The night Mcgee had proposed to Abby had led to discussions that neither Mcgee or Abby were expecting. Most of them involved wedding arrangements, everything from flowers to guests, but there were a few things like, how to rearrange the apartment in a way that it would work with them as a married couple, instead of just being roommates.
"Abby!" Mcgee called from the kitchen.
"Yes?" She asked happily as entered the room, but she stopped dead in her tracks. "Holy… Why do you have all this stuff?" She asked motioning to the different kitchen supplies around the kitchen.
"I honestly don't know." He said with a laugh as he pulled out yet another frying pan. "I don't even cook…" He said motioning to all the supplies around the kitchen.
"You do too!" She cried remembering each and every thing he had made her. "Not a lot, but you do! And it's always delicious." She said, just melting thinking about the Parmesan Chicken Mcgee had made for Easter.
"Fine, but… What even is this?" He cried handing her a handle with a plastic ring attached.
"It's a kiwi peeler." She said putting it down. "We really should go through all this and give duplicates to a charity."
"That, is an excellent idea." He said pausing to kiss her tenderly on the lips.
"But, might I suggest that we do it tomorrow?" She asked with a yawn.
"Of course, but what got you so wiped out?" He asked confused. All they'd been doing was checking for duplicates of things.
"Well I finished with figuring out the bedding, so I moved onto the library to compare your books to the ones in my office…"
"How did you know what books you have there?" Mcgee interrupted.
"Oh, I took an inventory for the fire insurance a few weeks ago. The list was still saved on my laptop. Anyway," She said again irritated from being interrupted "You have an awful lot of books, so I had to move a lot of them… It was a lot of work…"
Mcgee was on the verge of laughing, but he decided against it. Mcgee just so happened to have a system in his library, including a card catalog with the location of all his books. He could have saved her a lot of work, but she hadn't asked. "Well... What'd you find out?" He asked as he pulled her into his lap on the floor.
"We don't have a lot of the same books. We obviously both have copies of all your books, but I want to keep mine." She said smiling thinking of when she'd found out Tim was Thom E. Gemcity after she'd ordered an autographed copy of Deep Six. Mcgee couldn't help but laugh. "We also have a few of the same programming books, but I think I should just keep mine in the office, then we don't have to take them back and forth when we need them." She said. "Oh and we both have copies of Curious George goes to the country." She finished with a giggle.
"Why might I ask, do you have a copy of that in your office?" He asked with a smirk.
"It's Bert's favorite!" She cried. Which caused Mcgee to laugh, hard.
"Oh Abby, I love you." He said as he pulled her tighter to him. She snuggled her head into the crook of the neck and listened to his voice for a while giving occasional responses.
Mcgee wasn't too surprised when Abby stopped responding, it was around ten P.M. and she hadn't gotten much sleep lately. Carefully he stood and carried Abby into her room. He almost laughed when he got there. Stuff, was piled everywhere, she'd obviously been looking for something. It didn't really matter, because no matter the reason for the mess, there was no way Abby would be sleeping on that bed. Immediately without hesitation he took her to his room, and placed her in the middle of his bed.
"Goodnight Abs." he said quietly as he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. He closed the door and made his way to the kitchen. He worked for at least another hour on organizing the kitchen and had ended up with around five boxes of things that were duplicates, two empty cupboards, and three empty drawers. Smiling at his success he made his way to the couch where he lay down with the intent of falling asleep, but his intentions were interrupted by a moan from his bedroom. He raced his way to his bedroom stopping just outside the door, where he knocked gently.
"Timmy…" He could hear through the door, though it was rather soft. He cracked open the door and saw Abby, shivering.
"Oh Abs!" He said as he rushed over to her. "I totally forgot my room has a separate heating unit, and it's on AC from when we were working… You must be freezing." He said has he held her in his arms, rubbing his hands up and down her arms.
"No Tim." She said quietly. "I'm not cold… I just… had a nightmare." She said appearing embarrassed.
"Oh." He said awkwardly. "Well, what was it about?" he asked quietly as not to startle her.
"It was horrible." She stated and she started to cry. "The whole team, and everyone, we were at your funeral…" She couldn't continue.
"Abs…. Shhhh… It's just a dream, I'm right here." He held her until she stopped. "And if it makes you feel any better, I have no intentions on dying anytime soon." He said with a smile. "Now you need some sleep, we have work in about… six hours." He said glancing at the alarm clock.
"Okay…Tim?"
"Yes Abs?" He asked turning back to her.
"Don't die okay?"
"I'll do my best." He said as he closed the door to his bedroom and made his way back to the couch.
The next morning, was to say the least, extremely hectic. Abby, had slept through the alarm in Tim's room, Tim hadn't even been in earshot of it. So they both slept until six forty, but were awoken by Sarah at the door.
"Sarah?" Mcgee asked groggily. "I thought you were coming at six-thirty…"
"Yeah, sorry I'm late." She replied with a smile keeping a tight grip on Jethro's leash.
"LATE?" Mcgee's eyes widened. "ABBY! GET UP!" He screamed into the apartment. "Thanks for watching Jethro Sarah, but we need to get going, we must have slept through the alarm." He said sending his sister off and letting Jethro settle back into his apartment.
Abby groggily made her way into the kitchen. "What… Mcgee what time is it?" She asked eyeing Jethro.
"Almost seven!" He said throwing two pieces of bread into the toaster and heading to his bedroom to change.
Her eyes widened and she too headed to change. Moments later the two of them were in Mcgee's Porsche munching on toast.
"MCGEE!" Abby cried.
"What?"
"RED LI… oh now it's green…" She said as she took another bite out of her toast.
"Abby… I'm perfectly capable of noting colors on the stop light." He said impatiently.
"Oh come off it. You're just mad because we're stuck in traffic and we're already late."
"You're right… but you don't have to deal with Gibbs when you get there…" He said mumbling.
"Whatever." Abby said as she munched off the last bite of toast.
As they pulled into the garage Tim turned to Abby and asked, "Lunch today?"
"Maybe… depends on the workload." She turned and saw his hurt face. "At the very least you could pick up something and we can eat it in the squadroom."
"Why the squadroom…" Mcgee whined, and by this point Abby was getting rather annoyed with having to point out the obvious.
"Because, I have evidence in the lab. You spill something on anything and I may just have to convict you of murder." She said with a small smile.
They pulled into Mcgee's parking space. Abby gave him a quick kiss and called, "See you at lunch!" as she rushed for the elevators.
It was seven forty when Mcgee got to the squadroom. "You're late Mcgee!" Gibbs barked from his desk.
"I know, I'm sorry…I slept in." He said truthfully.
"Well don't let it happen again. Ziva and Tony are down keeping watch on the interrogation room. Mr. Reynolds and his lawyer are in there now." Gibbs said explaining the absence of the other two agents. "Why don't you go check with Ducky to see if he found anything in Lieutenant Olsen's body." Gibbs said, it was more of a demand than a request, so Mcgee headed back for the elevator.
When Mcgee entered autopsy he was ready for the worst, but was surprised to see Palmer stitching up the Lieutenant instead of the opposite. "Morning Palmer." Mcgee mumbled in his direction before going over to Ducky. "Find out anything Duck?"
"Not since Gibbs was here last." He stated as he stood up from his desk. "I send the blood samples up to Abby, but she hasn't gotten back to me." He said almost grumpily.
"Oh, Abby came in late today." Tim said hoping Abby wouldn't mind he'd told.
"Is everything alright?" Ducky asked concerned.
"Oh yeah, we just overslept." He said feeling sheepish.
"Well in that case, I'll give her another hour or so before I sent Jimmy up." Ducky said with a smile. "Is there anything I can do for you?" He asked noting a look of pain in Mcgee's eyes.
"Well…Maybe." He hesitated. "Abby just has been having nightmares a lot lately, and I was wondering what you think she could do."
"Are they really that bad?" Ducky asked. "Because if they're just silly, let them be!"
"Well, normally no. But last night she had a particularly bad one." Tim gulped, and decided not to say more.
"Well… tell Abby if she wants help, to come talk to me." Ducky said and then he turned to Palmer. "NO! Jimmy, you need to CLOSE the eyelids before sending the body to the mortuary!" Tim left unnoticed.
When he made his way back to his desk, Gibbs came over and told him quietly, "I need to see you in Vance's office, now." With that Gibbs headed up the stairs. Mcgee looked around for any sign of him being in trouble, then made his own way up the stairs.
He was surprised to find Ducky in Vance's office as well, but he didn't think much of it. "Sit, sit." Vance said motioning to the table as he flicked off the television.
Gibbs, Mcgee, and Ducky all took a chair at the long table. Vance went to his desk and pulled out a case file and brought it with him to the table.
"As we all know, Ari Haswari has been gone for several years, which is good. Another thing you all know is we took out most of the people who would avenge his death. However one thing the three of you don't know, is that there is one man left." Vance paused, but no one said anything so he continued. "Saar Sagie," he said sending his photo up to the large screen above the table. "Was Ari's partner in business before Ari was sent here, as an assassin. Saar, was recently spotted by the FBI in DC, and we're not loosing this chance to catch him. However, Saar is legally in the states, so we can't just go arrest him, we need proof. His Daughter Aya, will give us just the chance we need. Timothy, this is where you come in. You're needed for a top secret undercover op. And when I say top secret, I mean only the people in this room know that it's going on."
By this point Gibbs was starting to tense up, "Saar? In DC?" He wasn't sure if he believed it. Ducky, was wondering why his presence was necessary, but he didn't question it just yet. And Mcgee, was to say the least, confused. Why would Vance want him, to go undercover?
"Um, Director?" Mcgee hesitated before continuing. "Why do you want me to go undercover?"
"I'm getting there Timothy." He said sternly. "Saar has several computers at his home, any of them could have information we need. However, getting to them legally is presenting a problem. We have remained unable to get a search warrant, and he's not going to let just anyone use his computers. This is where you come in Timothy. I need you, to get Aya, romantically interested in you." Mcgee gulped, this was not his type of job.
"Why can't Tony do it?" He interrupted.
"I'm getting there, once you have gained Aya's trust, Saar will be much more lenient with you being around their house. His daughter means everything to him and once you've gained her trust, you have his. I need you on this op as soon as possible, however there is a catch."
"What catch?" Mcgee asked almost groaning.
"You have to die." Vance stated which got a simultaneous WHAT? From everyone else in the room.
"Calm down, Timothy Mcgee, he can't exist at the same time as your undercover alias, it's too risky." Vance explained. "That is where you come in Doctor Mallard, we need to stage Timothy's death, and have you declare him dead."
"Director, I've told you before, I am not willing.." Ducky started.
"Oh don't worry Doctor, I have all of your necessary 'get out of jail free' cards already prepared." He said.
"Well then I'd love to be of assistance." Ducky replied.
"However, I still don't know if Timothy is willing. This op make take over a year to resolve."
"I MIGHT BE UNDERCOVER FOR A YEAR!" Mcgee was almost yelling.
"Yes, however, before you decline, you need to know that if you are not on this op, Abby, Ducky, and the rest of the team will all be in grave danger." Vance said with a straight face.
"I guess…I will… Under two conditions." Mcgee said sternly.
"Which are?" Vance questioned as he reached for a pad of paper and a pen to write them down.
"One, is that Abby and I can be married first, we've already done most of the planning and I don't want that to go to waste." Vance was about to interrupt but he continued. "Two, is that Abby will know about the op, she will know I am not really dead, and that is that. I refuse to allow her to believe I'm dead, not now…" He almost rambled.
"May I talk to Timothy in private please?" Vance asked and the other men left the room. "Might I ask, why you are so insistent with Abby knowing?" Vance asked.
"Well first off, I love her and I want to be her husband, and I know you would never go on an op like this and not tell your wife." Vance nodded in agreement. "And besides that, last night Abby had a nightmare about me being killed, and my funeral, and I just don't think she could take that if it happened in real life."
"You think she would take her own life?" Vance said almost shocked.
"I don't know… but I'm not willing to take that chance."
"I understand." He said and he headed to the phone. "Abby?... Can you come up to my office…. It's rather urgent…Thank You." He turned to Mcgee. "Abby's on her way up. I will fill her in on what she needs to know, and needs to know only, Understood?"
"Yes sir." Mcgee replied with a smile.
Moments later Abby rushed in to find Mcgee and Vance drinking coffee at the table. "I thought you said this was urgent!" Abby cried almost unbelieving of the sight she saw.
"Oh, it is Abby. Come sit." Vance said. "We have some important information you need to know, it's not something that's up for debate, or something you can change. You can't ask questions, because we can't tell you. We will tell you everything you can know." Vance explained and Abby nodded. "Timothy has been chosen to work an undercover op, one that may take up to a year. In order to ensure the fact that Timothy is not discovered to be undercover his death will be staged. There will be a crime scene, funeral, everything, however it will all be staged." Abby wasn't believing what she was hearing. "Timothy however has requested that the two of you are able to be married before he leaves." Abby snuck a look at Mcgee who obviously wished he could step in and say something.
"Okay." Was all Abby could think to say.
"Abby…" Mcgee started. But Vance gave him a look. "I'm not going to tell her anything else relating to the op." He said sternly, then he walked over to Abby. "Abby if you don't want to…" he started.
"Shhh. I do." She said quietly as they were having a whispered conversation, which Vance decided to allow.
"Abby, you have no idea how much this means to me to know that you'll by my wife the day I come back."
"You have no idea how much it means to me to have you be my husband." She said and she placed a quick kiss on his lips. "Thank you for allowing me to know about the op." Abby said to Vance. "I promise I will keep everything a secret from the people who don't know… who does know? Or can I not know that?"
"No Abby, we can tell you, myself, Gibbs, and Doctor Mallard, will be those here that will know." Vance said with a smile. "And I thank you Abby for your cooperation." With that Abby and Mcgee left to the lab.
"One thing Vance didn't tell you that you can…and need to know is that the wedding has to happen soon." Mcgee said as they stepped out of the elevator.
"Like how soon?" Abby asked heading over to her Masspectrometer which was beeping like crazy.
"Like, in the next month if possible." Abby almost dropped the evidence jar she was holding.
"MONTH! Mcgee we just sent out the engagement announcements! People will think we're crazy!" Abby was starting to get stressed.
"Well I know I am… Crazy for you." He said with a grin.
"Uhn uh. You are not sweet talking your way out of this Tim." She said as she picked up a sheet of paper from the printer. "Tim is there any way to have it later?" She asked sternly.
"Well we could have it at the end of the month." He said with a grin. The grin remained on his face until she smacked him in the back of the head.
"Not funny." She stated as she headed to the ballistics lab. "Fine… The end of the month, but no sooner, I won't compromise on this Tim."
"Think about it Abs, a June wedding. It's the perfect time of year in D.C." Mcgee said with an almost glassy look in his eyes.
"Tim… MCGEE!" Abby shouted from her computer.
"huh…" He said incoherently.
"Take these." She said handing him a pile of folders. "To Gibbs. Tell him that this is all the proof we have against Peter Reynolds. And if he asks, it's definitely enough to convict him."
"On it." Mcgee said heading to the elevator.
"Wait!" Abby called after him and he pivoted so he was facing her.
"What Abs?" Mcgee asked impatiently.
"This." She said giving him a soft kiss. "I really am looking forward to a summer wedding." She said softly then she pushed him out the door.
Mcgee went into the squadroom and relayed the information to Gibbs, who promptly headed to interrogation with the envelopes. Mcgee quietly sat down to pick up on his paperwork that he was behind on.
He was just making his way to the bottom of the pile of paperwork when his phone rang, loudly. "Mcgee!" He almost shouted into the phone, possibly out of anxiousness to talk to someone, or possibly out of the desperate want to find anyone but Gibbs on the other end of the line.
"Hey Tim." Abby said. He winced as he checked his watch, he'd worked his way to their lunch break.
"Abby, I'm so sorry! I just got caught up…" He started to explain his absence.
"Tim, calm down. It's fine! I'm calling to let you know that Gibbs wanted me to work through my lunch break, and take it later. So I can't eat with you anyway." Abby said, obviously double-tasking.
Mcgee exhaled a sigh of relief. "Okay. Maybe tomorrow Abs." He was about to hang up the phone before he realized something. "Wait! What time will you be ready to go tonight?"
"Eh… twenty hundred at the latest. I'll come up when I'm ready." She replied.
"Okay, I'll be ready." He said and he heard a click on the other end. It was nothing personal, Abby was obviously busy. But he couldn't help but have his spirits lowered by the fact that Abby hadn't ended the call with her regular I love you Tim. He sighed, and went back to work.
Abby was muttering to herself when Tony entered her lab. "Hey Abby!" He called.
"Gah! Tony! Didn't your mom teach you not to sneak up on people?" She questioned catching her breath. Tony laughed. "It's not funny, first Gibbs, now you, what's next?"
"Awww. Come on Abby! I just wanted to come say hi to my engaged best friend!" he said, trying to give her a hug, but she shrugged out of his arm.
"Not now Tony." She growled.
"Whoa! Something's got our bat all shook up!" Tony said to Ziva who was entering the lab.
"It's probably you. Most women don't enjoy being referred to as bats." Ziva said simply.
"No… it's this stupid wedding…" She muttered almost under her breath.
"I thought you were happy about marrying Mcgeek!" Tony said astonished.
"I am! I am!" Abby replied immediately, just as astonished. "It's just the wedding… it's not something I'm looking forward to planning…"
"I could help!" Ziva said jumping at the chance.
Abby could already envision ninjas lining the chapel. She knew that Ziva wouldn't really ever do something like that, but something in the back of her brain was telling her Nuuuh-uhhh bad idea… So she simply said "Thanks, but I think I've got it."
Ziva was obviously preparing to beg, so she was grateful when Ducky's voice rang through the lab. "Abigail!" He called, and Abby turned and made a bee line to the video caller.
"Hey Ducky! What can I do for you?" She asked peering into the camera.
"I'm simply being used to relay information. Vance said…" Ducky started.
"Uhhh…" Abby interrupted. "TONY!" She yelled and he jumped, dropping the book he was holding. "Keep your paws off my stuff." Abby said, then she turned back to the camera.
Ducky had received the message she'd meant to send. She wasn't alone in the lab, making now a bad time to discuss Tim going undercover."Vance said that he'd like to meet with a group of us for dinner on Wednesday, I don't know who all is going, but I was told to invite you." He said, without missing a beat, in his half-truth.
"Okay. Thanks!" she replied, and she flipped off the camera.
Tony was pouting. "Why aren't I invited?"
"Because you're not." Abby replied simply.
"But why?" Tony asked, starting to sound like a child in a toy store.
She tried ignoring him, but when he persisted she replied, exasperated. "I don't know Tony! If you want to know so bad, why don't you go ask him your self?"
"Well I think I'll just go do that!" He said, and that he did, leaving Ziva and Abby in the lab.
"Ziva, I have a lot of work I need to…"
"Say no more. I've got to go stop Tony from humiliating himself." She said as she started for the door.
"Why would you do that?" Abby asked giving her a quizzical look.
"Because if he gets fired things will get really boring around here, really fast." Abby laughed.
"Okay, see you." Abby said and she turned back to her computer. "Now where would I hide if I were an algorithm programmed to shut down a computer every four minutes…" Abby muttered to herself.
Mcgee had worked the rest of the day, without stopping. He didn't even look at a clock until Gibbs stood up to leave. "Heading out boss?" he asked.
"Yeah… It's twenty-one hundred, and pouring. Navigating home should be interesting…" Gibbs replied as he grabbed his jacket.
"TWENTY-ONE HUNDRED?" He cried and he checked the clock, indeed it was 9:08. He followed Gibbs to the elevator with a worried expression on his face.
"Something wrong Mcgee?" Gibbs asked as he punched the close door button followed by level 3 of parking.
Mcgee pushed level 2, Abby's lab. "Abby said she'd be ready to go over an hour ago at the latest. She was gonna come up when she was ready…" he trailed off. Just then the elevator doors opened and revealed the door to Abby's lab wide open. The lab appeared completely normal, until you looked at the floor. There you saw the backside of Abby's head. Mcgee pulled his gun from his holster, and Gibbs followed suit.
They quietly entered the lab and scanned it quickly for anything, or anyone, that didn't belong. When they saw nothing, Tim reached for Abby's shoulder, gun still in other hand.
Abby abruptly awoke and let out a small scream. "GAH… Mcgee, Gibbs! What?" she cried eying their drawn weapons.
"Well… from the elevator all we could see was you… lying on the floor…" Mcgee said sheepishly as he placed his gun back in it's holster, which Gibbs had already done.
"We were just being careful… we really can't be too careful right now…" Gibbs said helping Abby off the floor.
Abby glanced at the time, "Tim! I'm so sorry! I fell asleep waiting for AFIS…"
"It's okay Abs." Mcgee interrupted her as he put his arms around her from behind. "You ready to go?"
"I really should…" Abby started.
"No." Gibbs said simply. "Go home Abs, get some rest." With that Gibbs went back to the elevator and left.
Abby turned around to face Tim. "You really want to do this?" She asked quietly.
"Do what Abs?" He replied not sure what she was talking about.
"The undercover op… you really want to, leave?" Abby was on the verge of tears.
"No Abs, I don't." At that, Abby let her tears fall.
"Then why?" She asked peering into his eyes, looking for an honest answer.
"I can't… tell you." He said as he pulled her in for a hug. "But I can tell you, that it's because I have to."
"They can't make you…" Abby argued.
"No, they can't… but I still, have to."
Abby sighed and walked into her office. She started gathering her things so they could leave. "Is this anything like when I made that radioactive dye for Domino?" She asked as she came back into the lab.
"Sort of." Mcgee said, unsure of his own answer.
"Then, I understand." Abby said quietly. "But you have to come back." She said sternly.
Mcgee laughed. "I have full intentions to do so." He leaned in and kissed her. "I love you Abigail Sciuto, and nothing will ever change that."
"Nothing?" Abby asked.
"Nothing." Tim assured.
Author's Note: Awwwww, Abby and Mcgee are perfect together :D Note for readers: A lot of this chapter is useful information for future chapters, so make sure to pay attention to details. Also, I've been traveling out of areas with internet service so I've been writing a lot, so the next chapter should be up really shortly after this! (Besides that, I'm not in school anymore! SO NO HOMEWORK!) Thanks for reading! Please Review!