Abby's POV

All I see is white. It's like a void. I feel like I'm floating. Like I'm not even there or here or wherever I am. Am I dead. I remember being in the middle of the road, something hitting me, Kyle screaming. Then nothing. Why am I wearing this black gown? What if I am dead? What about my family. My friends? Burt? Then a mirror appears. When I look at my reflection, I'm horrified. There's dark circles under my eyes, my hair's a mess, and my cheekbones seem to be poking out of my face. My lips are so skinny, you can see wrinkles and strands of gray hairs, skin as white as a sheet, and my eyes. My eyes they're so dull. I've never noticed these things about me before. Maybe my job is taking its toll on me. Maybe it's the caffeine. Maybe it's time to let go. But I'm scared. I'm in between the passage of life and death. Part of me wants to live but part of me wants to die.

Unknown Boss' POV

I'm at the hospital. Abby's friends are there. I overhear them talking about her being in a coma and her brother going berserk. She hopefully won't recover. This is what she gets for getting me in jail all those years ago. And to think I used to love her. I used to love her so much. She used to love me too. Then she started moving away. Then she broke up with me. But I still loved her. I wanted to make it work. But no. She didn't accept my love. She wanted be restrained. That restraining order didn't do much though. I still went to see her whether she knew that or not. But I don't want to continue my life without her love. So if she was dead, I could kill myself too. Join her in heaven. We could be together. Everyone loves each other in heaven. She would automatically love me. I couldn't kill her myself though. I love her too much to hurt her myself. I had to hire someone. Her team is leaving now. I have to leave before they see me. As I walk away I think about how Abby will get to join the graveyard where we met. I smile.

Narrator's POV

Gibbs' team gets up to go to NCIS to figure out who did this to Abby. They walk to their cars. Ellie is the last to walk out the door. Someone texts her while she's walking towards her car. While she is answering the text, she accidentally runs into a man with his back towards her.

"Sorry," she says.

"It's fine," he says.

Then Ellie walks away to her car. She gets in and drives to NCIS. When she gets there first surprisingly. The rest of the team follows. Gibbs gives them jobs to do for the case.

"Bishop see if there are any people that have a grudge against Abby in the area. In jail or free, I want to know," orders Gibbs.

"Okay Gibbs," says Ellie.

"McGee I need you to go down to forensics and run traces on the evidence and look at security camera footages in that area."

"On it boss."

"Quinn and Torres, I need you to search Abby and Kyle's apartments. See of there is anything out of the ordinary. Here are the addresses."

"Let's go Quinn!" Torres says.

Everyone goes to work. Just leaving Ellie and Gibbs in the bullpen. Hours pass by until Ellie narrows the list down for the people that might have a grudge against Abby. It goes down to three people. Henry Bablo, Aaron Witz, and Mikel Mauher. The rest of the people were in jail at the moment or dead.

"Gibbs," Ellie says, "I've narrowed the list down to three people."

"Who?" he asks, while looking through some files McGee gave him earlier.

"A Henry Bablo, an Aaron Witz, and a Mikel Mau-Mo-"

"Mauher? Mikel Mauher?" Gibbs said.

"Yeah. Who is he? I recognize the other names but not his."

"He's the reason Abby why has to tell me if she has a boyfriend or not."

"What happened between them?"

"They were dating for a little while. Then Mauher grew obsessed with her. Abby broke up with him, but he started stalking her. She got a restraining order against him, but he kept stalking her. We didn't find out until someone tried to kill her. I was hoping he would stay in jail longer."

"Was he the one trying to kill her?" asked Ellie.

"No. But he was eventually going to kill her. He wrote a suicide note in her handwriting to make it look like she killed herself."

"Oh. Do you think it was him that did this to her and Kyle?"

"Yeah, and when find him, I'm going to do a lot more than beat him to a pulp with a baseball bat."

"Who are you beating with a baseball bat?" McGee asks walking into the bullpen.

"Mikel Mauher. If we have the evidence" says Ellie.

"Him? Not that guy! I think Gibbs might beat him anyway with or without evidence," McGee said.

"Why are you up here McGee?" asks Gibbs.

"Oh. Well I pulled up the security camera images. You could see the suspect's face through the window, so I ran his face in the database. It came up as a Clay Simmer." McGee turns the TV on to show his findings.

"He was arrested for a DUI in 1997 but that's the last crime he did, since this. He's also the man that shot Kyle," McGee continued.

"So it wasn't Mauher," Ellie says.

"Not so fast," McGee said. He added Mauher's picture to the screen."I looked this guy up in the dark web. He's a hitman for hire. Pretty popular too. Never makes mistakes, never been suspected, or arrested for his kills. Well at least that's what his website says. Over 20 hits. Last post says that he's been hired to kill someone's ex-girlfriend."

"That's the guy I bumped into at the hospital," said Ellie when she saw Mikel's picture.

"I guess he was trying to see if Simmer did the job right. Can't have him getting caught because his victims survived and could identify him. Mauher would have gotten caught too."

"So this guy has never been caught because he never messes up," Ellie says."So now he just screws this hit up?"

"He wanted to get caught," says Gibbs."Does it say who hired him?"

"Not names but initials. And the initials are M.M."

"Mikel Mauher," Gibbs says coldly.

"This case was surprisingly easy. Too easy. Something's off," Ellie said.

"I know. Let's find out what's going on here. Do you have their last known addresses McGee?" Gibbs said.

"Yes. Mauher's is the Windsor Lane Apartment Complex, Apartment B23 Bethesda, Maryland. Simmer's is 114 Brookland Way, Frederick, Maryland."

"Call Quinn and Torres and tell them to go to Simmer's place. You and Bishop are with me. Let's go pay Mauher a visit.

They grabbed their gear and walked over to the elevator. Ellie pressed the button and McGee called Quinn and gave her the address. The elevator doors opened and they waited for some people to get off. Then they got on.

"Aren't you forgetting something Boss?" asked McGee.

"My baseball bat is already in the car McGee," Gibbs said.

Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've gone back to school after what was like a forever ago. Then I sprained my wrist. Then Hurricane Irma came. That was rough. And I can't work while I'm listening to the Hamilton soundtrack. Those are my excuses. So as an apology gift, I have typed up a longer chapter than usual. Enjoy!