"So you really got a tattoo just because Tony told you I only date guys with tattoos?" Abby asked as she and Tim occupied a small table in a corner street diner. The two had only just officially met minutes before when Tim had arrived in her lab for their agreed upon lunch date, but they had immediately hit it off, finding common ground in many things, especially science. Though Tim was of a shyer nature, he found that Abby had a knack of putting him at ease and making him feel like he'd known her for years. Even when he felt himself growing silent, she would continue on with the conversation, never commenting on the fact that it was quite one-sided.

"Yeah," he admitted, feeling his cheeks begin to burn up, "it's kind of lame, I know."

Surprisingly, Abby smiled, shaking her head. "It's not lame. Tattoos can hurt; I've had enough of them to know. I think it's really sweet that you were willing to put yourself through that just for a chance to go out with me. Not that you had to," she added, lest he should get the wrong impression. While she dug body art (especially on men and especially on men who, like Tim, looked too wholesome to even set foot in a tattoo parlor) it wasn't a necessity for prospective men to have it. She still would have accepted Tim's shy and slightly stuttered invitation to lunch.

Tim involuntarily winced. The tattoo had hurt and it still hurt, seeing as he had just gotten it the day before. He wished he had taken Tony's comment with a grain of salt and spared himself the pain. But what was done was done, and if nothing else it seemed to have gotten a positive reaction out of Abby.

"The thing you've got to learn about Tony," she said as she picked at her salad, "is that he thinks he knows more than he actually does. I mean, we've known each other for two years, so he's got a pretty good idea of what type of girl I am, but the type of girl that I am doesn't dictate the type of guy I like. Does that make sense?" Tim nodded. "See, Tony sometimes likes to view things in a more stereotypical sense. I'm Goth, have tattoos, and listen to death metal, so he kind of assumes that I'm into guys like that, but it's not true. I mean, I do like Goth guys, but not exclusively. For me it's more about the brains and stuff. Oh, and personality and morality and that kind of stuff. Not that you've got to be a saint, because God knows I'm now, but I can't date the kind of guys who'd kick puppies or something because I love puppies."

"I don't kick puppies," Tim assured her quickly. He wanted to clear that up right then and there.

"Oh, I know," she said without missing a beat. "You totally don't seem like the puppy-kicking type or anything; I just meant that as an example. But, like, I don't go for those really macho and cocky guys who think I'm going to swoon over them the second I see them, and you totally don't seem like that either. Not that a girl shouldn't swoon over you, but I'm not really the swooning type and even if I were I don't want a guy to assume I'm going to swoon over him, even if I am."

Tim blinked slowly as he tried to absorb what she had just said. Abby had already shown herself to be a rapid-fire talker who could say a lot in one breath, but Tim wasn't accustomed to it so he was a bit taken aback. Almost the antithesis of Abby in that sense, Tim often struggled to get his words out in one breath, sometimes stumbling over them like an amateur athlete trying to run through the tires for the first time. He had to take each "tire" one at a time and stick to his own pace, lest he should end up falling flat on his face. "Well," he said slowly, "I'm glad we cleared that up. Uh, I mean, cleared up the fact that I, uh…you know, don't expect you to swoon…uh, and that I don't kick puppies."

Abby's black-painted lips twitched upward into a sly grin. It wasn't often that she encountered a man who got so flustered as Tim, especially not within NCIS. It was refreshing. She wondered if he was like this around all people or if her presence was adding to his stammering state. Secretly, she hoped it was.

"Why 'Mom'?"

"Pardon me?" Tim asked, brows knitted together.

"Your tattoo; you said you got 'Mom' tattooed on your butt and I was just wondering what the thought process behind that was."

His cheeks tinged once again. Truthfully, he hadn't even thought about it, not the way most people do. That may have been a mistake on his part seeing as the word 'Mom' would know be permanently written on his rear. "I didn't know what kind of tattoo to get," he explained. "In those movies about bikers and stuff, one of them always seems to have a heart with 'Mom' written inside tattooed to his bicep, so I thought that was a typical tattoo."

Her smile grew as she stifled back a laugh. Somehow, that explanation seemed quite plausible considering who it was coming from. "So why not get it on your bicep?"

He squirmed in his seat. "I wanted it somewhere that most people can't see."

"Embarrassed about it?"

"No…not exactly. I just like to keep some things secret."

"Maybe I could see it sometime." The comment was a hint on her part and Tim heard it loud and clear.

"Maybe," he agreed enthusiastically, hoping—praying—that "maybe" would turn out to be "definitely."

"It's kind of like our own little secret. Well, Tony knows and Gibbs knows—"

"Agent Gibbs knows?" Tim asked, his voice raising a full octave.

"Probably," she told him very nonchalantly, "he knows everything. But aside from them, it's like our own little secret."

"Yeah, our own little secret," he muttered, thoroughly ashamed that a man he held in such high regard at Agent Gibbs was aware that he'd gotten 'Mom' tattooed to his butt in a sad attempt to attract a girl who would have gone out with him either way. What would Agent Gibbs think of that? Had he ever done something so stupid to get a girl? Probably not, he figured. Agent Gibbs didn't strike him as the type of man who needed much help attracting women.

Catching his mopey disposition, Abby gently placed her hand over his. "Even Gibbs has a secret tattoo."

"If it's so secret how do you know about it?"

She smiled impishly but didn't reply. "What say we make a date for tonight to unveil your new body art?"