Chapter 11

Abby muttered to herself while she tested more of the evidence from their crime scene. She couldn't believe her brother wouldn't even care about her running off and just go and find himself a distraction for the night! After all, he was the one turning up with just one eye - without having ever warned her beforehand.

Worse, he had barely called or emailed her in the past few years, even though she frequently tried to get into contact with him. Okay, she'd received an email just after Sunnydale became a sinkhole, telling her that he was fine and not to worry. That had been nice of him or she'd probably have gone crazy with worry about him. But after that there had been nothing. Not even after Kate died, after she'd told him how much trouble she had coping with her friend's death.

"Abigail? Are you alright, dear?"

Abby sighed at the concern in Ducky's voice. Taking several deep breaths, she turned around and quickly crossed the distance between them. Hugging him tightly, she said, "Thanks, Ducky. You just stopped me from being really, really mean to my brother."

He patted her back until she let go of him. "Xander? Where is he? I can't see him."

Abby shrugged her shoulders. "Probably still in bed with some random woman." Closing her eyes tightly, she shook her head. "Bad, Abby. Bad!" She took a deep breath and continued more calmly. "He told me some stuff last night and I kinda run off on him. And when I called him this morning, this... this woman answered!"

"Ah." Ducky smiled and squeezed her arm. "So you were about to chew him out in your head because you feel guilty about last night?"

Abby frowned, then grinned when she realised that Ducky was right. "Yep!"

"Told ya she hasn't changed," Xander said, casually leaning against the door to his sister's lab. Next to him, Willow grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

Abby swirled around at hearing Xander's voice. She opened her mouth and closed it again. Blinking, she focused on the redhead next to him. There was something very, very familiar about her.

Willow grinned and waved. "Hi."

Eyes opening comically wide, Abby walked closer, her head tilted slightly to one side. "Willow?"

"Uh huh. Hi Abby."

"Willow!" Grinning, Abby pulled the younger woman into her arms. "Look at you! You're all grown-up!"

"Yeah. I told her over and over again that growing-up is boring but she just wouldn't listen," Xander said in a grave voice.

"Xander!" Two voiced exclaimed in unison and he just about managed to avoid the accompanying slaps.

"What?" he asked innocently, causing them to roll their eyes at him. When his tummy rumbled, he grinned sheepishly, "Lunch?"

Abby turned around and had a look at her instruments, judging how much time she had before the next result turned up. She'd already emailed some of them to McGee and asked him for more information on the other cases he'd dug up so far. There was nothing she could do about it until he called her back. Besides, her Caf-Pow was empty and she needed a refill. "Yep. Lunch."

A cough reminded her of Ducky's presence. "Oh! Sorry Ducky!" Grinning, she pulled Willow forward. "Dr Donald Mallard, our medical examiner extraordinaire. Willow Rosenberg, Xander's best friend from kindergarten."

"Hi," Willow said, shaking the offered hand.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Ducky replied. "But now I must take my leave and see to my customers' needs."

Once Ducky was gone Abby took the other two to a quick lunch. She still had a lot of work to do, after all. But it was still enough time to revisit some childhood stories with Xander and Willow.

--

"He knows of him?" Gibbs asked. "How?"

"Whoa, Ziva! Did you just cringe?" Tony asked. "Because that can't be good."

"Ziva."

"Fine." She started walking briskly, hands hidden in the pockets of her coat. "Let me ask you a question first. What is your take on the supernatural?"

"Old wives' tales to keep the kids in line," Tony said immediately.

"I wouldn't put it that drastic, but I've yet to see evidence that it exists," Gibbs added more carefully. "Why?"

Ziva took a while to answer. "At Mossad we are trained to not dismiss anything and that includes the supernatural."

"What? If you can't find an explanation, a vampire or werewolf must be the solution?" Tony asked, sounding rather sceptical. "I know that we had our share of unsolved crimes at Baltimore PD. Are you honestly saying that those were carried out by supernatural beings as well? Don't get me wrong, Ziva, but that sounds like nothing but an excuse for not solving a crime. And a bad excuse at that."

Tony expected Ziva to be put off by his reaction, but she only shrugged her shoulders. "Didn't you ever come across a crime scene that just felt off? A victim dying of exsanguination, animal bite on his neck or a very messy neck wound, but there wasn't nearly enough blood at the scene?"

"There was no blood because the victim was killed elsewhere," Tony said. "It's known to happen that bodies are dumped after they've been killed somewhere else, Ziva."

"Ah!" Ziva said rather triumphantly. "So you had one or more cases like this!"

Tony pulled a face at her but didn't deny it. "Quite a few, actually. But, surprise, surprise, in most cases we also found the place where they were killed."

Ziva raised an eyebrow. "And, tell me, Tony, what about those cases you couldn't find the original crime scene of? Any chance a victim vanished from the morgue?"

"Not vanished. Misplaced by the new assistant." Tony's voice slowly but surely became defensive.

"Let me guess, the victim as found with foreign blood in its mouth. Then it vanished from the morgue, never to be seen again," Ziva said triumphantly. "Vampire. Your victim either got up and walked out of the morgue or, if you were lucky, someone took care of the problem and killed the vampire before it could escape."

Tony snorted, although even to his own ears it didn't sound very convincing. "Any chance you watched horror movies with Abby lately?" Realising Gibbs hadn't said anything for quite a while, Tony looked at him questioningly. "Boss?"

Gibbs sighed. "What?"

"Ever come across Ziva's scenario?"

He held Tony's eyes for a moment, his face unreadable. Turning to Ziva he asked, "And just how might this be related to Abby's brother?"

--

Said brother was currently hiding his face in his hands, groaning rather pitifully.

Willow had just discovered the joys of Caf-Pow.

And now she was talking a hundred miles an hour with Abby about some computer related thing or other. At least that's what they had started to talk about and Xander had given up following their conversation a long time ago, though he couldn't be a hundred percent sure they hadn't changed topics.

Moments later his head shot up quickly when he heard the word 'wedding' coming from his sister. And judging by the sudden silence his hopes of having misheard it were quickly crushed. Sighing deeply, he looked at his confused sister. "Abby? What did you ask?"

Abby shrugged her shoulders. "It's not important." The sudden change in Willow's mood and the resignation in Xander's voice told her everything she needed to know. It wasn't a happy story to be told.

"Abs, I don't know how you two went from computers to wedding or how many stops you took in-between, but that's where your conversation ended up at, right? The wedding Tony shouldn't have known about but still mentioned so helpfully?"

Abby nodded sheepishly. "You don't need to-" Eyes opening wide, she looked first at brother, then at Willow. "He ran a background check on you! First the handcuffs and now this!? I thought we were friends! I'm ... I'm-"

"Going to take a deep breath," Xander said, gently taking her hands in his. "Besides, the handcuffs were to protect you, remember? I guess the background check was for the same reason. Gibbs probably told him to."

"But ... but you're my brother! They don't need to do a background check on you! I know you, I trust you. Shouldn't that be enough?" Abby asked as she paced in front of them.

Xander snorted. "How long have you known Gibbs?"

Abby stopped mid-pace. Scowling, she crossed her arms in front of her. "He still could have told me."

"He's worried about you." Xander pulled her into his side, kissing the top of her head. "Besides, I'm glad you've got friends that are looking out for you."

"So you're not mad that they checked up on you?" Abby asked.

Xander shrugged. "Honestly? I would have done the same."

Willow stood nearby, her cheeks slowly but surely turning red. Lifting a hand to get their attention, she said, "I, uhm, might have done that already."

Abby looked shocked, but only for a moment. Then a grin started to spread across her face. "You checked up on Tony?"

"Uh huh. And Ziva and Gibbs," Willow admitted sheepishly.

Abby's eyes lightened up immediately. "Found anything interesting?"

"Like blackmail-worthy interesting?" Willow grinned, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "I might."

Xander chuckled. It was great to see Willow like this, completely Willow-y, with no signs of the power and all the things coming with it overshadowing her bubbly nature. "Somehow I feel sorry for them."

"Wait a second, the feeling will disappear quickly," Willow deadpanned.

"Yep." Xander nodded. "You're right. It's gone."

Abby giggled and pulled Willow close. One arm around the redhead, the other around her brother, she squeezed both of them tightly. "I'm glad you're here."

Her brother returned the hug, sighing mentally at once again having escaped the questions about the wedding.

"Just promise me you'll tell me about the wedding at some point?" Abby asked quietly. Xander sighed, and this time it wasn't just mentally. Apparently his sister hadn't forgotten again. Kissing Abby's cheek, he asked, "Think you've got time for the short version?"

Abby bit her lips. She really should go back to her lab. But at the same time she wanted some answers. Besides, it wasn't like Gibbs could scold her for not working. He was apparently busy with anything but the case too! "Only if you want to."

Xander smiled wistfully. "Anya. Her name was Anya. She was the bluntest person you could ever imagine. But I loved her. I might have proposed in the heat of the moment, though. I'm sorry I never told you. I guess deep down I always knew the doubts would win out."

"You didn't!" Abby cried out in alarm.

Xander nodded. "Yes I did. I left her on our wedding day. I know it was selfish but I just wasn't ready. Long story short, we became friends again before Sunnydale turned into a giant sinkhole." Xander stopped, looking into the far distance without seeing anything. "She died that day."

--

Ziva looked at the two men coming rather close to invading her personal space. In any other situation, she would have done something about it. But she knew where they were coming from so she let them be. "We weren't only told to keep an open mind, or that believing in the supernatural isn't wrong. We were also told it wasn't our jurisdiction. If we came across something we didn't understand, we were supposed to tell our superiors. They would then make sure the situation would get looked at from all possible - and impossible - angles."

"By whom?" Gibbs asked immediately.

"That I do not know. Only that they, whoever they were, were experts for unusual situations."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows. "Did you come across anything you thought to be of supernatural origin?"

Ziva nodded. "Several times, actually. In most cases we got a call back, telling us to continue with what we were doing. But once we were pulled from our assignment almost immediately. I later tried to find out what happened but was told that it was none of my business. I did hear that something like the vampire story I told you earlier happened occasionally."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Gibbs asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. "It wasn't relevant to any of our cases."

"And now it is," Gibbs said matter of fact. "Because of Xander."

"Yes."

"Continue."

Ziva took a deep breath. "There were rumours, most of them in connection with a girl suddenly appearing and the problem vanishing. The descriptions of the girl varied widely, but she was always said to be unnaturally strong and fast. I once asked my father about it and he just looked at me for a very long time. Then he smiled and said 'I'm glad you never had to learn more about the one who must walk her path alone and die young.' Then he told me to be grateful for her existence and that she is a true Champion of Light, that, if I should ever meet her, I was to follow her orders without questions."

"As interesting as your little story is, I still don't see how Xander fits into this," Tony said into the silence that had descended upon them after Ziva's speech.

Gibbs glared at Tony before looking back at Ziva. "What did your contact say? About Xander?"

"That he's working with the Champion of Light."

--

A/N: It took me a while to get the information Ziva received from the informant and through her background to work for me, so I hope it works for you too. If you find any obvious problems with it, please point them out and I can fix it. After all, most of it comes from rumours and they are not necessarily 100% correct, right?