Disclaimer: I do not Own Ncis... really wish I did... it would be Gabby central

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Love 'em. Hope you all enjoy the Second Chapter…I know I said I was gonna do it in halves, but I realized how much I would have to cram into the second part, so I'm probably looking at 3 or 4 chapters instead of the original two… If this isn't the most predictable chapter ever, I'll eat my sock… don't forget the reviews, they make me smile…

Part II:

Dr. Donald Mallard stood over the dead body of a young marine. He was half way into the autopsy when his good friend, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs walked into the autopsy room. He looked slightly bothered, but he played it cool.

"Got something for me, Duck?" Gibbs asked a little gruffly.

"I do indeed, my dear Jethro," said Ducky as he picked the heart up out of the body cavity, "The heart has been pretty much severed in two. I sent all samples to Abby in the lab a few minutes ago, she should have them now."

"Thanks Duck," said Gibbs and he went to leave.

"Where are you going in such a rush, Jethro?" said Ducky, and Gibbs turned to face him.

"Going to check on the samples, Duck," said the Special Agent standing stiff as a board as always, "Then I'm taking Abbs out to lunch, that idiot boyfriend of hers, Jimmy or Tommy or Corey, whatever broke up with her last night."

"You're a good man, Jethro," said Ducky appreciatively.

"Thanks, Duck," said Gibbs and he turned to leave.

"How's Stephanie?" asked Ducky.

"She's fine," said Gibbs and he vacated the premises of autopsy.

Like clock work, Ducky ruled out anything else that could have been wrong with their poor petty officer, and he heard his phone, blaring bagpipes. He walked across the room and picked it up; it was a number he hadn't programmed into his phone.

"Hello, Dr. Mallard," He answered politely, "How may I help you?"

"Ducky?" Eric's voice came through the cell phone ear piece, "It's Eric."

"Ah, Eric," said Ducky joyfully, "How are you my dear boy?"

"I'm just fine, Duck, I've been meaning to invite you over for poker night, your darling mother too of course," said Eric, making small talk.

"I would love to one of these nights, and Mum adores Poker, I must warn you, she's quite the poker fiend," said Ducky and Eric chuckled.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Eric with a slight chuckle, "Hey, you seen Jethro? I haven't been able to reach him on his cell."

"He was just here about a half hour ago, he said he was going to take Abby out to lunch, she's been having a rough couple of days," said Ducky, knowing that Abby would not want the whole world to know she'd been dumped.

"Really?" said Eric, he seemed a little troubled.

"Yes," said Ducky, he was starting to get confused.

"Thanks, Duck," said Eric.

"No problem, Eric," said Ducky, now concerned about Eric's tone, "Is everything alright, dear boy?"

"Yeah, Duck," said Eric, "Everything's fine, I'll call you about poker night."

Eric hung up and let the phone drop onto the couch, Stephanie just watched Eric's facial expressions. As his mind raced through all the information he had been told in the span of the last ten minutes, and he frowned. He was a lot like Gibbs in the fact that he didn't believe in coincidences. He couldn't help but think something was up, maybe Steph was right.

"He's with her, right?" said Stephanie as she just stared at Eric.

"They work together, Steph," said Eric he knew the evidence was overwhelming, and didn't really blame Stephanie for her thoughts, but still it wasn't something the Jethro he knew would do, "Steph, you should talk to him."

"Oh, right I should just go up to him and say, hey, Jethro, um that super beautiful girl you work with, pretty, young, are you sleeping with her?" said Stephanie and she rolled her eyes, "He's obviously gonna deny it."

"You really think he's sleeping with her?" Eric said, still skeptical.

"Eric, you did not see her, and the way he looked at her," said Stephanie.

"Yeah, but Jethro wouldn't cheat. Not the Jethro I know," said Eric watching her.

"Well maybe you don't know him as well as you think you do," said Stephanie, she was still teary eyed.

"I gotta go, Steph, other people will be looking for their wood, please just talk to him? I'm sure there's an explanation," said Eric and he got up to leave, but stopped short as her crying reached his ears.

Abby was in her frump attire when Gibbs walked into the lab, he had never seen this wrecked. He walked in and immediately gave her a hug, which lasted several minutes. He released her and saw the tears in her eyes. He hated it when she cried, for some reason he always took it a little too hard when he saw those water droplets coming in her eyes.

"You ready to go, Abbs?" said Gibbs, putting an arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah," She sniffled, "I really liked him, Gibbs."

"I know you did, Abbs, I don't know why, he was no where near good enough for ya," said Gibbs as he led her out the door of the lab.

"You never think my boyfriends are good enough," said Abby, slightly more upbeat as they got into Gibbs's car.

"That's because none of them ever are, I don't think anyone's good enough for you, Abby," said Gibbs and he gave her a little smirk, "Not even whoever that guy is on that TV show you're always rambling about."

"But Steve's like perfect, he's always so polite, and he's perfect, Gibbs," said Abby.

"Still no where near good enough," said Gibbs with a smile.

"Oh, so who is good enough, just so I have a guideline," She said.

"I'll have to get back to you on that one," He said as he pulled into Abby's favorite Restaurant, and he didn't continue until they were seated, "I got a buddy named Eric, he's a pretty good guy, as much as I can tell. Then again, I don't pay any attention to his love life at all."

"You're gonna hook me up with your buddy?" Abby asked skeptically, as she sipped her water.

"No," said Gibbs, shaking his head, "He's a good guy, but he likes his poker a little too much."

Abby giggled, and Gibbs smiled, his little humor was cheering her up, which was his master plan in the first place. She knew it too, as she observed him over her water glass. She had her own personal rugged, and dashingly handsome super hero. Maybe super hero was the wrong name, he was more her knight in shinning armor. Ready to save her from anything, only downside was, this knight in shinning armor already had his princess. Wasn't that just the way her life pans out, she finally meets the perfect guy, and he's taken, it figures. She couldn't help but smile as she realized he was observing her too.

"You ok, Abbs?" He asked concern filling his voice, and facial expression, "If you let this guy bug you anymore, I'm gonna have to pay him a visit."

She chuckled again and he smiled.

"So, what exactly happened last night?" asked Gibbs, and Abby dove into the story.

Her boyfriend had shown up at the usual club to meet her, but there was another girl already on his arm. She had taken him aside and demanded answers. He was completely blunt and told her he never thought of them as exclusive. Gibbs was soon sick to his stomach as she went on. He couldn't figure out why someone would – could – do that to his Abbs. About ten minutes into her explanation he started to block it out, he couldn't take it. Abby noticed that he seemed to be taking it all worse than she was and silenced herself.

"Sorry, Abbs," said Gibbs, making a mental note to pay this guy a visit anyways.

"Its fine," said Abby, it was her turn to be concerned now, she had never seen him like that, "You ok?"

"I'll be fine," said Gibbs supping his own water as the waiter dropped off their usuals, and they dug in.

Late that night Gibbs drove in the rain from NCIS headquarters to his home, the rain splattering rhythmically with his windshield wipers as he drove up the hill his house was on. He pulled right into the driveway and parked next to Stephanie's sporty little silver convertible. His gut was already telling him something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it exactly.

His first thought was of the weather. There had been a severe weather advisory, what if Abbs, distracted, distraught, and depressed, had wrapped herself around a telephone pole, or what if she had been hit and was injured in a car crash. He waited for the rain to let up a little, than dashed into the house. He first checked the answering machine, but there was nothing.

Then he realized, where was Stephanie? She usually was up waiting for him, but where was she? His heart sank and he went to the bottom of the stairs. He looked up and stared. He thought his eyes must have turned red, with the amount of fire in them at that given moment.