a/n - Thank you for all the wonderful comments. We've still got a ways to go, but I can see the end from here, so that's a good thing :) Healing takes time and time is passing for our gang. Is change in the air?
My one real complaint about the show is how unevenly they write the characters sometimes. Abby is the best example. Is the Abby from Dog Tags even remotely the same Abby from Caged? Imagine my surprise when I took all the different aspects they've given her over the years and compared them to a listing of personality disorders. I thought there might be something close. I never expected her to be a poster child for one of them. Today you get to see a bit of that.
Even with the promised normal shifts, it was a bit later than normal when McGee left cybercrimes on Friday night. Alice had her pen back again, and all was right in cyberworld again. Tim laughed to himself as he waited for the elevator, enjoying the peace while it lasted. Next week he had to submit evaluations on the geeks he was working with, including Alice and her protagonist, Norm. After watching him pester her for the last three weeks, he realized that they were the geek version of Tony and Ziva, but he was going to keep that little tidbit to himself.
Tonight, Sarah and Ziva were taking Jethro for a run and he'd been ordered to bring dinner home for the three of them. Now that the visible marks had all healed and the wrist brace was no longer necessary, Ziva was helping him slowly pull Sarah back out into the world. Sparks of the old, feisty Sarah were beginning to show, and he was grateful.
The elevator stopped on the way to the main level. Tim didn't look up right away, but the familiar scent of Patchouli oil and gunpowder told him who was now sharing the ride with him. He finally looked up to see the familiar green eyes staring at him. "Abby."
"Hey, McGee." She fidgeted with her ring as the elevator slowly climbed. "How's Sarah?"
Tim let his eyes shift over until he was staring at the door, willing it to open. "She's recovering physically, but it's going to be a long road."
Abby nodded sadly, as she too, turned to face the door. "I never meant for her to get hurt." When she didn't get an answer she continued to ramble, needing to fill the empty space. "He's been calling me from jail, but I won't take any of his calls." They arrived at the main floor and the quiet ding signaled the opening of the doors. McGee stepped out, but stopped just in the lobby.
"I just wish you had stopped talking to him a lot sooner, Abby."
---NCIS---
"Probie, you've got to help me." Tony's arrival in cybercrimes was actually a pleasant break from the search for the elusive line of code was was still tracking. "I've been trying to figure out the financial trail for this weapons ring for like, forever. Gibbs is going to kill me if I don't get some results for him soon." The moment McGee's hand moved, he dropped the file into it.
Tim skimmed the file that had been shoved at him, not sure what the panic was. "Tony, you guys just caught the case a few days ago. Some searches take time."
"Four days, McGee, four days without a lead. That is forever in Gibbs-speak. You gotta help me out, man." Tony put on his best pleading puppy dog expression and waited while McGee hung his head.
The three computers linked together on his desk could easily handle what DiNozzo was asking him to do, and the quick glance he'd had of the file told McGee of another half dozen ways to track the purchases that Tony hadn't thought of yet. "Yeah, sure." Before he could pull up another window to start the search, DiNozzo's phone rang. He listened with one ear as Tony tried to explain to Gibbs why he was in the sub-basement instead of his desk.
When Tony finally hung up he grabbed McGee's sleeve. "The Boss wants this done upstairs."
"Tony, I..." One look at the pleading face and Tim caved. "All right, fine." He locked his workstation as he stood and pointed at Norm. "You, stay at your desk and concentrate on those encryptions." Next, he looked at Alice, sitting across from Norm. "I want you to show me your progress on the coding when I get back." She nodded and bit down on her pen as she returned to her work.
McGee had his head buried in the file when they stepped off the elevator. Tony followed closely, but instinctively Tim found his way to his old desk without ever looking up. The surface was as empty as the day he had packed up and Tim finally looked at Tony and Ziva. "It's been a month, why don't you guys have a replacement yet?"
Tony glanced over at Ziva before checking behind him, but Gibbs was nowhere to be seen at the moment. "We've been through five TAD's since you went to the sub-basement. Gibbs chews them up and spits them out faster than Vance can bring them in."
"I believe Director Vance has given up on sending any more."
He heard what they weren't saying as easily as what they were. His place on the team was secure as long as there was any possibility he would return. When he'd asked for the transfer, he was convinced that he would never want that; now he wasn't so sure at all. The unspoken statement remained that way. "Thanks, guys."
By the time Gibbs returned with coffee, McGee had the answers they needed. He scribbled down the address and handed it to DiNozzo as Tony was retrieving his weapon from the drawer.
Tony grinned as he looked at the note. "Hey, you want to go with us?
It was tempting. It was so tempting that Tim's hand was half way to the desk drawer where he had kept his own weapon before he realized what he was doing. "I can't. Remember, that's why I asked to move downstairs."
He was right, of course, and none of them argued with him, but they all noticed his abortive reach and left with a smile. Up on the catwalk Director Vance watched the exchange, then continued to watch as McGee slowly stood up and gave a longing look to the squadroom before he returned downstairs.
"Agent McGee? The Director tells me that you are covering for Jerry down in cybercrimes. Is that right?" Tim stepped off the elevator to come face to face with Marcie from legal.
"I am, is there a problem?"
"No problem, exactly, he was just behind in his paperwork. I left some files on your desk that he didn't get to before his surgery. I hate to rush you, but I need them before the end of the week."
"Sure, Marcie, I'll get right on it." Tim gave her a polite smile as he passed her, a smile that remained on his face until he walked around the corner and saw the pile of folders on his desk that towered over his monitor. Then he saw the box on his chair and the two additional boxes on the floor. "Oh, crap."
---NCIS---
"Tony, go see if Abby has any results on that powder yet." The ink was hardly dry on the weapons ring before they had caught a possible drug smuggling case. With a nod to Gibbs, the senior agent left, making a quick detour for a Caf-Pow and a diet soda on his way to the lab.
Test results were still pending, so after delivering the diet soda to the new lab worker and the Caf-Pow to Abby, Tony turned to leave.
"Tony, wait." He stopped and turned, waiting while she set the Caf-Pow on her desk. "I saw McGee last week, and he looked tired. How is he, really?"
Instead of answering immediately, he sat on the edge of her desk and watched her. There were changes in Abby. It was subtle if you didn't know her well, but Tony had been around her for years. A more grown up single ponytail had replaced the pigtails, and her make up was toned down. The studded dog collar had been replaced by an antique choker, and while still goth, her clothes would no longer send the HR department running in terror. Instead of staring him down, she was watching his tie tack instead.
"Abby, why?"
She didn't even pretend to not understand the question. "I never dreamed Roger would hurt Sarah, he knew how I felt about Tim and that she was his sister. I never thought something like this would happen."
"What did you think would happen?"
"Honestly, I thought he would be charming and sweep her off her feet. He came and found me, told me that they had really hit it off and that he was taking her to a nice club for a midnight supper."
Tony shook his head. "And you believed him?"
Her voice dropped to a whisper as she shrugged, now staring at the desk top. "He was my friend, Tony."
He was tempted to ask what her definition of friend was, but Tony didn't want to interrupt the flow of answers now that Abby was apparently, finally, seeing what was wrong with her actions. "And what about Sarah? Didn't she get any say in your little fantasy? Even if he was the sweet guy you thought he was, the days of arranged marriages are long gone, Abby. You were her ride home, didn't you have a responsibility to make sure being left in a bar with some guy fifteen years older than her is what she really wanted?
"I know that."
"Now you know that, but why weren't you thinking about it that night?" If he were honest with himself, Tony wasn't expecting an answer, but to his surprise, Abby started stumbling through an explanation.
"Because... I think... when I..." Abby stalled out for moment before taking a deep breath and looking Tony straight in the eye. "I was so focused on my own needs and desires that I was unable to look past them to acknowledge anyone else's needs."
"Wow," Tony stared at her. "That sounds suspiciously like what a therapist would teach you to say."
"Yeah, and she's right."
The words were so rushed Tony had trouble understanding them. "You're in therapy?"
Staring at the desk surface again, Abby nodded.
"Because of this?"
Another nod.
Watching the top of her head, Tony made a guess. "The Director ordered you to go?"
A third nod, but this time there were words along with it. "I was mad at first, but then she tricked me into seeing some of the stuff I've done from someone else's perspective."
"You've been kinda hard on McGee a few times that maybe..."
Abby didn't let him finish. "It's not just McGee. Did you know that I even got mad at Gibbs for searching for that kidnapped woman instead of taking me out to dinner for my birthday? God, Tony, I was so bitchy to him. I even said that what he did was unforgivable."
"I'm proud of you, Abs."
She looked up, startled. "What?"
"Even if Vance forced you to go, seeing a therapist, admitting there's a problem in your behavior, it's a hard thing to do. Keep it up, okay?" Tony bent down and kissed her cheek before he left. Abby was still sitting there, her hand on her cheek, when a shadow crossed the doorway. She looked up into the familiar bright blue eyes of her silver haired fox.
"If you're serious about this, and not just going through the motions because your job's on the line, then nothing in the past is unforgivable, Abby."
"Even to McGee?"
Gibbs leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest. "How many men have you dated that had his level of compassion?"
She smiled at the memory. No man had ever crossed her path that was as gentle, loving and forgiving as her Timmy, but Gibbs didn't let her speak.
"Don't push him until he's ready, Abby, but for the record," Gibbs waited until she was looking at him again. "I'm proud of you, too."