Gibbs sat across from Abby in interrogation. He had yet to speak. Abby sat across from him, slumping in her chair, refusing to meet his gaze.
"Abby?" he said softly.
She shrugged her shoulders in acknowledgement.
"It's not like I'm asking you to compromise protocol or illegally access a government database," he rationalized.
She raised her eyes to meet his, holding a look of determination like he had never before seen in her face. "I would do that for you, if you asked, Gibbs. You know that. But you're asking me to put my integrity on the line; to compromise my loyalty."
Gibbs shook his head. This was so wrong. What was he doing here? She was right. As a marine, he understood that bond.
"Abby, I need to find her," he explained. The urgency in his voice moved her.
"Aww, Gibbs," she said, finally seeing how much this was hurting him. "I hate being in this position," she complained to no one in particular.
"Abs, I know something is wrong. Noah is keeping something from us. I need to find them. I have to see for myself that she is okay."
"Okay," Abby agreed. "I'll contact him for you. If he refuses to tell me where he is after I warn him, I'll be able to find out with or without his consent. If I at least warn him, I won't feel like I'm betraying him."
"Abby, I don't want to spook him into moving to a different location," Gibbs began.
Abby smiled. "It won't matter if he does."
---
"That's it, I'm going in there," McGee said, attempting to push past Maggie to enter the hallway.
"It's okay," Maggie assured him. "He's not even yelling at her. They're getting along."
"That's right, you can hear them," McGee suddenly remembered.
Maggie smiled wickedly. "Of course I can."
"Is she cooperating?" he asked her, clearly worried about Abby.
"Sort of," Maggie chuckled. "Abby has proposed a compromise."
McGee smiled approvingly. "She's especially good at that."
Maggie looked seriously at Tim. "You really care about her," she stated matter-of-factly.
"She's alright," he teased, smirking at Maggie. Maggie raised her eyebrow at him. He blushed. She laughed.
---
Roy ran dainty fingers through soft hair that definitely did not belong to him. Again, he heard a feminine sigh, almost like someone awakening from a peaceful dream.
‘What is going on?' he thought.
‘Who is that?' a soft, female voice answered.
‘Umm… I asked first…" he thought.
She sighed.
‘You're the one messing with my head," she pointed out.
‘I suppose so…' he admitted. ‘It would help if I knew who you were and how I got here.'
‘Precisely,' she agreed.
He sighed heavily. This woman was extremely stubborn.
‘I'm Roy Sanders,' he thought.
‘Sanders?!' she replied. ‘My God! The explosion!' Memories came flooding back to her. Since the time of the accident, she had seen only flashes of the incident in her memory, and had only been able to hold on to snippets of the truth.
‘Director Shepard?' Roy proposed. ‘What the heck is going on here?'
---
Roy stretched and attempted to slide off the bed on to "his" feet. But Jenny didn't cooperate.
‘What do you think you're doing?' she asked, in thought.
‘Can't you feel that? We need to visit the lavatory.'
‘Not with you in here, we don't,' she insisted.
‘Then what do you suggest? Soiling the sheets?' he thought, sarcastically. ‘Think, woman. We don't know how we got here, or how long we're going to be sharing this space. We can't exactly wait.'
Jenny huffed in annoyance. She knew she had the will to win this fight, but the thought of pissing her bed just to win an argument didn't appeal to her.
‘Okay, let's go,' she acquiesced.
He smirked.
‘Stop smiling,' she thought, and schooled her features to a pleasant, but blank expression.
---
Tony awoke slowly, rolled over and looked at the clock on the bedside table. The red glowing blur slowly became recognizable digits, as sleep began to fade to drowsy half-wakefulness. 0522. His alarm would be screaming soon enough. He switched the alarm off, and made his way toward the restroom. Feeling something wasn't quite right, he stopped in his tracks. His senses pulled him fully alert as he looked around the room soundlessly.
"Tony, it's me," Kate said, stepping from the shadows.
"Kate?" Tony gasped, incredulously. He crossed the room to her quickly, and attempted to take her hands in his. His expression reflected his confusion when his hands passed through hers. "What's going on?"
"We need to talk," she explained, her voice a mixture of joy and sorrow.
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