A/N: Ok, so this is the last chapter guys. I was intending to write another, but I just couldn't get it to work.

Thank you to everyone that took the time to read this story; I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. And a special thank you to everyone that reviewed it; your comments mean a lot to me. F.

Abby sat staring at Bert for a few minutes. Tim was right; he did look funny. She'd probably overreacted to Tony's teasing of the last few days. Really, nothing he'd said or done had been mean-spirited at all, and to be honest she'd be the first one to tease Tony if the tables were turned. So why had she gotten so angry over this? And why hadn't she told McGee about the McNames Tony had been calling her? He already knew about the sign on her door- if only because he'd caught her trying to fix it.

It took her quite a while to come to the conclusion she'd been trying to avoid. She liked the teasing, liked the McNames- because they sent a little thrill down her spine as she realised she was actually a McGee now, whether their marriage was an accident or not. She liked it; and that's what made her so angry about it at the same time. She was scared by how much she enjoyed it, so she struck out. And she hadn't told Tim about them because she knew he'd see that she'd liked being called 'McGoth' and 'McLabRat'- and he'd draw the right conclusion, that the only thing about their marriage she was regretting was the decision to get it annulled. That would never do, because they couldn't stay married, not if they didn't both want it. And he'd suggested the annulment, so obviously he didn't want to be married to her.

The entrance of Tony and Ziva with a crate of evidence was a welcome distraction from her thoughts.

...

The first thing that greeted her on her arrival at work on Friday was a yellow legal sized envelope with the morning mail. From the lack of a stamp it was obviously inter-agency mail. It could only be one thing- the annulment papers. She picked up the envelope, turning it over in her hands. She knew that the papers had to be signed and returned to the legal department as soon as possible, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to open it. Having the envelope in her hands somehow made the papers more real, and she didn't want to deal with that right now. She put it aside instead, telling herself she'd think about it later. She had work to do.

...

McGee spotted the yellow envelope on his desk as soon as he rounded the partition by Ziva's desk. Suddenly he was thankful that he'd beaten Tony in this morning of all mornings. If he saw the papers, the hazing that had been going on all week would get even worse, and quite frankly Tim just wanted a chance to figure out what he was going to do without Tony's interference. So he stuck the envelope, unopened, in the drawer with his badge and gun.

The entrance of the rest of the team was the signal for him to concentrate on work. They were in the finishing stages of the investigation into the murder of the Navy lieutenant that'd been found at Anacostia on Wednesday, and Gibbs would need the best information they could give him to break their suspect.

...

The lab was in darkness. They'd wrapped up their second murder case in a week, and for the second weekend in a row, the team didn't have the hotline duty. Tony had dropped by before, asking her if she wanted to catch a drink with the rest of the team. She'd grinned ruefully, reminding him what had happened the last time she'd gone out with the team, and politely but firmly declined. At least she knew that pretty much everyone had gone for the weekend; though she was pretty sure that Tim wouldn't have left without dropping by to see her.

Now that she had some peace and quiet, she had things to do. She fished in the drawer where she'd stashed the legal envelope, taking it out and putting it on the desk in front of her. She stared at it for a while. She still wasn't sure that she wanted to do this. She'd come to the realisation over the past week that she loved Tim. But this was a seriously backwards way to go about building a relationship with him, even if he wanted to.

She pulled the papers out of their manila envelope. All she had to do was sign them and send them back, and this whole crazy marriage would be undone. She turned to the final page and picked up a pen. She hesitated a moment, remembering their impulsive, drunken trip to Vegas. Spending the day with Tim, laughing and joking once the shock of waking up together had worn off. Letting her sleep on his shoulder on the journey back to Washington. Where most men would have ranted and screamed, Tim had been supportive and understanding, even once the entire Agency had found out, trying his best to protect her from the inevitable hazing.

The same thought that had haunted her for the past week came back, even stronger now. What if their marriage was for real? She shook her head, dispelling it. Putting the pen to paper, she stopped again. She couldn't do this. She laid the pen down and stood up. Stuffing the papers back in their envelope, she left the lab in search of Tim.

...

McGee sat at his desk in the squad room, staring blankly at the papers in front of him. He'd been sitting there for ages, trying to force himself to pick up a pen and sign his name. It was such a simple thing, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Tim?"

Abby's voice broke into his abstraction.

"Hey, Abs."

"You got the papers, too."
"Yeah, got them this morning."

"Have you signed them yet?"

"Just about to; then this will be over and we can get back to normal."

He picked up the pen, and then put it down.

"You know, Abs, I can't do this." He stood and walked around the desk, facing her.

"We've both been pretending that this didn't mean anything, that it was just a stupid mistake. Well, I'm done with pretending. It damn well meant something to me, and I'm pretty sure it meant something to you too. I've been in love with you for years, Abby. So unless you can look me in the eye and tell me that it's what you really want, I'm not signing the papers."

She stared at him, an odd expression on her face. She opened her mouth to say something, thought better of it and closed it again. Instead she reached out and picked the papers up off his desk, ripping them in half in one smooth motion. Throwing the pieces into his trash can, she explained "I came up here to tell you that I couldn't sign them. It's taken me a long time to realise it, but I love you, Tim. And I know it's totally crazy, but- let's stay married."

For a moment it felt like he was dreaming. In a week she'd gone from 'This doesn't have to change anything' to 'Let's stay married'. He wondered for a split second how that'd happened, and then decided he didn't care. No matter how it had happened, she wanted to be his wife. Instead he did what he'd wanted to do all week. He reached out and pulled her into his arms, kissing her until they were both reeling.

When they finally broke apart, he smiled down at her tenderly. "Come on, Mrs McGee. Let's go home."

He picked up his pack from behind the desk, then walked with her towards the elevators. As they got in, a thought occurred to him.

"You know, Tony's never going to let up with the names now."

She cocked her head, considering. "I think I can live with that. Besides, I kinda liked them."