"Did you get the bullet we found last night?" Gibbs asks as he walks in. Sitting next to Abby, I lean back and reply. "We already ran it." Abby smiles as she turns to look at Gibbs as well. He was holding a Caf-Pow in one hand and a Starbucks tray with two Ventis in the other. He gazes over us both with a slight look of confusion. "We?" He asks, and Abby shrugs. "She's like you. Can't sit still when there's work to be done." I laugh, and my dad just shakes his head walking over to us.

"When did you get in?" He asks Abby, and she takes the Caf-Pow while she answers. "Four A.M." I smirk as he hands me one of the cups. "You know when I got here... You dropped me off after all." He nods his head with a smirk. "Yeah, just a little after Abby then." He turns back to the forensic expert and rubs her back. "Thanks, Abbs." Abby softens her smile. "Well, Pacci was family." They both go quiet and I take a sip of my coffee.

He still knows how I like it.

Abby quickly continues, sliding her chair over to the computer behind us. "Slug looks pretty clean. From a .357. Based on rifling, it came from a Smith and Wesson Model 66." She pulls up the gun on the screen above, and Gibbs nods his head at it. "Very small, easy to conceal." I nod my head as well. "Yup, I have a different model in my purse." That makes them both turn towards me. I just look between them. "What? You carry more than one gun, too." Abby chuckles. "I didn't take you for a purse person." I laugh and take another drink of coffee. "That's because it's mostly a handbag that I can swing easily if needed."

My dad just shakes his head and returns to the screen. Abby continues, "I ran a comparison through NIBIN. I got nada." She turns towards me and I finish her sentence. "Looks like it's a virgin, but we are still searching." Gibbs nods and starts to head out, but when he reaches the door he turns. "Hey, Abbs. Did Pacci ask you to do anything for him recently?"

Abbs thinks for a moment and shakes her head. "Not in a while." Gibbs gives an ever so slight nod. "He was working a cold case. Search the hard drive on his computer."

"You got it."

With that, Gibbs is gone and it's just me and Abby once again. She begins typing, most likely setting up the search to see if the gun truly is a virgin from murder to let us know when it finds something. I roll up next to her and sigh. "He really does need to say please more often." Abby chuckles. "Good luck on that." I laugh and we quickly get to work. We start to decrypt the hard drive when I get hit with a wave of dizziness. We start to move, and I can tell Abby is talking to me, but I can't hear her. Her arms grab my own, and she leads me back to the photon couch. I sit down slowly, then slump over. I felt fine just.... exhausted. I try to say this, and it seems like I do, but I feel my eyes slowly close.

Just needed a nap.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Alright, your dizziness seems to have simply been from fatigue." I stare blankly at the doctor before me, who was sitting in a rolling chair. I fight off the urge to sigh as he offers me a medicine cup with pills settled at the bottom. Carefully, I take the cup and he smiles. "Now, take those and rest a bit. It will take some time for them to kick in." I nod as I pour the pills into my mouth. Duckee then takes the small cup and hands me an open bottle of water. I take it and down half of it with the pills. Lowering the bottle, I hold back a burp. Duckee looks at me and I sheepishly smile. "Didn't realize how thirsty I was..."

He nods and stands, moving the seat back towards Abby. "If you need my assistance again, I will be in autopsy..." I see his face fall, and I frown as he leaves. Abby gives me a half-hearted smile before facing her work again. I had overheard the conversation before I woke up when Gerald brought up a microchip. An agent by the name of Chris Pacci was murdered in an elevator, and they believe it has to do with the cold case he was chasing. Of course, my father was blaming himself for it, and I sigh.

Some things never change I guess...

I slightly hiss as my shoulder lets off a throb, and instinctively I reach up to hold it, nearly dumping my bottle of water on myself. Leaning forward, I set the bottle on the ground and huff. I rub my face with my good hand. I know he told me to rest, but I was so tired of resting. I wanted to do something, not just sit around while I wait for this pain to stop.

"Would you like to help me out, again?"

My head snaps up, and I drop my hand from my face. "Wait, really?" My eyes meet Abby's and she smiles. "Of course! You're sitting there with ants in your pants, itching to do something right?" Shock covers my face and she walks over to help me up. "You're a Gibbs, I can tell when you want to disobey a doctor's orders." I give her an exaggerated laugh, but end up genuinely laughing as well. Once I'm on my feet, she guides me over to her computers. "You know anything about decrypting a memory card after it has been in stomach acid?"

I give her my best one-arm shrug. "Not really, but I'm a quick study." She nods.

"I like the sound of that."

With ease, we are able to clean it off and begin decrypting what is on it. Some files are corrupted, and unable to be recovered. However, the few we get out of it are enough to get us a lead. Abby smiles and turns to me. "Good work, Mariam." I smile and give a slight bow. "I have a great mentor." As I stand, I feel irritation grow on my spine, then a voice confirms my suspicion. "Woah... Who's your new friend, Abby?"

Abby smirks, and I shake my head before turning around. Tony, seeing my face, flinches back and covers his nose. "Oh... Hey, yeah, forgot you were here." My father follows him. "Yeah, she's gotta mean swing." I shake my head and turn towards the computers again as Gibbs walks over and carefully gives me a side hug while softly kissing the top of my head. Tony, probably still rubbing his nose, comments, "Yeah, she gets it from her pops."

Gibbs finally cracks a small smile and I chuckle. "Whaddya got for us?" He asks, and Abby quickly throws the pictures up on the screen. Tony instantly begins drooling and plants himself in front of the screen. Abby begins. "Obviously they're surveillance photos." She clicks through a few more, and Tony can't help himself. "Ooh, hottie." He says, and I give off a sigh. Abby shoots back quickly, "Don't you think she's a little bit too old for you, Tony?" He shakes his head. "No, she's about my age."

I'm already smiling before she snaps back. "That's exactly my point." He slowly turns to face us, but I pipe in quickly. "There's nothing else on the card except candids. Based on the timestamps, they were all taken within the past two days." At that moment, Kate walks in and I smile at her. She returns it and begins speaking.  "I interviewed all the workers, nobody remembers seeing Pacci or anything unusual, but one of them did find this." She hands us a camera in a bag. "Found it at the bottom of the stairwell this morning."

Gibbs gazes at it, his eyes full of sorrow. "Chris' camera?" Kate nods. "NCIS issue. Gotta be his." We all grow silent, gazing at this camera. Gibbs takes it and places it on the table. He then grabs a pair of gloves before opening the and removing the camera. He inspects it carefully before opening the memory card port. "No memory card." Kate gives a 'nope' just as McGee walks in. "Sorry, sorry, I'm five minutes late..." He slightly turns to me, rubs his nose, then continues. I barely hold back a laugh and I see Abby do the same. "I had to park in the visitor's lot and-and-"

Gibbs interrupts. "Where is it, McGee?" The man stops his stuttering and pulls up a case. He fumbles with it for a moment before my father takes it into his own hands and opens it. I could tell he was stressed and impatient, but I wasn't going to say anything yet. I know when to fight those battles and now was not the time. He opens the briefcase and begins going through all the files. It was apparently a civil investigation of an automobile accident in some county. A naval officer was killed. 

I stay in the background, not really listening, but making sure to note what few things pop up. Apparently, a man by the name of Lieutenant Voss was under fire for credit card fraud, but then he dies in a car accident and the money suddenly vanishes. Case grows cold but now seems to have warmed up a bit. My father walks around to face the screen once more, mentioning how this new woman could be part of it all now. I slightly nod my head in agreement, but I could feel the fatigue wanting to set in again. I have dealt with a GSW before, but this was different considering I possibly almost bled out in a tree...

I hear him call McGee over, tell Tony to find out the woman's details and take McGee with him. Tony calls for 'hot shot' to move out, and Abby makes McGee stumble for words when she asks if he needs a place to crash. That makes me smirk as I lean against the counter with the computers a bit more heavily. Gibbs notices this I guess, because before I know it he isn't in my field of vision and looking me over carefully. I give him a gentle smile. "I'm fine. Just fatigued. No pain, swear it." His eyes scan me over, but he seems satisfied and settles for giving me a peck on the forehead and a careful side hug. "Take it easy, alright? I'll be down in autopsy if you need anything." I give him a nod, and as he walks away, I pipe in one last little quip.

"Go get the baddie, dad."

I see him slightly turn to me with a smile on his face before he leaves and enters the elevator. Abby shakes her head and moves to my side. "Come on, you're pale, and that's coming from me." I only nod my head before taking her arm and moving back to her little couch. I don't fight the fatigue this time, feeling slight accomplishment at decrypting those photos. It was easy since I had, in fact, done it before. I just didn't want to give away what my job was before arriving her just yet.

The last thing I need is the FBI riding my rear end for failing to complete my mission.