The strange looks continued throughout the day. Sometimes McGee even thought he saw some hostility in Ziva's eyes, especially when he was on the phone with Stacy, planning their date for the night.
He wasn't entirely sure he was in love with Stacy, but he figured that was the best he was going to do after Abby. She seemed willing to settle down with him. He wasn't particularly pleased about settling, but he couldn't risk Abby never returning his feelings, and spending the rest of his life alone.
Stacy adored everything about him and had the seal of approval from his family. Well, his parents at least. Sarah wasn't too thrilled with her.
"Her name's Stacy? She looks like a Muffy to me. Aren't you guys late for tea and crumpets at the country club?" Sarah had snorted with laughter behind Stacy's back.
McGee had shrugged it off at the time to save face, but it bothered him that Sarah didn't like his girlfriend. His little sister's approval was important to him.
Ziva barely tolerated Stacy's presence the few times they had met her and Tony for dinner or drinks. Every question Stacy posed to her was answered with a grunt or a shrug. Or just silence.
Tony got along with her, but then again, Tony got along with everything of the female variety.
And then, there was Abby. Abby had met her once. She had come to McGee's house to coerce him into joining her for lunch in the park. Stacy answered the door in his t-shirt and boxers.
Stacy had exclaimed *Hi!" in her peppy, bouncy way.
Abby stared at her for a moment, then dropped the packed lunch she'd made on the floor, and walked away.
When McGee returned the tupperware the food had been in, washed and carefully stacked, she'd marched over to the garbage and dropped them all in.
"What'd you do that for?" McGee had exclaimed, staring at Abby like she'd just grown another head.
"It's been tainted." That was all Abby had said before proceeding to ignore him as she continued to examine evidence.
At the end of the day, McGee gathered his things and nodded to Tony. He had about two hours before he was meeting Stacy. He was going to go home, shower, work on his next book, and relax for a bit, not worry about these crazy looks he was getting.
He felt Ziva's eyes on him as he left.
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"Ok, Abby, he has left." Ziva said as she entered the lab.
Abby squealed with excitement and opened up a new window on her computer.
A little dot was leaving the parking lot and heading off the base, proving that the tracker Ziva had placed on McGee's car on her lunch was working.
"So far, it looks like he's just going home. Good boy, McGee! As long as she's not there! Then you're a very bad boy! And not the kind I like!" Abby spoke half to herself as they watched the screen.
"How would you feel about doing some hands-on surveillance tonight, Abby?" Ziva said as she put an arm around Abby's shoulders.
"I am totally down! My car or yours?"
"My car I think, Abby. Something tells me yours would be spotted in a heartbeat"
"Oh, good point." Abby stood and took off her lab coat, hanging it up by the door. She grabbed her lunchbox and her purse, and picked up her laptop, then followed Ziva up to the bullpen so Ziva could collect her things.
Once in Ziva's car, she powered up the laptop and opened up the program tracking McGee's car. "He should be home in a few minutes."
"We should probably not speed then. We don't want to arrive before he does."
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