Chapter 4

March 5, 2001

Sorry I have taken so long to update this story. I have really been struggling with how to proceed. The next chapter is about how Forensic Expert Abigail Sciuto met Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Please be understanding with this chapter I have watched the beginning episodes again to get an idea for how to handle the beginning of the Abby/Gibbs relationship. This is my take on it. With Abby there will be some moments of fun. I hope. Just made up the date with the information given the early episodes.

Timothy McGee had stopped at the Caf-Pow machine to get Abby a large drink. "Knowing Abby " he thought "This was going to take a lot of Caf-Pow to get her through this. We will find Gibbs alive I just know it."

After getting Abby's drink he made his way into the world of Abby. As he came to the door he did not hear her usual heavy metal music blaring. Instead she was playing country, the slow kind with the southern drawl whining that he knew she hated. He quietly stepped into the room and noticed Abby staring blankly at something. Pictures of Gibbs were everywhere. Big ones on the wall, some in frames and she had his pictures up on the plasma on her wall. This did not surprise him. Abby was worried, very worried. As he walked up softly behind her, he noticed she was staring at a picture of her and Gibbs. She was dressed very conservatively for Abby. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt under her white lab coat. She still had her hair in pigtails but he could see that many of her current tattoos were gone. She was a lot younger but was still his Abby. Gibbs was Gibbs but his hair was darker and he had fewer age lines than now and he was smiling.

He quietly put the caf-pow on her table and proceeded to put his arms around her waist. "Penny for your thoughts, Abbs," he whispered into her ear.

"I won't accept less that a quarter, Timmy. Inflation you know." She turned around and put her arms around his neck and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Just remembering the first time I met Gibbs," she smiled. " I really could not stand him at first, Timmy. He really pissed me off."

Tim looked at her in shock. There were not many people that Abby did not like from the very first and Gibbs would have possibly been one of them.

Across town in the quake damaged basement Leroy Jethro Gibbs was thinking the same thing. Now he loved Abby as if she were his own daughter. To him she was his daughter just like Ziva and Kelly. She had not taken Kelly's place but she had partially filled the whole in his heart that Kelly left.

Trying to stay conscious he remembered back to the day he met her. She was working at Georgetown University working with the science department. They were developing a degree in forensics as well as a summer program for gifted high school students. She was also working with the DC Metro Crime Lab. At the time NCIS was in the process of getting funding for a lab of their own. They had to use Metro for most of their work and he had hated it.

His current team, which at that time did not include Tony, Tim or Ziva, was on campus investing the murder of a Navy seaman Damon Jackson from Mississippi. A friend of his Abigail Sciuto had found him dead behind the library building on the Georgetown Campus.

Walking up to the crime scene, he got his first look and Miss Sciuto. She was dressed in black jeans, platform boots and a black t-shirt with a skull on the front. She was very, very upset with something. As he neared the scene, he could hear her yelling at the campus security officer and three DC. Metro police officers. " Don't touch anything," she was screaming. " You are disturbing the forensic evidence. You can't touch the body until the M.E. says to. We need all the evidence we can get if we are going to get the slime bag who killed Damon." He could see the tears in her eyes. They were both sad tears for Damon he thought and anger tears for the way the police officers were handling the crime scene.

"What is going on here?" Gibbs barked showing his NCIS credentials. " I am Special Agent Gibbs and do we have a problem here."

"We sure do, Agent Gibbs. These morons have no concept of a crime scene." Abby turned and looked into his eyes for the first time. " Don't you men know anything about protecting evidence? We are not going to any leads without evidence and if they mess this up a good defense lawyer will get the person off who did this. "

Gibbs looked at her and raised an eyebrow. " How would a college student understand about crime scenes? Watching too much Quincy."

"Quincy? Who's that?" She looked at Gibbs and began to size him up. She was not sure about him. She thought he was a little bit rude. " My name is Abigail Sciuto and I am a forensic scientist, Agent Gibbs. We need hair samples; fingerprints and anything else that will help me find the killer. If it is something I hate, it is sloppy police work."

" You? This is my investigation, Miss Sciuto and my team and I will find the killer. You just step back and let us do our job," he said glaring at her. " Now would you so called investigators get out of our way so we can solve this case."

Abby was a little taken back by his gruffness. "How dare he?" she thought. "Damon is my friend and I will be involved with this investigation. I will work with Metro to find his killer. No special agent will get in my way."

Just then an older gentleman drove up in the NCIS van. He got out of the van. He walked up to Agent Gibbs. "Well what do we have here Jethro?"

"Dead Navy Seamen, Ducky. I need time of death and a cause quickly."

"Well let's have a look shall we. So sorry to be meeting you on such circumstances my boy." Ducky replied talking to the body. He removed a liver probe from his bag and began to insert it into Damon's liver.

"He must be the M. E." Abby thought. " He seems to know this Gibbs. Gibbs seems to respect him. If I want to be involved with this case I need to get in good with this Doctor he calls Ducky"

Abby walked up to the doctor almost pushing Gibbs out of the way. " Hello doctor, I am forensic scientist Abby Sciuto. This is my friend Damon Jackson," she said as Gibbs gave a major glare. Abby just sighed and went on talking. " If it helps I found him here this morning at 7 am. I was on my way to work."

Ducky looked up and saw anger and concern in her eyes. "Well Good Morning, Miss Sciuto. I am Dr. Donald Mallard. But you can call me Ducky." Pulling back on the liver probe he looked up and Gibbs. "He died some 6 hours ago, Jethro. The cause is yet to be determined until we get this young man back to the lab. Do you have any ideas on how your friend died, Miss Sciuto?"

Ignoring Gibbs' stare and obvious anger she walked up to the doctor. " Really no. I saw him last night about 6. We had dinner together before I went to the Metro lab to run some tests on another case. I was not planning on seeing him today. He said he was very busy." She started wiping the tears from her eyes. She eyed Gibbs. She was not about to give him a glimpse into her feelings. She very seldom made snap judgments against people she met but with this bastard she would make an exception.

Back in the basement, Gibbs smiled to himself. He thought about their beginnings and how much he and Abby had fought over their first case. He was able to reach for his wallet in his jacket pocket. Opening it to a certain picture of himself and Abby he planted a kiss on the photo with his finger. "From those antagonistic beginnings, we developed a wonderful relationship Abbs. I am hoping it works to help Tony and the team find me." His leg was really beginning to throb now. He really hoped they would get there soon.

McGee and Abby had been working almost an hour. They had searched Gibbs' cell phone records and traced his GPS coordinates. "I think we have found it McGee. " Abby squealed. " His dentist is Dr. Samuel Davis."

" I think you are right Abby." McGee picked up his cell and texted the address to Tony and Ziva who were at Gibbs' house looking for a lead. He then turned to his computer. "We need to see where he went from there Abbs. Just in case he is not still at the dentist office."

"I know," she said looking at their picture. " We have to keep looking Timmy. I was wondering if we could trace his phone from the call he made to me."

"We can try." McGee immediately started typing again the computer next to her. He looked up at her and saw the tears forming again. Knowing Abby she would be crying constantly if he did not keep her busy. I know get her to tell me how she and Gibbs finally got together and became friends. "Abbs, if you hated Gibbs so much, how did you end up at NCIS?"

"That's it" he thought, "Get her talking about Gibbs so she would get her mind off him being hurt or worse dead."

Abby smiled remembering that day. "Well, I was still very mad at him when he called to tell me that the team had caught Damon's killer. I was at the Metro lab working on another case. The case involved an abducted child and this was before the Amber alert system so we were pretty much looking for a body.

Flashback

"Hello Metro Lab. Forensic Scientist Abby Scuito "

"Miss Scuito, this is Special Agent Gibbs. We caught Jackson's killer. He is in NCIS custody. We have an ironclad case. He is not getting out for a long time."

Abby just slid down the wall and sat on the floor. She put her head in her hands and the tears just began to flow. She reached and grabbed her stuffed animal Bert and held him close. "Thank you Agent Gibbs, " she sobbed.

It was just minutes the door to the lab opened and in walked Special Agent Gibbs. "Where were you in the hall?" she thought staring at him.

He said nothing he just sat down next to her by the wall. He smiled at her and put his arm around her shoulder. "You ok Abbs," he whispered handing her his handkerchief. "I know this just hit you. Damon is dead and we have captured his killer. We would have not have done it without your help. "

"You mean that Gibbs," she said between sobs. " I really helped your team."

"I don't say things I don't mean Abby. Despite my first impressions of you, you are a great forensic scientist."

Knowing that this was a challenge for him, the Gibbs she had met was not nice and they had fought each other the whole time. He was being sweet and loving. "Maybe I misjudged him," she thought. Abby just melted into his arms crying as if her heart would break. "Looks like the main line has busted," Gibbs smiled and held her close. She was close to Kelly's age and he wished he could have held Kelly like this.

Abby cried in Gibbs' arms for almost a half an hour. Finally she sat up, wiped her eyes and blew her nose. "Thank you Gibbs," she said. "I need to call Damon's parents and give them the news." She stood up and started to walk away.

Gibbs stood up and followed her. "If you ever need anything Abby, just call. " He placed his business card in her hand and walked out the door.

About a week later she found a message in her box at the Metro lab. It was from a Miss Wilcox assistant to the director of NCIS Tom Morrow. When she returned the call she was invited to see him at his office on the next day.

Not sure what it was about, a curious Abby Scuito arrived at the director's fifteen minutes early. Miss Wilcox walked her into the office and announced her.

"Good morning, Miss Scuito. I am Tom Morrow, director of NCIS."

"Good morning sir," Abby was never one to beat around the bush and waste time on pleasantries started the conversation. "What do you want to see me about?"

"Right to the point. I like that Miss Scuito. As I am sure you have been told we are wanting to start our own forensic lab, I have it under good authority that you would be a perfect addition to our NCIS family."

"You want me to work for you."

"Not exactly Miss Scuito. I want you to be in charge of the lab. We have all the latest equipment and we need someone like you to run it," he said.

"But sir, I am only 25 years old. Wouldn't you want someone with more experience to run the whole lab?"

"As I said I have it under the best recommendation that your skills are top notch. Would you considerate it at least?" He walked toward the door of his office. "Would you like to see the lab?"

"Yes, I would love too." They took the elevator down to the subbasement where the lab was in the process of being organized. As she stepped into the room that would become the lab her eyes widened like a child on Christmas morning. "The latest equipment" she thought. " I have never seen some of this stuff. To work here would be a dream come true." She walked around the lab just examining all the equipment. "One draw back," she remembered. " I would be working with Agent Gibbs." She remembered her first impression of him and then that day in the lab when he was so sweet. "Maybe?"

"I will have to really think about this director. Could I give you an answer in a couple of days?"

"Absolutely" Abby smiled at the director and had one last look around the lab.

" I will call you with my decision soon"

Abby was on her way back to the Metro lab wrestling with her decision. When she got out of her car and headed toward the building she was met with a familiar, some what angry face. " What do you me you will have to think about it?" Gibbs barked. "You are the best Abby and we need the best. I want you at NCIS. "

"So you were the special recommendation Gibbs."

"Yes, and you have to think about it. Come on Abbs. I know I can be a bastard sometimes but don't let that effect you decision. Think about Damon's family. All Navy and Marine families deserve the best when something happens to their loved ones."

"True, but I did not think you liked me Gibbs."

"What gave you that idea?" He smiled and walked up to her kissing her on the cheek. "You are the best Abbs."

Right then and there Abby became a part of his family and she reached for her cell phone and called the director and she accepted the job.

End of flashback.

Just as Abby finished her story Tim's phone rang. He answered it quickly. It was Tony. "Well he left here fine McGee. He left at about 0930 and the nurse mentioned he was headed for the Home Depot with a flask of bourbon for the pain. Any ideas which on."

"Working on it Tony. Try the one nearest the dentist's office. I will text you the address." He hung up the phone and looked at Abby. "He was ok when he left there, Abbs. We will find him."

###########

Gibbs was still looking at the picture of him and Abby on her first day at NCIS. " That was the best decision I ever made Abbs. You have been a great asset to NCIS and you are my baby girl. Please use your special skills to find me soon. I don't know how much longer I can make it."