Chapter 3

Abby pulled up at the address Ziva had given her. It certainly looked quiet: so dark and still. 'You can't miss them', Ziva had said, 'they are the ones sitting around the open grave.'

It was an opportunity too good to pass up: her two favourite guys AND a gravesite! She just had to visit, even if it was 4am.

Abby looked down at her high heeled shoes uncertainly. They might have matched her Marilyn Monroe outfit but now she had left the party, maybe she should change into something more comfortable. Then again, when had she ever worn sensible shoes? She wasn't Ziva.

Resolved to wear her matching shoes, she grabbed her handbag from the passenger seat and climbed out of her car. As she stood up, the cold air hit her causing her to retreat to the car and extract her warm coat. Then she paused. Ziva said they had a couple of warm blankets with them – maybe she could score a snuggle with one or the other or, if she was lucky, both. She left the coat and set out to stalk across the damp grass guided only by the feeble light of her skull-motif flashlight.

As she rounded the side of the building, Abby stopped short, her heels sinking slowly into the moist earth. She could dimly see the taped off area but the boys were nowhere in sight. She ran her light over the ground in a systematic search pattern.

"No!" she cried as her beam illuminated two bodies splayed across the ground next to a tree at the graveside.

Leaving her shoes firmly planted in the soil, Abby sprinted across the lawn while simultaneously wrestling her phone from her handbag, balancing her flashlight and reciting 'Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God'. As she drew nearer a strange sound began to permeate her senses. Despite her haste, she slowed a little to allow the noise to register. Little by little, she ground to halt in stunned amazement, her cell still poised for action – the sound was snoring.

Standing across the open grave from Tony and McGee, she narrowed her eyes. Here she was scared to death and now freezing cold and they were sleeping on the job! Her momentary anger dissolved as she looked at them lying together so peacefully. Covered in matching warm blankets and both wearing beatific smiles, the two were lying flat on their backs snoring in unison with their arms intertwined like a newly married couple.

Abby looked down at her cell in her hand, still ready to go and did the only reasonable thing she could under the circumstances: she shone her flashlight on them with one hand and took their photo with the other.

Disturbed by the light, the two bodies stirred.

"Hey, sleepy heads," she crooned tucking her phone back into her handbag, "you have a visitor."

McGee and Tony sat straight up and stared at her. She was used to men staring at her in this particular dress but usually it was with at least a tinge of lust. These two looked – freaked out.

"What? Something in my teeth?"

McGee reached over and grabbed Tony's arm. "Tony," he wavered.

"You're holding my wrist," said Tony simply.

"Sorry," McGee removed his hand hastily.

"No," said Tony urgently, "keep it there, it makes me think I'm awake."

"You are awake," said Abby.

"Suuuuuure," said Tony.

"and you're standing there in a Marilyn Monroe outfit," added McGee, "just waiting for one of us to join you in that grave."

"Only if it's your dream," Tony corrected him. "If it's mine then both of us get to climb in. I'm not as selfish as you."

"You guys are really, really sleep deprived," said Abby. "And I'm cold." She leapt over the gaping hole, lowered herself to the ground and wriggled between them, breaking McGee's death grip on Tony's arm. Then she stole half a blanket from each of them. "I came to keep you company."

Tony and McGee continued to stare at her.

"Will you two quit doing that?"

"It's, it's just that…" McGee began.

" … you're in that dress..," said Tony.

"… and, and, you're here," McGee finished.

Abby frowned at McGee then at Tony. "So what do you guys usually do on guard duty besides sleeping together, holding hands and finishing each others sentences?"

"Ahhhh," McGee started reluctantly, "we play games."

"Oh great!" Abby enthused. "My turn first – truth or consequences."

-----------------------------------------------------The End-----------------------------------------------------------