Disclaimer: I own nothing. Sad, but true.
"Abigail, Jethro will be very displeased with you when he finds out how high your fever is. You should be in bed, my dear. I don't understand how you are able to stand the bright lights of your lab, much less how you were able to get yourself to work today." Ducky was finishing his quick examination of Abby and only had a few questions left for her. She, however, protested at every step of the way and delayed him whenever possible.
"Ducky, I feel fine. I mean, isn't it possible that your thermometer could be wrong, and my fever is not that high at all?" Abby protested, still thinking that she might have a chance to win this argument and get back to work.
"First of all Abigail, I used this thermometer just the other day and it was working fine, and second—"
"How do you know? What if you thought it was functional but it wasn't, or what if it has broken since then?" Abby desperately tried to talk her way out of his diagnosis.
"Well, Abigail, even if that is the case, how do you explain the rest of my evidence, which is your dizziness and your inability to stay on your feet for very long?"
"Well, the dizziness hasn't been so bad. I got myself to work today, didn't I? And I have only fallen a few times today, and Gibbs caught me most of the times." Abby shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she told the little lie.
"And by 'most of the times,' exactly how many times are we speaking of? How many times did he catch you and how many times did you fall?" Ducky knew that his patient was not telling him everything.
"Well, maybe that was a bit of an overstatement." She shifted a bit more and looked at the cracks on the floor of the Autopsy room.
"Abigail." Ducky was beginning to get impatient with the girl. He knew that Jethro would want her to go home quickly if she was sick, which she was. He also knew that Abby was trying to stall as long as possible, but that her stalling could be dangerous to her health.
"Fine, Ducky. Wow, you are a good interrogator. Not as good as Gibbs, of course. But still, you should get to ask the questions sometimes. I have always wanted to go in that room and act all tough and stuff and make some bad guy cry. I don't think—"
"Abigail!" He saw right through her attempts to distract him. "You must tell me right now how many times you have fallen today." He tried to use his most stern grandfatherly voice, but he had never considered himself good at acting mad at Abby.
"And if I don't?" Abby said in an almost teasing voice. She didn't want to be disrespectful; she just wanted to delay the next meeting with-
"Gibbs. I will call Jethro, and tell him to take you home right now, before I am even done asking you questions."
"Ducky! That is one of the most frightening threats I have ever been given. Except for that one time when—"
Ducky cut her off mid-sentence with a look that almost rivaled one of Gibbs' infamous glares—almost, but not quite.
"Right. The Gibbs threat." Abby continued, "I should probably tell you now. Let me count for a minute."
She started whispering to herself to count the different places and situations in which she had fallen earlier in the day. Ducky only heard fragments of it. "Once when I first got out of bed . . . twice in the shower, that was a problem . . . by the stairs . . . "
Ducky narrowed his eyes. He didn't like the count that he was getting from what he could actually hear of her whispering.
". . . on the sidewalk . . . in the bullpen, glad no one was around . . . lab . . . elevator . . . Gibbs . . .Woh, and now." She said the last two words louder, but in a shaky voice. Ducky stepped closer to her and caught her as she fainted and fell forward into his waiting arms.
"Abigail!" He laid her down on the table and tapped her gently on the face until she came to. "Abigail, are you all right?"
"Y-Yes, Ducky I am f-fine."
"Was that the first time you fainted while you were sitting and not moving much?" He asked, more concerned than he had been while she was counting.
"Um, yes, I think so."
"You think so? What was the count?"
"Count?" Abby looked confused.
"Yes, the count you made a few seconds before you passed out, counting how many times you had felt dizzy and fallen."
"Oh. Um, I think I counted twelve."
Ducky was even more worried now. She had counted more than he had from her whisperings, which either meant that she had fallen more than he had heard or that her counting skills were having issues. He figured it was the former, but he was still worried about the fact that she had fallen that many times.
"Well, considering the fact that you fainted completely instead of just getting dizzy, I need to call Jethro right away to take you home. But first, I must take your temperature again to confirm my suspicions."
Abby, however, forgetting Ducky's earlier warning, refused to open her mouth for the thermometer.
Ducky picked up his phone, but there was no need, because the elevator dinged and Gibbs walked off, with a look of anger mixed with concern.
Review please! It was because of the reviews of the first part that i wrote this one. :)