A/N: Okay, it's Sunday, but I don't know if I'll be able to post. My family (everyone bu my sister and I) is out for dinner, and I don't know when they'll be back, because I didn't even know they were gone... So yeah. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter! I'll give you a little hint... McGee's not working on his own...
Gibbs returned from lunch, bringing with him a large Mountain Dew, several candy bars and a well advised speech of apology. In order to avoid Kate and Tony, he had decided to park in the basement. All day he had been dwelling on their words.
"Just go and talk to her..."
"She's falling to pieces..."
"You know boss, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you had a thing for her..."
It was Tony's comment that had bothered him the most. Abby was his employee. Just his employee- right? And yet, subconsciously, he knew that Tony was right. He did have a thing for Abby. Abby with her sharp wit, amazing intellect, unending knowledge of computers and manipulation; she was perfect- despite- or perhaps because of- her unorthodox methods.
And it scared him that he felt that way about her. It was a whole new vulnerability for him. And if Tony had figured it out- even if he was that only one to have done so- the best case scenario was that Kate, Ducky, McGee and Abby also knew; worst case scenario- it was all over Washington, D.C. and the internet.
Suddenly, he was interrupted from his musings by his cell phone ringing. "Special Agent Gibbs," he barked irritably.
"We've got her," came a cool voice on the other end.
"Yeah? Got who?" Gibbs entered Abby's lab, not in the mood to deal with a prank caller. And yet, something in his gut was telling him not to hang up- not yet.
He sighed- Abby's lab was dark and silent for the second time that day. Gibbs looked at his watch- it was nearly two o'clock. Abby wouldn't have gone home- it was too early, and she knew that if she wanted leave, all she had to do was ask- and she wouldn't be at lunch- today was her and Kate's weekly lunch... thing.
"A certain lab rat belonging to you..." The voice was strangely familiar to him... Who did it remind him of?
"Who the hell are you?" He debated hanging up as he finished his cursory search of Abby's lab. Nothing seemed to be wrong, except that the light was off, no music was playing and Abby was missing. What the hell did he mean 'nothing seemed to be wrong'? It couldn't have been any more wrong than this!
"You know who I am..." And suddenly, Gibbs knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, who had called him.
"Where is Abby? What have you done with her?" Gibbs was seething with rage. "I swear, if you hurt, you'll have a very pissed off Marine to deal with. I mean it- one bruise, and I'll kill you."
"Relax; your precious Abigail is fine." Gibbs could just picture the man sneering at Abby. "You have twenty four hours to find her uninjured. Thirty six hours later, she'll be dead. You do the math- you have precisely sixty hours from the second you hang up the phone unless you want to look for her corpse..."
Gibbs decided to play the sceptical boss, even though he was terrified- sixty hours to rescue the only person who could ever find a way to rescue the rest of her team members? It was a virtually impossible task. "How do I know that you actually have her, or that you haven't already killed her?"
There was a long and unnerving silence before Gibbs finally heard Abby's incredibly frustrated voice on his cell phone.
"Gibbs? Is that you?"
"Abby? Oh, thank God! Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Gibbs was relieved to know that Abby was still alive.
"Gibbs, I only have two minutes, so- no offence-but I need you to shut up and listen to me, okay?"
"Abby, can you-"
"I don't have the time for this! There are two things I need you to promise me... Do you promise?"
"Abbs, you know I'll do anything for you. Where are you?"
"I haven't got a clue- there's lots of trees. But that's not the point. First promise: There's a green pad of sticky notes on my desk, next to my computer. I need you to log onto my computer using my name and password, both of which are on the stick note, and open the file. Do you promise that you'll believe what it says?"
"Of course." Gibbs heard a low murmur and was desperate to get to Abby and make sure that no one so much as touched her.
"Okay, so promise two: You have to swear to me that you will not come looking for me. Do you understand?" Abby's tone of voice alerted him that she was definitely not kidding; it was the most serious he had ever heard her in a long time.
"Sorry Abbs, but there is no way in hell that I'm just going to leave you to die at the hands of terrorists." Was Abby out of her mind?
"Gibbs, you have to! If you come, it'll be playing right into their hands. You'll always be able to find a new lab technician, but imagine how screwed up the team would be with anyone but you as the boss!"
"Abby, I'm sorry, but I can not- will not- just leave you there... where ever there is. They're going to kill you! Doesn't that bother you?"
"Honestly? Only a little bit."
"Well, it bothers me- and I can guarantee that it will bother the rest of the team too. I'm coming to get you..." Gibbs wasn't sure how he would get there- but right now, that was a minor detail.
"No, Gibbs, you can't! I-" Her voice was suddenly much farther away. "No! Give me back that phone you insufferable-" Her voice was cut off after a fairly loud thud.
The voice came back on the phone. "There. You have your proof. Now I would advise that you do everything in your power to get her back before I lose my patience with her."
Gibbs forced himself not to growl into the phone. "Your battle is with me, not her- remember that. I'll be there..."
"Oh, I have no doubt that you'll be here. The question is, will you be here in time to save her life? Do not forget- all you know is that we are still within the vicinity of Washington, D.C. and, as Abigail has told you, there are trees."
Gibbs didn't wait to hear any more- he hung up his phone and sank into Abby's desk chair. He sat with his head in his hands for a moment before regaining his discipline and starting up Abby's computer.
A/N: Just out of curiousity, how many of you actually figured out that McGee was working for the terrorist? And, in case you missed that- McGee kidnapped Abby and then took her to Ari. Evil, huh? The last chapter of the entire story will actually have nothing to do with the story, it'll just be a list of reasons of why and how Abby and I got our theory about McGee working for Ari. I know it sounds crazy, (Hell, I thhought it was crzy. See, we were trying to figure out a reason for us to hate McGee, and Abbs made a silly comment about "Well, you never know... He could be working with Ari... Or something?" And then we started to see that it made sense...) but if you just hang on to the story, I promise you'll get our reasons. And we didn't twist anything from the show, however we did interpret it. And you can say that it must have been a mistake on Belisario's part, but consider this: He's the King of Twists and he rarely makes mistakes. So yeah... Think what you will!
