Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with the show. Abby's journey, though, I do claim. At least part of it.
A/N: It needs to be pointed out that the timeline for this story is radically shortend, both to fit closer to the canon of the show and for the flow of the story. Nothing in real life habbened this fast.
Nyciby is the sweetest girl and bestest beta. I owe her a thousand hugs.
II
She arrived at the Navy yard half an hour earlier then usual on Monday morning, hoping that she could sneak into her lab without anyone's notice. She made it as far as the security check in the main lobby. Ducky, it seemed, was also arriving early for the day.
"Abby! I didn't expect you back so soon. After Gibbs told us what happened, I thought for sure you would be gone for at least a week." He waited at the other end of the security clearance area, greeting her with a hug when she passed through the metal detector.
"There wasn't much more I could do at the moment." Accepting the basket that Ben, the security guard, handed her, Abby refastened her dog collar and bracelets, pausing for a moment to cough.
"You were missed, my dear," Ducky said as they walked together in the direction of the elevator.
"Thanks for saying that, Duck."
"I mean it, Abigail. Jethro, in particular, has been less then his usually charming self since you've been gone."
"You sure know how to make a girl feel needed," Abby teased. Covering her mouth, she coughed again. Ducky frowned.
"I don't like the sound of that."
"It's just a cough. I'm not sick. Wanna feel my forehead? It's not warm." Abby mockingly tested her own temperature with a hand held dramatically to her forehead.
"Yes, but how long have you had the cough? I don't recall you coughing when you left."
"Since yesterday, I guess. I wasn't really paying attention." She'd had much more important things to worry about than a minor inconvenience like a cough.
"I'd like you to come down to autopsy with me, so I can listen more carefully to your breathing." Hand skipping over the elevator button to the lab, Ducky only pressed the one for autopsy.
"You don't need to worry about me, Duckman." She understood, though, that he would worry whether she wanted him to or not, and decided the best way to put his mind at ease was to do what he asked. She followed him into the room when the elevator doors opened and sat on one of the autopsy tables, kicking her legs while she waited.
"That's cold, Ducky," Abby shivered when Ducky placed the stethoscope against her skin.
"Sorry. Not used to patients with functioning nerve endings." He rubbed the flat circle against the arm of his shirt to warm it up. "Now, take a deep breath," he ordered. She took one deep breath, but the second was interrupted by a cough.
"How is your head?" he asked as he laid the stethoscope down on the table.
"Still on top of my shoulders," Abby quipped. When Ducky raised an eyebrow she shrugged. "A little achy, but nothing a couple of aspirin won't cure."
"I believe that you have what people are calling 'The Katrina Cough,'" Ducky said after he looked at her throat and nose. "Your body is simply reacting to all the molds, spores, dust, and other particles you have been breathing in. The shear number of biological elements in the air are too many for the cilia that line your sinuses and lungs to filter, and as a result your immune system is reacting. You didn't wear any sort of mask when you were down there, did you?"
Abby remembered the hours spent in her parent's house, and the smell that seemed to linger even after every shower. She shook her head.
"I didn't think so. I'm writing you a prescription." He had to dig through three drawers in his desk before finding the required pad of paper. In his line of work he didn't write very many prescriptions. If memory served, the last one had been for McGee and his poison ivy rash. "The antihistamine is to clear up your breathing, and the antibiotic is a preventative measure in case you picked up a bacterial infection. Next time I expect you to take the proper precautions."
"Thank you," she said as she accepted the slip of paper and wrapped her arms around the man. Next time. He understood without asking that she would be going back, and soon.
"Duck, I saw your Morgan in the parking lot. I'm hoping that means you-" Gibbs lost his train of thought when he realized that the doctor was not alone. "Abbs, what are you doing here?"
"Good to see you too!" she teased as she tried to stuff the prescription in her pocket before he could see it.
"You know that's not what I meant." Frown lines formed as he made the connection between the pink paper and the medical instruments setting on the metal table. "Duck?" he asked, picking up the stethoscope.
"Nothing to worry about, Jethro. I was just being my usual over cautious self."
"So what did you came down here to ask Ducky about?" Abby asked in an attempt to redirect the conversation. "Do we have a case?"
"Yeah, we do. A dead Marine. You back?" he asked.
"I am. You need me?" Abby hopped off the table.
"More then you could know. Evidence is in the lab with the pathetic excuse of a lab tech human resources sent us."
"I'm sure he wasn't that bad, Gibbs. After all, not everyone can be a genius like yours truly." She'd have to see what she could do about finding a better replacement before she returned to Louisiana.
"No one's quite like you, Abbs. Come on." Gibbs was almost out of the room by the time Abby had thanked Ducky. She ran to catch up with him.
"So what's the case?" she asked as they rode the elevator up the single level.
"How was it?" Gibbs flipped the switch for the emergency stop, freezing the elevator between floors.
"Bestest vacation I've ever been on," Abby replied sarcastically with a false smile.
"Abbs." His hand rested lightly in her forearm.
"Later, okay Gibbs? Right now I want to forget about it for a little while."
"I can understand that." He nodded, and let the elevator continue on its trip. "How long until you go back?"
"I'm not sure. A couple of weeks maybe?" As much as she wished she could be there for her parents, there wasn't anything she could do for them at the moment. In a few weeks, though, the house would be gutted and dry enough to start working on. That's when they would need her.
"We'll figure it out." They walked side by side into the lab. There was a pile of evidence on the table, and Gibbs left Abby to submerse herself in her work. He'd give her a few hours before coming back to exchange a Caf-Pow! for some answers.
To be continued