A/N: This story is getting sadder by the chapter; sorry about that. With a bit of luck, the next chapter will be longer. F.
As the week went on, he felt that hope start to fade. Everything seemed normal, at least on the surface. The MCRT had its usual caseload; there never seemed to be a shortage of crime. Abby was at least a good approximation of her usual bubbly self- with the rest of the team. With McGee, she was edgy and irritable, and it got progressively worse by the day.
When she refused his help in front of Tony, McGee knew the comments would start. It was an extremely complicated IP track and trace through numerous encrypted channels; the kind of thing she'd usually ask his help with, especially as she was guaranteed to have Gibbs breathing down her neck for the results. He handed her the laptop; Tony asked her if she needed him to leave McGee with her. She shook her head. "Nope; I got this one." Tony shot her an odd look. "Are you sure? Cause Gibbs said-"
She interrupted him. "I don't need help, Tony."
Tony glanced at McGee; he shook his head slightly, then they turned and headed to the elevator. Once they were out of Abby's earshot, Tony looked at McGee. "What did you do?" McGee rolled his eyes. "Don't ask."
...
McGee wanted to go downstairs and visit Abby, doubting that she'd talk to him at home. But they'd tried their hardest to keep things professional while they were at work; otherwise they'd breach Gibbs' tacit permission to break Rule 12, and McGee didn't want to think about the consequences of that.
As it was, they were kept too busy for most of the week for him to find the time to go and see her when it wasn't work related. They pulled an all-nighter one night; by the time they could leave for the rest of the week, Abby was already gone.
He didn't honestly know what to say to her, even if she would talk to him. How could he bring it up? Maybe he'd made a mistake leaving the way he did, but he knew that if he'd stayed, he would have pushed her for an answer, any answer, and they would have ended up fighting. But he'd expected some sort of a reaction other than blank silence, and now he didn't know what to do. How did you ask someone why they'd ignored the biggest question a man could ever ask a woman? And how did you ask why they were angry about it?