Oh hay. New NCIS fic! This one is not Tiva, but it is an angsty Tony-centric piece with a lot of Abby.
I know I'm supposed to leave things up to the reader, but really. This is NOT Tabby romance. It is friendship.
Oh, guys, I love getting feedback, but I do not tend to take suggestions. Feel free to send them to me though: who knows? I may love yours. But please don't expect it.
Twoshot. Rated T.
Disclaimer: Don't own NCIS
Kay enjoy!
POSTED: Approximately 11:00 PM EST Oct 11 2009
Tony knew Abby would need cheering up; she had had to go to court that afternoon to testify against Petty Officer Matthew Weyland, who had murdered two men in a drug deal gone bad. Her evidence was virtually unquestionable, so she hadn't been given any trouble, but just a few minutes in that dreary suit, with her hair down, wearing those pinchy heels, made her feel, as she put it, "hinky." And, of course, feeling hinky eventually led to feeling grumpy. Grumpy Abby was not something anyone wanted to see.
Tony personally disagreed with her negative assessment of her court attire—but that was beside the point. She hated it, and he hated to see her unhappy. So he loaded his arms with a bouquet of black roses and a Caf-Pow and went to see her before heading home for the night.
When he entered her lab, she was busy typing furiously into the computer, her shoulders tense and her head jerking slightly from side to side. He could her her frustrated mumbles and concluded that she didn't know he was there. So, he began to tiptoe toward her, holding the bouquet very gingerly to keep the cellophane from giving him away.
Tony put his face very, very close to her ear and said in a low voice, "Hey, Abby."
She shrieked and whirled around, and he held his arms out to her with a wide, open-mouthed grin.
Abby looked as though she were gearing up to tear into him, but when she saw the gifts he bore, her face softened.
"Tony!" she cried, embracing him with just a hint less than her usual fervor.
Then she headslapped him.
"Ouch, Abbs, ouch." he whined dramatically. "What was that for?"
"That was for sneaking up on me, DiNozzo." She took the bouquet and the Caf-Pow with a ghost of a smile on her face and walked them over to the fridge.
"Ahh, you smiled," he teased, watching her coming back toward him with a huge grin of his own. "I still got the old DiNozzo charm."
Abby gave him a skeptical look, walking around him to shut down her computer. "Please, Tony, like your charms could work on me."
"Nah, Scuito, you're too smart for that. You put a bad guy away for life today."
She beamed at him, her eyes gleaming, and said, "Oh, Tony," before falling into his arms. "I have had such a terrible day. The prosecuting attorney was a total bitch."
Tony's eye caught a glint in the window and he squinted at it, his gut clenching ominously.
A gun.
It all happened very quickly. He pushed past Abby, shielding her body with his, and pulled out his Sig, yelling, "Abby, get back—"
And then a bullet ripped through his body, and another, and she was screaming behind him as he fell.
He kept his eyes on the shattered window despite the pain; only when he saw the shooter flee did he allow himself to close them.
"No, Tony," Abby was telling him firmly, "Stay awake. Please, you have to stay awake…"
And she sounded so desperate and scared that he had to obey, even though he was so tired.
"Anything for you, Abbs," he murmured. He watched her remove her lab coat and press it against his body and the pain overwhelmed him.
"Tony," she gasped, sounding like she was crying, "Tony, I need to go get help, okay? Just stay here, just for a minute, please?"
"No… don't leave," he pled quietly, panting through the pain. "I… don't think I'll…"
"Don't you dare finish that though, DiNozzo!" she snapped. Then, softly, "I won't leave… just let me call Gibbs, and an ambulance."
And then he was alone, blinking against the spots that swam in his eyes. He vaguely heard her instruct him to apply pressure but it didn't register. His eyes slid downward and he could see the white lab coat, stained with too much blood. His breath caught in his throat and he stared open-mouthed at it, his face tingling.
Abby was at his side, patting his cheek frantically, begging him to look at her. He did, his head jerking to her suddenly, and she sobbed in relief.
"Tony, Gibbs is on his way down here, okay? And the ambulance will be here in just a few minutes. Hang on. You know Gibbs will kill you if you die on him." She sounded like she was barely holding together. She might have fallen apart any second and then they would both be sprawled on the floor, dying.
"Okay," he mouthed, nodding erratically. His eyes began to slide closed.
"No!" she shouted. "Tony, keep your eyes open!"
He hated to hear her unhappy.
"Love you, Abbs," he whispered. She sobbed again, leaning down to press her face into his neck.
"I love you too, Tony," she said, and then Gibbs was running in, followed by McGee and Ducky.
"What happened, Abby?"
"I don't know, Gibbs, one minute I was ranting to him about my day and the next, he's pushing me out of the way, and…"
Tony couldn't tell what was happening—he could hear the words but didn't know what they meant—his mind was floating just above it all, unable to focus.
"He's going into shock. Tony! Tony! Stay with me!"
Tony's breaths sounded so painfully wrenched from his chest, but his head turned slowly to face Gibbs.
"Can you hear the ambulance, Tony?" He couldn't. "Ziva's going to bring them down. Less than a minute. How you feeling?"
"N-not so good, boss." His mouth wasn't working very well—his tongue could barely move. But he kept his eyes open. He knew they wanted him to, but everything was too fuzzy to see.
"You'll be fine, DiNozzo, because I say so. And I know you won't disobey an order."
Tony shook his head weakly. "Where's Abby, boss? She okay?"
"Yeah, she's right here. She's okay."
He could just barely feel a little hand slide into his, and, content, he let his eyes close.
Next chapter is well underway! Keep your eyes peeled or your inboxes open, should you choose to alert (which you should). Also: review!