"I think I'm gonna cry…" Tim said staring at his still intact Porsche.

Abby laughed. "Hey, it was your idea to stage you driving into a ditch!"

"Yeah, and I'm starting to regret it…" He said with a gulp as Abby handed him a hammer. Gibbs and Vance came over sporting tee shirts and jeans, and they were carrying their 'tools' for beating up the car.

"Okay." Abby started. "Gibbs, take the rock… the middle sized one, to a couple of the windows." Gibbs nodded in reply. "Leon and Tim, work on beating up the frame with your hammers, and try a few rocks." Leon nodded, and Tim just looked even more depressed. "And I'll… Take the tires." She said as she smiled to herself.

Several hours later the group of four had systematically destroyed, Mcgee's car. The car was going to be placed in the bottom of a ditch, with Mcgee in it that night.

"Wow…" Abby breathed.

"What?" The three men asked in unison.

"That car looks amazing…" She finished.

"Amazing!" Mcgee snorted. "More like…"

"Oh stop whining!" Abby cried as she picked up part of the headlight that would need to go to the fake crime scene. Mcgee continued to pout for a moment, but was forced to stop when Gibbs and Leon made their way out of Gibbs's garage.

"Well… The car's all set." Gibbs said.

"We'll need you back around seven so Ducky can take care of you Tim." Leon said. Tim nodded and he took Abby's hand.

"You ready?" He asked her quietly. She nodded in response and walked with him out to her car.

Abby climbed into the drivers seat, and Tim didn't protest. Abby had been very upset for the last couple of days. After spending one week in Paris on their honeymoon Abby and Mcgee returned to D.C., but remained on vacation. It was the end of that second week of vacation and Abby was starting to get restless.

Abby pulled the car into her parking space at their apartment building, and killed the ignition. She undid her seatbelt and got out of the car, a bit too quickly. She almost fell over but Tim caught her around the waist. He pulled her up and waited until he was sure she was stable before he loosened his grip.

"You okay Abs?" He asked, concerned.

Abby closed her eyes for a moment before responding. "I…I need to sit down." She said quietly.

Tim scooped Abby up in his arms and carried her to their apartment. He struggled a but to open the door, but he managed. He set her on the couch and straightened up. "You need anything?" He asked quietly. Abby shook her head, so he sat down beside her and pulled her into his lap.

Abby settled, and then she let out a moan.

"What's wrong?" Tim asked, obviously thinking he had hurt her.

"It smells like bacon in here…" She said disgustedly.

"You love bacon!" Tim exclaimed confused. "Besides… We haven't had bacon… since…forever."

"Well…it smells awful…" Abby said and she nestled her face into Tim's shirt. Tim, unsure of how to respond, just stroked her hair. It was over an hour before he said anything.

"I'm going to miss you Abs." He said to the back of her head. "It wasn't easy to choose to go. You know that right?" The back of her head replied with a nod. Her head turned to face him and his suspicions were confirmed, she had been crying.

Instead of trying to come up with something to say, he just held her. They spend the next several hours just sitting, enjoying what little time they had left.

It was an odd thing to explain. Tim wasn't really dying, but in a way he was. Timothy Mcgee would be declared dead in only a few hours, and he would be replaced by Timothy Graydon. A 32 year old accountant who is looking for someone to spend the rest of his life with.

It was 6:30 when Abby finally sat up. "You need to change your shirt." She said softly. Tim glanced down, saw the mascara stain and nodded. They both stood up, and Tim went to change shirts.

The car drive to Gibbs's house was made in silence. Tim drove Abby's car, and Abby spent the entire ride staring out the window. Tim carefully parked the car in front of Gibbs's house and got out. He opened Abby's door, and helped her out. All the while not uttering a single word.

Gibbs opened up his front door before either of them could knock and he led them into the living room. Ducky and Vance were both sitting with cups of coffee.

"Oh, hello Timothy. Hello Abigail." Ducky greeted and he stood to usher Tim down into Gibbs's basement. Abby started to follow, but Gibbs just shook his head no.

Abby took a seat on the couch and graciously accepted the Caf-Pow Gibbs offered her. The living room remained quiet, the only sounds to be heard were those of sipping coffee and pages of magazines. It felt uncomfortably similar to a hospital waiting room, only slightly less creepy.

Two hours later Ducky came upstairs and motioned for Gibbs to come over to him. They conversed for a few moments and Gibbs went to the kitchen, and came back with a package of unflavored gelatin which he handed to Ducky. Ducky promptly went back downstairs.

It was another hour before Ducky re-emerged from the basement, this time with Mcgee following. Abby gasped, she knew that Tim was supposed to look like he had been in a car crash, but she hadn't expected it to appear so, realistic. Gibbs rushed over to Tim and started murmuring in his direction, and Vance joined them. It appeared they were giving him instructions.

Several minutes later, Gibbs, Vance, and Ducky left Tim's side and went to set up some last minute things, leaving Tim and Abby alone.

Abby's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything. Tim stepped toward her hesitantly. When she didn't protest he came forward and pulled her into his arms. Abby immediately let the tears she'd been holding inside fall. "Shhhh. Abs, it's okay. Remember I'm not really dying… Shhhh" He tried to comfort her.

Abby couldn't calm down, and Tim couldn't understand why. "Abs? What's the matter?" he asked quietly.

"It's… It's just like… the dream…" She choked through her tears and Tim flashed back to when Abby had been having nightmares. She had at one point had a nightmare that he had gotten into a fatal car crash, and she had to drag my body from the car. That had been one of the reoccurring ones, that kept her up for weeks before she finally got over them.

"Oh Abs…" He comforted her. "Shhhh…" He held her tight to his chest and kept trying to calm her down.

He still hadn't had any luck when Gibbs came back.

"MCGEE!" Gibbs said harshly, and he rushed over to Abby. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine…Gibbs…" Abby sniffed.

"Oh I can see that." Gibbs replied sarcastically.

"Honestly Gibbs." She protested. "I'm just…I don't know…"

Just then Ducky came in and saw the scene before him. "Well. Are you ready Timothy?" He asked and Gibbs looked at him incredulously.

"In case you hadn't noticed Duck, something's wrong here." Gibbs said harshly.

"I'm fine!" Abby protested.

"She's fine Jethro." Ducky said.

"How can you…" Gibbs was having a hard time understanding just what they meant. "How can she be fine?"

"Well… Fine may be the wrong word. But the only thing wrong is that she's loosing the one she loves." Ducky explained. Gibbs's lips formed a perfect circle of realization. He backed away and abandoned his mission.

"Timothy, Vance is already at the scene setting up the car." Ducky said. "We need to go."

Tim looked at Abby, but Abby couldn't look back. He reached for her chin and slowly pulled his face to his and gave her a sweet kiss. Then he dropped both her chin and her hand and followed Ducky out the front door.

Gibbs looked incredulously at Abby, then at Tim, then back to Abby. Suddenly he ran out the door after Tim.

"MCGEE!" He called after his agent. Once he had his attention He started again. "You're just going to leave her? Like that? Without a word?"

Tim started to get back into Ducky's car. "How can you do this?" Gibbs was nearly screaming.

"Gibbs." Tim started. "Just let me go. I can't…"

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I WOULD PAY TO SAY ONE LAST THING TO SHANNON AND KELLY?" Gibbs was on the verge of tears, something that rarely happened, and had never happened in front of an agent.

"Gibbs. I have to do this my way, not yours." Tim said and he slammed his door shut.

Ducky started up the engine and they drove off.

Gibbs wasn't sure how to react. He would have done anything to say one last goodbye to Shannon, and Tim, he didn't want it? He was just about to follow them when Abby came out onto the porch. Gibbs turned to her "How can you just let him do that?" He asked curiously.

"I just can. Okay Gibbs?" She said and she opened the door to her hot rod.

"Wait, Abs!" Gibbs tried to follow her, but stepped back when she revved her engine. "Abs!" He called a little louder, but Abby wasn't listening. He gave up and Abby pulled out of his driveway and headed home.

Don't cry… Don't cry… Abby was fighting tears, trying not to blur her vision for the drive home, and she was losing. Her blurred vision made the drive home difficult, but after a couple of wrong turns, she made it.

She dug through her pocket in search of the key and came up empty handed. "Oh for the love of…" She started but was interrupted by one of her neighbors who was holding out her keys.

"You dropped these." The woman said handing her the keys.

"Thanks" Abby replied with a forced smile. She fumbled with the lock for a moment and finally burst through the door and slammed it shut.

Finally, somewhere she could be alone. Somewhere she didn't have to act like everything was fine.

Abby walked towards her bedroom, tossing her coat on the hall floor. She opened the door hesitantly. She was greeted by the familiar scent of her, their, room. The mix of his cologne, and the ever so faint smell of some of the chemicals from her lab lingered around the room.

She walked to the dresser and carefully retrieved a silver photo frame. She stared at the occupants of the photograph. One was her Tim, dressed in a black tuxedo. He was smiling and obviously enjoying dancing with his partner. The woman he was dancing with was one Abby wished she could find. She was beautiful. The skirt of the dress was spinning out perfectly as she moved with her obviously perfect match. Her head was thrown back, and she was laughing. The picture was perfect, and just looking at it made Abby miss Tim. Abby clutched the frame to her chest as she lied on her bed, crying.

At some point she fell asleep, but she was woken up around one by her phone. She flopped over onto her stomach so she could reach her phone.

"Yes…" Abby said dully.

"Abby!" Tony's voice rang through the phone. "Are you okay!"

"What?" Abby asked, still half asleep.

"Have you seen the news?" Tony sounded out of breath.

"Tony, what's going on?" Abby asked, still confused.

"They found Tim…" He started, but that was enough for a flood of emotions to get through the barrier that sleeping had created. Abby choked on a sob. "Abby?"

"Huh?" Abby asked coming back to reality.

"I asked if you wanted me to pick you up." Tony said, obviously confused.

"Uh…Sure…" Abby said quietly.

"Okay, I'll be there in about ten minutes…" Abby almost hung up, but he continued. "Abs?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about…"

Abby hung up the phone, she wasn't ready, not today, not now. She'd never be able to face all the people who would come to mourn the loss of her husband, who didn't really die.

Ten minutes later Abby was sitting on her couch next to a black canvas bag she had filled with things she thought she might need throughout the day, and she was clutching Bert.

Suddenly a knock came from the door and Abby leapt up to answer it. She was greeted by an extremely wet Tony. He pulled her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry Abs." Tony said into her ear softly.

That was enough to cause Abby to move to tears. Tony picked up the canvas bag, and handed Abby Bert. "Come on, everyone's waiting."

They made their way through the pouring rain to Tony's Ferrari. Abby pulled open her door and slid into the passenger seat, Tony following suit, on the opposite side of the car.

Tony stuck his keys into the ignition and started up the car. He was just about to pull out of his parking space when he heard Abby's voice. "Tony?"

He pushed the brake. "Yes?"

"Thanks." She said quietly and a tear fell down her cheek.

Tony turned to hide his own tears that were beginning to form. "Anytime Abs."

It was about forty minutes later when Tony finally pulled into his parking spot at NCIS. He climbed out of his car and went around to open Abby's door. He was surprised to find her asleep. She had been awfully quiet, but it had never occurred to him that she had fallen asleep.

"Abs….Abs…Abby!" He called as he shook her awake.

"Huh…Oh" Abby said quietly as she climbed out of the car. She started silently toward the elevator while Tony locked up his car. Tony caught up with Abby and called the elevator.

The ride to the bullpen was awkward, to say the least. Tony was torn, he didn't know whether he should try to comfort Abby, or if he could look for comfort for himself. Abby was feeling similar conflictions. Eventually the doors slid open to reveal a rather busy room, for this time of day.

As soon as Ziva saw Abby she flicked off the television which was obviously a news broadcast on Tim's "tragic death". As soon as Abby turned the corner all the emotions she had held inside, washed over her. Ziva looked as if she had been crying, but she no longer had a desire to. Gibbs looked as if nothing had changed, there had been no loss as far as he was concerned. Or so he appeared, until he saw Abby.

The moment Gibbs saw Abby his entire expression changed. His 'all business' figure changed to something much more comforting. His face, which had displayed a stern uncaring expression. Changed to a sympathetic expression.

"Abs?" Gibbs asked uncertainly.

"I'm fine Gibbs." She replied quietly. "Is he?"

"Downstairs." Gibbs said quickly.

"And can I…?"

"No."

"But Gibbs!"

"Abs, you know that you can't…" Gibbs stopped abruptly when he saw Ducky come in.

Ducky reached out for Abby's hand, which she graciously gave him. He started to lead her toward the elevator but was held back by Gibbs.

"Duck, you can't…" Gibbs said staring at Ducky.

"Jethro… She has every right." Ducky stated simply, and he called the elevator.

Moments later Abby was following Ducky into autopsy, shaking. She stopped abruptly at the doors. "I can't." She said quietly.

Ducky turned to face her. "Abigail. You don't have to if you don't want to. But I think Timothy would appreciate it." He held out his arm, as to suggest he would help her if she needed it.

She grabbed his arm, and walked into autopsy, and she gasped. "He's not dead is he?" She cried.

Ducky, unsure of how to respond to the question in a way that wouldn't be awkward if someone somehow got hold of the autopsy video feed, simply nodded.

Abby stepped toward her husband. "Oh Tim." She said quietly as she picked up his hand, and she giggled when she felt him flinch. Just then Ziva walked in.

"What is so funny?" She asked confused.

Abby turned abruptly, still holding Tim's hand. "Uh. Nothing." Abby said quickly. "I mean, It just… seems like he's still here. Doesn't it?"

"I suppose…" Ziva said, and then she turned to Ducky. "Gibbs would like to know if you found anything unusual in the autopsy."

Ducky shook his head. "Not a thing. Every injury he sustained matched the damage to the car, as far as I can tell… Abby will have to double check it of course."

"Sure Ducky…" Abby said, still a bit too happily for the present situation.

Tim, was having a hard time trying to resist opening his eyes. He knew Abby was there, as were Ducky and Ziva. He felt extremely helpless lying on a metal slab, pretending to be dead.

Once Ziva left autopsy Ducky turned to face Abby. "I'll let you have a moment." He said quietly before he followed Ziva out the doors.

Abby walked over to Tim and sat next to him on the table. "I should have said something earlier…When we were supposed to say goodbye… But Tim, I know why…Why you're doing this. Don't feel bad… I'll still love you, no matter what." Suddenly she felt movement on the side of her leg, where his hand was. She backed up and realized he was, very subtly finger spelling.

I-L-L A-L-W-A-Y-S L-O-V-E Y-O-U T-O-O

Abby smiled, but before she could reply Ducky came back in. "Abigail?" He asked quietly.

"Yes?"

"Gibbs and everyone else are waiting for you upstairs." He wrapped an arm around her, having noted her reluctance to leave. "Everything will be fine."

Upstairs in the squadroom Tony and Ziva were staring out the window.

"Why is it that it's always raining when something awful happens?" Tony asked. "It's almost like we're really just characters in some sick minded horror movie."

"How so?" Ziva asked.

"Rain is like… foreshadowing of horrible events in movies…" Tony explained.

"Or maybe… it's just rainy in D.C. a lot so you just think they relate, when really it's just a coincidence."

"In the immortal words of Leroy Jethro Gibbs 'I don't believe in coincidences.'"

"Do you honestly believe everything he says?" Ziva asked.

"Don't you?" Tony replied, dumbfounded.

"Usually…" Ziva said quickly, unsure of how to finish she just stopped.

"Hey Ziv?" Tony asked hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"Is it just me or is something hinky going on?"

"I did think that something didn't…. what's that math term… for when you take one thing, and you put something else with it?"

"Add?" Tony replied confused.

"Yes, Add! Something's not adding up." Ziva said.

"Elaborate." Tony ordered.

"Well, isn't Abby handling this a little better than she should be?"

"Yes, but I've assumed it's because she hasn't let the reality sink in yet." Tony said. "A lot of people have trouble with that."

"She was laughing!" Ziva exclaimed.

"Laughing?" Tony asked.

"Yes, down in autopsy. She was sitting next to Mcgee, laughing!"

"Okay… that is a little weird… but it's Abby… She is weird!" Tony was attempting to reason with himself.

"Tony, no one is that weird." Ziva stated simply.

"Okay, but… There has got to be some explanation."

"I think that she's hiding something." Ziva said looking at the elevator doors, which were opening to reveal Abby and Ducky.

"But you're not going to try and figure out what it is…. Right?" Tony asked concerned.

"I never said that." Ziva said and she started to walk towards the squadroom.

"Wait! Ziva you can't just go prying into their lives like that." Tony said, exasperated.

"And Tony DiNozzo is going to be the one to stop me?" Ziva asked with a smirk.

"Ziva, it's different this time. I can just tell…Leave her be." Tony said quietly.

Ziva was torn, half of her was desperate to know what was going on, and the other half wanted to listen to Tony's advice. "Give me one good reason."

"Ziva, Mcgee just died, and you're planning on going to hound Abby for information?" Tony asked blatantly.

Ziva was silent. She had armed herself with a response for anything Tony could say. Anything, but that.

"Like I said, let her be." Tony said quietly before he headed for the bullpen.

Abby was trying hard to control her emotions. Half of her wanted to scream and shout about how unfair life was and how she shouldn't have to do this. But the other half wanted to laugh about the reactions of those who thought Tim was actually dead.

"I think I'm gonna go start on the car…" Abby said as she headed for the elevator.

"Wait!" Tony called. "I'll come with you."

"Okay." Abby said with a smile. "Thanks."

Once Abby was working on examining blood splatter patterns Tony decided it couldn't hurt to ask a few questions.

"You okay Abby?" Tony asked carefully, as not to trigger any horrid reactions.

Abby paused, took a deep breath in, and responded. "I don't know Tony. I really don't know."

"Well you do know I'll always be here…if you ever need someone to talk to…" Tony said as he handed her a notebook and pen she was motioning for.

Abby smiled. "I know Tony."

Several minutes passed before Abby broke the silence. "Thank you." She said as tears started to fall.

"Oh Abby." Tony comforted as he pulled her into a hug. "Abby, everything will be okay."

"How can you all just say that!" Abby exclaimed. "Everyone is just so sure that everything will be just fine! What if it's not! Did any of you think about that?"

Tony was taken aback. Just a moment ago Abby had been completely accepting of his comfort, but now she had totally rejected it. "Abby! What's going on?"

"I can't tell you!" Abby cried as she threw the notebook she was writing on to the floor. She suddenly stormed out of the evidence garage.

Tony, unsure of what had happened picked up the notebook and read what she had been writing. He expected to find general scientific findings, but he was greeted by what looked like a smeared letter. He could only make out parts of it, but he started reading anyway.

Tim,

A year is only as long as you make it. Don't forget me…

"Tony!" Abby screamed.

"Huh…Oh… you er… dropped this…" Tony stuttered.

"Gee… Thanks." Abby said sarcastically as she walked out of the room, with the notebook this time.

"A year?" Tony thought aloud. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

Author's Note: Well I hope you're enjoying it! If anyone has suggestions, I'd love them! Yes I am aware there is an NCIS episode called Faking It, and this chapter has nothing to do with it, I just couldn't come up with a better title. Please review! (It may or may not be inversely proportional to how quickly I write :D)