AN: This is an entry for Sherry's Subtext Challenge on NFA. The subtext is from S3's Family Secret, but this is technically an episode tag for Ravenous. Also some Caught on Tape (S2) references, and one bit referring to The Truth is Out There (S1). Thanks to harempriestess for reassuring me that this did actually make sense.
Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money off them. Promise to put them back in one piece. ;)
Whose Slave?
Once the serial-killing ranger was in custody, Gibbs headed down to Abby's lab. He'd had to skip their birthday dinner, and even the present he'd left for her couldn't make up for it.
"Hey, Abs," he said, walking in. "Any chance you're free to have dinner with a grimy Marine?"
She turned around, smiling. "Gibbs! Of course. Does this mean Ranger Rick is all locked up?"
He gave a short nod. "Gotta go change, Abs. Pick you up at seven?"
"I'll be ready." She turned back to her computers, but he could almost feel her smile even though she wasn't looking at him.
A couple of hours later, they were seated in a booth at a Thai restaurant not far from her Georgetown apartment. After they gave their orders to the waiter, he settled back in his chair. The food was great here, but on a weeknight their service was slow at best. It was one reason they often did her birthday dinners here, gave them a chance to talk. Well, Abby talked. He mostly listened.
"So, Gibbs..." Abby smirked, and Gibbs wondered what was coming next. "What's this I hear about you being the director's slave?"
He shook his head. He should have known Cynthia's smart-ass comment a few weeks ago wouldn't stay a secret. "Puttin' words in my mouth, Abs."
"Well I figured, Bossman." Abby grinned. "I mean, there's no way you're anybody's slave. Dom, sure. But if there's any rope in your bedroom, you're the one tying the knots."
Gibbs wasn't even sure how to respond to that. He settled for lifting an eyebrow.
"Oh, come on, Gibbs. Loosen up. Have fun." She grinned. "You know, you never did answer me that time I asked if you had any fetishes."
He rolled his eyes and gave her the same answer he'd given her then. "Three ex-wives, Abs. Can't afford fetishes."
But this time he couldn't just walk out of the lab, and he knew she knew it. "Gibbs, you've got handcuffs. And that basement of yours has to have rope. I'll bet you have ties, too, ones an ex-wife bought you and you never wear. You might not have other toys, but you can tie somebody up."
Shaking his head, Gibbs decided to play along. "You asking me to tie you up, Abs? Never knew that was your thing."
She laughed. "McGee's Boy Scout training might not help him ID poison ivy, but it does have other benefits." The evil grin on her face had images in his mind that he did not need.
"Did not need to know that, Abs."
"Gibbs, you totally know I'm kinky," she said. "And you know McGee slept in the coffin. Which means, logically, you know McGee's kinky."
He squeezed his eyes shut. "Abs, don't spend a lot of time thinking about my agents' bedroom habits." But even as he said it, he knew it was a lie.
Abby settled into the booth, sipping her drink, as Gibbs finished ordering. As the waiter walked away, she saw a familiar face walk into the restaurant. She ducked her head so she could pretend she hadn't seen her coworker. As the hostess led the way to a nearby booth, Abby decided it was time to do a little matchmaking.
"So, Gibbs... What's this I hear about you being the director's slave?" When the head in the next booth jerked, Abby knew their coworker had heard.
She led Gibbs along until she had him right where she wanted him.
"Abs, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about my agent's bedroom habits." A faint flush rose in his cheekbones.
"Come on, Gibbs, loosen up," she said. "It's just us, nobody from the office around." She decided to keep going, knowing he couldn't stop her when she got on a roll without attracting attention. "You wouldn't be the director's slave — can't see you submitting for anybody. And she wouldn't consent to be yours. Ziva's like that. I don't know if she likes to play or not, but she'd never submit. Well, maybe to the right person. it would have to be somebody pretty strong, though, a true Dom. Too bad — she goes both ways, but I like to top when I play with women. Guys, no. McGee can tie me up all he wants." She smiled, thinking of some of the games they'd played. "Those Boy Scout knots, they're a big turn on."
"Never figured you were into bondage, Abs." Gibbs' lips twitched. "Or girls."
"Gibbs, you should know better by now. I'll play with lots of people." She smirked. "And you've heard all the comments Ziva makes to Tony — he totally gets off on thinking about her and other women." She grinned. "It's not like Kate — she never understood teasing. Or sex with friends. The guys gave her such a hard time about that."
"Abs." Just then the waiter brought their food, and she held off on responding until he left.
"Come on, Gibbs. You can't tell me you've never had sex with a friend before."
Another faint blush encouraged her to keep pushing. "And you can't tell me you've never fantasized about somebody from the office."
"Abs." But he didn't meet her eyes, just focused on his food.
"Hmmm, let's see." She started at the top. "The director? You wouldn't be kinky with her, but I'm pretty sure you two heated up the sheets at some point."
"Abs." The warning in his tone had her moving on.
"Right, no thinking about you and the director." She'd let somebody else ask if they had broken Rule 12 when they were partners. "How about Ziva? She and Tony are going to hook up if they haven't already. It won't be serious, but they keep sparking off of each other. I could see her and McGee hooking up — she could use a little McGee in her life. They wouldn't be kinky, though." She thought for a second. "Not a lot of kinky in this bunch for sex with friends, I guess. Too many tops. Just me and Tony to sub. Well, I don't know about McGee. He might sub for a guy."
"Abs."
"Oh, come on, Gibbs. You can't tell me you've never heard of Kinsey before. True zeros and sevens are pretty rare." She thought for a second. "I used to know the stats, but it's not many. You can't tell me you've never experimented with guys."
Again with the color in his cheeks. "See. Just because it's not your usual doesn't mean you don't like it. It's like sex with friends, lots of people do it."
"You and Ziva?"
"Ziva, not yet."
"Kate?" He looked at her.
Abby grinned. "Once or twice. When she'd stay over and we'd have a little too much wine." She thought back. "It started after Tony and McGee were ragging her about having sex with friends."
"Never knew." Gibbs sipped his water. "Anybody on the team you haven't slept with?"
"You." Abby smirked. "If Jimmy ever gets over his crush, maybe, but it's just cruel to sleep with him until he does."
"You slept with McGee."
"That wasn't sex with friends, it was sex with my boyfriend," Abby said. "Now it is; then it wasn't."
"Tony?"
"A few times." She smiled. "Tony likes to play, Gibbs, you know that. Kate didn't. Ziva does. McGee's figuring it out." She thought for a second. "Tony wouldn't sleep with anybody who didn't want it. But he's like me, he likes to play in bed. And I'll play with anybody on the team."
"Not sleeping with me, Abs."
"Nope." She smirked. "I don't have a death wish." Of course, that didn't mean a certain coworker wasn't going to kill her for this.
"Wouldn't kill you."
"No, but somebody else would." She pushed a little harder. "Like I said, you're nobody's slave. Not the director's, not anybody else's. Doesn't mean I don't know people who want to be your slave."
He looked over at her, the question clear in his eyes.
"Take a chance, Gibbs."
He ran his tongue across his lips. "Maybe." Then he changed the subject. Abby let him. And when they left, long after the person in the adjacent booth, she waited until he was dropping her off at home.
"Thanks, Gibbs," she said. "See you Monday."
"You got weekend plans?"
"Headed out to meet McGee and some of my friends at a club in a while," she said. "Hope we don't catch a case — I plan to be tied up most of the night." She smirked. "I can think of somebody else who wouldn't mind being tied up tonight. Might be time to show that person you're the master."
He didn't say anything, and as she watched him drive away, she could only hope tonight's conversation was enough to get one of them to make a move.