Note: This is not beta'd, all errors are my responsibility (but they would be anyway!)
The Rest of the Day
After watching Tony leave, Ellie disappeared and Tim took a few deep breaths, meant to bring calm. Giving it up after a few minutes, he left the bullpen to take a walk and call Delilah. Returning to the squad room, he headed to the back elevator and the lab.
He and Abby had drifted apart over the past year or so but he thought she might need him now, the last of her three musketeers and to be honest, he needed her friendship as well. He hoped they could put aside their differences and find their way back to common ground to give each other much needed bolstering. The report of Ziva's death and losing Tony from the team, no matter how much he'd needed to leave, was a huge double whammy and they'd need every bit of support to get through this. He also had Gibbs and Ducky in mind; he knew both were hurting from that same double whammy no matter how stoic they appeared and anything that could help, even as trivial a thing as he and Abby resuming their friendship, he'd gladly offer.
He was right. When he walked into the lab, there was no music playing, Abby was bent over her worktable working on something, her face scrunched holding back her emotions. As he approached her she looked up, spotting him. He held his arms out in an open invitation and she nearly threw herself into them. They held on for several minutes, savoring the comfort, only parting when Major Mass Spec signaled it was done processing. Eventually Tim went back upstairs, not wanting to leave Ellie alone for too long in the unusual silence of the bullpen.
Gibbs was at his desk and as Tim turned in from the main aisle, Boss gave him a look asking if he was ok. Tim's look conveyed that he was as ok as he could be. Gibbs gave a brief nod in return, he certainly understood that. Belatedly noting the damp spot on the shoulder of Tim's shirt, he also gave a nod of thanks for supporting Abby. For that he got a woebegone look that told him it wasn't just Abby who'd needed and received support.
When they left that night, Boss walked out with them. They hadn't talked about what would happen next, not yet. Tim thought at some point he'd head over to Gibbs' basement but not tonight. Ellie turned in the direction of her truck as the two men continued to their vehicles. Tim reached his first and as he turned toward it, Gibbs reached out and gave the back of his neck an affectionate squeeze. Seeing the younger man's shoulders relax a bit, Gibbs nodded to himself as he headed to his own car. They'd get through this.
The End
Yes, there's no dialogue except for the non-verbal bits between Gibbs and Tim. It was supposed to be a different story, one involving Delilah, but this happened instead. I decided to let it stand alone and wrote the other one as a separate tag called "Knowing". Weird things happen when the muse gets pushy. I believe it's also the first story I've written since my first one (The Quilt) in which Abby is portrayed "normally" without any problems.