A/N: Fairly lengthy oneshot originally written March 2008. I posted a McGiva and a McKate the last two days. This is a McAbby written for Lady Aracne's birthday (or something of that nature...it was definitely by request). I know that for someone who claims not to like romances I seem to have a lot of them I'm posting right now. There are a couple more coming...I think. Anyway, we've got some hurt/comfort, some hero!Tim, some sick!Tim and Abby-in-danger. ...there's even something in the nature of a plot. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. I am not making money off this story.

Waiting
by Enthusiastic Fish

Abby clawed at the dirt with her fingers, trying to make a dent in the walls of her prison, knowing that she stood no chance. Incongruously, the dominating thought in her mind was how disappointed Tim would be when she didn't show up at the restaurant...

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Abby! Abby!" Tim screamed as he ran through the darkness. The wind tore his cry away. Once the rain started, he'd be soaked. But that mattered not at all. He knew Abby was here somewhere. The note had said so. It had also said that if he told anyone, if he went anywhere but to this place, she'd be killed. He looked hopelessly around at the various mounds of dirt. It was a gravel pit. How in the world would he know where to start? "Abby!" His phone started ringing. He looked down. "Unknown caller" He picked it up.

"Where is she? Where is she?" he screamed.

"Temper, temper, Agent McGee," the amused voice replied. "We're not to that point yet. You're free to have a look around."

"You–" Tim's reply died in his throat when he realized the connection had been severed. He looked around, hoping for a clue that would tell him where Abby was.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Abby laid down to rest...and take stock of where she was. The small cylindrical tube reminded her unpleasantly of her coffin. She liked sleeping in it, yes, but that was when she knew she could get back out again. She had two very big problems that she could see. One, the dirt, no gravel...the gravel did not allow for tunneling. Whenever she moved any of it, more fell to fill in her hole. She couldn't get out on her own...which led to problem number two. She had no one to come and get her. They had taken her cell phone. Tim would be waiting for her at the restaurant. No one else knew where she and Tim had been.

"Tim will get worried. He'll wonder where I am," she said, trying to take her mind off the close quarters. "...but he won't know." Abby struggled to maintain a positive attitude, but it was difficult when she could see so little positive in this place. The small space wouldn't hold much in the way of oxygen either. She wished she knew how much gravel she was buried in. She didn't dare leave the relative safety of her...no, I can't use the word coffin. It's too final. How about...cocoon? Yes, that's better. She didn't dare leave her cocoon if she wouldn't be able to reach the outside quickly.

The lightning flashed overhead with the thunder coming a second later. The rain wasn't far away. Tim retraced his steps back to his car. Then, he turned around and looked at the quarry. He was no gravel expert. He didn't know which piles were new and which piles were old...or if any of them were much different in age. All he knew was that Abby was buried in one of them...and he had to find her or else she would die. He felt a bit out of sorts. He had almost cancelled their date tonight because he just wasn't feeling well, but he couldn't back out of a date with Abby.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

His phone rang again. He looked down at the display. "Gibbs" He shuddered. He desperately wanted to answer the phone and tell Gibbs what had happened and beg him for help...because Tim did not feel able to do this on his own. But they had been very clear. It was less likely that they'd actually have people watching him out here, but he didn't dare risk it. He didn't dare risk Abby. He'd have to get through this on his own...or else he'd have to pay the price. His hand tightened around the phone and for a moment, he was tempted to just throw it away, hurl it as far as he could...but that was impossible. He couldn't risk that either. He needed to wait and see if the kidnapers would contact him again.

Another flash of lightning and crash of thunder and the first speckles of rain began to fall. Then, the heavens opened and down came the rain.

"Abby!" he screamed over the howling wind and pouring rain.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The panic was long gone and Abby felt herself becoming listless. That was dangerous. Conservation of energy was all well and good, but she couldn't just lie down and die. She curled into a ball and thought about the irony that she and Tim were just barely getting back into a relationship when this had happened. She smiled as she thought of the happiness on his face when she had agreed to try again. She felt a warm heat in her chest, warming her heart. She knew why Tim had wanted to keep it secret. It was because of her, in case she backed off again. Tim didn't want to be teased by Tony.

Initially, the plan had been to have Tim pick Abby up and they'd go to the restaurant together, but then, at the last minute, there was a test to run. She had reluctantly accepted the test and then texted Tim to tell him that she had to stay late. He had offered to wait for her or even to reschedule their date, but she had just told him to meet her there. Then...her hearse had broken down...again. And the next thing she knew, she was buried in gravel.

"Come on, Tim...please, know where I am," she whispered.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim fished a flashlight out of his car and began to walk through the quarry. He didn't even notice the rain that had soaked him from head to toe. He walked up to one pile of gravel after the other, trying to determine if they had been disturbed recently. It could only have happened in the last couple of hours...but now, with this rain, it would be harder to tell.

His phone rang again. "Unknown caller" Tim answered.

"Still there, Agent McGee?"

Tim clenched his teeth and took a deep breath.

"Where...is...Abby?"

"Oh, she's there...somewhere."

"Tell me where she is!" he demanded.

"It's not that easy, Agent McGee. Quid pro quo."

And now he understood. She hadn't been kidnappffed. Abby was a hostage.

"How do I know you'll tell me where she is if I help you?"

"That's something you'll have to work out for yourself, Agent McGee."

"What do you want?"

"There are some files NCIS took from my employers. I need them back."

Tim's blood ran cold. There was only one case that had the kind of people who would resort to this kind of attack. If he gave those files back, the head of the company would get out of, not only the extortion charges, but also the murder charges, murder of Navy personnel. Tim couldn't do that. He couldn't...but Abby was out there...somewhere. The hand gripping the phone shook.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Abby coughed in the dust she had stirred up. She grabbed the edges of her...cocoon and tried to push them forward again. ...an inch. No more. She didn't think she had enough energy to move it as many inches as she was sure it would take to get out. A tear escaped from her eye. Once one escaped, there was a flood of tears and Abby began to cry. No one knew where she was. Maybe no one had even missed her. Maybe she would die here and never be found...and Tim would never get to see her new dress...which was now ruined. She curled into a fetal position and cried.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"No."

The voice seemed surprised. "No? You're going to let Abby die for some files?"

Tim took a few deep breaths and heard another crash of thunder. He'd missed the lightning flash this time. The rain seemed to double in intensity, in time with the rising turmoil in his gut.

"I won't help you let a murderer get free."

"So...you'll be a murderer yourself, Agent McGee?"

Tim swallowed. He couldn't listen to anymore of it. Before he could talk himself out of his decision, he turned off his phone. Then, he fell to his knees and began to vomit, violently. He couldn't believe what he had just done. When he finished throwing up, he was lying on his face in the dirty smelly water on the ground. Still the rain fell.

His phone rang again. "Gibbs" Tim looked at the display. He'd already condemned Abby to probable death. What more could he lose by telling Gibbs what he'd done?

"Gibbs!" he said, tearfully, as he answered the phone. He didn't give Gibbs a chance to speak. "They took her. They took Abby. They wanted my help, but I couldn't. I said no. I have to find her."

"McGee! Where are you? We've been trying to find you and Abby everywhere!"

"She's not with me. She's here somewhere, but I can't find her." Another wave of nausea swept over him and he retched again. Distantly, he could hear Gibbs shouting his name, but the twisting of his stomach was taking precedence. It was the combination of feeling sick anyway and feeling overwhelmed by the irrevocable decision he'd just made. Even when his stomach was empty, he still retched and heaved.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Gibbs couldn't hear much over the phone beyond the wind and rain which told him that Tim was outside somewhere. "McGee! Answer me!" There was nothing...except, possibly the sound of Tim throwing up. That wasn't particularly pleasant to hear, but at least he was still alive.

After a few seconds, he heard Tim's voice, weak and trembling. "Boss...I'm...at the quarry, the gravel pit, just south of Stafford in Virginia. What if I've killed her, Boss?" Then, again, he heard the retching sounds again.

"McGee! Listen to me!"

"Yes...Boss?"

"We're coming to you! You need to calm down."

"Right..." Tim was panting into the phone. "...I'll...I'll keep looking."

"Wait! McGee, what did they want?"

"The files on the Miller case. They wanted them to disappear."

"And you said no."

There was a anguished cry, almost like a wounded animal. "I had to, Boss! We can't let him get away with murder!"

Gibbs realized how his sentence must have been taken. "I wasn't blaming you, McGee. We're on our way."

"I'll keep looking," Tim said again and hung up before Gibbs could say anything else.

"What's up?" Tony asked.

"They kidnapped Abby," Gibbs said, grabbing his jacket and heading to the elevator.

Ziva and Tony were right on his heels. "Where?"

"McGee's at the quarry in Virginia."

"How did he know?"

"They were trying to use him. He refused," Gibbs said grimly. "Now, we have to find Abby."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Okay, Abby. Enough crying," Abby said to herself. "Just because all hope seems lost, that doesn't mean that I should lose all hope. One inch at a time is still an inch closer...and Tim will find me. He will...because he's Tim!"

With that pleasant thought, and Tim's adoring gaze fixed in her mind, Abby tried again. One inch forward...push the falling gravel to the back of the tube. Repeat.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim looked around the yard, desperate for something to help him out. Then, he saw it...a tamping rod. He couldn't tear down all the mounds of gravel looking for Abby, but he could surely shove a rod into the center of a fair few. It wasn't as though there were infinite mounds. There was a definite quantifiable number. ...and Gibbs, Tony and Ziva were on their way...although it would take at least an hour for them to get there. Tim approached the first mound, took aim with the rod and slowly shoved it into the pile of gravel, deeper and deeper. He reached in, almost beyond the reach of his arm, and hit nothing. "What if she's not in the center?" Tim said aloud. "No, I can't start panicking like this. Abby needs me." His phone rang again as he jammed the rod in at a different angle, from a different position. "Unknown caller" He ignored it. He had made his decision and no matter how much he wanted to beg the man for the chance to find Abby alive and well, he couldn't do it.

Tim ran to the next pile. When he reached it, he slipped in the mud and fell onto the gravel, scraping his hands, ripping a hole in his new pants. He didn't notice. His stomach was rumbling unpleasantly again, but he tried to ignore it as well. He didn't have time to be sick. He swallowed hard and pushed the tamping rod into the pile. Nothing. He tried two more times at different angles and then moved on. At the third pile, he had to stop to dry heave again. He wondered if it was food poisoning. Once the painful spasms had passed, he again, shoved in the rod.

He slipped and skidded his way to the next pile... and the next...

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Abby panted for breath. It felt very close and stuffy in her small space. She was too much of a scientist to be ignorant of what that meant. "Come on, one more inch," she whispered and pulled at her cocoon. It didn't move. She muffled a sob. "No. You're supposed to move. I pull. You move!" She yanked on the edges again. It moved. Abby had to stop to get more air. The brief rest became longer and longer.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim knew he was at the right pile before he even tried it. It was large, imposing and...well, it just seemed right. Of course, he could be delirious. He felt terrible...and not just about Abby. The tamping rod was getting heavier and heavier the longer he carried it. He shoved it in once and hit nothing. Slowly, he walked part way around the pile and shoved it in again. Again, he hit nothing. He changed the angle and shoved it in once more. He hit something...something hard, metallic. He left the tamping rod in place and began to dig.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Abby was almost unconscious when she heard a thud against the side of her cocoon. "Tim?" she said. She put her hand on the place where the noise had occurred. There was no more noise. "Tim!" she shouted. No sound. Abby lay down again and waited...she wasn't sure what she was waiting for, but she was tired.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Come on! Come on!" Tim shouted as he dug and dug. The gravel seemed never-ending. His phone rang again. He didn't even look at it. Instead, he threw it as far as he could. Then, he resumed digging, panting for breath, frantically trying to clear away the gravel. "Please, please, please..."

He didn't know how long he'd been digging, but suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off and kept digging. The hand, two hands, grabbed him and pulled him back. He turned to fight off whoever was trying to keep him from finding Abby...

It was Gibbs.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

When Gibbs, Tony and Ziva pulled into the quarry, they saw Tim's car, the door open, the seat soaked from the rain that was still pouring down. They got out and started shouting for him, but there was no response. They split up and ran through the quarry, calling for both Tim and Abby. Then, Gibbs saw Tim at a mound, digging away the gravel. He must have found her.

"Over here!" Gibbs shouted. Faint replies from Tony and Ziva told him they were on their way. Tim didn't seem to hear any of that. When Gibbs reached him, Tim didn't even turn. His only reaction was to shrug off the hand Gibbs put on his shoulder. He was focused, driven...and one look at his face told him he might be a bit delirious as well.

"McGee, we're here!"

Tim looked at him blearily. "She's in there, Boss. I'm sure of it," he said. Then, he turned back and resumed digging. Gibbs forcibly turned Tim back around and felt his forehead. Even with the pouring rain, he could tell Tim was running a fever.

"Boss, I have to keep digging! I have to get her out!"

"We'll help, Tim. You need to take a break."

"No! I have to get her out!" Tim repeated.

Tony and Ziva reached the mound. Gibbs looked at them and pointed. "Start digging. She's in there."

They didn't ask questions. They just began to dig.

"Tim, you're soaked. You're sick. You need to take a break."

Tim began to weep. "No, I can't!"

Gibbs knew he could force Tim to stop, but they were losing valuable time arguing about it.

"Fine. Go."

Tim went back to the mound and began to dig again.

"How did you know she was here, Probie?" Tony asked.

Tim didn't answer. He just spared a moment to point at the tamping rod sticking out of the mound. Then he dug more.

"Gibbs, should he be...?" Ziva began.

"No, he shouldn't, but it will take too long to get through to him. Just dig."

The four dug in silence...broken only by a crash of thunder and the continued falling of the rain.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Abby knew that she should try to move her cocoon again, but it was just too hard. It was hot. She was tired and she was having trouble breathing. Feebly, she reached out and scraped at the gravel. A little fell into her palm, then trickled to the ground.

"Are you sure this is the place, McGee?"

"McGee!"

Abby thought she heard voices. "Hello?"

Then, there was a thump on the side of her cocoon. She raised her head.

"Wait! I hit something!"

Abby heard the most welcome voice in the world.

"Abby! Are you in there?"

"Tim!" she said softly. She heard the gravel shifting over the sides of her metallic cocoon. "Tim!" she said more loudly.

"Abby! Abby!"

Then...air! She felt the rush of oxygen into her small space as the gravel slid away from the opening.

"Abby, can you hear me?" Tim's voice sounded ragged...much like she felt. She reached her hand toward the opening, her fingers just barely poking out into the air. A rough, scraped hand reached in and held her hand tightly. The gravel continued to shift away from the cocoon. The opening got larger and larger. As soon as the opening was wide enough, the hand tightened its hold and began to drag her out.

It was Tim holding her hand, as she had known it would be.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Sobbing with relief, Tim pulled Abby out of the hole. She looked limp and pale, but her eyes were open. She was alive! He pulled her close, trying to shelter her from the rain, relishing the close contact.

"Abby, are you okay?" he asked.

Abby blinked slowly and looked at him. "I'm a butterfly, Tim," she said finally.

"What?"

"I'm a butterfly. That was my cocoon and now I've emerged." Abby laughed softly.

Tim laughed, but then began to sob and held her tightly. "Oh, Abby, I'm sorry. You could have died. I could have been too late."

Abby put her hand on his face and felt how hot it was. She looked beyond Tim to Gibbs. She was feeling better all the time, back in the open air. Each inhalation brought her back to life again, but Tim, he looked ready to collapse.

"Tim, let everyone else hug me, too," she said lightly. "I'm usually the one giving the hugs."

Again, Tim laughed and reluctantly released her. No sooner had he done so than Tony pulled her into a tight hug and Ziva as well, to Abby's surprise. Gibbs smiled and gestured for her to go back to Tim who was still sitting forlornly on the ground.

She knelt in front of him, still feeling lightheaded and opened her arms. Tim looked at her and then fell forward, nearly taking her down with him.

"I've got you, Tim. You saved me, just like I knew you would."

Tim still wept.

The two of them sat in a tangle of arms on the ground and Abby whispered in his ear. "You saved me, Tim. Now, I'll save you. Go to sleep; it's okay."

Tim looked at her once and she smiled. Then, he did as she said and passed out.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tag...two days later...

"Tim, wake up!"

Tim opened his eyes groggily and blinked in the bright light.

"Are you feeling any better?"

Tim blinked again and finally focused on Abby, sitting on the side of his bed, her hand on his forehead.

"You can't throw up anymore. There's nothing in you." Abby's voice was filled with amusement.

"I'm feeling better," Tim said and remembered that Abby had been with him for the last day as he had slowly recovered. It turned out to be just a nasty case of gastroenteritis, but it had been aggravated by his extreme anxiety and his physical exertion...with the result that he had been completely laid out. He'd spent the first day in the hospital...like Abby, but then, since all he needed was rest, he had been discharged with the stipulation that he not stir out of bed except to go to the bathroom.

"Good. Do you know why?" Abby asked. She was no the worse for the wear. She'd had to get a couple of stitches from the knock on her head, but otherwise, she was fine.

"No, why?" Tim asked.

"Because we never got to go on our date."

Tim laughed weakly. "Abby, I said I'm feeling better...not that I'm suddenly cured."

"I know. That's why I'm bringing dinner to you!" She disappeared from his side. Tim started to sit up and then sank back down onto his bed.

"Abby!" he called after her. "I don't think that's a good idea!"

"I do!" she called back. "Trust me!" A few moments later, she came back into the room with a tray in her hands. The tray was laden with two bowls of chicken noodle soup, two cans of ginger ale and a package of saltine crackers. The best part of the display, however, was Abby's cheeky smile.

"Abby, you didn't have to...you don't have to..." Tim began.

"Tim, I told you before," Abby said as she set the tray down carefully on the bed. "You saved me. Now, let me save you." She gingerly climbed onto the bed and leaned over to kiss Tim gently on the cheek. "So, sit up and let's eat."

Abby helped Tim sit up and then, they both began to eat. About halfway through, Tim looked at Abby and thought back to how he had felt when he thought she might die.

"I couldn't think of anything else but you," he said softly.

Abby looked at him and smiled. "I was thinking of you, too." Then, her smile turned mischievous. "Since my new dress was ruined, I expect you to pay for a new one."

"What? It wasn't my fault!" Tim answered, grinning.

"You're the one who dragged me out of the cocoon with no thought to my clothing."

Tim laughed, but then his smile faded. "I love you, Abby."

Abby put down her spoon and held out her hand. She looked at the scraped up fingers that had dug so desperately to get to her. Then, she looked at Tim, still pale, but finally recovering.

"I love you, too, Tim." She had never said it before, but she knew she meant it...and so did Tim.

FINIS!