Mirror of the soul

Author: AbbyGibbs

Fandom: NCIS

Pairing: Gibbs/Abby
Rating: T or FR13
Spoilers: 7x22 "Borderland"
Summary: Gibbs is as heartbroken by the situation as Abby, but not for the same reasons.

Warning: None
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to CBS and the people who created NCIS.

No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: A little piece of that episode again. It just flashed before my eyes while I was watching a rerun of that episode this morning.

Thanks to my beta for her work, it's really appreciated.

Thanks to Mark Harmon, Pauley Perrette, Michael Weatherly, Cote de Pablo, Sean Murray, David McCallum and all the other for giving life to the wonderful characters of NCIS. Thanks, Laci as always.

THIS STORY AS NOT BEEN BETAED — YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

Mirror of the soul

"You can close your eyes to the things you don't want to see, but you can't close your heart to the things you don't want to feel." Johnny Depp.

The moment, Abby had seen the picture of Shannon and Kelly in the article about Pedro Hernandez's death, while she was still in Mexico, she knew that nothing would ever be the same again.

In his basement, Gibbs was applying so glue on a chair leg before he would press it on the body of the chair he was restoring, when he saw watching from in the middle of the stairs that were leading his basement.

"Hey Gibbs."

"Hey, Abbs," He answered as he briefly looked at her for a few moment, before his attention was back on what he was doing.

"Can I come in?" She asked him in a soft somewhat sad voice.

"Yeah, you're already in."

"You're right." Abby mumbled as she came down the rest of the stairs and walked over the him.

"Hey"

"Hey"

"Well it was nice talking to you" She told the man she admire and thought she knew better than anyone else.

"Abbs, why are you here?" Gibbs asked her as he looked up at her.

"You know why I'm here." Abby told him, as she looked at him visibly disappointed and hurt.

Typically Gibbs carried on what he was doing and let Abby speak. There was not point of denying anything anyway. What he had dread for so many years had finally happened. One of them discovering the truth about how Pedro Hernandez had really been killed. And of course it had to Abby to find out first.

He didn't want her to see him differently because of what she had discovered, but he knew that it was impossible, the image she had of him was shattered, hopefully not in too many pieces.

Gibbs had this sickening feeling that his forensic scientist was looking at him as if he had betrayed her, and he hated it. Even if in a way he had betrayed her, betrayed them all, by not telling them his secret, but everyone had secrets right?

Gibbs wasn't proud of what he had done, killing Pedro Hernandez hadn't bring his wife and daughter back in the end. They were gone forever, but how much people would have the man killed as he had kept his activities? He had done it for the wrong reason, but it had served a greater purpose, hadn't it?

He knew it in his heart, but how could he explain that to Abby Sciuto, the woman was nothing else but kindness and love. All she was seeing was the evidence that told her that the Gibbs she knew had killed a man in cold blood. That's what she had discovered. Even if inside of her she understood why he did it — Hernandez had killed his wife and daughter, — but that didn't make it any better, he had killed a man in cold blood. In an act of vengeance even. And for Abby it felt as if all she had ever believed in had been destroyed in a matter seconds.

Abby always needed to find to good in things and people, but this times she had to face the reality of facts — facts she wished would never have been there. Closing her eyes wasn't enough to make everything go away and forget it had ever happened.

Gibbs hated to see her in such pain and hated himself because he was causing it, but he couldn't change his past neither could he change what he had done, it had forged him to the man he was today.

He couldn't say to her what she desperately wanted to hear. He couldn't tell her that she was wrong or that she made a mistake. That would be a lie and Abby knew it. Gibbs knew it too.

"Would it help?" He asked.

In a broken voice she heard herself answer "No." Then she looked at him with her big green sad eyes and told him "What I really need to know, Gibbs, is if you're gonna love me no matter what?"

Gibbs tilted head slightly to the side and gazed at her, and Abby could read the hurt in his eyes. She bit her lower lip a little.

"I can't believe you are actually asking me this, Abbs." The silver-haired man standing in front of her said, hurt and anger creeping through his voice.

"Gibbs..." Abby started, but he cut her off.

"How can you even doubt it for a single second?" He said, in a hurt voice.

"Gibbs" she started again as her eyes filled up with tears.

"No, Abby... He started has he came to stand even closer to her. "Look at me. Look at me, Abbs! Look at me, in the eyes and, you tell me, the answer to the question you just asked me." Gibbs told her as he placed his hands on her shoulders, but keeping her at arm length.

It took the scientist a moment because her vision was a bit blurry, but then she gasped when she saw the truth in his cobalt ones.

The duck-man had been right when he told them once that the eyes were the mirror of the soul...

She could see it all. Gibbs loved her, and would no matter what she would do or say. He trusted for her to do the right thing. He trusted her with his life the same way she trusted him with her life.

Gibbs, the man she's in love with for as long as she could remember loved her unconditionally. Loved her for who she was. He was in love with her.

The tears rolled down her cheeks as she threw herself in his arms.

"Oh, Gibbs..." She said as she held him tightly.

~The End ~

Thanks for reading.

I hope to see you all for my nest story.