Chapter 4: Step One

Disclaimer: Only my stuff is mine. Sadly.

A/N: So sorry for the long wait! I kinda sorta forgot I had this story. LOL. Anyway, it's been awhile since I watched NCIS and there are no episodes on right now (darn), so I'm hoping my characterization isn't terribly off. Reviews are, as always, savored and answered. No flames please, though.

ENJOY!!!

Abby sat in the backseat of Gibbs' car, knees together, and hands clenched in front of her. She was staring dead ahead, unblinking. McGee, who was sitting next to her, shared a look with Gibbs and reached across the seat, gently laying a hand over her tightly clasped fists.

"Hey, you okay?" He kept his voice low and studied Abby calculatingly. The scientist's jaw was set and her chest was rising and falling rapidly. She was nervous.

Abby seemed to jerk back to reality when McGee gently squeezed her hand. "What? Yes, I'm fine." She spoke too quickly; clearly showing that she was not fine.

"Last chance, Abby." Gibbs turned around, his misgivings plainly visible in his expression. "You can still back out."

"No way, Gibbs." Her voice had a 'don't be silly' tone to it. "Sciuto's don't quit." She paused. "Except that time Uncle Ron tried to--,"

"Abs." Gibbs cut her off.

"Right. Sorry." Abby took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's do this thing." She looked at McGee and they shared a nod. Tim squeezed her hand one last time before letting go and opening his door. Abby followed suit, nearly tripping over her stilettos. Put her in five inch platform boots and she was fine…exchange them for four inch pumps and you get one clumsy scientist.

The plan, as it stood, was for Abby and McGee to enter a bar that Major Watson was known to frequent as a couple. They were to sit at the bar and act like they were on a date until they spotted Watson. Then Abby was to start a ruckus, claiming that McGee was a womanizing jerk and that she never wanted to see his face again. They were to continue like this until Watson's attention was piqued. When they were sure that Watson had noticed them, McGee was supposed to mime like he was going to hit Abby.

A part of the plan that Special Agent McGee was not happy about.

He couldn't imagine ever hurting Abby, pretend or no.

But, they had to do something to entice Watson. And what was more enticing to a chauvinistic guy like Watson than a helpless damsel in distress?

"Wish me luck?" Abby ducked her head back in the car to look at Gibbs.

"Always." He gave her a small smile.

Abby smiled back, before stepping away, and closing the door. When she had moved away from the car to stand next to McGee, Gibbs drove off around the back of the building where he would be waiting when McGee exited the building.

Alone.

Tony and Ziva were back at NCIS headquarters monitoring the situation from the bar's security cameras and the hidden mic and camera in the lapel of Abby's motorcycle jacket. They would be relaying Abby's whereabouts to McGee and Gibbs via cellphone.

"Ready, Ms. Marilyn Calloway?" McGee smiled slightly when Abby scrunched her nose at her undercover name. Tony had come up with it. 'Marilyn' came from that memorable Halloween when the scientist had dressed like Ms. Monroe and the Calloway…

Well, according to Tony, Calloway came from a girl he used to date in college that "oozed sexy damsel in distress." Immediately following those words, he had received a smack to the back of the head by an exasperated Ziva.

"No." Abby pouted, hooking her arm through McGee's proffered one.

"Good. Let's go." He tugged Abby along, holding the door open for her.

"Remember, Chris," Abby elbowed Tim slightly when she said his undercover name. "Be a jerk."

"Right." McGee nodded confidently. Which was a total façade. He had no idea how to be a jerk to the woman walking next to him. Not that he hadn't been slightly jerky towards her in the past…but those rare times had been on bad days. He didn't know how realistic it was going to look when he tried to be a jerk on purpose.

The couple sat at the bar and McGee ordered two seltzer waters with lime. They couldn't actually drink alcohol on the job, so they had to settle for making it look like they were drinking an alcoholic beverage.

Casually McGee glanced to his left and, not spotting Watson, glanced to the right. "Can you see him?" He said under his breath to Abby.

"No…wait, yes!" She whispered back. "He's right behind you, in the corner."

"He alone?" McGee smiled at the bartender casually as he delivered their drinks.

"Yup." Abby sipped her seltzer and grimaced slightly. "Carbonated water. Ugh."

The corner of McGee's mouth hitched up in a smile. "Not a fan?"

"Nope."

"Well, at least you didn't use any dramatically scientific words." McGee shrugged and took a swig of his own drink.

"Dramatically scientific? What's that supposed to mean?" Abby frowned.

McGee glanced at her. "Nothing. I was just worried that you might forget…" He paused, searching for another word for 'undercover.' "Who you are, Marilyn."

"You thought I'd forget?" Abby put down her drink with more force than was necessary. "Just because I'm not--," She stopped before she could say agent.

McGee, seeing this as a good start for their argument, plowed ahead. "See? You almost forgot right there."

"No, I didn't. I'm not an idiot, Chris."

"No?" Tim raised an eyebrow and swirled his drink casually.

Abby's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "How dare you." Her voice was low and hurt.

McGee's heart twisted. She looked really hurt by what he'd said. She did know that he was just following through with the plan right? She didn't think he meant it…?

As the silence stretched between them, Abby squeezed her eyes shut briefly before glaring at Tim. "Well, I guess the truth comes out, then. How long have you been waiting to say that?" Her tone was accusatory and challenging.

"Too long." McGee answered shortly, leaning his elbow against the bar.

"Well, sorry I don't live up to your standards." She spat out the word 'your' with such disdain that McGee had to fight not flinch.

"You're not the first." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Abby's cheeks flared. She was so angry, she barely remembered why they were there. She blinked furiously, willing the hot sting of tears to go away. "Yeah, 'cause you're so popular with the ladies." Her voice had risen considerably in volume.

"What can I say? They all want a little bit of Chris." The smarmy velvety quality in his voice left a bad taste in McGee's mouth. His voice sounded foreign to his own ears and it worried him how easy it was for him to act like a chauvinistic lecher.

"Oh, I'm sure they do." Abby's voice was shrill and thick with tears. "Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to see little ol' me."

"Hey," McGee's smile stretched slowly across his face and he winked arrogantly. "You can thank me by, uh, thanking me."

Abby jumped up from her stool, hands clenched into fists. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

McGee watched her with false disinterest. "I'm putting in," he gestured to the drinks he had paid for. "So you're going to put out."

"What?!" Abby roared, eyes blazing. "Just who do you think you are?"

McGee's eyes flashed in anger and he slowly rose from his stool. Abby didn't seem to notice that the bar had gotten very quiet and all eyes had turned towards the arguing pair…but McGee did. And he hated himself for what he had to do next.

Knowing that Watson had moved considerably closer to them, McGee stepped around the stool and got very close to Abby. "No, who do you think you are, you mouthy bitch?" McGee could see the tears in Abby's eyes and he fought not to break character. Why did he agree to do this? He should have had Tony pretend to be Abby's date.

But, at the time, he had shoved that option out of his mind. He couldn't let himself think about Tony and Abby being…together.

Abby clenched her jaw. "Well, I know who I'm not. I'm not a bitch and I am not your date." She made to turn on her heel, but McGee reached out and clamped a hand down on her arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" He squeezed her arm. Hard.

Abby flinched and slapped McGee's hand. "Don't you ever touch me again!" She shouted.

"Don't you ever talk to me like that again!" McGee shouted back. With the biggest mental and physical effort of his life, he raised his hand. Abby watched him with wide eyes, rooted to the spot. His hand arched through the air, but, as they had banked on, his hand was stopped before it could make contact with Abby's face.

Not that McGee would have let it get that far. If Watson hadn't stopped him, he would have gone wide, missing on purpose, but making it look like he was drunk.

McGee was spun around, his arm in a death grip courtesy of Watson. "So, you think it's fun to beat up defenseless women, huh?" Watson raised his other hand, which was clenched into a fist, but another patron had called for the bartender and the big man was suddenly there, pushing the two men apart.

McGee stumbled into the bar, his lower back slamming into the counter. Watson took several steps backward, but stayed on his feet.

"There will be no fighting in my bar! You want to do that shit, take it outside." The bartender bellowed, pointing towards the door.

McGee threw his hands in the air, a disgusted look on his face. "Forget it; you're not worth the effort." He pointed at Watson. "And you're not worth the time." He spat pointing at Abby.

Before anyone could argue and before McGee could see the hurt fill Abby's eyes, he turned on his heel and walked purposefully towards the back door. Before he could actually think about where he was going, he was outside, the bright sunshine blinding him.

Momentarily forgetting that he was supposed to get into the car with a waiting Gibbs, Tim pressed his back against the rough brick of the alley wall. Dropping his head back, he blinked furiously, telling himself that the hot sting was because of the sun, not tears. Gritting his teeth, McGee slammed his fist back against the wall. "Dammit!" He exclaimed, hitting the wall again.

Abby's tear-filled, shocked eyes flashed in his mind, blocking everything else from his view. What had he been thinking? He was an idiot to think he could do this. 'It's part of the job.' A little voice in the back of McGee's head intoned.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he swallowed hard, the bitter taste of self-reproach coating his tongue. It scared him that he was reacting so violently. Yes, he knew he cared for Abby…but how much?

Tim jumped when a heavy hand landed on his shoulder. Eyes snapping open, he whipped around to see who had grabbed him. Gibbs stood to his left, eye ablaze with something dark and unfathomable.

Without a word, he pulled McGee away from the wall and half dragged him to the car. He opened McGee's door and pushed the agent inside. Quickly walking to the driver's side door, he pulled it open and slid inside, slamming the door behind him. Tim sat with his hands lying listlessly on his legs and his eyes downcast.

Taking a deep breath, Gibbs turned towards McGee and waited for the younger agent to meet his gaze. Gibbs' eyes were narrowed shrewdly. "It wasn't real."

McGee's voice was hoarse and quiet. "I know that, boss."

"You sure about that?" Gibbs cocked his head and watched Tim with a calculating expression.

McGee hesitated for only a second. "Yes."

Watching McGee for another long moment, Gibbs faced forwards and gripped the steering wheel. "Rule number twelve, McGee."

Tim paused and looked at the older man with stunned eyes. "Boss, Abby and I aren't—,"

"I know that, McGee."

"Then why did you…?"

Gibbs turned back to McGee, expression unreadable. "Because I'm not blind…Tim."

McGee's eyes widened, first at what the other man was implying and second at the use of his first name. Tim opened his mouth to say something…anything…but was cut off when Gibbs' cellphone began buzzing.

"Gibbs." The older agent barked, pushing the button for the speakerphone.

"Boss," Tony's voice rang through the car. "Thought you might want to know what Abby's up to."

TBC

A/N: I know McGee is a bit out of character, but I needed him to be a bit of an actor in this chapter. LOL. And rule number twelve is the no dating coworkers rule, but you guys probably already knew that.

Please R&R!