Accidents Will Happen (9/??)
“Did you try calling him?”
“Yeah, it went right to voice mail. I called Fornell, but his phone was busy.”
“Okay, why don’t you head home, okay? I’ll try calling Fornell again, and if I can’t get through I’ll call NCIS and have someone put his number in and find his location. Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s something simple, maybe they went to grab dinner or something?”
Something clicked. “Maybe they went to Fornell’s place. I’m going to go look. I’ll call you back.”
“Ab-” Tony didn’t get the chance to finish; all he heard was a dial tone.
Abby put her car into drive and peeled away from the curb in a move that would make Tony proud. Fornell didn’t live far, and with her foot on the gas pedal it was an even shorter drive. She let out a sigh of relief when she pulled up to Fornell’s house and spotted his car in the driveway. She pulled up, jumped from her car, and rushed up the front step. Fornell answered after one knock, his phone against his ear. He waved her in and told whoever he was talking to that he would call back in a few minutes.
“Abby? Is everything okay?”
Abby’s hands were on her hips as she demanded to know where Gibbs was. “Where is he?”
Fornell nodded towards the stairs, “In Emily’s room.”
“And you guys didn’t think to tell me? I went to his house after work, and thought something had happened because no one was there!”
“Sorry about that, with Cheryl in custody, I wanted him somewhere besides his house to see if whoever is after him would make a move and go back to his house. I’ve got agents inside the house, but they aren’t supposed to answer the door.”
“And you didn’t think to keep me informed, because…?”
“I honestly didn’t even think about it. I told everyone I was taking him home, to his home, because I’m not so sure it isn’t someone on the yard the yard. Cheryl getting hired so quickly has me wondering if it isn’t someone close by. I couldn’t announce in the middle of the squad room that I was taking him here.”
“His phone is off.”
“I didn’t want anyone to track his cell phone here.”
“Rule three.”
“What?”
“Rule three, never be unreachable.” She gave him a look as though she was irritated that he didn’t know Gibbs’ rules. “Is he awake?”
“Probably. Go on up.” Fornell waited until she was halfway up the stairs before pulling his phone out of his pocket and returning the phone call.
Abby went quietly up the stairs, and smiled when she saw drawings of what looked like a pony on the first door to the left. She could see that a light was on from the soft glow along the bottom of the door, and she assumed that meant he was still awake. She tapped her knuckles lightly against the door and then pushed it open a little ways. “You awake?”
“Abby?”
She fought to contain a smile at the sight of Gibbs tucked into a bed of frilly pink sheets. “Can I come in?”
“Of course.” Gibbs rolled onto his side and motioned for her to sit on the edge of the bed. “Is everything alright?”
“It is now, I went to your house and no one was there, and then I couldn’t get a hold of you, and…” she waved her hands, “and yeah.”
Gibbs reached out and took her hand, giving it a little squeeze.
“I was worried.”
“I’m,” he hated to say it, “fine.”
“I know. Try and keep me in the loop though, okay?” Abby glanced up at him. She hated to sound like such a worrier, but Gibbs was well aware at how she worried about him and the team.
“I will.”
“Staying with Fornell, huh? Did he tuck you in?” Abby tugged the covers up a little closer to his chin when Gibbs tried to get her to back down with a glare. She continued with the jokes, eventually coaxing him into a little playful banter which helped her to calm down and relax.
Abby doubled over with laughed when Gibbs made a snide remark about Fornell’s skills as a housewife, complaining that the service hadn’t been up to par.
As he watched Abby fight to breathe through her laughter, Gibbs gave a low chuckle. He loved it when she just let loose, and her genuine happiness spread to him.
Abby gave a soft sigh and shook her head. Her gaze dropped to her knees as she slowly regained her composure. “But you’re feeling okay?”
“Yeah. I’m feeling okay.” Somehow in their short exchange, Gibbs managed to scoot over and tugged her down to lay beside him on the small bed.
“No more muscle cramps, no dizziness?”
Gibbs turned his head to press his lips to her forehead. “No, no muscle cramps and I haven’t been dizzy at all. Ducky said that once the drugs were flushed from my system, I shouldn’t have any more symptoms and I haven’t.” Gibbs took a softer approach, knowing that Abby would continue to ask if he was okay. He still felt bad about snapping at her the night before.
“Okay.” Abby draped an arm across his torso and pulled herself in close. “I’m sorry I keep asking.”
“No you aren’t, I’ve known you long enough to know you. You do the same thing every time anyone on the team gets hurt. It’s just you, it’s alright.”
“You’re just… you’re Gibbs. Stuff like this doesn’t happen to you. Tony, maybe. But not you. I guess it’s just thrown me for a loop.”
Gibbs didn’t have a response to that, so he held her close and kissed her forehead again.
Abby lay quietly, soaking in the warmth from his body and listening to his steady heart-beat below her ear. She looked around the small bedroom, and took in the massive amount of pink: pink walls, pink sheets, pink ponies… and it suddenly dawned on her that Emily was the same age that Kelly was when she had died.
“Is it hard to spend a night in a room like this?”
Gibbs lay silently for a while and Abby was just about to distance herself and apologize when he spoke. “That small pony, the one on the shelf,” he pointed to the shelf beside the door. “Kelly had that same one. She named it sunshine because it was so sunny the day I took her to the store to get it.”
Abby held her breath. She hadn’t thought she would get much of response besides a yes or no, and the fact that he had opened shared a memory was something she didn’t take for granted.
“She really loved horses, like Emily does now.” He ran his fingers through Abby’s hair as he spoke. “But it’s not too hard to stay here. Emily isn’t Kelly, I know that.”
“Doesn’t make it easy.”
Again Gibbs was quiet and Abby felt like maybe she had over stayed her welcome. “Maybe I should get going.” She glanced at her watch, “it’s getting late.”
“Stay.”
Abby was surprised and she suddenly felt unsure if she had actually heard him ask her to stay.
At her hesitation, Gibbs shifted on the bed and worked the blanket out from under her, holding it up to encourage her to snuggle close again and stay the night.
Abby nodded and then sat up. “I need to take off my shoes.” Her fingers trembled slightly as she worked the zippers on her boots and then removed her jewelry. She could feel Gibbs’ eyes watching her as she put her stuff off to the side and then turned toward him again. He lifted up the blanket again, encouraging her to slip under it again, and once she was curled up beside him, he pulled the blanket up around her shoulders.
“You think Fornell will mind?”
“Do you think I care?”
“I bet he thought it’d be awhile before there were two people sleeping in this room. I’m surprised he let you sleep here, isn’t there some sort of no boys upstairs rule?”
Gibbs laughed and Abby gave a contented sigh.
Pushing up on his elbow, Gibbs leaned over her to click off the small flower shaped lamp on the bedside. With the lights off, he brushed his lips across her forehead one last time and settled back.
Abby hugged herself close - mostly because she drew comfort from him, and partly because she felt like she was half an inch from falling off the mattress.
~~**~~
Fornell stood just outside the bedroom door and listened. He couldn’t quite hear the words spoken, but he heard the low rumble of Gibbs’ laughter and a soft sigh from Abby. A few seconds later the lights clicked off.
Fornell shook his head and walked away with a smile on his face.
~~**~~
Abby woke snuggled up to the warmth of Gibbs’ chest. Her head was tucked under his chin and as she slowly became more aware, she realized that one of her legs was intertwined with his. His arms were wrapped securely around her and he was dragging his fingers slowly up and down along her spine. Before she could say anything, Gibbs seemed to realize that she was awake.
“Morning.”
Any worries that waking up beside Gibbs’ would be awkward were quickly dispelled. “Morning,” she muffled a yawn and pressed her face against his chest.
She was about to ask if she had to get up, but the question was answered for her when Fornell tapped on the door. “Ziva would like you to call her.”
Gibbs hold on her tightened when Fornell knocked, and it prevented Abby from moving away, not wanting Fornell to see her snuggled up so close. But Fornell never entered, he just spoke through the closed door and then continued down the hall.
Gibbs shifted back so he could look at her, and he brushed her hair from her face with a gentle sweep of his hand. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words never came. Instead he pressed his lips together again and studied her face. It wasn’t a scrutinizing gaze; he looked thoughtful as if he was sorting through what he wanted to say. Abby didn’t question him; she just waited for his question to formulate. She didn’t, however, expect his question to come in the form of his lips pressed gently against hers.
Her eyes drifted shut immediately and it took her a moment to fully realize what had happened. When she kissed him back there was a sudden increase in urgency as he kissed her and his hand tightened instantly in her hair. And then, as quickly as it started, Gibbs pulled away. “I can’t… not here, not now.”
Abby nodded.
“Hey,” Gibbs leaned in and kissed her again, softly this time, his way of telling her that not now didn’t mean not ever. It simply meant that he couldn’t afford to get caught up in a romance with her while someone was still after him.
“I know.” When Gibbs didn’t make a move to get up, Abby allowed herself to relax for a few extra moments before being the first to pull away completely. “You should call Ziva. It could be important.”
“Yeah.”
Abby could feel his eyes on her as she pulled on her boots and then reached for her jewelry. When she felt his hand rest lightly against her back, she shifted slightly and gave him a soft smile over her shoulder. When Abby felt as though she was put together enough to go downstairs, Gibbs led her down the hall by the hand. Fornell was sitting at the dining table, the newspaper spread in front of him, a cup of coffee in hand.
“Coffee is over there.” He waved to coffee machine in the kitchen and watched as Abby went to pour two cups. “Sleep well?” The corner of Fornell’s mouth turned up in smug grin.
“Bed is a little small.”
“Warm enough?”
Gibbs refused to be baited. “It was fine.”
Fornell knew he’s get nowhere, especially with Abby in the house. “You call Ziva yet?”
“No.”
“She’s in the process of wrapping up the case that you guys were working on before all this drama. She didn’t give me any details, just asked me to have you call her.”
“I should go to NCIS.”
“That’s what I was thinking. How far were you in this case before you were slipped the drugs? Could it be related?”
“Don’t think so, but I’d like to see how everything panned out.”
“Probably a good idea. I haven’t heard anything from Sacks yet. Want to take a shower before we go? Maybe by the time we get there DiNozzo will have something for us as well.”
Gibbs nodded and then accepted the coffee that Abby brought to him. “Ziva wrapped up the Maldonado case. I’m going to shower and then head into NCIS.”
“She did?” Abby’s eyes widened. “Who did it?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t talked to her. Fornell did, but she didn’t give any details.”
“I wonder if it was his brother that killed him?”
Gibbs could see it in her eyes that she was suddenly lost in the DNA complexity of the case. “His brother? Maldonado didn’t have a brother.”
“He did!” It suddenly dawned on her that she had given that information while he had been under the influence of the drugs he had been slipped. “I tested blood from various surfaces in the motel room. Most of it belonged to Maldonado, but there was so much that it couldn’t have all come from him. There was some broken glass that had different DNA, although it was a close match. He had a brother and they were fighting. Only we didn’t know if he knew it was his brother or not. There is no mention anywhere, in any of his files.”
Gibbs thought a moment. “Okay, I’m going to shower and then we’ll go.” He took one last sip of his coffee and then took the stairs two at a time up to the bathroom.
Abby brought both of their mugs to the kitchen and set them in the sink. “Well, I’ll get going. I need to swing by my apartment before I go to NCIS. I’ll see you guys later.”
Fornell nodded and watched her go.
Gibbs took a quick shower, and toweled off before putting on the clean clothes he’d brought with him. It took less than fifteen minutes for him to be back downstairs and ready to go. “Where’s Abbs?”
“She left, she’ll meet us at NCIS.”
Gibbs glanced out the front window. “Ah, okay.”
~~**~~
Ziva and McGee were both at their desks when Gibbs and Fornell made it back to NCIS, and they both jumped up when Gibbs strode toward his desk. Ziva allowed McGee to talk first. He had spent the majority of the previous day, well into the evening, searching through every file on Cheryl’s computer. Each of the times she had been contacted by whoever was after him had been through different email accounts set up at various internet cafés around the city, and the few times she had been contacted via telephone, it had been from a burn phone. The voice had been different each time, and Cheryl had no idea if she had been dealing with a man or woman, or if they had an accent. Payment had always come in the form of cash, appearing in her mail box, under the welcome mat of her front door or in an envelope tucked under the windshield wiper of her car.
“I’m sorry boss, I can’t find anything. This person really knows what they are doing. I can have Abby take a look, but honestly, this person is a professional.”
“Is Abby in her lab?” If she had left when he had taken a shower, she should have been at NCIS by now.
“No. She wasn’t here when I got here this morning, about an hour ago. And she hasn’t come through the squad room yet.” It wasn’t often that Abby by-passed the squad room in the morning. She preferred to start the day saying hello to all her friends, often spending the first 20 minutes of her day catching up with Gibbs’ team.
“Gibbs,” Ziva put several papers in a folder and passed them to Gibbs. “It took a little digging into his background, but PFC Ernest Maldonado did have a brother. It’s a long story, but Maldonado, our dead marine grew up in Arizona and was friends with David Wilson. Maldonado was two years older than Wilson, and it turns out that Sasha Maldonado, Ernest’s mother, had a boy while she was in college and ended up putting him up for adoption. The boy stayed in the neighborhood, though she had no idea. She got pregnant two years later with Ernest and kept him. They grew up two blocks away from each other and had no clue that they were brothers.”
Gibbs scanned over the DNA matches, and the adoption papers that Ziva had found.
“They both wanted to join the Marines, but Wilson didn’t make it - he was too dependant on anti-anxiety medication for both anxiety and seizures. He flew out to visit Maldonado while he was on leave. He figured he could convince Maldonado to give him a little information on the Marines to sell overseas, and it ended in a fight. He said they were both beat up pretty bad, but that Maldonado was still alive when he left. He had no idea that they were brothers and is fairly certain that Maldonado was unaware of their family ties as well.”
“You have him in custody?”
“Uh, not exactly.”
“Not exactly?”
“We couldn’t hold him without concrete evidence or an admission of guilt that he had killed him. We had the cops watching the house, and when Ducky finished the autopsy and confirmed that it was injuries from the fight two officers went to pick him up. The found him dead in his room. He killed himself; left a note saying he was ‘sorry’ and that he could ‘never face his mother again’.”
“Uh,” Tobias spoke up. “You mentioned an anti-anxiety medication. Do you know what?” He looked at Gibbs and gave a small shrug. “It doesn’t seem likely, but it might be something to check out.”
“Cheryl had already been working at NCIS for a week when we got the call from this case. Wilson had been in DC for a few days.”
Fornell knew he was probably right, but with no other leads he felt the need to follow up on everything, no matter how unlikely it was to help. “Just humor me, okay?”
“Ziva,” Gibbs gave her a look that told her it would be okay to find out what medication he had been on and she moved back to her desk to make the phone call.
Fornell moved over to Tony’s desk and had a seat. “I wonder if our agents have killed each other yet?” He referred to the obvious animosity between Agent DiNozzo and Agent Sacks.
“Nah, DiNozzo knows better than to off FBI agents while he’s on the clock.” Gibbs had faith that Tony would keep it professional, at least while they were out in the field. Back in the office was another story, and he had no doubt that they would need to be kept apart once while things were slow.
He glanced at his watch, it was 08:30, and he had now been at NCIS for nearly thirty minutes. That meant that Abby had left Fornell’s house almost an hour earlier. He told himself she had gone home to shower and change and would be stepping out of the elevator any minute.
Ziva placed the phone back in the cradle and looked up. “I was just on the phone with Wilson’s doctor in Arizona, he had been prescribed Diazepam which was managing his anxiety and seizures nicely. I guess there had been some issues awhile back, but that he seemed very stable before he left.”
“I don’t think he meant to kill him, I think it was a fight that got out of hand,” McGee broke in.
The elevator dinged, and Gibbs’ head snapped up. He felt a pang of disappointment when it was someone from accounting that stepped out of the elevator. He tried distracting himself by opening his email. He had over 200 emails in his inbox, the majority of it agency related crap - somehow his email had been included in a email sent out for a family potluck lunch over the weekend. Everyone was asked to bring something based on the first letter of their last name. Everyone in the building was invited, but for the most part people knew that he wasn’t interested.
Every time the elevator sounded another arrival, he tried not to feel too let down when Abby didn’t step into the squad room. As he weeded through emails he needed to look at versus the ones that went directly to the trash, he let himself wonder if he was the reason that she hadn’t arrived yet. With time to think, had she freaked out over their kiss? Did she feel like he had blown her off by telling her that he couldn’t start something with her - not yet.
As his mind went through the various possibilities he tried to keep his mind from wander into dangerous territory. What if whoever had been after him had decided to take a different route? Gibbs wasn’t scared of death - there had been times where he had welcomed it - but the one thing that someone could do to actually put fear into him was to hurt Abby. He had always refused to put it into words how he felt about her, had never come out and admitted that she was his favorite, but to anyone (himself included) it was fairly obvious.
In all the years they had worked together, with as many threats as he had received, Ari had been the only one smart enough to target her to cause him pain. The only reason he had gone after Kate first had been because she had taken Abby’s place in bringing the items Ari had requested to autopsy. As much as he missed Kate, and still carried guilt over her death, he couldn’t imagine life if Abby had died at someone else’s hands because of their anger toward him. Gibbs shuddered at the thought.
The elevator dinged once more, and this time Tony stepped out of the metal box, Agent Sacks close behind. “Oh boss, is Abby here?”
“No.”
“Ah, well, did she find you last night? She was in a panic when she called, but then she said she was going to check if you were at Fornell’s place - hey, out of my seat,” Tony motioned for Fornell to move. “Anyway, I didn’t hear back from her, so I assume she found you.”
“She did.”
Tony frowned at Fornell when he took his time in vacating Tony’s seat. “I just spent the last 16 hours going through everything in Cheryl Lavery’s house. That woman needs to learn some organizing skills. I mean seriously, she had bank papers in a plastic bag in her laundry room.”
“Find anything?” Gibbs believed Cheryl when she had told Fornell she knew nothing about the reason someone was after him, that she was only in it for the paycheck.
Tobias interrupted, “more importantly, where is my agent?”
“Sacks?” Tony smirked. “He ran home to the FBI once we wrapped up. I think he was tired of listening to me talk, boss. And no, after 16 hours of mind numbing work, I found nothing. Sorry.” He knew Gibbs didn’t accept apologies, but he was truly sorry. The team was his family and he felt helpless without any leads to find whoever was out to hurt their boss. “What do we do now?”
“We wait.” Gibbs said simply.
“Wait?” Tony didn’t follow.
“They’ll find someone else to do their dirty work. This time we’ll be prepared, they’ll make a mistake.”
“So you just want to use yourself as bait?” Ziva weighed in on the option. “It could work.”
“Isn’t that a little risky?” It didn’t sit well with Tony, the idea of just waiting for whoever it was to make another attempt on Gibbs’ life. What if they succeeded?
“We could move an agent into your house.” Fornell suggested.
“I don’t need an agent in my house, I can take care of myself.” Gibbs didn’t want a babysitter.
“I was thinking more for when you weren’t at home. I know you can take care of yourself, unfortunately your stuff can’t.” Gibbs had told him about his boat being smashed while he was at work.
Gibbs rolled his eyes and glanced at his watch again. Even if Abby had gone home, showered and changed, she should’ve been at NCIS by now. “McGee, get a hold of Abby.”
“Yes, boss.” McGee reached for the phone and dialed Abby’s cell. When it went to voicemail he left a quick message asking her to call. He then hung up and dialed her home number. “Boss, still no response.”
“You’re sure she’s not in her lab?”
“She had a long day yesterday, she probably slept in. What do you need her for?” Tony wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Gibbs was thinking.
McGee dialed her lab extension, but no one answered.
Gibbs didn’t want to alarm the team if it was nothing, but on the off chance that someone had gone after her as a way to get to him, he needed to know right away. “Can you get a fix on her cell?”
“Uh, sure.” McGee looked from Gibbs to Tony and Ziva and back to Gibbs before opening up the necessary program on his computer. Once he was ready, he dialed Abby’s number. Once it started ringing he put her number into the program.
McGee glanced up at Gibbs with a startled look on his face.
---
TBC…
Oh snap, did I leave it with Abby missing? Oops.
“Yeah, it went right to voice mail. I called Fornell, but his phone was busy.”
“Okay, why don’t you head home, okay? I’ll try calling Fornell again, and if I can’t get through I’ll call NCIS and have someone put his number in and find his location. Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s something simple, maybe they went to grab dinner or something?”
Something clicked. “Maybe they went to Fornell’s place. I’m going to go look. I’ll call you back.”
“Ab-” Tony didn’t get the chance to finish; all he heard was a dial tone.
Abby put her car into drive and peeled away from the curb in a move that would make Tony proud. Fornell didn’t live far, and with her foot on the gas pedal it was an even shorter drive. She let out a sigh of relief when she pulled up to Fornell’s house and spotted his car in the driveway. She pulled up, jumped from her car, and rushed up the front step. Fornell answered after one knock, his phone against his ear. He waved her in and told whoever he was talking to that he would call back in a few minutes.
“Abby? Is everything okay?”
Abby’s hands were on her hips as she demanded to know where Gibbs was. “Where is he?”
Fornell nodded towards the stairs, “In Emily’s room.”
“And you guys didn’t think to tell me? I went to his house after work, and thought something had happened because no one was there!”
“Sorry about that, with Cheryl in custody, I wanted him somewhere besides his house to see if whoever is after him would make a move and go back to his house. I’ve got agents inside the house, but they aren’t supposed to answer the door.”
“And you didn’t think to keep me informed, because…?”
“I honestly didn’t even think about it. I told everyone I was taking him home, to his home, because I’m not so sure it isn’t someone on the yard the yard. Cheryl getting hired so quickly has me wondering if it isn’t someone close by. I couldn’t announce in the middle of the squad room that I was taking him here.”
“His phone is off.”
“I didn’t want anyone to track his cell phone here.”
“Rule three.”
“What?”
“Rule three, never be unreachable.” She gave him a look as though she was irritated that he didn’t know Gibbs’ rules. “Is he awake?”
“Probably. Go on up.” Fornell waited until she was halfway up the stairs before pulling his phone out of his pocket and returning the phone call.
Abby went quietly up the stairs, and smiled when she saw drawings of what looked like a pony on the first door to the left. She could see that a light was on from the soft glow along the bottom of the door, and she assumed that meant he was still awake. She tapped her knuckles lightly against the door and then pushed it open a little ways. “You awake?”
“Abby?”
She fought to contain a smile at the sight of Gibbs tucked into a bed of frilly pink sheets. “Can I come in?”
“Of course.” Gibbs rolled onto his side and motioned for her to sit on the edge of the bed. “Is everything alright?”
“It is now, I went to your house and no one was there, and then I couldn’t get a hold of you, and…” she waved her hands, “and yeah.”
Gibbs reached out and took her hand, giving it a little squeeze.
“I was worried.”
“I’m,” he hated to say it, “fine.”
“I know. Try and keep me in the loop though, okay?” Abby glanced up at him. She hated to sound like such a worrier, but Gibbs was well aware at how she worried about him and the team.
“I will.”
“Staying with Fornell, huh? Did he tuck you in?” Abby tugged the covers up a little closer to his chin when Gibbs tried to get her to back down with a glare. She continued with the jokes, eventually coaxing him into a little playful banter which helped her to calm down and relax.
Abby doubled over with laughed when Gibbs made a snide remark about Fornell’s skills as a housewife, complaining that the service hadn’t been up to par.
As he watched Abby fight to breathe through her laughter, Gibbs gave a low chuckle. He loved it when she just let loose, and her genuine happiness spread to him.
Abby gave a soft sigh and shook her head. Her gaze dropped to her knees as she slowly regained her composure. “But you’re feeling okay?”
“Yeah. I’m feeling okay.” Somehow in their short exchange, Gibbs managed to scoot over and tugged her down to lay beside him on the small bed.
“No more muscle cramps, no dizziness?”
Gibbs turned his head to press his lips to her forehead. “No, no muscle cramps and I haven’t been dizzy at all. Ducky said that once the drugs were flushed from my system, I shouldn’t have any more symptoms and I haven’t.” Gibbs took a softer approach, knowing that Abby would continue to ask if he was okay. He still felt bad about snapping at her the night before.
“Okay.” Abby draped an arm across his torso and pulled herself in close. “I’m sorry I keep asking.”
“No you aren’t, I’ve known you long enough to know you. You do the same thing every time anyone on the team gets hurt. It’s just you, it’s alright.”
“You’re just… you’re Gibbs. Stuff like this doesn’t happen to you. Tony, maybe. But not you. I guess it’s just thrown me for a loop.”
Gibbs didn’t have a response to that, so he held her close and kissed her forehead again.
Abby lay quietly, soaking in the warmth from his body and listening to his steady heart-beat below her ear. She looked around the small bedroom, and took in the massive amount of pink: pink walls, pink sheets, pink ponies… and it suddenly dawned on her that Emily was the same age that Kelly was when she had died.
“Is it hard to spend a night in a room like this?”
Gibbs lay silently for a while and Abby was just about to distance herself and apologize when he spoke. “That small pony, the one on the shelf,” he pointed to the shelf beside the door. “Kelly had that same one. She named it sunshine because it was so sunny the day I took her to the store to get it.”
Abby held her breath. She hadn’t thought she would get much of response besides a yes or no, and the fact that he had opened shared a memory was something she didn’t take for granted.
“She really loved horses, like Emily does now.” He ran his fingers through Abby’s hair as he spoke. “But it’s not too hard to stay here. Emily isn’t Kelly, I know that.”
“Doesn’t make it easy.”
Again Gibbs was quiet and Abby felt like maybe she had over stayed her welcome. “Maybe I should get going.” She glanced at her watch, “it’s getting late.”
“Stay.”
Abby was surprised and she suddenly felt unsure if she had actually heard him ask her to stay.
At her hesitation, Gibbs shifted on the bed and worked the blanket out from under her, holding it up to encourage her to snuggle close again and stay the night.
Abby nodded and then sat up. “I need to take off my shoes.” Her fingers trembled slightly as she worked the zippers on her boots and then removed her jewelry. She could feel Gibbs’ eyes watching her as she put her stuff off to the side and then turned toward him again. He lifted up the blanket again, encouraging her to slip under it again, and once she was curled up beside him, he pulled the blanket up around her shoulders.
“You think Fornell will mind?”
“Do you think I care?”
“I bet he thought it’d be awhile before there were two people sleeping in this room. I’m surprised he let you sleep here, isn’t there some sort of no boys upstairs rule?”
Gibbs laughed and Abby gave a contented sigh.
Pushing up on his elbow, Gibbs leaned over her to click off the small flower shaped lamp on the bedside. With the lights off, he brushed his lips across her forehead one last time and settled back.
Abby hugged herself close - mostly because she drew comfort from him, and partly because she felt like she was half an inch from falling off the mattress.
~~**~~
Fornell stood just outside the bedroom door and listened. He couldn’t quite hear the words spoken, but he heard the low rumble of Gibbs’ laughter and a soft sigh from Abby. A few seconds later the lights clicked off.
Fornell shook his head and walked away with a smile on his face.
~~**~~
Abby woke snuggled up to the warmth of Gibbs’ chest. Her head was tucked under his chin and as she slowly became more aware, she realized that one of her legs was intertwined with his. His arms were wrapped securely around her and he was dragging his fingers slowly up and down along her spine. Before she could say anything, Gibbs seemed to realize that she was awake.
“Morning.”
Any worries that waking up beside Gibbs’ would be awkward were quickly dispelled. “Morning,” she muffled a yawn and pressed her face against his chest.
She was about to ask if she had to get up, but the question was answered for her when Fornell tapped on the door. “Ziva would like you to call her.”
Gibbs hold on her tightened when Fornell knocked, and it prevented Abby from moving away, not wanting Fornell to see her snuggled up so close. But Fornell never entered, he just spoke through the closed door and then continued down the hall.
Gibbs shifted back so he could look at her, and he brushed her hair from her face with a gentle sweep of his hand. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words never came. Instead he pressed his lips together again and studied her face. It wasn’t a scrutinizing gaze; he looked thoughtful as if he was sorting through what he wanted to say. Abby didn’t question him; she just waited for his question to formulate. She didn’t, however, expect his question to come in the form of his lips pressed gently against hers.
Her eyes drifted shut immediately and it took her a moment to fully realize what had happened. When she kissed him back there was a sudden increase in urgency as he kissed her and his hand tightened instantly in her hair. And then, as quickly as it started, Gibbs pulled away. “I can’t… not here, not now.”
Abby nodded.
“Hey,” Gibbs leaned in and kissed her again, softly this time, his way of telling her that not now didn’t mean not ever. It simply meant that he couldn’t afford to get caught up in a romance with her while someone was still after him.
“I know.” When Gibbs didn’t make a move to get up, Abby allowed herself to relax for a few extra moments before being the first to pull away completely. “You should call Ziva. It could be important.”
“Yeah.”
Abby could feel his eyes on her as she pulled on her boots and then reached for her jewelry. When she felt his hand rest lightly against her back, she shifted slightly and gave him a soft smile over her shoulder. When Abby felt as though she was put together enough to go downstairs, Gibbs led her down the hall by the hand. Fornell was sitting at the dining table, the newspaper spread in front of him, a cup of coffee in hand.
“Coffee is over there.” He waved to coffee machine in the kitchen and watched as Abby went to pour two cups. “Sleep well?” The corner of Fornell’s mouth turned up in smug grin.
“Bed is a little small.”
“Warm enough?”
Gibbs refused to be baited. “It was fine.”
Fornell knew he’s get nowhere, especially with Abby in the house. “You call Ziva yet?”
“No.”
“She’s in the process of wrapping up the case that you guys were working on before all this drama. She didn’t give me any details, just asked me to have you call her.”
“I should go to NCIS.”
“That’s what I was thinking. How far were you in this case before you were slipped the drugs? Could it be related?”
“Don’t think so, but I’d like to see how everything panned out.”
“Probably a good idea. I haven’t heard anything from Sacks yet. Want to take a shower before we go? Maybe by the time we get there DiNozzo will have something for us as well.”
Gibbs nodded and then accepted the coffee that Abby brought to him. “Ziva wrapped up the Maldonado case. I’m going to shower and then head into NCIS.”
“She did?” Abby’s eyes widened. “Who did it?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t talked to her. Fornell did, but she didn’t give any details.”
“I wonder if it was his brother that killed him?”
Gibbs could see it in her eyes that she was suddenly lost in the DNA complexity of the case. “His brother? Maldonado didn’t have a brother.”
“He did!” It suddenly dawned on her that she had given that information while he had been under the influence of the drugs he had been slipped. “I tested blood from various surfaces in the motel room. Most of it belonged to Maldonado, but there was so much that it couldn’t have all come from him. There was some broken glass that had different DNA, although it was a close match. He had a brother and they were fighting. Only we didn’t know if he knew it was his brother or not. There is no mention anywhere, in any of his files.”
Gibbs thought a moment. “Okay, I’m going to shower and then we’ll go.” He took one last sip of his coffee and then took the stairs two at a time up to the bathroom.
Abby brought both of their mugs to the kitchen and set them in the sink. “Well, I’ll get going. I need to swing by my apartment before I go to NCIS. I’ll see you guys later.”
Fornell nodded and watched her go.
Gibbs took a quick shower, and toweled off before putting on the clean clothes he’d brought with him. It took less than fifteen minutes for him to be back downstairs and ready to go. “Where’s Abbs?”
“She left, she’ll meet us at NCIS.”
Gibbs glanced out the front window. “Ah, okay.”
~~**~~
Ziva and McGee were both at their desks when Gibbs and Fornell made it back to NCIS, and they both jumped up when Gibbs strode toward his desk. Ziva allowed McGee to talk first. He had spent the majority of the previous day, well into the evening, searching through every file on Cheryl’s computer. Each of the times she had been contacted by whoever was after him had been through different email accounts set up at various internet cafés around the city, and the few times she had been contacted via telephone, it had been from a burn phone. The voice had been different each time, and Cheryl had no idea if she had been dealing with a man or woman, or if they had an accent. Payment had always come in the form of cash, appearing in her mail box, under the welcome mat of her front door or in an envelope tucked under the windshield wiper of her car.
“I’m sorry boss, I can’t find anything. This person really knows what they are doing. I can have Abby take a look, but honestly, this person is a professional.”
“Is Abby in her lab?” If she had left when he had taken a shower, she should have been at NCIS by now.
“No. She wasn’t here when I got here this morning, about an hour ago. And she hasn’t come through the squad room yet.” It wasn’t often that Abby by-passed the squad room in the morning. She preferred to start the day saying hello to all her friends, often spending the first 20 minutes of her day catching up with Gibbs’ team.
“Gibbs,” Ziva put several papers in a folder and passed them to Gibbs. “It took a little digging into his background, but PFC Ernest Maldonado did have a brother. It’s a long story, but Maldonado, our dead marine grew up in Arizona and was friends with David Wilson. Maldonado was two years older than Wilson, and it turns out that Sasha Maldonado, Ernest’s mother, had a boy while she was in college and ended up putting him up for adoption. The boy stayed in the neighborhood, though she had no idea. She got pregnant two years later with Ernest and kept him. They grew up two blocks away from each other and had no clue that they were brothers.”
Gibbs scanned over the DNA matches, and the adoption papers that Ziva had found.
“They both wanted to join the Marines, but Wilson didn’t make it - he was too dependant on anti-anxiety medication for both anxiety and seizures. He flew out to visit Maldonado while he was on leave. He figured he could convince Maldonado to give him a little information on the Marines to sell overseas, and it ended in a fight. He said they were both beat up pretty bad, but that Maldonado was still alive when he left. He had no idea that they were brothers and is fairly certain that Maldonado was unaware of their family ties as well.”
“You have him in custody?”
“Uh, not exactly.”
“Not exactly?”
“We couldn’t hold him without concrete evidence or an admission of guilt that he had killed him. We had the cops watching the house, and when Ducky finished the autopsy and confirmed that it was injuries from the fight two officers went to pick him up. The found him dead in his room. He killed himself; left a note saying he was ‘sorry’ and that he could ‘never face his mother again’.”
“Uh,” Tobias spoke up. “You mentioned an anti-anxiety medication. Do you know what?” He looked at Gibbs and gave a small shrug. “It doesn’t seem likely, but it might be something to check out.”
“Cheryl had already been working at NCIS for a week when we got the call from this case. Wilson had been in DC for a few days.”
Fornell knew he was probably right, but with no other leads he felt the need to follow up on everything, no matter how unlikely it was to help. “Just humor me, okay?”
“Ziva,” Gibbs gave her a look that told her it would be okay to find out what medication he had been on and she moved back to her desk to make the phone call.
Fornell moved over to Tony’s desk and had a seat. “I wonder if our agents have killed each other yet?” He referred to the obvious animosity between Agent DiNozzo and Agent Sacks.
“Nah, DiNozzo knows better than to off FBI agents while he’s on the clock.” Gibbs had faith that Tony would keep it professional, at least while they were out in the field. Back in the office was another story, and he had no doubt that they would need to be kept apart once while things were slow.
He glanced at his watch, it was 08:30, and he had now been at NCIS for nearly thirty minutes. That meant that Abby had left Fornell’s house almost an hour earlier. He told himself she had gone home to shower and change and would be stepping out of the elevator any minute.
Ziva placed the phone back in the cradle and looked up. “I was just on the phone with Wilson’s doctor in Arizona, he had been prescribed Diazepam which was managing his anxiety and seizures nicely. I guess there had been some issues awhile back, but that he seemed very stable before he left.”
“I don’t think he meant to kill him, I think it was a fight that got out of hand,” McGee broke in.
The elevator dinged, and Gibbs’ head snapped up. He felt a pang of disappointment when it was someone from accounting that stepped out of the elevator. He tried distracting himself by opening his email. He had over 200 emails in his inbox, the majority of it agency related crap - somehow his email had been included in a email sent out for a family potluck lunch over the weekend. Everyone was asked to bring something based on the first letter of their last name. Everyone in the building was invited, but for the most part people knew that he wasn’t interested.
Every time the elevator sounded another arrival, he tried not to feel too let down when Abby didn’t step into the squad room. As he weeded through emails he needed to look at versus the ones that went directly to the trash, he let himself wonder if he was the reason that she hadn’t arrived yet. With time to think, had she freaked out over their kiss? Did she feel like he had blown her off by telling her that he couldn’t start something with her - not yet.
As his mind went through the various possibilities he tried to keep his mind from wander into dangerous territory. What if whoever had been after him had decided to take a different route? Gibbs wasn’t scared of death - there had been times where he had welcomed it - but the one thing that someone could do to actually put fear into him was to hurt Abby. He had always refused to put it into words how he felt about her, had never come out and admitted that she was his favorite, but to anyone (himself included) it was fairly obvious.
In all the years they had worked together, with as many threats as he had received, Ari had been the only one smart enough to target her to cause him pain. The only reason he had gone after Kate first had been because she had taken Abby’s place in bringing the items Ari had requested to autopsy. As much as he missed Kate, and still carried guilt over her death, he couldn’t imagine life if Abby had died at someone else’s hands because of their anger toward him. Gibbs shuddered at the thought.
The elevator dinged once more, and this time Tony stepped out of the metal box, Agent Sacks close behind. “Oh boss, is Abby here?”
“No.”
“Ah, well, did she find you last night? She was in a panic when she called, but then she said she was going to check if you were at Fornell’s place - hey, out of my seat,” Tony motioned for Fornell to move. “Anyway, I didn’t hear back from her, so I assume she found you.”
“She did.”
Tony frowned at Fornell when he took his time in vacating Tony’s seat. “I just spent the last 16 hours going through everything in Cheryl Lavery’s house. That woman needs to learn some organizing skills. I mean seriously, she had bank papers in a plastic bag in her laundry room.”
“Find anything?” Gibbs believed Cheryl when she had told Fornell she knew nothing about the reason someone was after him, that she was only in it for the paycheck.
Tobias interrupted, “more importantly, where is my agent?”
“Sacks?” Tony smirked. “He ran home to the FBI once we wrapped up. I think he was tired of listening to me talk, boss. And no, after 16 hours of mind numbing work, I found nothing. Sorry.” He knew Gibbs didn’t accept apologies, but he was truly sorry. The team was his family and he felt helpless without any leads to find whoever was out to hurt their boss. “What do we do now?”
“We wait.” Gibbs said simply.
“Wait?” Tony didn’t follow.
“They’ll find someone else to do their dirty work. This time we’ll be prepared, they’ll make a mistake.”
“So you just want to use yourself as bait?” Ziva weighed in on the option. “It could work.”
“Isn’t that a little risky?” It didn’t sit well with Tony, the idea of just waiting for whoever it was to make another attempt on Gibbs’ life. What if they succeeded?
“We could move an agent into your house.” Fornell suggested.
“I don’t need an agent in my house, I can take care of myself.” Gibbs didn’t want a babysitter.
“I was thinking more for when you weren’t at home. I know you can take care of yourself, unfortunately your stuff can’t.” Gibbs had told him about his boat being smashed while he was at work.
Gibbs rolled his eyes and glanced at his watch again. Even if Abby had gone home, showered and changed, she should’ve been at NCIS by now. “McGee, get a hold of Abby.”
“Yes, boss.” McGee reached for the phone and dialed Abby’s cell. When it went to voicemail he left a quick message asking her to call. He then hung up and dialed her home number. “Boss, still no response.”
“You’re sure she’s not in her lab?”
“She had a long day yesterday, she probably slept in. What do you need her for?” Tony wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Gibbs was thinking.
McGee dialed her lab extension, but no one answered.
Gibbs didn’t want to alarm the team if it was nothing, but on the off chance that someone had gone after her as a way to get to him, he needed to know right away. “Can you get a fix on her cell?”
“Uh, sure.” McGee looked from Gibbs to Tony and Ziva and back to Gibbs before opening up the necessary program on his computer. Once he was ready, he dialed Abby’s number. Once it started ringing he put her number into the program.
McGee glanced up at Gibbs with a startled look on his face.
---
TBC…
Oh snap, did I leave it with Abby missing? Oops.