Title: Truth or Dare
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Implausible dialogue. And slight OOCness. You have been warned!
Summary: "Uh-oh... I think you abused the emergency stop switch one too many times, Gibbs..."

Author's Note: Yup, I know Gibbs/team-member-stuck-in-an-elevator fics are a dime a dozen. And that Truth or Dare has probably been done to death as well. If this fic bears a striking similarity to any other fic out there, all I can say is 'I'm sorry' and 'please don't kill me'. XD

"Who's your favourite Special Agent?" Tony asked, waving a super-sized Caf-Pow! under my nose.

"Gibbs is," I replied, yanking it from his fingers and taking a huge gulp. Ah, caffeiney goodness.

"He'll be getting back from Quantico any minute," Tony told me, "and he wants an ID from the security tape ASAP."

I rolled my eyes, wondering why he even bothered. "I just got off the phone with him, and I'm almost done. What's up?"

Tony hesitated before shaking his head. "Why should anything be up?"

Amused, I set down the drink and grinned at him. "Because you're down here trying to do your Gibbs impression, and you only do that when somebody's making you feel inferior."

Tony scowled, opening his mouth to retort, but his cell rang, cutting him off. "I am not feeling inferior," he said petulantly, before heading to the elevator to pick up his call.

I shook my head and turned back to the image I'd been enhancing for the past hour. I had a pretty good idea who was on the tape, but I needed to clean it up a little more to be sure.

A few minutes later, I was done, the face of Petty Officer Watkins thrown into sharp relief on my monitor. "Gotcha!" I exclaimed triumphantly, hitting the print shortcut on my keyboard and waiting for the printer to do its thing. That done, I put the image in a paper folder and headed for the third floor. I knew I could just email it to Gibbs, but he always appreciated it when I did things the slow and impractical way.

The elevator doors slid closed behind me, and I fidgeted as it began to move upward, then slowed at the ground floor.

Gibbs stepped into the elevator, looking a little pissed off. It was a typical day, then.

"Gibbs! Just the man I wanted to see!" I greeted him enthusiastically, covering my attraction to him with hyperactivity, as always.

He looked up from whatever reverie he'd been immersed in, and smiled tiredly. "Hey, Abbs. You got that image for me?"

I presented him the folder proudly. "Guess who?"

Gibbs stared at the picture for a long moment before closing the folder with a snap. "That's a good job, Abby," he told me, leaning close to plant a soft kiss on my cheek.

I can never control myself when he does that. My smile grew so wide I thought it would split my face, and for the millionth time that week I thanked God that I don't blush easily. To distract myself, I asked him, "So what's up with Tony? Are you jerking his chain again?"

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Would I do that?" Before he could elaborate, the elevator jolted, and I stumbled back against the wall as we ground to a halt. The lighting plunged into its dim backup mode, and for a second we just stared at each other through the gloom, taken aback.

"Uh-oh... I think you abused the emergency stop switch one too many times, Gibbs," I told him, hitting a couple of buttons in the hope that we'd get going again. Nothing happened.

"Damn," Gibbs muttered. "Any ideas?"

Despite the situation, I fought back amusement. "You're lucky I'm here. If it was just you, you'd be screwed." I pressed in the alarm button that would alert the front desk to our predicament.

Within a couple of seconds, a tinny voice emerged from the speaker. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Hey, Tom!" I answered, recognising his voice. "We're stuck in the front elevator, between floors two and three."

"Roger that," my friend replied. "Who's with you?"

"Special Agent Gibbs, and we have no caffeine, so we seriously need out of here, like, right now."

Tom laughed. "We'll get right on it. Might take a little while, though."

Gibbs checked his cell, but predictably it had no reception. "Get hold of Special Agents DiNozzo or Todd. Tell them to bring in Watkins – he's our guy."

Tom agreed, and severed the connection.

"Not claustrophobic, are you?" I asked Gibbs, knowing he wasn't, but needing something to say. Something that wasn't: So, here we are, trapped in an elevator, just you and me... wanna make out?

He shook his head as I leaned back against the wall. "You?"

"I sleep in a coffin, Gibbs," I reminded him, smiling slightly. "I get bored real easy, but I'm not claustrophobic."

Gibbs reached past me to try the elevator buttons one more time. It was futile, and we both knew it. As he drew back, his arm brushed mine. I swallowed and tried to concentrate on something else, but there was nothing much to concentrate on.

"I could really use some coffee," he muttered, and I had to laugh.

An idea came to me – childish, but it might distract me enough to stop myself from breaking down and confessing my love for Gibbs. "Wanna play Truth or Dare?"

He cast a glance at me, amused. "Aren't we both a little old for that?"

"Hey, I'd suggest Tic-Tac-Toe, but I don't have a pen."

He paused a second, and silence descended on the elevator. Maybe because of this, he agreed. "I'll start. Truth or dare?"

Surprised he'd gone along with it, I shrugged. "Not many dares in an elevator. I'll take a truth."

As I waited for him to think of a question, I stared up at the hatch leading out of the elevator, up on the ceiling. Wondered if we'd have to use it.

"How are things between you and McGee?"

I blinked, blindsided by the question. "Well... we broke up about six months ago. Things were a little awkward for a while, I guess..." I said slowly, "but we've managed to put it behind us and now we're pretty good friends, I think. Why do you ask?"

"You can be hard to read sometimes," was all he said.

Intrigued by his interest, I thought about it for a second before asking the question. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," he said, the ghost of a smile on his lips.

I thought some more. Though I'd have loved to come out with, So, would you ever consider a relationship with someone twenty years your junior with a love of tattoos and rough play between the sheets?, I knew I'd never be brave enough. "What is it about redheads?" I asked instead, startling a laugh from him. He stared at me with an unreadable expression for a few seconds, but I hiked an eyebrow at him, pretending to just be digging for gossip.

"Truthfully?" he said finally. "They don't tend to be as intimidated by me as much as other women."

I hadn't been expecting that one. "Kate and I aren't redheads, and we're not intimidated by you," I pointed out, throwing in Kate's name to make it seem a little more impersonal.

"Kate definitely is," Gibbs told me, but gave no indication I'd included myself in the statement. I thought about drawing his attention to it, but decided against it. Intimidated by him? Nah, I just wanted to keep his respect, not to mention my job. "Truth or dare?" Gibbs asked.

"Truth."

This time there was no hesitation. "What's your type?"

Older men with penetrating blue eyes and silver hair. The words wouldn't leave my lips, so I shrugged instead. "Physically? Age, hair colour, build... doesn't really matter. I mean, if he's hot, so much the better, but it all depends on attitude, intelligence, stuff like that."

When I glanced up, Gibbs had his inscrutable face on again. I couldn't tell how he was feeling at that moment, so I decided not to say anything more. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Oh, what the hell. "What are you thinking right now?"

I could see him formulating the lie, and put up a hand to stop it. "Truth, remember?"

He sighed. "Abbs, you don't want the truth."

A tingle of hope raising gooseflesh on my arms, I met his eyes. "Tell me anyway." He looked as though he would protest again, but I cut him off. "I do want the truth. Whatever it is, I can handle it."

For the first time in a long while, I could see conflict behind his eyes, and I held his gaze without wavering. His words, when they finally came, were soft. "I'm wondering if I'm just imagining that there's been something between us for years, but neither of us has been confident enough about it to mention it."

I blinked at him as the words took their time sinking in. I couldn't get enough air, and his gaze on my face was so intense it could have been a hand caressing my skin. Before I could form words to tell him he wasn't imagining it, I thought I was imagining it, he smiled slightly. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," I whispered through numb lips.

He took a step closer, tilted up my chin with a finger, breathed, "What would you do if I kissed you, right now?"

My eyes fell closed, and I took a shaky breath to answer. It was an effort to speak. "Probably fall over." Gibbs chuckled, the sound so close to my ear that it took me by surprise. My eyes flickered back open, and I stared into his face, now so close that all I had to do was lean forward a little and I'd be kissing him. "Truth or dare?" I murmured, trying to hold onto my train of thought.

"Dare," Gibbs said softly.

I hesitated for a second – was I really about to say this? "Kiss m-"

Before I could even finish, Gibbs' lips were pushing against mine, stifling my speech. True to my word, I collapsed against him, needing to be nearer, and his arms closed around me, supporting me. For long moments I forget everything, from our cramped surroundings to my need to breathe. All that mattered was Gibbs' mouth against mine, his hands pressing me closer to him, his silver hair smooth against my fingertips.

And then the elevator car jerked back into life, the lights flickering back up to normal strength as the machinery whirred. Taken by surprise, we sprang apart. Gibbs seemed torn between amusement and annoyance at the interruption, and I couldn't help a breathless giggle at the entire situation. "Truth or dare?" I asked, as the elevator slowed.

"Truth," Gibbs replied, straightening my collar.

The doors slid open to reveal McGee and Ducky. Both of them were regarding us curiously.

Can we pick this up later? I signed, not wanting to risk anyone else catching on by saying the words aloud.

Gibbs gave me the barest of nods, then addressed McGee. "Tell me DiNozzo and Kate are picking Watkins up."

"Uh… they're picking Watkins up, Boss." As Gibbs pushed past McGee out into the office, I scooped the folder with the printout I'd meant to put on his desk off the floor.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!" I called, hanging out of the elevator car. He turned, and I held out the folder. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

He took it from me, leaning in to kiss my cheek. "Good job," he murmured into my ear, and I smiled, skipping back inside the elevator and hitting the down button to get back to work.