McGee arrived at work early, as usual. He pulled his car into a parking spot, turned off his engine and picked his jacket up from the empty passenger seat. Today he would have preferred someone to be with him on the drive to work, to have someone to make small talk and grab breakfast with. Heck, even Tony would have been good! Staring at the Caf-Pow resting on his dash, bought especially for her, he knew there was still something there. Although he realised there was no point in verbalising his feelings, she was well and truly over him.
At the time, finishing their relationship was fairly easy, but weeks later McGee had begun to feel the regret building. Girls had come and gone, but the regret remained. Wonderful women had come his way, eager for commitments, weddings, babies and so much more. The only problem was, no matter how hard he tried, he didn't love them, not at all. Abby had taken up all the space in his head and was refusing to move out. As hard as he tried to suppress his feelings, she always took over. Getting out of his car, he realised that talking to her last night had brought all of this back to the surface and left him confused yet numb. He frowned, picked up her cup and slammed his car door.
Abby leant back in Tony's chair, stretched out her arms and yawned; it had been a late night for her. She had only gone home for a few hours of sleep and a change of clothes, then come straight back to work. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, she couldn't wait to relate the information she had found last night to Gibbs. She owed McGee for inspiring her, she wished she had picked up something for him on the way to work. Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw a familiar face from across the room.
"Morning Ziva." Abby chirped, seeing her colleague walking through the Bullpen. Tony was trailing behind their resident Mosaad agent, probably antagonising her, Abby imagined.
"I'm just curious…" Tony whined, "But what about if it was totally dark, and you couldn't tell the difference?"
"Good Morning Abby," Ziva replied, ignoring Tony completely, "how are you today?"
"Awesome, I got something from the marked bill." Abby said, slurping on the last of her Caf-Pow.
"Hey Abs," Tony said sweetly, "Don't suppose you know any of Ziva's sexy Mosaad secrets, do you?"
"Sorry Tony, I've got nothing, but I do happen to know that…" Abby stopped mid-sentence and bolted upright in her seat. "McGee! Perfect timing!"
She bounded towards him as he exited the elevator, grabbed the cup from his hand and immediately began sipping on the straw. Tony took this opportunity to reclaim his seat, so when Abby and McGee got to the desks, McGee paused, silently offering Abby his seat, but she instead she perched on the edge of his desk. What a perfect metaphor; she wants nothing I have, he thought. So McGee took his usual seat at his desk, hanging his jacket over the back of his chair. As the rest of the group chattered back and forth, he couldn't help but notice Abby's thigh draped across part of his desk. She was wearing a black pleated skirt and black thigh highs with tiny red bows at their tops. McGee remembered that Abby had quite the collection of stockings: bows, hearts, spiders, skulls and crossbones…
"McGee!" Abby yelled, "I'm up here!"
"Sorry…I…uhh…I like your outfit." McGee stammered.
"Smooth, McGee." Said Gibbs, as he strode up behind them. "Got something Abs?"
"Of course Gibbs," Abby chirped, getting up and pacing the floor, "I found out that the particular ink, used on the marked bill, is only found in one processing plant that we know of." She whirled round to face Gibbs again, "So, find out who has access to the plant and you'll have your guy…or girl."
"Good work Abs," Gibbs replied, "Anyone else?"
The group fell silent. Gibbs rolled his eyes and began, "We are focusing on Petty Officers Barnett, Ramirez and Davidson, they're complying fully with questioning and searches, but I want enough to stop them being deployed tomorrow morning."
"Abby, McGee," Gibbs barked, pointing at a pile of three laptops on McGee's desk, "I want everything you can find on the Petty Officers, on my desk in four hours."
"On it, Boss." Replied McGee, reaching over to pick up the three laptops. He gathered them in his arms, leaving his bickering colleagues behind and headed towards the elevator, with Abby tottering in tow.