A/N: A short, fun chapter. Think of it as 'intermission.'
Gibbs and his team had been out for almost 2 and a half hours talking with different people from the party Private Conway had attended. JJ was sitting in the main lab. He was spinning in the chair, waiting for Abby to come out of the back room. She had a date later that night and wanted JJ's opinion on what to wear. He tried telling her he probably wasn't the best person to ask, but she insisted that she needed a guy's opinion.
The first outfit was a yellow and black plaid halter dress with black trim and silver grommets around the bottom edge of the skirt and the halter straps. With it she wore yellow, black, and whit plaid calf-high sneakers. She had her hair in high set pigtails. JJ tilted his head to the side and scrunched up his eyebrows. "I have those same shoes in pink."
"Kickin'," Abby said. "Real men wear pink. I've been trying to tell Gibbs that for years, but he doesn't listen."
"I never thought I would say this, but that is too much plaid."
Abby's jaw dropped. "Too…much…"
"Plaid."
She raised her hands up to shoulder level, took a deep breath, and slowly lowered them and she let the breath out. "Okay," she quietly said. "No fret. I have two more choices I brought." JJ tossed his head back as she went to change.
The next outfit was much nicer. It was a black halter dress with a red bodice and a black lace overlay. It also had a sheer overlay on the A-line skirt. Her hair was still in the high set pigtails and her shoes were black 4" Mary-Janes with silver tone stud accented ankle straps. Abby took a hold of the sides of the skirt, fanning it out, and curtsied. JJ raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Much better," he said.
"Really?" Abby asked looking down at her dress.
"Anything was better than that last one."
"Hmm!" She turned on her heels and marched back to change.
When she came back out, his mouth hung open. She was wearing short black shorts with gray pinstripes and suspenders. Her top was a matching double-breasted vest. Her hair was all gathered into one ponytail. Her shoes were gray quilted ankle boots. There was a classy lace-up in the front and black leather on the toe and back of the heel. She had her hands on her hips and annoyed expression on her face. "Well?"
JJ got off the stool. He slowly walked around Abby checking the outfit out. He stopped in front of her. He raised his hands to the suspenders. "May I?" She shrugged. He slipped them off and made them as short as possible. When he was done, he let them hang loose from the shorts. He folded his arms in front of him and nodded. "Done." He took a few steps back as Abby checked out the new look.
She walked into her office and checked it over in the mirror. She turned from side to side "So you like this one the best?" she asked. She looked at him through the reflection of the mirror.
"Oh yeah," he said with a smile. "That outfit totally gets me hot and I'm not even straight!"
She turned facing him and tilted her head. "Really?"
He just shrugged. "That being said," he uncrossed his arms while walking up closer and surveying her face, "you should do a smoky eye and a darker color lipstick. A dark red or mauve should work."
Abby chuckled and shook her head. "Back to the lab with you. Need to change so I don't ruin this before my date."
A/N 2: Don't hate me because he's not straight. He was that way in my mind the whole time!
On a personal note, its my daughter's 2nd birthday!