NCIS fic
Heart of Gibbs
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Heartland
Summary: Gibbs and Abby go on their first date.
***
“Do you ever worry that you’ll end up with type II diabetes from all that sugar you drink?” McGee asked sitting on the spare chair in her lab.
“Nah, diabetes is afraid to infect me,” she answered happily taking another large sip of her caf-pow.
He shrugged and watched her fool around with some cold cases, “Shouldn’t you be getting ready to leave Abs?”
Abby smiled and shook her head, “Nope. I have tests to run and a large tree to decorate,” she said motioning to the Christmas tree hanging out in the corner, bare as it entered her office.
Tony was rummaging through the collection of ornaments that had brought with her from her apartment and held up one of Jack Skellington, “Gothic Christmas anyone?”
Abby walked over and snatched it from his hands, “Nightmare before Christmas is the best- Halloween slash Christmas movie- EVER. Naturally it’s going to be on my tree.”
She took a second to admire the ornament and then set it on the table and went back to her computer.
“So we’re going drinking without you again?” Tony asked, it was two days before Christmas and he felt he deserved a good drunken holiday party before they had to report back to the office.
“Maybe next year,” Abby replied.
Tony, every year, asked everyone to go drinking the day their break began. Often Ducky would decline citing plans, and Gibbs never showed but the rest of them normally did. Abby unfortunately had missed last year’s and this year looked to be a wash as well.
“Damn,” he muttered grabbing McGee by the shoulders, “Guess it’s just you, me, Palmer, and Ziva, McGeek.”
“Ziva said she was going? I thought she had plans,” McGee said.
Tony smirked, “Oh new Probie’s going she just doesn’t know it yet. I have an apartment number and a plan- let’s go.”
Tim sent Abby one last pleading look as if to beg to be saved from whatever Tony had planned but she shook her head and waved as he was pulled out of her lab by his neck.
---
Abby had all of an hour to run tests; she had basically gotten as far as scanning the fibers for an answer , then when she turned around Gibbs was standing by her desk.
“Gibbs! I thought you had gone home.”
“Waiting for you to finish,” He answered.
Abby frowned, “I still have to decorate the tree.”
Gibbs looked in the corner to her naked pine tree, “I’ll go work on a cold case, Abs.”
Abby smiled, he was always determined to hang around late if she did unless he absolutely had to go home. It was one of her favourite things about Gibbs. Well that and his ability to take her by surprise, and how he always knew what she wanted for her birthday, or needed an ear- or when she needed someone to rescue her from Tony… well there were a lot of favourite things about Gibbs. Actually he was probably her favourite person in general, no reasons required.
So Abby ran her tests, and in between waiting, started to decorate the tree with Gibbs working silently at her desk in the corner. It was the desk that Abby never used, and Gibbs used at least once a month if not more when waiting for her to finish.
Abby was doing pretty well a few hours later, the tree was looking more like a tree. Abby liked to keep ornaments that were not only from movies she enjoyed, but she also kept one for every member of the team.
She had a Tasmanian devil for Tony, citing that he blew in and out of her lab, McGee had one of Wolverine because he was a comic fan, and Ziva she had gotten a Barbie doll for, and, well her reaction was worth the purchase. Ducky had one of Santa from a generic series, Palmer had one of Charlie Brown, and the one she had picked out as Gibbs was of some classic car.
After a while of decorating, Gibbs joined in. Quietly at first, Abby was almost surprised when she saw him pick up a small round coloured ball as he hung it on the tree for her. Abby knew better than to make a big deal of his aid so when they finished, she fought to hold on the big smile that was threatening to come out.
“Wow, it looks amazing,” she exclaimed with delight shamelessly wrapping her arms around Gibbs.
The tree was glowing with ornaments fully covering it, and then on top was a row of black lights that gave it a kind of gothic tint. It made Abby giddy to see the finished product. Gibbs almost pleased himself, a slight grin playing on lips at Abby’s enthusiasm.
He nodded, “Sure does.” Gibbs stopped to look at his watch, “Abby it’s almost seven hundred.”
Abby yawned and nodded her head in confirmation motioning to the door at the same time. That she too was ready to quit and sleep for the next ten to twelve hours.
It was little surprise when Gibbs directed her towards his car, she knew that he wasn’t about to let her drive back to her apartment on this little sleep.
---
The only thing that did surprise her though, wasn’t that Gibbs took her home- it was where Gibbs was taking her. At first, she thought they would go to her apartment, and they did… for all of five minutes. Gibbs took her keys, calmly walked into the apartment and returned with some clothes, her toothbrush, and some forensics reading materials for her.
Abby was excited at the idea that they were going to his house, she loved when they spent time like that together. She had allowed herself a small catnap and when she woke up, she was surprised they were still on the road. Gibbs’ house was easily an hour behind them; they were I-95 heading straight towards Pennsylvania.
“Gibbs?”
“Yea, Abs?”
She yawned again and let her bewilderment known, “Why are we going to your father’s? Did something happen to Jackson?”
Gibbs shook his head and remained on the road, “No, it’s Christmas Abs.”
That didn’t make any sense to her than the journey itself but she knew she was missing something.
“I know…”
“We were supposed to spend Christmas together and have our first date.” Gibbs stated, reminding her, he knew she was tired and probably with the case forgotten all about it. Thankfully, he had an excellent memory and had been waiting for the time to do this right.
It also helped that Abby had no one else to spend Christmas with but Gibbs, who she always spent the holidays with anyway. Ducky was going to be slightly upset that they missed his dinner party on the 26th, but this year instead of making Jackson come down, he figured that he would go to Jackson.
At arrival, Jackson seemed shocked that not only his son showed up, but not alone either. He was pleased, though, to have people to entertain and to help him make some gifts to take the homeless shelter in Pittsburgh.
They chatted for awhile, and by ‘they’ it meant Abby and Jackson. They had talked back and forth, and Gibbs watched and would occasionally chime in never being much of a talker. Then Gibbs and Abby, both extremely tired from their all night work, took a nap upstairs in the same guest bedroom.
Around dinner time, Gibbs told Abby it was time to off to their date and bid his father goodnight and not wait up for them.
---
A few minutes later, Abby found herself sitting in a little quaint diner in the outskirts of the small un-incorporated town of Stillwater.
“Is this the only restaurant in town?” Abby asked looking around at the painted windows. Each window had washable paint on them with various Christmas decorations. There was a snowflake on the closest window to them, and the place itself was basically empty, but the sign said they were open until 11pm.
Gibbs nodded, “There used to be another but it was shut down sometime between Shannon and my departure and me returning. It wasn’t nearly as good as this place.”
“Why here?”
“Wanted to see Jackson after that speech you gave me last year about family. The date, however, was inspired by you,” he answered honestly.
Abby shot him a confused look, “Me?”
Gibbs nodded and took a sip of the coffee the young waitress had put out in front of him. He rarely talked about his personal life before and it wasn’t easy to even be here but it was the reason he had come here with Abby.
“Your insecurities to be exact.”
Abby felt herself tense up, she should have known Gibbs would have picked up on that. It wasn’t that she doubted they had something, she just doubted, well why or how it could possibly work out. It’s true that she had made the first move but she honestly thought that Gibbs would refuse or keep her at arms’ length so it never progressed. The fact that he took the first move on their date was surprising and this was even more so shocking to her.
They weren’t exactly the most compatible by interests or appearance. Abby was easily ten years younger and found sex easier than a relationship. Gibbs never had anything but relationships though they often didn’t end too well. And that made her pause however when he seemed serious about going forward, she should have known that she would get nervous.
“I didn’t mean to… Gibbs it’s not that I…”
Gibbs held up his hand and gave her a stern look, “Abby, that’s not what I’m talking about and you know it. You’ve been waiting for other shoe to drop since last month. This place, why I took you here? Shannon and I used to go here on dates frequently.”
That announcement made Abby pause, he had taken her here. The only person that Gibbs had she truly believed fully loved so him to take her here…
“Oh. Oh.”
Neither said much after that, Gibbs had calmly ordered his sandwich and Abby had ordered a soup and ravioli trying not to let herself cry. He loved her, and she loved him and this wasn’t some one time, try it out date. It was more than she could ask for a holiday wish come true.
“I haven’t been here since the time we took Kelly here,” he said after a few minutes of silence with Abby still trying to keep her composure, it took everything she had not to jump him, laugh, and cry all at once.
“How old was she?” she asked toying with her pigtails. He never usually gave details but it seemed the more romantic side of Gibbs involved his willingness to open up.
“Probably around three or four,” Gibbs answered, “There used to be a lot more here in the 80’s. They had a toy store down the street and she would love to go in there and pick out a toy. Most of their toys were unique because they were made by local people instead of imported from Japan or Mexico.”
Abby smiled and tried to imagine what this small town must have used to looked like. It seemed so empty now besides his father’s store, this restaurant, the train station, and mail place there didn’t appear to be anything else. However, she had noted the vast amount of empty buildings scattered and wondered how long they each had been that way.
“This place peaked during World War Two. My father always said back then they had as much conveniences as the next town. There was a huge fire a few years before my birth, wiped out about forty percent of the town businesses,” he told her getting into the history of Stillwater.
“What happened after that?” Abby asked.
“People moved away and cut their losses hoping to find a life somewhere else. By the time I was a teenager and ready to go out, the second wave of small town store owners had come in to make their little fortune in a town that had nothing. It didn’t work out for them. By the time Kelly was a small girl, the town had lost half of what it gained. The only stores that are left are from the ones who were here from the start,” Gibbs explained.
“From the start?”
“This diner is owned by the granddaughter of the original owner, my dad still owns his store, the jeweler is owned by son of the original owner,” Gibbs told her, “People here inherit their families’ store which is why I had wanted to leave. I never wanted to own a small convenience store like my father.”
It was the most frank and detailed conversation that Gibbs and Abby had possibly ever had. No declaration needed after he told her why they had picked his particular place. He told her about his history and in the middle, she got ask questions and talk about life in New Orleans.
When they finished eating and asked for the bill, Gibbs walked back into his father’s store, got them both some ice cream from the back and they set out to walk the streets. It was just past midnight which meant Christmas was less than two hours away. Holding hands albeit somewhat timidly on Abby’s part they explored areas that Gibbs had told her about that he used to frequently visit.
This was so much nicer than before when they had just come for a case. Now Abby got to see the beauty of Gibbs’ small hometown but she also learned why he had left. It seemed like such a sweet place, but to Gibbs she knew it was stifling (though he’d never admit it). Gibbs, never one to enjoy just idly letting the world pass him by, though content with smaller and simpler things in life probably would have gone crazy eventually had he stayed.
After they finished their ice cream, they headed back towards Jackson’s home. As they walked, Abby’s head leaned on Gibbs’ shoulder and her body curved into his despite the fact they both were walking.
“Thank you, it’s the best date I’ve ever had,” she remarked with a big smile on her face.
“Anytime Abs.”
They gently kissed each other in front of the door and Abby wondered if it was too soon to be exploring each other horizontality later on. Gibbs had basically let her know earlier that he loved her, so now just to make sure he got the message, she signed that same message to him. He nodded as his confirmation that in fact knew she did. That this was hardly some cute fling and that were building something here.
Unfortunately, that also told Abby that her plan for sex probably wasn’t going to happen without a few more dates. Good thing they were sharing a bed, they could always hit second base; kissing was fun, they had certainly done it enough in the last month, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“Promise we can do this again next year?”
Gibbs nodded, “Promise, but DiNozzo, McGee, David, Palmer, and Ducky aren’t going to come with us.”
Abby sighed, damn he was good.
“Aww, come on Gibbs! Please!”
-----
end
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Heartland
Summary: Gibbs and Abby go on their first date.
***
“Do you ever worry that you’ll end up with type II diabetes from all that sugar you drink?” McGee asked sitting on the spare chair in her lab.
“Nah, diabetes is afraid to infect me,” she answered happily taking another large sip of her caf-pow.
He shrugged and watched her fool around with some cold cases, “Shouldn’t you be getting ready to leave Abs?”
Abby smiled and shook her head, “Nope. I have tests to run and a large tree to decorate,” she said motioning to the Christmas tree hanging out in the corner, bare as it entered her office.
Tony was rummaging through the collection of ornaments that had brought with her from her apartment and held up one of Jack Skellington, “Gothic Christmas anyone?”
Abby walked over and snatched it from his hands, “Nightmare before Christmas is the best- Halloween slash Christmas movie- EVER. Naturally it’s going to be on my tree.”
She took a second to admire the ornament and then set it on the table and went back to her computer.
“So we’re going drinking without you again?” Tony asked, it was two days before Christmas and he felt he deserved a good drunken holiday party before they had to report back to the office.
“Maybe next year,” Abby replied.
Tony, every year, asked everyone to go drinking the day their break began. Often Ducky would decline citing plans, and Gibbs never showed but the rest of them normally did. Abby unfortunately had missed last year’s and this year looked to be a wash as well.
“Damn,” he muttered grabbing McGee by the shoulders, “Guess it’s just you, me, Palmer, and Ziva, McGeek.”
“Ziva said she was going? I thought she had plans,” McGee said.
Tony smirked, “Oh new Probie’s going she just doesn’t know it yet. I have an apartment number and a plan- let’s go.”
Tim sent Abby one last pleading look as if to beg to be saved from whatever Tony had planned but she shook her head and waved as he was pulled out of her lab by his neck.
---
Abby had all of an hour to run tests; she had basically gotten as far as scanning the fibers for an answer , then when she turned around Gibbs was standing by her desk.
“Gibbs! I thought you had gone home.”
“Waiting for you to finish,” He answered.
Abby frowned, “I still have to decorate the tree.”
Gibbs looked in the corner to her naked pine tree, “I’ll go work on a cold case, Abs.”
Abby smiled, he was always determined to hang around late if she did unless he absolutely had to go home. It was one of her favourite things about Gibbs. Well that and his ability to take her by surprise, and how he always knew what she wanted for her birthday, or needed an ear- or when she needed someone to rescue her from Tony… well there were a lot of favourite things about Gibbs. Actually he was probably her favourite person in general, no reasons required.
So Abby ran her tests, and in between waiting, started to decorate the tree with Gibbs working silently at her desk in the corner. It was the desk that Abby never used, and Gibbs used at least once a month if not more when waiting for her to finish.
Abby was doing pretty well a few hours later, the tree was looking more like a tree. Abby liked to keep ornaments that were not only from movies she enjoyed, but she also kept one for every member of the team.
She had a Tasmanian devil for Tony, citing that he blew in and out of her lab, McGee had one of Wolverine because he was a comic fan, and Ziva she had gotten a Barbie doll for, and, well her reaction was worth the purchase. Ducky had one of Santa from a generic series, Palmer had one of Charlie Brown, and the one she had picked out as Gibbs was of some classic car.
After a while of decorating, Gibbs joined in. Quietly at first, Abby was almost surprised when she saw him pick up a small round coloured ball as he hung it on the tree for her. Abby knew better than to make a big deal of his aid so when they finished, she fought to hold on the big smile that was threatening to come out.
“Wow, it looks amazing,” she exclaimed with delight shamelessly wrapping her arms around Gibbs.
The tree was glowing with ornaments fully covering it, and then on top was a row of black lights that gave it a kind of gothic tint. It made Abby giddy to see the finished product. Gibbs almost pleased himself, a slight grin playing on lips at Abby’s enthusiasm.
He nodded, “Sure does.” Gibbs stopped to look at his watch, “Abby it’s almost seven hundred.”
Abby yawned and nodded her head in confirmation motioning to the door at the same time. That she too was ready to quit and sleep for the next ten to twelve hours.
It was little surprise when Gibbs directed her towards his car, she knew that he wasn’t about to let her drive back to her apartment on this little sleep.
---
The only thing that did surprise her though, wasn’t that Gibbs took her home- it was where Gibbs was taking her. At first, she thought they would go to her apartment, and they did… for all of five minutes. Gibbs took her keys, calmly walked into the apartment and returned with some clothes, her toothbrush, and some forensics reading materials for her.
Abby was excited at the idea that they were going to his house, she loved when they spent time like that together. She had allowed herself a small catnap and when she woke up, she was surprised they were still on the road. Gibbs’ house was easily an hour behind them; they were I-95 heading straight towards Pennsylvania.
“Gibbs?”
“Yea, Abs?”
She yawned again and let her bewilderment known, “Why are we going to your father’s? Did something happen to Jackson?”
Gibbs shook his head and remained on the road, “No, it’s Christmas Abs.”
That didn’t make any sense to her than the journey itself but she knew she was missing something.
“I know…”
“We were supposed to spend Christmas together and have our first date.” Gibbs stated, reminding her, he knew she was tired and probably with the case forgotten all about it. Thankfully, he had an excellent memory and had been waiting for the time to do this right.
It also helped that Abby had no one else to spend Christmas with but Gibbs, who she always spent the holidays with anyway. Ducky was going to be slightly upset that they missed his dinner party on the 26th, but this year instead of making Jackson come down, he figured that he would go to Jackson.
At arrival, Jackson seemed shocked that not only his son showed up, but not alone either. He was pleased, though, to have people to entertain and to help him make some gifts to take the homeless shelter in Pittsburgh.
They chatted for awhile, and by ‘they’ it meant Abby and Jackson. They had talked back and forth, and Gibbs watched and would occasionally chime in never being much of a talker. Then Gibbs and Abby, both extremely tired from their all night work, took a nap upstairs in the same guest bedroom.
Around dinner time, Gibbs told Abby it was time to off to their date and bid his father goodnight and not wait up for them.
---
A few minutes later, Abby found herself sitting in a little quaint diner in the outskirts of the small un-incorporated town of Stillwater.
“Is this the only restaurant in town?” Abby asked looking around at the painted windows. Each window had washable paint on them with various Christmas decorations. There was a snowflake on the closest window to them, and the place itself was basically empty, but the sign said they were open until 11pm.
Gibbs nodded, “There used to be another but it was shut down sometime between Shannon and my departure and me returning. It wasn’t nearly as good as this place.”
“Why here?”
“Wanted to see Jackson after that speech you gave me last year about family. The date, however, was inspired by you,” he answered honestly.
Abby shot him a confused look, “Me?”
Gibbs nodded and took a sip of the coffee the young waitress had put out in front of him. He rarely talked about his personal life before and it wasn’t easy to even be here but it was the reason he had come here with Abby.
“Your insecurities to be exact.”
Abby felt herself tense up, she should have known Gibbs would have picked up on that. It wasn’t that she doubted they had something, she just doubted, well why or how it could possibly work out. It’s true that she had made the first move but she honestly thought that Gibbs would refuse or keep her at arms’ length so it never progressed. The fact that he took the first move on their date was surprising and this was even more so shocking to her.
They weren’t exactly the most compatible by interests or appearance. Abby was easily ten years younger and found sex easier than a relationship. Gibbs never had anything but relationships though they often didn’t end too well. And that made her pause however when he seemed serious about going forward, she should have known that she would get nervous.
“I didn’t mean to… Gibbs it’s not that I…”
Gibbs held up his hand and gave her a stern look, “Abby, that’s not what I’m talking about and you know it. You’ve been waiting for other shoe to drop since last month. This place, why I took you here? Shannon and I used to go here on dates frequently.”
That announcement made Abby pause, he had taken her here. The only person that Gibbs had she truly believed fully loved so him to take her here…
“Oh. Oh.”
Neither said much after that, Gibbs had calmly ordered his sandwich and Abby had ordered a soup and ravioli trying not to let herself cry. He loved her, and she loved him and this wasn’t some one time, try it out date. It was more than she could ask for a holiday wish come true.
“I haven’t been here since the time we took Kelly here,” he said after a few minutes of silence with Abby still trying to keep her composure, it took everything she had not to jump him, laugh, and cry all at once.
“How old was she?” she asked toying with her pigtails. He never usually gave details but it seemed the more romantic side of Gibbs involved his willingness to open up.
“Probably around three or four,” Gibbs answered, “There used to be a lot more here in the 80’s. They had a toy store down the street and she would love to go in there and pick out a toy. Most of their toys were unique because they were made by local people instead of imported from Japan or Mexico.”
Abby smiled and tried to imagine what this small town must have used to looked like. It seemed so empty now besides his father’s store, this restaurant, the train station, and mail place there didn’t appear to be anything else. However, she had noted the vast amount of empty buildings scattered and wondered how long they each had been that way.
“This place peaked during World War Two. My father always said back then they had as much conveniences as the next town. There was a huge fire a few years before my birth, wiped out about forty percent of the town businesses,” he told her getting into the history of Stillwater.
“What happened after that?” Abby asked.
“People moved away and cut their losses hoping to find a life somewhere else. By the time I was a teenager and ready to go out, the second wave of small town store owners had come in to make their little fortune in a town that had nothing. It didn’t work out for them. By the time Kelly was a small girl, the town had lost half of what it gained. The only stores that are left are from the ones who were here from the start,” Gibbs explained.
“From the start?”
“This diner is owned by the granddaughter of the original owner, my dad still owns his store, the jeweler is owned by son of the original owner,” Gibbs told her, “People here inherit their families’ store which is why I had wanted to leave. I never wanted to own a small convenience store like my father.”
It was the most frank and detailed conversation that Gibbs and Abby had possibly ever had. No declaration needed after he told her why they had picked his particular place. He told her about his history and in the middle, she got ask questions and talk about life in New Orleans.
When they finished eating and asked for the bill, Gibbs walked back into his father’s store, got them both some ice cream from the back and they set out to walk the streets. It was just past midnight which meant Christmas was less than two hours away. Holding hands albeit somewhat timidly on Abby’s part they explored areas that Gibbs had told her about that he used to frequently visit.
This was so much nicer than before when they had just come for a case. Now Abby got to see the beauty of Gibbs’ small hometown but she also learned why he had left. It seemed like such a sweet place, but to Gibbs she knew it was stifling (though he’d never admit it). Gibbs, never one to enjoy just idly letting the world pass him by, though content with smaller and simpler things in life probably would have gone crazy eventually had he stayed.
After they finished their ice cream, they headed back towards Jackson’s home. As they walked, Abby’s head leaned on Gibbs’ shoulder and her body curved into his despite the fact they both were walking.
“Thank you, it’s the best date I’ve ever had,” she remarked with a big smile on her face.
“Anytime Abs.”
They gently kissed each other in front of the door and Abby wondered if it was too soon to be exploring each other horizontality later on. Gibbs had basically let her know earlier that he loved her, so now just to make sure he got the message, she signed that same message to him. He nodded as his confirmation that in fact knew she did. That this was hardly some cute fling and that were building something here.
Unfortunately, that also told Abby that her plan for sex probably wasn’t going to happen without a few more dates. Good thing they were sharing a bed, they could always hit second base; kissing was fun, they had certainly done it enough in the last month, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“Promise we can do this again next year?”
Gibbs nodded, “Promise, but DiNozzo, McGee, David, Palmer, and Ducky aren’t going to come with us.”
Abby sighed, damn he was good.
“Aww, come on Gibbs! Please!”
-----
end