Shiver
Title: Shiver
Author: Keyla Sheppard
Pairing: Tony DiNozzo/Jethro Gibbs, blink and you'll miss it.
Fandom: NCIS
Summary: Abby hasn't been the same since Kate's death, maybe all she needs is a safe place to remember.
My assignment was:
Fandom: NCIS
For: lovelypoet
Notes: prefer Abby-centric
She's shivering, but it's not from the cold outside. She's been shivering for a while and she just can't seem to stop.
The cold she feels seems to come from inside her, from a place she believed to be hidden. She shivers, a wave starting from her shoulders and ending at her feet before it calms again so just her hands are shaking, if she was to hold them out.
No one has noticed, at least not that she can tell. She finds that comforting, at least a little bit. She doesn't want to break when no one else seems to be.
It's been a slow week, she pretends to think it's because of how cold it's been but she can't really tell. She's sitting at her desk when Tony comes walking in but she doesn't look up from the paper she's looking at.
"We'll go clubbing Friday night, it'll be fun."
"Abby, I don't know..."
"Oh come on, it'll get you out of that gloom you've been in ever since Mark dumped you."
"Fine, but I have nothing to wear."
"Don't worry about that."
She remembers it all too clearly, as if it happened yesterday and it makes her a little colder.
"Abbs?"
Tony's standing next to her now, a hand on her shoulder and it feels like he's burning her. Instead of moving to get that hand off her, she just looks up and smiles at him, hands buried deep in her arms. She's hiding the shivering just like she's been doing since the start.
"Wanted to know if you wanted lunch."
Abby looks back to the paper on her desk, half covered by a folder, and sighs.
"Sorry, kind of busy. Rain check?"
Tony smiles, she looked in time to see it, but it didn't stay long. She worried that he saw something.
"Sure. Later."
Then he's walking back out of the lab, leaving her alone again, she hopes he didn't see it.
****
She's walking home, something she's been doing a lot lately. She never could get her hands to stop shaking enough to keep them on the wheel. If it were too cold she'd call a cab.
Back, before, she would have asked one of the team to give her a ride to her house if her car was left at home. She would have gone up with a smile on her face and waited to see who was leaving and follow them in the elevator, asking them there, too proud to ask in front of everyone else.
For a month, just when she was getting to know Kate, Kate would give her a ride home.
"Na, its no problem, Abby. I'd love to."
"Okay. Great."
The car ride wasn't silent or filled with talking it was comfortable.
"You want to come in? We can have supper, pizza or something."
"Yeah, I'd love that."
She'd follow her inside and once inside Abby would grab the menus and sift through them to find something to eat.
Those nights were always the best.
A car horn goes off next to her and when she turns the window is being rolled down and Gibbs is there.
"Abbs, it's too cold to walk. Get in."
Abby smiles, walks through the parked cars and hops in. Because she knows that if she didn't he'd know and she couldn't have anyone knowing.
She shivers a little when she gets in and he turns up the heat. He talks and she does too but she doesn't say much really. She's sitting on her hands, making sure they don't shake and smiles when he stops.
"Thanks, boss-man. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, anytime."
Abby reaches for the door handle, she can see her hands shaking more but doesn't do anything, just hopes that Gibbs isn't watching. She steps out, shuts the door and waves as Gibbs drives off.
Her hands fumble in her pockets, finding her keys and pulling them out. It takes a few tries for her to get the key to fit in the lock just right and she turns it.
Once inside her home, alone, she falls on her couch and takes a deep breath.
A day of shaking and shivering doesn't do any good for the body. She knows this. Ever since it started she's felt drained at the end of the day. She's felt tired and her muscles seemed to be cramped. She couldn't stop it though.
Soon she stands up and walks to the bathroom, starting the bath she turns the hot up and doesn't bother with the cold. As she strips she watches her hands shake at her buttons and zippers that seem to be everywhere on her outfit. Finally, she slips into the steaming water and sinks in.
It doesn't stop it, but it calms the shivers, if only for a while.
****
She doesn't know how she ended up here, she doesn't know if she decided to come here or if she just did. There's something missing but it doesn't bother her. She's been thinking too hard and she ends up places she never thought she would.
She's been standing there for about ten minutes; she looked at her watch when she noticed the house. She thinks she must have been outside for longer because her skin is cold, the shivering worse. But she doesn't make a move to the front door. She's standing on the other side of the street and she vaguely wonders if the neighbors have seen her and wondered whom she was.
She's not really moving, though she knows she should. She's been watching the door like it would hold the answers to the questions going through her head. The road is mostly deserted, only a few cars sitting around. She's happy that behind her is just a field, she has less to think about.
When she's across the street she doesn't really know when she walked there, just that she had gone closer. She can't feel her toes and even though she can go home and warm them up in the bath or in front of her furnace she stands in the snow.
Twenty minutes later she realizes that she hasn't really been shaking, something that's been rare lately. She takes comfort in that.
She turns to look down the street, debating on whether or not to walk home when the door opens.
"Abby?"
She looks back to the door, the door is all the way open, Gibbs' hand still on the knob. She smiles because it's all she can do, and walks slowly closer to him.
"Why don't you come in?"
She nods her thanks and Gibbs moves out of her way as she walks in. She doesn't go much farther then the doorway, just far enough away so the door can shut. When Gibbs turns back to her, she smiles again.
"Why don't you come warm up?"
Abby nods again and slowly takes off her boots. They're wet and snowy and her fingers can't unknot the laces too well. Gibbs bends down and unties them for her and she steps out of them.
"Thanks."
Her voice is horse, grainy and rough when she says it. It's almost a whisper and she's not sure if he really heard her until he looks up and smiles.
He starts to unwrap her from her coat and she helps, only a little. She realizes how truly cold she is, how her fingers don't really want to move. He smiles at her, worry in his eyes, and leads her to the couch. The fire is lit as if he knew she was going to need it and it gives off a nice glow.
"Better?"
She nods, afraid of her voice.
"I'll get you some coffee."
When he leaves she moves off the couch to sit closer to the fire, to the warmth. She can hear voices from the kitchen where Gibbs disappeared to but doesn't really pay attention to them. Right now all she wants to do is warm up.
When he walks back in there's someone trailing behind him, she doesn't look up though to find out what the shadow is, she only hears the person sit on the couch behind her. Gibbs places the steaming cup in her hands and places his hand on her shoulder.
It feels nice, if not a little too hot, but heat is better then the cold. When she takes a sip of the drink she smiles. It's not coffee but hot chocolate instead. Gibbs moves behind her, sitting next to the person she hasn't looked at.
The three of them sit there together, the two on the couch watching her as she stares at the fire and sips her coco. It's quite except for the crackling of the logs. She's able to think now, to remember and to be warm.
"Abbs?"
She turned and saw them both. Tony had blood on his face, just like her dream, but he didn't seem hurt, physically at least. His eyes were pained, as were Gibbs, which was something to see.
"Can we talk to you?"
Not I, but we. She nodded and Gibbs led her to her desk. She sat down in her chair as Tony leaned heavily on her desk as if it was all that was keeping him from breaking. When Gibbs kneeled down in front of her she knew something was wrong.
"Abby..."
Gibbs faltered, a sure sign of pain, of hurt.
"We found them..."
Tony stopped too, took a breath and was about to start again when Gibbs placed a hand on her leg.
"We were pinned down on a roof. Kate, Tony and I were up there trying to get to the remote while Tim tried to block the signal on the ground. We stopped the bomb..."
Abby nodded, slowly.
"We were standing on the roof, happy to have the job done when Kate fell. Ari shot her."
"Abby, Kate's dead."
She looked from Tony and back to Gibbs, tears not quite falling down her cheeks.
"No..."
She closed her eyes and felt Gibbs stand and wrap his arms around her and she cried. She didn't notice as Tony walked out of the Lab.
They shifted behind her; she heard the rustle of clothes. And then she had two men sitting on each side of her, arms around her shoulders.
Tony leaned in and kissed her cheek, she hadn't realized that she had started crying again. Their arms locked behind her and the others resting on her legs.
She cried for Kate, cried for the lost team and cried for the time lost.
She missed the soft kiss that happened above her head but felt them move closer.
And that's where they sat, close together, the mug on the floor and the fire dieing. But that's where they stayed, remembering Kate and hating Ari.
Maybe this is what she really needed, needed someone to help her warm up, to help her remember her friend and melt the ice that had grown in her heart.
The End
Author: Keyla Sheppard
Pairing: Tony DiNozzo/Jethro Gibbs, blink and you'll miss it.
Fandom: NCIS
Summary: Abby hasn't been the same since Kate's death, maybe all she needs is a safe place to remember.
My assignment was:
Fandom: NCIS
For: lovelypoet
Notes: prefer Abby-centric
She's shivering, but it's not from the cold outside. She's been shivering for a while and she just can't seem to stop.
The cold she feels seems to come from inside her, from a place she believed to be hidden. She shivers, a wave starting from her shoulders and ending at her feet before it calms again so just her hands are shaking, if she was to hold them out.
No one has noticed, at least not that she can tell. She finds that comforting, at least a little bit. She doesn't want to break when no one else seems to be.
It's been a slow week, she pretends to think it's because of how cold it's been but she can't really tell. She's sitting at her desk when Tony comes walking in but she doesn't look up from the paper she's looking at.
"We'll go clubbing Friday night, it'll be fun."
"Abby, I don't know..."
"Oh come on, it'll get you out of that gloom you've been in ever since Mark dumped you."
"Fine, but I have nothing to wear."
"Don't worry about that."
She remembers it all too clearly, as if it happened yesterday and it makes her a little colder.
"Abbs?"
Tony's standing next to her now, a hand on her shoulder and it feels like he's burning her. Instead of moving to get that hand off her, she just looks up and smiles at him, hands buried deep in her arms. She's hiding the shivering just like she's been doing since the start.
"Wanted to know if you wanted lunch."
Abby looks back to the paper on her desk, half covered by a folder, and sighs.
"Sorry, kind of busy. Rain check?"
Tony smiles, she looked in time to see it, but it didn't stay long. She worried that he saw something.
"Sure. Later."
Then he's walking back out of the lab, leaving her alone again, she hopes he didn't see it.
****
She's walking home, something she's been doing a lot lately. She never could get her hands to stop shaking enough to keep them on the wheel. If it were too cold she'd call a cab.
Back, before, she would have asked one of the team to give her a ride to her house if her car was left at home. She would have gone up with a smile on her face and waited to see who was leaving and follow them in the elevator, asking them there, too proud to ask in front of everyone else.
For a month, just when she was getting to know Kate, Kate would give her a ride home.
"Na, its no problem, Abby. I'd love to."
"Okay. Great."
The car ride wasn't silent or filled with talking it was comfortable.
"You want to come in? We can have supper, pizza or something."
"Yeah, I'd love that."
She'd follow her inside and once inside Abby would grab the menus and sift through them to find something to eat.
Those nights were always the best.
A car horn goes off next to her and when she turns the window is being rolled down and Gibbs is there.
"Abbs, it's too cold to walk. Get in."
Abby smiles, walks through the parked cars and hops in. Because she knows that if she didn't he'd know and she couldn't have anyone knowing.
She shivers a little when she gets in and he turns up the heat. He talks and she does too but she doesn't say much really. She's sitting on her hands, making sure they don't shake and smiles when he stops.
"Thanks, boss-man. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, anytime."
Abby reaches for the door handle, she can see her hands shaking more but doesn't do anything, just hopes that Gibbs isn't watching. She steps out, shuts the door and waves as Gibbs drives off.
Her hands fumble in her pockets, finding her keys and pulling them out. It takes a few tries for her to get the key to fit in the lock just right and she turns it.
Once inside her home, alone, she falls on her couch and takes a deep breath.
A day of shaking and shivering doesn't do any good for the body. She knows this. Ever since it started she's felt drained at the end of the day. She's felt tired and her muscles seemed to be cramped. She couldn't stop it though.
Soon she stands up and walks to the bathroom, starting the bath she turns the hot up and doesn't bother with the cold. As she strips she watches her hands shake at her buttons and zippers that seem to be everywhere on her outfit. Finally, she slips into the steaming water and sinks in.
It doesn't stop it, but it calms the shivers, if only for a while.
****
She doesn't know how she ended up here, she doesn't know if she decided to come here or if she just did. There's something missing but it doesn't bother her. She's been thinking too hard and she ends up places she never thought she would.
She's been standing there for about ten minutes; she looked at her watch when she noticed the house. She thinks she must have been outside for longer because her skin is cold, the shivering worse. But she doesn't make a move to the front door. She's standing on the other side of the street and she vaguely wonders if the neighbors have seen her and wondered whom she was.
She's not really moving, though she knows she should. She's been watching the door like it would hold the answers to the questions going through her head. The road is mostly deserted, only a few cars sitting around. She's happy that behind her is just a field, she has less to think about.
When she's across the street she doesn't really know when she walked there, just that she had gone closer. She can't feel her toes and even though she can go home and warm them up in the bath or in front of her furnace she stands in the snow.
Twenty minutes later she realizes that she hasn't really been shaking, something that's been rare lately. She takes comfort in that.
She turns to look down the street, debating on whether or not to walk home when the door opens.
"Abby?"
She looks back to the door, the door is all the way open, Gibbs' hand still on the knob. She smiles because it's all she can do, and walks slowly closer to him.
"Why don't you come in?"
She nods her thanks and Gibbs moves out of her way as she walks in. She doesn't go much farther then the doorway, just far enough away so the door can shut. When Gibbs turns back to her, she smiles again.
"Why don't you come warm up?"
Abby nods again and slowly takes off her boots. They're wet and snowy and her fingers can't unknot the laces too well. Gibbs bends down and unties them for her and she steps out of them.
"Thanks."
Her voice is horse, grainy and rough when she says it. It's almost a whisper and she's not sure if he really heard her until he looks up and smiles.
He starts to unwrap her from her coat and she helps, only a little. She realizes how truly cold she is, how her fingers don't really want to move. He smiles at her, worry in his eyes, and leads her to the couch. The fire is lit as if he knew she was going to need it and it gives off a nice glow.
"Better?"
She nods, afraid of her voice.
"I'll get you some coffee."
When he leaves she moves off the couch to sit closer to the fire, to the warmth. She can hear voices from the kitchen where Gibbs disappeared to but doesn't really pay attention to them. Right now all she wants to do is warm up.
When he walks back in there's someone trailing behind him, she doesn't look up though to find out what the shadow is, she only hears the person sit on the couch behind her. Gibbs places the steaming cup in her hands and places his hand on her shoulder.
It feels nice, if not a little too hot, but heat is better then the cold. When she takes a sip of the drink she smiles. It's not coffee but hot chocolate instead. Gibbs moves behind her, sitting next to the person she hasn't looked at.
The three of them sit there together, the two on the couch watching her as she stares at the fire and sips her coco. It's quite except for the crackling of the logs. She's able to think now, to remember and to be warm.
"Abbs?"
She turned and saw them both. Tony had blood on his face, just like her dream, but he didn't seem hurt, physically at least. His eyes were pained, as were Gibbs, which was something to see.
"Can we talk to you?"
Not I, but we. She nodded and Gibbs led her to her desk. She sat down in her chair as Tony leaned heavily on her desk as if it was all that was keeping him from breaking. When Gibbs kneeled down in front of her she knew something was wrong.
"Abby..."
Gibbs faltered, a sure sign of pain, of hurt.
"We found them..."
Tony stopped too, took a breath and was about to start again when Gibbs placed a hand on her leg.
"We were pinned down on a roof. Kate, Tony and I were up there trying to get to the remote while Tim tried to block the signal on the ground. We stopped the bomb..."
Abby nodded, slowly.
"We were standing on the roof, happy to have the job done when Kate fell. Ari shot her."
"Abby, Kate's dead."
She looked from Tony and back to Gibbs, tears not quite falling down her cheeks.
"No..."
She closed her eyes and felt Gibbs stand and wrap his arms around her and she cried. She didn't notice as Tony walked out of the Lab.
They shifted behind her; she heard the rustle of clothes. And then she had two men sitting on each side of her, arms around her shoulders.
Tony leaned in and kissed her cheek, she hadn't realized that she had started crying again. Their arms locked behind her and the others resting on her legs.
She cried for Kate, cried for the lost team and cried for the time lost.
She missed the soft kiss that happened above her head but felt them move closer.
And that's where they sat, close together, the mug on the floor and the fire dieing. But that's where they stayed, remembering Kate and hating Ari.
Maybe this is what she really needed, needed someone to help her warm up, to help her remember her friend and melt the ice that had grown in her heart.
The End