Fic: Scarlet Pleasures [4/10]
Title: Scarlet Pleasures
Author: Jo. R (driftingatdusk)
Rating: FR-15 overall, one FR-18 scene that will be labelled later on.
Category: Drama, Case-file, Abby/Tony Friendship, Ziva/Abby Friendship
Pairing: Gibbs/Abby
Spoilers: 'Forced Entry', 'Guilty Pleasure', up to and including the season seven finale.
Summary: Holly Snow makes a request for help that puts Gibbs and Abby at odds.
****
Part Four
****
Her room at the 'establishment', as Lucy insisted it be called had a small en suite bathroom complete with shower and toilet facilities. Abby wondered if she'd be able to lock herself in the bathroom for a few hours if someone she wasn't expecting showed up at her door and eyed the lock suspiciously.
She arrived early, weighted down with supplies Holly had insisted she need: clothes, make-up, toiletries and bottled water alongside several 'trade' items to make her look the part. She busied herself for the first hour arranging her room, making the bed with the sheets she'd brought with her, setting out candles, arranging the bottles and jars of massage oils and lotions bought by a gleeful Holly on the allowance the NCIS Director had reluctantly arranged for her.
The brand of the oils, Abby noted, was the same expensive one shed found traces of on the Lieutenant's clothes and she wondered, briefly, if it was a favoured brand of a certain kind of woman.
There'd been no opportunity to have a look around and, although Lucy had promised to introduce her to some of Scarlet Secret's other employees, Abby wasn't sure she felt ready to meet the others though she knew she'd have to at some point. It was, after all, the reason she was there.
The three people Lucy had introduced her to were the two burly security guards who wouldn't have seemed out of place on the door of her favourite club and the receptionist who was on duty that night. The security guards had seemed friendly enough but the receptionist, a pretty blond, didn't look like she belonged there any more than Abby herself felt. The woman had been polite, warm even, but there'd been a haunted look in her eyes Abby didn't like.
After arranging her suite to look more like the picture of a boudoir Holly had painted in her mind - classy but not cheap, luxurious but not gaudy - Abby had time to show and change for her first appointment, all the while hoping to see a familiar face when she answered the inevitable knock at the door.
She stared at her reflection in the fogged up mirror, wondering if it would be the last time she'd be able to look herself in the eye. She ran her fingers through her loosely curled hair and added another coat of gloss to her already shiny lips.
Leaving the relative safety of the bathroom was one of the hardest things she'd had to do, she decided, padding through to the main room on bare feet. The high heels, red to match both the dress and shade of lipstick she wore, waited for her by the door. Her toes curled and her feet ached at the mere sight of them.
Her cell phone, her only contact with the NCIS agents outside of the building since they weren't sure if the one supplied in the room was a secure line, beeped twice.
Her heart pounded as she crossed over to it, opening the text she'd received with trembling hands.
'Tony on his way,' the message from Ziva read. 'Be good x.'
****
Relief swamped him when he heard Tony confirm with the pretty blond at reception which of the girls he wanted to see. Gibbs listened through the mic attached to Tony's shirt collar as his agent was given directions to Abby's room, wishing they could've found a way to install eyes and ears in Abby's room without risk of detection so he could check on how she was doing. That was the eventual plan, though the legal team were still dragging their feet on whether or not it was something they could do and whether any evidence gathered in such a way would be admissible in court.
Until then, Abby was on her own in the building and Gibbs hated it. He hated the thought of her being defenceless and vulnerable, hated not being able to see for himself that she was alright.
Gibbs told himself he'd feel the same way if it was anyone else on the assignment but he knew that wasn't true. While he'd be concerned for Ziva, a seasoned agent, he wouldn't have the same worries for her as he did for his forensic specialist.
He couldn't understand Abby's motives for agreeing to the assignment, and he couldn't understand why the normally intuitive woman couldn't see why he was so against it without him spelling it out for her.
She still - wrongly - believed that he loved her like a daughter, he realised with a sigh. He'd thought that, when he hadn't verbally agreed with her assessment, her mind would make the next progressive leap and she'd realise that no, he didn't love her like a daughter. Far, far from it, in fact.
Then again, he argued internally, he hadn't denied it either. So maybe she was justified in still believing that his feelings for her were platonic but surely she could see how much her taking the assignment bothered him? Surely she could put the pieces together and realise...
"Don't look so worried, Jethro," Holly murmured soothingly, moving to stand beside him at the monitors that each of the buildings exits in the surveillance van that was their on-site control centre. "I'm sure Tony and Abby will be able to put on a convincing show."
He felt his shoulders tense and found himself clenching his fists before he even realised he was doing it. "I'm sure."
Holly waited a beat, her gaze intent on his face. "Or maybe that's what you're worried about. Maybe you think they'll be too convincing."
"DiNozzo's a good agent. He'll do what he needs to keep her safe." Gibbs forced his fingers to unclench.
"And that's what's bothering you," Holly guessed. "That he'll go as far as he has to - that they both will. You just can't stand the thought of him touching her like that, can you?" She smiled in triumph when he didn't deny it and simply glared at the screens in front of him. "So this is what you look like when you're jealous. And to think I thought you were bothered when you thought I was seeing someone else." She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "How long have you had feelings for her, Jethro? Are you ever going to tell the poor girl and put her out of her misery?"
Gibbs turned his head from the monitors to look at her but didn't respond to her accusations. He was glad his agents were on a coffee run, certain Holly would have no qualms about voicing her revelations in front of them. She didn't mince her words and didn't keep her astute observations to herself, two traits he found appealing in her - most of the time.
Through the speakers, Tony's voice seemed to echo around the van as he kept up an almost running commentary on his way up to room 361. To anyone else watching, he'd look like a nervous first-timer trying not to let himself be talked out of what he planned to do. He kept speaking until his footsteps slowed to a halt and the sound of knocking took over.
There was a small pause, then the sound of a door being opened followed by Abby's voice, a little too muffled for Gibbs' liking but undeniably hers. No one else would have heard the relief in her tone, no one else would have detected the slight tremor as she greeted her client.
No one else but Gibbs.
****
He'd booked a two-hour massage with optional extras. One hour and twenty minutes into it, Abby telephoned reception to confirm her client wished to extend his appointment by another hour. Tony, for his part, moaned loudly as she spoke to the woman called Tina and cleared it with her, grinning at the glare Abby threw him.
"That was uncalled for," Abby chastised him quietly, casting a wary glance at the discard shirt on the bed at her knees. It was bad enough knowing Gibbs and his team were listening to every word they were saying without Tony making it worse by over-acting. "I wasn't even touching you."
"Maybe it was a delayed reaction." Tony smirked at the blush colouring her cheeks and propped himself up on an elbow to look at her. "You really are good at this."
She rolled her eyes at the insinuation as he waggled his eyebrows at her before motioning for him to turn back over so he was lying on his front. She knew they had to be careful what they said in case someone other than the NCIS team were listening in and Tony helped by making it seem almost like a game but it still unnerved her that there was anyone listening at all.
Pouring more of the oil into her hands, Abby rubbed her palms together to warm the liquid before turning her attention to his bare back, kneading the muscles she felt under her fingertips, smiling in spite of herself when he muffled his groan of approval into the pillow.
Six years ago when Kate had talked her into joining a ten week class in the art of therapeutic massage, Abby hadn't known what she'd do with the experience she'd walked away with. Never had she imagined she'd be putting it to use in a building that was for all intents and purposes a brothel.
"You're tense," she told him conversationally, leaning on him with most of her weight until a particularly stubborn muscle gave in and relaxed. "Stressful job?"
"Oh, yeah." Tony sighed in obvious pleasure. "My boss is a real slave driver."
She bit her lip to keep back a chuckle, her skin flushing involuntarily at the reminder of who was listening to Tony's sighs and moans. "You should tell him to go easier on you," she replied with a lightness she didn't feel.
Tony snorted and turned his head, looking up at her out of the corner of his eye. "Somehow I don't think that would go down too well." He arched an eyebrow when he noticed her glance down at the shirt on the bed next to them once more. "He's a little tense himself. Maybe I should recommend he comes here and spends an hour or two with you."
She threw him a warning look and pressed down a little harder than necessary on his back, his yelp drawing a faintly satisfied look from her. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did that hurt?"
"A little," Tony muttered, burying his head in the pillows again. "Maybe we should talk about something else."
"Maybe we should," Abby agreed sweetly. She resumed her ministrations with firm but gentle strokes, letting her mind drift as he started to relax again.
She'd have to get some music, she decided, some kind of background noise to fill in the silence. She wouldn't be able to play her favourite bands but something softer, maybe some jazz music, would be a welcome addition to the room and help set her a little more at ease. She hated silence when it wasn't necessary, had done from a very young age.
"...doing this long?" Tony's question only just registered in her mind and she glanced down at him to find his face turned towards her again, an eyebrow arched in concern.
"Off and on since I started college," the lie came easily, the cover story she'd memorised almost seeming like the truth.
Tony moved to lie on his side, watching her. "You ever wish you hadn't started down this path?"
"All the time," that, Abby thought, was an honest answer. She shrugged at the concerned expression on his face, knowing he understood she was talking about the case and her assignment rather than her so-called career. "But I did, and I'm here now."
"You could always change your mind," he suggested quietly.
"That's not an option," she replied instantly, shaking her head at the look on his face. "Not yet, anyway."
Hearing the determination in her voice, Tony nodded and let the subject drop. He motioned for her to lie down beside him, his discarded shirt on the bed between them. Abby curled up beside him, a picture of vulnerability instead of the sex kitten image she was supposed to be projecting as per Holly Snow's instructions.
They talked quietly for the remainder of their time, focusing on light subjects that would cause neither of them any further embarrassment in front of the people listening in. At the end of his booking, he kissed her cheek and thanked her loudly as he stood in the corridor for being such a good listener, promising he'd make another appointment soon.
Alone for almost half an hour, Abby tidied her room and remade the bed, jumping when there was another knock at the door. Her heart pounding in her chest, she walked towards it, pulling the door open cautiously before a smile of greeting broke out across her face.
Agent Lewis Green walked in with a wink, waiting till she'd closed the door behind him before pulling a pack of cards out of his pocket. "Wanna play?"
****
Author: Jo. R (driftingatdusk)
Rating: FR-15 overall, one FR-18 scene that will be labelled later on.
Category: Drama, Case-file, Abby/Tony Friendship, Ziva/Abby Friendship
Pairing: Gibbs/Abby
Spoilers: 'Forced Entry', 'Guilty Pleasure', up to and including the season seven finale.
Summary: Holly Snow makes a request for help that puts Gibbs and Abby at odds.
****
Part Four
****
Her room at the 'establishment', as Lucy insisted it be called had a small en suite bathroom complete with shower and toilet facilities. Abby wondered if she'd be able to lock herself in the bathroom for a few hours if someone she wasn't expecting showed up at her door and eyed the lock suspiciously.
She arrived early, weighted down with supplies Holly had insisted she need: clothes, make-up, toiletries and bottled water alongside several 'trade' items to make her look the part. She busied herself for the first hour arranging her room, making the bed with the sheets she'd brought with her, setting out candles, arranging the bottles and jars of massage oils and lotions bought by a gleeful Holly on the allowance the NCIS Director had reluctantly arranged for her.
The brand of the oils, Abby noted, was the same expensive one shed found traces of on the Lieutenant's clothes and she wondered, briefly, if it was a favoured brand of a certain kind of woman.
There'd been no opportunity to have a look around and, although Lucy had promised to introduce her to some of Scarlet Secret's other employees, Abby wasn't sure she felt ready to meet the others though she knew she'd have to at some point. It was, after all, the reason she was there.
The three people Lucy had introduced her to were the two burly security guards who wouldn't have seemed out of place on the door of her favourite club and the receptionist who was on duty that night. The security guards had seemed friendly enough but the receptionist, a pretty blond, didn't look like she belonged there any more than Abby herself felt. The woman had been polite, warm even, but there'd been a haunted look in her eyes Abby didn't like.
After arranging her suite to look more like the picture of a boudoir Holly had painted in her mind - classy but not cheap, luxurious but not gaudy - Abby had time to show and change for her first appointment, all the while hoping to see a familiar face when she answered the inevitable knock at the door.
She stared at her reflection in the fogged up mirror, wondering if it would be the last time she'd be able to look herself in the eye. She ran her fingers through her loosely curled hair and added another coat of gloss to her already shiny lips.
Leaving the relative safety of the bathroom was one of the hardest things she'd had to do, she decided, padding through to the main room on bare feet. The high heels, red to match both the dress and shade of lipstick she wore, waited for her by the door. Her toes curled and her feet ached at the mere sight of them.
Her cell phone, her only contact with the NCIS agents outside of the building since they weren't sure if the one supplied in the room was a secure line, beeped twice.
Her heart pounded as she crossed over to it, opening the text she'd received with trembling hands.
'Tony on his way,' the message from Ziva read. 'Be good x.'
****
Relief swamped him when he heard Tony confirm with the pretty blond at reception which of the girls he wanted to see. Gibbs listened through the mic attached to Tony's shirt collar as his agent was given directions to Abby's room, wishing they could've found a way to install eyes and ears in Abby's room without risk of detection so he could check on how she was doing. That was the eventual plan, though the legal team were still dragging their feet on whether or not it was something they could do and whether any evidence gathered in such a way would be admissible in court.
Until then, Abby was on her own in the building and Gibbs hated it. He hated the thought of her being defenceless and vulnerable, hated not being able to see for himself that she was alright.
Gibbs told himself he'd feel the same way if it was anyone else on the assignment but he knew that wasn't true. While he'd be concerned for Ziva, a seasoned agent, he wouldn't have the same worries for her as he did for his forensic specialist.
He couldn't understand Abby's motives for agreeing to the assignment, and he couldn't understand why the normally intuitive woman couldn't see why he was so against it without him spelling it out for her.
She still - wrongly - believed that he loved her like a daughter, he realised with a sigh. He'd thought that, when he hadn't verbally agreed with her assessment, her mind would make the next progressive leap and she'd realise that no, he didn't love her like a daughter. Far, far from it, in fact.
Then again, he argued internally, he hadn't denied it either. So maybe she was justified in still believing that his feelings for her were platonic but surely she could see how much her taking the assignment bothered him? Surely she could put the pieces together and realise...
"Don't look so worried, Jethro," Holly murmured soothingly, moving to stand beside him at the monitors that each of the buildings exits in the surveillance van that was their on-site control centre. "I'm sure Tony and Abby will be able to put on a convincing show."
He felt his shoulders tense and found himself clenching his fists before he even realised he was doing it. "I'm sure."
Holly waited a beat, her gaze intent on his face. "Or maybe that's what you're worried about. Maybe you think they'll be too convincing."
"DiNozzo's a good agent. He'll do what he needs to keep her safe." Gibbs forced his fingers to unclench.
"And that's what's bothering you," Holly guessed. "That he'll go as far as he has to - that they both will. You just can't stand the thought of him touching her like that, can you?" She smiled in triumph when he didn't deny it and simply glared at the screens in front of him. "So this is what you look like when you're jealous. And to think I thought you were bothered when you thought I was seeing someone else." She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "How long have you had feelings for her, Jethro? Are you ever going to tell the poor girl and put her out of her misery?"
Gibbs turned his head from the monitors to look at her but didn't respond to her accusations. He was glad his agents were on a coffee run, certain Holly would have no qualms about voicing her revelations in front of them. She didn't mince her words and didn't keep her astute observations to herself, two traits he found appealing in her - most of the time.
Through the speakers, Tony's voice seemed to echo around the van as he kept up an almost running commentary on his way up to room 361. To anyone else watching, he'd look like a nervous first-timer trying not to let himself be talked out of what he planned to do. He kept speaking until his footsteps slowed to a halt and the sound of knocking took over.
There was a small pause, then the sound of a door being opened followed by Abby's voice, a little too muffled for Gibbs' liking but undeniably hers. No one else would have heard the relief in her tone, no one else would have detected the slight tremor as she greeted her client.
No one else but Gibbs.
****
He'd booked a two-hour massage with optional extras. One hour and twenty minutes into it, Abby telephoned reception to confirm her client wished to extend his appointment by another hour. Tony, for his part, moaned loudly as she spoke to the woman called Tina and cleared it with her, grinning at the glare Abby threw him.
"That was uncalled for," Abby chastised him quietly, casting a wary glance at the discard shirt on the bed at her knees. It was bad enough knowing Gibbs and his team were listening to every word they were saying without Tony making it worse by over-acting. "I wasn't even touching you."
"Maybe it was a delayed reaction." Tony smirked at the blush colouring her cheeks and propped himself up on an elbow to look at her. "You really are good at this."
She rolled her eyes at the insinuation as he waggled his eyebrows at her before motioning for him to turn back over so he was lying on his front. She knew they had to be careful what they said in case someone other than the NCIS team were listening in and Tony helped by making it seem almost like a game but it still unnerved her that there was anyone listening at all.
Pouring more of the oil into her hands, Abby rubbed her palms together to warm the liquid before turning her attention to his bare back, kneading the muscles she felt under her fingertips, smiling in spite of herself when he muffled his groan of approval into the pillow.
Six years ago when Kate had talked her into joining a ten week class in the art of therapeutic massage, Abby hadn't known what she'd do with the experience she'd walked away with. Never had she imagined she'd be putting it to use in a building that was for all intents and purposes a brothel.
"You're tense," she told him conversationally, leaning on him with most of her weight until a particularly stubborn muscle gave in and relaxed. "Stressful job?"
"Oh, yeah." Tony sighed in obvious pleasure. "My boss is a real slave driver."
She bit her lip to keep back a chuckle, her skin flushing involuntarily at the reminder of who was listening to Tony's sighs and moans. "You should tell him to go easier on you," she replied with a lightness she didn't feel.
Tony snorted and turned his head, looking up at her out of the corner of his eye. "Somehow I don't think that would go down too well." He arched an eyebrow when he noticed her glance down at the shirt on the bed next to them once more. "He's a little tense himself. Maybe I should recommend he comes here and spends an hour or two with you."
She threw him a warning look and pressed down a little harder than necessary on his back, his yelp drawing a faintly satisfied look from her. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did that hurt?"
"A little," Tony muttered, burying his head in the pillows again. "Maybe we should talk about something else."
"Maybe we should," Abby agreed sweetly. She resumed her ministrations with firm but gentle strokes, letting her mind drift as he started to relax again.
She'd have to get some music, she decided, some kind of background noise to fill in the silence. She wouldn't be able to play her favourite bands but something softer, maybe some jazz music, would be a welcome addition to the room and help set her a little more at ease. She hated silence when it wasn't necessary, had done from a very young age.
"...doing this long?" Tony's question only just registered in her mind and she glanced down at him to find his face turned towards her again, an eyebrow arched in concern.
"Off and on since I started college," the lie came easily, the cover story she'd memorised almost seeming like the truth.
Tony moved to lie on his side, watching her. "You ever wish you hadn't started down this path?"
"All the time," that, Abby thought, was an honest answer. She shrugged at the concerned expression on his face, knowing he understood she was talking about the case and her assignment rather than her so-called career. "But I did, and I'm here now."
"You could always change your mind," he suggested quietly.
"That's not an option," she replied instantly, shaking her head at the look on his face. "Not yet, anyway."
Hearing the determination in her voice, Tony nodded and let the subject drop. He motioned for her to lie down beside him, his discarded shirt on the bed between them. Abby curled up beside him, a picture of vulnerability instead of the sex kitten image she was supposed to be projecting as per Holly Snow's instructions.
They talked quietly for the remainder of their time, focusing on light subjects that would cause neither of them any further embarrassment in front of the people listening in. At the end of his booking, he kissed her cheek and thanked her loudly as he stood in the corridor for being such a good listener, promising he'd make another appointment soon.
Alone for almost half an hour, Abby tidied her room and remade the bed, jumping when there was another knock at the door. Her heart pounding in her chest, she walked towards it, pulling the door open cautiously before a smile of greeting broke out across her face.
Agent Lewis Green walked in with a wink, waiting till she'd closed the door behind him before pulling a pack of cards out of his pocket. "Wanna play?"
****