A/N: Okay, the first person to guess who was kidnapped was xStarryEyedX; the first person to guess the kidnapper was (go figure...) cheezmunky; the first person to get the two together was sort of jtbwriter, only they guessed Abby or Kate; the first to guess them both right without hesitation was DryMartini... Congratulations you guys! And I know it took awhile to update... I'm sorry, I've been banned from the computer because of my grades (Oh no... I don't have straight A's... Whoop-di-doo...), so- naturally- I'll only be able to post on either Wednesdays/Thursdays, because that's the only time I get to be home alone. Oh, and the occasional Saturday night when my mother, Daddy, Adam, and Jodie all go out drinking. Anyways... I'll post when I can... Oh, and for those of you interested in Abby and Kate switching, my best friend, RogueX404 is planning to write that ficlet and post it soon. I'll give her a push for you gouys though, okay? Wow... That was a long message... Because you all put up with that, I think I'll post this chapter AND the next one... Don't you just love me? Okay, don't answer that. And Abbs? Thanks a bundle for not spoiling this one... ::huggles:: I love you!
Oh- and the Abby's mom thing? For my purposes (courtesy of a fic written- but not yet posted- by RogueX404), Abby's mother visited her at Headquarters awhile ago... Yeah
"Let's see..." she muttered to no one in particular.
She knew that there wasn't going to be enough time to even fully start a tox scan, so she began wandering slowly around her lab. As she passed by her microscope, she smiled. How many times had McGee snuck up behind her and scared her half to death while she was working on something critical to a case? Still, he always found some way to make it up to her. She wandered to her desk and sat down. And how many times had Gibbs snuck up on her while she was sitting at her desk? Of course, when Gibbs snuck up on her, she was usually doing something completely pointless- at leas as far as her job was concerned. She opened the drawer with her desk lamp in it and debated whether or not to clean it out.
"What the hell am I thinking? I don't clean," she reminded herself.
She shoved the drawer shut and opened the drawer above it. Inside were all of the seemingly pointless nick-knacks that she owned. There was her gelatine stress ball; her flower 'fidget'; her ball of yarn; some Silly Putty; several large bags of assorted candy bars and 'fun-size' chocolate bars; a pile of rubber bands; her first attempts at the people to put on her model of Gallipoli...
She paused thoughtfully- where had that gone anyways? It wasn't at her house, and she couldn't remember ever even taking it out of the lab. So who- or what- had moved it? And why was it moved in the first place? And why was it suddenly such a big deal? She laughed at her craziness.
Then she spotted what she had opened the drawer for in the first place: her list. She quickly skimmed the first three pages before finding what she was looking for. She grinned and pulled up a file on her computer before realizing that she had already answered this supposedly unanswerable question. She sighed and replaced the ever growing stack of papers. She wanted to do something fast and easy that also had at least a little bit of science behind it.
She sighed and pulled out her aptly named 'fidget'. She couldn't even remember what it was really called now. All she knew was that it looked vaguely like a flower when she bought it and that it was fun to fidget with. Hence the term 'flower fidget'.
"Face it Abby, your dad was right... You're going to work yourself out of a job..." she sighed. "And then what will I do? I got out of mom's hell mouth for a reason, and I have no intentions of returning there ever again." With a sigh she put away the metallic object and stared at her desk.
And then she was greeted by one of her favourite scents in the world- food.
"Kate? Is that you?" Abby was actually hungry today...
"No, Abbs, it's Tony," replied Kate sarcastically. "Of course it's me! Who else were you expecting?"
"Well, I sort of invited McGee to eat with us. That's okay- right?"
"Well, I don't care. But I thought you were mad at him- weren't you?"
Abby shrugged. "It's all in my head. He's a nice guy."
Kate knelt at Abby's side with a brown paper bag from Applebee's. Abby grinned; Applebee's was one of her favourite places to eat!
"Thank God; I'm starving! Just promise me that you didn't get me a salad?"
"I'm not that heartless, am I?" Kate pulled out a carry out box and set it in front of her friend, along with plasticware and napkins.
"Nope!" Abby grinned as she opened the container and realized that Kate knew her a bit too well- she had brought Abby's favourite, Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo. "You rock Kate!"
Kate opened her salad daintily and looked at Abby from across the desk. "I know... Remind me why again?"
"Hecauw ooh owe whaw I whadidd do eehd," replied Abby with a mouthful of pasta.
Kate snickered. "Huh wuh wah, wuh wah?"
Abby grinned and swallowed her mouthful. "Exactly."
The two friends sat in companionable silence for several minutes- each one thinking of someone else in the building.
"I wonder where McGee is?" Kate immediately felt stupid.
"Hm; I was wondering the same thing. He probably got stuck during the typical D.C. lunch hour..."
"Probably. God, traffic here is really bad! If it weren't for the fact that I can't imagine working with anyone except you guys, I think I'd leave, but there's just no replacing you, Tony, Gibbs, Ducky or McGee."
"We-ell, you could replace me with McGee and-"
"Abby, please. McGee's good with computers, but he's nothing compared to you!"
"Whatever..."
"Abby, I swear, I'm going to get Gibbs if you don't at least just sit there and let me think you agree."
"But you know I-"
Kate gave Abby a very uncharacteristically Gibbs-like look.
"Wow, someone's trying to imitate the boss..." Abby ducked as Kate reached out to smack her friends lightly on the head.
"Abby, you know I'd never go out with Gibbs! I mean, he's nice, but-" Kate grinned. "He's more of your type than he is mine."
Instead of protesting, Abby just smiled knowingly. "Maybe so... But at least I didn't fall for DiNozzo."
"Abby! I- I didn't- I- I mean, I don't- Tony? No."
"Come on, like I'll tell anyone? Kate, it's no big deal. Hey, he's hot- in his own way- and... Well, he's Tony. You've got to love him!" Abby rolled her eyes. She knew Kate was the unofficial matchmaker at NCIS and she was well aware that, if Kate got her way, she and Gibbs would be dating by New Year's Eve. Why not do a little matchmaking of her own?
"But Abby- that's just it: He's hot and he's Tony. Those are two very bad characteristics. He's a player!" Kate sighed. "I'm ruined."
"Kate, he's not as bad as you're willing to believe. He's not really a player and-Okay, so he's Tony. So what? If he's in a serious relationship, he'll barely think about other girls. And when he does, he'll just come running to you. I know Kate- I was around the last time that he had a 'serious' girlfriend."
"I guess... I have to go Abbs." Kate threw her half eaten salad into Abby's trash can and walked out.
"Poor Kate," muttered Abby sympathetically as she swallowed her last bite of pasta. She tossed the now empty box on top of Kate's in trash can and sighed. "Well, back to work..." She rolled her neck in several full circles.
Abby was suddenly aware of a flashing taskbar at the bottom of her computer screen. She pulled it up and immediately regretted her decision. "No! No, no!" She stared at the screen in shock and quickly wrote several lines on a sticky note. This could not be happening- he had kissed her. And she had thought- well; she didn't know what she thought. But she certainly didn't mark him as a murder. And murdering a colleague? No way; no flipping way.
"Okay, calm down Abby. There has to be a logical explanation for all of this. So... Okay, here's what you're going to do. You're going to go and find him, even though he's been avoiding you, and you're going to tell him what the evidence says and you're going to make him explain how the evidence can be telling you this and-"
Abby froze as she heard the door to her lab open. She turned and relaxed. "Hey..."
"Hey Abbs, sorry I was late, I- Are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine I just... I need to talk to Gibbs." She turned back to her computer, quickly copying all of the necessary information.
Suddenly, there was a sharp burst of pain in the back of her head and the world went black.
