This is just a little AU that I came up with a while ago. Sometimes, it annoys me that TPTB never seem to make Abby really, truly serious.

Thanks for the reviews guys!

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The moment Gibbs saw Abby's back stiffen as the Russian terrorist yelled, something in his gut told him that things would never be the same again. A light of recognition shone in her eyes; recognition of assassins and plots and missing people and things that the old Abby should never have known about. Well, she would have known about them, she wasn't stupid, but the glint in her eye suggested personal familiarity.

The terrorist yelled again, in perfect Russian dialect, something Gibbs had never even known Abby spoke, let alone understood. "I'm the only way you're going to get Agent Adelei Caplano back!"

Her posture gained strength, her shoulders squared, her eyes darkened and she faced the terrorist head on. "Where is Caplano? Tell me!" There was a darkness to her voice, the polar opposite of the tone she adopted when she prattled on about fingerprints or sang to Android Lust.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw McGee start, surprised by her apparent sudden command of Russian.

She advanced, "I'm the only way you're going to live through this. Where is Caplano?"

The terrorist's shoulders slumped. "If you'll help me."

Abby turned to look at the Director, who was surprised, but managed to utter a bewildered order to have him sent to Interrogation Room One.

Gibbs, having never taken his eyes off his forensic scientist, saw her bow her head, a look of defeat and regret cross her face and settle in her eyes. Her hand rose to her hip, to flap back the side of her jacket and the movement was oddly reminiscent of an agent checking to secure their gun.

It only lasted a second. She quickly adopted a composed stance, but when she turned to Ziva's desk, the look of regret in her eyes was still there, even if her expression was schooled into one of neutrality.

His hearing picked up a sequence of numbers as she spoke softly into Ziva's phone, jumble, but what he was sure was an authentication code of some sort. A call sign was given and a weight settled into his stomach.

After a second, the phone slapped gently back into its cradle and she turned. With a deep intake of breath, she caught his gaze. Her eyes held a pain in them, but she looked at him nonetheless.

"I'm so sorry, Gibbs."