A/N: As I wrote this, it occurred to me that this is the longest story I've written so far. Funny thing is that originally I intended it to be around the 4 or 5 chapter mark. It just kept expanding. Thanks for staying along for the ride. F.

As he'd feared, their almost kiss had made things awkward. Though they'd both tried to act normally, there was a constraint between them that hadn't been there on Sunday night.

He sat at his desk in the bullpen, trying to think of a way to take back his stupid action. He'd replayed that moment over and over in his mind; he couldn't help but think about it. He'd known at the time that it was a bad idea to submit to this particular impulse, but he was so tired of constantly having to control himself. If the mass spec hadn't beeped when it did, God knows what might have happened. And yet... as he'd let her go, he could have sworn he'd seen disappointment in her eyes. He must have imagined it. 'Wishful thinking, Timothy' he told himself.

Gibbs entered the squad room, cup of coffee in hand. The team watched him covertly, hoping he'd tell them to gear up. Instead he sat down at his desk and dropped his badge and gun into the top drawer.

"DiNozzo, David, you've got reports to finish. They were supposed to be on my desk by 2200 hours last night" McGee couldn't conceal a smile as he saw Tony and Ziva wince.

"McGee, Abby needs a hand in the lab, some computer thing. Help her"
"On it, Boss" he grabbed his pack and went to the elevator. As the doors closed he could see Tony's suspicious gaze.

He entered the lab to find Abby staring in disgust at a screen full of encrypted data.

"Hey Abs, Gibbs said you need my help. What do you have?" he asked

"Some project for the Director. Cybercrimes sent this laptop up; they couldn't break the encryption on it so they've asked me to do it. But the algorithms they've used, they're like nothing I've ever seen before. Cybercrimes got through 5 levels of encryption before they got stuck and called me"

"Right, let's have a look"

She set up another image of the laptop's hard drive on her second computer so they could each work on a screen and they got to work.

After a while, evidence from other team's cases started the usual slow trickle into Abby's lab and she had to start processing it, leaving McGee to try to break into the laptop hard drive. As she moved around the lab running her usual battery of tests, she watched him covertly. She decided she loved his look of concentration, brow furrowed and full lower lip slightly pouted as he typed. He was so absorbed in the hinky computer that he barely noticed when she came and stood beside him, running prints through the AFIS database

"Hah. Hey Abs, I think I've got something" he called a few minutes later without taking his eyes off the screen

"I'm right here, Tim" she said amusedly. Her voice came from right behind him, making him jump "Sorry didn't mean to startle you. What have you got?" She leaned over his shoulder a little to see what he was trying to show her. She was quickly almost as absorbed as he had been before, leaning further over his shoulder as they typed on the same keyboard, trying to force their way through the encryption.

Their simultaneous cry of "Got it!" and accompanying high fives were observed by Tony, resting against the door jamb with an evidence crate in his hands. When Abby went back to leaning against McGee's back, he cleared his throat, making the other two jump. Abby was the first to turn around. Seeing Tony with the evidence crate, she rushed over.
"What have you got for me, Tony?" she asked, a little too cheerfully

"Training accident at Annapolis. This is the petty officer's kit, Gibbs wants it checked out"

"Do you need me back upstairs, Tony?" McGee asked

"No, Probie, Boss wants you down here still" McGee nodded and turned back to the computer. There was another, tougher layer of encryption to go.

Tony stayed and chatted with Abby for a few minutes while she signed for the evidence in the crate, noting how often her eyes went to the intent figure of McGee. He left the lab with one thought. There probably wasn't anything going on between those two, but judging by Abby's demeanour, it wouldn't be long until there was something happening. He knew how McGee felt about the Goth forensic scientist. He just hoped Abby was as serious.

The 7th layer of encryption on the laptop turned out to be the last, and was by far the hardest to crack. It didn't help that Abby couldn't give her full attention to the laptop, having to help while she waited for results to come back from the evidence she was processing.

Taking a break to run for coffee and Caf-Pow, it occurred to McGee that her restrained manner of the night before had totally disappeared. If anything, she was more physically affectionate than usual. She had his self control in tatters. Usually he could tell when he was about to be on the receiving end of an Abby hug and steel himself for it, but this wasn't the normal, huggy Abby. This was different; she kept leaning over his shoulder and sharing his keyboard, which wasn't unusual. She'd done that many times. But she also kept brushing against him at odd moments, so slightly that it could have been an accident. Except for the fact that it kept happening, that is. Her behaviour had him totally bewildered. In the space of 5 days, she'd gone from ignoring him to appealing to him for help, fallen asleep in his arms twice, withdrawn from him again and unless he was mistaken, was now subtly flirting with him. He was going mad trying to keep up.

He re-entered her lab and deposited her Caf-Pow in front of her where she sat trying to break through the 7th layer of encryption. She rewarded him with the grin that never failed to make his heart skip a beat. Good enough thanks for him. He leant over her shoulder to see what progress she'd made while he was out. She turned her head towards him slightly as she filled him in on the idea she'd had in his absence. She was so close to him. He could smell her gunpowder perfume and the scent that was just her. Feeling slightly dizzy, he took a half step sideways. She was driving him crazy. He glanced at her and caught the slight triumphant gleam in her eye. She knew what she was doing to him alright. Now he had to figure out what to do about it.

It was almost a relief when they finally cracked through the last layer of encryption and turned the laptop back over to Cybercrimes. He stood up, stretching his back to ease the cramping muscles from hunching over the computer all day, told Abby he'd be back to get her later and escaped back to the squad room. He needed to put some distance between them for the moment if he was going to have enough impulse control left to drive them home. As Abby had pointed out last night, the seats in his Porsche really were close together, and he really wasn't coping with being that close to her right now

Back at his desk, Gibbs got him to start running background checks on the dead petty officer while they waited on Ducky's autopsy report and Abby's forensics. He could find nothing out of the ordinary; the petty officer was single, lived in rented housing a few miles from base, had no unusual financial or phone activity, and drove a cheap car. Around mid afternoon, Abby appeared from downstairs with the petty officer's kit in her hands

"Your petty officer's kit is clean, Gibbs" she announced "I ran every test I can think of, and I can't find any evidence of anything hinky" Gibbs gestured for her to give the crate to DiNozzo, so she handed it over and left.

"That concurs with Ducky's autopsy report. This was just a training accident. DiNozzo, return the petty officer's kit to Annapolis"

"Sure Boss"

"Mind if I go too, Boss? I could use the break" McGee asked hopefully

"Go on, go with Tony"

"Thanks Boss"

Tony gave him a questioning look as he followed him to the elevator, but stuck to small talk until they got in the car and pulled out of the lot.

"Spill it, Probie" he demanded "You didn't tag along just to get out of the office, so talk"

He heaved a sigh

"Ok, fine. It was either you or Gibbs, and his track record with women is terrible. I need some advice..."

Late that afternoon, Tony came down to Abby's lab bearing a Caf-Pow. It was still slow upstairs; he stayed for a few minutes, leaning against her computer shelves. He asked her how her search for a new apartment was going, and if the insurance companies had finally decided to pay out, teasing her a little about being homeless. She took from him because it was Tony, and she knew that it was his way of showing concern for her.

Suddenly he dropped the jokey manner, becoming serious

"Abs, what's going on between you and McGee?" he asked

"I don't know what you're talking about, Tony." She responded innocently, but she wouldn't meet his eyes

"Ok, well, the last few months you've been ignoring him, and then since you've been staying at his apartment you suddenly can't keep your eyes off him" he elaborated

"Oh" she took a deep breath "That obvious huh?"

"Yeah. Look, Abs, you can't mess with him like this. He's not the same green kid he was when you were dating years ago. He's not going to settle for a fling, not with you. So before you go any further, you need to figure out what you want from him"

She shifted, clearly uncomfortable under his gaze

"Abby"

"I know, Tony. It's like these past few days I've been able to see everything that made me go out with him in the first place all over again, and I can't help myself"

He waited for a moment after she stopped, then asked

"Abby, are you in love with McGee?"

She nodded slowly

Smiling, he reached out and squeezed her shoulder

"Then tell him, Abs. Poor Probie's confused as hell"

Whistling softly to himself, he turned and left. At the doorway, he paused
"Oh, by the way. Gibbs is about to let us go for the night. I'd start shutting stuff down if I were you"