A/N: Holy crap. I haven't updated this in forever! I'm so sorry! I get so riled up when authors don't update, and here I am, a few months in, with no updates! I sincerely apologize, and hope that this chapter takes away some of the edge of the tension I must have left you all with. ~ Krysta

Abby's lab normally blared with techno beats, and gothic rock, dark electronic sounds that would bounce off the walls and shake one's inner being. But as Timothy McGee walked down and opened the heavy metal door labeled 'Forensics', it was silent.

The room was empty.

The monitors were black, unused and turned off, and all of the equipment was in a dormant state. Almost as a tribute to their user.

There were no replacements for Abby, and a teetering mass of evidence was piled up on a desk, waiting for her to process it. For her to return. To have the equipment switched on, the monitors to glow, and for the occupants of the land of Abby to regain their Queen.

The Queen of forensics. That's what Abby was. Without her, cases were not solved with the lightning speed that they normally would be. Vance had yet to obtain a replacement.

McGee was rather thankful for that fact, for if there had been a replacement, they would be asking just 'what the hell he thought he was doing' as he sat down in Abby's chair. He turned on a computer monitor and heard the familiar buzzing as the screen started up.

He looked down at the hand he'd used to press the button on the computer monitor and furrowed his brows together. It felt…wrong. McGee had an omniscient feeling deep inside of him that Abby could sense him touching her equipment, and that it was a violation of her space.

Shaking his head, McGee looked at the screen determinately. Whether Abby liked it or not, he was the only one available with the knowledge to use the equipment in the lab.

Timothy McGee pulled out the evidence bag that Gibbs had given him earlier. Pulling on latex gloves, he unzipped the bag and pulled out the items inside.

A loaded cartridge of illegal bullets, and a half-smoked Cuban cigar.

What if they'd shot Abby? What if she was… No, Tim, don't think like that…

He turned on the computer as well as he stood, bringing the other occupants of the lab back to life. But not by their rightful master.

The silence in the room began to ebb away as it filled with the beeping of machines being brought to power. Tim smiled a bittersweet smile. Oh technology.

A/N: I understand that this chapter was very, VERY short, but I felt like I needed to update something for you guys. Please don't be mad. You're the reason I continue to write this.