Fic: La Belle Dame Sans Merci [5/13]
Title: La Belle Dame Sans Merci
Author: Jo. R (driftingatdusk)
Rating: FR-15
Category: Drama, Angst, Action, Case-file, Romance, Friendship
Pairing: Abby/Gibbs
Spoilers: Mild for 'Child's Play', 'Hiatus', 'Rule 51'
Summary: When a friend is murdered, Abby will stop at nothing to get revenge.
****
Waking alone amidst the tangled sheets wasn't a surprise, not when she could already smell the tempting aroma of freshly brewed coffee and hear the soft tread of footsteps on the stairs. Lying back against the pillows, one arm over her chest holding the sheet in place, Abby stared up at the ceiling, a small smile playing on her mouth.
She'd dreamt about waking up in his room, about spending the night with Gibbs but she'd never allowed herself to believe it would actually become reality. Her memories and the slight ache in her body was tangible evidence that it had.
He'd been everything she'd imagined and so much more. Considerate, attentive, passionate and demanding... She certainly had no complaints. All of the years of wondering and dreaming, of fantasising along in her apartment paled in comparison to the reality of waking up in Gibbs' bed.
Abby sat up and clasped the sheet to her chest, an almost shy smile curving the corners of her unpainted mouth when he walked into the room, two cups of steaming coffee in his hands.
He gave her a slow grin that was almost a smirk and sat on the bed beside her, leaning in to steal a kiss as he passed her one of the cups. "Morning."
"Morning." The kiss was as welcome as the coffee.
They sipped their drinks in silence, his strong and black, hers sweet and creamy. Occasionally, she'd catch him looking at her - or he'd catch her looking at him - and she'd blush and suddenly find her coffee extremely interesting.
"We should probably..." his lips pressing against hers again cut her off. "Talk, was what I was going to say but if you've got other ideas, I won't object."
He took the almost empty cup from her and set it beside his own on the bedside table. His hands free, Gibbs turned to her and pulled her against him, kissing her thoroughly, pouring everything he didn't know how to say into the kiss.
Her eyes were dazed, her cheeks flushed when he pulled away only to roll her beneath him. He propped himself up on an elbow and contemplated her so seriously she began to feel uncomfortable.
"Gibbs..."
He again stopped her, pressing a gentle finger to her lips. "You know this isn't a one-time thing."
It wasn't a question, not really, but there was a small note of uncertainty that kept it from being a statement. Abby smiled up at him, reaching a hand up to his face to draw his mouth back down to hers.
"With you, it never could be," she murmured against his lips before allowing herself to get swept away by him and their feelings for each other once again.
****
It was a united pair that walked back into NCIS Headquarters the following day. Tony, Ziva and McGee eyed them speculatively, each aware that something was different but all unable to figure out exactly what it was.
Catherine arched an eyebrow as she met them at the window in the squad room but kept her thoughts to herself. "Good news for you, Abby. Rob and Helen have been found."
Abby glanced at the older woman sharply, a strangely still mask settling over her features. "Where?"
"At a motel three miles from here. They're alive," Catherine added quickly, "a little bruised but they're in one piece."
"They were attacked?" Concern flashed in Abby's green eyes.
"Ambushed getting in from work two nights ago. They fought, managed to get away and holed up in the motel until they thought it was safe to call it in." Catherine met Abby's gaze. "They're here, in the conference room. They insisted on talking to you."
Abby nodded, a dozen questions flying through her mind. She found herself glancing up towards the conference room but held herself still. "Any word on Annie?"
"None." Catherine gave her an apologetic look. "I've had a word with my superiors and they've decided to bring in someone else to help. Veronica Kelly will be here by noon."
A look flashed over Abby's face in a moment and her shoulders tensed. Beside her, Gibbs arched an eyebrow but she shook her head slightly. "Is Veronica taking over from an NSA perspective?"
"Not as long as I'm here," Catherine answered quietly, not sure if it was relief or disappointment she saw momentarily in Abby's eyes. "I know she's still an active agent but as far as I'm concerned, you're still in charge of the investigation. Abby... I know you two have had your differences in the past but she's good at what she does."
"I'm sure she is. She's good at screwing people over so she looks good." Abby shrugged a shoulder. "She can report directly to you. The least we see of each other, the better for all concerned."
Abby barely waited for Catherine's resigned sigh or reluctant nod. She strode away towards the stairs, aware of Gibbs following behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Tony, Ziva and McGee joining them, too.
One of her NSA teammates, Agent Charlie Robertson, stood outside the conference room door, obviously on guard duty and obviously uncomfortable with it.
"Agent Robertson?" Abby stopped to question him. "Any particular reason you're out here?"
Agent Robertson shifted on his feet. "Mr. And Mrs. Summers requested it, Ma'am. They asked Agent Lowry if they could have some privacy until you got here so she put me here to see that they weren't disturbed."
Privacy, or protection, Abby wondered. She gave the younger agent a strained smile. "As you were, Agent Robertson. If you could make sure we're not interrupted, I'd appreciate it."
The tips of his ears went red and he stood straighter. "Yes, Ma'am."
Abby led the group into the room, doing her best to ignore Tony's smirk.
"Think the kid has a crush you, Abs," Tony murmured just as soon as the doors closed behind them. The "ow" that followed a few moments later told her that Gibbs' had taken care of him for her.
Rob and Helen Summers looked up when they heard the door open, the tension draining from their bodies as they saw and recognised Abby. Rob stayed in his chair but gave her a tired wave, ugly dark bruises marring the left side of his face, standing out in stark contrast to the white gauze over his right eye. Helen moved to embrace her, her actions slow and pained. Fresh blood began to appear at the side of her mouth where the skin had been broken but neither woman reacted as they hugged the other close.
"Thank God you're here," Helen murmured, tears making her blue eyes even more luminous. Her arms tightened almost painfully around Abby. "We were so sure they would've taken you out first."
"Who?" Drawing back, Abby searched Helen's face for answers, cold dread settling in the pit of her stomach at the flash of betrayal in her friend's face. "What happened, Helen? Who attacked you?"
Clutching Abby's hand, Helen let herself be led back to the table. She started visibly when she realised they weren't alone, noticing the NCIS agents for the first time. Eying them with obvious suspicion, Helen took the hand her husband reached out to her and looked to Abby.
"They're NCIS," Abby explained quietly. "You can trust them. Agent Gibbs is co-leading the investigation and Agents DiNozzo, David and McGee are helping." She squeezed Helen's hand and gave her NCIS colleagues a small, affectionate smile. "These are the guys I told you about, the ones I work with here. I trust them completely and so can you."
Rob and Helen exchanged a look before they started to speak. "We'd met for coffee on our way home from work on Wednesday. We do it once a week, go to the same coffee shop just to unwind and celebrate we're halfway through the week."
Rob picked up the story when Helen's voice trailed off. "We drove home and Helen waited for me at the front door. Old instincts, I guess, but we always go through the door, any door, together if we can. We didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. The door was still locked, the security system still enabled. We'd only just stepped in when I heard Helen cry out..."
"One of the guys grabbed me," Helen continued, blinking back tears. "There were four in total. I tried to fight him off but two of the others grabbed Rob and one of them held a knife to his throat. They said if I struggled or screamed, they'd kill him."
There was a moment's pause. Abby saw Gibbs gesture to Tony out of the corner of her eye and matched the two men move off to the side to confer quietly. "Did you see who they were?" She asked instead, distracting her former colleagues from the conversation across the room. "Did they give any indication of why they're doing this?"
"One of the men looked familiar. He caught me staring at him and smirked at me." Helen shuddered at the memory. "He introduced himself as Tomas De Silvo. He said he was going to kill us because we'd helped kill his brother."
"De Silvo," Abby repeated, a thoughtful frown on her face. "A relation of Kristof De Silvo?"
At Gibbs' look, McGee jumped in with an explanation. "One of the old case-files I went through yesterday had a Kristof De Silvo. He was the leader of a would-be terrorist cell. The NSA - Abby's unit - were investigating a series of attacks in the capital in the late 80's. Each attack got a little closer to the Pentagon and the last one, a car bomb outside of a townhouse belonging to a Pentagon official, killed four people."
"Colonel O'Reilly was an Air Force officer assigned to the Pentagon. There was some talk of him running for senate. He, his wife and son were killed in the explosion, as well as his aide." A shadow passed over Abby's face as she recalled the details of the case. "We caught a break when we managed to trace the car the bomb had been in to a rental company. The name they had was fake but they had CCTV footage and we caught the guy trying to get in on a tour of the White House. He gave up the others, Kristof De Silvo and his group, and told us where we could find them."
"So you arrested them?" Ziva asked quietly. "Shut down the operation?"
"Not exactly." Abby frowned and ran a hand through her hair. "I always thought they'd been tipped off. Only half of the people we were expecting were there - Kristof and about fifteen others. They seemed to know we were coming and the whole thing... It got messy, people got hurt."
"We lost three agents before getting control of the situation," Rob explained with a sigh. "It would have been four when Kirstof managed to grab Annie..."
"... but Abby killed him. You saved Annie's life," Helen reminded the pale woman gently. "If you hadn't, he would have slit her throat while the rest of us watched."
Abby cleared her throat, trying unsuccessfully to block out the images that replayed on a loop in her mind. "We lost three, they lost nine including Kristof. The remaining six were questioned and imprisoned. The cell was deemed to be no longer a threat because Kristof was dead."
A short silence fell over the group. Abby, Rob and Helen tried not to remember that night when three of their own had fallen while Gibbs, Tony, Ziva and McGee tried to picture their forensic scientist at the heart of it all.
"You were right about them being tipped off," Helen said suddenly, breaking the silence. "Tomas said he had a source that had saved his life, one that had given him the names and addresses of everyone involved that night. His plan is to get revenge for his brother's murder, and those friends of his who died, and then continue what they started in the De Silvo name."
"Did they say who?" Abby sat up straighter in her chair, eyes narrowed speculatively.
"No." Rob shook his head. "We tried to bait him but he just said it was someone within the NSA. It's why Helen and I wanted to speak only to you. You're the only one we kept in touch with, the only one we knew we could trust."
"How did you get away from them, if you don't mind me asking?" Ziva questioned, a perfect mixture of concern and curiosity on her face. "You were outnumbered and out-armed."
"After they beat us, two of them left - Tomas and another man. They said something about having to pay someone else a visit." Helen's grip on Rob and Abby's hands tightened. "Has anyone else been hurt? Do you know if they've gone after the others...?"
"How did you get away from the other two?" Gibbs interrupted, meeting Abby's questioning stare with a quirked eyebrow. "They must've still been armed."
"They were," Rob answered for his wife, a glimmer of annoyance flickering in the depths of his grey eyes. "We waited till one of them went to the bathroom, then Helen doubled over as if she was in pain. When he got close enough, Helen kneed him in the groin - and I kicked out, knocking him over. We'd already loosened the knots of the rope they'd used to tie us up so getting away from that point wasn't a problem."
"We didn't dare get any clothes or money other than what was in my purse, which was still on the floor where I'd dropped it. It was Rob's idea to drive most of the way, then we ditched it and walked the rest of the way." Helen gave them a tremulous smile. "We're just lucky we remembered some of our training, I guess." Her smile disappeared as she looked at Abby. "We tried calling you at home last night but you weren't there, and we didn't want to risk leaving a message in case the wrong person heard it. Eventually we called Veronica, she told us we'd be able to find you here."
"Why did you wait until last night to call me?" A small frown marred Abby's brow. "You could've called as soon as you were safe."
"We didn't want to risk it," Rob said apologetically. "We decided to wait a few days in case you were the one Tomas was going to see."
"So you left her at risk for three days to save your own skin," Tony interjected, the beginnings of a scowl on his face. "Nice friends you have here, Abs. Glad you can count on them to watch your back."
The sarcasm in his voice wasn't lost on any of them. While Abby appreciated his outrage was on her behalf, she felt a twinge of loyalty for the former NSA agents who'd watched her back for so long so many years ago. "It's standard procedure, Tony. They're right, contacting me could have led De Silvo and his men right back to them. You should have contacted the NSA as soon as possible," she addressed Rob and Helen, a slight note of censure creeping into her voice. "But if De Silvo does have a mole inside of the agency, I can understand why you waited."
She could understand it, Abby conceded to herself, but knew if their situations were reversed, she would have done anything she could to warn them. So, she knew, would the NCIS agents in the room, in spite of the danger they might have been putting themselves in.
"Have they gone after anyone else?" Helen asked again, her eyes locking on Abby. "Were we the first...?"
Abby shook her head, dropping her gaze to the table momentarily. As she explained the situation to her former teammates, Gibbs motioned for his agents to gather by the door.
"You're not buying it," Tony said quietly, keeping his voice down to avoid being overheard. "You think they're hiding something?"
"I think that's what you get to paid to find out, DiNozzo," Gibbs answered just as lowly. "You and Ziva go to their place, check out their story. Catherine said she'd sent people round to the house and there was no sign of anything amiss. Check out the motel they called from, too. McGee..." Glancing over his shoulder to check the couple in question were still engrossed in Abby's explanation, Gibbs paused a moment, a momentary regret at betraying Abby's faith in her former colleagues going through him. "Go through their finances," he instructed McGee. "See if there's anything that doesn't add up."
"You think maybe they bought their safety? Paid De Silvo not to kill them?" McGee's eyes widened momentarily. "Boss..."
"Abby is not going to like this," Ziva finished McGee's thought for him, voicing the concern all four of them shared. "She will think we are going behind her back."
Gibbs met Ziva's gaze for a short moment. "Let me worry about Abby," he said eventually. "You just do your jobs."
Knowing it meant he would tell their forensic scientist what he'd ordered them to do and take full responsibility if he had to, the three NCIS agents left to do as he'd asked. Gibbs turned back to watch Abby, to study the two people she was talking with, hoping for her sake his gut would be proven wrong.
****
Author: Jo. R (driftingatdusk)
Rating: FR-15
Category: Drama, Angst, Action, Case-file, Romance, Friendship
Pairing: Abby/Gibbs
Spoilers: Mild for 'Child's Play', 'Hiatus', 'Rule 51'
Summary: When a friend is murdered, Abby will stop at nothing to get revenge.
****
Waking alone amidst the tangled sheets wasn't a surprise, not when she could already smell the tempting aroma of freshly brewed coffee and hear the soft tread of footsteps on the stairs. Lying back against the pillows, one arm over her chest holding the sheet in place, Abby stared up at the ceiling, a small smile playing on her mouth.
She'd dreamt about waking up in his room, about spending the night with Gibbs but she'd never allowed herself to believe it would actually become reality. Her memories and the slight ache in her body was tangible evidence that it had.
He'd been everything she'd imagined and so much more. Considerate, attentive, passionate and demanding... She certainly had no complaints. All of the years of wondering and dreaming, of fantasising along in her apartment paled in comparison to the reality of waking up in Gibbs' bed.
Abby sat up and clasped the sheet to her chest, an almost shy smile curving the corners of her unpainted mouth when he walked into the room, two cups of steaming coffee in his hands.
He gave her a slow grin that was almost a smirk and sat on the bed beside her, leaning in to steal a kiss as he passed her one of the cups. "Morning."
"Morning." The kiss was as welcome as the coffee.
They sipped their drinks in silence, his strong and black, hers sweet and creamy. Occasionally, she'd catch him looking at her - or he'd catch her looking at him - and she'd blush and suddenly find her coffee extremely interesting.
"We should probably..." his lips pressing against hers again cut her off. "Talk, was what I was going to say but if you've got other ideas, I won't object."
He took the almost empty cup from her and set it beside his own on the bedside table. His hands free, Gibbs turned to her and pulled her against him, kissing her thoroughly, pouring everything he didn't know how to say into the kiss.
Her eyes were dazed, her cheeks flushed when he pulled away only to roll her beneath him. He propped himself up on an elbow and contemplated her so seriously she began to feel uncomfortable.
"Gibbs..."
He again stopped her, pressing a gentle finger to her lips. "You know this isn't a one-time thing."
It wasn't a question, not really, but there was a small note of uncertainty that kept it from being a statement. Abby smiled up at him, reaching a hand up to his face to draw his mouth back down to hers.
"With you, it never could be," she murmured against his lips before allowing herself to get swept away by him and their feelings for each other once again.
****
It was a united pair that walked back into NCIS Headquarters the following day. Tony, Ziva and McGee eyed them speculatively, each aware that something was different but all unable to figure out exactly what it was.
Catherine arched an eyebrow as she met them at the window in the squad room but kept her thoughts to herself. "Good news for you, Abby. Rob and Helen have been found."
Abby glanced at the older woman sharply, a strangely still mask settling over her features. "Where?"
"At a motel three miles from here. They're alive," Catherine added quickly, "a little bruised but they're in one piece."
"They were attacked?" Concern flashed in Abby's green eyes.
"Ambushed getting in from work two nights ago. They fought, managed to get away and holed up in the motel until they thought it was safe to call it in." Catherine met Abby's gaze. "They're here, in the conference room. They insisted on talking to you."
Abby nodded, a dozen questions flying through her mind. She found herself glancing up towards the conference room but held herself still. "Any word on Annie?"
"None." Catherine gave her an apologetic look. "I've had a word with my superiors and they've decided to bring in someone else to help. Veronica Kelly will be here by noon."
A look flashed over Abby's face in a moment and her shoulders tensed. Beside her, Gibbs arched an eyebrow but she shook her head slightly. "Is Veronica taking over from an NSA perspective?"
"Not as long as I'm here," Catherine answered quietly, not sure if it was relief or disappointment she saw momentarily in Abby's eyes. "I know she's still an active agent but as far as I'm concerned, you're still in charge of the investigation. Abby... I know you two have had your differences in the past but she's good at what she does."
"I'm sure she is. She's good at screwing people over so she looks good." Abby shrugged a shoulder. "She can report directly to you. The least we see of each other, the better for all concerned."
Abby barely waited for Catherine's resigned sigh or reluctant nod. She strode away towards the stairs, aware of Gibbs following behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Tony, Ziva and McGee joining them, too.
One of her NSA teammates, Agent Charlie Robertson, stood outside the conference room door, obviously on guard duty and obviously uncomfortable with it.
"Agent Robertson?" Abby stopped to question him. "Any particular reason you're out here?"
Agent Robertson shifted on his feet. "Mr. And Mrs. Summers requested it, Ma'am. They asked Agent Lowry if they could have some privacy until you got here so she put me here to see that they weren't disturbed."
Privacy, or protection, Abby wondered. She gave the younger agent a strained smile. "As you were, Agent Robertson. If you could make sure we're not interrupted, I'd appreciate it."
The tips of his ears went red and he stood straighter. "Yes, Ma'am."
Abby led the group into the room, doing her best to ignore Tony's smirk.
"Think the kid has a crush you, Abs," Tony murmured just as soon as the doors closed behind them. The "ow" that followed a few moments later told her that Gibbs' had taken care of him for her.
Rob and Helen Summers looked up when they heard the door open, the tension draining from their bodies as they saw and recognised Abby. Rob stayed in his chair but gave her a tired wave, ugly dark bruises marring the left side of his face, standing out in stark contrast to the white gauze over his right eye. Helen moved to embrace her, her actions slow and pained. Fresh blood began to appear at the side of her mouth where the skin had been broken but neither woman reacted as they hugged the other close.
"Thank God you're here," Helen murmured, tears making her blue eyes even more luminous. Her arms tightened almost painfully around Abby. "We were so sure they would've taken you out first."
"Who?" Drawing back, Abby searched Helen's face for answers, cold dread settling in the pit of her stomach at the flash of betrayal in her friend's face. "What happened, Helen? Who attacked you?"
Clutching Abby's hand, Helen let herself be led back to the table. She started visibly when she realised they weren't alone, noticing the NCIS agents for the first time. Eying them with obvious suspicion, Helen took the hand her husband reached out to her and looked to Abby.
"They're NCIS," Abby explained quietly. "You can trust them. Agent Gibbs is co-leading the investigation and Agents DiNozzo, David and McGee are helping." She squeezed Helen's hand and gave her NCIS colleagues a small, affectionate smile. "These are the guys I told you about, the ones I work with here. I trust them completely and so can you."
Rob and Helen exchanged a look before they started to speak. "We'd met for coffee on our way home from work on Wednesday. We do it once a week, go to the same coffee shop just to unwind and celebrate we're halfway through the week."
Rob picked up the story when Helen's voice trailed off. "We drove home and Helen waited for me at the front door. Old instincts, I guess, but we always go through the door, any door, together if we can. We didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. The door was still locked, the security system still enabled. We'd only just stepped in when I heard Helen cry out..."
"One of the guys grabbed me," Helen continued, blinking back tears. "There were four in total. I tried to fight him off but two of the others grabbed Rob and one of them held a knife to his throat. They said if I struggled or screamed, they'd kill him."
There was a moment's pause. Abby saw Gibbs gesture to Tony out of the corner of her eye and matched the two men move off to the side to confer quietly. "Did you see who they were?" She asked instead, distracting her former colleagues from the conversation across the room. "Did they give any indication of why they're doing this?"
"One of the men looked familiar. He caught me staring at him and smirked at me." Helen shuddered at the memory. "He introduced himself as Tomas De Silvo. He said he was going to kill us because we'd helped kill his brother."
"De Silvo," Abby repeated, a thoughtful frown on her face. "A relation of Kristof De Silvo?"
At Gibbs' look, McGee jumped in with an explanation. "One of the old case-files I went through yesterday had a Kristof De Silvo. He was the leader of a would-be terrorist cell. The NSA - Abby's unit - were investigating a series of attacks in the capital in the late 80's. Each attack got a little closer to the Pentagon and the last one, a car bomb outside of a townhouse belonging to a Pentagon official, killed four people."
"Colonel O'Reilly was an Air Force officer assigned to the Pentagon. There was some talk of him running for senate. He, his wife and son were killed in the explosion, as well as his aide." A shadow passed over Abby's face as she recalled the details of the case. "We caught a break when we managed to trace the car the bomb had been in to a rental company. The name they had was fake but they had CCTV footage and we caught the guy trying to get in on a tour of the White House. He gave up the others, Kristof De Silvo and his group, and told us where we could find them."
"So you arrested them?" Ziva asked quietly. "Shut down the operation?"
"Not exactly." Abby frowned and ran a hand through her hair. "I always thought they'd been tipped off. Only half of the people we were expecting were there - Kristof and about fifteen others. They seemed to know we were coming and the whole thing... It got messy, people got hurt."
"We lost three agents before getting control of the situation," Rob explained with a sigh. "It would have been four when Kirstof managed to grab Annie..."
"... but Abby killed him. You saved Annie's life," Helen reminded the pale woman gently. "If you hadn't, he would have slit her throat while the rest of us watched."
Abby cleared her throat, trying unsuccessfully to block out the images that replayed on a loop in her mind. "We lost three, they lost nine including Kristof. The remaining six were questioned and imprisoned. The cell was deemed to be no longer a threat because Kristof was dead."
A short silence fell over the group. Abby, Rob and Helen tried not to remember that night when three of their own had fallen while Gibbs, Tony, Ziva and McGee tried to picture their forensic scientist at the heart of it all.
"You were right about them being tipped off," Helen said suddenly, breaking the silence. "Tomas said he had a source that had saved his life, one that had given him the names and addresses of everyone involved that night. His plan is to get revenge for his brother's murder, and those friends of his who died, and then continue what they started in the De Silvo name."
"Did they say who?" Abby sat up straighter in her chair, eyes narrowed speculatively.
"No." Rob shook his head. "We tried to bait him but he just said it was someone within the NSA. It's why Helen and I wanted to speak only to you. You're the only one we kept in touch with, the only one we knew we could trust."
"How did you get away from them, if you don't mind me asking?" Ziva questioned, a perfect mixture of concern and curiosity on her face. "You were outnumbered and out-armed."
"After they beat us, two of them left - Tomas and another man. They said something about having to pay someone else a visit." Helen's grip on Rob and Abby's hands tightened. "Has anyone else been hurt? Do you know if they've gone after the others...?"
"How did you get away from the other two?" Gibbs interrupted, meeting Abby's questioning stare with a quirked eyebrow. "They must've still been armed."
"They were," Rob answered for his wife, a glimmer of annoyance flickering in the depths of his grey eyes. "We waited till one of them went to the bathroom, then Helen doubled over as if she was in pain. When he got close enough, Helen kneed him in the groin - and I kicked out, knocking him over. We'd already loosened the knots of the rope they'd used to tie us up so getting away from that point wasn't a problem."
"We didn't dare get any clothes or money other than what was in my purse, which was still on the floor where I'd dropped it. It was Rob's idea to drive most of the way, then we ditched it and walked the rest of the way." Helen gave them a tremulous smile. "We're just lucky we remembered some of our training, I guess." Her smile disappeared as she looked at Abby. "We tried calling you at home last night but you weren't there, and we didn't want to risk leaving a message in case the wrong person heard it. Eventually we called Veronica, she told us we'd be able to find you here."
"Why did you wait until last night to call me?" A small frown marred Abby's brow. "You could've called as soon as you were safe."
"We didn't want to risk it," Rob said apologetically. "We decided to wait a few days in case you were the one Tomas was going to see."
"So you left her at risk for three days to save your own skin," Tony interjected, the beginnings of a scowl on his face. "Nice friends you have here, Abs. Glad you can count on them to watch your back."
The sarcasm in his voice wasn't lost on any of them. While Abby appreciated his outrage was on her behalf, she felt a twinge of loyalty for the former NSA agents who'd watched her back for so long so many years ago. "It's standard procedure, Tony. They're right, contacting me could have led De Silvo and his men right back to them. You should have contacted the NSA as soon as possible," she addressed Rob and Helen, a slight note of censure creeping into her voice. "But if De Silvo does have a mole inside of the agency, I can understand why you waited."
She could understand it, Abby conceded to herself, but knew if their situations were reversed, she would have done anything she could to warn them. So, she knew, would the NCIS agents in the room, in spite of the danger they might have been putting themselves in.
"Have they gone after anyone else?" Helen asked again, her eyes locking on Abby. "Were we the first...?"
Abby shook her head, dropping her gaze to the table momentarily. As she explained the situation to her former teammates, Gibbs motioned for his agents to gather by the door.
"You're not buying it," Tony said quietly, keeping his voice down to avoid being overheard. "You think they're hiding something?"
"I think that's what you get to paid to find out, DiNozzo," Gibbs answered just as lowly. "You and Ziva go to their place, check out their story. Catherine said she'd sent people round to the house and there was no sign of anything amiss. Check out the motel they called from, too. McGee..." Glancing over his shoulder to check the couple in question were still engrossed in Abby's explanation, Gibbs paused a moment, a momentary regret at betraying Abby's faith in her former colleagues going through him. "Go through their finances," he instructed McGee. "See if there's anything that doesn't add up."
"You think maybe they bought their safety? Paid De Silvo not to kill them?" McGee's eyes widened momentarily. "Boss..."
"Abby is not going to like this," Ziva finished McGee's thought for him, voicing the concern all four of them shared. "She will think we are going behind her back."
Gibbs met Ziva's gaze for a short moment. "Let me worry about Abby," he said eventually. "You just do your jobs."
Knowing it meant he would tell their forensic scientist what he'd ordered them to do and take full responsibility if he had to, the three NCIS agents left to do as he'd asked. Gibbs turned back to watch Abby, to study the two people she was talking with, hoping for her sake his gut would be proven wrong.
****