"Come on baby, just a little further. Don't do this to me now. At least wait until I find someplace we can pull over." Abby urged her hearse as she drove home from a three day long conference. A roar of thunder made her jump, just after a flash of lighting so bright it made the early evening darkness seem like day. It started raining, at first it was light almost like someone spitting, but slowly got heavier until she almost couldn't see the road.

Peering through the rain she looked for a place to pull over as her hearse stated to buck even more. Finally spotting a wide lane she pulled in just as the engine died. "Great, just great." she mumbled to herself. It continued to rain hard for half an hour with bright flashes of lightening followed by thunder so loud she actually considered covering her ears. The high winds rocking the hearse didn't help any either. All of a sudden the rain stopped and the winds eased to a light breeze. Trying her cell she discovered it was dead and her car charger wasn't in the hearse. Gibbs is gonna kill me she thought.

Even though it wasn't that late with the storm it was dark enough that she could just see the evenly spaced bushes of some kind lining both sides of the lane for several yards. So she got out taking the flashlight from the glove box and decided to walk back to the road to see if anyone was coming that she could stop and ask for help. Looking both left and right she saw lights in both directions some from houses others from cars heading her way. Abby started to wave her arms as one car neared her, it slowed down then all of a sudden sped up. This happened about four more times before she decided to walk to the nearest house which looked to be about a half mile away.

She hadn't got very far when she saw a car toward her, she watched it pass her, do a u-turn and pull over in front of her, watching it suspiciously as she slowly approached she recognized it as a police car. Running up to it she watched as an officer got out and looked at her. "Miss I'm officer Derek Branton, what are you doing walking out in this weather?"


"Hi, I'm Abigale Sciuto, but you can call me Abby. I had car trouble and was just able to pull into that lane back there." Abby said as she pointed in the direction she had just come from. "I tried to get someone to stop and help me, but every time a car would slow up the driver would suddenly speed away. Why would anyone do that?"

Derek leaned in the car and talked to his partner who got out of the other side, "Hi, I'm officer John Eaton. Derek says you're having car problems."

"Yeah, a few miles back she started acting hinky, then just before she died and the storm got real bad I was able to pull into that lane." Abby said pointing the way she had come from. "What I don't get is why no one would stop to help me."

"Listen, seeing as how the garage is closed, why don't we take you to the Dusty Attic our local bed & breakfast slash antique store for the night and you can call Ernie at the garage in the morning around eight and talk to him." Derek said opening the back door for her.

"Sure, but I need to get my bag from my car."

"No problem, we'll drive you back so you can get your bag, then to the Dusty Attic." John told her.

"I still want to know why no one would stop to help me."

"Chances are it was the the older folks and they're reluctant to stop for strangers at night or it could have been some of the teenagers being smart asses." Derek offered as an explanation.

Getting to the lane Abby noticed the two officers exchange a look and get an odd smile on their faces when they saw her hearse, but shrugged it off as most people were somewhat surprised when they first leaned she drove a hearse and being a goth did get her some strange looks.

After getting her bag and making sure her hearse was locked they took her to the Dusty Attic which was about fifteen minutes away located on an street lined with older homes. Pulling into the lane of a three story Victorian looking house that reminded her of Ducky's except for the fact that the storm clouds made it look positively eerie.

Knocking on the door they introduced her to the lady that answered the door, "Maggie this is Abigale Sciuto, she had car trouble and will have to call Ernie in the morning." John said

"Please call me Abby."

"Hi, Abby, glad to meet you." Maggie said "Where did you end up leaving your car?"

"She ended up pulling her hearse into the lane next to Karen and Ralph's." Derek cut in.

Abby noticed that Maggie got the same weird smile on her face that Derek and John had got when they saw her hearse.

Hearing the grandfather clock chime, John looked at his partner. "Come on Derek time to get back on patrol."

"See you guy's at the church bazaar tomorrow." Maggie said as she showed John and Derek out.

"The other rooms are taken so you're room is on the third floor, on the right." Maggie said as she checked Abby in and took her up to her room, "and the bathroom is next door."

Opening the door Abby took in the light blue walls and light blue throw rugs on the hard wood floor. Across from the door between four windows that looked out on the front lawn was an oak four poster bed covered with a blue wedding ring quilt, matching night stands on either side and a cedar chest at the foot. A dresser was on the right and the other door which was the closet was to the left of the one she had come in through.

"Would it be possible to get a sandwich or some kind of snack." Abby asked, "It's been a while since I've had anything to eat."

"Sure no problem," Maggie said and led the way to the kitchen. "I start serving breakfast at 7:00."

After getting a roast beef sandwich to take to her room. Abby wished Maggie a good night and went upstairs. Getting to her room Abby shut and locked the door, then looked for the phone to call Gibbs only to discover there was no phone in the room. 'This is not good' she thought still feeling somewhat creeped out by the weird smiles on John, Derek and Maggie's faces. 'What have I got myself into' she wondered.

TBC

Making one more sweep of the room to look for a phone, 'Gibbs is so going to kill me' she thought when once again she didn't find one. Looking at the sandwich she had placed on a night stand she suddenly lost her appetite. Grabbing her overnight bag she unlocked her door, peeked into the hall to make sure no one was there and quickly slipped into the bathroom. Removing her make-up she decided against a shower instead opting to quickly wash in the sink and hurried back to her room locking the door behind her.

Putting her travel alarm on the night stand she crawled to the middle of the bed, pulled her knees to her chest, locked her arms around them and started rocking. 'this not how I wanted to spend a Friday night and what kind of place doesn't have a phone in the bedroom', she thought. The storm started up again sounding worse than when she was on the road and the lights started to flicker and stopped. Hearing something scraping against the house and front window. She turned off the bedside light and slowly got off the bed. Cautiously approaching the window she peaked between the curtains and saw a tree branch rubbing against the house with the tip hitting the window every so often.

Looking at her clock she saw that it was 9:11 p.m, she decided to watch some t.v. 'At least they have cable', she thought as she settled on watching "Myth Busters". As she watched Adam, Jamie and their team in action she continued to think about the looks she had got finally deciding it had to be because she is a goth. She was used to getting strange looks from people when they first met her. "Yeah, that's it, their not used to seeing goths", she though out loud.

Relaxing as she watched "Myth Busters" her eyes started to close and the next thing she knew her alarm was ringing at 6:00 a.m. Getting up she looked toward the front window at the sun streaming in though a slit in the curtains. She quickly ran to the bathroom to freshen up and hurried back to the room to dress. She decided to wait in the room until a few minutes before eight, so she wouldn't have to face Maggie alone.

Going down the stairs Abby met some of the guests, while the others were already seated at the table. As she took a seat Maggie carried a covered dish over to the warming trays that were placed on the side board saying, "We have sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, toast and several different cold cereals." heading back to the kitchen she stopped to ask if they would like tea or coffee, adding "there's OJ in the pitcher by the food."

After eating Abby went to the kitchen in search of Maggie finding her at the kitchen table pouring batter in to prepared cake pans. "Maggie can you give me the number for Ernie's garage?"

"Sure its' 410-555-5552, you can use the phone in here if you want." Maggie answered as she put the pans in the oven. "It's on the wall by the dinning room door. I'm sorry there's not a phone in your room, but I'm still redoing a few of the rooms"

"Thanks and no problem about the phone I understand," Abby said as she turned around and dialed the garage. 'that explains a lot', she thought.

"Ernie's Garage, Ernie speaking. How may I help you?"

"Hi, my names Abby Sciuto and I broke down last night just outside of town." Abby paused for a second "These two officers John and Derek who brought me to the Dusty Attic said you could probably figure out whats wrong."

"Sure thing Miss Sciuto. Just give me a couple of minutes to let Jack know and I'll head on over to where your car is and have a look."

"Thank you."

"Now do you where did you say you broke down?"

"I pulled into a lane that I think the officers said was was next to Karen and Ralph's, but you'll have to come get the keys as I still locked it"

"No problem, I'll be there shortly."

Abby thanked Maggie again for the use of the phone and the delicious breakfast before dashing upstairs to get her purse and keys. Walking to the gate she turned around and looked at the house which looked positively inviting in the light of day. She looked up and down the block as she didn't know what direction Ernie would be coming from. It looked like a really nice neighborhood with stately looking homes and fenced in yards.

A few minutes later a tow truck pulled to a stop in front of her, the driver giving her an odd look. "Ms. Sciuto?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's me. You can call me Abby."

"Okay, Abby. You said you pulled in near Karen and Ralph's, what kind of car do you drive?"

"I drive a hearse."

At this Ernie gave her an odd look and let out a laugh. Not a little laugh, but a really hard one.

Abby was starting to get worried, "What's the deal with everyone when they learn where I broke down?" she asked.

Ernie looked at her "You'll see in a minute. Just read the sign over the lane."

They drove for few minutes, then Ernie started to slow down before he put his turn signal on. As Abby looked at the sign she couldn't help but laugh. "My friends are not going to believe this." she said as she tried to catch her breath.

************

Sunday evening everyone gathered at Gibbs for dinner. She had decided on the drive back to D.C. to wait until they were done eating to tell them about her adventure "Abs you ever go any place without a charger for your phone again and you won't be able to sit for a week." Gibbs growled at her smacking her bottom once after she was done placing strawberry shortcake in front of everyone.

"I'm with Gibbs about the phone charger." Tim said as he hugged and kissed her. "So what was the problem with your hearse?"

"According to Ernie it was a clogged gas line and a cracked gasket" and she told them what was wrong and how he fixed it.

"Forget that," Tony said as tried to sneak a strawberry off Gibbs cake only to to have Gibbs smack his fingers, then pull him into a kiss. Breaking the kiss Tony continued, "I want to know where you pulled that no one would stop to help you and caused others to look at you strangely?"

Abby looked at them with a serious, but yet embarrassed expression on her face and mumbled "thelocalcemetery."

"What was that?" Ducky, Ziva and Palmer asked almost at the same time.

"I said that I had pulled into the local cemetery and because I wasn't in that far the people saw a hearse. Combine that with the way I dress and that's why no one would stop."

The team looked at her then at each other then back at her before joining her in laughing.