This was it. McGee stood in the middle of the living room and gave Sarah a very unenthusiastic smile. She giggled hard as she leaned on the worktop.
"Abby is gonna freak!" she said excitedly.
McGee had let drop to her about the vampire ball, which according to her she would not miss for the world. The minute he'd told her over the phone she practically exploded with enthusiasm, spouting out all these plans of what she was going to do and how she was going to do his makeup. He was grateful to his sister for helping him out; Heaven knows how he would have been able to do any of it himself; but he still had the smallest of doubts niggling away at him.
"What? Why? What's wrong with it?" McGee asked, now worried. "What have you done to me?" he said frantically.
"Tim! Calm down! You look amazing; Abby is going to love it!"
McGee looked down at himself and sighed deeply. ‘Tim, why do you get yourself into these things?' he thought to himself. He knew deep down, but saying it aloud wouldn't help anyone, least of all him. Abby was… well… Abby, and he would always be McGee. She would never pick him from the hundreds of mysterious, gothic guys that queued up for her. He would always be the straight one – the computer nerd who wrote books as a hobby – and she would always read right through him. Why couldn't he be more like them; interesting and exciting?
"What time are you meant to be picking up Abby?" Sarah asked, interrupting McGee's train of thought.
"What….oh 09:00. These things apparently start late and finish really late in the morning." McGee didn't know how he was going to make it to work in the morning, and God help him if he couldn't remove some of the black makeup that now lined his face. ‘What would Gibbs say?' and he couldn't even bear thinking about Tony's reaction. Why did this thing have to be in the middle of the week anyway?
"Tim, it's almost 08:30! You'd better get going!" Sarah said excitedly, hopping from one foot to the other, wringing her hands.
"Oh…yes. Thanks so much for er…" he didn't quite know how to finish that sentence. Just what had Sarah done to him? She wouldn't let him see while she was doing it. She'd kept the large mirror she'd brought with her, face down on the workbench.
"No problem," Sarah beamed.
"Well, let me see then," McGee said, anxiously eyeing the upturned mirror.
"Oh, yes hang on," she said picking the mirror up and holding it to her breast. "Now, no freaking out, and definitely no changing anything, okay?"
"Ok," said McGee nervously.
Sarah turned the mirror round and McGee's jaw dropped.
***
Abby ran frantically into the bathroom. McGee would be here any minute and she still wasn't even nearly ready. She was still wearing jogging bottoms! After 15 minutes and much struggling earlier, she and Jess had gotten her corset on and tightened up. She had already done her hair and makeup but everything else…
The doorbell rang and Abby gave a squeal. She was alone now, as Jess had already been picked up and was on her way.
She grabbed her earrings off the white table top and ran next door to her bedroom screaming as she did so, "Doors open McGee! I'll be two minutes!" She heard the front door opening and she slammed her bedroom door shut. "Make yourself at home!" she shouted through the wall while quickly slipping the dangling earrings into her earlobes. She ran over to the chest of drawers and pulled out everything throwing it all on the floor. She finally spotted the pair of black fishnet tights that she had been looking for and grabbed them from the drawer. She pulled off her jogging bottoms and pulled on the tights easing them up her smooth legs. She turned around to face the bed with the black garment laid out on it and picked it up. She tossed the hanger aside and stepped into the material, pulling it up her body. After a few minutes of squeezing and fidgeting she managed to get it on and she zipped herself into it. ‘Almost finished' she thought to herself as she pulled on her pair of lace fingerless gloves. She snatched her boots from the floor and sat down on the bed, sliding her feet into them and beginning the momentous job of lacing them up.
McGee shouted through the closed door, "You almost ready to go yet?"
"Just a minute McGee!" she yelled back. One boot was now laced to the top but she still had one more to go. "Almost!"
She finally got the second one done up and jumped up off the bed. She sidled along to stand in front of the mirror and looked herself up and down. She frowned; something was missing. She stared at herself in the shining reflection and bit her lip. Suddenly she squealed and ran over to her vanity table, gently pulling out one of the small drawers. She reached in and lifted from within it a huge silver pendant. ‘How had she forgotten this?' It was her Grandmother's and the whole inspiration of what she was wearing! She held it firmly in her hand and turned to the bedroom door. Taking a deep breath she opened it and looked out at a rather handsome looking McGee.
***
Author's Chapter Notes:
McGee and Abby get ready for the ball