A/N: I, mysterywriter94, promise to never take credit for having owned said show NCIS without the legal permission of the genius Belisarius. Oooh that sounded so legal and official! Does anyone have a pen so I can sign it? Anyone?

Chapter 6- Pieces

McGee ran and ran and almost forgot about his car, but managed to find it and drive all the way back to NCIS without falling to pieces. He couldn't get the image of Abby waking up and finding him so close to her out of his head. But the thing that really struck him was her sleeping. Midnight princess…he shook his head, clearing it. Was he falling apart, or did his heart really ache for her? He sighed and parked the car in his usual spot. McGee turned off the car and got out, hoping he'd be able to get to work without any distractions. But the second he got out, he was cornered by her. Victoria Rakia.

"Hello, Timothy," Her green eyes gleamed dangerously. He remained strangely calm. How could he remain so calm in a life-and-death situation, but run away when he accidentally kissed someone? The world just doesn't work right anymore. Or maybe it was just him.

"What do you want?" he demanded. She shook her head sadly, taking a small step toward him.

"Now, that's not the proper way to greet someone," she chided. "I'm just making conversation, my dear," He narrowed his eyes. No way was she just here for conversation when an NCIS agent was in the hospital.

"Why are you here?" he asked. She shrugged her shoulders, taking another step forward.

"I'm here to cut a deal with you," she said, closing on him. "If you listen to every command I give you, nobody gets hurt,"

"And why should I listen to you?" he inquired coolly. She smiled, taking her hand and running it through his hair.

"Because, I don't think you'd want anyone else from NCIS gravelly injured. Now, Abby just got lucky. Her little friend was a little too observant for her own good. No worries, she'll pay the price for getting involved. But, you do know we were meant to be together and have children, right? That is why I'm here," His eyes widened, comprehension sinking in.

"N-no…" he stammered, Abby's face popping up into his head. Victoria frowned, pulling her hand back.

"No?" she repeated. "Are you telling me no?" He tightened his jaw and nodded. Victoria stepped back and put her hands on her hips. She was only five feet tall, but her anger possessed a lot of power to make up for the lack of height.

A/N: Hm…that reminds me of someone…

Her eyes flashed in defiance, and her mouth curled into a frown of disappointment. McGee stood his ground. Finally, she relaxed and looked at him with a sort of mild interest.

"Fine," she spat, turning on her heel and walking away. Somehow, McGee knew it was far from fine.

Abby's lab

"I am so mad!" Abby fumed to nobody, storming into her lab. "How could this happen? In my own lab! Oh, when I find out who did this…" She made no bother to finish her empty threat, that's how mad she was. There was the water bottle, sitting innocently on the desk.

"I hate you," she said to the water bottle, pulling on some latex gloves to get a sample of the poison. "I hate you, you stupid, deadly thing!" She ran the sample through and left the lab to go find Jethro.

"Gibbs! GIBBS! Where did you go?" No answer. She couldn't find anyone. Not even Tony or McGee. She frantically looked around. The place was deserted, except for…Kate! She ran over toward her.

"Hello Abby," she said, surprised. "I didn't know you were back already,"

"Where is everyone?" she demanded, getting straight to the point. Kate looked around and saw the empty desks.

"I don't know," she answered faintly. "I was only gone a few minutes, and they were all here…" Abby started to panic. She ran for the Director's office as a last resort. Empty. She cursed under her breath. Everything looked normal. Maybe…they autopsy lab! She headed for the elevator. Kate followed her, looking confused.

"You know, there's no reason to worry," she said. "I'm sure they're all just out on-" She stopped suddenly, staring at something Abby couldn't see. Her eyes were locked on the window. Abby followed her gaze and saw a note stuck there in the high window. Only someone really tall could reach it, like McGee. She made a grab for it, but missed by inches.

"Kate, could you try?" She nodded and managed to get the note down.

"Let's see what this says…"

Abby,

If you're reading this, we've all gone out to dinner together. Except for Kate. She's supposed to keep you safe tonight. Sorry to alarm you like that.

Gibbs and The Team

Abby let the note fall to the floor, completely stunned. How could they leave her like this, when…?

"Abby? Abbs? You okay?" Something inside her snapped, and she angrily kicked the note aside. She strode away from Kate, intending to go back to her lab. Working was always a good way to vent her anger. But not today. Today, she was so furious she couldn't see straight.

"No! No, I'm not!" she shouted.

"Well, what's wrong?" She spun around to face her. All the pain and frustration showed in her face at that moment.

"Everything!" she yelled, startling her. Abby punched the down button and tapped her foot impatiently, wishing she had taken the stairs instead. Waiting is not something she wanted to do right now, especially when she felt about ready to explode. Finally, the doors opened with an annoying ding. She growled threateningly at the innocent elevator.

"Everything is wrong," she continued as if an elevator hadn't interrupted her. "All the things he said to me, all the ways he showed he cared…they meant nothing to him, but they meant everything to me! And yet he thinks he can go around and act like he cares about my welfare. Showing up at the hospital-" She frowned. Wait a minute. Something was not right with her memory. Her dream…his closeness…what was he doing in the last ten seconds? Falling toward her? The doors opened again, revealing her lab. She walked in slowly, deep in thought.

"You were saying…?" Kate called out, trying to get her attention. Abby stopped suddenly.

"I-there was something that happened at the hospital," she whispered, her voice faltering. "I think he kissed me, but I can't be too sure. I was asleep, after all," The anger melted away and was replaced by confusion. If only he hadn't run off like that, as if he was guilty of something. Of something like kissing her. On purpose, or on accident? She thought further back into her memory, but it was all fuzzy from being in between sleeping and waking. She clearly remembered the sound of something being dragged across the floor. Ziva was there in a chair she knew was previously across the room. She sighed, trying to remember the layout of the room. Three chairs close to the door. One of them was brought over to the bed. She wasn't sure why this mattered so much. A force must have pitched him forward, then. He lost his balance and kissed her by mistake.

"Yes, that was what happened," she said with more certainty now. She glanced at her computer screen. The results were in. She looked over at Kate, who seemed to be slightly distracted. She was staring at the CD player. Kate walked over to it and pressed a button. A song by a well known metal band blasted through the speakers. She smiled a little and started to read the information on the computer screen. The anger started to come back, in short little ripples, but was in full force by the time she got all the info she needed to know exactly what had nearly killed her.

"Let's go," she snarled, startling Kate. "I want revenge on this person who tried to kill me, and I want it ASAP,"

A Washington, D.C. mall

Ten stores, Tony thought wearily as he was dragged into yet another clothing department. Why did he have to agree to this? Ziva smirked at his expression.

"Last stop, I promise," she said, immediately headed for the women's section. Tony sighed and tried to ignore the pounding headache trying to split apart his skull. He closed his eyes, begging for this shopping trip to be over already. Gibbs was already headed back to headquarters. McGeek was on some vacation out in…wherever. He hadn't heard from him since Abby got poisoned. Not that he particularly cared. Ziva came up behind him and poked his back.

"That didn't scare me this time," he called out, opening his eyes. "Can we go now? I have an insane headache,"

"Yes, Tony. Follow me out so you don't get lost," She winked and started for the door. Tony looked around, suspicious suddenly. He sensed movement to his right. He spun around and saw…an elderly woman with a large shopping bag. Whoops. That was his left. He looked the other way and saw nothing. Huh. Must be the headache talking. He left the store and managed to follow Ziva all the way to the parking lot with no difficulty.

"Did Abby find out what happened yesterday?" he asked, getting into Ziva's blue 2003 Porsche. "I heard that it was almost too late. Good thing you followed your instincts, Ziva," She said nothing, but started the car and began to back out. Tony settled into the seat for the short drive to headquarters. This shouldn't take too long, he thought.

"Yes, it is a good thing…" Ziva replied vaguely at last, concentrating on the road.

(line break)

Jethro managed to find a very unhappy Abby waiting to meet him when the elevator doors opened. This can't be good, he thought.

"I don't believe it…you scared the living daylights out of me! I thought something happened to you guys!" She hugged him fiercely. "I thought I was in on this alone!" He sighed.

"Got anything, Abby?" he asked wearily. It was the million dollar question he always got something out of.

"Of course I do, Gibbs," she replied matter-of-factly. "The poison was some kind of plant extract. Total Romeo and Juliet moment here, without all the blood and gore. It was purchased from a black market owner two months ago. I will have the name of the buyer in just a moment," He smiled.

"Good, work, Abbs," he said, heading for the autopsy lab. She smirked, doing a brief victory dance on the way back to her lab.

A/N: Okay. I think I have more plot elements worked out from here. Things should pick up soon…more action to come! A hint, keep an eye on McGee and/or Ziva if you want to know what might happen next! Until next time…adieu!