Author's Note:

Another chapter down. Thank goodness! Sooooo, if anyone is still reading this, I am very sorry about the time in-between these chapters. I understand how annoying it is for a story to be forever long and have chapters come out randomly. Luckily not too much is going on in this story, it's mostly…feelings. Hahaha! Ok, enough rambling, thanks for reading! Also, if you are confused about that random italicized section, I was in a flashback kind of mood and decided Gibbs was going to have one. So, it's just a little out of story experience.

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McGee ran the scene of interrupting Gibbs through his head about a hundred times before he gently cleared his throat. Sarah's timid eyes shot over at him and then back to her feet. Gibbs let out the smallest of grunts. With a large breath, McGee joined his sister on the couch. The most unobtrusive way to comfort is to just 'be there.' He sat between his sister and the couch and placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok Sarah. You are only helping if you let us know what happened." Sarah shook her head in agreement but continued to stare at her toes.

"But Abby told me that if I told you guys that you would hunt down the kid and she didn't want anyone going to jail. I actually agree with her on this one." Gibbs smirked. Abbey did know him too well.

"True as that may be, you still have to tell us what happened. We need to find that weapon." Sarah sighed but nodded again.

"I know." She paused, not sure where to start. She looked at McGee for guidance but Gibbs sensed her questions and started first.

"When did this happen?"

"Last night around 10:30 p.m. We were at Sixty-Eight Junction, on North and Congress. I dragged Abby there after about 3 hours of begging. She was really tired but I…" Sarah began to recede into herself but Gibbs reached for her hand and tried to keep her in the present.

"Sarah, look at me," Sarah's gaze met his eyes, "this is not your fault. This incident is the fault of some sick idiot with a death wish." Sarah smiled softly and let out a large sigh.

"Yea, she'd been really tired and wasn't up to partying but I begged and begged and she finally gave in. She knew I couldn't go to a club like that on my own. We arrived around 9. Boring story short, Abby left me to use the restroom and some guy who works at Junction started flirting with me. I was receptive at first but after a while it was clear what he wanted and I just wasn't going there with him." A look of approval graced Gibbs' features and Sarah smiled genuinely for the second time that day. McGee was practically humming with anticipation. She continued.

"I told him how I felt and after a lot of rejection he finally went away. He didn't even seem mad so I forgot about him quickly. When Abby returned we just had Cokes. After we danced for a while, I felt better and decided to freshen up. On my way to the bathroom, the guy from earlier grabbed me and shoved through other people and against the hallway wall. He told me that I should reconsider his offer. Of course he was drunk as hell, so I told him where to go. He shoved me into the wall again and told me to watch out, that he was really fast. I laughed that back into his face but he disappeared when he saw one of the bouncers coming over to check out the disturbance. When I went back to tell Abby what happened, we decided to leave right then. We left the club and walked straight to my car. I was waiting for Abby to find the keys, you know how she is with that, and the guy from earlier came out of nowhere and pushed me to the ground. He was yelling at me like a lunatic and Abby just lost it. She yelled at him and ran to my side, trying to push him back. He punched her in the face and pulled out his knife. She didn't fall like I would have; she just went at him again with her pepper spray. He screamed as Abby moved us back toward the club entrance and the bouncers. We were half way between the car and the club when he tackled Abby. She pitched forward and I screamed as loud as I could. One of the bouncers heard me and ran to help us. I kicked the drunk guy in the head while he was wrestling Abby on the ground and he fell to the side. He was just about to grab me when one of the bouncers tackled him. Abby hadn't moved from the ground and I was screaming about an ambulance. Another bouncer was trying to talk to me and check on Abby while he called the cops." Gibbs took the story in slowly. He had pictured the scene as clearly as he could with her description and despite Abby's condition he was amused and proud of her for defending herself and Sarah.

"That's really good Sarah. What happened while you waited for the ambulance? Why didn't Abby go the hospital in the ambulance?" Sarah had been prepared for this question.

"While I was next to her she told me she was fine and she had somewhere she needed to go. I asked why she didn't move off of the ground if she was ok and she told me to help her up but almost collapsed on me when we started moving. She had whimpered in pain and insisted it was her being wimpy over a few bruises. The bouncers told us to stay but Abby had already started moving toward the car. I didn't want to make her anymore upset; she'd just saved my life. All I could do was help her to the car. The bouncer followed us for a second and told us to wait for the police so they could arrest the guy but Abby told him he could be arrested for public intoxication and made us keep going. I didn't notice the blood until we were in the car. I begged her to let me take her to the hospital but she told me to go to some guy's tattoo shop."

"Why didn't you take her to the hospital anyway?" McGee asked already knowing the answer.

"I can't tell Abby no!" Both men blushed lightly as they looked away form Sarah. Ducky was the only one they knew that could tell her no and really mean it. Gibbs recovered first.

"Where was the blood?"

"It was dark, so at first I thought it was just a spilled drink from earlier. When I asked her about it she pulled her coat around her and told me to drive."

"How can you see a stain if it's dark?"

"There was a little light from the streetlamp a few rows away."

"To the left or right of the car?"

"In front of it."

"So you saw the stain while in the parking lot and you just started driving away. Where were you going?"

"I don't know. I thought I would take her to the hospital just to get checked out but she told me that she wanted to get a tattoo to commemorate the night. I ignored that request but she reached over and grabbed me by my wrist. I stopped the car and looked at her, her jacket had fallen open and we were slightly past the street lamp, there was more light in the car and I saw that her other hand was pressed to her side and blood was seeping between her fingers." Sarah's voice had quieted and her eyes took on a haunted expression. Gibbs was in full interrogator mode and was weary of a mood change.

"So you then decided to take her to get a tattoo?" Sarah's face jerked up to meet his and her eyes matched his in intensity.

"Really? You think I would do that to her? Of course I took her to get a tattoo! What the hell else was I going to do?" Sarah jumped out of her seat and started to pace in front of him.

"What do you think I am? I tried to take her to the hospital and she just got violent. I didn't want her to hurt herself anymore, so I took her where she wanted to go."

"A tattoo parlor?"
" She said she had a friend who could stitch her up. That sounded like Abby so I went with it. What was I supposed to do?"
" Take her to the hospital anyway!" Gibbs had gotten up now and was moments from storming Sarah's personal space when McGee fearfully placed a large hand on his shoulder.

"Boss," Gibbs turned swiftly and used all of his willpower to keep from punching McGee in the face.

"Damn it McGee!" Tim took two steps back and let Gibbs take a deep breath. Sarah moved between the two men.

"Stop fighting, please. Let's just sit back down before we wake Abby or Dr. Mallard gets upset."

"It's far too late for that." Ducky announced as he slipped into the room. The three watched as the ME rounded on them, his short legs moving faster than they had thought possible.

"All of you sit down, please. This situation is already difficult; we don't need to add to it with raging tempers." Tim and Sarah quietly resumed sitting on the couch, Gibbs got in Duck's face.

"This raging temper is working." Ducky scowled at his friend.

"This raging temper is also trying to work. Have a seat Jethro." Gibbs glared at the older man for a few moments before gingerly taking a space on the wall. Ducky rolled his eyes and turned to face Sarah.

"You said you wanted Abby to stop hurting herself. What does that mean?" Gibbs asked before Ducky could get his first word out. Sarah closed her eyes and crossed her arms around her middle again.

"She had a razorblade in her pocket. She cut at herself until I relented." The silence was thick as the three men took in the statement.

"I don't believe you." Gibbs finally said into the quiet. Sarah looked at him sadly.

"I wish you didn't have to." He looked to Ducky and the ME confirmed the statement with a small nod of his wise head. Gibbs cursed loudly and punched at the wall next to him as he let himself out of the apartment complex and into the cool November afternoon. The three watched as he slammed the door behind him.

"Should we go after him?" Sarah asked timidly.

"Not now child. He needs some time to make a plan." McGee jumped to his feet.

"We don't have time for him to pull it together. All the evidence in the parking lot is losing value the longer we don't move to collect it." He pulled out his cell phone and mock dialed Tony's number three times before actually placing the call. He let a long sigh escape as he let the phone ring.

"Probie! Where are you? Where's Gibbs? You are supposed to always be in contact! I believe that's rule number…"

"Tony! We have a problem." Tony sat up in his desk chair; McGee's tone was too strange for him to not take notice. Ziva, caught by Tony's shift in attitude, got up from her desk, and moved closed to DiNozzo's.

"What is it McGeek?"

"We have a crime scene to process ASAP."

"Right, is this case related?"

"New case. It's the parking lot of Sixty-Eight Junction…"

"Where's Gibbs? Why isn't he telling me this?" The feeling buzzing around Tony's heart was making him uncomfortable.

"Gibbs stepped out. He wants us to get on this case immediately, meet me there now."

"McGee,"

"What Tony?"

"What's the new case?"

"Parking lot brawl."

"That's a little out of our jurisdiction. Spit out what you're hiding Probie!" The anger DiNozzo so carefully stayed away from started to tinge his words and his vision.

"It's Abby, Tony. Meet me in 5." Tim hung up the phone and decided to get his things together and meet his team at the scene of the crime. At least he would be feeling proactive instead of waiting for something to happen. He said goodbye to those in the apartment and left quickly; his purpose renewed.

Tony sat at the desk for about five seconds with the phone still in his hand. At first he freaked about Abby, then he decided he would rip McGee a new one for hanging up on him.

"What happened Tony? You look pale." Ziva asked as she followed Tony's lead in gathering her badge and gun.

"Probie just told me we have a new crime scene."

"Why is that bad?"
" He just said it's Abby." The two left without another word, worries running through their heads.

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Gibbs had not been this angry in a long time. It was deeper than his usual melancholy, harsher than his everyday discontent. This type of anger boiled deep within his could and bubbled up with each fleeting thought on the subject. He took another sip of his bold coffee and continued to sit on the cold floor of his basement. His joints protested the position and the temperature but his mind was too far past reality to comprehend. He had not been this angry at Abby in a very long time. As a matter of fact, the only time he'd been this furious with her, had been when he'd found out that she'd done this before. It had been before she'd really started to work for NCIS.

Gibbs found his way into the lab against his own free will. His gut had practically dragged him into the dark abyss before he'd really had a chance to think through all of what was happening. It was late, past midnight, and he fully expected the lab doors to be locked and the new lab tech to be gone, but when he went to the double doors they bid him swift entrance. He heard the music but was not distracted by it as he had been all week. The only thing he could focus on were the large green eyes staring incredulously at him from the icy linoleum at his feet. Her mouth had tried to form words, had opened, and shut several times, but no sounds could come out. The scalpel fell out of her hands, the sound shattering his concentration.

"What…" she had already started moving. Her slick hands used drawer pulls and the countertop for balance; her heavy shoes thud as she tried to move around him. He held up his hands.

"Abby…" she didn't want to be there. She could not deal with this right now, not again. Her legs pulled her forward and she lunged toward her office but he was faster and he grabbed her firmly around the shoulders.

"What the hell is going on in here?" he asked, his fear catching her off guard and making him sound angrier than he'd intended. She stuttered her excuses, each one not quite making it off of her tongue. Her blood dripped onto the floor around her shoes and grabbed her attention as he tried to question her.

Gibbs would never understand self-harm. He'd seen marines do some pretty sick shit to themselves for this reason or another, but it was always to improve. Even through his training, he could not understand what a person was thinking when they decided to inflict pain on themselves as pain relief or anything else. He was struck by her lack of tears.

"Abby what were you thinking?" She would not meet his eyes but continued to watch her blood make patterns on the white beneath her. He followed her gaze and swore loudly as he gently pushed her onto her stool and went to find a med kit. He saw her poise to run the minute he turned his back.

"If you so much as twitch, I will shoot you." Abby stilled and continued to look at her mangled forearms.

The minutes ticked by in silence as he cleaned and dressed her arms. The majority of the cuts were light and made to bleed rather than make too much damage. The one closest to her wrist was the deepest. He looked over her entire arm, after more threats, and found more damage than he'd expected. Multiple lacerations covered both arms up to the shoulder, all in various degrees of healing. When he finished dressing her most recent injuries, he sat back in the chair he'd swiped from her office and stared at her. Abby squirmed underneath his gaze and continued to stare at her forearms. After another three minutes of the tense silence she couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm really, really sorry. Thanks for your help. I'll gather my things and you won't have to see me anymore. I'll turn in my letter of resignation in the morning." With that she moved to stand but he grabbed her firmly by the arms and forcer he back down. He saw that it had hurt in her eyes but she said nothing.

"What the hell is so bad that you have to do that," he pointed to her arms, "to yourself?" he demanded. The responses were birthed and died on her lips.

"I don't know. Look, I said I was sorry and I'll leave. What more do you want?"
"You're not sorry! If you were sorry you wouldn't keep doing that to yourself." She stared at him and then rested her eyes back on the floor. Gibbs was in new territory. This wasn't one of his agents. He couldn't just smack her around or yell at her the way he did Stan. He knew she was different, more fragile then even she knew. He tentatively reached out and clasped one of her pale hands in his.

"You can't do this to yourself anymore." She refused to look at him.

"Why would you do this?" He saw her lip quiver and his heart skipped a beat. No matter how many times he saw it, a quivering lip always reminded him of Kelly. He continued to look imploringly at her until she shattered.

"I'm just really sorry," she whispered as she brought her legs up onto the stool seat with her. Her arms wrapped tightly around her knees and she rested her face away from Gibbs' prying eyes.

"Don't tell me sorry. You're not hurting me. You need to tell your arms sorry. Tell yourself sorry." She looked at him over her kneecaps, and glanced at her forearms.

"Sorry arms." He knew it was supposed to be more sarcastic but he could hear that her spirit was too broken to put any joy into it. His arms found their way around her shaking figure and he held her awkwardly between two rolly chairs for a long time. He mostly remained silent, speaking only when she started to apologize again. That night had begun the closest relationship that Gibbs had had to a woman since his wife and daughter had left Earth for a softer place in Heaven.

Gibbs had often remembered that day with a bittersweet gleam. It had been the day that he'd really met Abby and he'd opened his heart to her ever since. That chance meeting in the lab had been the start to the second longest friendship he'd had since moving on from his past. That incident had also been when he'd realized that he wasn't the only one suffering and that he could live to love other people again.

With an angry sigh he flung the cup he'd been using at the wall in front of him. He watched it hit and spin but not break on the hard cement.

"Right." He muttered as he got to his feet and tried to rub some life back into his sore joints.