May 2
You can lean on a friendship on your road to success. You appreciate that friendship when your friend is happier about your success than you are.
Palmer crossed the squad room, annoyed with himself for running late. He should have remembered about those roadworks…
Spotting Agent Gibbs' team hard at work, he bypassed their area. He did not want to get in their way and he definitely did not want to walk into the firing line of Agent Gibbs. He wanted to live for a good few years yet.
He found himself in the back elevator, wishing that it would hurry up so that he could reach Autopsy sooner. He was already trying to work out how to apologize to Ducky. Should he come straight out and give his excuses, or should he wait until after he had apologized? Should he even list his excuses? They weren't particularly good ones.
The elevator doors opened and he tried to step off, but ended up crashing into Abby instead. It took him a moment to realize that he wasn't at Autopsy at all, but Abby's lab. He smiled apologetically and received a warm smile back, before finding himself in a bone-crushing hug.
"So?" she inquired, her face alight with curiosity.
"So what?" he asked, completely confused.
She punched his arm lightly. "Your exam! I thought you got your results this morning."
"I did," he recalled. "I got 90."
"That's great!" she squealed, launching herself at him again in delight.
He hadn't the heart to tell her that he wasn't so excited about it; he had many more to come soon. But he found himself smiling at her antics. He never seemed to appreciate Abby as much as he felt he should.