Disclaimer: Neither one of the shows in my story belong to me

Mac was nervous at first about Abby on witness stand, but only till Cam explained her everything about primers, sequences and other stuff. Then she started to believe that although Abby was Harm´s witness, Mac could gain some points from her testimony. JJ shifted to more comfortable position and just started to enjoy herself.

"So, miss Sciuto" Harm was examining the witness but he mostly put the show for the Jury "You run quite a large laboratory yourself"

JJ realized she probably missed some of the interview, but she didn't have any trouble catching up.

"Yes" Abby answered visibly not feeling very comfortable on the witness stand. JJ noticed the scientist wasn't wearing her usual little unconventional clothes. She guessed that was what made her mostly uncomfortable.

"So, you don't have some kind of assistant to take care of paperwork, orders and other boring necessities?" Harm led the interview further.

"No, you see, I don't have the best experience with strangers in my lab" and something in her voice made JJ realize it wasn't just some smart-ass answer to over-zealous lawyer. Ziva noticed JJ curiosity and with silent promise 'later' they both returned to listening what was going on.

"Oh, but I meant some administrative help, like Petty Officer there" Harm nodded towards defendant stand "not to be working in lab, just to help you with your orders and reports. It must be pretty time consuming, keeping your lab fully equipped"

"Are you kidding?" Abby reacted violently and by the content smile on Harm's face girls realized it was the reaction he was going for. "There's no way you can give that job just to anybody. It's not like running an office where it doesn't matter if you order blue or black pens, it's very precise job and you have to know what you are looking for. It's too time consuming to train someone."

"I can conclude than, that Petty Officer must have known what she was doing" Harm pointed out like it almost didn´t matter.

"Objection, Your Honor" Mac jumped in "The witness can't possibly know the Petty Officer's abilities."

"Sustained" the Judge supported Mac.

"I'll rephrase then." Harm didn't lose a beat "In your experience, do you think that someone doing an ordering for a lab should have some knowledge about what was going in there?"

"Not some, considerable amount of such" Abby supported that statement.

"Thank you. I have no further questions, Your Honor" Harm smiled at Abby and sat down.

"Colonel?" the Judge gave Mac an opportunity to question the witness and she stood up, taking a piece of paper with her.

"Miss Sciuto" Mac started and JJ had to admire the way Mac behaved herself. Every single detail of her posture yelled professionalism and every slightest movement had its meaning.

Mac walked towards witness stand, put piece of paper in front of Abby and made two steps to the side. She stopped exactly on the spot she didn´t cover Abby from the Jury, the Judge or the crowd.

"Can you look at this document and tell the court, what do you see?"

Abby took just a minute.

"I guess it´s ordering list for laboratory equipment and some reagents"

Mac produced another copy in folder containing similar documents, asked judge to involve it in evidence. Mac explained it was one of many from the time Maggie was making orders for Commander Carter´s lab.

"Now, Miss Sciuto, can you take closer look at that list and tell us, what do you think about it. It´s a list the Petty Officer made at the request of her former boss, Commander Carter, when he was starting new series of experiments. It should be list covering the basic needs of the laboratory." Mac again gave Abby some space as she read through the file more carefully.

"OK, so supposing it is the list for new experiment, there´s a serious bunch of stuff missing, like here, I see PCR polymerase, the matching buffer, but without MgCl2, but no magnesium separately…it´s seriously weird. Then, there´s a pipette but completely nonmatching tips and I don´t like the primers, the forward and reverse are the same, just the reverse is written from end to the start. I´d have to check with the sequence they were meant for, but I´d call it, well, not impossible, but really, really improbable. And it just goes on, nonmatching buffer for some enzymes, imbalanced quantities of various reagents, wrong medium for selected bacterial strains and it is just very quick look." Although quite hard to follow, Abby left no doubt for anyone watching that she knew what she was talking about.

During Abby´s speech, which was getting more and more agitated and almost turning to Abby´s usual babbling, Mac stayed calmly on her spot, listening like she had no idea what the lab tech was talking about. When Abby finished, Mac waited few seconds to let Abby´s words sink in and then asked.

"Based on the document in front of you, what would you think about person that made it?"

"That it was someone who had no idea about how a lab is working. He or she had some instruction about what was needed, but it lacks any touch of experienced lab-worker."

"Objection, Your Honor, the witness can´t determine who is and who isn´t experienced lab worker." Harm reacted.

"Overruled, Commander, it is your witness and you have brought Miss Sciuto here as an expert. And the Colonel asks valid questions" The Judge´s answer made Harm sit gloomily.

"Continue, Colonel" The Judge encouraged Mac to continue and she gladly did.

"I have just one last question for the witness" Mac announced "Miss Sciuto, can you imagine person like this working in yours or for that matter any kind of laboratory"

The answer that came was quick and resolute and in Abby´s style.

"No way in hell"

"Thank you, that´s all" Mac came back to the defense table, sat comfortably and was getting ready for the final hit.

"The witness is dismissed" the Judge ordered "Commander, do you have any other witness?"

"No, your honor" Harm answered trying to cover the fact that one of his expert witnesses helped the defense considerably.

"After short recess you can start to build your case, Colonel"

Next: This time it´s Maggie´s turn on the stand