"It happened ages ago," Morgan explained to Abby as they drove to the NCIS building, recalling the incident that was similar to what Abby was currently going through. "Back when I was still new in the army. There was another recruit, Levi, who'd gone to the same base I had when I first joined and took a liking to me. Started off quiet at first, following me around like a lost dog. Then, came the idle compliments for things I thought were normal. Suppose he just saw me as a woman doing just as much if not more than the rest of the guys as impressive or some shit. I never bothered to ask and just tried to ignore him with small nods of acknowledgment to not come off as entirely rude. I wasn't… social really."

Abby chuckled lightly, holding tight to her bag in her lap as Russell dozed in the back seat. "You? Not social?"

Morgan rolled her eyes at the teasing. "More so back then. If I could have gotten away with not interacting with others at all, I would have. I always found it easier to do things on my own but the military kind of forces you to abandon that idea. Thing is, Levi just became a normal presence in those days. Other recruits joked about it and I ignored them and him in order to just get my work done undisturbed. Then, something changed."

"How do you mean?"

Morgan shrugged. "I don't know, really. Maybe he finally snapped or something happened outside of my perspective that I didn't know about, but one day I had him run up to me with a big grin on his face and blood on his knuckles saying he'd taken care of some guys who were talking behind my back. He got put on leave of duty for a few days and was reprimanded but they dropped it. Probably claimed self-defense given it was three versus one. Things got worse after that though. I couldn't go anywhere without him being right there with me. He signed up for anything I did, switched shifts with other people to be on patrol with me, was probably blackmailing or threatening people as well with how little resistance I saw. People started keeping their distance and I'd finally had enough."

"You didn't date him?" Abby questioned as they pulled into NCIS and Morgan turned off the car.

"No. Never dated anyone. Just wanted to get through school and find a place for myself. Ended up in the army and from there things were just complicated. Never knew when I'd be around and didn't want to sacrifice work for someone else. Few people bothered with me too. Too gruff I guess," Morgan said with a shrug as they grabbed their things and started to head up to the bullpen.

"So, what happened?" Abby asked.

"I confronted him," Morgan replied easily. "Called him out on what he was doing and told him to piss off. Threatened to report him to our superiors, though I knew they wouldn't do shit. He didn't take me seriously so I put in a request for a transfer to another base across the country. It was approved and no one but the superiors knew about it so when it came time to go, I just left without a word. Thought that'd be the end of it."

"But it wasn't."

"No. I underestimated how determined he was," Morgan admitted as the elevator opened up and they reached the bullpen. "You want to sleep here or should we take a room?"

"Here's fine," Abby replied and Morgan grunted and set down her things before getting the air mattress pumped up. "So, what did he do? Did he try to transfer to the same place?"

"No. He showed up to my apartment, broke in while I was out on patrol, and waited for me to come back," Morgan answered. "He was lucky I didn't have a gun on me or I would have shot him. As it was, we had a bit of a tussle until I realized who it was and questioned what the hell he was doing. At that point, he spilled everything. Loving me at first sight, hating when other people even looked in my direction, delivering threats, bugging my room on base, and stalking me on my morning runs. I told him he was nuts and that he needed to leave before I called the police."

"Did you?"

Morgan snorted. "Yeah, but not for a while. He grabbed me and tried to stop me, tried to force himself on me, and in return, I stabbed him. Nearly gutted him on my living room floor. It's why I always carry a knife on me," she said, dropping a large hunting blade onto the table with a sheath that had been under her shirt. "I hadn't been doing it long up until then. Only started carrying one when I transferred bases. Had a bad run-in with an enemy and my service weapon jammed. Knife seemed a good idea and turned out useful. I called in the guards after that and upon explaining they agreed I should press charges. I've got a restraining order and he went to prison. I think he lost a kidney though… Not that I recommend gutting your ex."

Abby cracked a small smile. "I don't think I could. I mean, he's hella creepy but… I don't know. I just wish he'd leave me alone."

"Sometimes they just don't get it until you beat it into them," Morgan replied with a shrug as she dug through her desk and pulled out a first aid kit to start treating the scrape on her leg. "Now, get some sleep. Russell will keep you company."

Russell was quick to plop down beside Abby on the air mattress and let her wrap her arms around him as they settled down for the night.

"Thanks, Morgan," Abby muttered.

"Course. It can happen to anyone."

The following morning, Abby had vacated the bullpen when the others started to show up and took refuge in the elevator with Russell; whom Morgan had easily handed over until the current situation was dealt with. As punishment for leaving Abby alone though, Morgan was at her desk on her knees, frowning lightly and shifting as her injured one ached at the pressure.

"Nothing on the statewide BOLO yet," Ziva said as McGee spoke up from his desk.

"No ATM transactions. Hasn't touched his credit cards."

"Where's your chair?" Tony asked Morgan as he entered the room, handing McGee the sim card for his camera as Gibbs spoke up.

"She doesn't deserve to sit."

"Right. Didn't find Mauher, boss. Guy's totally disappeared but I found his apartment."

He flipped through the images on the screen behind Gibbs's desk to show the collage of photos Mauher had in his apartment.

"He's been tracking her for a while," Ziva noted.

"Restraining orders don't mean much to people who don't care," Morgan supplied as Tony hummed.

"I spoke to his supposed girlfriend. They went on one date. All he talked about was Abby. I'll find out more this weekend. We're having dinner."

"No, you don't eat until you find the guy trying to kill Abby," Gibbs said sternly as McGee spoke up.

"Boss, actually, I have an idea about that. I've been analyzing the incoming packets on Abby's system. There appears to be a shellcode." He paused as Tony mimed for him to explain. "Um, I think that Mauher's been worming into Abby's computer to monitor her communications."

"Do you think you can trace the worm?" Ziva asked.

"If he tries to access again, yeah."

"Coordinate with Abby," Gibbs ordered as Morgan spoke up.

"You're going to have to get her out of the elevator first. She's holed herself up in there with Russell saying something like statistics of being harmed in an elevator are—"

"Do I care?"

"No," she muttered, shifting on her knees with a wince and turning back to her computer. "I'll keep digging to see if there's a connection to her court case or any bolt holes where Mauher might be."

"Good," he said, pushing over her chair as he headed to the elevator to talk to Abby.

Morgan got up and sat back in the chair before checking on her knee with a click of her tongue. Ziva noticed and glanced over.

"Nasty scrape. What'd you do?"

"The stairs were under construction at my place and I wasn't going to wait for the elevator," she grumbled, digging out the first aid kit again before Ziva headed over and took it to help.

"Did you tell Gibbs that?"

"No," she said with a scowl. "I shouldn't have left her alone even with Russell."

"McGee would've probably walked out too," Ziva quipped, making the man complain from his desk.

"Hey!"

"Point is," she said, making Morgan wince as she tightened the new bandage around the woman's knee. "Don't go blaming yourself for what happened. You still gave her protection and the fact that Russell didn't have that guy means Abby held back. That isn't on you."

"It's not on her either," Morgan replied, pulling her pant leg back down and taking the first aid kit as Ziva smiled.

"Never said it was. All we can do now is make up for it, yes?" Ziva nodded to her computer. "You keep looking into Abby's court case. Why's that?"

"I thought there might be a connection since we'd ruled out Mauher initially," Morgan said, turning back to her computer to check things out.

"Yeah, but you're still looking at it now."

"It's possible there's still a connection," she pointed out, frowning at the screen. "She's been subpoenaed again."

"What?"

Tony and McGee perked up too.

"I thought she was done in court," McGee said as Morgan typed away.

"It doesn't say much so maybe the Director knows more. Just says that there's the potential for faulty judgment regarding the case she's involved in. Best thing I got is maybe they found out she's in protective custody now and are trying to flip the court proceedings."

"How'd they find out though?" Tony asked. "We're the only ones who know what's going on."

"And Mauher," Ziva reminded him. "He could have sent something in to warn them."

"But what for?" Morgan added. "This court case doesn't benefit him in any way."

"Maybe it's just to lure her out?" McGee suggested. "Get her out of the NCIS building and somewhere open?"

"Doesn't make sense though. Who would try something out in the open like that? Much less on the doorsteps of a court building," she said with a frown. "With us on high alert too, Abby would obviously have guards with her to take her in and out. Creeps like this would rather do things personally. That's their whole thing. Unsettle their victims by infiltrating the places they feel safest so their only option is to take refuge with them."

"You know an awful lot about this sort of thing," Tony pointed out and Morgan waved him off.

"I've dealt with a stalker creep before. Half-gutted him in my front room for trying. It's why Abby has my knife."

Ziva grinned. "I gave her a stun gun. Brass knuckles were from the Director and pepper spray from Cynthia."

Tony grimaced, glancing at Morgan. "Did he live?"

"Unfortunately," she replied easily, making him shiver.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side."

"Any luck with that trace yet, McGee?" Ziva asked as Tony dozed in his chair and Morgan snapped open the third energy drink of the day.

Much like Tony, she hadn't slept since what happened and was still following her gut on Abby's court case and trying to dig up what she could. Doing so without breaking the law and without causing more trouble for Abby though, was proving difficult and she kept getting stonewalled. If she was going to continue, she'd need to share things with Gibbs but there was a bit of unease that had settled in her gut since she'd screwed up by leaving Abby alone. She felt more and more like she was running off on the wrong scent while everyone else was focusing on Mauher and admitting that to Gibbs felt like she was digging her own grave. Without any signs of Mauher though, there wasn't much else the team could do, so she continued to search for what she could find.

"Maybe we should widen the perimeter of Mawyer's BOLO. Hey, Tony!"

"Not so loud! I was up all night scrounging through that guy's garbage, for Pete's sake. I'm Jack Kerouac, baby. I'm beat," he complained before spotting the woman who'd stepped out of the elevator.

He was up on his feet in an instant, shooing off the escort and smiling at the woman.

"Hi. May I help you?"

Not looking rather impressed with his not-so-subtle flirting, she scowled at him.

"Yes. First, eat a breath mint. And then you can take me to the over-protective candy-ass who made me come all the way down here for a simple deposition."

"He's over there," Tony muttered, pointing her toward Gibbs who'd cracked a smirk at her attitude toward Tony.

"I should have known. Hello, Jethro."

"Hello, Ginger," Gibbs greeted. "Or should I say overzealous defense attorney who came all the way down here to harass my forensic scientist?"

"Do they know each other?" The man who'd come with her—Spooner—questioned and Tony gave him a small frown.

"Nothing gets by you, does it?"

"Harassment is illegal," Ginger replied to Gibbs's comment. "Whereas I have a subpoena."

"How about that? So do I," Gibbs supplied, lifting his own.

"You want the email that tipped us to the restraining order? Why?"

"To find out who sent it," Morgan replied shortly, staring down Ginger from her desk. "Very few people know about it. Having confirmation that a stalker sent it could help put the jackass in prison."

"Wait a minute. Slow down a second. Who's being stalked?" Spooner asked.

"Her name is Abby," Tony explained as Ziva huffed.

"And your lawyer is going to try and use her bad taste in men to impregnate her credibility."

"Impugn, Ziva," Tony corrected.

"Yes."

"What does any of this have to do with the embezzling charges?" Spooner questioned.

"Ooh, embezzling. Nice. How much?" Tony asked, making the man fidget.

"Oh, they say ten million, but I'm innocent. I was framed."

"Yes. In your case, I actually believe that."

"Don't believe anything until they're proven innocent, Tony," Morgan quipped, giving Spooner a cold look. "Even the most idiotic-looking people can prove to be the masterminds behind something."

"Is she calling me stupid?"

Tony wince. "Um, well—"

"Don't say another word," Ginger huffed, pointing at her client before turning to Gibbs. "Where is my witness?"

"Where's my email?" Gibbs challenged and she handed it over before Gibbs brought her to the elevator where Abby was now working at a desk with Russell lying at her feet.

As the night went on, the team grew more and more exhausted. Tony was practically sleeping at his desk while Ziva fought the urge to yawn. Morgan's hair was tousled from dragging her hand through it so often and she'd started to get jittery from the number of energy drinks she'd gone through. McGee was slightly more awake than the rest of them but only because he was the one who could try and use the email to track down Mauher. It just wasn't going as quickly as Gibbs would like.

"I thought computers were supposed to make things go faster, McGee."

"They do. It's just that the X-originating IP address leads to a public IP address…" McGee paused, seeing that Gibbs didn't understand a word. "I'll let you know when I have something."

Gibbs nodded and moved back toward his desk before calling out. "Ziva, go home."

She bolted upright and shook her head. "I'm staying if you're staying."

"I'm staying," Gibbs confirmed as McGee nodded.

"Well, I'm staying."

Tony grunted into his folded arms. "I'm staying too."

"I'm sure Abby feels safer already," Ziva quipped, glancing at Morgan. "You staying as well, Morgan?"

She nodded, yawning and stretching her arms back over her head. "Russell is still down with Abby and I already screwed up once. Like hell I'm leaving now."

The team settled in for the night and it wasn't long before McGee spoke up again, drawing attention to what he had found.

"Boss, getting a verification ping on my tracer program. Trying to backtrace."

"Do you think you can type any harder, McGee?" Tony grumbled in complaint, getting ignored.

"This guy's good. He's bypassed all our authentication routines. Ziva, are you getting this?"

Ziva nodded. "Yes. Looks like Mauher accessed Abby's accounts thirty minutes ago."

"McGee," Gibbs urged, bringing up their information on screen.

"Yeah. Used her terminal to send an e-mail to…"

"The Pass and I.D. Office on the Navy Yard?" Ziva questioned, but Morgan was already up on her feet and rushing for the stairs as Gibbs cursed under his breath.

"He was giving himself a drive-on."

McGee called up security as the others grabbed their service arms and rushed downstairs as well.

"Frost!" Gibbs shouted, hoping she was still within earshot since he didn't know if she took a walkie or not.

"Outside perimeter!" She hollered back, letting him know where she was going.

"She's not going to Abby?" Ziva questioned as the rest of them made their way to the lab.

"She left Russell with Abby," Gibbs reminded her. "If Mauher's in the building, he walked himself into a room with a threat."

"If not, he's about to meet one," Ziva hummed, knowing Morgan could handle herself.

They heard barking once they got down to the lab and Ziva burst into the room, gun drawn with Tony and Gibbs right behind her.

"Abby down!"

"He was right there!" Abby shouted, pointing toward the window as Russell calmed his barks into just low, rumbling growls.

"He's here, McGee. On the move," Tony reported through the radio.

"MPs on scene, Tony."

"Yeah, if Morgan didn't get there first. Are you okay?" Tony asked Abby as Ziva split up to check the rest of the lab and Gibbs hurried in as they let out all clears.

"Ziva, lock down the yard. No one in or out. We'll find him, Abby."

"Well, now I can't stay here, Gibbs," Abby argued as Tony huffed.

"Can't stay at Morgan's place either then."

"No place is safe. If he can get to me on the Navy Yard, he can get to me anywhere."

"Not anywhere," Gibbs reassured her as Russell whined softly and let her cling to him. "Not anywhere. You'll come to my place. McGee, any word on Frost?"

"Negative."

"I got her," Ziva chimed in. "She's asking for Russell."

"Tony," Gibbs ordered and he nodded.

"On it, boss. Russell, come."

Russell was quick to pick up the command and hurried out with Tony as Gibbs rubbed Abby's back in comfort, keeping an eye on the small windows above the lab.

"Can Russell come too?" Abby asked softly, letting Gibbs help her onto her feet. "He's kept me safe twice now."

"I'm sure I can get Frost to let him come. She can come too if that would help."

"Please?" Abby asked.

"Whatever you want, Abs."

"Nothing like a nice quiet dungeon-like basement to calm the nerves," Abby slurred as she ran sandpaper over the frame of a boat in Gibbs's basement.

The man himself stepped downstairs, tucking his phone away after having checked in with Morgan and the rest of the team. She still had Russell and was tracking down Mauher's scent from where he'd been on base, so he was hoping for some good news.

"You need to sleep, Abby," he told her, smelling the alcohol wafting through the room.

"I know. I tried. Every time I close my eyes, I see Mikel."

Gibbs took her hand and adjusted the sandpaper. "With the grain."

"I thought I was," she muttered with a half-hearted chuckle as Gibbs took a seat. "I don't understand why people drink alcohol when they're depressed. Because alcohol is a depressant. Now, I'm so depressed… and I'm nauseous. And I'm really drunk."

She dropped the sandpaper block and Gibbs lightly took the bottle from her hands as she stepped away.

"Which means that tomorrow I have to go fight a hangover while I'm in court while some ambulance-chasing attorney tries to attack my credibility," she said, swinging a saw until Gibbs took that too. "What is wrong with me, Gibbs? What did I do to deserve this?"

"It's not about you, Abby. It's about him," Gibbs replied.

"Morgan said the same thing," Abby grumbled. "D-Did you know she had a stalker too? Said it was ages ago, nearly gut him in her apartment. I couldn't do somethin' like that. Can't even get Russell to, to go after Mikel… Why do I feel so guilty?"

"I don't know. Why do you?" Gibbs asked, being patient with her as she picked up a chisel and hammer.

"Because… I think this might all be my fault."

"Maybe it is," he said with a shrug, trying to get her to think it through.

"How could you say that to me, Gibbs? I didn't do anything wrong. Just because some defective lunatic can't get it through his thick skull that I think he is a defective lunatic… That is not my fault, Gibbs! That's not my fault at all! This is not my fault…" She paused, realizing what she said. "It's not my fault. Hm. I see why you like to work on boats, Gibbs. Very, very cathartic."

She used the chisel and hammer and knocked out a chunk of wood from the boat frame, making Gibbs wince.

"Oops. Suddenly having a stalker on the loose isn't so scary."

There was a pattering on the stairs then and Abby grinned as Russell hurried down and greeted them. Morgan took a few steps down as well, looking rather grungy and exhausted.

"He's not on the loose anymore. Caught him trying to cross the Anacostia. Russell tracked him down and I took care of the rest before handing him over to the Coast Guards to bring in. Thought you'd like to hear the news in person."

Abby grinned, squishing Russell's face. "Look at you! Catchin' criminals. What a good boy, Rus."

Morgan raised a brow but shook her head, nodding up the stairs for Gibbs so she could debrief him on what happened. He nodded and lightly took Abby to the guest room where Russell happily followed and hopped into bed with her to keep her safe and comfortable. He stepped out and let out a heavy sigh as he moved into the living room where Morgan was pulling a twig out of her short, messy hair.

"How is she?" Morgan asked getting up to drop the stick in a trash bin nearby.

"Sleeping now, hopefully. She'll have a hell of a hangover tomorrow.," he hummed, frowning lightly as he caught the slightest of limps as Morgan moved back toward the sofa. "Did you get hurt?"

"Just scrapes," she muttered, waving him off and letting him catch sight of the scrape across her right palm and elbow. "It's fine."

He nodded toward the bathroom. "You should go shower. You've still got a leaf in your hair."

She scowled, reaching up and plucking it out before answering him. "I didn't bring anything with me."

"I'll bring you something," he waved her off. "Go. Get cleaned up and I'll find the medkit."

She went to argue but he turned his back, leaving her to sigh and begrudgingly take his offer. He scrounged up an old Navy shirt and a pair of sweats, rapping on the bathroom door to let her know they were outside, and then went digging through his closet for a first aid kit. Didn't take long for her to finish up and she stepped out with a towel around her shoulders; still drying her hair and ensuring she'd gotten rid of the remaining debris that had been in it. She looked… small in his oversized shirt and sweats, though the muscles in her arms reminded him that she was hardly weak. As she sat beside him on the sofa with a sigh, he pointedly kept searching through the first aid kit for what they'd need and ignored the fact that she smelt like his soap and shampoo.

"I can do it, you know," she muttered, oblivious to the slightly awkward situation, reaching over to take the disinfectant from him but he grabbed her hand and turned to her with a small frown.

"Take the help, Frost."

She sighed again but relented as he let her hand go and he grabbed what he needed and went to work on her palm first. He worked in silence and started to notice the various marks and scars on her arm as he did. He'd read her file and knew the gist of what had happened to her. A lot of it had been blacked out but the general idea was still there. She had been caught by Al-Qaeda and held for a year. He didn't doubt she went through terrible things while captured but she never said anything about it and he wasn't going to pry into something like that. It wasn't his place and, if anything, it further endeared her to him. She was strong and wasn't letting her past drag her down or drag the team down.

"You should be more careful when you're tackling someone," Gibbs finally said, shifting her arm so he could work on her elbow. "Why didn't you send Russell out?"

"We don't have anything concrete tying Mauher's to what's going on other than stalking and breaking into the base," she replied. "If Russell took him down, he'd need to have medical treatment and could use excessive force to lower his charges. I'd rather he rot for as long as possible."

Gibbs cracked a smile at that, taping off the bandage before patting her on the thigh. "Leg too."

She frowned but carefully rolled up the sweats to reveal the scrape on her knee which didn't look as fresh as the others. He shot her a look and she sighed, begrudgingly giving in to his silent question as he went down on his knees to get it taken care of as well.

"The stairs at my apartment were under construction. I heard Russell barking and took the risk instead of waiting for the elevator."

"You should've told me," he said sternly. "I would've given a different punishment than taking your chair."

"It's fine. I've dealt with worse."

Neither of them dove into that loaded statement and Gibbs got back up and packed the first aid kit away before moving to the kitchen.

"You want a drink?"

"Now that I don't have to be on alert all night? Sure," she gave in easily, leaning back against the sofa and closing her eyes.

He grabbed a couple of glasses and poured a healthy amount into each, rejoining her on the sofa and nudging her slightly to get her attention. She wearily took the glass and downed half of it right there as he slowly sipped at his. She was stressed and worn out, so he understood.

"Abby mentioned you've had a situation like this before."

"Yeah," Morgan admitted, surprisingly enough. "Way back when I first joined the military. Started out as just an annoying dog following me around then I switched bases and he showed up at my apartment and tried to jump me."

"She said you gutted him."

"Would've shot him if I had my service weapon," she hummed, drinking some more, though slower this time. "Instead, I had a hunting blade. He lost a kidney and was imprisoned, and I had to take half a dozen mental health exams and move bases again in order to go back to work. It was annoying more than anything."

Again, Gibbs felt a hint of pride well up in him for how she handled things. It was impressive and while it didn't mean that she was fully admitting to how much it might have bothered her at the time, it still meant that she wasn't holding onto it as much now. Gibbs got up as she finished off her drink and he took the glass to put away.

"You should get some sleep. You can join Abby in the guest room."

"It's fine," she waved off, shrugging. "I'll take the couch."

He raised a brow and instead offered an alternative. "Or you can take my room. I'll take the couch."

"I'm already here," she pressed, tipping over and sprawling across his sofa. "It's your room. I'm not going to take it. I'm fine with the couch."

"Frost—"

"No," she adamantly refused, rolling over so her back was facing him and tucking her arm under her head as support.

Suddenly feeling as though he were dealing with a child instead of the strong woman he'd been talking to a moment ago, he headed over and shook her shoulder.

"Frost, go take the bed."

She frowned, eyes closed and already drifting off after having spent two long nights having no sleep. Gibbs went to argue with her further but it was very much apparent he'd lost this battle already. So, with a huff, he stepped away and grabbed a thick blanket to drape over her.

"Stubborn woman," he muttered under his breath as she pulled the blanket closer around her and briefly lifted a hand to flip him off.

He rolled his eyes at the action but had a small smile on his face as he headed into his room, wondering if it'd be worth the effort to pick her up and move her later on.

Morgan sat at her desk the next morning while Tony and Gibbs were dealing with Mauher in interrogation. There was something still bothering her about this whole mess with Abby and she'd yet to let it go. The rest of the team had been satisfied grabbing Mauher and while she was thrilled the stalker was stuck in interrogation, she'd yet to find the motive behind what connected the anonymous email to the court to him.

"McGee," she piped up as he returned from letting Abby know her ride was there to take her to court. "Did you ever pinpoint the location of that email? Who sent it?"

"It just gives me a username. I can't actually track who sent it. Why?"

"I can't find the connection between it and Mauher. He's got no reason to lure her out at the court hearing if he was just going to show up here last night. I get he's an obsessive creep but they do tend to think things out a little bit."

McGee frowned, knowing that Morgan often had good hunches about things on cases too, and if she wasn't certain about this, then there might be something to it.

"So, what are you thinking?" He asked. "Anything I can do to help?"

Morgan grumbled, running a hand through her hair. "If this were someone else, someone else who tried to scare Abby, I would assume there's some connection to the court case she's doing, right?"

"Makes sense," McGee agreed. "Plenty of people threaten witnesses to try and win their case. You think that's what's happening here? But then why was Mauher involved?"

"He didn't show up until after Gibbs went to meet him," Morgan replied, drumming her fingers on her desk and trying to figure it all out. "Maybe it's a separate thing? Maybe the chemical leak was one person and when Gibbs went to talk to Mauher, it set him off. He heard someone was going after Abby, after his obsession, and decided to take that and become her safety net. He shows up, trying to protect her like he said—"

"While the real threat is still out there," McGee breathed, seeing the logic. "Hold on, let me check something."

He started typing away as Morgan got up.

"I'm going to tell Gibbs."

"You can't. He's still in interrogation," McGee warned.

"And if we're right, Abby is still in danger," Morgan pressed, pulling out her phone. "I'm calling the U.S. Marshal's office as well."

McGee groaned as she hurried off. "Oh, I hope you're wrong, Morgan."

Morgan burst into the interrogation room on the other side of the one-way mirror, drawing the attention of Director Shepard, Tony, and Gibbs. "Gibbs, we have a problem."

"No kidding," Tony scoffed. "Mauher says Abby has a second stalker."

"Shit," Morgan cursed, turning slightly as she responded to the person on the phone. "No. Thank you. I appreciate it."

"Talk, Frost," Gibbs pressed once she hung up.

"There was no connection between Mauher and the court case. These are two separate instances. Abby was poisoned to prevent her testimony. Mauher just saw her being threatened and jumped back into his obsession. That was the Federal Marshal who was supposed to pick up Abby. His tires have been slashed. He hasn't left. Someone else just took her."

Gibbs hurried out the door with the others following as they went back to the bullpen to get their things.

"Ah, boss," McGee piped up. "Morgan was saying—"

"We know," Gibbs said, pulling his sidearm out from his desk.

"Right. The thing is, Mauher's worm didn't penetrate Abby's system until after the authentication protocols were cracked."

"Who cracked them?" Gibbs demanded.

"It's going to take some time."

"Trace it," Morgan ordered as she finished grabbing her things as well and called Russell to her side. "Whoever sent it could be the person trying to screw her testimony. See if the opposing side has any connection to it. We don't know if the person who took her was hired. We need proof of the person in charge."

"On it," he said as Gibbs turned to Ziva.

"Try to get a hold of Abby."

"On it!"

Gibbs, Tony, and Morgan piled into his car as he took off Tony put his phone on speaker to keep track of what the team on base was doing.

"No answer on her cell phone."

"Running a trace."

"State police have been notified."

"Still no answer, Gibbs."

"Keep trying," Gibbs snapped as Tony frowned.

"How far could he have gotten?"

"Far enough, if he knows his window is small."

"McGee, I'm not gonna ask again!"

"Location's coming up. Sending GPS coordinates to your PDA."

"Okay, I got it… This can't be right. It says we're right on top of her."

"That's because we are," Gibbs said, turning the car and pulling it over.

The group hopped out and Russell was sent to search nearby as Gibbs picked up Abby's phone. Then, Russell barked and Morgan reached over and went to unclip his leash.

"He's got a scent!"

"Go!" Gibbs demanded and she unclipped him and took off running after him with Tony and Gibbs following; all guns drawn.

They didn't have to go far, thankfully. Russell sped around a backing-up semi truck and pulled to a stop outside a government-issued van. They could hear a panic whistle being blared from inside and screaming. Tony moved up and opened the van door, allowing the beaten and battered man to tumble to the concrete outside. Russell continued barking at the man as Morgan grabbed a hold of him and Abby stood inside the van angrily.

"I'll be with you in a minute, Gibbs. And don't look up my skirt!" She bellowed at the driver as she used the stun gun on him.

Gibbs chuckled and put his weapon away as Tony did the same. Morgan let out a sigh of relief as they helped Abby from the van and Tony took the fake agent into custody. He was quick to answer their questions once they took Abby to the court for her hearing; Morgan and Russell being allowed to follow her in and guard her. Once it was finished, they stepped out to join Tony and Gibbs outside the courthouse where they were waiting after having gotten word from McGee as to the culprit behind what happened to Abby.

"So, how did it go?" Tony asked as Abby huffed.

"Horrible. The judge ruled all of my physical evidence inadmissible."

"Then threw out the case," Gibbs concluded.

"Hit you hard, huh?"

"Actually, no. She didn't bring up my bad taste in men. She attacked the science," Abby said as the woman herself approached with Spooner.

"It always was about the science. I only questioned you on the restraining order to throw the prosecution off my real game plan."

"Human-scent detection is a viable forensic tool," Abby argued.

"Which has yet to be fully vetted and peer-approved."

"Lucky for me," Spooner said with a smirk.

"Russell would argue that," Morgan spoke up, drawing Ginger's attention to the dog at her side. "He's helped track multiple criminals, determine body identification, and locate missing persons. He'd be happy to prove you wrong, ma'am."

"Scent evidence is the only physical evidence tying the defendant to the money he took," Gibbs said as Tony huffed.

"We're saying you're a very smelly man."

"Hey, I was proven innocent, remember?" Spooner argued as Gibbs shifted to his other side.

"Actually, you just weren't found guilty. There's a difference," Abby pointed out.

"I'll keep that in mind while I'm getting a tan on the beaches of Bora Bora."

"Don't take it so hard. I know it was going to go down like this right from the very beginning," Ginger replied to Gibbs who cracked a smile.

"Too bad your client didn't," he said as Tony moved up behind Spooner and drew his handcuffs.

"Yeah, you should have trusted your lawyer there, Giggle-man."

"Instead of spending all of that money hiring a hit-man to take out the star witness, aka. me," Abby huffed as Ginger looked between them, confused.

"What are they talking about?"

"I have no idea," Spooner tried.

"You paid him to kill. You didn't pay him to keep his mouth shut," Gibbs said, pointing to the car nearby where Ziva and McGee held the fake agent they'd caught earlier.

"That dude even gave you credit for staging the bloodbath at the Navy Lodge," Tony hummed.

"You guys think you're so smart," Spooner hissed, making Russell bark once and growl as Morgan reached down and pat the dog's head.

"Careful what you say. Russell here might take it as a threat against a federal agent."

"Terry, don't say a word," Ginger ordered him as Tony moved him to the other car to take him away.

Abby was finally safe.