Fic: Rewriting the Rules 24 - Pyramid [1/1]
Title: Rewriting the Rules 24 - Pyramid
Author: Jo. R (driftingatdusk)
Rating: FR-15.
Pairing: Gibbs/Abby
Spoilers: 8x24 - Pyramid
Category: Post-episode, Romance, Angst
Summary: What's broken can be fixed, and rules can be rewritten.
Author's Note: A part of this was inspired and requested by Gosgirl - hope it doesn't disappoint!
****
The basement felt empty.
Abby Sciuto carefully made her way down the staircase in her high heels, the shoes reserved only for court and funerals pinching her feet painfully. Usually she'd kick them off the moment she walked through the door but she hadn't today; she couldn't.
She needed the pain, the discomfort.
Needed to keep herself from feeling completely numb.
The house was otherwise quiet; Gibbs was dropping Leyla and Amira off at the airport and she wasn't expecting him home for a while. She knew he'd offered to have them stay overnight but Leyla had politely declined. She wanted to get home, back to Mexico.
No doubt wanting to continue mourning her father-in-law in the privacy of her own home.
Mike Franks was gone and Abby shivered, wrapping her arms around her middle. Such a larger-than-life character, such an integral part of Gibbs' life and a valued member of their self-made family...
Gone.
A tear slid down her cheek and she could almost hear his voice telling her not to cry over an old man like him. Mike had been unfailingly old fashioned in some aspects and Abby knew from experience that there was nothing he hated more than to see a lady cry.
They hadn't spent much time together during what would be his last visit to NCIS but what little they had done would have to be enough. She still remembered the way Mike had looked at her after arriving in her lab, could so vividly remember the pained expression on his face as he took in her shimmering eyes and valiant attempts at keeping the smile in place on her lips.
*
"He told you, didn't he?"
"You were expecting him not to?" Abby shrugged when Mike ran a hand through his hair and stared at her. "It was kind of hard for him to keep it from me when I realised his new project was a little small for a boat."
Mike's smile was rueful and she'd noticed the way he'd seemed to have aged a lifetime in the months they'd not seen each other. His face was drawn, haggard, and the bone-shaking cough that struck him when he opened his mouth to speak made her wince. "You'll take care of him," Mike said eventually, confidently. They both knew it wasn't something he needed to request but could safely assume. "After I'm gone."
"As much as he'll let me." A tear she couldn't blink away in time slipped down her cheek and Mike crossed the floor of the lab quickly, disapproval and alarm in his eyes.
"Hey, now, Abby. You know I can't stand it to see a lady cry." He drew her against him and she went willingly, wrapping her arms around him as tightly as she dared.
He felt thinner, she realised. Frail. And that was a word she'd never thought she'd associate with retired NCIS Special Agent Mike Franks.
A sob caught in her throat and she pressed her face against him, willing the tears away. The sound of footsteps caught her attention and she lifted her head to see Gibbs standing in the door, watching them, pain and anguish flashing in his blue eyes before it was concealed by the mask he worked so hard to project.
"I can feel the glare from here, Probie." Mike winked at Abby as he took a step back, keeping a loose arm around her waist even as he turned to look at his friend and former partner. "If I didn't like you so much, you'd have competition."
The corners of Gibbs mouth twitched as he humoured his friend. "Then I'll be glad you like me." His blue gaze moved from Mike to Abby, concern causing them to darken at the distress she couldn't quite hide from him. "You gonna be here long, Abs?"
"No, but I thought... I've got to call my mom, catch up with a few friends... I thought I'd go to my place tonight. It'll give you guys a chance to talk..."
"Nothin' we can't say without you there, Abby." Mike's arm tightened momentarily around her waist only to drop from around her as another coughing fit struck him.
As he walked away to compose himself, Gibbs moved towards Abby, dropping his voice even though he knew Mike could and would listen to every word.
"You shouldn't be on your own," he told her quietly, lifting a hand to trace the tear track staining her cheek with his fingertip. "It's not safe..."
"I'll have my phone with me, deadlock the door. You need some time together, Gibbs. I'm not going to intrude on that." She leaned into his touch, needing the comfort it gave her almost as much as she knew he needed the connection. "I'll come over early tomorrow morning. Maybe we could have breakfast before work."
"Does breakfast involve tequila at Casa de Gibbs?" Mike's smile was strained but managed to reach his eyes.
"No, but it might stretch to pancakes." Abby tilted her face slightly to accept the kiss Gibbs leaned in to place on her cheek, her heart aching at the brave face he was putting on his turmoil. "You boys have fun now. And I'll see you in the morning."
"Call you later," Gibbs murmured before turning to walk out of the door, Mike waving at her over his shoulder as he followed.
*
Their plans for breakfast hadn't come to pass. Gibbs had called her as he'd promised but it was a phone call she'd never wanted to receive.
Abby sighed and walked around the work bench, still cluttered by wood shavings and hand tools. She looked at the cardboard box Mike had brought with him, at the open folder he or Gibbs had been reading before...
Before Mike's final fight.
Her usual sense of curiosity was absent and she felt no desire to look at the files and folders in the box.
She felt no desire to do much of anything but curl up into a ball and weep.
It was unfair that a man as vital and courageous as Mike Franks had died in the middle of a street on a cold, rainy night.
It was unfair that a man who had a such a good heart buried beneath a shady exterior had died before he'd got to see his granddaughter grow up into the beautiful young woman Abby had no doubt she'd one day be.
The sob that escaped her echoed around the empty room and she dropped to a crouch, doubling over as a wave of grief crashed over her.
She remembered coming home from work to find Gibbs reading the letter Mike had sent him. She remembered taking it from his numb fingers so she could read the words herself, her heart breaking for both the man who was dying and the one who would grieve his passing.
He'd refused to talk to her that night but had taken her to bed, accepting the comfort she willingly offered with her body. She remembered how he'd marked her with his hands and mouth, claiming her, possessing her, using her. She remembered the almost desperate way he'd clung to her afterwards, the gentleness in his touch as he'd soothed her tender skin in a silent - and, in her eyes, unnecessary - apology for being so rough.
Two days later, she returned home to find him sketching blueprints for Mike's coffin and it'd been his turn to comfort her as she'd wept on his shoulder, the lightly drawn lines hitting her harder than Mike's written words.
Wrapping her arms around her middle, Abby tried and failed to compose herself. She didn't look up when she heard the front door open and close; she'd locked it behind herself and knew who it was. She tried to stem the flow of tears when she heard his footsteps on the stairs and had only just managed to do so when she felt his arms go around her, lifting her to her feet even as he drew her against him.
"I hate this," she mumbled, her words muffled against him as she clung to him with as much strength as she could muster. "I hate knowing he's gone."
"I know, Abby. Me, too." His lips brushed against the top of his head, his hand running along her spine soothingly.
They held one another for several long moments, drawing strength while giving comfort. After a while, Gibbs drew back but took her hand, leading her up stairs away from the workbench devoid of a project, neither of them needing the reminder that the coffin he'd been working on had been put to use a little earlier than they'd hoped.
He ushered her onto the couch before crouching at her feet, unfastening the straps of the shoes she still wore and sliding them off, his fingers skirting over the soles of her feet before sliding up her calves, massaging the tense muscles firmly.
Instead of sliding his hands further up her legs, Gibbs moved to sit beside her, pulling her back against him with a firm arm around her shoulders. Abby tilted her head back, accepting the kiss he leaned in to give her.
"I thought we had longer." Her voice was quiet as she let her head rest against his shoulder, voicing the thought that was running through his own mind. "I thought we'd have time to say goodbye."
"It's what he would've wanted." Hs arm tightened around her momentarily. "Going down quietly was never Mike's style."
The small huff of humourless laughter was a sign of her agreement. "He'd have hated to go without a fight. It's a small comfort, though. Hardly a comfort at all."
As they say in silence, remembering the man they'd lost, the light faded from the room as the sun set, night slipping in to take its place. Neither moved to turn on a light though after a while, Gibbs shifted, easing them down until they were lying along the couch, Abby's back to his front, his back pressed against the back of the couch as he kept her anchored to him with strong arms around her waist.
"Will Leyla and Amira be okay?" Abby wondered aloud some time later, her voice quiet but sounding loud in the otherwise still room. "Maybe they should've stayed here for a few days. I could've moved back to my apartment to make more room..."
His arms tightening around her showed her his dislike of the idea - the latter part of it, anyway. "You'd have stayed even if they'd taken us up on the offer." The fingers of one hand slipped under her shirt, stroking the soft skin of her stomach soothingly. Whether the gesture was meant to comfort her or him, Abby wasn't sure. "Leyla wanted to go home. Told her she could call us anytime if she needs anything."
"Us?" Picking up on his use of the term not once, but twice, Abby fought to urge to turn around in his arms to look at him. "She knows?"
"She lived with Mike. He was never good at keeping secrets he didn't think should be kept." His lips brushed the back of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine. "You ever read his whole letter, Abby?"
She shook her head, a soft sigh escaping her. She'd made it halfway through the letter before the tears had blurred the words too much to read and she'd allowed herself to be distracted by his need to forget its contents.
"One of the last things he said was that I'd be a fool to let you go." He nuzzled the skin of her neck, the fingers resting against her stomach stilling momentarily. "Gotta say I'm in agreement with him on that one."
While his words and touch spread a familiar, very welcome warmth through her, Abby turned over, her expression troubled as she gazed up at him, her mind wandering back to a conversation she'd had no more than a few days ago. Still, she managed to smile at him in response to the silent promise in his words. "Good thing I don't want you to let me go then, isn't it?"
His eyes locked with hers as the hand not resting against the small of her back rose to touch her cheek, finger trailing over her skin until he reached her chin, tilting her face gently. "Something bothering you, Abs? Besides the obvious?"
Abby hesitated, sighing when his palm flattened against her back, the warmth pressing her closer to him. "I think... I think McGee's going to hate me," she confessed, recalling the conversation she'd had with the other agent in her lab. "When he finds out about us," she clarified when Gibbs arched an eyebrow. "He came to see me when I got back from the hospital, after I visited Simon. The way he spoke to me, the things he said..."
He tensed noticeably, his blue eyes growing flat at both her tone and her words. "What did he say, Abby?"
"He said he didn't know what he'd do if he lost me," she admitted after a short pause. "I thought he was still seeing the girl Tony set him up with but I'm not sure now and I think he's going to really hate me when he finds out we've been together this whole time... When he realises that I was never his to lose and if I ever was, that he's already lost me. To you."
Knowing that hurting McGee was the last thing she'd want - the last thing either of them wanted - and that it would play on her mind and her heart, Gibbs brushed his lips against her forehead and bit back a sigh. "He'll get over it, Abby. He has to." There was nothing he could say or do to alleviate her guilt or his own so he didn't try. When he spoke, his tone was firm, his words determined. "There isn't another alternative. I'm not letting you go, not unless you decide you want me to."
She shook her head immediately, pressing closer and lifting her arms to wind them around his neck. "That's never going to happen," she promised, kissing him softly.
She settled back against him, her thoughts turning once again to Mike, to the friend they'd lost, and she found herself hoping they wouldn't lose another in McGee when the truth about their relationship came out.
****
End
Author: Jo. R (driftingatdusk)
Rating: FR-15.
Pairing: Gibbs/Abby
Spoilers: 8x24 - Pyramid
Category: Post-episode, Romance, Angst
Summary: What's broken can be fixed, and rules can be rewritten.
Author's Note: A part of this was inspired and requested by Gosgirl - hope it doesn't disappoint!
****
The basement felt empty.
Abby Sciuto carefully made her way down the staircase in her high heels, the shoes reserved only for court and funerals pinching her feet painfully. Usually she'd kick them off the moment she walked through the door but she hadn't today; she couldn't.
She needed the pain, the discomfort.
Needed to keep herself from feeling completely numb.
The house was otherwise quiet; Gibbs was dropping Leyla and Amira off at the airport and she wasn't expecting him home for a while. She knew he'd offered to have them stay overnight but Leyla had politely declined. She wanted to get home, back to Mexico.
No doubt wanting to continue mourning her father-in-law in the privacy of her own home.
Mike Franks was gone and Abby shivered, wrapping her arms around her middle. Such a larger-than-life character, such an integral part of Gibbs' life and a valued member of their self-made family...
Gone.
A tear slid down her cheek and she could almost hear his voice telling her not to cry over an old man like him. Mike had been unfailingly old fashioned in some aspects and Abby knew from experience that there was nothing he hated more than to see a lady cry.
They hadn't spent much time together during what would be his last visit to NCIS but what little they had done would have to be enough. She still remembered the way Mike had looked at her after arriving in her lab, could so vividly remember the pained expression on his face as he took in her shimmering eyes and valiant attempts at keeping the smile in place on her lips.
*
"He told you, didn't he?"
"You were expecting him not to?" Abby shrugged when Mike ran a hand through his hair and stared at her. "It was kind of hard for him to keep it from me when I realised his new project was a little small for a boat."
Mike's smile was rueful and she'd noticed the way he'd seemed to have aged a lifetime in the months they'd not seen each other. His face was drawn, haggard, and the bone-shaking cough that struck him when he opened his mouth to speak made her wince. "You'll take care of him," Mike said eventually, confidently. They both knew it wasn't something he needed to request but could safely assume. "After I'm gone."
"As much as he'll let me." A tear she couldn't blink away in time slipped down her cheek and Mike crossed the floor of the lab quickly, disapproval and alarm in his eyes.
"Hey, now, Abby. You know I can't stand it to see a lady cry." He drew her against him and she went willingly, wrapping her arms around him as tightly as she dared.
He felt thinner, she realised. Frail. And that was a word she'd never thought she'd associate with retired NCIS Special Agent Mike Franks.
A sob caught in her throat and she pressed her face against him, willing the tears away. The sound of footsteps caught her attention and she lifted her head to see Gibbs standing in the door, watching them, pain and anguish flashing in his blue eyes before it was concealed by the mask he worked so hard to project.
"I can feel the glare from here, Probie." Mike winked at Abby as he took a step back, keeping a loose arm around her waist even as he turned to look at his friend and former partner. "If I didn't like you so much, you'd have competition."
The corners of Gibbs mouth twitched as he humoured his friend. "Then I'll be glad you like me." His blue gaze moved from Mike to Abby, concern causing them to darken at the distress she couldn't quite hide from him. "You gonna be here long, Abs?"
"No, but I thought... I've got to call my mom, catch up with a few friends... I thought I'd go to my place tonight. It'll give you guys a chance to talk..."
"Nothin' we can't say without you there, Abby." Mike's arm tightened momentarily around her waist only to drop from around her as another coughing fit struck him.
As he walked away to compose himself, Gibbs moved towards Abby, dropping his voice even though he knew Mike could and would listen to every word.
"You shouldn't be on your own," he told her quietly, lifting a hand to trace the tear track staining her cheek with his fingertip. "It's not safe..."
"I'll have my phone with me, deadlock the door. You need some time together, Gibbs. I'm not going to intrude on that." She leaned into his touch, needing the comfort it gave her almost as much as she knew he needed the connection. "I'll come over early tomorrow morning. Maybe we could have breakfast before work."
"Does breakfast involve tequila at Casa de Gibbs?" Mike's smile was strained but managed to reach his eyes.
"No, but it might stretch to pancakes." Abby tilted her face slightly to accept the kiss Gibbs leaned in to place on her cheek, her heart aching at the brave face he was putting on his turmoil. "You boys have fun now. And I'll see you in the morning."
"Call you later," Gibbs murmured before turning to walk out of the door, Mike waving at her over his shoulder as he followed.
*
Their plans for breakfast hadn't come to pass. Gibbs had called her as he'd promised but it was a phone call she'd never wanted to receive.
Abby sighed and walked around the work bench, still cluttered by wood shavings and hand tools. She looked at the cardboard box Mike had brought with him, at the open folder he or Gibbs had been reading before...
Before Mike's final fight.
Her usual sense of curiosity was absent and she felt no desire to look at the files and folders in the box.
She felt no desire to do much of anything but curl up into a ball and weep.
It was unfair that a man as vital and courageous as Mike Franks had died in the middle of a street on a cold, rainy night.
It was unfair that a man who had a such a good heart buried beneath a shady exterior had died before he'd got to see his granddaughter grow up into the beautiful young woman Abby had no doubt she'd one day be.
The sob that escaped her echoed around the empty room and she dropped to a crouch, doubling over as a wave of grief crashed over her.
She remembered coming home from work to find Gibbs reading the letter Mike had sent him. She remembered taking it from his numb fingers so she could read the words herself, her heart breaking for both the man who was dying and the one who would grieve his passing.
He'd refused to talk to her that night but had taken her to bed, accepting the comfort she willingly offered with her body. She remembered how he'd marked her with his hands and mouth, claiming her, possessing her, using her. She remembered the almost desperate way he'd clung to her afterwards, the gentleness in his touch as he'd soothed her tender skin in a silent - and, in her eyes, unnecessary - apology for being so rough.
Two days later, she returned home to find him sketching blueprints for Mike's coffin and it'd been his turn to comfort her as she'd wept on his shoulder, the lightly drawn lines hitting her harder than Mike's written words.
Wrapping her arms around her middle, Abby tried and failed to compose herself. She didn't look up when she heard the front door open and close; she'd locked it behind herself and knew who it was. She tried to stem the flow of tears when she heard his footsteps on the stairs and had only just managed to do so when she felt his arms go around her, lifting her to her feet even as he drew her against him.
"I hate this," she mumbled, her words muffled against him as she clung to him with as much strength as she could muster. "I hate knowing he's gone."
"I know, Abby. Me, too." His lips brushed against the top of his head, his hand running along her spine soothingly.
They held one another for several long moments, drawing strength while giving comfort. After a while, Gibbs drew back but took her hand, leading her up stairs away from the workbench devoid of a project, neither of them needing the reminder that the coffin he'd been working on had been put to use a little earlier than they'd hoped.
He ushered her onto the couch before crouching at her feet, unfastening the straps of the shoes she still wore and sliding them off, his fingers skirting over the soles of her feet before sliding up her calves, massaging the tense muscles firmly.
Instead of sliding his hands further up her legs, Gibbs moved to sit beside her, pulling her back against him with a firm arm around her shoulders. Abby tilted her head back, accepting the kiss he leaned in to give her.
"I thought we had longer." Her voice was quiet as she let her head rest against his shoulder, voicing the thought that was running through his own mind. "I thought we'd have time to say goodbye."
"It's what he would've wanted." Hs arm tightened around her momentarily. "Going down quietly was never Mike's style."
The small huff of humourless laughter was a sign of her agreement. "He'd have hated to go without a fight. It's a small comfort, though. Hardly a comfort at all."
As they say in silence, remembering the man they'd lost, the light faded from the room as the sun set, night slipping in to take its place. Neither moved to turn on a light though after a while, Gibbs shifted, easing them down until they were lying along the couch, Abby's back to his front, his back pressed against the back of the couch as he kept her anchored to him with strong arms around her waist.
"Will Leyla and Amira be okay?" Abby wondered aloud some time later, her voice quiet but sounding loud in the otherwise still room. "Maybe they should've stayed here for a few days. I could've moved back to my apartment to make more room..."
His arms tightening around her showed her his dislike of the idea - the latter part of it, anyway. "You'd have stayed even if they'd taken us up on the offer." The fingers of one hand slipped under her shirt, stroking the soft skin of her stomach soothingly. Whether the gesture was meant to comfort her or him, Abby wasn't sure. "Leyla wanted to go home. Told her she could call us anytime if she needs anything."
"Us?" Picking up on his use of the term not once, but twice, Abby fought to urge to turn around in his arms to look at him. "She knows?"
"She lived with Mike. He was never good at keeping secrets he didn't think should be kept." His lips brushed the back of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine. "You ever read his whole letter, Abby?"
She shook her head, a soft sigh escaping her. She'd made it halfway through the letter before the tears had blurred the words too much to read and she'd allowed herself to be distracted by his need to forget its contents.
"One of the last things he said was that I'd be a fool to let you go." He nuzzled the skin of her neck, the fingers resting against her stomach stilling momentarily. "Gotta say I'm in agreement with him on that one."
While his words and touch spread a familiar, very welcome warmth through her, Abby turned over, her expression troubled as she gazed up at him, her mind wandering back to a conversation she'd had no more than a few days ago. Still, she managed to smile at him in response to the silent promise in his words. "Good thing I don't want you to let me go then, isn't it?"
His eyes locked with hers as the hand not resting against the small of her back rose to touch her cheek, finger trailing over her skin until he reached her chin, tilting her face gently. "Something bothering you, Abs? Besides the obvious?"
Abby hesitated, sighing when his palm flattened against her back, the warmth pressing her closer to him. "I think... I think McGee's going to hate me," she confessed, recalling the conversation she'd had with the other agent in her lab. "When he finds out about us," she clarified when Gibbs arched an eyebrow. "He came to see me when I got back from the hospital, after I visited Simon. The way he spoke to me, the things he said..."
He tensed noticeably, his blue eyes growing flat at both her tone and her words. "What did he say, Abby?"
"He said he didn't know what he'd do if he lost me," she admitted after a short pause. "I thought he was still seeing the girl Tony set him up with but I'm not sure now and I think he's going to really hate me when he finds out we've been together this whole time... When he realises that I was never his to lose and if I ever was, that he's already lost me. To you."
Knowing that hurting McGee was the last thing she'd want - the last thing either of them wanted - and that it would play on her mind and her heart, Gibbs brushed his lips against her forehead and bit back a sigh. "He'll get over it, Abby. He has to." There was nothing he could say or do to alleviate her guilt or his own so he didn't try. When he spoke, his tone was firm, his words determined. "There isn't another alternative. I'm not letting you go, not unless you decide you want me to."
She shook her head immediately, pressing closer and lifting her arms to wind them around his neck. "That's never going to happen," she promised, kissing him softly.
She settled back against him, her thoughts turning once again to Mike, to the friend they'd lost, and she found herself hoping they wouldn't lose another in McGee when the truth about their relationship came out.
****
End