A question to ponder when reading this chapter: Does Diane know the warning that come with Abby, that she is one of the few people, in the world, who can kill you and leave no physical evidence? Because she's about to overstep her bounds (not Diane!) with the wrong person.
As Abby was examining a substance from the Baltimore crime scene for the thousandth time, Ellie came into her lab. "Abby, we have a problem," she practically whispered to the tech.
Abby's head whipped around. "What? What's the matter? Is it the baby? Tony? ZIVA?" She was in her usual state, the way she had become when she heard her two friends' names since the shooting. Anytime they were mentioned, she got nervous. And, since she knew they had left for Israel over the weekend, it only made it worse. Anytime Tony went to Israel, it seemed he came back without Ziva.
But Ellie shook her head. "No, it's nothing with them, well, not directly," the young woman rushed, as if sensing Abby's distress. "I had lunch yesterday with Breena Palmer. She wanted to talk about the baby shower and-"
"Wait, she did? She didn't call me!" Abby had been putting together ideas for Ziva's baby shower and was going to call Kayla this weekend. "Why is Breena calling you? I'm the one who's supposed to be planning it!"
The blonde sighed. "I get the feeling that Breena's not even doing that. When I got there, Gibbs' ex-wife was with her and it seems she's taken over the whole thing."
Now Abby's ire was rising. "Which one?" She had her suspicions, but she wanted Ellie to confirm them.
"Ah, the first one, Diane, the one that's back with Agent Fornell," Ellie replied.
Abby had been right. "How did she find out?" While she knew who it had been, the bigger question was, how had she known about it.
Ellie seemed to be thinking it out before she explained. "Delilah told Tim, who must have mentioned it to Fornell, when he's been here for debriefing on the Wren case, who told it to Diane. Although, knowing Diane, I suspect it was given up unwillingly. At least, that's how I think it was linked together for me."
"Great," Abby muttered. "Wait, she hasn't contacted me, the aunt! Why hasn't she contacted me?"
"Well, that's not the biggest problem," Ellie told her until she saw the vicious look in Abby's eyes. "Okay, that is a very big problem. But I think we need to figure out a way to rein in Mrs. Sterling. I mean, is she even that close to Ziva?"
Abby shook her head. "No, she's not. This almost feels like she's doing it to insert herself into some part of Gibbs' life. For a woman who divorced him and took his money, she's still awfully clingy to him." Abby remembered the recent revelation of her and Fornell's reunion. And the scuddlebut had it that they wanted Gibbs' blessing. The boss didn't seem to want to think about it, though. "I have half a mind to call her and tell her to stop. Wait, does Kayla know Diane's involved also? Because she didn't mention it to me!"
"It sounded like she did. Diane mentioned talking to her and Delilah."
Abby nodded and began pacing. "This is starting to sound like I'm was being excluded from everything." Then she threw a glare towards Ellie. The other woman crumbled, which, again, Abby took as confirmation. Well, she'd have to deal with this somehow.
"Oh, but when I got back from the lunch and it came up in conversation with Tim, he said he thought that Ziva and Tony were finding out the gender of the baby soon," Ellie remembered. That cheered Abby up, until Ellie grimaced. "But I don't know if that's supposed to get out yet. Oh, and also, I'm supposed to let Diane know what the baby is. She said she needs to know for planning purposes."
"Aww, they're going for the to find out? I hope they let us know," Abby said.
"Let us know what, Abbs?" Gibbs asked
"Tony and Ziva were going to finding out if the baby's a boy or a girl soon! Hey, I wonder if Mr. D knows anything? I should call him and ask!" she informed him. She would have thought Gibbs would want to know that, but he was giving her his 'get back on track' look. "But that's not what you were here to find out, right boss?"
"No, I was hoping for some information about where we can track down Corporal Wren, actually." Now he threw an accusing look to Ellie, who stepped back cautiously.
"Well, I still haven't narrowed down this mysterious goo is," she explained as she pointed to the monitor. "But I do think I know where it came from." She went on to explain further. When she finished, he was ready to leave until she stopped him. "Gibbs, you need to stop Diane."
His head lolled back and he rolled his eyes. "What do I need to stop Diane from doing?"
Abby looked to Ellie, encouraging her to speak up. "Ah, well, boss," she started, "um, somehow she's found out about the baby shower we were beginning to plan and kind of…"
Gibbs seemed to read her mind. "She's taken over, right?" Both Ellie and Abby nodded vigorously and in unison. He muttered an expletive and headed to the elevator.
"Does that mean Gibbs is going to talk to her?" Ellie sounded hopeful.
"I wish I knew the answer to that," Abby replied. "I wonder how Tony and Ziva's trip is going. I know it wasn't exactly a happy fun vacation, but I hope they've done some fun stuff. And no going to Mossad! Anytime Tony goes to Israel, he seems to be called there for some reason. And that doesn't usually bode well for Ziva coming back with him."
"I'm sure they're fine, but it's been sounding a little crazy over there. I mean, it's been mentioned that they're looking to move and they had to do this trip. Plus, Tony's still in PT, even though it seems way too soon considering he's been out of a medical facility for barely a week," Ellie informed her.
"Yeah, I still don't know why Tony was going along. He's got to be straining himself to get back to work and that can't be good for him to get back to work." When Ellie nodded to the affirmative, Abby sighed.
After that, Ellie left the lab. Abby stood there for a minute, thinking. She wanted to pick up her phone and dial Ziva. But, with her being halfway around the world and figuring the time difference, she thought differently.
Now, besides trying to figure stuff out for Gibbs, she was also processing what Ellie had told her about Diane. Quickly, she did a search and came up with a phone number. Dialing it, she got a response on the other end. "Diane Sterling, who is this?"
"Who it is this? This is Aunt Abby Sciuto, Mrs. Sterling!" She was fuming, a state she wasn't often in. Before the other woman had the chance to respond, she continued her rant. "A little birdie told me that YOU were starting to plan Ziva David's baby shower! My question to you is, who gave you that right, huh?"
Abby heard a silent curse fly from Diane's mouth. "Abby, I didn't think a baby shower would be your kind of thing," she tried to excuse herself. "I've actually planned a number of them for my friends and I think I've gotten real good at it."
"You're not really even friends with Ziva!"
It seemed that Diane's defenses were falling. "No...no I'm not." She huffed out her next words. "Look, let's meet for lunch and we can discuss it together. We can pool our ideas for a really nice party for both Tony and Ziva."
Abby's eyes narrowed, even though the other woman couldn't see her. "Fine, but it's not your show, comprende?"
"Yes, sure, fine," Diane mumbled. They made arrangements for lunch the next day, which Abby told Ellie about and asked her to come along.
Abby took another breath. She was happy that everything seemed okay now. She had managed to hold back Diane. Now, she had some plotting to do. She wanted to beat all of Diane's expectations of her party planning skills.
