Chapter 25

Rambling

McGee sat on Abby's couch, drinking again, when she came through the door. At the beginning of her call from MTAC she had thought that she couldn't talk about anything that they had discussed, but SECNAV had decided to give them all a hand in this matter. Abby and McGee were the only ones who did not have problems with International Espionage charges, it was Tony and Ziva that had that worry. Abby had something to give to McGee and she was happy to have it with her.

She sat down next to him and took the beer bottle out of his hands, seeing that he was already a little tipsy. She sat there frowning at him, while he looked at her drunkenly. She didn't like to see McGee this way and she wanted him to talk about it. But, Abby was not in the mood to convince him that he needed to talk. There was so much reeling in her mind from her day at work; it was the most eventful day that she had had at work in a very long time.

She pulled out the gun and badge from her pocket and placed it on the table. McGee's eyes went wide as she put them down. He had never expected to see her carry a weapon, but then he noticed the badge as well. Perhaps she had been made a Federal Agent today and that explained the seriousness of her expression.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the items on the table, suddenly feeling so alert, as though he had not touched a drink all day.

"That is a gun and a badge," she responded simply. "They're yours."

Abby had not said much. There must be a lot on her mind, McGee thought. Abby always talked a lot and she was always excitable, whether it was a good excited or an angry excited. But, now, it was different. She was solemn and quiet. It was like that time that she found out that Gibbs had killed someone for revenge, or like that time that Kate had died. McGee wanted to know.

"What happened Abby?"

"Well, you are getting reinstated off the books," she said. "You're going to help with the case."

McGee was not satisfied. She was still not speaking and she was still thinking far too much.

"What's on your mind?"

"A lot," she whispered to him and then took a deep breath. "Everything changed today, Tim!"

He could see that she was confused and thoughtful and hurt by something. She was also worrying for some reason that he didn't know. He pulled her into a hug automatically without even thinking about it. They had not had this kind of contact in a very long time and Abby stiffened at first at the sudden contact. She then wrapped her arms around him and hugged him gently, which was very unusual for her. Her mind must really be preoccupied.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yes," she whispered. "Gibbs was at NCIS."

"You saw Gibbs?" McGee asked, pulling back from her and holding her by the shoulders. "How is he?"

"Great, considering his daughter is a marine and in Israel on a classified mission to gather intelligence about two names that we don't want to mention and also looking for a mole in the CIA," Abby said quietly.

"I thought it was classified?" he asked.

"It is to other people. But, you are officially a part of this case, if you want in?" McGee nodded to her. "Then, you need to hear it. Gibbs has a daughter. Her name is Gunnery Sergeant Jennifer Ann Gibbs. She is twenty four and currently on a covert operation to gather intelligence in Israel on Orli Elbaz and Hassein Ulman and what they are up to. She is looking for a mole in the CIA. But, her partner, First Sergeant Isaac David was taken today and we just received the video, but I'm unable to make a positive identification from it right now. Jen called into MTAC to tell us this. And Jenny didn't die when we thought she had, but the DNA says otherwise and Jen Gibbs has the answer to that, but won't tell us over MTAC. We are meeting her somewhere on Saturday, you included. We will get the time and location from Vance tomorrow when he gets it. The plan we had going is all changed now."

"That's a lot of information," McGee said. "Gibbs had another daughter?"

"Yes, she was taken by social services when her mother died. Jenny Shepard was her foster mother until she was assigned to Paris. Then Jen Gibbs had threats from two sides, so she was sent to Israel for her safety and ended up a child member of Mossad and worked as an assassin and lived with Ziva and her family. She knew Ziva. But her partner was Isaac David, a brother of Ziva's and he is missing, and Ziva is upset, but she'll never admit it. But, Jen was upset too, but she was also pissed off, then she was blaming herself and saying it was all her fault that he insisted on going to the grocery store. I think there is more going on between Jen and Isaac than we thought originally; she hinted to the Commandant that she had thought it was not a good idea that they worked together, because the last time they worked together nothing went as planned, but I don't know what went wrong. Oh, and Gibbs is pissed because Jen was in Somalia in Saleem's terror camp for eight months from January 2009 to September of 2009 when they finally were able to get her out of there."

"Slow down, Abby!" McGee said suddenly. "Her military partner is Ziva's brother?"

"Yes," Abby clarified. "Isaac David. He is twenty six."

"Ziva has another brother?"

"Yes, and he is a marine," Abby clarified. "This is the second operation that he has worked with Jen Gibbs."

"Jenny might be alive and she was Jen's foster mother?" McGee asked.

"Yes, for a few years," Abby said. "Before she was sent to Paris with Gibbs."

"That's when her and Gibbs were together. Did Jenny know that Jen was Gibbs' daughter?"

"I don't know, but Ziva didn't know until we started to research. Her and Gibbs were fine when I saw them after lunch, but not when they were leaving for lunch," Abby said. "They were so tense that I thought for sure they were going to kill each other."

"Ziva and Gibbs?"

"Well, imagine what Gibbs thought," Abby said. "Hearing that Ziva grew up with his daughter and had never said anything about it. Apparently Eli had failed to tell others her last name. No one knows why though."

"I would guess that would make him angry, yes," McGee said. "He gets defensive when something happens to his family."

"He's very defensive right now, even though he doesn't know Isaac," Abby said. "I've never seen him quite like this. But, this is Ziva's brother and obviously someone that Ziva trusts and it is obvious that the news hurt Ziva. So, he's seeing her hurt right in front of his face. But, it's obvious that Jen is beating herself up over this and he is like the angry Papa Bear protecting his cub about that. Oh, and Gibbs doesn't know about Tony and Ziva being together yet."

"Great. So we are going to this location that we don't have yet and we are all going there, and Gibbs will be there and he doesn't know about Tony and Ziva?" McGee asked.

"Yes, and Gibbs is not in charge," Abby explained. "Jen Gibbs is in charge. Rule thirty eight is what Gibbs said to me."

"Which one is thirty eight again?" McGee asked.

"Your case your lead," Abby said. "I'm not sure how it is her case."

"Because she lost Isaac, maybe?"

"Maybe," Abby said. "But I think it is more than that. I think she knew something before all of this started to come out. She has been in Haifa, Israel for a year already gathering intelligence, since before Eli David was killed. We haven't been told what her mission was, but she is going to fill us in on all of the details on Saturday. She wasn't supposed to be coming back for a couple weeks, but this changes the game a lot."

"It is now an investigation for a Major Case Response Team," McGee finished for her.

"Yes," Abby said.

They were silent now. They sat there looking at each other for a while. Abby's stomach growled. McGee nearly laughed at this. He had never known Abby to let herself get very hungry before, to the point where her stomach was growling. She must have been working hard for her to have forgotten to eat.

"Let's go get some food," McGee said and stood up and stretched.

He was stiff. He had been sitting on her couch all day and wallowing in his loneliness. But, now he was with Abby and there was a good chance that she was not going to kick him out again tonight. He would sleep on the couch again. It was only fair not to push the boundaries of their long-forgotten one night stand, so many years ago.

Abby stood up and nearly bumped into him, so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed that he had not moved. She looked up at him and her pale cheeks turned bright red. She was no longer thinking about the case. But, she was remembering the last time that she had spent more than a night with him at her place. They had ended up sleeping in her coffin and doing more than sleeping there. She smiled at the memories and felt a twinge of emotions in the pit of her stomach that had long been pushed back. She blushed a little more.

McGee reached up and brushed the blush on her cheeks and smiled at her.

"Nothing will happen that you don't want to happen, Abby," he said, knowing exactly what she was thinking about now.

"Okay," she whispered to him, wondering how much he wanted to happen. "But, perhaps I should be telling you that?"

"Hmm… maybe," he said. "But, no. I think I should be telling you that."

They laughed at each other and walked out the door. How could they keep dancing around this? Even Tony and Ziva had managed to admit their feelings for each other!

A/N - A little McAbby, but mostly serious talking. Only a few thoughts flying around, because we all know that they have those thoughts when we watch how they work together on the show!