This isn't, by a long shot, the most bizarre situation Jennifer Sheppard has ever been in, but right now, she feels like it certainly must be.
"Abby, this music is trying to kill me." She's also rather drunk, which is probably only encouraging the sense of strangeness she's experiencing.
Abby laughs, almost but not quite as drunk as her companion. "Derek, turn down the music!" She leans forward as far as her seat belt will allow but doesn't receive a response from the driver. "You can't hear me. The music's too loud," she tells him, before turning and yelling to Jenny – "He can't hear me! The music's too loud!"
Jenny snorts in what is both a very un-lady like and very un-director like fashion. "You are so drunk, " she accuses, and pushes Abby back by the shoulders so she's properly aligned with her seat. "And I," she pauses, either for effect or because she's having trouble remembering what she wants to say next, "should absolutely not be here. Directors of federal agencies do not ride around in cars on Friday night with employees they barely know."
"Oh, Director," Abby leans over and traps Jenny in a sideways hug, "you know me. All that's necessary for you to know, anyway. The rest just adds to that fun sense of mystery. "
Jen decides it's in her best interest to tolerate the invasion of personal space, and takes hold of one of Abby's hands with both of hers. She drops it abruptly as a thought occurs to her. "What happened to everyone else?"
"Mmm. McGee left when Derek showed up. He's kind of afraid of him. And he'd been drinking a bit, so Tony drove him home. Ziva left ages before that. I don't think the whole 'the boss just quit' get-together thing is really her scene. "
Jenny considered that for a moment. "And do we even know where we're going?"
"Nope!" Abby says, like it's something fantastic.
They're both quiet then, and suddenly it's like something has been unplugged and let whatever energy that was inside the car drain out. Abby speaks first.
"Gibbs is so dead when he gets back."
"Absolutely."
Abby tightens her grip on Jen and buries her face in her neck, and it's only because they know they're both strong enough to take this all in their stride that they don't worry about what the gesture means.
Abby likes to explain their attachment to Gibbs in terms of gravity and orbiting masses, and is doing just that when she and the Director are alone in her lab the following Monday.
"See, Gibbs is like a giant, grumpy chunk of earth. And to your average passer-by, he looks like... a giant, grumpy chunk of earth. And most passers-by – like comets that don't crash to earth or suspects who run when Gibbs chases them - just speed their way on past and avoiding getting involved. But those who get too close-" she motions to herself and then to Jen "- find that they can't get back out, because if there's one thing giant, grumpy chunks of earth are good at it's keeping the things in their orbital field in their orbital field."
Jen looks a bit taken aback, and laughs. "Wow. You make it sound like some sort of terrible trap."
Abby grins wickedly. "Oh, it's a trap, Director. But I didn't say it was horrible." She pauses for a moment. "Well, okay, unless you're an ex-wife. They're the comets that did crash to earth."
"And us?"
"Like I said – moons stuck in orbit."
Jen raises an eyebrow and smirks. "Even when the earth is in Mexico?"
Abby puts her hands on her hips defiantly. "It's a strong field."
"I see. And just how does a body in orbit go about getting out of it?"
"Acceleration. Kinetic energy."
Given her (if somewhat half-hearted) objections to their escapade last Friday, Abby is surprised when Jenny finds her in the parking lot at the end of the week and asks what she's doing that night.
Jenny, on the other hand, is surprised when that night ends the both of them in her bed.
The third time Jen stays at Abby's place is the first time she uses the shower, and she spends the time between shampoo and conditioner where she's able to open her eyes studying the stains left by hair dye on the shower walls.
There are number of reasons she should be uncomfortable sleeping with an employee, but so far things have run just smoothly enough that neither of them has had cause to bring them up. She should though, Jen reflects, and when she's out and done tracing patterns in the condensation on the mirror, finds Abby.
She's standing in front of an easel Jen didn't even know she had, and her arms and neck are covered in paint as she adds detail to a picture Jen finds entirely confusing. The sight is so unexpectedly endearing that Jen gives a startled laugh and, forgoing her earlier speech, just smiles and tells her – "you should be more careful when you dye your hair."
Gibbs comes back, except not really, and Jen takes Abby for a drive.
"He'll be back for good, soon." Jen says, and if either of them doubts it, they don't say so.
"This kind of happened by accident, huh?" Abby asks, and Jen thinks two things – first, that she's talking about the odd, pseudo-relationship they've been pursuing, and second, that she's calling it off.
"Well, when you phrase it like that, you make it sound like a mistake," she says, because she may as well grab the conversation and pull it on her own terms to where it's going to end up anyway.
Abby looks thoughtful. "No, I'd say it was more... surprising. Like trying and failing to climb some ridiculous apparatus and waking up one morning to find you've sleepwalked your way to the top."
"I see," Jen says, and Abby thinks she probably does, because she mentions that this whole thing started when they were driving around like this, grins, and making motion indicating her car, asks – "is it possible to calculate some sort of acceleration to kinetic energy ratio for this?"