Wednesday. I hate Wednesday's! All it does is remind you that there is still two days of work left. Her watch tells her she has 45 Minutes until everyone else is supposed to be there. With a groan, she heads for her desk. As she turns the corner she stops when a mass of bright red catches her eye. Roses? Stepping up to her desk, she notices the white card sticking out of the vase. The card simply reads, 'I'm sorry'.

Glancing at Tim's empty desk, she smiles and sticks the card in her pocket. No one else needs to know. She takes time to rub her fingers over the velvet petals and leans over and as the sweet smell greets her she sits down. As she gently fingers the roses again she thinks to herself, 'maybe Wednesdays aren't so bad after all.'

She was lost in her own world, when she was greeted by Ziva; she nearly jumped out of her skin. "What is all this?" Ziva asks, pointing to the vase of bright red roses on Bella's desk.

Bella shrugs, "I don't know, when I got here this morning they were sitting there."

Ziva nods, knowingly and casts a glance over to Tim's empty desk. "Perhaps he is saying he is sorry, yes?"

Bella just smiles, "Perhaps."

~*~

After the day had got started, and a new case had been opened, Gibbs assigned Tony and Ziva to interviewing the three major suspects in the case. He had also noticed through out the day, that Bella had been smiling a lot more, and he was sure by the look on Ziva's face when Bella would smile for no reason, that he wasn't the only one who had noticed. Against his better judgment, he assigned Bella and McGee to searching the suspects homes; hoping to find enough evidence to link at least one of them to the case.

The car ride to the addresses they have in their notes was filled with silence. Bella had so much to say to Tim, but she knew that a crime scene wasn't the place to spill her guts. The only form of conversation the two share is about the evidence they are bagging and tagging. Once the evidence is all in order, and the camera is filled with photos of the houses, the two load up the trunk of the car and head back to the Navy Yard.

Bella pulls out her mobile phone and dials a number. "Yeah, Gibbs."

"McGee and I are heading back to NCIS now. There is too much evidence for just one person to carry, so we are gonna take it down to Abby. We'll be up after we tell her what she needs to know," she says to her uncle.

"Alright. How'd the searching go?" he asks her, and she knows the double meaning behind his words.

Bella smiles to herself, "Everything ran smoothly. I'll tell you more when we get up there. We've just pulled into the garage."

After hanging up from Gibbs, she steps out of the car and helps McGee unload the trunk. He carries two of the three boxes, and she grabs the last one and the camera and finger printing kit. Closing the trunk, she leads a seemingly blind McGee to the elevator inside the parking garage. She presses the floor that Abby's lab is on and the doors close. She notices McGee fidget and turns to the man. "Everything alright, McGee?"

He turns and smiles at her, "Everything is fine, Woods."

"You're lying."

"No I'm not." She glares at him, the glare she learned from her uncle no doubt. "Ok, fine. My nose itches and I have my hands full."

Bella laughs out loud at the fact the McGee made such a big deal about his nose needing to be scratched. She turns to the man and asks, "Where?"

He turns his head back to the woman and tells her, "On the right side."

Bella drops the box of evidence in her hands and brings her left hand up to his face, "Is that better?"

Tim opens his eyes, having closed them upon the skin to skin contact that was just occurring and gets lost in her emerald eyes. He clears his throat, "Much better. Thanks."

Bella nods, breaking the trance and picks her box back up, "Not a problem."

The doors to the elevator open and once again, Bella leads him into Abby's noisy lab. She's playing some sort of music; at least Bella thinks its music, so loud that she can't hear herself think. How Abby gets any work done is beyond her. Bella places the box in her hand on Abby's table, and picks up the remote, she knows her life will be in harms way, but she's got to stop the headache from forming.

Abby pops up from behind a piece of machinery only to exclaim, "Hey! Why did you do that?!"

Bella places the remote back next to the box, "Because, Abby, McGee and I have brought you gifts."

Abby raises her eyebrow at the mention of McGee, "Really. You and the Elf Lord brought me some goodies?"

From behind the boxes covering his face, McGee makes himself known, "I am in the room you know? Do you mind?"

Abby bounces over to him and takes the box from in front of his face, "Of course you are McGee. What do you guys have for me?"

He shakes his head at the Goth before him. He explains what they have found and tells her from which suspect the evidence came from and smiles at her, "Do your thing, Abs. Gibbs will probably send one of us down in the next hour or so."

Abby smiles, "Have I ever let Gibbs down before?"

Bella chuckles, "Nope. See you soon, Abs."

McGee heads to the door and stops, he watches as Bella un-pauses the music that Abby was listening to, and walks past him with a smile to the elevator. They step inside the elevator and McGee presses the button to the floor the rest of the team is on. No more that five seconds later, Bella reaches over and pulls the emergency stop.

The elevator lurches to a stop and McGee turns to face her, "Bella? What was that for?"

She smiles sweetly at him. "Just wanted to say thank you for the roses. That was really sweet of you."

Tim looks down and back up to be met with her eyes, "I have been miserable these past few weeks, Bella. I have been thinking about what Abby said when she locked us up in the locker; and she's right. Who your uncle is doesn't matter. After he told me that you were his niece, I tried so hard to get rid of these feelings that I have for you. I guess it's true what they say. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I do like you, Bella. A lot. More than I've ever liked anyone before and I would like to see where we can go."

"Shut up," she says, trying desperately to hold back the tears she feels burning her eyes. She's never been one to jump head first into things, but hearing him spill his heart out to her, she does the one thing that she's wanted to do since the night of the Ballet. She slowly wraps her arms around his neck and pulls his head down to meet her in a sweet kiss.

She smiles into the kiss when she feels him snake his arms around her waist. He pulls her close to him, and only when oxygen is needed, they both end the kiss. Resting her forehead on his, she whispers, "Apology accepted."