M'kay so this is an all Abby chapter. Sorry if any of you guys like Keating but he's about to get his ass handed to him on a platter. So please review and I've got lots of chapters lined up and waiting to be typed out and put on the web.


2 months, 18 days, 11 hours, 32 minutes

Keating was down in her lab with her. Had been ordered by Gibbs to try and help her crack the encrypted code on the dead Lt. laptop. She would have appreciated the help because she was a bit stuck but Keating's ego about how brilliant he was began to grate her nerves.

The other man touched all of her things on her desk without asking, got in her way the entire time, and looked at her shrine to Tony, Ziva, and McGee with slight disdain. Abby wanted to punch him so badly but she knew Gibbs wouldn't want her to. Not to mention all the trouble she could get in with Vance if he found out.

She tried doing the 'imagine-the-asshole-isn't-there' trick that McGee had tried to teach her. It didn't work any better than it had the last time she'd tried. Keating sighed loudly and looked over at her CD player. "Can you turn that stuff down, I can't concentrate," he said with exasperation.

Abby glared at him for a moment before storming over to the player and violently hitting the power button.

"McGee never minded," she mumbled.

"Well I'm not McGee," Keating snapped. "I don't even know why you praise him so much; I'm just as smart if not smarter than him.

Abby couldn't believe what she had heard. All of her frustration and sadness exploded in her. She slammed her hand down on the table causing Keating to jump.

"If I ever hear you bad mouth McGee or any of my friends again, I will have no choice but to maim you so badly your own mother won't even recognize you, understand?" Abby growled out, her eyes alit with anger.

Keating stared at her and couldn't help but shrink under the intensity of her gaze. "Now get out."

"But Gibbs-" he tried to say.

"He'll understand now get out of my lab!" Keating quickly exited, once out of her sight, running to the elevator doors.

Abby went back to her stereo as the elevator doors slid shut and pressed the play button, turning it up louder than it had been before getting back to work. It didn't take Gibbs long to enter her lab, Caff-Pow in hand. He turned her music down so they could talk to each other without shouting.

Abby didn't greet him or complain at her music being fiddled with, her eyes glued to the screen, her fingers flying over the keyboard rapidly.

"You keep banging on those keys like that and you're going to break that thing," Gibbs said softly. Abby didn't reply and Gibbs placed the Caff-Pow on the desk.

"Keating's scared to come down here," Gibbs tried again to make her respond.

"Good," she said.

"Wanna tell me why?"

Abby turned to look at him "He said he was smarter than McGee, no one is smarter than McGee, well maybe me, but only sometimes but for the most part we're even. Not that I'm saying that Keating isn't smart but there is no way he's smarter than McGee," she babbled out.

Gibbs just nodded his head; waiting until she calmed down a bit before he would respond. "You're not mad at me are you?" she asked.

He grinned "No Abs, now what do you got for me?"

Abby turned back to her computers "Well whatever Lt. Lee had on his computer he did a damn good job of protecting it, I haven't been able to really get anything that might tell us why he was murdered, as for the fingerprint I pulled off the piece of glass, AFIS is still working on it."

Gibbs nodded and before he could speak the computer beeped and a photo of Lt. Lee's son popped up on the screen.

"That's good work Abby," he said, kissing her cheek. "Next time you yell at Keating try not to scare him so badly," he told her as he walked out of the lab.

Abby saluted his retreating form and smiled for the first time all day. She looked back over at her wall of pictures, her eyes fell on the construction paper that she had drawn a face crying and below had a sticky note with how many days it had been since everything had gone to hell. It had been 78 days collectively and two weeks since Tim had moved to New York.

Her smile left her face and she knew before she left that the sticky note would have to be changed out for a new one with the number 79 on it.

She needed cheering up desperately so she opened her e-mail hoping that Tony had been able to respond to her. There was only one message she hadn't read and it was from tim. She quickly opened the e-mail and began to read.

'Abby, I'm sorry I haven't talked to you for so long. I could make up some lame excuse but I know you would know it was a lie. Tony told me that I should at least tell you I was alive but I think I can do a little better than just that.

I miss you Abby, I know I haven't been acting like I do but I really do miss you. I've spent most of my time here holed up in my apartment trying not to think of you or anyone at NCIS, hoping it would somehow make it easier to deal with things. It hasn't but I made a friend tonight named Edith and tonight was the best I've felt in months. I'm sorry I ignored you, but I thought that if I talked to you, then you'd convince me to come back. But I need to be away right now Abby, I need to get my shit together and focus on writing it all out. Cause if I don't then I'm going to have a nervous breakdown. I promise though, if Gibbs manages to talk Vance into letting us all come back then I'll come home. I don't think they'd last long without me doing the tech stuff anyway. Kidding.

I hope you're not too mad at me, but I wouldn't blame you if you are. I miss you. –Tim-'

Abby read the e-mail twice before closing out of her account and got back to work. She wasn't sure what to say at the moment. She decided she would respond to him when she got home. She tried to focus on Lt. Lee's laptop once more, but all she could think of at the moment was the woman McGee had mentioned meeting. Who was this woman Edith, and what did she want with Tim?


Yay McGee has made contact finally. Please review!