A/N: Okay, so I've been really busy. My 15 year old cousin ran away, my mother's a bitch- especially about grades, dad's been out of town and I haven't seen him in over a week... Yeah. You don't care about my personal life. Um... I was going to post last night, but I was with my best friend Abby- we had a sleep over- (yeah- on a school night... mother didn't want to argue with me!) and had fun. I love you Abbs!

"Are you going to tell me what you needed Gibbs for earlier?" asked McGee in her ear as she wondered who was being all touchy this time.

She jumped about a foot in the air and spun her chair around quickly. "How many times do I have to remind you not to sneak up on me like that?" she retorted, somewhat angrily- though not for the reason he would suspect. Still, she had thought that McGee would've forgotten about her earlier game of hide-and-seek with Gibbs. As if any of that mattered now?

He ignored her momentary outburst of anger and looked at her computer screen suspiciously. "What is all of this?" he questioned her stonily.

She sighed exasperatedly, knowing that the only reason he was being like this was because he loved her. "McGee, it's case stuff. Would you please stop worrying about me? I'm not seeing anyone online; I'm not having cybersex; and you're the only guy that I'll even let into my house right now! You can check every electronic device I own, but I swear to you that it would just be a waste of your time..." she reminded him sweetly. She wanted to yell at him, but that was out of the question. Still- how dare he even think that she was messing around like that- especially at work? Clearly he had a reason to think that she was doing that kind of thing... but why?

"What's the case?" he wanted to know. His voice was still edgy, but he had stopped with the accusations; at least for now.

"Special Agent Carol was found dead outside of one of the labs down the hall and around the corner," she informed him, feeling quite relieved that the topic was now off of her and what she could be doing while she was at work.

He wandered curiously around her lab, occasionally stopping to examine things more closely. "Inside job?" he asked finally as he stopped to look at the bullet lying underneath her microscope.

"Well, we- that is, Kate and I- think so..." she replied with a sudden sneeze. She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Why?" she added thoughtfully.

"Because it's my job to think about these things," he answered as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. "So what are you doing on the computer?" he tried again, this time sounding more curious than accusing or demanding, which Abby decided was a major improvement and deserved a more specific answer.

"Ducky found the bullet still in Carol's body. I'm running the serial number through a database now," she explained with a shrug.

"I assume you'll figure out what agency it was with first, right?" he deduced distractedly. Abby wondered what he was thinking about, but knew better than to interrupt his thought process.

"Yeah, well, it's a whole lot easier that way," she agreed with a smile as she turned back to the computer.

"Who do you think it was?" he wondered.

"What is this? Twenty questions? Because I hate that game," she babbled as she so often did when she was happy or excited.

"Abby, I was being serious. I want to know what you think," McGee reprimanded her. It reminded her vaguely of when her mother told her to eat her vegetables or something.

She looked at him mischievously. "I think you killed her," she teased him playfully.

He gave her an odd look that she couldn't quite place the meaning of. She decided it had to be hurt, or else sadness. "Really?" he asked, sounding more than a little dejected.

She rolled her eyes to cover her slight guilt. "Of course not!" she answered him with a sigh.

"Then who do you think it was?" he persisted.

"Honestly? I haven't got a damn clue!" she admitted as she sneezed again. "The evidence hasn't helped me yet. But I'm hoping that I'm not going to have to guess and that eventually one of these accursed databases will give me an answer!"

"So what you're saying is that all you have to do now is wait for the results of the agency and then the results of the actual person?" McGee asked her hopefully.

"No, I was going to do a full tox scan on the blood samples from Ducky, just in case, and then I was going to have lunch with Kate, because it's a Tuesday," she replied. He just stared at her, so she explained. "Kate always brings me lunch on Tuesdays and then we eat in here and discuss cases and life and get into big debates, even if we're both on the same side..."

His face fell.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"Oh, nothing really. I was just going to ask you if you wanted to join me for lunch somewhere," he told her wistfully.

She sighed reluctantly; lunch with McGee sounded like a nice break from all of her problems and now mixed up emotions. He was only over protective and suspicious at work. Abby secretly suspected that he was either jealous of Gibbs, which made no sense, or else Gibbs had told him to keep an eye out for her. At the moment she was leaning more towards the later. "You're welcome to eat lunch with me, if you want," she offered. "But I'm warning you now- Kate and I talk about some things that most guys don't want to hear. I remember once, when Kate had just started working here, Tony came in and- Well, let's just say he learned his lesson about coming into the lab on Tuesdays at lunchtime..."

McGee shook his head with an amused smile and considered her offer. "Lunch with you and Kate in the lab sounds wonderful," he decided.

She grinned and sat back in her chair. She crossed her arms behind her head and stared up at him for a moment. "Do you think I need a shrink?" she wondered as she studied him curiously.

"Who told you that you need a shrink Abby?" he asked quickly.

"Take a wild guess..." she muttered bitterly.

He thought a moment. "Gibbs?" he guessed.

"No, I might have actually considered the idea if it had been Gibbs- after all, he's my boss, I have to at least pretend to listen to him," she told him without thinking.

"Tony?" he tried again.

"If Tony told me that I needed a shrink, he wouldn't be out to lunch right now... And I don't think that he'd really like to be castrated anytime soon," she replied.

"Well, it couldn't have been Kate or Ducky," he reminded her.

"And what made you think that it could've been Gibbs or Tony?" she asked incredulously.

"Fine- I give up. Who was it?"

She spun her chair in a complete circle as she thought. "Weren't you here when my mother came?" she asked with a frown.