I had to rearrange a little because I realized that chronologically, this came first. Oops!
The summary is a little misleading, but the quote just worked so welll... A series of episode tags of Abby and McGee, in moments where they needed comfort. First one is post-"Witness"
I don't own them, lyrics from "Ever the Same," Rob Thomas.
Just let me hold you while you're falling apart
Just let me hold you while we both fall down
*
She knocked late that night, and he opened his door, looked at her for a long moment, jerked his head back towards the inside of his apartment, and disappeared into his bedroom.
Getting her boots off took a couple of minutes, and she dumped them in a pile by his doormat before following him.
McGee lay flat on his back in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Abby crawled on the mattress and sat next to him, tucking her feet up close to her. She reached out and rested her hand on his chest. "Hey," she said softly.
He laid a hand on top of hers. "Hey."
She tried to study his face in the half-light from the street that seeped through his blinds. "You wanna talk about it?"
Silence, and then a long sigh. "No."
Abby squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry…" Sorry for what? she wondered. That he'd lost someone he could have cared for? Sorry for being a bitch to her? For getting… possessive? Possessive wasn't part of the deal. They were both free to move on when they wanted.
Not that it mattered now. "I'm sorry, Tim," she repeated. "So, so sorry." And left it at that.
McGee finally turned his head to look at her. "I just keep going over and over it in my head," he said, and it hurt her to hear the pain in his voice. "There had to have been something I could've done."
"There was nothing," she told him. "Even Gibbs said there was nothing you could have done." He was at least looking at her now, instead of at the pictures inside his head. "You did everything you could for her, more than some people might have." She leaned in and kissed him, softly. "You're a very special agent, Timothy McGee."
He caught her head in his hand to keep her from pulling away, and kissed her back, a little desperately. "It's okay," she murmured against his lips. "It'll be okay."
Eventually she broke the kiss and stood, tugging out her pigtails, dropping her clothes on the floor. "I can't make it better," she said as she slid between the sheets, pulling him towards her. She kissed him again. "But if you let me, I can make you forget, for a little while."
She was right. It didn't make it better. But for a little while, wrapped in Abby's warm arms and soft kisses, there was peace.