Chapter 22- Saving McGee

Holy crap…Abby thought, staring in shock at the identical twins holding Kate and McGee hostage. There was no time to get Gibbs. Time to handle things herself. She strode into the lab and glared at Victoria and her twin…they looked so much alike it was scary.

"Daniela, she's here," Victoria said. "Let the girl go for now. I want to see how it goes when we've got even numbers," The other blonde woman shoved Kate aside and crossed her arms.

"Kate, what happened?" Abby demanded. She coughed and looked up at her.

"I don't know, I just walked in here after coming back from the bathroom and they were here!" she yelled. Abby remained calm and faced Victoria.

"What do you want from me?" she demanded. Victoria tightened the ropes around the unconscious McGee and stepped aside.

"I want revenge," she replied, a menacing grin spreading across her face. "You stole my McGee from me and I want him back, by any means possible," She pulled out a gun and pointed it at Abby. My baby Kelly…I can't afford to lose her! Kate worriedly looked at the weapon. At this, McGee woke up and groggily gazed at his surroundings.

"Victoria…" he slurred. Was he drugged? "Don't do this," She ignored him, still staring at Abby.

"I have to," the woman insisted, "for us, remember?" Daniela pulled out her knife and approached Kate. Victoria motioned for her to attack, and she obeyed at once. Kate prepared to defend herself. Abby ran up to Victoria and tried to pry the gun out of her hands. She shoved her off and injected something into McGee's neck that caused him to fall back asleep. Abby scrambled to her feet and tried to loosen the ropes on him, but the knots were too tight. She attempted to wake up McGee, but he was too deep in his drugged sleep to be bothered. Victoria took Abby's arms and twisted them behind her back. Meanwhile, Daniela was trying to catch Kate, but she was too fast. She nimbly dodged each blow and counterattacked with perfect precision. The intense focus on her face was a little scary.

"I'll give you one chance to end things with Tim so he's mine," Victoria warned her. "After that, you're done for good," She released her and untied McGee. Abby bent down and looked at his face. He was still sleeping, but the drugs were wearing off already. It must have been a small dose that he was given, she thought, trying to wake him up.

"Need…water…" he murmured with his eyes barely open. Abby found a water bottle and poured a little on his face. It seemed to wake him up a little. She went ahead and dumped all of it on his head. He jolted awake and looked around.

"Where…what happened?" McGee said in a confused voice. "What's Victoria doing here?"

"Say it, Abby," Victoria ordered, ignoring McGee still. "I want you to end it all now…and you'll get away alive. After all, isn't that what you want?" Abby shook her head.

"I came here to save my Timmy, and no other reason," she said coldly. "I'm not as selfish and heartless as you," Daniela threw her knife at Kate, but she managed to dodge it and counterattack with a fierce kick in her chest. Victoria turned over to Abby, her eyes flashing dangerously. The gun was back in her hands. Time seemed to slow down as she pulled the trigger. McGee shoved her out of the way, sending her flying into the lab table. Kate finally gave Daniela one last punch that sent her to the ground. She did not get up again. Victoria aimed the gun at Kate and fired. The bullet missed by inches, but smashed the glass on the door behind her. The alarm started to go off, and Victoria ran to go wake up her sister.

"Get up!" she whispered desperately. "We're going to get captured!" Daniela stirred, but did not get up right away. McGee went to help Abby to her feet while he had the chance.

"Get off me," Daniela muttered, "I'm injured, not stupid," She shakily got to her feet and started out of the lab, limping slightly. The alarm was still blaring. Gibbs would be in here any minute, Abby thought, letting McGee pull her up as she watched the scene before her.

"Go, escape! I'll handle this!" Victoria said, disabling the alarm. Abby wanted to do something to stop her, but she didn't know what. McGee also looked uncertain of his next move. Finally, the blonde woman stepped toward the couple, analyzing them. She gazed almost longingly at McGee, as if she thought she still had a chance of being with him after all of this. Her eyes hardened when she looked at Abby, and her features twisted with a mixture of pain and jealousy. She pointed the gun at her again, but her hand was shaking too violently to aim properly. Kate started to approach the group, but instead ran off to go get help. Victoria pulled the trigger, but the gun just clicked uselessly. It was empty. She cursed and tossed it aside. She bent down and scooped up the knife lying on the floor. It was surrounded by shards of glass and blood from the fight. She spun around and faced McGee again, who stood protectively in front of Abby. She pushed him aside and fearlessly strode up to Victoria.

"You are going to die," she growled, thrusting the knife at her, but Abby dodged it and twisted her wrist. She gasped and dropped the weapon. She attacked again, sending out as many punches and kicks as she could before she finally ran out of energy. Abby had managed to block each blow while returning some of her own, grateful of the training she had received for a karate class she was supposed to take as a child, but never attended a single lesson.

"You…you'll pay," Victoria gasped as Kate came in with Gibbs. He handcuffed her and started to pull the woman away. Abby silently watched them. "I swear, you will!" she yelled as she was dragged out of the lab. As soon as they were gone, McGee ran to hug Abby.

"Oh, Abs," he said. "I don't know if you were being brave or stupid, but that was amazing,"

"I couldn't help but feel something was wrong," Abby whispered, "so I came here, hoping that everything was fine,"

"Well, I'm fine now…but that drug was pretty weird," he muttered, pulling back a little. "It made me all tired and gave me strange dreams. It was almost like being drunk without the nausea afterward,"

"Abby? I think you'll need to bring Ducky up here," Kate called out. "Her knife got me pretty deep in the leg…" She nodded and went to her phone to call him. McGee knelt down over Kate and made sure her wound wasn't too serious.

"Duck? Yeah, it's Abby. Kate got hurt and I need you over here. No, I don't think so…the bleeding hasn't stopped yet that's all I know. Okay, thanks!" She hung up and helped Kate sit up.

"Is there any glass in the wound?" McGee asked, examining her injury.

"Ow!" Kate complained when he touched her leg. "I was next to the door, so what do you think?" She glared at him.

"Sorry, I had to check," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Abs, tell Ducky he's going to need to sew the wound up, it looks fairly deep. Oh, and I need something to get all the glass out," She nodded, just as Ducky came in with his medical kit.

"All right, let's see what we've got here," he murmured, looking at Kate. McGee got out of the way as he bent over her. Palmer stepped through the hole in the door, staring at all the glass around him.

"Wow, what happened here?" he asked. "Did Abby have a tantrum over evidence again?" McGee gave him a look.

"Kate got hurt in a fight earlier. Ducky's taking care of it," McGee told him. "Are you here to clean up the mess?"

"Guess I am now," he muttered when the medical examiner glanced at him. He sighed and pulled on a pair of gloves. Abby left her lab to go find someone to talk to. She ran into Ziva in the elevator.

"Hi, Abby! What was with the alarm earlier?"

"Long story. I just needed to get away from my lab," she said. "It's a little crazy down there,"

"Really? Tell me what happened," Ziva said eagerly. Abby told her of how she felt something was wrong when McGee wouldn't answer his phone, and she went to her lab to investigate. She was starting to get to the part when McGee was being drugged when the elevator opened and Gibbs got in. She glanced at him and continued her story as if nothing had happened.

"So…Kate is being tended for right now if you want to see her," she concluded awkwardly as they headed for Ziva's desk a few minutes later.

"How did she get past security, is my question," Ziva mused, sitting in the chair and searching through security tapes.

"I think…she told the guards the truth, that she was here to see McGee and she was an old friend of his," Abby said, thinking about what McGee had said about the woman. Ziva looked up, a surprised look on her face.

"Just when you think all the strategies were used…very rarely does that happen. Tell the truth to appear innocent. It's ingenious,"

"Calm down, Ziv," Abby laughed at her expression.

"You and Kate are both calling me that now. Why?" she wondered.

"Because you're our friend," Ziva smiled. Friend…McGee came by and gave Abby a bone-crushing hug.

"I'll reward you for saving me later, but for now, you can take this as a token of my gratitude," he said formally just before kissing her. He smiled at her and went over to Tony to tell him what happened. Things were quiet. Gibbs came over by Tony's desk and announced the new case for the day. Everyone set to work, except for Abby. The mess down in her lab hadn't been cleaned up yet. She awkwardly stood there, trying to find something to do. Finally, Palmer and Kate came by, with Kate leaning on him for support.

"So is that why your head is wet, McProbie?" Tony asked in an amused tone. "I thought you were going to do that dog thing and shake it all off," Gibbs head slapped him. Just a normal day at the office, Abby thought, smiling to herself.