"And finally, we are at the forensics lab," Kate ended proudly. "Our forensics expert is named Abby, and well…you can make your own mind up." Kate and Liam both stepped into the lab but couldn't see anybody anywhere. "This is weird," Kate said looking around, "Abby is always here. Abby?" she called out. They heard scuffling from Abby's office. "Abby?" Kate called again moving towards the office, her hand now cupping her gun holster, "Abby? Are you there?" She reached the doors, took one look inside and immediately swung round.
"Ooooooooh my God," she said, one hand on her chest and the other still on her gun holster. Liam walked forwards to take a look, and Kate's arm swung up from her side, "No! Stop; don't go in there."
Abby came running out of the office. Her skirt was on backwards and she was struggling to get her arm through her T Shirt. She finally got in on and began to speak, "We were…"
"I know exactly what you were doing," Kate interrupted, "but seriously guys this getting out of hand!" she said with the shock evident in her voice.
"It's just that…"
"Seriously Abby, I could have been anyone. I could have been…Gibbs!" she finished dramatically.
Abby blanched. "We were just celebrating, Kate. It shouldn't have got that far and I'm sorry Kate."
McGee now came out of the office, immaculately dressed, and stood next to Abby; he was red in the face. Liam was smiling, having worked out what Kate had walked in on.
"Kate! I can't believe that you saw…you walked in on…I'm so sorry Kate," McGee spurted out. Kate had calmed down now, but was still in shock
"I just can't believe…McGee you should be ashamed," Kate said, looking over towards him.
"We were celebrating," McGee said, still with a red tinge to his cheeks.
"Celebrating what?" Kate asked, now curious. McGee put his arm around Abby and looked deep into her eyes.
Abby smiled and managed to pull her eyes away from his and turn to face Kate. "I'm pregnant!" she announced, waiting for Kate's reaction.
"What?!…That's great!" she said, now with a massive smile spreading across her face.
"I know! Isn't it?!" Abby said, happily pulling McGee that little bit closer.
Kate ran over and hugged Abby, then jumped on a hesitant McGee. "That's just great news; I can't wait to tell Tony!"
Abby's face fell slightly and she gave a weird look towards Kate, like she was trying to cover something up.
"What is it Abby?"
"Yeah what is it honey?" McGee asked, noticing the look on Abby's face.
Abby looked around, ‘Shit, both Kate and McGee didn't know that she'd already told Tony. If McGee found out she had told Tony before him? Well it wouldn't be good. And if Kate found out Abby had told Tony before she had told her best friend, that wouldn't be good either' Abby thought to herself.
"Nothing," she said, an instant smile plastered on her face. "It's just I kinda wanted to tell Tony myself," Abby said hoping that she'd covered it up convincingly.
"Well ok then," Kate said. McGee was smiling again.
"I think I've seen enough of the lab now," Liam said quietly, not wanting to offend anyone, but he was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
"Oh, sorry," Kate said. She had completely forgotten about Liam. "Abby, McGee, this is Liam. He'll be with us for the next few weeks."
"Hey," both Abby and McGee said at the same time, each giving Liam a small wave. You could tell they were both embarrassed.
"Hey," Liam said back, "Um, Kate. Where do you think Carrie will be right now?" he asked, looking hopefully towards Kate.
Kate's face brightened. "Oh! Come with me," she said, her eyes sparkling with mischief, "We'll find her." Kate and Liam said their goodbyes and then exited the lab.
Out side Kate turned to Liam, "You can find your way back upstairs can't you?"
"Yes, I think so," he said confused.
"Good, I'll be up there in a minute," she said ushering Liam towards the elevator. He unwillingly got in, and gave a feeble wave towards Kate, but Kate had already turned around to face the lab.
McGee may have been fooled by Abby's quick answer, but Kate wasn't. There was something up, and she was gonna find out what.
***
"This is really great news, you know, Abby," McGee said, looking at Abby. "I can't wait to see Tony's face when we tell him! When he finds out there is gonna be a little Probie running around…" McGee's face lit up with the image of Tony's face in his head.
"Stop it," said Abby; she couldn't take it anymore. "Tony already knows."
"What?" asked McGee, his face looking hurt, "You told Tony before you told me?"
"It's not as if I set out to do it," Abby started, "I only told him in response to him telling me something."
"What did he tell you?" McGee asked, now intrigued.
"I can't tell you McGee, you know I can't," Abby struggled to fight her moral conscience, "He told me in confidence."
"Is it about him and Kate?"
"No, not exactly…" she said, "Ok, if I tell you, you have to promise to keep it a secret."
"Honey, you know I will."
"Okay, then…Tony's gonna kill me for this…He found a lump."
"What!" McGee said astonished, "How? When?"
"The other day…, but McGee, he's gonna need a friend right now."
McGee swallowed hard and nodded. "If he'll let me," he said quietly. Abby was on the verge of tears and McGee noticed this, pulling her into a deep hug.
"It's gonna be okay," he said soothingly, "Tony is gonna be okay." Abby sobbed into his shoulder.
Outside the lab stood a dark haired woman, her eyes flooded with tears. She turned and ran to the open elevator; the doors closed in front of her. She reached over, flicked the emergency brake switch and backed to the wall of the elevator, the coldness of the metal numbing the feeling in her back. She sank to the floor in silence, tears now streaming down her face. She couldn't hold back any longer, and let out a loud sob into the empty elevator. ‘Why hadn't Tony told her? Didn't he trust her?' The sound of her cries echoed of the sides of the elevator, but nobody heard.
***
Gibbs walked into autopsy, expecting to find Ducky mid ramble to a rather bored looking Palmer, but instead he arrived into a room of silence and Palmer was nowhere to be seen.
"Ducky," Gibbs said, "Where's Palmer?"
"The dear boy rang in this morning claiming to be ill, so I have been left to my own devices all day."
"What have you found?"
Ducky sighed deeply before answering. "This is one of the worst cases I've ever worked on, and I've worked on a few distinctly brutal ones in my time." To Gibbs' surprise, Ducky did not go into a long story about these violent cases, and instead seemed intently focused on the one in hand.
"What happened?" Gibbs asked quietly.
Ducky took a second to answer. "She was tortured," he said solemnly.
"How?" Gibbs asked, not really knowing whether he wanted to know the answer.
"There are wounds all over the poor woman's body; some deep, some shallow. Some are cuts and some are bruises. I've even found the odd cigarette burn," Ducky said, his voice now sickeningly quiet and full of emotion. "Her stomach had shrunk to almost two-thirds the size it should be, which almost definitely shows she was starved. The only thing I know that didn't happen to her is that she wasn't raped. There was no indication of any sexual contact at all."
"So this woman was taken just to be tortured?"
"It would seem so, Jethro."
Gibbs took a minute to take all of this news in before speaking again. "Is there anything else you need to tell me?" he asked, dreading the answer.
"There are marks around her wrists and ankles, but the marks are consistent with them being from a metal chain, rather than a rope. And toxicology came back showing that there were no traces of drugs in her system. She endured all of this without medication," Ducky said sorrowfully.
"So, what was the official COD?"
"Too hard to tell at this moment, Jethro. There was massive internal bleeding throughout her body. As far as I can tell, her heart just gave up, unable to cope anymore."
Gibbs swallowed hard, "Thanks Ducky," he said, and he exited the lab. He didn't think he wanted to hear any more.
***
The next stop on Gibbs' list was Abby's lab. He walked in, preparing himself for an eyeful of Abby and McGee like before, but instead it was only Abby in the lab. She was sitting at her computer.
"Abby?"
She span round on her chair, "Gibbs!" she said jumping off her chair. She ran over and gave him a massive hug. Gibbs couldn't help but laugh.
"What's up with you?"
"Nothing," she said smiling mysteriously. To Abby, Gibbs was like her father. There were times when she thought it could be more, but since she had been with McGee, Gibbs was definitely a father figure. Telling Gibbs about her being pregnant would be harder than telling her actual parents.
"Well, have you got any news for me?"
"How did you find out!" she asked, shocked.
"About what, Abby? I was talking about the case."
"Oh…well then, nothing. Ducky found no traces on the body, no evidence for me anywhere. I've kinda been stuck with nothing to do for the last couple of hours. Well not exactly nothing…" she trailed off.
"I can imagine," Gibbs said smiling, a twinkle in his sparkling blue eyes. Abby giggled. Gibbs knew he loved Abby, but there were times when he wasn't sure how. He'd recently settled on loving her like a daughter, especially since she and McGee became involved, but there were times when he could swear he felt otherwise.
"Actually, there is something I've got to tell you," Abby said quietly.
"What?" Gibbs replied.
"Er, I don't quite know how to say it," she said, not quite meeting his gaze.
"Go on, Abbs, you know you can tell me anything."
"Ok then…You see me and McGee…well…I'm pregnant." Gibbs looked at Abby for a moment before answering. Abby hung her head a little and waited for the approval she needed. It came.
"That's great Abbs, I mean it is great isn't it?" Abby gave a sigh of relief,
"Yeah," Abby said, smiling, relieved. That was one less worry off her back, she had been worried about how Gibbs would react.
"Well then, that's great for you and McGee." Gibbs gazed at Abby. She was definitely a daughter to him; how could he have thought differently?
"Yeah, McGee was happy. Really happy actually…"
"What, that worries you?"
"It kinda feels like he's not letting me in. Not showing me how he really feels."
"But you said he was happy?"
"Yeah, and that's great, but I just can't stop feeling like he is holding back on me."
"Well, it will sort itself Abbs," he said, putting his arm around her and giving it a quick squeeze.
"I know," she said. "Thanks Gibbs, you always know how to make me feel better." She smiled and looked up at him.
"Well I'm glad I can put a smile on my favorite team member's face," he said, smiling back down at her.
***
Author's Chapter Notes:
Kate hears something she shouldn't have