Title: Scarlet Pleasures
Author: Jo. R (driftingatdusk)
Rating: FR-15 overall, one FR-18 scene that will be labelled later on.
Category: Drama, Case-file, Abby/Tony Friendship, Ziva/Abby Friendship
Pairing: Gibbs/Abby
Spoilers: 'Forced Entry', 'Guilty Pleasure', up to and including the season seven finale.
Summary: Holly Snow makes a request for help that puts Gibbs and Abby at odds.
Author's Note: I started this way back when 'Guilty Pleasures' aired for the first time. It sat, abandoned, my computer for quite a while until I figured it was time to dust it off and give it another shot. I'm therefore sorry if anything in this story doesn't fit with the current season/seems outdated. Hope you enjoy it anyway!

Prologue

She'd once said she could never see herself as an escort. She didn't think poorly of those who did it but, personally speaking, it wasn't something she could ever imagine doing herself.

As a woman who regularly attended church, who believed in God, – and even went bowling with Nuns – her religion prevented her from believing such a profession was entirely respectable.

As a woman who believed that relationships were important and that sex was an intimate act between two people who had a connection, she couldn't imagine herself being comfortable being paid to spend an hour or a night with a stranger.

As a woman who'd pushed herself through her academic studies and who worked in an environment that was still pretty much male dominated, she couldn't help but think it was perhaps a backwards step for women to put themselves in a position where they had no control – not that she had a problem with that, exactly, but being paid to so, without the security of being with someone she knew and trusted...

She studied her reflection in the fogged up mirror in the bathroom before adding a layer of shiny gloss to her already richly painted lips, tilting her head to the side to study her carefully applied make-up and loosely styled hair.

Why then, Abby Sciuto wondered, was she preparing to do just that?

Part One

Hearing Holly Snow was back in the building made her nervous but Abby wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because her first meeting with the infamous woman hadn't gone the way she'd expected it to or maybe it was because she had a sinking suspicion that there was more than just a case keeping the former DC Madam interested in NCIS.

Abby tried to tell herself it didn't matter if there was. She actually liked the woman even if she didn't agree with her career choice and she wanted, more than anything, for Gibbs to be happy. And if that was with a woman other than herself, then so be it.

She'd long since reconciled herself to the knowledge that Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs would never look at her in the way she'd like him to. There was an array of reasons, all ones that made no sense to her but which other people – Tony, Ducky, Ziva – had quoted to her as probably being what Gibbs thought. She was too young, he was too old. She was too quirky, he was too 'normal'. She was always willing and eager to try new things, he seemed set in his ways.

Tony had once told her, while under the influence of a lot of tequila, that he suspected Gibbs saw her as a daughter-figure. Not quite a replacement for the child he'd lost but someone he could transfer the need to protect and nurture onto. Abby hadn't liked it then after downing a considerable amount of alcohol and she didn't like it now, some years later.

All but Tim McGee knew about her feelings for their boss, though Abby thought she'd maybe managed to convince Ziva David, Tony DiNozzo and Doctor Donald 'Ducky' Mallard that her feelings for him had subsided - or at least weren't such an issue anymore. Not one of them had mentioned the subject to her in recent months – whether that was because they were too distracted by their own lives, Abby wasn't sure. Tony, she remembered, have given her several concerned looks when Margaret Allison Hart had appeared on the scene but her noncommittal reaction must have convinced him she was okay with it.

Maybe she was a better actress that she gave herself credit for, Abby mused. Maybe she was better at putting on a front than any of them realised.

With a sigh, Abby hit print on the report she'd been working on and crossed the room to stand beside the printer churning out the pages. It was only a matter of time, she knew, before someone – most likely McGee or Tony - ventured downstairs to brief her on their newest case.

He didn't like feeling ambushed but that was exactly what he suspected was happening. Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs stood in front of Director Leon Vance's desk, pointedly ignoring the chair he'd been offered – and the two people sitting in identical chairs next to them.

Director Vance gave him an exasperated look but made no comment on his refusal to sit down. Instead, the Director turned his attention to the man and woman who had accepted his offer of a seat. "Ms. Snow, perhaps you would like to explain the situation...?"

Holly Snow did her best to catch his eye, smiling when she succeeded. Gibbs broke eye contact and looked away before he could see the smile fade. Holly cleared her throat and fixed her gaze instead on the NCIS Director. "A few days ago, I got a phone call from one of my former employees asking for my help. She'd been talked into signing a contract with an organisation called Scarlet Secret and wanted my help in getting out of it."

"Scarlet Secret?" Gibbs frowned as details of a case his team had investigated almost six years ago came back to him. "Isn't that a website?"

"It was a website." Holly gave him a surprised look but Gibbs didn't expand on the subject. "The company was taken over by an old associate of mine and moved from the virtual world into the real one. They operate what they call a hotel but in reality, it's nothing quite so simple. They give contracts to men and women who want a safe place to work and leave it up to them which services they chose to offer their clients. Emily was one of my girls. She took a contract with them a few weeks ago but when she called, she said she wanted out. Several of the girls she knew who'd signed up had tried to get out but just seemed to disappear. She believed they'd been murdered."

There was a beat of silence. "The murder of a prostitute doesn't come under NCIS jurisdiction," Gibbs murmured when it appeared no one else was willing to voice the thought.

"No, but the attempted murder of a naval cleric does." The answer, quiet and sombre, came from the man sitting in the chair on Holly's other side. The Secretary of the Navy, Philip Davenport. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair when Gibbs turned his attention to him, something that struck Gibbs as being odd for a man who was usually always composed. "My nephew found himself visiting the... establishment with some friends of his. He got more than he bargained for."

Gibbs met SecNav's gaze impassively. Director Vance signed and cleared his throat.

"Lieutenant Davenport was found by his friends in an alley behind the hotel. He was taken to Bethesda." Director Vance glanced at SecNav almost sympathetically. "He has yet to regain consciousness."

Another pause. Gibbs glanced from the SecNav's solemn expression to Holly's hopeful one to Director Vance's carefully neutral facade. "What is it you want my team to do?"

"Investigate the attack," Director Vance answered calmly. "Find out who did it and bring them to justice."

"You think they'll let us walk in and ask questions?" Gibbs arched an eyebrow, sensing there was more that he needed to be told. "Last time we dealt with Scarlet Secret, we had to send in an undercover operative. They didn't want to tell us anything."

"Yes, I'm aware of that." Director Vance glanced down at an open folder on his desk, momentarily breaking eye contact. "Ms. Sciuto went undercover."

"She did." Gibbs stilled, his stomach churning unpleasantly. He remembered with startling clarity a line from the report on Vance's desk, a throw-away comment by Abby's supervisor at the company that had been included on a whim because her reaction to it had amused him.

"If you ever feel like being in front of the camera instead of behind a phone, let me know, Ms. Gibbs."

He remembered because she'd looked so startled, because his agents hadn't been aware she'd chosen to take his surname for her assignment and their responses to it had made him smile. Now he wished he'd forgotten about it, wished he could go back in time and strike it from the record.

"As I said, the person who took over the Scarlet Secret name is an old associate of mine. Not a friend, exactly," Holly continued when no one else did, her smile slight and depreciating. "More like friendly competition. I got in touch with her when I couldn't get hold of Emily. She asked if I knew any other girls looking for a job as Emily and several others had left without notice."

"And you want to put a member of NCIS in there not knowing exactly what they can expect?" Gibbs was surprised at how calm his voice sounded. "A member of my team?"

"No one will be forced to take the assignment, Agent Gibbs, but I will be asking several female agents including Agent David and Ms. Sciuto if they would be willing to do so." Director Vance's tone left no room for argument.

Still, Gibbs tried. "Abby isn't an agent."

"No, but she's been undercover with these people before. That may prove to be a way through the door." Vance stood slowly. "I'm informing you because I plan to approach your people for this. Your team will be involved in the investigation on some level, whether it's outside, inside or both. This isn't up for debate, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs tensed, concentrating hard to keep his hands from clenching into fists. "If they say no, you won't make it an order."

He turned on his heel and strode out of the office before the Director could agree.

Her heart was still racing at having been summoned to the Director's office so when she got there to find Gibbs waiting outside, a dark expression on his face, it didn't help to calm her nerves in the slightest.

"You don't have to say yes, Abby," Gibbs told her in a low voice, crossing the room to meet her away from the closed door of the Director's office. "Whatever you decide, I'll back you up."

She wanted to ask what he meant, why she'd been summoned to the Director's office in the first place but the door behind him swung open before she got the change. Director Vance greeted her with a grimace she suspected was an attempt at a smile while at the same time managing to throw Gibbs an undeniably warning glance.

"Ms. Sciuto." The Director stood back from the doorway, leaving the entrance to the room free. "Thank you for joining us."

Abby thought – briefly – about making a quip regarding not really having much of a choice but the looks exchanged between the two men curtailed that instinct. Instead, she smiled nervously and gave him a small nod before preceding them both into the Director's office.

Seeing Holly Snow looking immaculate in a crisp, dark red suit and matching stiletto heels made her feel envious at the same time it made her wince to see the pointed toe of the shoes and imagine how her own feet would suffer in them. She wasn't surprised to see Holly, having already heard the rumours, but seeing the Secretary of the Navy sitting next to her, however, looking both uncomfortable and intrigued at the former DC Madam's presence did make her pause for a split-second.

Abby glanced over her shoulder, intent on throwing Gibbs a questioning look. Director Vance, however, intercepted it and gave her a small nod instead of the reassurance she'd been looking for.

"Please take a seat, Ms. Sciuto."

It may have sounded like a request but Abby wasn't a fool; she'd worked at the Navy Yard long enough to recognise an order when she heard one.

There was one chair free, other than the one behind the Director's desk, and she slid into it gratefully, resisting the urge to glance over her shoulder to see if her instincts were right and Gibbs had come to stand behind her.

Ten minutes later, Abby was even more grateful for the chair and the silent support of the man behind her. Still, she wasn't sure which of them was more surprised at the words that came out of her mouth in response to the Director's question.

"Of course I'll help," she found herself saying, conscious of the warm pressure of a hand squeezing her shoulder – either to silence her or encourage her, Abby wasn't sure. "I'll do whatever I can."

The debriefing of Gibbs team started in the squad room but finished in Abby's lab. While Ziva David was firmly on Abby's side, confident the forensic specialist could not only handle the assignment but was also the right person for the role given her previous experience with Scarlet Secret, her male counterparts sided firmly with their boss: Abby's position was lab-based and she should never have been approached to take on such a potentially dangerous role in the investigation.

"Do you not think she is capable?"Ziva demanded, her dark eyes flashing in defence of the raven-haired woman who'd become one of her best friends. Her glare encompassed her two teammates and the back of Gibbs' head as the foursome bundled into the elevator that would take them to the lower levels. "She has proven that she is able to defend herself, yes? And you cannot deny she is an attractive woman."

Gibbs said nothing, choosing instead to glare at his blurred reflection in the cool steel of the doors ahead of him.

"That's not the point, Ziva," Tony DiNozzo argued. "She's beautiful, yeah, and she can handle herself but she shouldn't have to. She shouldn't have been put in this situation..."

"She volunteered..." Ziva protested with a steely look. "If Abby does not have a problem with it, why should you or anyone else?"

"I don't think she realises what she's volunteered for," Tony muttered darkly. "It's not going be a walk in the park for her, Ziva She's not a former assassin with years of experience behind her. She's a goddamn lab rat who's been talked into doing something she's not going to be comfortable with."

"How do you know that? You are underestimating her, Tony. I know Abby can sometimes act young but you forget that she is a grown woman who knows her own mind..."

"She doesn't agree with what Ms. Snow does. Did," Tim McGee interjected quietly. He sighed and shrugged when both Tony and Ziva looked at him, his concern visible on his face. "Morally, she's against the whole thing. She said so herself. I don't think she knows how far she might have to go to prove to the people behind this that she's really... one of them."

There was a beat of silence. None of them were naive enough to believe the assignment would be easy or entirely innocent, not even McGee, who was still sometimes considered to be a little green by his more experienced teammates.

Both Ziva and Tony along with Gibbs had used sex as a means to reach an end goal over the course of their careers. The thought that Abby might have to do so, Abby who was so vocal and confident about her sexuality but whom also held her privacy in the highest regard didn't sit comfortable with any of them. They were all protective of her, even Ziva, who had the upmost of respect and admiration for Abby's independence and ability to take care of herself.

"If she will have a problem with the role," Ziva asked softly as the bell of the elevator rang to signal their arrival at their chosen level, "why would she agree to do so in the first place?"

"That," Gibbs answered, speaking for the first time as the elevator doors slid open, "is what I'm going to find out."

His strides were long and determined as he left the elevator and walked into the lab, his agents hesitating not more than a split-second before following.