This is my first NCIS fic. I am very excited to be posting this and I hope you enjoy it. I do not own NCIS. Good Enough.
Abby quietly exited the elevator and hoped that she could make it to her lab before Gibbs showed up. It wasn't that she was hiding from him, which was basically impossible; she was simply avoiding him for as long as she could. At some point in the day he would come down to her lab and then he would see what she was trying to hide.
Even though she had only glanced in the mirror this morning, she knew she didn't look good. She was bruised and had a split lip. She'd left her hair down and worn sunglasses into the building so that nobody would see her. She was sore and now she was also a nervous wreck.
The moment she sat down at her desk, even before she could put on her music and attempt to hide some of the bruising, Gibbs was there. Keeping her head down she asked, "What's up boss man? Got a new case?"
Gibbs was taken aback by the change in Abby from the effusive woman she had been the night before. Where were the childlike pigtails, where was here bouncy personality, where was the music. She wouldn't look at him. Something was definitely wrong. "Abby what's going on?"
"What do you mean, Gibbs?" Abby asked still not looking at him. She was pretending to read a file on her desk, but Gibbs wasn't buying it. He gritted his teeth. She was being evasive again. "You know what I'm talking about. Why won't you look at me?"
"Gibbs I'm fine. What do you need?" Abby asked again."
"We need the results of the blood tests you ran yesterday. Did you notice that Bert was missing?" Abby looked up her hair sweeping back from her face as she looked for her favorite stuffed friend. He was in his appointed spot in the lab, which meant that Gibbs had tricked her and he had now seen the reason she was acting so strangely.
"What the hell happened?" Gibbs snapped. Abby sighed and glanced around. Dinozzo, who had been standing outside of Abby's office, heard Gibbs outburst and entered. His first sight of Abby brought a gasp from him.
"What happened Abby?" Gibbs repeated if possible angrier than before.
"Nothing Gibbs. I'm fine." Abby said as she went to retrieve the requested results so that she could get them out of her lab.
"Abby you are obviously not fine. You look like Rocky…and not the fun running up the stairs Rocky. The horribly disfigured 'Adrian' Rocky." Dinozzo interrupted. "I think maybe Ducky needs to get down here to check you out."
"That's a good idea Dinozzo. Call him." Gibbs told his inferior.
"Thanks…Boss." Tony said in disbelief that Gibbs was complementing him. He grabbed the phone to comply.
"Gibbs this is ridiculous. I have a black eye. I split my lip. It's nothing." Abby snapped in frustration.
"Then what happened to you Abby?" Gibbs asked.
"Would you believe that I ran into a door?" Abby inquired.
Gibbs shook his head. Dinozzo who had just finished making his phone call asked, "Was this door six feet tall two hundred pounds with fists of iron. Ducky's on his way. Ziva and McGee were with him so they're coming too."
"No. I just need to get back to work." Abby yelled, but it was too late. She heard the automatic doors whoosh open as three people entered her lab. McGee looked confused, Ziva stoic, and Ducky annoyed. Until they saw Abby, then they were speechless.
"Who did it Abs?" Gibbs asked. This time he was speaking softly.
Abby did not speak only tried to leave the room. She didn't get very far before she realized that everyone was following her. "Look I took care of the problem. I was dating this guy and last night I had to tell him something that I was feeling bad about. He didn't take it well."
"Well I would say that is an understatement Abs. What did you tell him?" Dinozzo asked.
"Yeah what could have been so bad that this man beat the tire out of you?" Ziva continued.
"Tar, Ziva. It's tar not tire." McGee corrected.
"Yes." Ziva waved him off.
Abby hesitated. She really did not want to tell them why her boyfriend had gone crazy and started hitting her. "…I told him…I told him that I slept with somebody else. We were an off again on again thing until a month ago, when we decided to give a real relationship a try. I should never have done that. It goes against all my instincts. Anyway a couple of weeks ago I got really drunk. I mean completely ploughed and he was out of town. Well I took someone else home and the next day I woke up and realized what I had done. I felt really horrible so for two weeks I tried to decide whether or not to tell him. Last night I finally broke. I told him, he hit me once, I asked him to leave. He didn't want to leave so he kept smacking me around…I started fighting back and eventually it devolved to kicking each others asses."
Nobody spoke so Abby continued. "Okay is that what you wanted to hear. I brought it all down on myself."
"Abby what is his name?" Gibbs asked with only a little restraint in his voice.
"No way Gibbs. I am not telling you that. I already took care of it." Abby exclaimed.
"Abby I want to know who this guy is so that I can make sure that he won't do this again." Gibbs stated rationally.
"I don't need you to scare him. I am sure he won't come back." Abby reasoned.
"Isn't that what you said about Mikel Mawher? You were sure about him.Only as it turns out he was a psycho who was going to kill you." Gibbs yelled. A look of hurt passed over Abby's face and he knew immediately that he had gone too far. To bring up that time in her life when she was most vulnerable and scared just to make a point was unforgivable.
Abby couldn't take it anymore. "Low blow Gibbs." She said as she left. This time nobody tried to stop her.
"Does anybody know who this guy is?" Gibbs asked when he had the team gathered up back in the bullpen. Tony sat at his desk, stonily silent. Ducky was nearby and for once not going off on some long winded story. McGee was in his own little world, but Gibbs knew he was also listening. Ziva was the only one to speak. "If I knew who this man was do you think I would still be here?"
"No, but I want to know who this guy is. I want to make sure he is out of Abby's life for good." Gibbs snapped. "Find out what you can and then get back to me. In the mean time, we have a suspect in custody. Everybody get to work."
Abby had gone back to her lab. Usually she would have just laughed off what Gibbs had said to her, but today she was hurt physically and emotionally and Gibbs was supposed to be comforting her not making it worse. That was beside the point right now she had a case to solve. Well actually she had pretty much done everything on her end and now she just had to file her report. It was slow going and it was made even slower by the fact that she kept thinking about her trashed house. If she wasn't careful she might cry. When she had left her home that morning, everything had been broken or damaged in someway and if she wasn't mistaken her now ex-boyfriend still had a house key.
Without her consent tears started to fall. When a tissue came into her line of sight she glanced up to see a worried Ducky. "Thanks Duck." She said gulping as she did. Ducky crouched down and put an arm around his young friend.
"Abby what have you gotten yourself into?" He asked.
"Oh man Duck. This whole situation just sucks. Now I can't go home, because I think he still has a key. Why does it seem like every guy I date is a psychopath? Maybe Gibbs is right." Abby sobbed.
Unbeknownst to Abby, McGee was standing outside of her office. He had heard the whole thing and now knew what he had to do. Abby had told him about this guy. She hadn't gone into specifics, but when they occasionally went out for drinks she had mentioned a few things about him. If this guy was dangerous it was time to bring Gibbs up to bat. It was a good thing that they had just closed the case because he had a feeling they would be busy tonight.
As he entered the bullpen he spotted Gibbs. Tony and Ziva were at their desks finishing their reports and Gibbs was walking in with a fresh cup of coffee. "Hey boss. I have some information for you."
"What do you got McGee?" Gibbs asked.
"I have a first name and a place of employment. His name is Alec and he works in a funeral home called, Williams House. He still has a key to Abby's place."
"McGee…" Abby yelled. She had just walked in with Ducky. He had managed to calm her down and decided to bring her up to the bullpen to talk to Gibbs. McGee glanced at Abby. Her eyes, what he could see of them through the swelling, were pleading with him and he became all the more ardent in his choice.
Gibbs grabbed his car keys off his desk. "Dinozzo Ziva you're with me. McGee take Abby home and stay with her. Abs I'll be over later and we'll change your locks."
"Gibbs no…Just leave him be. Alec is an idiot and he is not worth it. Just let it go." Abby begged.
Gibbs walked past her with barely a glance. Tony and Ziva did the same. McGee said a simple "I'm sorry." Which he did not actually mean. Abby was in tears again.
When they arrived at Williams House Funeral Home Gibbs was ready to hurt someone. Just remembering Abby's poor face put him in a murderous mood. He was going to make this idiot pay for every bruise, cut, and pain that Abby had to experience today. They entered the building and were instantly approached by a man in a black suit. "Are you here for the Johannes memorial? I'm afraid that it doesn't start until seven."
Gibbs gave the man a look. He despised false sincerity. "I'm looking for a man named Alec. I want to talk to him about an incident yesterday."
"I'm sorry sir, but Alec is busy with a cremation at the moment. He should be done with in the hour. If you would like to leave a phone number where he can reach you at I will make sure that he calls you at his first available moment." The man said.
Ziva smirked at him. "I'm sure you would, but I think we'll wait for him." She replied.
"What is Alec's job here?" Dinozzo asked fearing the answer.
The man grimaced. "Mr. Olenski works directly with the dearly departed. Some people are better with the dead than the living."
Dinozzo coughed something that sounded suspiciously like Palmer when he received a look from Gibbs followed by a head slap. The director of the funeral home looked confused and was obviously uncomfortable. "Well I think I will just go see if Mr. Olenski is finished yet. May ask your names so that I may tell him who is asking for him."
"Just tell him NCIS is here. I'm pretty sure he'll know what we want." Gibbs told the annoying older man who was rapidly exiting. "Dinozzo Ziva be ready to move. He may not want to come willingly."
They didn't have to wait long. The funeral director came back with a sullen looking young man in tow. His skin was as pale as the corpses he worked with and his black hair was dirty looking making the agents realize they didn't really want to know why. Facial piercings gleamed out at them along with a stupidly defiant expression. Gibbs was going to love taking that away from him. Abby had been right. She had handed him his ass. He did not look as bad as she did, but she had definitely hurt him.
"Alec Olenski?" Gibbs asked.
"Yeah what do you want?" he snapped.
"Does the name Abby Sciuto mean anything to you?" Ziva asked the young man making his skin become paler if possible.
"Look I don't know…" Alec began.
"I'm sure there is a lot you don't know, but I think that we can fill in the blanks." Tony smirked at the man.
"I think maybe you should all take this out back. People are starting to arrive for the memorial." The director whined.
"I think a change of location would be a very good idea." Gibbs said. He grabbed Alec by his upper arm and moved him toward the back door. They exited into the alley and Gibbs immediately slammed Alec up against the wall. "So you like to beat up women that try to do the right thing huh?"
"Is that what that little whore told you?" Alec spat before he was roughly thrown to the ground by Gibbs. Ziva grabbed him out of Gibbs reach and Tony stood by his boss with a restraining arm across his chest.
"I really think that if you want to keep the same amount of blood in your body as you have now, that you may not want to refer to our friend in a derogatory manner." Dinozzo told the stupid Goth man.
"Hey look I don't care what she told you, but she cheated on me with some loser she used to sleep with." Alec said.
Ziva sent Tony a look that clearly said 'Abby didn't tell us that she slept with someone she had slept with before'. She nudged Alec. "You beat her up for cheating on you? That's it. Even though she tried not to hurt you, you decided that wasn't enough and beat her up?"
"I tried for years to get her to settle down with me in a real relationship. I tried everything. I loved Abby and I would have given anything to be with her, so when she finally conceded to actually be together I gave her all I had. I used to watch her sleep after. She was so beautiful that I thought she was a perfect angel. She screwed that perception royally. So now I have nothing, but a bunch of misplaced affection for that skank. You know now that I think about it, when she was asleep and she looked like an angel…I should have smothered her so that way she would never have ruin it for me. She'd always be my sleeping angel…" Whatever else Alec was going to say was lost in a yelp as Gibbs, who could not be restrained by Tony lunged at him and delivered an uppercut to the jaw.
Ziva who had been standing behind Alec caught him as he fell and then let him fall to the ground. She didn't want to be the one to catch that piece of scum. "If you ever come near Abby again you won't even get the chance to regret it because I will take care of it. Do you understand you worthless slime?"
Alec clutched his jaw. It was probably broken, but he was able to nod in answer.
"Good. Let's go."
McGee entered Abby's house before her with his gun drawn. He wasn't taking any risks after what happen with Abby's last psycho boyfriend. Abby walked after him while scoffing at the whole production. She threw her bag down on the broken coffee table and plopped down on the couch. "Well what do you think? Kind of lacks that homey charm. Okay well you can go now, because I need to try to clean this place up." She dismissed him.
"I'm not leaving Abby. Gibbs would kill me if I did. Remember the chair?" McGee said as he surveyed the damage. It was pretty bad. It looked like a…well he couldn't really make a comparison because he had never seen anything quite that bad. Abby noticed that he was shocked. "What?" She snapped.
"Nothing…nothing. I just…umm. Did he do all of this?" McGee stuttered.
"Well…I helped, but yeah." Abby answered. "Guess that he really doesn't like it when chicks cheat on him."
"Okay don't do that." McGee ordered.
"Do what McGee?" Abby asked in exasperation as she gathered a few broken figurines.
"Don't keep beating yourself up for what happened. I think he did that enough for both of you." He answered with a goofy grin.
"Yeah that really isn't funny!" Abby said her face completely serious.
"Oh God…oh Abby…I'm sorry." He mumbled.
Abby face immediately softened into a grin. "I'm kidding Timmy. You know ha ha."
"That isn't that funny." McGee said hoping that she would take the bait.
"Oh well. Guess I'm the only one with a sense of humor." She left the room for the kitchen where she retrieved some trash bags and a broom. She handed a trash bag to McGee. "Well if you aren't leaving you can start cleaning. You know you want to. I've seen your clean to the point of creepiness apartment. This place must be driving you nuts." She singsonged.
She was right. McGee was going nuts in the messy living room. He had been that way since he was young. Everything had its proper place and McGee liked it that way so when he was in a place like this he had a need to compulsively clean. Abby liked it that way. Saved her a lot of work.
When Gibbs entered her home a little while later they had filled a trash bag and a half with random things and were still far from done.
Gibbs was angry all over again when he saw the state of her house. That little maggot had violated her home and now she had to try to put the pieces back together.
"Please tell me you didn't kill him." Abby said causing McGee to notice that Gibbs was there.
"Boss?" McGee inquired.
"I didn't kill him. I wish I had, but I didn't." Gibbs answered.
Dinozzo and Ziva had entered the house directly behind Gibbs. "I think killing him would have been too merciful. Now when he is drinking mush through his wired shut jaw he will remember you Gibbs, and why you came to be in his life." Dinozzo put in.
"Yes it was quite comical." Ziva said with out a hint of comedy at all.
"Oh Gibbs. No. Please tell me you didn't hurt him." Abby pleaded.
"Abby trust me on this one. I think that after what Alec told us tonight, Gibbs would be completely justified in killing him." Tony said.
"What did he say?" McGee whispered to Ziva.
Ziva gave him a reluctant look and then proceeded to whisper the whole sorted affair while Tony, Gibbs, and Abby argued. When it was all said and done McGee completely agreed with Dinozzo and was disgusted by what he had heard. "He said he should have killed her? That guy is one sick puppy."
Ziva nodded. "Yes it was sickening. Gibbs was very angry, but he only slapped him around a little. I think he may be maturing as a person."
Despite the irony in what Ziva had just said Timothy was not laughing. He would have felt a whole lot better about the whole situation if the guy wasn't still out on the streets. If he came back would he make good on his threats? "Boss, don't you think that somebody should stay with Abby tonight? I mean…if this guy was as crazy as you say."
"No way." Abby told them all. "I am not in danger here. Alec was pissed off, but he isn't going to hurt me."
"Abby this lunatic already hurt you. Why don't you get that? If he was capable of all this, he could very well come back and do worse." Tony yelled at her gesturing around the room. "I'm staying." He told her in all finality.
"Me too." McGee agreed.
"Me as well I suppose." Ziva said.
"Well looks like it's a party because I'm not going anywhere." Gibbs put in.
Abby looked at them all for a moment trying to figure out if there was anyway to deter them. Deciding that there wasn't she made up her mind. "Then I'm leaving." She said as she strolled toward the door.
Gibbs was the first to challenge her. "Abby if you walk out that door, then it is all over. I will not hesitate to fire you."
"I guess, Gibbs, you got to do what you got to do." Abby said as she slammed the door. She got in her car and drove off. Then she cried for what felt like the thousandth time that day.
Encourage me to do more. Please Review.
I hope that I got the characters dialogue as close to the real thing as possible, but you know how that goes.
Tell me what you think.
S.