She rolled over to look at her clock and saw that it was only three in the afternoon. She groaned, she couldn't take much more of this. She had to do something constructive enough to take her mind away from this whole helpless situation. She rolled fully out of her bed and trudged her way to the bathroom and shut the door.
Back at NCIS, McGee sat at his computer furiously typing away. Nothing much was said between them of went on that morning. McGee would notice Gibbs massaging his temple and sighing, Kate sniffing occasionally and pausing to dab her nose with a Kleenex, and Tony, well...not being Tony. He sat hunched over with a dismal look on his face.
When they hit a lull in there detective work (they were waiting to hear something back from Ducky), Gibbs cleared his throat. "McGee, how did Abby seem when you took her home?"
McGee sighed. "I don't know, Boss. She acted like her normal self, like nothing was wrong. She kept tell me that she was going to be okay, but..." he paused, trying to think of how to describe it. "...she seemed like she didn't even believe what she was saying herself."
Gibbs sighed. "She get any rest?"
"I left her lying down on her bed. I can only assume she did."
"I doubt it," Tony said, leaning back in his rolling chair. "I doubt she slept at all."
Kate sighed sadly. "I don't think any of us will."
"At least until we find out the test results," Gibbs said, taking a drink from his fourth cup of coffee that day.
"I'm going to call her," Kate said, picking up her phone. "To see how she's doing."
"Good idea," Tony replied.
Abby heard her phone cell phone ringing from three rooms away, and she leapt off the couch where she was sitting and raced into her room and grabbed it. She looked on the caller ID, reading "NCIS" on the front. She quickly flipped it open.
"Hel-lo!" she answered in an adopted sing-songy tone.
"Hey, Abby, you're on speaker," she heard Kate say.
Then followed a loud, resounding "hey Abs" (at least, shethought that's what she heard...it just sounded like a jumbled mess of sound).
"Hey guys," she replied, smiling slightly.
"Abby," Tony said. "How are you feeling?"
Abby hesitated slighly, yearing to shout, I'M TERRIFIED!, then lied, "Just peachy Tony. Bored to tears though."
"Why's that?" she heard McGee's distant voice.
"Because it's three-thirty in the afternoon, and I'm not rifling through AFIS, up to my elbows in test samples, or calling Gibbs 'sir'," Abby genuinely argued. Shewas bored...and desperate to find something to do. "Can't I come down there and help?"
"No, Abs," Gibbs replied. "I want you to stay there. You need to be there."
I need to be ANYWHERE but here, Abby thought bitterly. "McGee hasn't completely destroyed my lab, has he?"
She smiled as she heard a soft, yet very indignant "hey!" from under Tony's reply, "No, he's been a good Probie."
Unable to bear the charade of peace she was fronting to her friends any longer, Abby said, "I know you've got stuff to do guys. we'll talk later tonight."
"Okay Abs," Kate said. "Talk to you soon."
After hearing her boys shout their goodbye's, she flipped her phone closed and sighed. Great, she now offically had nothing to do. So, without her forensics to keep her mind occupied, she resorted to the next best thing. She trudged back to her living room sofa, fell back onto it, and turned on the tv.
Abby was distraught...so much so she felt that her head was about to explode. She was scared to death...she knew it. She could admit it, but only to herself. She heard how her team sounded when she put on her happy tone. It was a thousand percent better than at the hospital when she was upset and crying. She had to keep it up. She needed to make them believe that everything was going to be okay...even if she didn't belive it herself. She felt her bottom lip begin to quiver and tears began to well.
"No!" she screamed, beating her fist on the sofa cushion next to her. "I will not give in! I will not give up! I WILL NOT CRY!"
It was late that night when McGee came back to Abby's place carrying a sack of grocieries. He set the bag on the counter quietly, hedging his bets on whether she'd be up at eleven o'clock at night. He tiptoed down the hall and peeked through her partially open door. She was awake, sitting cross-legged on her bed in front of her laptop. Her bedroom lights were out and the shine from her computer screen cast an eerie look upon her face. It ws almost ghostly, and it made McGee shiver.
He knocked softly and entered. "Hey Abs."
"Hey," she replied sharply, her eyes never leaving her screen.
McGee blinked. Was she upset with him?
"Abs? You okay?"
Abby had been edgy all day. Her emotions, and suppression thereof, had completely made her nerves raw. She had heard a doorbell ring earlier that afternoon and she screamed for whoever it was to leave her the hell alone, until she realized it came from the television. McGee calling every thrity minutes didn't seem to help either. At first, it was sweet...he was worried about her. After the fourth call, however, it got to be annoying. Her condition hadn't changed...well, it had, but she wasn't going to admit it to him. She had called Gibbs back that afternoon, desperately pleading (nearly demanding) that she be allowed to work on her laptop at her house. Gibbs gave in, sending some case files over via email.
She scoffed. "I am fine, McGee. I am not any less fine than I was when you called me ten minutes ago to see how I'm doing."
McGee was confused...and rightly so. "Um..." he said, trying to read her, "I noticed this afternoon that you needed some more food, so I went to the store for you."
She was so close to snapping. "Thank you," she said forcefully.
"Abs?" McGee said, moving to her bed and sitting down on the end. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she snapped. "I just wish you hadn't done that."
"Why?" McGee asked, getting annoyed. He thought he was being sweet. "I was just trying to help."
"Well dont!" Abby cried. "It's not like I couldn't go out and do it myself. I'm not an invalid!"
"Well, pardon me for being concerned!" McGee said hotly, standing up from her bed.
"Stop it!" Abby yelled back. "I am perfectly okay. There's is no reason to be concerned for me! Just stop it!"
"Fine!" McGee cried, turning away from her and walked toward her door. "I'll sleep on the couch tonight."
"Whatever," she muttered. McGee slammed the door behind him as he left.
The next day, McGee woke up early and left for NCIS before Abby's alarm went off. He didn't want to deal with her that morning, he was still too upset. What the hell was wrong with her? She was so wound up, and he couldn't understand why. Plus, it wasn't likehe completely cool with their new circumstances. He was scared too, and it bothered him that Abby was downplaying the whole situation to the point of ignoring it. He knew that she was scared, she had to be. He just had to find out how to get her to open up to him about it.
Despite his early departure, he was still the last one of the team to arrive. This case was so complicated, everyone was pulling long, unpredictable hours.
"Hey Probie," Tony said as he passed. McGee said nothing.
"How's Abby?" Gibbs asked.
"She's fine," he replied bitterly.
"Tim? What's wrong?" Kate asked. His tone was so...un-Tim.
"I don't want to talk about it," he replied. "Abby's fine though, don't worry."
Abby woke up once again to her blaring alarm clock. Unbeknownst to McGee, Abby had called Gibbs the night before and nearly begged to come back to her lab and work from there. Gibbs agreed, knowing that she needed to get back to a normal routine. Hopefully she wouldn't have to face McGee all that much during the course of the day. She was still upset over their argument the night before, but mainly she felt guilty about it. It was her fault, really. She overreacted.
She quickly showered and dressed in her favorite goth outfit. Favorite equals comfortable...and she wanted to be as comfortable as possible. She went on autopilot for her morning activities, and soon she found herself walking through the open elevator doors into her beloved lab.
"Hi baby," she sighed a said to the room. "I'm back." She immediately went to her main computer, brought up her current project, and resumed her work.
A couple hours later, she heard the elevator door ding as it slid open. She froze and her breath caught in her throat. Please, don't be McGee! Not him, not now. I can't face him. She turned slowly and sighed in relief at who she saw walk in.
"Oh Abigail, you're back!"
"Hey Ducky."
He came over and hugged her tightly and she held onto him just as hard. She needed a hug. He pulled back and looked at her. "You gave us all quite a fright there sweetheart."
"I know, I'm sorry," she replied guiltily. "We're not through it yet though."
"Ah, yes, but everything will turn out okay," Ducky said, drawing her into another hug.
Once they parted, Abby asked rather nervously, "Does everyone know I am here?"
Ducky chuckled. "I doubt it. If they did, I'd imagine Caitlin would be down here hugging your neck and never letting go."
Abby laughed. "That's true."
"I have a young fellow in the morgue who's waiting on me, Abby," Ducky said. "I just came up to see you. You know you are to call me if you need anything."
"Yes, Ducky, thank you," she smiled, leaning in and giving him a peck on his cheek.
When he left, Abby turned back to her computer, feeling better. Ducky always had a way of doing that. He was her sweet surrogate grandfather who was always there for a great big hug and an encouraging word. She felt that, no matter what else happened to her that afternoon and evening, the memory of him and this moment would make it all better.
And for the first time in thirty-six hours...she genuinely smiled.