Chapter Eight – Ready for Action

The next morning, Gibbs was pleased to see everyone present and accounted for thirty minutes before their shifts were scheduled to begin.

"How are we doing for getting this antidote put together?" he asked Brenna.

"We checked on the progress first thing this morning, and we have most of what we need here now. A few items are being brought over this morning by courier. I should be in the lab and actively working by lunchtime," she reported.

"Not good enough. Go to the lab now and start running through your formulas or whatever. If you go ahead and start, you'll get it made that much quicker when the rest of the stuff gets here."

"Yes, sir," she said with a grin, allowing McGee to lead her to elevator.

Gibbs replied loudly, "Don't 'sir' me, I work for a living."

McGee mumbled to Brenna, "Obedience is good, but don't call him sir."

"Thanks for the tip," she answered as the elevator doors closed. McGee was taking her to the makeshift lab that had been set up in a section of the building not normally used by NCIS.

"Is there anything I can do?" Jenna offered.

Gibbs gave her a long look. "Other than telling me what else is going on?"

She ducked her head again, avoiding his gaze. He smirked, knowing now that her submission stance was most likely an act: he had seen a bit of the real Jenna the night before.

"DiNozzo, what are you doing?" Gibbs asked him, as if only just noticing his presence.

"I was checking into some of the information you had asked for on DAX…"

"Ziva can do that. Jenna can help. YOU, however, are supposed to be with Abby. I don't care if we are in NCIS and she is in a secure location, you DO NOT leave your buddy under any circumstances. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Boss," Tony said, rushing to the elevator.

Ziva led Jenna to the chair Tony had just vacated, and showed her how to continue with the research he had begun. Naturally, she wouldn't have clearance to do all of the work; Ziva would have to keep a lot of it. But she had to admit that having Jenna help with some of the basics would definitely take some of the load off of her.

---

"Tony!" Abby said excitedly when he entered the lab, as if she hadn't spent the entire night and morning with him.

"Hey, Abby."

"What's wrong?" she asked him, picking up on his odd tone of voice.

"Gibbs says our buddy system doesn't go on hold inside the building; you're still stuck with me, I'm afraid."

Abby smiled, "Did Gibbs yell at you?"

"Sort of," he pouted.

"Awwww…" she said, crossing the room to pull him into a hug. After a few moments, she pulled away and eyed him conspiratorially. "So…" she began.

"What's on your mind, Abs?" Tony asked her, sensing she was leading into something big.

"Did McGee or Gibbs say anything about how their protection details went?" she asked curiously.

"You mean, were they able to extract more useful information? I don't know. It's not like I've seen them without their buddies."

Abby rolled her eyes. "I'm starting to resent this whole buddy thing."

"Gee, thanks, Abs," Tony said, feigning offense.

She smacked him on the upper arm. "Don't be that way; you know that's not what I mean."

"What exactly is bothering you?"

"It's just… I was wondering if… I don't know."

"Well, thanks for clarifying," Tony said, rolling his eyes. Knowing Abby well, and remembering her behavior at dinner the night before, he continued, "Seriously, I think McGee is quite infatuated with both girls, not that I blame him. Those girls are hot, hot, hot, and Brenna has certainly been sending a lot of those stunning smiles his way." He paused a moment, considering. "Now that you mention it, he and Brenna did seem very comfortable with each other this morning, which I wouldn't expect from the Probie after spending the night with a woman he'd never met before."

"I didn't mention it. But what do you think that means?" Abby asked. "Do you think he slept with her?"

"You'd have to ask him," Tony said, backing away. "But I seriously doubt it. This is McGeek we're talking about here. I can't see the guy closing the deal with someone like her at all, let alone in one night."

"Some girls like geek, Tony," Abby protested in an almost angry tone. She turned her back to Tony and began furiously typing.

"So, is there anything we can do to help get this antidote formulated sooner?" Tony asked, changing the subject to one less likely to make Abby hate him.

Tony had never understood why both Gibbs and McGee seemed to be able to touch that part of Abby that lay beyond friendship, and just beyond his reach. When he had first come to NCIS, he had flirted outrageously with her, only to be shut down; she simply wasn't into the player type. But shocked didn't come anywhere close to describe what he felt when he found out she had opened herself up to McGee. And Gibbs… well, he always seemed to have this connection to her. He supposed he should be happy that the girls' sudden appearance was distracting McGee, but he hated to see Abby hurting.

---

"My heavens, you could hang meat in here," Brenna complained, trying to think warm thoughts. "Is there some sort of law that says all labs have to be frigid?"

McGee chuckled and crossed the room. "There's a thermostat right here," he informed her.

"Oh," Brenna said, somewhat embarrassed about her outburst.

"It's set on 70 degrees," McGee told her.

"Well, there's the problem, McGee," she crossed the room to meet him and set the thermostat on 74. She smiled, "That should do it."

McGee smiled remembering having to adjust the temperature three times during the night and morning. He had bumped the thermostat up while Brenna worked on her computer, and then brought it back down when it was time for bed. He awoke the next morning to find Brenna practically wedged underneath him, as if she had been subconsciously using him as a blanket. As he reached out to pull her blanket more tightly around her, he noticed that her exposed skin as cold as ice. He had actually turned on the heat for a while to take the chill off the apartment so she could shower. In her defense, she had never asked him to adjust the temperature, but the chattering teeth and obvious chill bumps on her arms were a definite clue to her discomfort.

Brenna smiled at McGee. "Thanks for taking such good care of me."

He blushed. "I didn't do anything."

"You did plenty," she told him, "so just accept the compliment, okay?"

"You're welcome," he accepted graciously.

"Better," she winked at him. "Well, let's see what we have here." She turned to the tables that had been set up in the center of the room, and began organizing components. McGee set up the laptops at one end of the workspace, and helped her review the information she had put together the night before. As soon as the final ingredients were delivered, they would be well on their way to a viable antidote. In theory, at least. They would almost have to actually build the original biochemical pill in order to test the effectiveness of the antidote. Knowing the harmful effects of the drug, she was hoping to find another alternative to recreating the problem.

---

Steph was in her motel room. Since the failed attempt last night to grab Abby Sciuto, she'd been on her laptop, researching blue prints and planning her next move. It was amazing how much you could access on the internet if you knew where to go and what to look for. She was studying the NCIS building, making notes and generally learning the layout of the building. After last night and the information she had heard, she knew Abby wouldn't be alone from now on. She also knew she had the skills to take out the agent that had been assigned to protect her.

There was a knock on her door, and she peered out the window. Good, her pizza was there. Opening the door, she took the box and handed the delivery boy the cash, then shut the door in his face. She grinned. There were some days where she really got a kick out of being rude. Grabbing a soda, she sat back down at her laptop. As she ate, she memorized the route through the building she would have to take. Now all she had to do was fake her clearance.

---

Jenna stretched at Tony's desk and sighed. They were searched for evidence to incriminate Damien. While she knew they had to do it, she hated that it was being done. Shaking her head, she looked around. She had noticed a control for the plasma screen earlier. Grabbing it off McGee's desk, she cleared her throat.

"I think you'll want to see this," she told Gibbs and Ziva as she clicked the button. Appearing on the screen was detailed financial information on DAX Pharmaceuticals along with recent documents supporting all the money going in and out of the accounts.

"How did you get this information," Ziva asked, looking from the plasma to her computer where she'd been trying to access the same records for the past forty minutes.

Jenna stared a Ziva for a moment and then reminded her, "I am… I was Damien's assistant. I'm like his backup when he's too busy looking into things. I have all his passwords."

"Where are they?" Ziva looked at Tony's desk, not finding any papers.

Jenna laughed, "The one thing I'm good at remembering almost as well as Brenna is passwords. Damien has a very secure system and uses the same passwords but in a different rotation every month. I just had to figure out how he changed them."

Gibbs had been watching Jenna from his desk and was surprised that she'd pull that information for them. Jenna noticed his stare and held his gaze as she asked him, "What?"

"Why did you pull that information for us?" he asked.

Staring him straight in the eye, she answered, "Accessing this information is a step in getting you to see that Damien isn't involved in this. Besides, it saved time for me to pull it instead of you all having to hack into it."

She blinked, and Gibbs wondered what other reason she wasn't saying out loud.

Ziva looked from Jenna to Gibbs and wondered just what had happened during the previous night to change Jenna from being shy around Gibbs to going head-to-head with him on something.