As for the rest of the story… Only a few more chapters left to go, so I hope you have enjoyed it.
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The Major was running through a final edit of her report when Abby noisily emerged from her office at 0730. Busy with her task, Maj. Cassidy failed to notice at first, but when Abby plopped down into her favorite chair she caught the Major's attention.
"Well, good morning, Sunshine." Maj. Cassidy greeted the normally perky Goth girl.
"Bite me," was her only response.
After a few minutes Abby was able to say something else, "I have no idea how you do that without ANY caffeine… It's just not… Natural." Maj. Cassidy just shook her head and chuckled.
Abby was now combing out her pig tails so she could at least look halfway presentable before going in search of her first Caff-Pow of the day. As she was putting the last tail back into place, she noticed someone exiting the elevator with Agent McGee. But better yet, McGee held in his hand her very salvation and she bolted for the door to get it just a little bit quicker.
The Major was a little taken aback by Abby's hunter stance, but she had heard the elevator doors and could only assume that someone had brought Abby one of her beloved beverages. When she threw open the doors, she hollered out at McGee "A-HA!" and caught him completely by surprise, judging by the yelp that escaped his lips, "Hand it over, Timmy and no one gets hurt!" He quickly handed the Caff-Pow to Abby before she pounced on him for real.
McGee had to recover from his shock quickly, as he had just remembered that he was actually on escort duty at the moment. He motioned for the Naval officer at his side to enter the room, "Don't worry, now that she has her caffeine, she'll be content for a little while." The officer chuckled a bit and entered the lab. "Morning, Maj. Cassidy… I found this waiting for you up in reception, and Gibbs got him clearance to come down."
The Major looked up to find the smiling face of her husband in the entryway. "Lt. Cmdr Cassidy… What brings you here?" She was trying very hard not to betray her delight at seeing him there.
"Laundry service, Maj. Cassidy… I was informed the Major was not following uni regs at her briefing this morning and that I had better high-tail it over here to remedy the situation." He held out a dry cleaning bag that obviously contained a fresh uniform for her to change into before her briefing this afternoon.
"And here I thought I had done a good job of passing it off… Guess the CNO must have dropped by Bethesda this morning to check in on his daughter-in-law?" Now it was the Major's turn to have a devilish expression on her face.
"Busted… S'okay though, I had to swing by the dry cleaners on my way in to work last night, so I already had it in the car." They stayed on opposite sides of the workstation while Abby and McGee watched their little dialogue. Abby looked at McGee with a conspiratorial air and they both smiled.
"Well, as soon as this file is finished sending I can close up shop and we can evac." She started putting the remaining files into the box on the table top and disconnecting some of her equipment. That was when a ding came from her computer, "And that would be the file. Let me just shut down the connection and the terminal, then we can get out of these fine peoples' way."
Her words and actions caught Abby completely by surprise, "Wait… You're not coming back?"
The Major did not even look up from her task to answer, "Profile's done, so it's time for me to pack it in and get back to the Pentagon… I've got a final briefing in M.T.A.C. at 1300 hours, but that should be the end of my involvement here… The rest is up to the pros."
Abby was once again close to tears, but McGee, sensing her pain, put a hand on her shoulder to help steady her, "But I liked having you around."
"This was fun, and it was great to finally get to meet all the people Kate had been talking about-."
Lt. Cmdr Cassidy stopped his wife from talking to ask, "Wait, these are the people she worked with?" The Major just nodded her head to answer, "Well, then I guess I should be shaking your hands." He turned around and took McGee's hand, "It's real honor to meet y'all. Katie talked about you folks all the time…" He then reached for Abby's hand, "And she thought an awful lot of y'all… And you just have to be Abby." The man was practically beaming with joy at getting a chance to meet them.
"Ah yeah, but how'd you know that?"
"Katie told us all about you, and I always had to wonder if she was exaggeratin' about some of them stories, but I'm guessin' that's not the case now." He just shook his head and chuckled. "But I have a question for ya… Did you really get her to wear that thing out in public?"
Abby gasped, "She actually told you about that!" They all had a good laugh about Abby's reaction, but it was cut short by the Major standing in front of the makeshift workstation with her metal case in hand. "You can't leave yet… I still need to make up for yesterday." Abby was now in full pout.
"Sorry, but duty calls. I'll be back this afternoon, and I'll be sure to come by the lab before I head out, okay?"
It was not okay, but Abby simply had to accept the fact that the Major had to return to her own job now. And she just nodded her head, trying to hold back the emotions that were threatening to break loose.
McGee put a hand on the small of Abby's back to offer her some comfort as they watched the Major and her husband walk out of the lab. When they reached the elevator, Lt. Cmdr. Cassidy took the case from her left hand, leaving her with a free one to take his arm as they entered the elevator on their way out of NCIS headquarters.
Abby heaved a deep sigh and leaned her head down on McGee's shoulder, "I'm really gonna miss her, Timmy."