Chapter 1

"No, Abby," Gibbs said noticing the petulant look slowly moving toward serious intent.

She spun her chair around and looked at her computer her fingers moving quickly over the keyboard. "There were two sets of prints on the knife, the Corporals, she said pulling up his picture on the large screen and an unknown." Moving towards the evidence table she picked up the knife and looked at Gibbs, who looked pissed and getting more so by the second. Ignoring his rising anger she picked up the knife and continued, "The Corporal's thumb print was here she said turning the blade toward her and wrapping her hand around the hilt of the blade showing the thumb print on the handle as though he was trying to push it away. "His hand placement shows he was lying on the floor," she stretched out on the floor and held the knife just above her chest. She glanced over at him. The anger was still there, but reluctant interest was wheedling its way in.

"Now, she said trying not to grin knowing she was drawing him in when he really wanted to fight with her, the killer would have been kneeling over the Corporal holding the knife in his left hand, he would have been kneeling… she cocked her head and said you know like when you kneel to propose marriage the right knee up the left on the floor."

"Abby," he warned. He wasn't sure if she was goading him, but he was already agitated by her casual declaration only moments ago. He'd moved to take the Caf!Pow back just for the sheer idiocy she was spouting, but she was already moving swiftly away from him before he thought of it and tackling her to get it back was probably going too far even for him. Maybe, he thought staring down at her knowing she could see how angry he was with her and completely ignoring it. Dinozzo or McGee would have been hiding under their desks by now. Shutting off that train of thought he redirected his attention to her explanation, which seemed a bit too precise. "How can you tell he was kneeling in that manner?"

Smiling she said, "Ok come here I'll show you what I mean." When he didn't move right away she waved him over, "Come on Gibbs," you asked and this is the best way to show you.

"Fine," he grumbled coming over to her.

"Kneel down," she said laying the knife on her chest and patting the two spots to the right and left of her hips.

"Right leg up?" he confirmed as he knelt down.

"Yep," she said scooting a little back to compensate for the height of the Corporal once Gibbs was in place.

"Now what?" he asked as she settled beneath him.

Picking up the knife she held it handle towards him. "Left hand she said and he went to grasp the knife but she grabbed his wrist, hold it."

He looked down at her brow rising a bit. "Problem?" he asked.

"I need to place your hand where I found the other prints." She took his hand and placed the knife into his palm moving his fingers to the correct location. "There," she said and then carefully placed the hilt between her first finger and thumb of her left hand curling her fingers around the edge of the knife.

"Careful," Gibbs demanded softly when he saw her hand tighten around the blade as she positioned her hand. The blade was two sided and sharp as hell.

"Relax," she said distractedly as she played the scenario thought her head again combining the trance evidence to complete the picture in her head. "In the Corporals hand was a piece of fabric consistent with cargo pants and you said there was a foot print to the right of the body, right?" He nodded. "So most likely he grabbed the killers pants," pressing her palm against his calve she wrapped her fingers to one side and tried to wrap her thumb around the other, failing she looked up at him and smirked, "My hands are too small, or your calves are too large her brow rose and she squeezed his leg, wow hard as a rock well maybe not a rock but pretty solid Gunny impressive really impressive. You're definite larger then the killer by a lot, a lot a lot. She saw he was about to Abby her so she pulled herself back to point, "Which means the thumb would have wrapped around the other side of your leg." Fisting the bottom of his pant leg where the material was the loosest she tugged and pushed gently keeping in mind her hand was wrapped around a very sharp knife. "Bring the knife down," she said stilling her hand but keeping her grip on his pants. He lowered it slowly. "Keep going all the way down," she said when he stopped halfway. "See where my elbow is?" she asked it was resting on the floor. The Corporal had a nasty bruise from something hard and immovable stopping it short. The knife wound wasn't angled it went in straight and from what Ducky said it was twisted once it was driven in, she grimaced slightly at the thought people can be so cruel." Removing her hand from around the knife she looked up expectantly, but he didn't move.

He tossed the knife on the table, "Good work," he said dropping his other knee so she couldn't wiggle out from under him. "Now that I have your undivided attention," he said leaning down and resting his weight on his hands planted either side of her head, we need to have a little talk."

"Um Gibbs this doesn't look so good."

"Do you really think I care," he asked glaring down at her.

"No," she whispered staring at the lapel of his jacket her hand reaching up and toying with it, brushing absent lint away before she began to turn the fabric in her hands.

He leaned down to her ear his voice soft and dangerous and said, "No." He felt her shiver under him and felt her hand grasp his lapel tighter her knuckles pressing into his shoulder. Lifting his head, he said "Look at me, Abby." She bit her lip but didn't look up. He waited in silence for her to comply.

The tension his silence was killing her. "You can't tell me what I can and can't do," she said glancing briefly up at him. The intense stare was too much, her eyes flitted away, "And your interrogation techniques aren't going to work on me. I'm not afraid of you."

His brow rose and a slight smirk appeared. She may not be scared of him, but she was definite intimidated by him at least for the moment. She reminded him of a kitten her fur all puffed out hissing her warning. The smirk grew. The smirk dropped the moment he heard her huff. He knew her well enough to know that was her giving in noise, giving in by not happy about it.

As their eyes met he said, "You think this is an interrogation? You better hope you don't push me to that level, kitten." It was out of his mouth before he realized it. The look of surprise on her face along with the hissing kitten image that cropped up when he said it almost made him laugh.

"Excuse me," she said frowning up at him, knowing full well by his tone, it wasn't meant as an endearment. It was 'I'm putting you in your place' and nothing riled her up more than that and he damn well knew it. "What is that suppose to mean?" she hissed at him.

That almost knocked the control right out of him. He was only maintaining the stony expression by strength of will. Apparently his will wasn't strong enough to completely hide his amusement because her eyes narrowed.

She saw the amusement in his eyes, which really pissed her off. "I'm glad you find this amusing Gibbs, but get off me. She shoved her hands up against his chest, her eyes squeezing shut as she tried her best to push him off. He didn't move an inch and now she could hear his chuckling. "Think this is funny, she said he shrugged and she turned her head and bit him on the wrist hard, not drawing blood but he would have bruises. She wondered how he would explain the marks to his latest bimbo red headed bitch. It almost made her grin even as her teeth held the pressure for a moment more. Releasing him she looked up at him with a screw you firmly placed on her face.

"Did you just bite me?" he asked looking down at his wrist. There would definitely be marks.

"The probability of it is quite high," she said looking up at him.

"I can't believe you bit me."

"What can I say, I'm a biter." There was no remorse, shame or embarrassment in her voice. "Did you enjoy it?"

"You do it again and I'll put a muzzle on you," he growled.

"Did you want me to bring one from home then?" she countered smirking up at him.

Cheeky little brat, he thought. "No need I have plenty of duct tape so don't test me," he said is face unreadable voice a bit too casual to be paired with the glint of steel in his eyes.

"You wouldn't dare," she said glaring up at him.

"Push me a little farther and find out." That effectively subdued her for the moment he was not one to make idle threats and he could tell by the look she was giving him she was well aware of it.

A loud gasp came from the doorway. Gibbs looked over his shoulder and saw a skinny young man staring wide eyed at the two to them. "Come here," Gibbs demanded. The man hurried over a terrified expression on his face.

"You ok?" the man asked Abby glancing nervously at Gibbs.

Sighing heavily she looks back at the man. She'd briefly considered crying out for him to help her. It might be funny she thought glancing at Gibbs.

A slight smirk on her face caught Gibbs attention. She wouldn't he thought knowing she'd find it amusing to see what the man would do if she pled for help. He felt like giving himself a good slap to the back of the head for putting them in this situation. And he couldn't say anything to warn her to behave because it would cause the same situation as if she'd screamed bloody murder.

Frowning at the man she said, "Just great, I almost had him seduced and you ruined it. You know how long I've been planning this, thanks a lot."

Gibbs closed his eyes briefly. Opening them he gave her a murderous look, but she wasn't looking at him she was looking at the man trying to stutter out an apology.

"You can go now," she grumped crossing her arms over her chest. "I think you've done enough damage for one day."

The man was turning to leave when Gibbs took control of the situation. "Did I tell you, you could leave?" he asked sharply halting the man mid-step.

"No," the man stopped turning to Gibbs. He was new to NCIS but he'd already heard who this man was. On his first day he'd seen the man slap one of the agents over the head right in front of the director and she didn't do anything. When he continued to stare at the group another agent had come up and said steer clear of Special Agent Gibbs. His growl was not worse than his bite. And now here he was seeing something he shouldn't and landed right in the cross hairs of Special Agent Gibbs. He wanted to groan out loud at how quickly he'd stepped into it.

Pushing off his hands Gibbs sat up. Resting his hands on his thighs he looked the man over. Gibbs gave him a cold hard stare making the man squirm under his gaze, Name?" Gibbs asked.

"Mar…, the man croaked, clearing his throat he said, "Mark Anderson, Sir." He saw Gibbs frown deepen but wasn't sure what he said to cause it.

"You can leave now," Gibbs said maintaining eye contact with the man. "I just want to know who to come after if I ever hear a word about this from anyone. Understand?"

"Yes," the man squeaked as he scurried out the door.

"Uh oh," Abby murmured chewing the inside of her lip.

"I ought to flip you over and beat your ass," he growled.

"Gibbs…" she began.

"Don't Gibbs me. What the hell did you think you were doing?" he said rocking back on his heels and standing up. "Stay," he said when she started to get up.

She frowned but stayed put; figuring she'd already pushed him enough. "Why does it matter? You would have had to threaten him anyway."

"Contrary to popular belief I don't enjoy terrifying probies." He saw her raise her brow and said, "He wasn't one of mine, Abbs and I shouldn't have had to threaten him for your amusement. I swear to God, if you so much as quirk those lips of yours in amusement I will drag you across my lap and tan your hide."

He watched as she drew her knees up and ducked her head down covering it with her hands. Trying not to look at the extra skin the move exposed he ran his hand down his face his eyes closed. There was no other woman that could frustrate the hell out of him one minute and coax a laugh or smile out of him the next moment.

While trying not to look at Abby's long legs he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. "What?" Gibbs asked turning to the door addressing Tony.

"We have a lead boss." Tony said glancing over at Abby. Gibbs just stared at him.

When Tony didn't elaborate his attention back to Abby as she stretched her legs back out, her skirt still bunched a little higher the normal. Gibbs barked "Dinozzo."

"Sorry boss," Tony said looking back at Gibbs. "Corporal Alex Barnes and our guy got into a fight at Harley's Pub. The building his body was found in is right down the street. They were both regulars, but the bartender said she hasn't seen Barnes in over a week.

"Gas the car and grab Ziva I'll be there in a minute. Tell McGee to go through Barnes financials.

"On it boss," Tony said hurrying to the elevator.

Gibbs didn't say anything until he heard the elevator's door close. He saw the look of relief on Abby's face and it irritated him. "You don't leave this lab until I tell you, you can. We are far from finished here." He didn't wait for a reply he turned and strode out of the lab.

She waited until she knew he was in the elevator and got up. Grabbing her Caf!Pow she went into her office and sat at her desk with Burt in her arms. "What do you think Burt?" She squeezed him hard and grinning pressing her face into Burt. She didn't like it when Gibbs was mad at her, what she did like was the physical contact that resulted from it. And he smelled so good; she thought smirking and tasted good.