Chapter 18- Vacation…or Not

A month or so after every single scrap of information about Victoria Rakia was excavated; Abby and McGee took some much needed time off at home. McGee pulled out the movie Zombie Land and put it in. Abby left the room to go pop some popcorn. As she took out the bag, she paused at the cabinet. A few minutes later, McGee came out to see what the holdup was.

"What are you doing?" he asked teasingly.

"Have you ever thought of adding gravy to popcorn?"

"No…why would I do that?"

"It just came to me. Let's go watch the movie now," She started for the bedroom, but was stopped by McGee.

"Does Kelly kick at all yet?" he inquired. She shook her head.

"No. That's what I was checking. I bet she will in a month or so…did you even read the child development book?" McGee vaguely remembered Ziva giving it to him, and Tony teasing him all afternoon about it. He hadn't even read the introduction.

"I skimmed," he lied smoothly. "Why don't you remind me where Kelly currently is in her development?" Abby explained to him in great detail as he started up the movie and settled onto the bed.

"I think she should be able to hear our voices now…" she murmured as the movie started. The popcorn was quickly devoured during the first fifteen minutes. Not even the first zombie was around yet. McGee went to go pop more popcorn. When he came back, he found Abby reading the child development book like it was the latest and greatest novel. He smiled at her, but she didn't look up. He sat down next to her and peeked at the page she was on. There were pictures of the last few months of pregnancy. Abby was reading about month nine.

"What are you reading ahead for?" McGee asked warily, watching as she turned the page to week forty. Several words jumped out at him. Labor. Contractions. Stillbirth. The baby could still be born dead. He shoved the thought away and turned his attention back to the movie.

"I just want to see what happens afterward," she answered lightly, turning some more pages. "I think it'll be best to see how Kelly develops during her first year," They watched the movie some more, Abby snickering at all the mayhem and gore at the screen the whole time. The end credits were rolling when McGee's phone rang. He reached over to the end table and answered it.

"Yeah, boss?"

"I need you two back at NCIS," he ordered. "Since Victoria is nowhere to be found, it's going in our cold case files for now. There's a dead Marine found outside of D.C. I need you to investigate, probie,"

"Boss, I'm-"

"Don't argue with me!" he shouted. "Go, now! Ducky's waiting!" McGee looked over at Abby.

"Okay, boss. I'm going," he said, hanging up the phone.

"Gibbs wants you?" Abby asked with an amused expression on her face. The smile lit up her features. He looked at her more closely. She was glowing with health, the perfect picture of absolute happiness. He slowly smiled back, just a little.

"I'd better get going," he told her, kissing her cheek. "See you later, Abs," He crawled off the bed and grabbed his jacket. As he left the room, he managed to get one last look at her. She looked pretty good for being several months pregnant, he thought to himself. Humming happily to himself, he headed out to his car. Vacation time was over, but he wouldn't let that ruin his mood. Abby followed him out.

"I think Gibbs might want me there too," she called to him, quickly pulling on her lab coat and running out the door with him. McGee closed the door behind her. "I'll go to my lab just in case," She started out to her car. He walked with her.

"He didn't mention you, though…" he said doubtfully. His phone beeped suddenly and he took it out. It was a text from Ziva, asking about Abby. He looked over to his girlfriend, who was starting the car. "Ah…well, the boss may not necessarily need you but Ziva wants to know if you're coming in today,"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked. "It's impossible to find anyone with more passion about my job then me," With that, she drove off. McGee got into his own car and started after her. McGee called Ziva and decided to explain their four hour absence from the office.

"Ziva, what are you panicking for? We were trying to take the day off to get away from all the insanity," he whined, turning onto a highway.

"Sorry, Tony stole my phone from me temporarily and sent that," Ziva apologized. "But since you are indeed not missing in action, I'll be sure to tell him to quit messing with your computer and erasing the entire hard drive,"

"What?" he exclaimed. "He better not be doing that! I swear, if he deletes all those photos of me and Abby, I'll find a way to kill him without any forensic evidence," At this, Ziva laughed loudly.

"That would certainly frustrate Abby," she chuckled. "You know what happens when she can't analyze the evidence she has, don't you?" McGee winced at the memory of the time when she was unable to find a definite finger print or fiber. She went nuts for almost a whole fifteen minutes. And when it was realized that Ducky gave her the wrong evidence, she practically exploded…

"Are you kidding me?" Abby seethed. "You expect me to just be okay with this? I thought you were a professional medical examiner, Dr. Mallard! I swear, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to irritate the hell out of me!" She stormed off, evidence and all. McGee gulped, glancing back and forth between Ducky and Gibbs. The looks on their faces were unbelievable. His knees shook, but he was very glad that he wasn't the on she was angry at. Ziva headed down to Abby's lab. He watched her warily, hoping she'd come out in one piece. Fifteen minutes later, she returned, looking subdued.

"Wow, you better not go down there, Gibbs," she said. "You'd probably regret trying to calm her down," He rolled his eyes and went down there anyway. McGee cautiously followed him. He stopped outside the entrance.

"Abigail Sciuto!" Gibbs shouted. "You'd better let me in!" The door instantly opened a fraction, just enough for him to slip through the opening. It snapped shut before McGee could follow him in. He pressed his ear to the wall and listened.

"Abby, what is your problem?" he demanded. "It's not that big of a deal. So Ducky made one mistake…are you going to hold it against him for the rest of the day?"

"No," Abby mumbled.

"Good. What do you got, Abs?"

"Some common house mold here…" McGee left, grateful that the worst was over. Still, he kept his distance for the remainder of the day just to be safe.

"Yes, I do remember," he said quietly after a few minutes. He pulled into the parking lot and parked next to Abby's car.

"I'd better hang up before Gibbs yells at me," Ziva said abruptly. A second later, she hung up on him. McGee snapped his phone shut and got out of the car. He yanked the keys out of the ignition and slammed the door shut. The noise cleared his head a little. He took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. Time to get to business. He strode into the building and headed straight to Ducky's autopsy lab, wondering what could possibly be waiting for him.