A/N: This chapter is really more fluffy than anything, I guess. I wrote it after writing a particularly difficult partial chapter of 'Disappearing'.

Updates could be few and far between for the next couple of days- we have our big bi-annual conference in Brisbane starting Wednesday, so I'll be very busy.

Thanks for reading and reviewing! F.

After lunch, Abby headed back down to her lab alone and sat down, deep in thought. Troy McGee had been a pleasant surprise. He'd been silent the whole time when she'd met Tim's parents, and she'd taken that as a sign that he agreed with his wife's opinion. Today, she'd found out that it was a different story; he just wanted Tim to be happy. He seemed like a gentler person than Maria, at least on the surface- though Abby suspected that there was a very strong person underneath. All in all, she liked Tim's dad- time would tell about his mother. Although Tim seemed totally sure of his dad's ability to bring Maria around.

Realising that she was sitting idly, she got up and started sorting through the latest batch of evidence, quickly becoming absorbed in her work.

...

She was interrupted by the sound of the elevator. Gibbs strode in a second later, bearing her customary Caf-Pow!

"Got anything for me, Abs?"

"Test results from our latest victim. Ducky found a brownish white powder under his fingernails and around his nose. It's definitely cocaine, Gibbs."

He nodded. "That confirms the autopsy results. Thanks, Abs."

"I'm not done, Gibbs. Judging by his tox screen, our staff sergeant was hitting a whole bunch of different things. I found traces of crystal meth, heroin and oxycodone in his blood, apart from the cocaine. The guy was a walking drug store, Gibbs."

"Definitely the cocaine that killed him?"

"Oh yeah. There was enough coke in his bloodstream to kill at least two people. The other stuff was just traces, like he'd used it over the past couple of days. Looks like Sergeant Reynolds enjoyed himself a little too much while he was on leave."

She turned away from her computer and stopped him before he could leave.

"Gibbs?"

"Yeah, Abby?"

Now that she had his attention, she was suddenly nervous.

"Um, Tim and I talked it over... and we're not getting the annulment." The words came out in a rush. "I guess we finally realised that neither of us really wanted it to be over. So we're staying married." She took a breath, watching Gibbs' reaction. To her relief, he took a step forward and hugged her. "Congratulations, Abby" he said softly as he kissed her on the cheek.

...

Gibbs smiled broadly to himself as he walked down the short hallway from Abby's lab to the elevator. He was glad that Abby and McGee had finally gotten things sorted out- not that he'd tell them that, of course. But he knew that McGee would do his best to make sure that Abby was happy, and he couldn't ask for a better man for his surrogate daughter. By the time the elevator reached the squad room, his usual carefully neutral expression was back in place.

Judging by McGee's expression, however, Tony and Ziva had found out the good news. He looked a little harassed, which quickly changed to slightly scared as he caught sight of Gibbs.

"Reynolds died from a drug overdose" he announced. "Tony, Ziva- go talk to his CO again, see if he noticed anything that might have suggested he was using. " He waited until they were out of earshot before leaning low over McGee's desk.

"Got something you wanna tell me, McGee?"

He saw the younger agent swallow convulsively

"Abby tell you?" he asked nervously.

"Uh huh."

"Boss, I know you told me to fix it, and I know this isn't what you meant, but neither of us wanted to break it off. "

"McGee."

"And I know we're breaking Rule 12-"

"McGee!"

McGee finally stopped his nervous rambling and looked at his boss.

"I was gonna say congratulations."

He saw the look of surprise on his team member's face and grinned inwardly. Straightening up and going back to his desk, he changed the subject.

"Run down Staff Sergeant Reynolds bank account and credit card details. See if there's been any unusually large withdrawals at all."

McGee blinked a couple of times, and then got down to business. Gibbs gave him a minute then interrupted him.

"And McGee?"

"Yeah Boss?"

"If it interferes with your work, I'll bounce one of you out of here even quicker than you two got married. Clear?"

"Clear, Boss."