Chapter 9
McGee was putting Gibbs' coffee on his desk, when suddenly he was smacked upside the back of the head.
"Why," Gibbs yelled, "is Abby in her lab?"
"She wanted to come, she wouldn't take no for an answer," said McGee defensively, "You know how she gets."
"Yeah, I do," agreed Gibbs calmly, before beginning to yell again, "You idiot! She's still been accused of murder. I pulled a few strings with the Director, so she could stay at your place and not go to jail! And you let her come back here! Any evidence she could've had access to can now be accused of being tampered with! I-"
"Crap," muttered McGee and leaving his Boss in mid-sentence, he ran to the elevator that led to Abby's lab.
When he got there, the lights were off, as were the computers. He flicked the switch on, and looked around for Abby. Suddenly a soft pillow, hit him in the back of the head and he spun around.
"McGee," whined Abby. She had obviously been sleeping before he had turned on the light. She was sitting up on the bench in the corner, stretching. She slipped her feet into her favorite combat boots as she stood up.
"What is i-" she began to ask, but at that moment Gibbs burst in. It had taken him a minute to realize that McGee had really left, before following him.
"Please tell me I only dreamt you leaving when I was talking," he was yelling, "We still have to prove that Abby didn't murder that-" He stopped when he realized that she was there.
"Don't yell at him," she said defensively, "I made him bring me," her eyes began to swell up with tears. Knowing that this wasn't really about McGee, Gibbs tried to comfort her.
"I didn't mean it to sound like that, Abs," he began, but she cut him off.
"I can show you what happened," she said softly, not meeting their eyes, "Take me back to my place and I can prove that I didn't just murder Kry-" she gulped, "that I'm not a murderer."
"But, Abby, we went over your place a thousand times," argued McGee, but Gibbs interrupted him.
"Okay," he said, "Let's go,"
In the end it was just McGee, Gibbs, and Abby that went. Tony had argued, he wanted to come. After all it was he and Ziva that had gone back there, he wanted to see what they had missed. After a ‘shut up DiNozzo' and a slap on the back of the head, he had finally given in, and let them leave without him.
When they got up to her apartment, Abby stopped outside the door. She needed a second to compose herself. Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside. It was almost as if the whole nightmare had never happened. The only thing left that showed that Krystal had even been there was the abandoned six pack on the floor.
"So where's the proof?" asked McGee disbelievingly. He knew they needed that evidence to clear Abby's name, but the chance that there was something here seemed so small.
"Here," said Abby, crossing over to the corner of the room, where there was a black bookcase overflowing with knick-knacks.
She picked up the miniature skull that was sitting on top, revealing a video camera underneath it.
"Everything's on this," she said, handing it to Gibbs. Unexpectedly, McGee embraced her, so relieved that she was safe. She tensed in his embrace, before relaxing and returning the hug.
"You're amazing," he whispered in her ear, stroking her
pigtails.
"Not bad yourself," she replied, also whispering. Gibbs simply smiled and looked away, faintly disapproving, after all this was a possible infliction of Rule 12, but finally his insane family was back together.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Abby's name is finally cleared.