Abby lay curled up in her warm blankets on Saturday morning and let the soft, comfortable bedding infuse her with the warm serenity that she needed. She felt better than she had all week long and the long talk with Tony and Ziva had made a huge difference; but…and by her books, it was a big 'but'; she still had to get through the talk that was due from Gibbs and then Tim. Despite that, she found that talking with her two friends last night had bought a feeling of hope and right now she felt ready for anything. Tony and Ziva had been so great to talk to last night and even though they'd obviously been upset at her actions and motivations, they'd listened to her and heard her out before they'd said anything.

The one big surprise had been that when they had spoken to her, it hadn't been full of censure and criticism even though Abby knew she had it comin'. No, they'd been very clear in where they were coming from.

**Flashback**

"Abby, do you realize the danger you were in?" Ziva asked her with a gentleness that belied her normally brusque demeanour.

"Of course I do." Abby was quick to defend herself.

"Okay. Tell us about it." Tony jumped in with his unexpected request, causing her to flinch slightly.

"What?"

"Explain the danger you were facing to us." Ziva seconded Tony's request. Obviously, they both were thinking the same thing; their Lab Rat had little more than a mere idea of what trouble she'd taken everyone into.

"The drug cartel could have done anything they wanted to us and there wouldn't have been any witnesses." Abby said calmly, even though the very image that came with her words, sent a shiver of fear up her spine.

"That was one possible outcome, Abbs. There were several ways that could have turned out. Care to guess what another one could have been?" Tony asked in his quiet tone that spoke of his efforts to calm his real emotions. His friends' lives had been in real jeopardy and he hadn't even known about it until way after the fact.

"No, Tony. I'd rather not. Can't we just focus on fixing this?" Abby's tone was pleading."

"Yeah. Yeah, we can do that. So long as you promise me; us something, first." Tony answered as he glanced at Ziva to see how she was taking all of this.

"Okay."

"Ziva?" Tony offered his partner the floor on this one since he was fairly confident they were on the same page with this.

"Thank you, Tony. Abby, you must promise to never be so careless with your safety again."

"No, it has to be more than that, Zee." Tony added. "Abby, that means, treating McGee's authority, when Gibbs gives it to him as your protection detail, just like you would mine! Do you understand what we're saying, here?"

"Yes. I get it, Tony."

"Do you? Are you sure?" Tony pushed.

"Yes. Really, I do. I get it. And I promise I'll do what you're asking."

"Good. Because if Probie ever gets hurt while he's protecting you, because you wanna be stubborn and walk all over him like this again; well, you just don't wanna go there. Abbs." Tony warned calmly. The underlying threat didn't going un-noticed and made Abby shrink back in her chair.

"I know, Tony." Abby said humbly.

"I hope you do, Abby. I seriously hope you do. You may be my little sister, but that doesn't mean Probie's expendable for your sake."

"I agree." Abby sniffed as tears slid down her face. "Can we hug now, please? I really need to know we're okay again."

"We're okay, Abbs. We're okay." Tony answered as he wrapped her in a hug.

"Thank you." Abby hugged him back with all of her usual bone-crushing strength.

It didn't take long for Abby to look to Ziva for confirmation that things were okay with them, as well. Ziva nodded and smiled at her. "I agree with Tony on this, Abby. We are okay, as well. But, I expect you to respect McGee from now on and never put him in danger like this again."

"I promise." Abby vowed as she broke off from Tony's hug to wrap Ziva in a hug of her own.

**End Flashback**

At some point during the memory, she had moved to the kitchen and as she sat at her kitchen table sipping her caf-pow, she let her mind go over things that had been said not just last night, but earlier in the week as well, Abby knew the time had come for her to face the music with Gibbs, but the burning question was, was he ready to talk to her?

Her phone rang at that moment and when she looked at the caller i.d, her long-standing claim that the man was psychic instantly came to mind. If anything, it was almost as if he had read her thoughts, and that bought smile to her face. Apparently, they were thinking alike, yet again.

"Hi. Gibbs." Abby greeted him quietly.

"Abby. Are you ready to talk?" the man asked without any glimpse of either anger or happiness in his tone. The complete neutral quality of it set Abby's nerves on edge.

Was it even possible that he was no longer angry with her? It doesn't matter. I still have to talk to him whether he's still pissed at me or not.

"Yes."

"Good. My house at 1. We'll talk over lunch. " Gibbs ended the call and looked over at his friend. "You'll be here?"

"Yes, Jethro. I will be here. You will both need someone to keep the peace. I'll venture that this will not be a pleasant conversation."

"No. No, you're right about that, Duck." Gibbs replied in all seriousness.

"Jethro, what is it that has you still so angry with her?"

"You have any idea, Duck, what's like to see your agent finally let himself get everything he's been holding inside, out? Facing down a drug cartel; offering up his own life for a group of strangers and his 'friend' who'd put him in that position against his will, all the while being scared out of his mind that they were just gonna laugh at him and blow them all away right in front of him, one after the other and then kill him?."

"No, I haven't, Jethro. But, I'm guessing this is what you and Timothy were dealing with during your long absence from work before you both met with Director Vance?"

"Yeah." Gibbs' tone was one that Ducky had only heard once before, the night they mended their friendship after he returned from Mexico. It had that quiet and pain-filled quality to it that tore at the older man's heart.

"You will remember to temper your conversation with the understanding of how Abigail came to believe she could act as she pleased, won't you, Jethro?"

"Abby put him in that position, Ducky! That's not something I can just slap her on the wrist for!"

"No, I should say not, Jethro. But, I strongly suggest you find a way to relieve some of that anger before you talk to her."

"Ducky." Gibbs said with exasperation.

"I'll venture that realizing that one of your 'children' was placed in that position by your favored child, isn't easy to swallow."

"No, Duck, it's not. But, that's not my biggest concern here."

"Oh?"

"My biggest concern is that something like this never happens again."

"Jetho, it is highly unlikely that Abigail will encounter a drug cartel in her everyday life."

"Not what I mean, Duck."

"Would that you could find a way to show her the real danger she faced in a way that would remain with her long after this has blown over." Ducky mused.

Gibbs looked at him for a silent minute as he thought over what he'd said. Suddenly, it came to him. "You know what, Duck? You're right." Taking out his cell phone, he made a call. " Ziva, need you and Tony to do something for me. Yeah. Now."

Lunch with Gibbs and Ducky was somewhat strained as Abby spent her mental brainpower trying to figure out what wasn't being said. Gibbs hadn't even greeted her at the door, Ducky had been the one to do that. And while her silver-haired fox had greeted her when she and Ducky got to the kitchen, it had been much more of a subdued greeting than she could ever remember getting from him before. She hadn't even gotten the typical kiss on the cheek from him.

The silence that soon settled between them was painful and Abby couldn't take it for very long. A mere two minutes after they'd sat down to eat, she had to speak her mind.

"Gibbs, if you're still this angry with me, why am I even here?" she asked with a hint of disappointment mixed with confusion.

"We need to talk." Gibbs answered in his typical no nonsense tone that clearly said she should have guessed the answer already.

"Okay." Abby answered, unwilling to not have something to say.

Again, silence rained down between the three of them. Ducky seemed willing to be the silent witness to whatever it was Gibbs needed to say to her and Abby found herself wishing he'd just get it over with. Suddenly, she had no more appetite and couldn't finish her lunch. Thankfully, both men seemed to be ready to move things along, as well and got up from the table and headed into the living room.

"Need to know something, Abby." Gibbs told her as the three of them settled into seats in the living room.

"Okay." Abby answered with her stomach knotting up. Suddenly, she was sure this was gonna get unpleasant Was this why Ducky was here; to keep Gibbs from losing his cool? Abby hoped with all her heart that this could be fixed.

"What was going through your head? the question from the boss startled Abby from her thoughts and had her answering without even stopping to think about what her answer was gonna be.

"Gibbs! I already told all this to the Director!"

"When those guns were cocked and pointed at you, McGee and all those innocent people you took out there with you, what was going through your head?" Gibbs pushed as if she hadn't spoken.

"Gibbs!" Abby cried in disbelief. Why would he talk to her like this?

"Did it cross your mind that those people were gonna start killing everyone of you right then and there?" Gibbs ruthlessly kept going, intent on getting his point across.

"Gibbs!" Abby was horrified at the thought. She felt a slice of shock run through her at this most unusual questioning technique

"Jethro!" the M.E. tried to interject a voice of reason.

"No, Ducky! I want some answers!. Because it sure as hell crossed McGee' mind!"

"Oh, Gibbs!" she cried.

"While he stood there, offering his life up for yours and those students; every second of that stand-off, McGee spent in absolute fear that the only thing he had to offer them in return for your safety and those students' safety; his own life, wouldn't be enough for them. He really believed he wasn't gonna live to see another day, Abby."

"Gibbs, I…" Abby stammered through her tears.

The boss needed a breather. He was getting more angry by the minute. Glancing at Ducky, Gibbs turned and left the room.

Abby drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, put her head down and cried.

Ducky gave her a few minutes to cry it out and then he took himself over to where she was sitting and sat down beside her. "Abigail. You must calm yourself."

"Oh, Ducky! Timmy's never gonna talk to me again! I almost got him killed! How could I have done that?" Abby cried.

"I'm afraid, that is exactly what you need to uncover within yourself, my dear."

"I don't know how to fix this!" Abby lamented sadly.

"It will most likely prove to be a hard road, for you , my dear. But, I do not believe it to be an impossible one. Timothy is well known for his propensity toward forgiveness."

"Ducky, I doubt very seriously that this will even be a blip on his forgiveness radar."

"Can you blame him?" Gibbs asked from the doorway.

"No, I can't, Gibbs. But, I need to fix this!"

"Can't help you there, Abby. You're gonna have to figure this out for yourself. But, I do have one more question for you"

"Okay."

"You have any idea what it's like to know that at any second, you're gonna be killed and probably in as painful a way as they can think of?"

"No. No, Gibbs, I don't" Abby replied in her tear filled whisper.

"Damn right, you don't. But, every one of my agents do. Tony and Ziva have been there before. McGee? Not until now, except for the case at the women's prison. And to know that his own team member and 'friend' set him up for it, is the real stink of it."

"I get it now. Gibbs."

"I sure as hell hope so, Abby." I sure hope so."

"Jethro, must you have been so harsh on the poor girl?"

"Ducky! I know you wanna blame me for the way she acted down there, but I won't accept responsibility for her bull-headness! And I have never allowed my agents to be so foolish as to deliberately set each other up like that! And I know I can trust them not to! Everyone of them has each other's backs out there, always!"

"Jethro, calm yourself. It's clear you are quite upset on Timothy's behalf and hearing you speak of the fear the young man had to deal with in the midst of his brave actions, I can well appreciate your anger."

"I need her to get it, Ducky. Because until she does, she has no business going anywhere near McGee."

"I don't understand what that…" Abby tried to defensively make her point that there was no connection between the two.

Gibbs took a deep breath and looked Abby square on as he told her what he needed her to understand: "McGee would rather be transferred back to Cyber-Crimes than to be assigned to be your protection detail again, Abby. What does that tell you?"