into his hands, "Yeah, that. Thanks Abs. Carry on."

Tim sighed in relief as Tony left the room. "A date? Was that really necessary, Abby?"

She smacked him on the arm. "Shut up! It was the first thing I thought of; it's not like you did any better."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

She stomped over to the Mass Spectrometer. "You just had to drag me into it…"

"It was the first thing I thought of," Tim replied in a mocking voice.

Abby scowled at the machine; for some reason, the test wasn't running properly. "So where are we going?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"For our date that you seem so keen to have," she explained in a nonchalant tone.

"Me? What about you? 'We decided to give it another try'…"

"I will repeat the question for the man who apparently does not realize that I could kill him and leave no forensic evidence: where are we going?"

Tim was shocked; he had assumed that as soon as Tony was gone, she would be quick to tell him that they were not really going to go on a date. "You actually want to go?"

"Well, sure. Why not?" she shrugged her shoulders, "We told Tony we were going."

Tim was unsure of what they would do; a date with Abby had not been on his list of things to do for the night. "Okay, um, I'll come up with something and I'll let you know."

He dashed out of the room as quickly as he could, trying to avoid an overly awkward encounter. Tim would never admit it, but he had never stopped loving Abby, and he figured he probably owed Tony thanks for inadvertently pushing them together, even if it would only be for one night. But that would have to wait; he had a date to plan!