Summary: You might think the horror has come to an end, but things can still get worse.
Disclaimer: All characters you notice from the show aren't mine. I'm actually glad about it ;-)
Rating: T mostly; one or two M-rated chapters
Warning: Throughout this story some very dramatic things are going to happen, which are of an unpleasant and even cruel nature. I recommend to skip those parts or this story if you can't bear it.
Acknowlegements: Without the help of three wonderful people, this story wouldn't be what it has already grown into. Thank you "Dr. Fenton", a.k.a. Pretty Dead Flower, for details on medical stuff that will be subject in this story. Thank you KellyRoxton for helping with the "crime" and for coming up with some interesting plot bunnies. Last not least, thank you doomprincess, my ever so patient beta who never ceases to find the right idioms and terms for me and for enduring the same mistakes over and over again.
A/N: This is another sequel to the „No-Regret"-series, which started with "I Don't Regret A Thing". Go there or to my profile to find all other parts of this series. To understand "Melissa" it however is not necessary to have read them, I think. Just know this: Abby and Gibbs are in a relationship (established in "I Don't Regret A Thing") and they have a daughter, Lynn.
Melissa --
Because I Still Don't Regret A Thing
Chapter 1
August
As soon as Ziva cuts his hands free, he takes Abby in his embrace and hugs her as tight as he dares to. Never before has he been scared that much. Blood is trickling down his grazed wrists. The abrasions burn like hell as he buries his hands in her hair. But he doesn't care about the pain. All he cares about is Abby. She's alive. Thanks to his team, they both are alive. No, the three of them are.
Kissing the tears from her cheek, he takes care not to touch the bleeding cuts on her neck or her torso. Heaven knows what could have happened, if his team hadn't ignored his orders.
Ziva steps towards the dead body that's lying on the floor of the warehouse, right beside the only chair, 15 feet away from them.
"Ziva, no! Stay where you are!" Gibbs orders and Ziva instantly obeys. She shot the guy without warning, but Gibbs doesn't want her to go near the bastard, just in case that he is still alive.
Before loosening his embrace with Abby, he beckons McGee over to them.
"McGee, take Abby back to town and straight to hospital," he tells him, handing him the keys to his car.
"No, Jethro. I'm not leaving without you. I'm fine. We are fine," Abby pleads, leeching on to him.
"No arguing, Abs. You need to be checked up," he tells her quietly.
His nerves are on edge, but he puts all his effort into not showing it. He wonders how Abby has been able to stay calm throughout this horror. His hand cautiously travels over her belly and then he knows. She's kept calm for the sake of the baby. In less than six weeks they are having their second child. Melissa.
When they had found out last December, happiness and anxiety were rivaling companions for many weeks.
He fights down the lump in his throat and bites back his tears. He has to keep a clear head now.
"I'll be with you in a few minutes," he promises and reluctantly lets go of the woman he loves, watching as Abby and McGee leave the warehouse. He then turns toward Ziva, who hasn't moved a bit, like he told her. His look is shooting daggers at her, for disobeying his order to not follow him. His voice, however, tells her how thankful he is about it.
"Thank you." His voice is hoarse and still horror-stricken.
He walks over to the motionless form, rounds it and crouches down beside it. Blood is pooling under the corpse. There is no doubt this man is dead. Gibbs nevertheless puts two fingers on his carotid artery and concentrates hard to not miss a sign that would prove the ghastful opposite.
Glancing at Ziva, Gibbs shakes his head to confirm the bastard's death.
"Call Ducky," Gibbs adds and while he prepares to stand up, he wonders why Tony hasn't shown up yet. He wants to ask Ziva about it, but never gets to do so as everything happens at once.
"NCIS! Drop your weapon!" Tony's voice echoes through the warehouse, mingling with a shot, that drowns out Ziva's alarming "GIBBS!" Someone is pushing Gibbs to the ground. Another shot rings out, immediately followed by a third.
An iron-bearing taste invades his senses. Blood.
He can't breathe. He can't move. And for a strange kind of reason he feels like floating. Realization dawns, he hasn't been pushed to the ground by anyone. It has been a some-thing rather than a some-one...
Not good. So damn not good, he thinks.
Someone rolls him over; makes him lie on his back. It only adds nausea to the floating dizziness. And to make things worse, a heavy weight settles on his chest, making breathing even harder than it already is. But he is unable to do anything to remove it.
Shouldn't he feel pain?
He somehow realizes that he is staring into a face that has been hovering above him for a while. A while? He has lost all sense of time. Ziva. She's not only hovering. Damn! Doesn't she know, she is keeping him from breathing?
"Hang on, Gibbs." Ziva's voice sounds hollow -- as if from far away.
The blood in his throat makes him cough.
"Abby...," he forces out the name of the woman he has been in love with for several years now.
"Gibbs, don't talk! The paramedic's on the way," Ziva demands.
But he doesn't care. Calling up all his energy, he grasps Ziva's arm.
"Ab... ." His vision blurs and although the words are echoing in his head loud and clear, they are not more than a mere whisper. Maybe, he hasn't even been able to vocalize them at all.
He looses track of his thoughts as all consuming darkness engulfs him.
Tell Abby, I'm sorry.