Fic: Smoke and Mirrors [18/23]
Title: Smoke and Mirrors 18/23
Author: Jo. R (driftingatdusk)
Rating: FR-15
Category: Drama, Case-file, Romance, Angst, Action, Friendship
Pairing: Abby/Gibbs
Spoilers: Bloodbath, Hiatus 1&2, Murder 2.0, Broken Bird, Faith, Rule 51, Cracked
Summary: Someone from the past has a score to settle with the team.
Thanks and *hugs* to Lisa, and everyone following this :)
~*~
Part Eighteen
~*~
Gibbs watched Abby break down, tears slipping down her cheeks as she went into Ziva's willing embrace on the television screen in the apartment above hers, his hands clenching into fists.
The photographs of Abby that decorated the walls of the living room unnerved him but it was the live feed that bothered him the most, especially when he looked at the small screens representing other rooms in her apartment and saw Ziva had been right; the bastard had been watching her in her bedroom, in her bathroom, as well as in her living room, kitchen and hallways.
There wasn't one room that wasn't covered by the scope of the cameras, not one area of the apartment where she could have sat unobserved by the stranger above her.
It made him sick and it made him angry.
"Boss?" Tony approached him cautiously, dropping his gaze when Gibbs looked up at him. "We found more photographs in the bedroom. You, ah, you might want to take a look."
Following his senior agent through to the room in question, Gibbs clenched his jaw and fought the urge to hit something. There were more photographs of Abby, taken over what looked to be an extended period of time. His gaze swept swiftly over them, his stomach churning as he gazed at several of her in various states of undress, the anger returning in a flood of heat as he saw several that had been taken through the windows of his own home, showing himself and Abby in heated embraces they had thought private.
Pulling one of the more revealing photographs down, Gibbs glared at McGee before he could protest. "She doesn't need to know about this," he told his agents, a warning note creeping into his voice. "Take your pictures then put these away. Keep them separate from the others. If we can avoid her seeing them, we will."
Both Tony and McGee nodded, neither willing to argue with him.
Gibbs surveyed the rest of the room, the nausea building at the crumpled sheets. The person responsible had slept here, above where Abby herself had slept. He'd watched her, invaded her privacy in almost every way, and slept, probably without a modicum of guilt.
That thought alone was enough to make him see red, and it only made him all the more determined to catch the man behind it and make him pay.
McGee returned to the apartment within minutes, his bag over his shoulder and camera in hand. He passed the bag to Tony and started taking photographs, leaving Tony and Gibbs to don gloves and gather evidence.
"There's some used tissues in the trash," Tony said sedately. "Take a picture, McGee, so I can bag them. Might get a match from the DNA..."
Gibbs ground his teeth together, forcing himself not to think about what kind of DNA samples Tony was referring to. He waited for McGee to take pictures of the photographic collage in front of him before taking them down systematically, his need for revenge growing with each one he looked at.
The three agents worked in silence until Ziva arrived, her expression clearly showing her distaste at what she saw.
"Ducky is with Abby," she said by way of explanation when Gibbs looked at her. "She asked me to check the cameras were no longer transmitting so that she can get dressed."
"Shut them off, McGee," Gibbs ordered instantly, berating himself internally for not thinking of it sooner. "Get her to pack what she needs. She's not staying here."
Ziva gave him a nod of acknowledgement and waited until McGee announced the camera feed had been disabled before retreating to the apartment below.
It was all too easy for the remaining agents to picture their forensic specialist, shaken and upset and scared out of her mind. Each of them swore they'd do whatever they had to do to make her feel safe again, to keep her protected and keep whoever was responsible as far away as possible.
~*~
The weary group made their way back to the Navy Yard in the early hours of the morning. There'd been no time for sleep as they'd processed the scene, with each of the agents hoping they'd be able to grab an hour's sleep at their desks throughout the day ahead.
Abby herself was too anxious to even try sleeping, certain that only nightmares and darkness awaited her. She told herself she would rather face Gibbs' anger than face the monster her imagination would no doubt conjure.
She sat at Gibbs' desk as the agent in question went to report to Director Vance, while Tony, McGee and Ziva all took advantage of the momentary lull in activity to catch a few moments rest at their own desks. The evidence gathered from the apartment above hers was sitting in a box on the end of Gibbs' desk and Abby found herself fighting a twisted sense of curiosity.
She wanted to see what was inside it, what the stalker had that had obviously unnerved her colleagues but at the same time... Her friends were seasoned agents and even they had reacted to whatever was inside the box. It might have been because the evidence in the box was linked to her in some way or it might have been that whatever they'd found...
Just about to reach for the box, Abby was startled at the sound of footsteps on the stairs coming down from the upper level and looked up to find Gibbs taking them two at a time, his phone pressed to his ear and an expression like thunder on his face. He muttered something into the phone and hung up before he reached the ground floor, the force with which he shut his phone causing his agents to sit up in their seats.
"What's going on, Boss?" Tony asked, barely able to stifle a yawn. "We get a lead...?"
"We've got something," Gibbs muttered darkly. "Mikel Mawher was released from prison yesterday afternoon on medical grounds. The ambulance he was in didn't reach the hospital. It was recovered this morning two miles from the prison. The guard was found with it, shot twice in the back."
Instantly, the three agents sat up straighter.
"You think Mikel may be involved in this?" Ziva asked quietly, her gaze switching between Gibbs and Abby. "That he has orchestrated it from prison?"
"I wouldn't put anything past that guy," Tony muttered, his disgust evident. "He's a little creep..."
"Why would he ask someone else to follow me, spy on me?" Abby interjected, her green gaze reluctantly meeting Gibbs' cool blue stare. "Mikel wouldn't like that. He'd be too jealous, too possessive. He'd hate the thought of someone else being able to do what he can't. Besides, the guy I keep seeing has been following me for weeks, since before everything with Doyle kicked off. That was the first time I remember seeing him, in the coffee shop..."
Her voice trailed off at the look on Gibbs' face. She bit her lip and stared down at the desk, waiting.
She wasn't disappointed. He moved quietly but swiftly, until he was standing in front of her, leaning over her. His voice was soft but in a way, that was worse. She would have preferred loud fury as opposed to the soft, restrained anger mingled with the hurt she could hear so clearly in his voice.
"If you thought something was wrong weeks ago, why didn't you say anything, Abby? Why didn't you come to me?" Gibbs waited only a heartbeat for her to reply. "Thought we both knew where we stood on that after last time."
"I didn't want to worry you," Abby said, her voice just as quiet as his. She lifted her gaze and looked up, wishing she could erase the hurt in his eyes, wishing she could say something to dispel the anger. "Hear me out, Gibbs, please. I didn't know at first that he was really following me, I thought it was in my head, that maybe it was a lingering effect of the caffeine poisoning making me paranoid. By the time I realised it wasn't... I didn't want to believe it, and I didn't want to say anything to you in case..."
"In case what, Abby?" His voice was calm, steady. It made her feel even worse.
She sighed heavily and clasped her hands together in her lap. "I didn't want you to feel like you were obligated to do something because of what's going on between us. I didn't... I thought if I told you, it'd be forcing your hand a little and you might feel like you had to do something even though I had no proof to give you that it wasn't just a coincidence. I wanted to be sure, at first, and then I wanted to be wrong..."
"So because we're together, you felt you couldn't come to me about it. Is that it?" Gibbs' eyes flashed dangerously. "Or because we're together, you thought I wouldn't be able to control myself, that I wouldn't be able to think rationally?"
"Would you?" Abby asked softly. "I know how you get when the people you care about are in danger, Gibbs. I've *seen* you. And I don't want you getting into trouble because of me, because I'm not..."
"Not what?" Gibbs' voice took on a sharp edge. "Not worth it?"
She shrugged a shoulder but couldn't meet his gaze. "I'm not worth your career or your life, Gibbs."
"Funny how when our situations were reversed you were willing to throw everything away for me, isn't it?" He murmured, dropping his voice so his eavesdropping agents couldn't hear. "If we're not doing this on equal footing, Abby, we've got a problem."
"Maybe we do," she responded just as quietly, clasping her hands tighter to keep them from trembling.
Gibbs stood, glaring at the three agents doing their best to make it look like they hadn't been listening to their conversation. "Ziva, take Abby back to your place. Get some sleep. McGee or DiNozzo will be over to relieve you in an hour. DiNozzo, take that stuff down to the lab."
Abby forced herself to stand, hating the way her legs trembled. "I can work," she protested. "I need..."
"You need to go," Gibbs retorted sharply. His expression softened only marginally when she took a step back in surprise. "You need some sleep, Abby, so you can come back tomorrow and focus on what needs to be done. We'd all be able to concentrate better knowing you're somewhere safe."
She wanted to argue that she'd be safe in her lab but the events of the last few weeks replayed themselves in her mind, an unpleasant reminder that her lab wasn't necessarily the safe place she'd always wanted to believe it was. She gave him a reluctant nod and brushed by him on her way to Ziva's desk, half hoping he'd reach out and hug her, hoping he'd reassure her that everything would be okay.
Her heart broke when he let her walk away.
~*~
Author: Jo. R (driftingatdusk)
Rating: FR-15
Category: Drama, Case-file, Romance, Angst, Action, Friendship
Pairing: Abby/Gibbs
Spoilers: Bloodbath, Hiatus 1&2, Murder 2.0, Broken Bird, Faith, Rule 51, Cracked
Summary: Someone from the past has a score to settle with the team.
Thanks and *hugs* to Lisa, and everyone following this :)
~*~
Part Eighteen
~*~
Gibbs watched Abby break down, tears slipping down her cheeks as she went into Ziva's willing embrace on the television screen in the apartment above hers, his hands clenching into fists.
The photographs of Abby that decorated the walls of the living room unnerved him but it was the live feed that bothered him the most, especially when he looked at the small screens representing other rooms in her apartment and saw Ziva had been right; the bastard had been watching her in her bedroom, in her bathroom, as well as in her living room, kitchen and hallways.
There wasn't one room that wasn't covered by the scope of the cameras, not one area of the apartment where she could have sat unobserved by the stranger above her.
It made him sick and it made him angry.
"Boss?" Tony approached him cautiously, dropping his gaze when Gibbs looked up at him. "We found more photographs in the bedroom. You, ah, you might want to take a look."
Following his senior agent through to the room in question, Gibbs clenched his jaw and fought the urge to hit something. There were more photographs of Abby, taken over what looked to be an extended period of time. His gaze swept swiftly over them, his stomach churning as he gazed at several of her in various states of undress, the anger returning in a flood of heat as he saw several that had been taken through the windows of his own home, showing himself and Abby in heated embraces they had thought private.
Pulling one of the more revealing photographs down, Gibbs glared at McGee before he could protest. "She doesn't need to know about this," he told his agents, a warning note creeping into his voice. "Take your pictures then put these away. Keep them separate from the others. If we can avoid her seeing them, we will."
Both Tony and McGee nodded, neither willing to argue with him.
Gibbs surveyed the rest of the room, the nausea building at the crumpled sheets. The person responsible had slept here, above where Abby herself had slept. He'd watched her, invaded her privacy in almost every way, and slept, probably without a modicum of guilt.
That thought alone was enough to make him see red, and it only made him all the more determined to catch the man behind it and make him pay.
McGee returned to the apartment within minutes, his bag over his shoulder and camera in hand. He passed the bag to Tony and started taking photographs, leaving Tony and Gibbs to don gloves and gather evidence.
"There's some used tissues in the trash," Tony said sedately. "Take a picture, McGee, so I can bag them. Might get a match from the DNA..."
Gibbs ground his teeth together, forcing himself not to think about what kind of DNA samples Tony was referring to. He waited for McGee to take pictures of the photographic collage in front of him before taking them down systematically, his need for revenge growing with each one he looked at.
The three agents worked in silence until Ziva arrived, her expression clearly showing her distaste at what she saw.
"Ducky is with Abby," she said by way of explanation when Gibbs looked at her. "She asked me to check the cameras were no longer transmitting so that she can get dressed."
"Shut them off, McGee," Gibbs ordered instantly, berating himself internally for not thinking of it sooner. "Get her to pack what she needs. She's not staying here."
Ziva gave him a nod of acknowledgement and waited until McGee announced the camera feed had been disabled before retreating to the apartment below.
It was all too easy for the remaining agents to picture their forensic specialist, shaken and upset and scared out of her mind. Each of them swore they'd do whatever they had to do to make her feel safe again, to keep her protected and keep whoever was responsible as far away as possible.
~*~
The weary group made their way back to the Navy Yard in the early hours of the morning. There'd been no time for sleep as they'd processed the scene, with each of the agents hoping they'd be able to grab an hour's sleep at their desks throughout the day ahead.
Abby herself was too anxious to even try sleeping, certain that only nightmares and darkness awaited her. She told herself she would rather face Gibbs' anger than face the monster her imagination would no doubt conjure.
She sat at Gibbs' desk as the agent in question went to report to Director Vance, while Tony, McGee and Ziva all took advantage of the momentary lull in activity to catch a few moments rest at their own desks. The evidence gathered from the apartment above hers was sitting in a box on the end of Gibbs' desk and Abby found herself fighting a twisted sense of curiosity.
She wanted to see what was inside it, what the stalker had that had obviously unnerved her colleagues but at the same time... Her friends were seasoned agents and even they had reacted to whatever was inside the box. It might have been because the evidence in the box was linked to her in some way or it might have been that whatever they'd found...
Just about to reach for the box, Abby was startled at the sound of footsteps on the stairs coming down from the upper level and looked up to find Gibbs taking them two at a time, his phone pressed to his ear and an expression like thunder on his face. He muttered something into the phone and hung up before he reached the ground floor, the force with which he shut his phone causing his agents to sit up in their seats.
"What's going on, Boss?" Tony asked, barely able to stifle a yawn. "We get a lead...?"
"We've got something," Gibbs muttered darkly. "Mikel Mawher was released from prison yesterday afternoon on medical grounds. The ambulance he was in didn't reach the hospital. It was recovered this morning two miles from the prison. The guard was found with it, shot twice in the back."
Instantly, the three agents sat up straighter.
"You think Mikel may be involved in this?" Ziva asked quietly, her gaze switching between Gibbs and Abby. "That he has orchestrated it from prison?"
"I wouldn't put anything past that guy," Tony muttered, his disgust evident. "He's a little creep..."
"Why would he ask someone else to follow me, spy on me?" Abby interjected, her green gaze reluctantly meeting Gibbs' cool blue stare. "Mikel wouldn't like that. He'd be too jealous, too possessive. He'd hate the thought of someone else being able to do what he can't. Besides, the guy I keep seeing has been following me for weeks, since before everything with Doyle kicked off. That was the first time I remember seeing him, in the coffee shop..."
Her voice trailed off at the look on Gibbs' face. She bit her lip and stared down at the desk, waiting.
She wasn't disappointed. He moved quietly but swiftly, until he was standing in front of her, leaning over her. His voice was soft but in a way, that was worse. She would have preferred loud fury as opposed to the soft, restrained anger mingled with the hurt she could hear so clearly in his voice.
"If you thought something was wrong weeks ago, why didn't you say anything, Abby? Why didn't you come to me?" Gibbs waited only a heartbeat for her to reply. "Thought we both knew where we stood on that after last time."
"I didn't want to worry you," Abby said, her voice just as quiet as his. She lifted her gaze and looked up, wishing she could erase the hurt in his eyes, wishing she could say something to dispel the anger. "Hear me out, Gibbs, please. I didn't know at first that he was really following me, I thought it was in my head, that maybe it was a lingering effect of the caffeine poisoning making me paranoid. By the time I realised it wasn't... I didn't want to believe it, and I didn't want to say anything to you in case..."
"In case what, Abby?" His voice was calm, steady. It made her feel even worse.
She sighed heavily and clasped her hands together in her lap. "I didn't want you to feel like you were obligated to do something because of what's going on between us. I didn't... I thought if I told you, it'd be forcing your hand a little and you might feel like you had to do something even though I had no proof to give you that it wasn't just a coincidence. I wanted to be sure, at first, and then I wanted to be wrong..."
"So because we're together, you felt you couldn't come to me about it. Is that it?" Gibbs' eyes flashed dangerously. "Or because we're together, you thought I wouldn't be able to control myself, that I wouldn't be able to think rationally?"
"Would you?" Abby asked softly. "I know how you get when the people you care about are in danger, Gibbs. I've *seen* you. And I don't want you getting into trouble because of me, because I'm not..."
"Not what?" Gibbs' voice took on a sharp edge. "Not worth it?"
She shrugged a shoulder but couldn't meet his gaze. "I'm not worth your career or your life, Gibbs."
"Funny how when our situations were reversed you were willing to throw everything away for me, isn't it?" He murmured, dropping his voice so his eavesdropping agents couldn't hear. "If we're not doing this on equal footing, Abby, we've got a problem."
"Maybe we do," she responded just as quietly, clasping her hands tighter to keep them from trembling.
Gibbs stood, glaring at the three agents doing their best to make it look like they hadn't been listening to their conversation. "Ziva, take Abby back to your place. Get some sleep. McGee or DiNozzo will be over to relieve you in an hour. DiNozzo, take that stuff down to the lab."
Abby forced herself to stand, hating the way her legs trembled. "I can work," she protested. "I need..."
"You need to go," Gibbs retorted sharply. His expression softened only marginally when she took a step back in surprise. "You need some sleep, Abby, so you can come back tomorrow and focus on what needs to be done. We'd all be able to concentrate better knowing you're somewhere safe."
She wanted to argue that she'd be safe in her lab but the events of the last few weeks replayed themselves in her mind, an unpleasant reminder that her lab wasn't necessarily the safe place she'd always wanted to believe it was. She gave him a reluctant nod and brushed by him on her way to Ziva's desk, half hoping he'd reach out and hug her, hoping he'd reassure her that everything would be okay.
Her heart broke when he let her walk away.
~*~