A/N: A quick word to you readers. Sorry that Tim hasn't been an important part of this story, but he will return, I promise you! I just needed to build up the plot a little.

Chapter 6

Director Shepard's POV- some hours later, during the late afternoon

The elevator doors dinged and mechanically glided open. I carefully stepped out and headed for Abby's lab for a report, since I made Gibbs take a distraught Ziva home just minutes before. None of the usual music was blasting through the metal door that was the entrance to Abby's lab, which I took as a bad sign. Silence was never a good thing.

"Abby?" I queried. Silence. I bit my lip, hesitating at the door. Perhaps she wished to be left alone? WWGD? What would Gibbs do? Just open the door already, Jen, I thought. I slowly turned the doorknob and found Abby asleep at her desk in the rolling chair. Poor lab rat must be exhausted. I approached her, and found empty Caf-Pows on the floor. I took her into my arms and carried her down to autopsy. She didn't weigh very much, which made the job easier. Ducky, who was just putting a body away, looked up as I came in.

"What happened too poor Abigail?" he murmured as I laid her down on the autopsy table.

"Not sure, Ducky," I said. "Try and wake her up, I'll go tell Tony that I'm leaving early today and he should be too. It's been a long day,"

"That it has," he agreed quietly. "You be careful now, Jen. Don't overextend yourself. Remember what happened last time,"

"I remember," I left the lab, hoping Abby would be okay.

General POV

Some time later, Abby woke up, looking somewhat disoriented. She groggily sat up. Ducky frowned. She was very pale and weak. Abby coughed, and to his shock blood dripped out of her mouth onto her hand in response. Years and years of scientific training made him long since immune to the sight of blood, but seeing Abby like this even made him slightly worried.

"What happened, dear Abigail?" he asked gently.

"Poison...weak...hurts," she whimpered, coughing up more blood.

"Poison?" Ducky repeated.

"Ziva...father...K-Kate said..." her voice gave out and she coughed again, much harder this time.

"What did our dear friend Caitlin say?"

"H-hold on...until he...comes," Abby rasped. She winced at the pain in her throat, and was unable to talk anymore.

"Mr. Palmer, keep her breathing, and get a blood sample from her if you can," Ducky instructed. "I have to investigate Abby's lab for evidence of poison," Whoever had poisoned the sweet, gentle lab rat everyone loved would surely pay. Ducky made a silent promise to tell Gibbs to have it out on who had a grudge against Abby. McGee ran into the lab, and Ducky stepped aside to let him by.

"Where's Abby?" McGee panted, a wild look of desperation in his eyes. Ducky sadly looked back over at the suffering forensics specialist, who was currently coughing her lungs out all over a baffled Palmer. Splatters of blood colored his otherwise white lab coat.

"Abby," he choked, stumbling forward toward her. Abby managed a small smile as Ducky left the lab.

"Hey," she rasped. "Don't worry, this is practically nothing. Did you need something?" McGee frowned and saw through her façade at once.

"Abs, you're coughing up blood and you count this as nothing?" he asked incredulously. She shuddered and shook her head.

"Tim, if you wanted to talk, just talk. This isn't about me," Her eyes grew hard with determination, showing a little more light than before. McGee sighed, knowing his efforts were futile. Before he could answer, however, Abby coughed violently for several minutes, and Palmer tried to get her airways to clear as blood splattered onto his lab coat, more than earlier. Her face was steadily growing paler. Little did they know that things were about to take a turn for the worse for Abby.

"I thought you had food poisoning," Palmer said when Abby finally stopped coughing and drifted off to sleep.

"I'm fine now," McGee told him. "What happened to Abby?"

"She was poisoned, very badly, by the looks of things. Dr. Mallard should be back soon with evidence…should get a blood sample before he gets here,"

"Poisoned? How?" McGee asked. Ducky walked in with an empty Caf-Pow.

"With this, I'm afraid," Ducky said sadly. "It's a lucky thing I discovered the contents of the poison now, because by the looks of things, if we don't do something soon, Abigail may not make it," As if in response to his statement, Abby's breathing started to quicken for no apparent reason and Palmer threw a panicked glance at Ducky.

"Check her heart rate," Ducky ordered. "I will attempt to find an antidote for our precious Abby," He went into the back room, cup and all. McGee glanced at his other hand as he left. There was a few crumpled pieces of paper with writing on them.

"Ducky, what are those?" he called, pointing at the papers. He acted as if he had not heard McGee.

"Her heart rate is well over one hundred, Doctor…" Palmer said in a worried voice. Still Ducky said nothing, frantically going through file after file in his computer at the same frenzied pace Abby would have on any normal day. But this was no normal day. Whatever normalcy that may have existed had long since faded the moment Abby had woken up on the table.

"Abby, snap out of it!" Palmer shrieked. "You're having a nightmare, stop-ouch!"

"Gibbs…" Abby moaned, tossing and turning on the table. "Don't die! I already…no!" The last word was a shriek of pain that tore at everyone's eardrums. She started sobbing in her sleep, and McGee tried to calm her down as Ducky continued his research. Tony wandered into the lab, and stared in shock at the scene before him. Abby was shrieking and kicking, squirming relentlessly as McGee and Palmer tried to hold her down. Ducky had a panicked look on his face as he continued to type at the keyboard, his hands flying across the keys with a surprising amount of grace and speed. Tony shuffled forward, his face blank with disbelief. After a minute, he took out his cell phone and called Ziva.

"Zee-vah, we need a ninja to help out here," he said, which was a Tony-ism for 'things look pretty bad, we need your help,'

"I'll be there in five minutes. Gibbs left my apartment fifteen minutes ago," The call disconnected a second later. During the time Tony took to venture toward the autopsy table, three things happened. First, Abby's screams suddenly cut off and gave way to a round of coughing. Second, Ducky hit a firewall covered in endless coding even McGee would have a hard time dealing with. And the third thing that happened was there was a very loud thud upstairs. Tony tore himself away form the scene and went searching for the source of the noise.

Ziva POV

I ran with all the strength I had, sensing things were very wrong back at NCIS. My black paws slammed against soft dirt and stirred up fear in animals in the forest around me. Using my sense of smell, I tracked a detour to NCIS that would leave me unseen. Finally, I arrived at my destination and morphed back to human. Luckily, with the style of clothes I wore, I didn't have to worry about being naked every time I changed between forms. I casually walked past security and into the building. Autopsy was the basement, I reminded myself. Perhaps Ducky knew what was going on. Walking into the lab now, I discovered something far, far worse than I had imagined. McGee leaned over Ducky's shoulder, murmuring decoding instructions. Palmer nursed bleeding wounds on his exposed arm that I recognized to be fingernail marks. But the worst of it all was Abby, who was coughing and thrashing about in her sleep. Blood was everywhere, and judging by her impossibly pale and clammy skin, it was all hers. I walked straight up to Abby, who calmed down the second I got close. Palmer sighed in relief.

"She's been like that for the past half hour," Palmer said. "The poison is really starting to get to her. I doubt she could last overnight,"

"How can you say that? Abby is a very strong person. I am sure she will find a way to hang on," Suddenly, her eyes snapped open and she looked up at me.

"Ziva…" Abby whispered hoarsely. "Kate knows…" She sighed softly as her voice started to give out.

"Knows what?" I asked.

"Antidote," she breathed. Her eyes were glazed over, staring at something I couldn't see. As if on cue, there was a ding from the computer, and Ducky looked up at us in both surprise and relief.

"Got it," McGee said with a small smile on his face.