"Is there something that you want to say to me, DiNozzo?"
"Not at all boss," Tony replies, somewhat colder than I'm used to. I watch as he grabs his jacket and walks out of the quad-room for the stairs, not bothering to wait for the elevator. We put in a long day, but I've never seen Tony act like this before.
After a slight pause, I walk to the elevator, deciding to see Abby. I had thought Abby would have been the person most affected by my retiring, but she hasn't said anything about it since I've been back. Ducky has voiced being relatively pissed off by my sudden leaving and Jenny never quite took to the idea. Ziva and McGee both haven't said anything either, but I wouldn't expect McGee to. Ziva I'd expect either way.
"Gibbs!" Abby squeals, running over to me and wrapping her arms around me. "What are you still doing here?"
I smile at her and wait until she pulls away from me. "What are you still doing here, Abs?"
"Just cleaning up," she replies with a smile, walking back over to her desk and closing her laptop. "Do you need something, Gibbs?"
"You have plans for dinner?" I ask her, attempting to keep my voice neutral.
She looks at me in surprise and raises an eyebrow. "Why Jethro," she says coyly, throwing her laptop bag over her shoulder. "I had no idea you thought of me that way."
At my laughter, she walks towards me and places her arm around my waist. "So what's the special occasion?" she asks, leading me to the elevator.
"Pleasant conversation?" I try, hitting the ground floor button.
"Haven't been getting too much of that around here lately, have you?" she asks, sending me a small smile.
I shake my head at her, draping my arm across her shoulders as her arm is still around my waist. "Which makes me wonder," I tell her slowly as the door opens, "why you're one of the few that has been treating me as if I had never left."
She doesn't respond as we walk out of the building and I lead her to my car. As soon as I turn the ignition over, she ejects the Eagles tape that I had been listening to on my way to work this morning. I take a left out of the parking lot and am stopped by a red light.
"Feel like anything in particular?" I ask her.
She shrugs and I switch into the right hand lane. We drive in silence and I stop my car at a small Italian restaurant that I go to from time to time.
I look to Abby for some sort of a response, but she seems intent on not looking me in the eyes. I take a deep breath before exiting the car and waiting until Abby steps out before locking it behind me.
The hostess smiles when she sees me. "Long time, no see, Jethro."
"I took a bit of a vacation," I tell her as her eyes travel to Abby.
"Pretty date," she says.
"He's my boss," Abby tells her with a smile and she looks taken aback. She grabs two menus and sits us in a small booth by the window. "This place is nice," Abby says, looking around. She opens the menu and her eyes widen. "Very nice."
"Don't worry about it," I tell her with a laugh. "This is on me."
"You don't have to do that, Gibbs."
I nod at her. "Well just consider it a bit of an apology."
She bites her bottom lip. "For what?" she asks softly.
Our waitress comes to the table and we each order a beer. I wait for her to come back with the beers and to take our orders before answering her question.
"I know that you're mad at me for leaving, Abby," I tell her slowly. "So why aren't you acting like it?"
She rolls her eyes at me. "Because I love you Gibbs," she tells me with a small laugh. "I can both understand and not understand why you left. I mean- you deserve a break but at the same time, you left us, Gibbs. So yeah…I'm mad at you. But you're back now, and I'm by far not the maddest at you."
"I've noticed," I mutter, taking a large sip of my beer. "I can understand what Ducky's upset over, but care to explain DiNozzo to me? I thought he thrived at being in charge."
"He did," Abby replies slowly. "But I think if you want to know why he's so upset at you… that you should ask him."
I frown at her. "But you know?"
"Yup," she says as the waitress places our appetizers down on the table in front of us. The waitress leaves and Abby looks back at me. "And I can't say that I blame him."
"Right."
"Just talk to him, Gibbs," she tells me through a bite of her salad. "Go after dinner. I know for a fact that he's going to be home probably drinking himself into a stuper."
She blanches realizing that she's said more than she should have.
I nod at her.
"I'll do just that."