AN: Haha, so sorry about that cliff hanger, I just could NOT resist. Anyway, on with the epic adventure of our wonderful NCIS agents.

Disclaimer: umm I have been forgetting this but at this point you readers know NCIS is not mine, otherwise there'd be more McAbby, Tiva, and Jenny would not be dead. And Vance can just goo awaaay...

The next day

McGee POV

Abby ran into the bullpen, squealing with excitment. Well, at least someone had a good start to their day.

"Guess what, Timmy?" Abby squealed, bouncing up and down with more energy than usual.

"What?"

"I found us a new place to live in!" She shoved the photo in my face. "Look, I have the address, and since we have the day off, I want to show it to you!"

"We have the day off?" I asked. Somehow, this was the part that got most of my attention.

"Yes, now come on!" I was yanked out of my chair and pulled toward the elevator, but before she could so much as press a button, Tony came surging out of there, a shocked expression on his face.

"Guess what?" Really? More news? I sighed and turned to look at him. Abby tapped her foot against the carpet, growing impatient.

"I'm kind of in a hurry, Tony...can't this please wait?"

"Ah, out with your girlfriend, I see McInLove," Tony teased, the usual light of humor returning to his bright eyes. Abby huffed a sigh and continued dragging me along to the car lot, where her shiny red car awaited its next journey. I climbed into the vehicle without a single complaint. Sometimes there was just no arguing with Abby...but I loved her anyway, annoying parts and all. The annoying bits just made her even more lovable. The drive was only ten minutes, even with Abby following all the traffic laws, something we had in common much of the time. Finally, the red hotrod came to a sudden halt, snapping me out of my reverie.

"We're here!" Abby sang out. In front of us was a medium-sized brick house with a neatly cut lawn. As I got out, I could smell the fresh cut grass and scents of a lovely garden from the yard next door.

"Are you sure this is where you want to live?" I asked uncertainly. It looked too...manicured here for Abby's style.

"Wait until you see the inside."

Jenny POV

It was hard to believe that Abby had walked from a fire that she started-almost completely uncathed. Daniel gave me an accurate recount of what had happened within the past forty-eight hours.

"How did the fire start?" I asked him.

"No idea," he replied. "She never told me...but I did see her skirt was a little stained with something."

"Coffee?" I guessed.

"No way. Abby's a Caf-Pow! fan, you know that...hold on! I remember seeing a cup of that stuff in the room where Eli was trying to make clones of us. Maybe she used that to destroy the machines and it started a fire."

"It would make sense," I mused, "but what is this you said about clones?"

"Eli did not go into detail, but I assure you we at least slowed him down in his plans."

"Very good," I said. "We should find out what Eli's next move is as soon as possible. See if you can find any inside information on what's going on." Daniel nodded, his eyes sparked with confidence. It seemed that going undercover was his specialty. All of the sudden, there was a shriek from downstairs. Daniel gave me a look of horror then ran out to see what the commotion was. I followed him, and saw Tony standing near Kate with a melted stapler in one hand and a mangled box of staplers in the other, as if it had been burnt to a crisp. Kate was staring at Tony like he had done something as horrifying as killing someone and ripping them apart limb from limb.

"What's going on here?" I shouted, going into Director mode as soon as the shock had worn off. Tony dropped the items in his hands and stood at attention. Kate seemed unable to move or speak.

"Maybe I should've...put it down first before I tried that," Tony said. He turned to look at me. "Diector, I'm not sure how to explain this, but maybe if I just showed you, it would make a whole lot more sense-"

"So show me, then," I snapped, not in the mood for riddles. Tony took in a shaky breath and snapped his fingers. Instantly, a small flame appeared in his now outstretched hand.

"Guess we found out the cause of my weird illness," he said in an oddly serious tone. The flame vanished when he put his hand down. Daniel had a half eager, half amused expression on his face that greatly contrasted with the shock of the whole situation. Kate snapped out of her strange trance and gazed at Tony with a whole new form of adoration I had never noticed before in her eyes.

"Where is Ziva, by the way?" I asked, deciding there wasn't anything else to be said on the current matter at hand.

"Replacing the window in Abby's lab," Kate replied in a strained voice.

"What about Abby?"

"Out with McGee taking the day off." Hmm. Must have been Gibbs's idea. Speaking of...

"Hope they use it wisely," Gibbs said, appearing out of nowhere like he seemed to be so good at all the time.

"Why'd you give them the day off?" I asked accusingly. "You know we've got a case."

"Things are settling down, Jen. Can't do anything till we know what Eli's doing." I sighed, but he had a point. Gibbs had thought of everything, apparently.

"So, shall we take our own break?" Gibbs murmured. I felt blush tinge my cheeks as he led me into my own office, letting the door slam shut and lock automatically as it did sometimes when it shut too hard. One kiss lead to another, then another and another, and soon, all too soon, I had to pull away to breathe.

"My favorite redhead," Gibbs said with a small smile that was barely visible.

"My silver haired fox," I purred in response. His hands moved down to my waist. It had been such a long time since we had spent time alone like this.

Later...

Just as we were really beginning to enjoy our little 'break' here in my office, there was a loud, rapid knock at the door. I moaned and hurried to make myself look presentable for whoever decided to interrupt my temporary vacation. Gibbs miraciously was already resituated by the time I wrenched the door open to see Ziva standing there.

"Director?" Ziva queried.

"I am fine," I said hastily, knowing my hair must look a complete mess and my makeup in no better condition. "What do you want?" Ziva looked very uncertain, an unusual thing to see in her, so I knew this was probably serious.

"What's wrong?" Gibbs asked when Ziva did not answer.

"I...am not sure," she murmured, speaking slowly, as if she were trying to find the right words. "But there is snow in Abby's lab now." Gibbs and I exchanged a glance. Snow? Since when did it snow in DC at this time of the year? Especially indoors?

"Could you explain a little more?" I said as we took the stairs down to Abby's lab.

"One minute I was thinking about how cold it was in there and the next...snow came down out of nowhere."

"From the ceiling?"

"I will show you," Ziva replied, apparently not wanting to discuss the matter any further.

Abby POV

"...and here is the spare bedroom," I concluded. McGee nodded, not really paying attention to the tour I was giving him. I frowned, wondering why he was so distracted today.

"Sorry, Abs, I just can't focus on this right now," he said in a monotone. I could tell he was deep in thought about something.

"Hey, why don't we go ahead and make the purchase official, that way we can go ahead and move all our stuff in here and still have time for the remaining wedding plans...you know, we have not decided on a cake or invitation style, and I can't hold out on the bakery forever, they do exclusive booking at least a week before hand, and there's still the matter of a proper date for the damn event, as you very well know-"

"Abby," McGee interjected. I got the hint and fell silent. "Look, I've been thinking-"

"Big surprise," I said without thinking. He sent me a warning glare.

"I've been thinking, and it looks like we have way too much on our plates, what with the case, our weird abilities coming in at any second now, the wedding to plan, and moving into a new place, and the twins to raise, don't you think something has to give before we crack under all this strain?" I nodded. This certainly was a lot to handle at once.

"I'll have Kate and Ziva finish off the wedding plans," I said, hoping for compromise. "We can take more breaks from work so we won't have to hire babysitters full time. And the owner of this place said we can move in here anytime we wish."

"Don't you feel like things are going too well, though?" McGee asked in a tone very close to a desperate whine.

"You mean, despite the fact that I nearly became a burnt Abby carcass the other day?" I asked sarcastically, remembering all too well about my close encounter with the monstorous flames spreading out of control, eating everything in sight...I shook away the memory with a slight shudder, hoping nobody on the team had gotten such a horrifying ability.

"Abs, I'm serious!" McGee exclaimed.

"Okay. Serious now," I told him.

"I mean...don't you get a gut feeling that something really bad is going to happen at any second?"

"Timmy," I whispered. "I feel like that every time you go out in the field. I feel like that any time one of you leaves my lab. I feel like that when we leave our kids. But that doesn't stop me from living, now does it?"

"Guess not," he sighed. "I'm just-"

"Worried, I know. I can feel it from all the way over here."

"Want to go back to work?"

"Yeah...maybe Tony found out something new on the case."