About an hour and a half later, both McGee and Abby walked into the squadroom. They had made a stop down in Abby's lab so she could change out of her dreadful court clothes and into more appropriate, not to mention comfortable, attire. When they exited the elevator, they found both Tony and Ziva swamped under mounds of paperwork.

Noticing their entrance, Tony immediately looked up and asked, "How'd court go today Probie?"

McGee rolled his eyes and started to answer, but Abby cut him off.

"Ya know Tony," she retorted with a playful smile. "Timmy is your senior agent now. You can stop calling him 'Probie'."

Tony laughed. "Screw technicalities," he joked back. "He's always gonna be 'Probie'. It's like I said to him last year: I'll always outrank him. Besides, we don't have any fresh probationary meat around here yet."

"Well, whatever," McGee muttered as he sat down at his desk. He added aloud, "I kinda like the way we are now. You're just anxious to get someone else to pick on."

"Of course!" Tony laughed. "What kind of boss would I be?"

"But, I swear to God Tony, if you slap the back of my head one more time, I'll kick your ass. Boss or no boss," McGee said, opening a folder on his desk and beginning his own paperwork.

Abby, still standing in the midst of the desk, giggled. "I'll hold him down for you Tim." McGee smirked then winked up at her.

"So how did court go Abs?" Tony asked.

"Went as well as we hoped. He got life," Abby replied.

"With no parole," McGee added.

"Good, he deserved it. Great job Abby."

"It wasn't me who got him, it was all of you...but sure, I'll take the credit for it," she said with a smirk. "Hey Tony, is there anything you need me to do in the lab?"

Tony did a quick scan of his desk, looking for any possible open cases or needs to use his forensics expert.

Seeing none, Tony replied, "I've got nothing, it's been really quiet lately. Maybe all the bad guys heard there was a new sheriff in town and they all ran like hell."

At this Ziva popped her head up. "Yeah, because they are more scared of you than they were of Gibbs," she agreed sarcastically.

Both Tony and Ziva opened theirs mouths, ready for their bantering argument, but Abby interviened.

"Children!" she cried, grinning from ear to ear. "Stop it...play nice, or I'll give you a time out. Now, go back to your paperwork."

Once they did, Abby walked over to the only unoccupied desk...Gibbs' desk. After that day when Gibbs left them, it seemed the team made an unspoken pact to keep things as normal as they used to be. They all stayed at their own desks...only their titles changed. Well, everyone but Ziva's. Abby couldn't help but grin over that little fact.

Abby sat in the lowered computer chair and sighed. She missed Gibbs terribly. It had only been a few months since the entire NCIS team had their worlds turned upside down. Gibbs having been blown up and the resulting amnesia was traumatic enough for the group, but when he told them that he was leaving NCIS forever...Abby felt her heart break in a way that she knew it could never heal.

Director Sheppard had given them that "post-agent" pep talk a couple days after Gibbs left, but it didn't seem to help much. However, knowing that the Director once had a fling with Gibbs somehow made the "talk" easier. She was hurting just as much as the rest of the team was...Morrow would have given the speech cold, and that would have pissed Abby off more.

Agents come and go, that was the norm in their world. They learned that the hard way with Pacci...and now with Gibbs. But Gibbs wasn't just an agent to Abby and the rest of the team. He was their leader, their father of sorts. They all loved him, and in his own special, stoic, marine way, he loved them back. Abby frowned sadly. She just remembered...her birthday was in a few weeks and Gibbs wasn't going to be there to take her out to dinner the night before.

Abby felt tears begin to form, and she blinked them back furiously. She had turned on the computer and was now looking at Gibbs' desktop. She smiled...it was an enlarged Marine crest. She searched through his programs and found the Freecell game she was looking for. She pulled out her mp3 player, put in her headphones, and began to play.

A few hours later, the team had finished a good bit of their paperwork, and were now heading home. Ziva left first, saying her good nights to her team mates. McGee turned off his desk light, then walked over to Abby and extended his hand to her. She turned off the computer and the light, and took it.

"You leaving yet Tony?" Abby asked as she and McGee walked by his desk on their way to the elevator.

"Not quite...got couple more things left to do," Tony replied. "You two go on. I'll see you in the morning."

"All right, night Tony," McGee said. "Don't stay up too late."

"You know me--" Tony said.

"I do my best work at night," McGee and Abby chimed along with Tony. They had heard this a thousand times at least.

Tony laughed, then shooed them away.

Abby and McGee walked together to each other's car, parked convieniently right next to each other, arm in arm and talking. Once they got to Abby's hearse, McGee slowed to a stop, and brought Abby closer to him. He leaned down and kissed her. Abby kissed back fervently and it soon became more heated and passionate. When the broke apart, Abby found herself pinned against the side of her hearse, McGee mere inches from her face, and both breathing heavily.

Abby giggled and whispered, "I take it then you're wanting to come over tonight?"

McGee smiled. "You know I would love to, but Tony needs us to come in early. Just agents, you can come in normally."

"Awww, come on Tim," Abby whined, fingering his necktie and using it to pull him closer. "It's just ten minute longer drive, you could still get there on time."

"It's ten the way you drive," McGee whispered. He was so close to her, and it took what remaining self control he still had left not to just take her right there in the parking lot. "I want to come over--" Abby leaned up and kissed him. When they separated, Tim gasped, "I really want to come over. I just can't tonight. But, I promise that I'll spend the entire weekend at your place."

Abby pouted, but agreed. "It's a date. Call me tonight before you go to bed?"

"Don't I always?"

"Yes," Abby said, grinning. They shared one more soft kiss, then went to their separate cars.

Abby didn't realize how tired she really was until she got home and crashed on her sofa. After vegging on the couch for twenty minutes, Abby got up and went into the bathroom where she washed her face. She then went into her bedroom and changed into a pair of black pajama pants (with white skull and crossbones, of course) and a black spaghetti strap shirt to wear to bed. She trudged back to her living room, by way of her kitchen. She made herself a small bowl of cereal and then sat in front of her television and muched away. Not ten minutes later, her telephone rang.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey sweetie," she heard McGee answer.

They talked together for a long time, but soon both Abby and McGee were starting to yawn sleepily.

"It's getting late," McGee said. "You should go to bed."

"Yeah, I guess," Abby replied, stifling yet another yawn. "You know, now that I think about it, I think I will come in early with you. I'm sure I could find something to do in the lab."

"Sounds good. Do you want me to come get you?"

"Works for me."

"Okay then, I'll be there at six," McGee replied.

"Night McGee!" Abby said cheerfully.

She heard him chuckle lightly through the phone. "Good night, Abby. I'll see you in the morning."

They both hung up, and Abby then stood up, turned off the lights in the living room and climbed into bed. Abby fell asleep almost the moment her head hit the pillow, where she dreamt peacefully for several hours...mainly of McGee. Nothing like the "Tony" rated dreams, but just a sweet montage of images of the two of them on picnics, in Abby's lab, or on one of their sofas. If her dream were a movie, a bubblegum pop song would be playing in the background.

Around 3am, Abby was stirred awake by some unknown force. Lying on her back, her eyes fluttered open, then suddenly jerked wide in panic when she saw two unfamiliar faces standing over her.

She screamed.

To Be Continued