The shop where Maura worked was named Oracle.

It was situated off DuPont Circle, near art galleries and trendy cafes. Its windows were loaded with crystals, cauldrons, books, glittering jars of herbs, and a variety of other occult paraphernalia.

The large black awning sported the interesting white logo. The "O" of Oracle, had a five-pointed star inside it.

In the lower right of the window, a sign said "Tarot Readings".

Upon walking in with Abby, Tony saw the two burgundy velvet curtained booths off to the sides of the front windows of the shop. Glass cases with jewelry and large crystals and minerals lined one side of the shop, and books covered shelves all along the walls of the other side. In the middle were tables filled with hand made soaps, oils, and bags of herbs and magical ingredients. Behind the wall of glass cases, were shelves lined with jar upon jar of every flower, root and resin one would need to do…magic things with, Tony assumed.

There were also a variety of swords, daggers, and wands. And everything was covered in general, with glitters and pearly finishes, and included natural dried branches and dried reeds. There were racks in the back of the store with a variety of clothing, cloaks, skirts, tops, and jackets. All black and purple, with iron crosses, skulls, or butterfly applique's.

To Abby, it was a magical Goth wonderland. She smiled as if it were her own personal Christmas.

Tony had never been in the shop, and he was a little mesmerized as well, just by the sheer overload of it.

Just as they were taking it all in, Maura pulled back the curtain in the reading booth on the left, and walked her client out.

She was wearing all black, with the same knee high boots she wore on the trip to Long Island. And she was wearing more of her magical jewelry, pentacles, animals with jeweled eyes, and other pendants with symbols on them, all in silver pouring in varying lengths down the front of her body. She also had a large ring on each hand, one with a dark stone, one with a milky white crystal.

The man who was walking out of the reading was short, with smart looking round glasses on his face. He looked pleased and was listening intently as she walked him to the door, giving Tony a momentary glance, slowing for just a moment, and looking puzzled before turning back to him.

"Now, remember," she told him, blinking her large saucer eyes, "when you want to, you can talk to her. Any time. But the best way is to write down what you want to say to her in a piece of paper, and go to sleep with it in your hands. Your subconscious will be more aware of it that way, and you'll be more likely to speak the words in your dream state."

"Thanks, Maura. You really helped me. I will give it a try."

Tony had mixed feelings about the whole thing, but he knew Maura took it all very seriously, that she wasn't trying to scam anyone. She tried to educate him about the Tarot on their third date, but gave up when he couldn't stop cracking jokes about the images on the cards.

He could feel Abby's excitement, as she came to stand next to him after he gave Maura a quick kiss hello.

Maura was staring at him strangely.

"What?" he asked, raising his eye brows.

"I dunno..." she said, looking at him. "Something..." it was subtle. She felt something was off, about his energy, but she couldn't put her finger on it. He looked fine, standing casually in front of her, but something vaguely troubled her...she'd try to figure it out later, since this night was really about meeting his friends and team mates.

Maura took in the energetic bounce and pigtails of the pretty pale girl standing next to Tony, and grinned. Abby was wearing a cute pink jacket with a skull tee shirt and plaid leggings.

"You must be Abby," she said, smiling and grabbing Abby right into a hug.

"Uh," Abby was momentarily surprised, but immediately squeezed Maura back," Yes! I am!" She pulled back to look at Maura, taking in the long black hair and dark eyes.

"Tony," Abby said, turning to him with a serious expression, "you didn't tell me how beautiful she was."

Maura laughed, "Oh boy, did he pay you to say that?"

Abby turned to her, eyes wide in protest as Tony laughed.

"Nope. Abby says pretty much what she means. Now so I don't appear to be a total jackass, Abby Sciuto this is Maura Torino, Maura Torino, Abby Sciuto."

They both rolled their eyes at him.

"What? Wasn't I supposed to do that?" he laughed again, unzipping his leather jacket because the shop was fairly warm, and he already had a turtleneck sweater on with his jeans.

"You missed it Tony, we already hugged," Abby said, smiling with her dark purple lips. She turned to Maura. "We're good! And you're a witch!"

"Yes."

"You're a witch and you're dating Tony."

"Yes."

"Well...can you predict...are you and Tony going to get married?" Abby's light green eyes were sparking with mischief.

"Abby!" Tony was horrified.

Maura smiled wider.

"Well, aside that I have a ton of questions. And ...also, I was hoping to get a card reading..."

"Sure," Maura said, "but a friend of Tony's is a friend of mine. And I don't charge friends."

"But...isn't this how you earn a living?" Abby asked considerately.

"Yes, but, how about you guys buy me dinner and then we can call it even."

"Oh, I'm buying, no doubt about that, cause I wanna' get lucky later tonight," Tony almost purred at her.

She shook her head, laughing at him, and rolling her eyes again.

"One thing at a time," Maura said good naturedly, "How about let's do the readings first? And then we have all of dinner for every question you can think of?"

Abby grinned, happy. "Yes!"

"Whoa," Tony said, holding up his hands. "No reading for me."

"Tony!" Abby admonished, "You have to get one! Come on, just try it. Unless...you're scared." Abby was taunting him.

He snorted, "Scared of what? I just don't..." he eyed Maura a little apprehensively, not wanting to make her angry, "…believe in that stuff."

"Well then," Maura said in her silky voice, "you've got nothing to lose."

He scowled, knowing he'd already lost the battle. He sighed. "How long?"

"Twenty five minutes each. Abby can go first. Meantime, you can take a walk or hang out with Samuel."

"Who?"

"That's me," a male voice said behind them.

Behind the glass counter, a man with long, straggly blonde hair and a beard leaned on his elbow, chin resting in his hand. He had blue eyes and round glasses, much like the ones Maura's customer had been wearing. He was very thin, and tall.

"I'm Samuel Parish, I'm the resident shop owner, and demonologist."

Tony turned back to Maura, raising his brows, "Demonologist?" Seriously? He thought.

She saw the look in his eyes, "Be nice," she murmured the warning, taking Abby's hand and leading her into the booth.

They both waved at Tony as she closed the curtain.

Great, he thought. They get girl time and I get to hang out with Damien.

He turned to the thin man at the counter.

"I'm Tony," he held his hand out to the man.

Samuel took Tony's hand and shook it, smiling. " Nice to meet you."

"So...ahhh, demonologist," Tony said, hesitantly. "What...ahh, does that mean exactly?"

The man stood up a little straighter. "Oh, well, I've studied the occult for many years, and am an expert in ancient belief systems, specializing in concepts of good and evil. When I opened the shop ten years ago, people started coming to me with issues they felt were coming from evil spirits, or demons, and I started really looking into them specifically. Of course most people don't have true demonic possession issues or evil spirits after them-"

"Of course," Tony said, smiling.

"But once in a while...there's more to it. And in order to help those cases, I've had to learn a lot. At this point, people writing books or researching the topic have come to me...so I've become more of a resource that way too."

Pompous and crazy, Tony thought. He smiled at the man.

"So, how long have you known Maura?"

"Five years now. A long time. Much longer than her boyfriends last."

Tony sighed. It was going to be a long twenty-five minutes.

"I'm just so excited about this," Abby said, shuffling the cards. "I mean, I think there's so much more to life than we think. And I had an Aunt that used to read cards when I was a kid. She smoked too much. I wonder if she did it anyway, knowing she would die from it, because you'd think she could have predicted the lung cancer. That was sad. I've always been very spiritual. And I think you can have good luck or bad luck...and maybe change your luck sometimes. I think I'm really lucky."

"Abby, try to concentrate on what you want to know," Maura smiled, trying to get her to focus. It was obvious to her, how bright and different Abby was, and how her mind was a nonstop series of wheels spinning in different directions.

After Abby finished, Maura cut and laid the cards out on the table, placing them face up, in a traditional formation, the Celtic cross.

She looked down at them for a moment, as Abby eyed them and nervously looked at Maura's face.

"What do you see?" Abby asked her.

"I see someone who is very multifaceted. You are a scientist but...there's another love. Philanthropy. You volunteer a lot. It's because your parents taught you to be grateful, for everything you have. I'm sorry you lost them," Maura said, looking up at Abby.

Abby swallowed and nodded, too choked up to speak. Tony wouldn't have told Maura that.

Maura looked back at the cards. She smiled. "I see a strong man here, a father figure. He helps you, supports you. I'll take a guess it's Gibbs."

Abby smiled at that too.

"You're very dedicated to your work," Maura said slowly, "and it's meaningful, and what you're meant to do. But you're more than just your work. I see a younger man...close to you." Maura looked at the Prince of Wands, and it's placement near the Two of Cups. "He loves you."

Abby started to feel a little uncomfortable.

"You dated him," she looked at a past position card, the Three of Swords, "and then broke up. And...you still love him as well."

She looked at Abby, questioningly.

"Yes," Abby said slowly, "But…it's complicated."

"It always is," Maura said softly. "Do you know for sure why you aren't together?"

"I think so..."She fidgeted nervously, pulling at a pigtail. She was jonesing for a Caf-Pow.

"Abby, life is short. Just make sure you don't let fear make your decisions for you."

Abby nodded, as Maura put a gentle hand over hers.

"There's one important thing here too..." Maura said, staring at the Ten of Swords next to the Seven of Cups. "A warning...be careful of a friend who is not a friend. There is an illusion, you must see through, or it will hurt you. Be wary, and clear about who you are dealing with."

"But..." Abby said slowly, "all my friends are good people. I can't see any of them hurting me."

"The cards are only asking you to keep your eyes open. Otherwise, my dear, there is some good luck coming to you in the number six. And a gift from a friend is coming to you as well, something very special that you will treasure."

Tony was sure he was going to kill Samuel. How Maura could stand him on a regular basis was a mystery. He was arrogant and snide, and seemed to subtly resent Tony. Maybe he was jealous...

When the curtain pulled up on Maura's booth, he was relieved.

Abby emerged from the booth, looking thoughtful and a little worried.

But when she saw his face, she smiled brightly, "Your turn Tony! She's good."

"Aaghhhh..." Tony fussed, "okay but, you are not allowed to like him, " he said in a low voice, throwing a look over his shoulder at Samuel the demonologist. He had seen the way Abby casually eyed the guy before she went into the booth with Maura.

She smiled, "I'll try really, really, really hard to dislike him just for you, Tony. But if I find myself wildly attracted to him..."she shrugged.

"Abby!"

"I'm just saying."

"I'll tell Gibbs," he tried the ultimate threat.

Abby snorted at him, "Oh I see. So what? If you can date a witch, I can date a demonologist."

He was ready for another retort when Maura cleared her throat.

He gave Abby one more warning look, before turning around and pointing to Samuel. He said loudly, "And you, watch yourself."

The man looked entirely confused, not understanding what Tony was upset about.

When Maura lowered the curtain, Tony smiled at her.

"I really don't need you to do this..."

She smiled. "No. You don't need it."

He let out a chuckle, and threw his hands up. "Okay." And then sighed.

"Shuffle the cards until you feel satisfied, and if there's something you want to know specifically, think about it while your shuffling."

"Shuffling cards..." he said slowly, giving her a lascivious grin, "is not going to be what satisfies me."

Her pulse picked up at his seductive tone. She raised an eyebrow, pointing at the cards.

"Okay, okay. Shuffling."

He finished, and she laid the cards out.

When she finished laying them out, she felt a twist in her stomach.

They started out positively, with love, friends, and luck around him. But they got progressively darker, and the last three cards particularly disturbed her. The Moon, The Devil, and The Ten of Swords. Most people thought the Death card was the worst to have…not understanding the true nature of what the images represented. These were filled with illusion, testing, pain, and subjugation…

As she stared at the cards, something flashed across her mind, a series of images, almost too fast to keep up with. Strangely darkened eyes, razor sharp teeth stained with blood, and laurel leaves. The end of a pained moan echoed in her ears. Her hands went ice cold.

It hurt her head. She took a breath, and rubbed her eyes.

"Maura..." he was a little concerned, seeing her pale and suddenly distraught looking.

"Ahhh..." her hands were shaking. "I think low blood sugar may have just hit again. I can't concentrate. I'm sorry Tony. I really wanted to read for you." She didn't know how to describe what had just happened to her, so she decided to just go with a story for the time being.

His green eyes narrowed, and then he looked down at the cards as she started to gather them back up.

"Okay, no problem," he said casually, to calm her, "...we can get out of here and get to the restaurant. It's close by."

She wouldn't meet his eyes, as she put the deck away.

"Hey," he said softly, "whatever you're worried about, it's okay. I'll be okay."

He was so astute; she should have known he would pick up on her distress.

She looked up at him, suddenly feeling so afraid...

"I know we've only known each other a few weeks. And...I have no real idea if we have what it takes for longer term, but, I think you're a good man, with a brave heart, and...I just...don't want anything bad to happen to you..." she didn't want it to happen, but suddenly tears started to flood her vision.

His mouth opened a little, and his eyes widened in alarm. It wasn't that he was afraid of anything she had seen, because he didn't believe in it anyway. He just had never seen her this upset. She was always so in control of herself...

He took her face in his hands over the little table, and saw the quiver of her bottom lip, and the tears that trailed out of her eyes.

"Come on, sweetheart," he said softly, "its okay." He leaned forward and kissed her, gently, stroking her face.

"Besides," he whispered, lips twitching upwards at the corners, "this is all hooey."

She suddenly laughed. "Jerk."

After Maura changed out of her work clothes, donning the more casual jeans and fuzzy sweater, they all went to a cafe' Tony had picked a few blocks from her job.

She was nervously playing with the one pendant, the pentacle, on the chain around her neck. The rest of her baubles were put away in a bag with her work clothes.

Tony knew she was still jittery from whatever happened when she looked at his cards. He felt uneasy, and hoped they could talk some more later to smooth out her nerves. He wondered how long they would last, because though he really liked her, he was uncertain how to get behind the witch thing totally. He didn't take it seriously. Except maybe, that phone call before he was shot… But how long until she got fed up with him? He knew how serious she really was about her beliefs.

When they walked into Delilah's, Ziva and McGee were already waiting for them in a booth.

Abby slid right in next to McGee, and before Tony could stop her, Maura slid in right next to Ziva.

Oh...no. He wasn't sure if he felt comfortable with Maura sitting so close to the deadly ninja chick.

That left Tony to almost squeeze in at the end, next to Maura.

"Hi!" Maura said brightly, trying to pull it together.

"I am Ziva, and this is McGee. Ah, Tim," Ziva corrected herself, thinking maybe they didn't need to be so formal about names with her.

"It's nice to meet you," Maura said, and threw her arms around Ziva, while she just about sputtered in surprise.

"She's a hugger like me," said Abby happily. "That's good. Isn't that good?"

"Very, very good," Tony laughed, agreeing with her.

Then Maura jumped up and gave McGee a kiss on the cheek, practically climbing over the table to do it.

"Ah, h-hi there," he nervously smiled, turning red, as she sat back down between Ziva and Tony.

Abby saw his color.

"Oh, McGee," she said, a little sadly for him.

"What?"

"It's okay if you think Maura is pretty."

"What! I...no!" he looked at Maura and then Tony. " No,I...I mean, she isn't ugly or anything..." he looked miserable.

"Probie, give it up. You're half way in the grave there with your own shovel," Tony chuckled.

Abby was looking vaguely annoyed at McGee.

Poor Probie, thought Tony, knowing Abby and McGee had enough issues with each other living in denial about their feelings. Now he was in hot water...for gawking at Maura.

"So," Ziva said, redirecting to help McGee. "Tony tells us you are a...witch, yes?" She turned with interested eyes to Maura.

Maura smiled. "Yes."

"And..." Ziva said carefully, sounding a little too sweet about it, "what does that mean, exactly?"

McGee was transfixed, staring at Maura again, waiting for her answer.

"Well, it's important to know that being a witch, only means that you practice some form of magic. It's not a spiritual path in itself. Technically, I am Wiccan. Which means I have a belief system in place, with a moral code and tenets to adhere to."

They all looked at her, waiting for more, except for Tony, who was trying to flag down a waitress for drinks.

"I celebrate holidays, with the turning of the moon and changes of season, and celestial alignments. I study astrology, numerology, ancient belief systems and also study plants and herbs to make medicines and spells with."

"So, did you put a spell on Tony?" Ziva asked nicely, but Maura felt the little bite in it.

"No. But I think he's put a spell on me," she turned, smiling at him while he leaned over a little to kiss her quickly.

Ziva shifted in her seat a little, as Maura caught the subtle sigh.

"So...Ahhh," McGee was trying to formulate his question. "What exactly is a spell? I mean, in the movies, it's like the witch always has a cauldron and throws things in it, and says stuff and there's a big puff of smoke..."

She laughed a little. "Yeah, Hollywood does wonders for us. A spell is just a fancy way of doing a prayer, it adds energy to it. It can be with candles, or herbs, or Tarot cards, or a simple burning of incense, like they do in churches. And most religions are more connected than you think in their origins."

"That is...interesting," Ziva was eyeing her some more. Tony thought she was sizing Maura up as if she was going to cook her and eat her. He prayed this dinner wasn't a mistake.

"Do you have lots of witch friends? Is there a witch church? Do people ask you to put curses on other people for them? Do you make voodoo dolls? " Abby apparently couldn't contain herself anymore, and just let the questions fly.

"No, not lots but some, " Maura said, amused by the barrage. "Our church is nature itself, people ask but I don't ever do anything like that as it is against my beliefs, and no voodoo dolls. That's...well, voodoo is a much different system than mine."

"So...you never cast spells on people?" Ziva asked, still bleeding saccharin in her words, looking at Maura suspiciously.

"Oh, I do, but only with their permission and when it's something positive, not manipulative. The law of return applies to everything we do."

"Like karma?" McGee asked, blushing again when Maura turned her big eyes on him.

" Yes Tim," she smiled, "very intuitive of you. Wiccans believe everything you do comes back to you times three. There's a balance of a sort to the universe, though we don't entirely understand it."

"I thought you'd have the answers to everything," Ziva said snarkily, "being that you can predict the future."

McGee and Tony passed an alarmed look between each other. Abby looked down at the table.

"Not everything, no," Maura said softly to her," but, I certainly have some."

Ziva didn't have a remark after that, much to Tony's relief.

They ordered food and drinks. They asked Maura more questions, until finally she turned things around.

"So, you guys know a lot about me now, how about I get to know about you?"

"Ask away!" Abby said, "I'm an open book!"

"Me too," said McGee, smiling and a bit more comfortable than earlier.

Ziva said nothing.

"Who worked with who first, and did you guys always get along?"

They weren't expecting that kind of question.

"Uh, well, I believe, Abby worked with Gibbs, and then Tony came along, and I came on after...after Kate joined NCIS..."

There was a silence at the table for a moment. Maura felt Tony stiffen a little next to her while Ziva was mostly unaffected. Abby looked suddenly like she could cry.

"Kate?"

"We lost her," Tony said quietly, staring at his drink.

Maura just nodded, letting it go, since it was obviously painful to some of them, and Tony. She looked back at McGee, nodding for him to continue.

"And then there was Ziva. And...we mostly...get along. Mostly."

Abby was the one to laugh. "We're really like a big, crazy, family. We pick on each other. We look out for each other, we help each other, and we love each other."

"And Gibbs is the patriarch?"

"Well," Abby looked a little serious, "of course."

They all smiled a little, at Abby's description, knowing there was so much more to all their connections, but that was enough to sum it up for purposes of the conversation.

"And how about you?" Maura turned to Ziva,"They all like brothers and sisters to you now, or are you still a loner?"

Tony almost fell out of his seat. Maura was a quick study, and obviously Ziva's needling had gotten under skin.

Ziva was a little taken aback, not expecting the question, but quickly recovered. She looked just a little angry.

"They are like family to me. I would do anything for them. That is why we are so interested in anyone Tony seems to stay with more than a week."

Tony wasn't sure who that dig was more directed to, Maura or him.

"Okay, who wants dessert," he said, after having let it all go on long enough.

"OH ME!" Abby jumped and he was so grateful. "I am so into some kind of banana split or something like that. McGee, wanna' share with me?" she smiled at him, and they all caught the little flash of adoration in his eyes as he smiled at her and nodded.

Ah, that's the one who I saw in her cards, Maura thought. They really love each other. And then she thought a little uncomfortably about the woman seated next to her, who was so obviously jealous. Maura wondered if Tony had ever returned any of the feelings she saw Ziva had for him.

"I think I'll pass on dessert," she said, "I've had enough sweetness for one night."