Tropical Nightmare- Chapter 10: Letting go(Abby´s POV)

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything!

Summary: Tony and Kate are sent to Argentina for an undercover mission, but they have to take a detour.They are bound to find out that atropical island can be a real nightmare -at least if you´re on your own out there...

Additional note: I usually don´t write 1st-person narrator, but it seemed to fit rather well for this little story as the POV changes with each chapter.Also, the use of present-tense is wanted here, eventhough it may seem a bit odd. I hope it´s still readable.

Personal note: Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed the story so far. I must admit I´m surprised to get such a positive feedback, but I´m sure happy about it. (I think I should add that I´m not a native English-speaker (-writer), so I take it that I´m doing okay.) Hope you´ll like the rest as well.

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It´s been two and a half months now. Last Thursday is a day I will never forget. Gibbs finally told me to stop looking for those signals. Hearing this from him is something I won´t forget for the rest of my life. I really tried, but even I can´t do magic. On Monday it´s become official -their status is changed from MIA to KIA -I read those entries in their files, but I can´t feel anything. I know I can get into trouble, but I keep the frequency-search running on my second computer. I know 10 weeks is the maximum time for MIA, but still, it doesn´t seem right just to give them up. There have been cases of people who were rescued after as much as two years.

It has become quiet around here without them. I guess, I never realized just how much more there is to this job if you have the right co-workers around. It´s too late now, but I wish it wasn´t. I miss those days when they came in, arguing about something stupid, looking for someone to play judge. I miss having a girl´s night with Kate, I even miss Tony´s stupid little jokes, I just miss them, I guess.

„Abby? We´re there, let´s go." His voice brings me back to reality. The car is already parked in front of the chapel. There´s a lot of people here, but for now, the only person I see is Gibbs, who is waiting for me. I just nod and get out of the car. It´s so strange to see him like that -he hasn´t smiled once since it happened, which he rarely did before, but anyway and he´s not coming down to the lab for a drink of Caf-Pow, like he used to before. It´s not only them gone, a part of him has gone with them.

I sit down next to McGee and Gibbs. Ducky is there too. I can´t read his face, but I know he´s sad too. Someone put their pictures up, next to a bed of flowers. I know those pictures -they´re the ones from their files, both looking straight at the camera, no smile on the face. I want to jump up and tell everyone they´re not dead, but I´m not sure about that. I want to yell that Kate hates lilacs, but I can´t move. I feel like their pictures are watching me and yet I know it´s just a trick of my mind.

There are speeches and prayers, lots of them. I can´t follow what they are saying, but I remember that Kate was very religious. Her family is here. Her sister looks so much like Kate, I have to look twice to make sure it´s not Kate sitting there. Tony´s mom is there, too. Poor soul, she lost her husband a year ago and now her only son is gone as well. I know how she feels, my family is gone too and now I have lost my friends all at once. Two of them gone and two of them changed so much I hardly recognize them. Have I changed too? I don´t know, maybe Tim can tell me, but he´s become so quiet lately, he hardly ever talks to anyone.

I get up when everyone else does, unsure how much time has passed since the service started. They carry two white coffins, but they are empty. If there was someone inside, we would at least know that there´s no hope, but like this, how can we be sure? „Please, come back." I whisper, but no one hears me. We walk over to two freshly dug graves and they lower the coffins into them. The graves are next to each other and I can hear Kate complain that she is stuck so close to Tony yet again. I feel a smile creeping over my face, but I have to hide it. They wouldn´t understand.

It´s over and we drive back to headquarters. Gibbs hasn´t talked at all, but behind his eyes, I can see his mind racing. I walk to the elevator, he stays in the bullpen. When the doors close, I can see him standing at Kate´s desk, talking to her. I feel tears in my eyes, but I won´t allow them to roll.

Everything in the lab looks like I have left it, but there´s a new document in the printer, I haven´t seen before. It´s a map of something. I take a look at it and feel my heart beating like mad. I switch on the computer screen and there it is -a red dot, weak, but it´s clearly there. It hasn´t moved for the last five hours -that´s why I got that printout. I send a thankful prayer to heaven -thank you for GPRS technology. I grab the printout and run up the stairs. There´s no time to wait for the elevator.

Gibbs is still standing next to Kate´s desk. His face looks ashen and his eyes are those of a man too tired to fight. He looks at me with a puzzled look on his face, but he doesn´t say a thing. I think he doesn´t know I´ve kept looking for them. Will he be angry with me for not obeying his orders?

I take a deep breath and walk up to him. I notice he pulls his hand away from the desk suddenly. Maybe he thinks I didn´t notice. I show him the map. „I found that in the printer -it´s a GPRS signal...Tony´s signal..." I tell him and see his eyes lighten up. He takes the printout from me, carefully as if it could dissolve or vanish from the touch. „They´re alive, Gibbs...they´re still alive."

Helooks up to the ceiling for a moment before his eyesfocus on me.„You know, I should give you hell for not obeying my order, Miss Sciuto." He barks and I´m a bit surprised by his reaction. Before I really know if I should take a step back, I notice the sparkling in his eyes. "but...thanks for not giving up, Abbs." He takes his cell phone out and starts making arrangements. I know my job is done for now, but my heart is still beating like mad. While I walk back to the elevator, I have to smile. He called me Abbs again -he hasn´t done that ever since they disappeared. Maybe it will be a good day after all.