Chapter 14- Forgiven

Abby finally fell asleep into the chair she tried to retire in earlier, happy to get some sleep at last. She immediately drifted off into a dream like one she'd never had before.

She could see a carbon copy of Gibbs's dead daughter Kelly floating before her. Abby stepped forward, hesitant. McGee held her hand, oblivious to the girl.

"I'm glad you finally decided to forgive me," he said happily. Kelly looked a little scared when he looked right through her, as if Abby was the only one that knew she existed.

"Don't let him hurt me, Mommy!" Kelly exclaimed, pointing at McGee. "I love him very much. Please let me live," she continued, her face growing sad.

Abby was jolted awake by a loud bang on the door. She wearily got to her feet and let McGee in.

"Why are you here?" she asked suspiciously. "Haven't you done enough?" McGee stood there, willing to take any punishment he was about to get. Suddenly, she was shaking, shaking with pent up sobs and cries as she realized he wasn't here for work related reasons. He thought this was worse than her yelling at him. McGee went up and hugged her gently, and she started crying into his shirt.

"I know," he said, "I was being a huge jerk when I left like that, but I needed to clear my head. I don't care if I have to wait a million years for you to forgive me. If I have to stand on my head and sing gibberish to make you feel better, I'll do whatever it takes to-" Abby jammed her lips against his, cutting him off. His mind shorted out for a moment. She finally pulled back and looked at him.

"I'll have to go find that double bed, then," was all she could manage to say before he kissed her back just as fiercely. Kate ran in through the open door and halted when she saw McGee and Abby.

"Did I come at a bad time?" she asked, startling them. "I have Ziva's next note. Tony found it lying in the street," She handed Abby a small sheet of paper that looked ravaged by the elements. She scanned it quickly and set it aside. McGee picked it up, but didn't see what sort of clue it could hold.

I'm right under your nose, almost quite literally…except that arms are involved in this one.

He set the note back down and started kissing Abby again, ignoring Kate. She cleared her throat for their attention.

"I love you," he whispered to her.

"I love you more," Abby whispered back, gazing into his eyes. "I hope you never, ever leave me again,"

"Never," he breathed into her ear. Kate stormed over to the CD player and turned it off. The sudden silence got Abby and McGee's attention, but only briefly. The door opened again, and Tony walked in.

"Whoa, bad time, huh?" he chuckled, gazing at the couple. They glared at him. Abby shoved both Kate and Tony out, locking the door behind them. They were too surprised to fight back.

"Time to get to work," she sang out, skipping to the computer. This next note was a little longer than the others, and gave another clue.

Starry by day and night…is this reality? I feel like I'm in space down here! But it's so dark here, though. You'd love it, Abs. I know you're practically a vampire, the way you seem to stay up all night. It's always night here. As I said, I'm hidden closer than you all think. Maybe not under your nose, but try under your feet. American idioms confound me. It took a while just for me to figure out this one. Don't tell Tony, so as not to let the bird out of the bag. Gah! I did it again!

-Underground-

The room Ziva had been locked in must have been a mixture between a planetarium and a weapons holding area, because she was surrounded by empty shelves and sparkling stars on the walls. It made her feel like she was floating in space. Luckily she managed to use her meager meal trays to get these notes to Abby. But she felt as if her troubles had only just begun. Ziva could sense Victoria nearby, breathing heavily as if she had just run a race.

"I'm going to enjoy this…" Victoria breathed, proceeding to cut Ziva's arms to ribbons with her knife. She closed her eyes, allowing the pain to take on its full force. But as soon as she started, she pulled back, seeming satisfied. Blood ran down her arms and dripped audibly into the floor. The sting was nothing compared to what came next.

"They're never going to find you…" she whispered. "They don't even know you're gone. I got rid of your silly little notes a long time ago," Ziva said nothing, too surprised to respond. She was never getting out of here. She'd probably die in the prison of stars first. She bowed her head in shame that she thought the stupid plan would even work. Victoria leapt back before she could get covered in blood.

"Now tell me, where is your precious Timothy McGee?" Ziva clamped her lips shut, remaining silent. It was an answer she wanted, huh? Well she wasn't about to get anything, not that monster of a woman. Ziva could tell she wanted to hurt McGee very badly, for whatever reason. Victoria called in an unknown man and ordered him to torture with any means possible. He began to roughly handle her, throwing kicks and punches repeatedly until Ziva began to lose consciousness.

"Let's see how strong you really are," Victoria said smugly as Ziva crawled into a corner to escape. She dropped off to sleep at once, thankful to have no pain at last. But that didn't end her torture. The second she went to sleep, she was rudely awakened by having cold water dumped all over her. Shivering, she sat up and looked at the man. Ziva recognized him at once.

"Michael," she gasped. Ziva fainted, the stars burning into her vision even with her eyes closed.