Gibbs entered his kitchen the next day for more coffee and saw Abby at the counter. "Abs, what are you doing here?"

"I came to help Timmy," Abby said as though it were obvious

"He's not here, Abs. And you should be heading to NCIS now. I'm sure you've been missed there," Gibbs said.

"But what if Timmy needs me again," Abby protested.

"Then I'll call ya. Besides, I doubt he's gonna wanna risk anymore hacking. It was a one shot deal. I think your part here is done," Gibbs said.

"Well, I should stay just in case," Abby insisted.

"No, you shouldn't. By staying here and not being at work, you're drawing more attention to yourself, and by extension, McGee. Now what's really going on? Why do you really want to stay?" Gibbs asked. He knew something else was going on besides just wanting to help McGee. He always knew when Abby was trying to hide something.

"I just want to help, Timmy," Abby said.

"In hopes of what? That maybe he'll look at you the way he used to?" Gibbs asked knowingly.

Abby shifted uncomfortably. "I just wish he'd stop hating me."

"And you think if you stay here and make yourself available that'll happen? Is that why you agreed to help in the first place?" Gibbs asked. He sincerely hoped that wasn't the reason. He hoped she'd agreed to help because it was the right thing.

"No. Well, maybe a little. I wanted him to be my friend again, but I also knew it was the right thing to do," Abby said.

Gibbs decided not to ask her what motive was stronger. He wasn't sure he really wanted to know. "And you thought that doing him one decent turn would make him your friend again. It's one good act compared to seven years of crappy ones. It doesn't really compare, Abs."

"But he's forgiven Ziva, and he seems to like you better too," Abby said.

"I think 'like' is too strong a word. I think the word you're looking for is 'tolerate'. And the reason he might tolerate me a little more than you could be because I actually apologized. I admitted I was wrong. Have you?" Gibbs asked. He had no delusions of forgiveness for what he did, but he liked to hope that being remorseful made some kind of difference to Tim. Even if it was just that he hated him a little less.

Abby bit her lip. "I never meant to hurt him."

"But you did. We all did. It's taken me over a year to accept that fact, but I have. Have you?" Gibbs asked. He honestly wasn't sure she had. Abby hadn't once mentioned being sorry for the way she treated McGee. She mentioned not meaning to hurt him and wanting him to be her friend, but she never said she was sorry for the way she treated him.

"It wasn't that bad, Gibbs. It was just a few jokes," Abby said.

"Who are you to decide that? You weren't the one on the receiving end of those 'jokes'. They may have seemed like jokes to you and DiNozzo, but they weren't to him. You know, I thought they were just jokes too. I hung onto that notion for years, even after he was gone. It wasn't until Callen and his team came here that my perfect world started to unravel. Still, I tried to deny it. I wouldn't admit the truth until it was impossible for me to deny it," Gibbs said.

"But he never said anything before. He never seemed like he minded," Abby said.

"Why would he? All it would've done was open him up to more grief. I wouldn't have listened to him and neither would you," Gibbs said. As much as he wished he could say otherwise, he knew that he would've just made a mockery of McGee's suffering with them. And he knew that because that was exactly what he did when Vance brought it to his attention. "The thing is Callen did. He listened to McGee. He listened and he understood."

Abby folded her arms and pouted. "He turned him against us."

Gibbs glared at her. "You gotta stop clinging to that delusion. Nobody turned McGee against you but you. You are the one that treated him like trash whenever he didn't do things your way, which wasn't very often because he knew the crap he would be open to if he didn't succumb to your every whim. Now don't get me wrong, you didn't do it alone, but you have to own up to your part. You and DiNozzo both."

"So you think I should apologize? What happened to rule six?" Abby asked.

"It went out the window with every other rule I broke with McGee. And no, Abby, I don't think you should apologize. Apologizing is something you do when you know you've screwed up and you want to make amends. You don't want to make amends," Gibbs said knowingly. Abby wasn't sorry for what she did. She didn't even think she'd done anything wrong.

"That's not true," Abby denied.

"Yeah, it is. You don't want to make amends. You're not sorry. You just want to do whatever you think will get McGee to be to you what he used to. It won't work. First of all, he'll see right through it. He's not who he used to be, Abby. He's been taught to know when he's being lied to. He'll see it and all it'll do is piss him off. And even if you did mean it, it wouldn't give you what you're looking for. It won't give you any kind of relationship with him again," Gibbs told her.

"Than what would?" Abby asked.

"Nothing," Gibbs said simply. "The way we treated McGee was horrible, and we all had to pay a price for it. That price was losing his friendship and loyalty, and in my case, losing Callen's as well. We're not gonna get it back. He may forgive us one day, but he'll see us as anything other than the people that hurt him."

"Then why did you apologize?" Abby asked.

Gibbs sighed in exasperation. "Because I was wrong! Because I betrayed an agent under my command and I wanted him to know that I was sorry. And because I thought that maybe he could take away some kind of peace from it."

Just then they both heard the door open. They immediately walked into the living room just in time to see Tim walk in and close the door behind him. "Hey. Any word from Ziva?" Gibbs asked.

"I spoke to her a couple hours ago. She got the information to Mossad. It's probably gonna take a while before they know anything. In the meantime, I wanna go through Callen's financials. There's gotta be something in there that proves he didn't make those transactions," Tim said.

"CIA is gonna have those records sealed tight. They'll know the second we try to access them. Look, just wait and see what David finds out," Gibbs said in frustration.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing!" Tim yelled in frustration. Needless to say, he was getting antsy. Callen had been locked up for days. He'd been beaten up at least once that Tim knew about. He had to do something to help.

Gibbs was about to say something when his cellphone range. He immediately grabbed it and answered it. "Yeah, Gibbs. What? Who the hell wants to know?"

Tim looked up at his ex-boss in suspicion. Who was Gibbs talking to and why had he suddenly become agitated.

"I don't know who the hell you are, but if you're looking for McGee, I suggest you call him," Gibbs said.

Tim held his hand out for the phone. Whoever it was obviously knew he was there and they weren't going to give up. Besides, even if it was Kort, he couldn't prove anything. There was no court order saying he couldn't see Gibbs. He would prefer Kort not know he was there, but it wasn't mandatory.

Gibbs hesitated for a minute, but eventually did relinquish his phone.

Tim put the phone to his ear. "This is McGee. Who's this?" He listened as a familiar male voice spoke and he laughed. "You've got to be kidding me? How did you find me? Uh huh. Sure you do. Where are you? For you to call me now while all this stuff is going on with Callen, you've gotta be in DC. Tell me where you are. I'll come meet you. Okay, I'll be right there," he said before hanging up.

"Who was that?" Abby asked curiously.

"A friend," Tim said before handing Gibbs his phone and walking out the door without another word.