A/n: I don't own any of the characters mentioned in this story.

Pairing: Tabby

Theme #5-Seeking Solace

She didn't know what she was going to do when Kate died. Her best friend. Kate was her best friend. Now, her best friend was gone forever. She was never coming back and there was nothing Abby could do about it.

She sat in her lab, staring at the picture Kate had drawn of her. Her hair was actually down, and she hadn't even bothered to put on makeup. She just sat there, her head in her hands, no idea what to do next. In her mind, Kate spoke to her again, joking around with her as she always used to do.

"Abby."

She turned around to see Tony standing just inside the door.

"Hey, Tony."

He gave her a worried look. "You okay?"

"I will be, as soon as I tie up my pigtails."She finished putting her hair in the pony tail holders. "There." She turned her chair toward him. "What can I do for you?"She asked, but he just kept staring at her. "What?"

"You're weirder than Gibbs."

Abby gave him a look, "How so?"

"He's being nice."

"Gibbs is always nice."

"To you and Ducky, maybe. Me…he growls at and smacks on the head."

She got up and walked toward Tony."Which makes you feel wanted."

"Yeah."

"What do you got for me?"

He slowly pulled out the evidence bag with the rounds. "308 casings from Ari's sniper's nest."

"You would have to give me the most popular caliber in the world." She took the bag from him.

"Well, hey, I just found 'em. Can you tell what weapon he used?"

"A 308?" She looked at him as if he asked a blatant, obvious question.

"What model 308?"

"You don't know?"

"Would I be asking?"

"Well, how am I supposed to know?"

"Because you're the firearms expert."

"That I am." She grabbed latex gloves from the box and put them on. "And when I'm done, I will tell you the propellant, the primer, the percentage of nickel and copper in the brass, whether or not all three rounds were fired from the same weapon, which you assume, but I can prove or disprove." She started walking around to turn on all her computers. "I will tell you who manufactured the ammo, the batch number, and, perhaps, where it was sold. I will also, with some degree of accuracy, tell you if it was fired from a lever action, a bolt action, a semi- automatic or an automatic weapon." She started walking toward him again. "However, there is no way in hell I can tell you which of the 87 different 308 models fired those rounds." She stopped so she was standing next to only a couple feet away.

"The rounds are La Pua." He messed with the bag a little.

"What?" she asked, having no idea what he was talking about.

"La Pua made the ammo. Logo's on the right."

She reached in to give him a hug and held onto him tightly. "Tony, I'm gonna miss her."

He held her just as tight. "Me too."

In the end, Tony needed the hug just as much as Abby did. He'd been keeping his feelings bottled up, not talking to anybody about it. They each looked for solace in each other's arms, and found much more than just comfort.