Chapter 17- Files

McGee warily watched Gibbs approach him. Now that he had the flash drive, hopefully Victoria would be captured sooner. He ran up to the boss, eagerly holding up his prize.

"I got it, boss!" he said excitedly. Now that he could get a good look at it, McGee noticed the flash drive was a sleek black, like a limousine. It picked up his fingerprints easily.

"You better take that to Abby. I just saw her leave with Ziva," he said. "She was finally rescued from Victoria. Do you know about her?"

"Somewhat," he answered lightly, not willing to expand on the subject. "But all psychos look the same to me, so you could be talking about anyone," He ran off to the elevator, flash drive in hand. Tony got in with him

"I heard that Abby put together all the clues," Tony said. "Do you know of her condition?"

"No. I haven't even seen her. Look, I'm in a hurry. Just get me to the ground floor so I can get out of here," Tony shrugged.

"Hey, I just wanted to know," he said. "I'm going to Ducky's lab anyway. The boss asked me to do something for him," McGee rolled his eyes and pressed the button that took the elevator all the way to the ground floor. Tony took the opposite hallway, but McGee continued down to the main entrance. He took out his cell phone and called Abby.

"Hello?"

"Abs, where are you? I need you back here at NCIS. I've got the flash drive with all of Victoria's information," There was a brief pause.

"I…can't exactly leave right now," she said uncertainly. "Ziva wanted me to pick up some painkillers for her, so I decided to do her the favor. Why don't you meet me at the pharmacy? I might be a while; this person in front of me is taking forever! Oh, I'm also here to pick up other things which would also explain the delay…" Her voice trailed off.

"Which pharmacy are you at?" McGee asked. "I'm in a hurry. The boss wants results pretty soon, and I don't want to keep him waiting," Abby gave him the address and directions as he got in his car and started driving. So the race against time began.

Ziva's apartment

For the third time Ziva checked her watch. Abby had been gone for almost thirty minutes already. She sighed and glared at the ceiling. There was no way she'd get to sleep with her arm hurting like this. Come to think of it, she had a headache to go with it. She rolled out of bed and went through her medicine cabinet. There was some aspirin, but only one pill was left. She downed it dry and tossed out the empty plastic bottle. Some of the throbbing started to fade, but not nearly enough so that she could think clearly. Ziva switched on the TV for a distraction. A movie was playing, a cheesy comedy called House Bunny. Finally Abby arrived, followed by McGee.

"Sorry it took me so long," Abby apologized, setting the painkillers on the end table. "Tim had something to give me and I got…distracted," A faint blush colored her cheeks as she looked over at McGee. He nodded for confirmation but said nothing. Ziva opened the bottle of painkillers and quickly swallowed two pills instead of one, for good measure.

"What held you up is none of my concern," she said, turning off the television. The movie was annoying her anyway. "Abs, you should get back to your lab. Gibbs won't stop calling me and demanding for you to get back over there as soon as possible," Abby nodded and left with McGee.

"Hope those painkillers help!" she called on her way out.

NCIS- men's room

Kate managed to find Gibbs at last, but not in the place she was hoping to have a private conversation. She carefully approached the boss, who was at the sink.

"Gibbs?" she inquired. He briefly glanced at her and looked away. "I was just wondering…if something happened to Abby, do you think I could temporarily take her place? You gave me the training to do just that, I'd hate to have the opportunity denied. And I know she's like a daughter to you. I can tell by the way you talk about her. I've grown quite attached to her myself, and she would want me to do this anyway,"

"I had no intention of not letting you do that," he said without looking at her. "It was my plan all along," Kate frowned, a confused expression on her face showing in the mirror.

"Oh," she said. "Then why did you just let me say all that?"

"Just seeing if you have the guts," he replied, leaving the bathroom. Kate followed him out. They took the elevator back to the main area and found Tony loitering at Ziva's desk. Gibbs slapped him upside the head.

"Sorry boss," he muttered, closing a drawer so quickly Kate didn't see what he was attempting to hide. "I'll see if I can contact Abby again to see if she is on the way," Gibbs shook his head. "Well, what do you want me to do then?" Tony demanded. "There's not exactly any action going on around here, boss,"

"Then find some," he ordered. "Get back to your desk. There's a whole line of cold cases that need to be examined. Try double checking the reports for any mistakes," At this, the elevator opened and Abby came running in with a flash drive in her hand.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!" she shouted, nearly running into him. "I've got it! I've got it!"

"Good work, Abs, but I need what's in the flash drive," he reminded her. She smiled sheepishly and quickly regained control of herself. Kate couldn't help but be amused at her quirky personality.

"Right, I'll get to that immediately," Abby said. "Since McGee isn't here, can Kate…?"

"I'll join you," she interjected, stepping forward. "Trust me, I'm trained for this," She glanced at the boss, who nodded as if to encourage her. Kate left with Abby, happy at how this was working out. To her surprise, they took the stairs instead of the elevator.

"What's with the eagerness for exercise all the sudden?" she asked.

"I want to stay in shape," Abby said in response, glancing briefly at her stomach. Luckily, the lab was only a few flights down and was just above the interrogation room, which was a floor above Ducky's autopsy room. Abby punched in the unlock code and strode over to her computer. Kate took this moment to reflect on the past weeks since she had discovered Abby was pregnant. Most of the time she was behind the scenes, and got the news of the happenings through snatches of conversation from Gibbs and the Director during her free moments from work, but she had found some way to contribute. She methodically observed from behind her desk, carefully making sure when each team member left that they came back. So, truthfully, she was the first one to figure out Ziva was missing. But she was rarely picked to go out in the field so she was unable to tell Tony of her suspicions when Ziva was gone longer than usual…

"I've got something!" Abby shouted, interrupting her thoughts. "Looks like this Victoria really knows how to stay under the radar. No bank accounts, no police record, no credit cards, and no place of residence in the past year or so. I'm fairly impressed," Kate went to go get Gibbs and pass along the message.

"Wait, there's more!" she called, but Kate was already gone. "Darn, guess she'll learn more about Victoria's twin Daniela later," She shrugged and went to go refill her Caf-Pow.