A/N: Okay… I lied. After this, I only have one chapter left. (YES!) I decided to put together two of the chapters that were going to be separated… makes more sense this way ^^ …Now I'm going to make myself cry:

General Warning Label: teen!NCIS, heterosexual sex (Abby/Gibbs), slash (Tony/Tim), masturbation (Tony), erotic dreams/fantasies (Everybody), violence (Gibbs), teacher/student (Kate/Jimmy, respectively), child abuse (Ziva), homelessness (Jenny), suicide (Ducky), & death by abortion (Abby). Told you this wasn't for the faint of heart...

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Chapter Twelve: Part One: Whispering

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"Mrs. Sciuto, you're daughter is… she's pregnant."

That's what the doctor had told them. She and her mother had come home and she was immediately grounded. But she couldn't be! It wasn't Jenny's birthday yet, and if Ziva had to go home that night Abby would feel guilty all night. But… her mother wanted to know who the father was, and Abby wouldn't tell, lest she get Leroy in trouble along with her. She had heard he was going to military school come Monday, (that was all her father told her before her mother sent her to her room) because of some essay they found that wasn't appropriate for a boy his age to write.

"Adults are… hard to understand," Abby whispered to her stuffed hippo.

He only gazed back at her. She gave him a squeeze and continued her monologue:

"And… and they lie to you. Mom lied to me about how babies are made! I can't believe it. Was it so hard to say that something so sweet and… and frightening would create something like this!" she touched her stomach, "I… I have to tell Leroy about this!"

She scrambled to her desk and found a piece of notebook paper and a pen and she began writing him a letter, "This will be fine… I'll just tell him what's going on, give this note to someone and he can deal with it how he does, all macho, and…" she put her head on the desk and began to cry.

There was a soft knock on her door, and her mother entered, "Honey… I know you won't tell us who the father is, but you won't have to… are you okay?" Mrs. Sciuto asked.

"I'm fine," was the teenager's mumble into the soft wood of her desk.

"Honey… I've… I've set up an appointment to get you an abortion…"

Abby looked up, but covered the name she had written on her note, "What? What is that?"

"They're going to take the… take the unborn child out of you, so you can live your life as a normal teenager, and then you can make these… these choices to be a mother…" Mrs. Sciuto replied.

Abby calmed herself, feeling defeated. "Okay."

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Part Two: Those You've Known

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"Hi, Leroy," Tim had a pained look on his face as he looked around his friend's house.

"What's up?" Leroy asked.

Tim stalled for a moment, then put his arm around Leroy's waist, "I know you leave tomorrow, but there's something I want to show you… you haven't been out of the house, so you might've… not… heard…"

They took a slow walk down to the place Tim wanted Leroy to see. On the way, they talked about the latest news in the town. Leroy was glad to hear that Tim and Tony had started dating, but every time Leroy asked about Abby, Tim would make a pained sound and turn away from Leroy while he regained some composure.

Tim finally made them stop in front of a freshly covered grave. Leroy looked at Tim incredulously, and then looked at the inscription on the gravestone. Here lies Abby Sciuto, daughter and friend.

Leroy stared at the inscription shocked. Then he turned to Tim and growled, "Go."

Tim stepped back to leave, but stopped himself, "Wait… Abby wanted me to give this to you…" he said, handing the older boy a piece of paper and then fleeing the graveyard.

Leroy read the note:

Dear Leroy, I'm sorry this note is late coming, but I am pregnant, and I believe the baby is ours. I had hoped you would be here when the baby is born, but I heard that you were in some trouble and you wouldn't be around much longer. I'm sorry, but I hope you can one day come home and meet your child. All my love, Abby.

Leroy once again looked at the gravestone, and noticed in the corner of his eye that she had been buried by Ducky's grave. He stood in between the two graves and began to weep. Once his eyes had been cried dry, he found a razor in his jacket. He remembered that he had been on his way out to fetch more razors of that kind for his mother (who was fixing up the house). He put the blade to his chest, but something stopped him. A pale, glowing hand.

He looked up into the eyes of Abby, "No, Leroy…"

"But I want to be with you, Abby!" Leroy shouted, not quite believing his eyes.

"Don't make the same mistake I did, Leroy," another familiar voice said from the other side of him. Ducky's spirit was sitting on his own gravestone, and as Leroy recognized him, the ghost got up and helped Leroy to his feet, "You remembered after my funeral that you had friends, right?"

Leroy nodded, "But you guys are so much… closer to me!"

"Yes, but we need someone to tell our story," Abby said.

"What?" Leroy asked.

"No one knows the true reason why we died, Leroy… because of the lies the adults told us, the hardships they forced on us," Ducky said, "Leroy, only you can preach these faults to the others. They'll believe you…"

Leroy looked at them both, then at the razor. He dropped it on the ground and hugged first Abby's spirit, then Ducky's. Then he breathed in slowly, and left the graveyard.

When he looked back, the sprits had disappeared. He sighed, and walked back to his house, as he had to leave for Richmond in the morning.

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One last chapter, my dears, and it will all end in hope, I promise.

… and I promise I'll have more tearful goodbyes next chapter.

Aeron Ailsa