Establishing Boundaries
Tony was almost dressed when he heard the front door slam, then Abby's voice call out a salutation to Gibbs. Waiting, he listened for her footsteps to echo as she ran up the stairs. He stopped and poked his head out of his own door, not moving until he actually saw her appear before he greeted her.
"Hey," he greeted, slipping into the hall, "I want to finish talking to you before we leave this evening. We were in the middle of a conversation at work, remember?"
Abby frowned irritably and turned towards her bedroom, cutting him off. "We weren't in the middle of anything. We don't have anything else to say, Tony. I told you that at NCIS."
He slid in between her and the door of her bedroom and answered unyieldingly, "Oh yes we do, and we are going to get finished with this conversation, Baby Girl."
Abby folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the wall, evidently annoyed. "Ok, go ahead. Whatever will make you get out of my way and let me go get ready is going to be worth it. I want to get dressed, and I have other things to do. I would like to make it to the club, too, sometime tonight."
"Thanks," Tony ignored the sarcastic response and tried to keep his voice calm. "Abby, I absolutely do not want you dating this Winston. Like I told you this morning, I checked into him and he's had some run ins with the law, some encounters which bother me. He's not a nice guy, and you can do better than that. It worries me that you are becoming so involved with him, and before you go further, I think you really need to learn about him. I care about you and I don't want to see you hurt."
Abby's temper started to rise. "Let's get this straight, Tony. You have no say- absolutely and without question no say- in my choice of a date or how I run my personal life. It's none of your business, and what you think of Winston is irrelevant to me. You had no right to run any kind of background on him for any reason. You definitely can't tell me what to do- you're not my dad and you're not my supervisor. Our conversation is now concluded, so leave me alone. I am going to get dressed. As you know, we are all supposed to meet up with everyone else by nine."
"Ok, then, why don't I just share what I know with Gibbs and then we'll see if he allows you out with that scumbag tonight?" Tony snapped at her refusal to take his claims seriously. "You are not seeing that loser, Abby! I am not going to stand by and watch you crash and burn with this chump."
Abby pushed him back and away from her. "I don't care who you tell. Get out of my face! You're not telling me what to do or who to see!"
Their yelling brought Gibbs to the bottom of the stairs. Both of them froze in place as he spoke angrily, demanding an explanation.
"What is going on up there? I could hear you two fighting all the way in the kitchen!"
The pair glared at each other accusingly and Abby gave the first reply. "Tony thinks he can run my life, Gibbs, that's all that's up."
"No, I think I know that Abby can do better than she's doing." Tony contradicted, then added, "She does not seem to have the ability to discriminate between good guys and bad guys."
Jethro pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Ok, how about this? I don't even care what conflict you two have found. However, if I hear another sound from either of you, no one is going anywhere at all. The two of you will spend the rest of the night right here, and not off with your friends- no club, no dates, no anything. Is that clear?"
There was a brief hesitation as they absorbed the pronouncement. Gibbs didn't make idle threats, and he'd actually benched both of the combatants at one time or another over the years. Abby, in fact, had suffered a house confinement last month by mandate of Gibbs. They looked at each other appraisingly. It would be wise to at least pretend to get along so they could go to the club.
"Ok, Boss, we got it. We're cool, now." Tony gave Abby a parting glare and went back to his room. Abby followed suit.
They were both ready and out the door, separately within a half hour. Gibbs reminded each of them to not stay out all night, then headed to work in the basement. He was genuinely puzzled. Tony and Abby never fought, really fought, at all. The incident earlier this evening bothered him. They squabbled all the time, jockeying for his attention, but their love and affection for each other was always evident. Tonight it was like they were enemies, and that disturbed him. He mentally reviewed the day to see if he could tell what had triggered the anger, but couldn't pinpoint a thing. Maybe it would resolve itself, but if he didn't see an improvement by tomorrow, he'd take a hands on approach with them.