Set during episode 7.15, Jack-Knife

"What happened?" Abby exclaimed as McGee entered her lab. "You look horrible."

"Thanks," he said drily. "As a matter of fact, I feel worse than I look."

"I don't know if that's possible."

He swayed and she rushed to grab him by the elbow. "Trust me," he assured her. "It's possible. Can I lie down on your futon for a few minutes?"

She shook her head, and at his wounded expression she rushed to explain. "I had to send it out for cleaning. There was an unfortunate incident with a Superball and a Caf-Pow. Don't ask."

"Right now I could sleep on hot coals."

"Hinky. And unnecessary. I'll clear off a table for you."

The table cleared, McGee climbed up and made himself as comfortable as possible, curling his arm under his head.

"Wait, wait," said Abby, rushing her stuffed hippo over. "Bert wants to be your pillow."

McGee put his head on the hippo and it emitted its familiar loud sound. He didn't even roll his eyes. "Wake me up at 2:00," he said, and then he was asleep.

Abby's brow furrowed in concern. She hadn't turned down her music yet. And sure, she could sleep to the sounds of metal if she had to, but even she preferred not to try. She circled the table, leaning over him with her arms held out and her hands hovering mere centimeters above him.

"McGee?" she asked hesitantly. "Tim?"

He was so still. She held a hand by his nose and was reassured by the warmth of his breath.

"Wow, Timmy, you are out cold," she said. "I bet you really can't hear anything I say." She put her lips by his ear and whispered, "Tony is reformatting your hard drive." She jerked back, but nothing happened. "Wow," she repeated.

After a quick rummage in her desk drawer, she had her iPod out and the stereo switched off. She resumed her work, casting anxious glances at McGee. She had seen him tired, but never this tired.

When it was time to wake him up, she felt guilty. He looked so peaceful. But then she thought about how he'd feel if Gibbs was the one to find him instead of her.

Gibbs. Pushing Tim to exhaustion. Almost getting one of her favorite people blown up not too long ago. Gibbs was just lucky he was one of her other favorite people, that's all. Hey, but wait...that meant he almost got two of her favorite people killed. So...he was lucky she loved him. And that she was a forgiving person. And that the bomb didn't go off. No matter how you looked at it, he was a lucky, lucky man.

His luck seemed to rub off on the rest of them, too. Sure, as she told McGee after she woke him up, it was really rude to push people (although on the scale of rudeness of which Gibbs was more than capable, pushing McGee around as a valet was way ruder than pushing him out of the way of a speeding car), but the point was...McGee was still alive. In kind of a walking zombie sort of way, which was actually really endearing, but the point was that he was alive.

The aliveness of Tim took the edge off her indignation on his behalf, which is why when Gibbs came to the lab and sent McGee scurrying away on another errand, Abby let him off with a veiled rebuke and a warning look. The grin accompanying his casual response didn't surprise her at all.

She knew he loved them back.