A/N: Oh, I am SO TIRED. It's 3 in the morning, but I don't want to sleep. So I'm here, obsessively trying to get yet another chapter in. I'm really going to be feeling this lack of sleep later, but I've gone too far in to back out now. Why am I even rambling like this anyway? You're here to read something, right? Here is Chapter 7…yawn…

Chapter 7- Watched

Tick, tock. Tick, tock. The day seemed to drag on and on. It was a week after Abby got poisoned. An average, ho hum Thursday morning. Abby gritted her teeth against the horrible nausea. The person who bought the poison, Dexter Hanford, had been dead for six days already. A dead end in the case. Nobody was discouraged, though. These things happened all the time.

"Unngh…" She felt horrible. How long had she been here? Oh. An hour. Not long at all. She stumbled toward the bathroom. Kate silently watched her from a distance. Something was going on with Abby, all right. And it was more than just heartache. Some minutes later, she emerged, looking somewhat subdued.

"Hey Abby," she called out. "How's it going?" Abby smiled back halfheartedly.

"Fine," she said. "I need to get back to work, so we'll talk later, okay?" She nodded and went to go talk to Tony, who looked sullen and purposeless without Ziva there. McGee was nowhere in sight, which was unusual. Abby returned to her lab and found something mysterious on the floor. A long blonde hair that didn't seem to belong to anybody here in NCIS. Were they being watched? She ran the DNA scan, but couldn't seem to find any matches in the data base. She compared the DNA with the fingerprint on the edge of the water bottle. Bingo. One match.

"GIBBS!" she shouted. "Gibbs, I have something, get in here!" She ran out to the main office and found him talking to Tony and Kate.

"I've got something," she said, breathless. "You have to see this," He nodded.

"I'll be right back," he said, following her back to the lab.

"The DNA came up with one match," she started. "Looks like a Daniela Rakia," She squinted at the name next to the face. The woman had long blonde hair, a tan face, and soft blue eyes. According to her birth records, she had an identical twin. She wondered what this meant. Gibbs scanned the information on her and left the lab without another word. As soon as he was gone, Kate slipped through the gap before the door closed completely. She snuck up behind Abby and poked her in the neck. She screamed and jumped a foot in the air.

"Don't do that!" she whispered, rubbing her neck. "You could've scared me to death!"

"Sorry, Miss Scaredy Cat," she responded. "I didn't know you were easily triggered," She rolled her eyes, unimpressed by the humor.

"What could you possibly want that Gibbs didn't get?" she asked in an annoyed tone.

"An answer as to why you've been acting all moody and weird lately. I know it's not the pain medications kicking in,"

"What? Pain medications? What are you talking about? The only pills I take are for—wait, how do you know I'm on medication?" Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Kate.

"I saw something fall out of your purse the other day," she replied smoothly. Abby clenched her jaw. She was being a little snoop! She couldn't afford to let this happen! Not after…she winced at the memory. It was still too bright and clear. She had to get rid of it, just like an old piece of clothing that didn't fit. She grimaced at the inadequate analogy.

"You little snoop," she accused, taking a step toward her. Kate took a step back, surprised by her anger. "How could you get into my business like that? You know I don't do things like this to people here, so why did you?"

"Seriously, Abbs. You're overreacting. It was just a mistake. I didn't mean to look through your stuff. You didn't even notice it fell, so I ran to go pick it up and happened to see the label. That's all that happened. I don't really even care what is actually going on. I just want to see if you're okay," That seemed to calm her down, but only slightly. They stared each other down for a minute before she relaxed completely.

"Well, I'm fine. Quit asking me, or else I'll start thinking that I'm not the one with issues here. Do you understand?"

"Yes…I do. I'll leave you alone,"

An alleyway, just outside of Maryland

Ziva frantically looked to her right. Nobody there…but who was following her? She could've sworn she saw something a moment ago. Feeling an unfamiliar panic rising, she cast her eyes toward the dark alleyway. She stared into the shadows. Wait, did something just move? Wary of her surroundings, she pulled the cloak more tightly around her and walked more quickly. Her Porsche was just a few feet away. The sound of echoing footsteps was just fifty feet back. She had to shake off her pursuer before they caught up to her. She shivered in the cold. It was supposed to snow tonight, according to the weather report. It almost made her miss sunny Israel. Almost. The footsteps were much closer now. She didn't turn around, afraid to see some drunken prostitute or rapist prowling about for his next victim. She shuddered, trying to get a hold of herself.

"Leave me alone," she said, her voice shaking with fright. "G-Go away!" She pulled out her gun and pointed it at her pursuer. It was empty, but they didn't have to know that. Her gun was pulled out of her hand and tossed into the bushes. She resisted a sigh of disappointment. Where was a Swiss Army Knife when you needed one? Still the figure came closer.

"I'll enjoy this…" a female voice said not ten feet away. Her appearance was masked by the mysterious darkness of the inner city. There was the sound of a gun being loaded. "I told him to listen to me, and now you'll pay the price for getting involved. The woman pulled the trigger. It was already too late to get out of the way. The last thing Ziva saw before closing her eyes was a flash of blonde hair. The bullet missed her by inches.

"Just kidding," the woman whispered. "I won't shoot you after all. Just think of this as a preview of all the fun I'm going to have," She chuckled darkly, disappearing into the shadows.