Disclaimer: Not mine, but I sure wish it was. I'd love to keep McGee in my back pocket, hehe.

A/N: This is my first NCIS story. Everything that pertains to McGee in this story is not canon, I know. However, everything McGee says about his dreams and fears are all my real dreams and fears, so be nice, haha. Enjoy!

SPOILERS: Some Beta Noir, Kill Ari Parts 1 and 2...but almost everyone's seen these eps. Just a warning tho! )

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"No! Tim!" Abby screamed, sitting bolt upright in her bed.

She was shaking violently and tears were streaming down her face. It didn't happen, it couldn't have. It wasn't real; it was all in her head...wasn't it? She had to know for sure. She groped around to turn on her lamp and then looked at her clock and groaned. It was two-thirty in the morning. She wondered if he would be upset with her for calling this early. However, she had to hear his voice...she had to know that he was okay. Plus, it's not like they had to go into headquarters tomorrow, it was Sunday. She rolled over, picked up the telephone on her nightstand, and dialed his number from memory.

Tim McGee snorted in his sleep as the telephone next to him began to ring. He stirred to consciousness, and then he reached blindly for the phone receiver.

"McGee," he mumbled, his face pressed into his mattress.

"Tim?" he heard Abby's shaky reply.

He raised his head up slightly. "Abs?"

"Are you okay?"

"Other than being awake at two-thirty in the morning, I'm good," he replied. He heard her sigh and then sniff. It sounded like she was crying. He leaned up, propping his chin on his forearm. "Abby? What's wrong?"

She tearfully replied, "I know this sounds stupid, but could you please come over?"

Concerned, McGee sat full upright. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine Tim," she assured him. "I just need to see you."

"Okay, I'll be there in ten minutes."

Something was wrong, he could feel it. He quickly dressed in a simple pair of gray sweatpants and his NCIS T-shirt, grabbed his wallet and keys, and rushed down to his car.

The ten minutes between their phone conversation and McGee's arrival seemed an eternity to Abby. She sat cross-legged on the couch in her living room, clutching a plush bear...her farting hippo was still in her lab...and staring at the door. She heard a key rattle in her front door lock...McGee remembered where she kept her spare key.

McGee unlocked her door, replaced the spare key on the top of her doorway, and entered her living room. He saw her sitting on her couch as he entered, but turned to close the door. As he turned back around, she was running toward him, her bear tossed to the ground. She threw her arms around his neck and she held onto him tightly. Startled, he returned the embrace.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Abby said, burying her head into his shoulder.

Taken aback slightly, he petted her hair and replied, "Why wouldn't I be? What's wrong?"

She sighed and stepped back, looking embarrassed. "I shouldn't have called you here, I feel so stupid now."

McGee could see that she was pale...well, paler than usual...and she sounded scared. He took her hand and led her back to the couch and they both sat down.

"I'm here," he said, smiling. "Tell me what's wrong."

Abby sighed. "I saw you die tonight."

McGee blinked. "What?"

She looked into his eyes with tears welling in her own. "I had a dream...and I saw you die. It was so real and terrible and..."

McGee squeezed her hand. "What happened, Abby?"

Abby sniffed, wiping away her tears, and replied, "Ari was back." She saw McGee's eyes darken slightly as the memories of Ari and of Kate's death flashed through his mind. "He had just killed Kate and was going after me, remember that?"

"I'll never forget it." Abby sat closer to McGee and snuggled into his shoulder, letting him wrap his arms around her. "Well, he had kidnapped me and taken me to the autopsy lab. He was saying things like, 'When Gibbs and his people come to rescue you, I am going to kill every last one of them, starting with you', and he had his gun to my head and stuff. It seemed way too real, it was completely terrifying."

"I imagine so," McGee whispered comfortingly, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"But when the cavalry came, it was just you," Abby said, her voice trembling as the vivid memories began to play back in her mind. "You jumped him, and you knocked his gun away..." she smiled at McGee's look of admiration of his own bravado. "...but he fought back. He hit you and threw you into the wall. Picked grabbed his gun and he shot you three times! The sound of the gunshots, your screams of pain...it didn't seem like a dream. I felt like this was all really happening. Ari ran out of the autopsy lab without a second look at me, and I ran to you on the ground. There was blood everywhere," she
said, as she began to cry once more. "Tim...you died in my arms."

He held her as she sobbed into his shoulder, rocking her gently. "Shh, Abby. I'm okay. It was just a dream, I'm perfectly okay."

"I know," Abby sniffed. "I know it was. But haven't you ever just needed to see someone after a dream like that?"

McGee nodded. "Actually yes, I have. Come on, let's get you back into bed. You need your sleep."

"Yeah, like I'm sleeping tonight. Not after that dream," Abby said.

"I'll stay with you tonight, don't worry," McGee said, helping her stand up from the couch.

He kissed her forehead and walked to her room with her. She threw her covers back toward the end of her bed...it was too hot of a summer night as it was...and flopped onto it, rolling toward the wall. McGee laid down next to her and she instantly rolled next to him, placing her head on his chest. He wrapped his arm around her protectively and kissed her temple.

"Tim?"

"Mmm?"

"What were you talking about earlier? About having to see someone after a dream like mine?" she asked.

"Oh," McGee replied. "I had to do that same thing about a month ago."

"What happened?"

"Talking about it will just make things worse for you," McGee said.

"No, talking about it will help me get past stuff like this. Tell me," she replied.

McGee sighed. "Okay. When I was growing up, my best friend was a girl named Samantha. She was like the sister I never had and I was the brother she never had. We were very close friends, but we grew apart after I left for MIT. Anyway, last month, I
had a dream where she and I were back in high school. We were at this sort of band performance, watching our friend playing, and we started walking and talking like we usually did. You know how sometimes dreams like jump from one scene to another
without warning?"

"Yes."

"Well, we walked out of our school's gymnasium and walking into some back alley in some dark town." Abby giggled slightly. "We came across these two guys who were making some kind of drug deal. I could see they both had guns, so we had to sneak
by them. I got through okay, but she kicked a paint can or something, but they were on us instantly. I fought hard, trying to get them away from Sam. I got hit and was knocked to the ground. I got up to see Sam kneeling on the ground. She was crying and one of the guys was standing over her with his gun drawn. Before I could do anything, I watched him empty his clip into her."

Abby gasped. "Oh, my God."

"Yeah," McGee whispered, shuddering slightly. "He then turned the gun on me. I have never felt a more genuine, gripping, terrifying fear from a dream before...I knew I was about to die. When he pulled the trigger, I woke up. I called her almost immediately, after not seeing her in over five years. And it was early in the morning too."

"Wow...no wonder you understood me so well," Abby said.

They laid there for an hour, talking about everything yet nothing at all. Several times McGee told her to try and sleep, but she was enjoying her time with him too much to interrupt it with something as frivolous as that. She had all of Sunday to sleep anyway.

"Tell me your deepest fear," Abby said quietly.

"Other than you dying?" McGee replied, resting his head against hers.

Abby blushed and smiled. "Yes."

McGee paused, shivers running down his spine. He knew he would eventually have to reveal this bit of information about himself at some point. Although he really didn't want to, at least it was Abby. She wouldn't exploit it to her own entertainment as DiNozzo would. She wouldn't tell a soul.

"Okay," he sighed, "but this does not leave this room."

"Promise," Abby said, re-positioning herself on her side and propping her head on the hand.

"I have a completely debilitating, very irrational, but very real fear of sharks," McGee admitted.

Abby's jaw dropped slightly. "You're kidding..."

"I wish."

"Well, how'd that start? Why are you so freaked by them?" She asked.

"I saw Jaws way too young in life," McGee replied, smiling lightly. He knew how stupid his own fear sounded. "It stayed in my head. I started having dreams about them...eating me, eating friends and family..." he shuddered. "I can't listen to the Jaws theme without shaking. I can barely look at them on television...I'm a nut case."

She rubbed and patted his shoulder comfortingly. "So a trip to the aquarium is out of the question?" Abby asked jokingly.

McGee chuckled but he couldn't help notice the involuntary shudder that went through his body. "Aquarium, yes...the shark tank inside the aquarium, you'd have to kill me first." Abby laughed.

"What about you?" McGee asked. "What's your deepest fear?"

"You remember what mine used to be, Tim," Abby said in playful chastisement. She rolled back over to lie against him, her head on his shoulder.

"Autopsy."

"Yep," Abby said. She then grew a touch solemn. "But that is sure one fear I was glad to be rid of, but hated how it had to happen."

McGee sighed. "I know. I wasn't a part of the team yet, but I've heard from you, Tony, and Ducky about went on that day. You were very brave."

"Kate, Ducky, and Gerald were down there," Abby said. "I couldn't let them die because of me and my fear."

"How about now? What is your deepest fear now?"

"Anybody getting hurt, especially you, and it being my fault," Abby replied. "If you, Gibbs, Tony, or even Ziva got hurt or were killed, and it was because of me in any way, I would never be able to live with myself."

"Like your dream tonight."

"Yeah," she whispered.

McGee kissed the top of her head and said, "You will never have to worry about that. We're not going anywhere."

"Good."

Abby then let out a long, loud yawn. McGee glanced over at her bedside clock and said, "God, Abs, its 4:30. Try and sleep now."

Abby nodded sleepily. "I am a little tired."

McGee chuckled, then he himself yawned. He didn't realize how sleepy he had become. He was having too much of a good time with Abby. However, it had to end. They had all day Sunday to continue their conversation...and their cuddling. Abby snuggled closer to her McGee and closed her eyes, sighing contently. McGee smiled, and closed his own, hoping that his Abby would have pleasant dreams.

"Good night Abs," McGee murmured groggily.

Abby was already fast asleep, breathing deep and slow. McGee smiled as he leaned his head against her own and quickly drifted into a peaceful slumber. Sweet and pleasant dreams visited them both.