Two Rocks Colliding (Complete story)

by Writearound

When the danger comes from within NCIS itself Abby and Gibbs have to fight to survive. Locked in an air tight room it's Abby who has to come up with a way to get them both out which pushes them both to their limits of endurance and Gibbs has to find the man that put them there,

Thanks to all the movers and shakers who make NCIS such compulsive viewing and to all the writers, actors, directors, make up artists and the myriads of other people behind the camera that take some words on a page and breathe life into a story.

Thank you to all those people who followed and who reviewed earlier incomplete versions of this story, this is the complete story with the final new chapters is set at the beginning of the latest season of NCIS. It is not a total Gabby story as I wanted to put it in the context of a crime/drama narrative . Anyway it is my first go at a fan-fiction story so I hope some of it is appeals.

Chapter One

As Abby traveled down in the elevator she hummed along to the music on her iPod. Today was going to be a day for humming , she thought. More people should hum, it was quiet, soothing and less showy than a sing along. She continued humming as she entered the lab pausing only to greet all her tech equipment individually. She thought the Mass Spectrometer had struggled with the matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization yesterday, so she gave it a little extra love by kissing it, deftly wiping away the lipstick as she moved on. Transferring her iPod to the docking station she turned up the speakers , the strains of Flesh and Bone by The Killers filled the room as she logged on and the computer screens burst into life.

She hummed along as she called up the overnight results she had left brewing, she loved that her little team here could be busy bees whilst mummy was away from home.

'That's it, you're my busy little bees and I am the queen of this hive, let us hum together my babies,' she pirouetted as deftly as her tall platform boots would allow, bumping into Gibbs as she whipped around.

Not for the first time she noted that Gibbs was as steady as a rock under fire or twirl in this case. He grabbed her arms to stop her from falling. She observed that pained expression he usually gave when the music was too loud.

"This song kind of fits you Gibbs, you should listen to it." Gibbs pained expression didn't disappear, she grabbed the remote and the music died.

"Do you hum Gibbs? You should hum more it's very de-stressing, today we should both hum," she cocked her head on one side and examined his face. She could see the pain he was still in from the shooting, others might miss it but she could see it in the way his skin was pulled a little tighter over his cheek-bones, the way small lines round the eyes had increased through lack of sleep. He was really hurting in more ways than she could understand but she knew he hurt.

She waited for the usual direct look and the saying of her name, he always said it as if he was at the other end of a life line attached to her as she floated off into space and he was reeling her in, back to the mothership, back to the real world.

"Abbs what you got for me on the Henson crime scene? I need an update fast, something to go on, all our other leads are coming up with zilch." His blue eyes held her gaze, he was like a cobra, she thought, hypnotizing its prey. What was he? A life line? A deadly cobra? No he was a busy bee, a busy bee but with a killer sting, like those Africanized killer bees that have made their way up to the us from Brazil. She knew that brain of his never stopped working, of all the people in NCIS she knew he was the smartest, the busiest bee.

She knew she was smart, her IQ was almost off the scale, her parade of degrees and doctorates labelled her smart but that was a different kind of smartness to Gibbs', he could see things others couldn't, he could be two moves ahead of people. She gave him information, knowledge, but he knew what to do with it, how to make the world better and safer with that information. He knew how to do the right thing, well almost all of the time. Now he should be at home resting and healing and maybe humming.

"Ok, Ok . My little bees here have been busy and they have brought that honey back to Momma…." She gave him a smile "and Poppa of course."

"So?" The word hung in the air along with that pheromone of slight disappointment that he knew would push her more quickly to tell him what he needed to hear.

"So there were minute traces of chalk in the carpet around the body," she stopped, hoping to play the 'tease it out of me game' for just a little longer.

Her radar was off today, Gibbs gave her the hard stare that simply meant 'cut it out and get on with it' . His knee was throbbing and he had resorted to the painkillers, which he hated, it was like admitting defeat which he knew was stupid. He felt bad for not playing their game today but he was just too tired.

"Sorry Abbs, just give me the bottom line." Abby impulsively stroked his arm in an attempt to tell him she could sense something was not right with him, that her Gibbs was struggling and she knew it.

" Ok, the bottom line strangely enough is an actual baseball line. The chalk is not any chalk, it's chalk used to mark out pitches and lanes on sports fields."

"So we're looking for a killer that was on some sports field just prior to killing Henson?" He was mentally trying to see where he could take this information.

"Not just that, I tracked down the manufacturer of this particular chalk…you would not believe how many companies make all kinds of chalk for all kinds of sports." Abby looked at Gibbs face and hurried on.

"Anyway, I have all the purchasers in the DC area plus weather on the day of the murder because it rained twice that day ….the chalk was fresh so it had to have been put down that same day and it was pretty dry when it was carried into the house on the murderer's shoes….so the murderer had to have stepped on that dry chalk between 10am and 7pm. Using all of that the trail leads here to this baseball pitch." With a flourish she brought up a satellite picture of a baseball diamond near the Navy Yard.

"So our murderer was playing baseball near the Navy Yard, how's that going to help us Abbs?" He stared at the screen harder as if by concentrating on the picture the answer would come to him.

"That's what I knew you'd say, I just knew that, so as usual I went that extra mile for you Gibbs, never let it be said that I would leave you hanging….", she stroked him again, what was it with this stroking him she thought.

"Did you know that at 3pm that afternoon the NCIS baseball team were playing the CIA on that very baseball pitch?"

"The CIA have a baseball team?" Gibbs couldn't keep the amazement out of his voice.

"Indeed they do, quite a good one actually, they seem to have beaten us every time we have played them."

Gibbs gut slightly contracted, he didn't play baseball anymore not seriously, probably never again given the knee problem but somehow he didn't like the idea of the CIA rubbing NCIS' nose in the dirt even if it was just baseball. He could see DiNozzo's face if he ever said the word 'just' coupled with baseball out loud.

"Can we cross reference anybody that played in that game against people Henson might know or have been in contact with?"

"Indeed we can Gibbs, indeed we can." She felt she was about to be in a two Caf-Pow! reward place and grinned at him.

He smiled back , he could never resist that grin, even when the pain was searing through him she could still make him smile, even her little aggravating quirks still could make him smile. He recalled all the soup and smiles she had brought with her to his house as he recuperated. She would turn up bearing some strange gift designed to make him feel better almost every day. Sometimes she came and just left something silly on his doorstep like a lion soft toy with bandages round its leg and chest and a collar round its neck with his name carefully stitched onto it. The card had said, 'Get well soon. The old lion will be roaring again soon.' She insisted on ferrying him to rehab and hospital appointments, often almost arm wrestling Ellie, Ducky , Tony or McGee for the job.

People always thought of Abby as fragile, as someone they had to take care of emotionally but Gibbs had always known that inside her was a real core of steel, when it was needed she could be absolutely rock solid. He thought her constant visits and fussing would have irritated him but they didn't. He may have wanted to just retreat into himself , to go to some place in his head where he could heal more than just his body but somehow her company was healing him, it kept him grounded and reminded him that he still had things to do, people to care about. Even when he woke up to find she had customized his crutches by painting tiny crowns all over them with some terrible glitzy gold paint, she had just made him smile and it had been hard to smile for what seemed a long time.

Who would have thought Abby was the one who would have kept him grounded; the eccentric, clever, heart on her sleeve scientist, Abby.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs" she was stroking his arm again and he realized he must have switched off for a micro second which wasn't him, you kept your head in the case despite everything, despite pain, despite the look Abby was giving him now that was willing him to be ok, to just be ok.

"There's one last thing, the murderer was smart, he obviously wore gloves, so no finger prints…why am I telling you that, you know that …it's like forensics 101 but you know what I managed to find a hair that didn't match our victim's or anyone else who had access to the apartment. Give me a single hair and I can give you your man Gibbs, she typed in a command and a DNA analysis appeared on the screen.

"The CIA don't keep DNA profiles of staff , well they're the CIA, spooks and all that, they probably don't use their real names like ever just in case they get caught doing something like assassinating a President or something…may be some of them may have weird sort of alien blood…like in the X Files.."

Gibbs gave her the stare again "but…but luckily we do, just in case there is some cross- contamination at a crime scene. Here is our probable murderer Gibbs, Special Agent Kevin O'Brien, the NCIS Baseball Team star pitcher, well not that much of a star because we seem to keep losing…..so if we cross reference his name with Henson's we find that two years ago Lieutenant Henson was brought in for questioning during in an investigation concerning some missing blue prints of a proposed new weapons system that was to be installed on our submarines. It never went past the research phase and has been side-lined so the investigation has sort of gone into slow motion because there is no immediate threat. However Agent O'Brien gave our now deceased Lt Henson a clean bill of health, squeaky clean in fact during that investigation but maybe…."

"O'Brien did find something and decided to blackmail Henson so he could have a share in any proceeds he might make on the market for the blueprints; a lot of terrorist groups and countries would be prepared to pay big money for those blueprints, they weren't to know the system was going to be shelved."

"Maybe O'Brien killed Henson just to make sure all the ends were tied up, he wouldn't want Lt Henson giving anything away about his involvement."

"No honour among thieves Abby, not when there's millions of dollars involved. He may have discovered Henson was having second thoughts and was looking to say something to somebody at NCIS, his phone records say he phoned DiNozzo three times in the past week but hung up when Tony answered." Gibbs loved the way they could bounce ideas of each other and get to what his gut told him was the answer , he always trusted his gut and Abby's findings.

"So where is Special Agent O'Brien now Abbs?" Abby bent over the computer to pull up the duty rosters.

"No need to do that Miss Sciuto, I'm right here, speak of the devil and he shall appear, so to speak."

Gibbs turned and instinctively moved to put himself between Abby and the gun O'Brien was pointing at them.

Chapter Two

Gibbs was fast but somehow Abby was faster, she stepped right in front of him spreading the sides of her lab coat wide like a mother hen spreads her wings to guard her chicks from an attacker.

"No, no, no , no, no this is not going to happen, he's not going to get shot again, you hear me scumbag. We've only just got him back and he nearly died so I'm not going to let a scumbag like you hurt him, not while I'm around."

She wasn't yelling or hysterical it was just as if she was stating a scientific fact, in that warm gravelly voice of hers. Gibbs put his hands on her upper arms preparing to move her forcibly out of the way. He sensed her resistance, her feet planted firm where she stood.

"No Gibbs, this is not going to happen, not on my watch." She couldn't see his face but she could easily imagine the angry look on Gibbs face but she was determined, stubbornness was her middle name or so her mum used to sign to her.

" I'm sorry to break up some little family squabble but there is a desperate man over here pointing a loaded gun at you both, let's focus shall we." O'Brien felt behind him, locked the door to the lab and switched on the red do not enter sign outside.

" I remember you now, you bought me some evidence from a fraud case a few months back. I thought you were kinda' creepy then, you kept sucking breathe mints." Abby gave him the full on Abby disgusted face. She felt Gibbs squeeze her arms as if trying to hush her up.

"How do you expect to get yourself out of this situation O'Brien, shooting us isn't going to stop the investigation, adding to the body count isn't going to help much either." Gibbs was very calm, very quiet like he was trying to soothe a fractious child.

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you on the death front but I was thinking that locking you in the new safe room over there may give me enough time to board a plane I have waiting to take me somewhere warm with great beaches, great women and no extradition treaty. Three million dollars can buy you your own beach, did you know that? When Lt Henson started to go all moral on me I could see that beach disappearing. The people that bought the plans were also starting to get a might angry when they realized they were basically scrap paper, useless to them. So shutting up Henson and just disappearing was always the plan until Miss Weirdo here started to get a little too close for comfort," he noted Abby's quizzical look.

"Oh you don't for a minute think I didn't keep tabs on the investigation, you're not the only one who can hack computers, little Miss Genius, I was in there from the moment Henson's body was discovered, into all your systems, it was easy especially when I'm already nearly inside as an NCIS agent….I wasn't going to let some mad scientist ruin this for me." Gibbs held Abby's arms even tighter as she seemed to be intent on launching herself across the lab at O'Brien.

"You're so going to pay for that, hacking my computers, it's like a personal violation, I'm going to scrub them clean of any trace of you…you ….you …..you violator." Gibbs was worried that having to hold her so tight would be bruising her. Somewhere deep inside he was smiling at her usual feistiness despite the fact this man was threatening her with a gun.

"Open the door to the safe room and get yourselves in there, it's the only way you're going to get out of this situation." O'Brien motioned towards the safe room with his gun.

"Handy that they just built this for you in case of any toxins being released in the lab or an intruder, I guess they thought that after the mad boyfriend stalker incident and the hitman nearly killing you a while back something like this was essential as you would be bound to mess up again some time."

Abby was by now almost wrestling Gibbs to get free, she was going to shove that gun down that man's throat and stomp on him with her boots for good measure if he didn't get the message. Gibbs voice managed to penetrate her fury.

"Do what he says Abbs, we're going to do what he says, now, understand, just trust me."

"I always trust you Gibbs but this man needs to be stopped, he's a slug , a worm, a slimy piece of bottom feeding low life. You have my full permission to shoot him Gibbs, now would be a good time. "

"With what Abbs? Just do as he says for now," he lent closer and whispered in her ear, "I promise I'll shoot him later ok." Abby knew he meant every word, Gibbs always kept his promises, especially to her.

"Listen to the man, weirdo, just do it and do it now, I would rather put you in there alive but I don't have a problem dragging your dead bodies in there. You choose."

Abby sighed and with a little push from Gibbs walked towards the safe room door. She hesitated slightly on the threshold and turned to O'Brien, "...and you're a rotten baseball player and as for your pitching , I could do better than you even against the CIA with their super strong alien blood," with that she walked in and stood facing O'Brien with her arms folded, giving him the most evil glare she could muster.

Gibbs watched O'Brien intently never letting his eyes stray from O'Brien's gun, looking for any moment when he could have a chance of disarming him without him letting off a shot. You had to be focused and wait for that one moment, that one opportunity to disarm someone quickly and efficiently. He didn't care about himself but a stray bullet was no respecter of persons and could easily hit Abby and he wasn't going to risk that.

Abby began to smile to herself as she glanced over her shoulder to the corner of the tiny room, there was a phone. As soon as O'Brien closed the door They could phone DiNozzo or whoever was up in the bullpen at this early hour and they'd catch O'Brien before he even left the building. O'Brien smiled at her, which infuriated her even more.

"If you're thinking about the phone, I disabled it last night, I also took the precaution of disabling the locking system, with that out of action you can't get out and no-one can get in without using cutting equipment and that will take hours, once they know you're in there of course. I've also cut off the scrubbed air pumping system. In space no one can hear you scream but neither can they hear you through three feet of a steel airtight door. I reckon you've got about five hours of air in there, so good luck. I'm told suffocating is quite euphoric in its final stages."

Gibbs tensed and then made a lunge for O'Brien and the gun, he was a micro second too slow the damned injuries had slowed him down, O'Brien brought the handle of the pistol down on his temple. He staggered backwards and fell into the safe room as O'Brien pushed the door shut in his face. Abby half caught him and they both slid to the ground his head cradled in her lap.

"So Gibbs, this is a little cosy but we can manage, we're still alive right and luckily you have me with you to figure this little problem out. However you've definitely got to get out and shoot O'Brien for me, I don't usually promote violence as a solution, and the nuns would be very disappointed in me, but I am making an exception in his case."

Abby stroked his hair and Gibbs nodded, he desperately began to picture the precise details of how he would do that for her before the dark waters of unconsciousness closed over his head.

Chapter 3

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs," he could hear her voice somewhere faintly above him and he felt as if he was swimming up through the dark towards her. He'd been knocked out too many times not to know that opening your eyes the first time was always painful, the light always seemed to saw through your skull and today was no exception but you just did it no matter how much the dark seemed a better option.

"How many fingers am I holding up Gibbs?" She sounded quite firm rather than anxious, which was unexpected.

"It's your thumb Abbs," he whispered as he struggled to sit up, comfortable though her lap was, right now there was a job to be done.

"Good answer Gibbs, just checking your old noodle is operational," she was keeping it together, she had to keep it together for both of them right now.

"Try not to panic Gibbs if you panic you breath faster and you use up more oxygen, we need to be very chilled, we are a leaf or is it a feather on the wind…wait I think someone said that in the Serenity movie just before he had a pole stuck through him and died. Perhaps not a good analogy then, we have to be like those Tai Chi people you see in the park near here early in the morning, slow, deliberate, peaceful….."

She could picture them in her head, all those people moving like the air was fluid…she should take Tai Chi up again, she tried to remember why she gave it up in college and decided it was probably because she needed to be older more mature to really embrace it. She was mature enough now.

"Abbs does talking too much use up the air fast as well…"Gibbs stared at her intently. She stared back.

"Oh I get it, I should stop talking so much. In my defence I would have to say that we may need some communication going on between us so you can help me figure out how to get us out of here, I may have to issue orders." She nodded to herself as if she had come to some sort of decision.

"We could sign to each other, that would be excellent, well thought out Gibbs," she continued, "the crack on the head may have sharpened you up, who knows"

Gibbs winced as he smiled, that bastard had really hit him hard. He hadn't seen Abby quite like this before, she wasn't going to 'Crazy Town' as she used to call her wired anxiety about the prospect of any member of the team getting hurt. In there with O'Brien pointing his gun at them she had just been angry, really angry. He was still trying to process her putting herself between him and the gun, this was not how it worked between them, well up until now anyway. He looked after her, not the other way round.

He thought about all those other things, some realistic, some a little strange, she had feared or worried about in the past that he had supported her through. She had once told him privately that she couldn't open an envelope for months without shaking after Tony's near escape from the deadly toxin that had arrived in one. Once she had spent a whole day convinced that Gregson in accounts had been replaced by a look alike.

He reached for his cell phone, no signal, it was worth a try.

"You really think you'd get a signal in here Gibbs, smart phones are smart but not that smart." She signed and rolled her eyes, just to emphasize his lack of technical savvy.

"While you were having your little snooze… don't worry I kept checking that you were breathing and your pulse was ok…just thought I ought to mention that in case you thought I was being a little harsh…anyway I've been working on a plan to get us out or at least let someone know we are even in here."

"…and what have you come up with Abbs," Gibbs signed as he touched her arm to make sure she was focusing on him, " I'm really hoping you've come up with something because the longer we are in here, the longer O'Brien has to make it to that plane and end up with his butt on some beach sipping Pina Coladas and giving us the finger."

Gibbs wondered if his signing conveyed the right level of anger he felt. He could not even imagine O'Brien getting away without his head throbbing a little more and his knee aching, not to mention his chest feeling full of razor blades. His wounds from the shooting had added a whole new range of body parts that could react to the thought of failure.

"Well, I'm hoping you're the sort of man who carries useful things on them, like a boy scout or you know like a good marine might always carry on them…empty all your pockets Gibbs show me what ya' got."

"I'm not MacGyver Abbs" Gibbs muttered out loud as he emptied all his pockets on to the floor. He could feel himself getting irritated, he didn't like small confined places particularly, although he'd once spent four days dug into a tiny fox-hole when he was a sniper, but that was different, this eight by six room was solid steel, not like dirt and earth and he wasn't alone.

He was always fine facing something alone, it was when he had to take care of someone else that his senses went into real overdrive, here, right now he had to take care of Abby and he didn't like not knowing how to do that.

Abby inspected each item as he threw them one by one onto the floor; gum, some small change, his wallet, the cell phone, a handkerchief, a plastic bottle of pain killers, keys, his badge, his big switch blade knife, a multi-tool Swiss Army knife, spectacles. She muttered to herself after each object as if he wasn't there, making odd comments.

" very bad you should use sugar free gum Gibbs, this sort is bad for your teeth….your big knife is dangerously sharp Gibbs, do you sharpen every day, what of a kid got hold of it...this cell phone is like almost antique who would use a phone like this... a cotton handkerchief that's very eco-friendly less trees cut down to make Kleenex, wow that's a really high dose of Tapentadol Gibbs I knew you should be at home resting, you should not be here, you really shouldn't, "she looked at him in such an intense way that for once Gibbs couldn't stare her down, instead he snapped at her.

"Abbs what are you looking for, do you have a plan or not?" He said out loud as he grabbed her hand that was holding the pain killers.

Somehow he felt strangely exposed, as if she had seen behind the mask he was wearing to get through these days. He'd worn a mask after Kelly and Shannon had died but this mask he had to wear now didn't help, some days it felt as if it was suffocating him, which was kind of ironic given their situation now. He smiled, Franks used to tell him that sometimes you had to laugh at yourself otherwise you could get too arrogant and arrogant people make mistakes. Perhaps after this he should add that to the list of rules.

"I knew it, I knew it, Gibbs Rule 9 'Never go anywhere without a knife' and look you've got two, see I remember your rules," Abby dived on the Swiss army knife like she had gone cold turkey for a week on Caf-Pow and then someone had thrust one into her desperate hands.

"I bet you've got a lighter as well, no Marine would go anywhere without a Zippo even when you don't smoke. Come on hand it over Gibbs" She held out her hand and waved it under his nose. He reached into his back pocket and slapped the lighter into her palm, She grinned that grin again, they were stuck in a room likely to run out of air and here she was acting like getting out was some sort of party game.

"Are you going to let me in on this plan of yours Abbs or am I meant to just guess what you're going to try and do," Gibbs didn't like to be kept out of the loop, even if it was just a him and her in one tiny loop.

"Well seeing as you ask so nicely, I am bringing to bear all my scientific expertise and finely honed ingenuity to get us out because that is what I do; I see a problem and I figure out how to get it to talk to me and once a problem starts talking to me and we get into like this dialogue then it opens itself up to a solution, you got to talk before you can get any answers, you know that right?"

She gave him a look and he knew she was talking about more than just this problem here and now, she was talking about him. How did she get to be this wise, he wondered, she seemed to somehow have grown into herself this last few months whilst he'd been recovering, she was less of the girl, more the woman or rather she could be who she needed to be when she needed to be and right now she was in full-on coping mode. If the situation weren't so damned important he almost felt he would have just enjoyed sitting back and watching her do her amazing thing.

"Gibbs I need you to take the screw driver thing on this knife and unscrew the back plate on the phone in the corner, got that? Meanwhile I'm going to have to take your cell phone apart and try and do a little bit of rewiring and fancy circuit work to the land line . I'm hoping he disabled the phone the quick way from outside the room not at the main circuit board but I know there is an auxiliary back up that if I can just trigger it…what am I thinking of he's a scumbag moron so of course he'd do it the easy way which makes my fix more likely to work, don't mess with the science monitor...did you know I had that on a T shirt I used to wear at school… I can heat the end of the twirly thing on the Army knife with the lighter to help try and make some new connections."

All the while she was talking her fingers were nimbly dismantling his phone and pulling it apart to reveal all the micro circuits inside. She had stopped signing she needed her hands to do stuff with and besides she thought I really like hearing his voice.

Gibbs was thinking about a little Abby running round school, not afraid to be who she was, three or four years younger than all the rest of a class but still acing them on every test going.

"By the thin twirly thing you mean the corkscrew right?" He inquired with a slight lift of one eyebrow. Gibbs was glad she had stopped signing, her voice somehow always warmed him, it was something that poured over him like a hot shower when every muscle ached from the cold.

"That's really odd, why would the Swiss army people think that a corkscrew to open wine would be useful to a soldier, I bet Marines don't go around feeling the need for a corkscrew, when are they going to be opening wine bottles for Pete's sake?"

Abby seemed to be able to do intricate things with her hands that to him looked like they would demand intense concentration whilst her head seemed to go off on some sort of meandering journey. It was as if she was running through some kind of idea meadow and was just entranced by every little thought that appeared. Yet sometimes it was this type of wild scattered thinking that made her one of the best forensic scientists he had known, she could make connections where other scientists blindly plodded along a straight and narrow road. He knew she was rigorous in her science but science to her was an art, you could let her loose in her idea meadow with her babies and she'd come back to you with an exquisite perfectly crafted daisy chain of evidence that would stand up in any court.

"Come on Gibbs, times a ticking we have a bad man to catch and I would quite like to get out of here before we run out of air. I did not get up this morning with the idea that I would investigate the various stages of hypoxia personally. We are not going to die Gibbs, not today, I'm too pissed with O'Brien to die and you are definitely not going to die I have decreed it," she raised her head and gazed at him for all the world as if she were a queen and he her subject, she then immediately buried her head back into the task in hand.

They spent over three hour, hardly talking with Gibbs handing her things, holding things, heating the end of the corkscrew with the lighter until Abby looked up and said, " Did you know Marie Curie once said 'Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood, Now is the time to understand more so we may fear less.' She nodded to him and with that Gibbs suddenly heard a ringing tone from the disemboweled hand set.

"I'm not sure who we'll get on the other end Gibbs but we should get somebody," she crossed her fingers and closed her eyes as she sat like a dark cross-legged elf on the floor.

They got someone, they got Daphne Wilson in Human Resources at The Navy Yard, who seemed to take an inordinately long time grasping their situation. Gibbs was loathe to tell her to transfer the call to someone on his team in case they lost the connection, eventually he convinced her to send someone to get DiNozzo from the bullpen and on 'the other end of this phone stat,'

Abby couldn't help laughing as you really didn't want to be on the other end of a Gibb's raised voice, he rarely raised his voice but when he did you listened, you really listened and maybe even wet yourself just a tiny little bit.

Eventually after a few crackles when Abby was worried they might lose the connection and have to start again, DiNozzo came on the line. In a few words Gibbs told him their situation but he also emphasized that finding O'Brien was imperative as he would be out of the country if they didn't act fast, he told Tony to get McGee to contact every airport with small private plane landing facilities in a 100 mile radius to see if they either had an O'Brien down as a private charter or anyone booked to fly to a non-extradition country. Almost as an afterthought he then demanded they get a team down to the lab to open the damned door and get them out.

Abby stared at the door, even her brain couldn't figure out a way to open that and doing a few quick calculations in her head she knew if it couldn't be opened manually, which seemed likely, it was going to take at least four hours to get through a door of that thickness with cutting equipment. They had already been in the room for three and a half hours . It would be tight because O'Brien's calculations about how much air they had in there were pretty accurate and the heat from the cutting torches would make the room almost unbearably hot. You didn't have to be that good at science to work that out and as she looked at Gibbs she knew that he had worked it out too.

He was now leaning against the back wall of the room away from the door, he patted the floor beside him and Abby crawled over and huddled close to him, as usual his arm reached round and drew her in close to him.

"You did good Abbs , really good and now we just have to wait until they get us out, piece of cake, the Navy Yard has got cutting equipment that will cut through anything, it's going to be fine." He squeezed her tighter into him as if to emphasize that fact.

"Sure Gibbs, piece of cake," she repeated but they both knew they were lying to comfort each other. It was already getting hot in there.

"Whose MacGyver Gibbs?" Abby asked from out of nowhere . He bent and kissed the top of Abby's head, "No one you need to bother about Abbs. You'd beat him hands down any day."

Chapter 4

The phone started to crackle and DiNozzo's voice threaded itself into the moment.

"Boss, boss, you and Abbs doing ok in there? A cutting crew has arrived and some smart ass engineers who reckon they can get you out in no time. The locks been pretty fried but he's going to have a go at getting the air pump going at least so sit back and enjoy the view…sorry boss…."

DiNozzo could somehow hear Gibb's stare down the line, the one he gave when he pretended not to get his jokes, at least he thought he was pretending , it was never easy to know with the bossman. Abby made a grab for the phone, but Gibbs held it away from her.

"How's the search for O'Brien going DiNozzo, I expect him in custody by the time I get out of here or there will be one very angry boss coming your way. Get McGee to trace his phone or whatever it is he can do to find him, put a BOLO out on his car or see if he hired a car or hired a taxi in the last three hours." He was still fighting to keep the phone out of Abby's grasp.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, tell him to put the engineer on I need to talk to him, oh and tell Sister Rosario I might be a little late for the bowling match tonight, oh and tell Ducky Gibbs has probably got a mild concussion and I'm worried about him getting dehydrated, and ask him if I should let him have one of his painkillers or would that be bad, tell him ….." Gibbs grabbed her outstretched hand reaching for the phone and held it tight.

"Abbs, Abbs I'm fine, nothing that the sight of O'Brien in the interview room wouldn't cure," she scowled at him or rather pulled that cross-face that never quite reached her eyes when she tried to be angry with him.

"You said you were going to shoot him for me Gibbs," she said, a sense of disappointment in her voice.

"Abbs don't you think years in a prison cell with some psycho prisoner would be better, shooting is too good for him." Gibbs sounded very sure of himself.

"OK I withdraw my request for you to shoot him, just make sure he goes to a prison where they really really hate cops or special agents, she replied.

"That would be every prison Abbs," he pointed out with a wry smile.

DiNozzo was listening in and wondered how a few hours in a confined space, that the cutting crew said might get more than a little warm, would affect the bossman's famous cool. He'd been in tighter spots but the engineer wasn't as confident as he had tried to sound about getting the air pump on line again anytime soon and Ducky was pacing and not telling stories which was also a bad sign. He also had Abby to contend with who might go a little... a little...he fought to find the right word, a little edgy on him.

"DiNozzo I'm telling you to get O'Brien whatever it takes and whatever is happening down here, that's your priority ok?" Abby knew that sound, it was the sound of Gibbs saying how thing were going to be even if things seemed to be going in a different direction; it would be his special power if he was a super hero.

The line started to crackle and with a final screech it died. Abby sighed, it had actually lasted longer than she had expected.

"Sorry Gibbs I think we're on our own now, I hope DiNozzo remembers to phone Sister Rosario about the bowling match, she can get kinda' cranky, for a nun that is, when we are down on numbers. She once had to put Sister Mary Michael up to bowl and she's like nearly 90, she still managed to let go of the ball though, we thought it might drag her down the alley…..she has this bad arthritis in her hands you see and we were worried she might not be able to get her fingers out of the holes…."

Abby kept talking about various bowling matches with the nuns, including one against some Merchant Seamen who had been less than polite when they were beaten. The nuns had brought in their secret weapon , Sister Ingrid. She was from Norwegian farming stock from Minnesota and Abby rambled on about her ability to single-handedly lift a stranded cow out of a mud patch and also literally smash pins with her special turbo charged delivery of the ball.

Gibbs listened and watched her animated face and the way her hands moved as if they were conducting the sound of her own voice. When they get out of here he decided he would go see her and the nuns bowl, he wanted to see her with them, watch her smile and laugh with them. No matter how much angst she appeared to generate sometimes, she was someone you wanted to be in a room with. Perhaps that was just him though, his mercurial lab rat was an acquired taste, but he had acquired that taste from the very first day they had worked together.

Abby caught herself rambling, as she usually did and skidded to a halt mid description of how Sister Rosario had made a burley ship's radio operator cry after the match with the Merchant Seamen.

" You ok Gibbs? You're looking kinda' peaky ." She placed her cool pale hand on his forehead.

"I think you're running a temperature." Her hand did feel good on his skin.

"No I'm fine Abbs, it is just a might hot in here," As if to make his point he shrugged off his jacket and threw it into the corner and rolled up his sleeves.

"Tell me how you got this scar here Gibbs, she traced a very small scar on his forearm. Gibbs looked at it. Over the years he had acquired more scars than he cared to think about, his whole body was a history of damage that he carried lightly until now. He thought hard as he watched her finger run up and down the two inch scar.

" I was fifteen and we had this dog, a real mongrel but smart as they come. Dad tried to make him into a hunting dog but he wasn't having any of it, picking up dead squirrels and rabbits wasn't something he thought worth doing but show him a river or a stretch of water and he was in, could swim all day if you let him. He used to keep me company when I used to go for runs, only company I really liked back then. We'd go for miles, then one day we came to this creek and it was real hot so we both dove in, Then something got caught round his legs, some idiot had thrown a whole load of barbed wire in there. I had to dive down and try and unravel it, took me a long time and all the time that damn dog just kept sticking his head up and tried not to move too much, just enough to keep himself afloat. See he was smart , he knew the more he struggled the tighter that wire would get. I managed to get it off him in the end and drag him to the bank. We were both bleeding quite bad and we were over eight miles from home but me and that dog limped home by nightfall, had to carry him the last three miles but we made it. He had to get stitched up and so did I, so that's the story of that scar Abbs, nothing special."

He suddenly realised that he had never told that story to anyone, not even Shannon but perhaps it was a way of keeping Abby calm although she didn't appear twitchy more absorbed in his story.

Abby couldn't help herself she leant over and kissed his cheek and slid her hand down from the scar so that her fingers intertwined with his.

"You saved the dog Gibbs, even at fifteen you were doing the right thing, you see that's why you have got to get out of here, you've still got a lot of right things to do."

He thought about the strange conversation he had had with his daughter Kelly as he lay unconscious after the shooting. He had just ached to go with her, to give up being stubborn and just ease into some place more comfortable, like death, there was nothing he would have wanted more than to stay with her. She had told him to go back, he still had work to do but some days now he didn't feel up to that work and here was Abbs saying exactly the same thing.

They were asking too much of him, way too much but when he looked into Abby's eyes now he could see that they weren't asking him to do it alone, they would help. They would help each other somehow, even now as they sat together on a floor in a tin can with the air starting to get a little thin and heat radiating from the door they were trying to cut through, he didn't have to always think he was alone, people had his back. His team would walk over hot coals for him, even Ellie who was relatively new at playing on Team Gibbs . DiNozzo would make a song and dance about it afterwards of course but Gibbs knew he wouldn't hesitate, not for a second, if it was what needed to be done.

As for Abbs, right now he just wanted to sit here and hold her hand while they both kept each other safe.

Gibbs suddenly felt her hand slide out of his and he reluctantly let it go. She jumped to her feet which made her sway with the head rush or the lack of air he wasn't quite sure which. He got to his feet quickly despite the tricky knee and held her gently to stop her falling.

"What's up Abbs?" He asked brushing her hair from her eyes and examining her face for any sign she was panicking or feeling the heat too much. He had worked in desert conditions he knew what heat could do to some people.

"Gibbs I'm an idiot, not just a total idiot but one of such immense proportions the universe couldn't hold an idiot bigger than me."

"OK Abbs so you're dumb, how's that going to help?"

Abby frowned, "Well I'm an idiot for not thinking of it sooner but I'm definitely not dumb, seeing as I have thought of it now. I think I have a way we could get out of here, because trust me Gibbs, staying here is not an option, they're not going to get in here fast enough and mending the air pump or getting another one is going to take way too long, we will be toast if we just sit here and wait, maybe literally toast who knows the way that door is heating up."

She was holding onto his arms that encircled her waist to hold her steady and he could almost feel the slight tingle of excitement that was running through her body like tiny electric shocks.

"How do you feel about poop Gibbs?" He held her out at arms' length and studied her face.

"That's a serious question about shit right?"

Chapter 5

"Do you need to go to the John, Abbs because if you do there's no need to feel embarrassed…." Gibbs whispered in his 'don't worry' volume.

"No… no…nothing like that…. although I have to say they never mention that in films do they, when people are trapped for hours somewhere, they never do seem to go to the toilet , it's like Hollywood thinks bladders and bowels don't exist or if they do they make boring viewing…..Do you need to do anything," she asked tentatively, "…because…. like older men sometimes need to pee more…I'm ok with that really…I'm a scientist….a body's got to do what a body has to do."

Gibbs glared at her, "How old do you think I am Abby, my prostate is just fine, I may have been shot a couple of times but everything down there is working just fine, better than fine." Abby grinned at him and strangely has a slightly sexy thought wander through her head.

"Hello, joking Gibbs, you probably have a cast iron bladder I know, something they teach you in the Marines I bet, it could be like another of your super powers…" She read the look on his face, these days she could almost read everything on his face, except sometimes when he looked at her, some sort of strange curtain came down on something he didn't want her to see or know.

"Anyway, wasting time Gibbs, " Gibbs managed to stop himself commenting that it was her who had gone off on one of her little space walks.

"When they were installing this room, after the bombing, the put down a new concrete floor and Ray the builder was all sort of smug that he'd got it done in super quick time until his boss came to inspect it and then there was a lot of really bad language, I really wanted to cover my babies ears they were upset enough by all the dust and vibrations…"

"So, speed it up Abbs. Getting to the point would be kinda' good this side of Thanksgiving," she may not be panicking but perhaps a shot more adrenaline might get her to focus faster, although he wasn't sure how he was with this slightly more fearless Abby, it felt like he was used to a really comfortable pair of shoes then suddenly he has to break in a new pair which were really good and waterproof and what he needed but not as broken in as his favourite old pair. He made a mental note in his head never to tell Abbs he was comparing her to a pair of old shoes. He looked down at her platform boots, all straps and buckles and couldn't help smiling.

Abby pointed two of her fingers at her eyes…."Up here Gibbs, focus on me, this is going to blow your mind…although I don't think anything could blow your mind…it's sort of unblowable… like a mega bank vault…anyway Ray the builder is real cross because his boss tells him he has to uncover the old sewage cover, something about building regulations and that it has to be accessible even if the sewer pipes it leads to are no longer in use. So Ray had to miss his Salsa lesson with his new girlfriend Brenda just so he can drill out the concrete round the sewer cover and check it is still accessible. I think they covered it with some sort of board and then this thick carpet. So we can do a Shawshank Redemption ,Gibbs. Tony's going to have a field day with this….."

She was excited but to dance around wasn't wise in a confined space when air was short, Gibbs thought. He could feel the heat radiating off the door and even if they keep sluicing it down with cold water it didn't stop the temperature now feeling over ninety degrees in here and rising.

"Abbs stop dancing!" He barked. She gave him the hurt look from her locker of faces that always made Gibbs melt just a little.

"Gibbs I'm not dancing, I'm trying to feel where the sewage cover is, it should be more bouncy than the rest of the room, yes and it works , it's here in this corner Gibbs."

They both worked at ripping up the thick carpet, slashing at it with the big flick knife. They managed to lever up the boards underneath and there as Abby predicted was the drain cover. It was set very flush to the floor and seemed old and rusty. Gibbs couldn't see where he could get any leverage on it and his fingers couldn't get under it.

"Hooky thing Gibbs, I reckon you could hook it under this ridge here and together we could lift it up. Thank heaven those Swiss Army people had a need for a miniature hoof pick think, what would you use it for though"

Gibbs flicked out the hook tool, which wasn't that big but it did fit under the ridge. He pulled and heaved, as he prayed that the pick wouldn't snap. Eventually with a grating noise the cover lifted a fraction enough for them both to get their fingers beneath it and move it out the way. A rush of foul air shot up to meet them, so over powering that they both reeled back.

"Whoa Gibbs, it may be unused but it smells pretty high down there, Ray's boss told me some parts of this old sewer system under the Navy Yard go right back to the civil war, they acted as sewers and storm drains and eventually they head towards the Anacostia river in this part of Washington. He said they just used gravity to get the water to flow that way, so I reckon if we just keep heading downwards we should get to some old storm drain or sewer outlet into the river, then a quick swim and we will be out. Well that's the plan Gibbs, see why I said I was smart…now would have been the moment you gave me a Caf-pow! but failing that a kiss will do, she proffered him her cheek and without hesitation he kissed it, lingering just a little longer than usual tasting the salt of her sweat.

"That was a long one Gibbs , I must have been really really smart and look what I have as well," from her lab coat pocket she produced a slim penlight.

"I think it's going to be really dark down there, with rats and maybe white alligators... I don't think that's an urban myth considering what people put down their toilets." Gibbs could see that she was beginning to over think this and may end up scaring herself into just freezing.

"Good job Abby, we might even see a couple of Ninja Turtles down there who knows," and took the pen light from her.

"Good cultural reference Gibbs, I didn't think you'd know who they were, my favourite was always Raphael but then Donatello was quite sweet. "

As she talked Abby took off her lab coat and started to tear it into two long wide strips.

"Here Gibbs , think it might be wise to wrap this over your nose and mouth as a mask, there may be some real bad gases and smells down there, and don't use your lighter if there is a build-up of methane we could sort of die in a mammoth explosion and dying in a stinky sewer is not the way to go, trust me,"

"Oh I trust you Abbs, never doubt it, he squeezed her hand then slid his feet down the gaping black hole feeling for the iron rungs set into the wall with his feet. He eased himself down.

"Come on Abbs we can do this, just keep near me and if you slip I'll catch you ok, no problem." He put the light between his teeth and slowly started down. Abbs slid down after him, her boots were not the greatest for climbing but they did have heavily ridged soles, as slippery platforms on Washington icy streets were a real no-no ….and besides she had been wearing boots like this for years they were extensions of her own feet by now, she thought as she crossed herself and lowered herself after Gibbs who she could hear breathing and clambering down below her. It was going to be ok because Gibbs was here for her and she was here for him, team Gabby was sort of invincible, or that's what she told herself as the dark surrounded them and the bottom seemed a lifetime away.

Chapter 6

It seemed to take forever but Abby kept reminding herself that it couldn't be that far down, they couldn't have dug that deep in the nineteenth century when they were creating drains. She could hear that Gibbs, once he had found the distance between rungs, had got into a kind of rhythm. The gap between the rungs was quite big but luckily her height and boots helped with that.

As he climbed Gibbs was constantly looking up to check Abby was ok, steeling himself to catch her should she slip. He was relieved when he touched the bottom, his knee wasn't taking kindly to being treated with such punishment since the shooting. He shone the torch on Abby and helped her off the last run.

"This way Abbs, keep to the edge, it's slippery and I don't know how deep the water is in the middle." He was relieved that he could stand upright he had been prepared to have to do a belly crawl and he wasn't sure how Abby would cope with that.

"You sound very definite Gibbs, you got a compass?" Gibbs realized just how big her eyes were when that was all he could see above the improvised white cotton mask. She was like a huge mesmerizing cat looking at him as if he knew where the tuna was kept.

"Up here, Abbs" he said tapping the side of his head. "A marine sort of builds up a sense of which way is up or rather down in this case, besides I can sense that smell you get near a river coming from this way."

The edge of the drain was too narrow for them to walk side by side so Gibbs set off and held his hand behind him for Abby to grab. He wasn't going to let her fall if he could help it.

They edged past build ups of all sorts of rubbish and some things Abby decided not to think about too much. She decided she must help the campaigns to help clean up the Anacostia River when she got out of here. They were going to get out, they were nearly there. However it has been raining heavily in Washington for the past few days and the water seemed to be getting higher, especially as other drains seemed to be feeding more and more water into this main drain from several directions every now and them. Within a few minutes the water was up to their knees and the current seemed to be getting faster.

Gibbs never faltered, at each junction he was very decisive about keeping to this drain and as they waded he kept tight hold of her hand. At one point she stumbled and Gibbs turned and physically lifted her back on to her feet. The noise of rushing water was also getting louder and they had to shout to make themselves heard.

"You doing ok Abbs?" Gibbs yelled as he forged relentlessly through the water.

"Fine Gibbs, although I'm a little disappointed there hasn't been any turtles, how are you holding up, I don't think your physio intended you to do something like this so soon. I got your painkillers in my pocket, let me know if you need one."

Gibbs was glad he was in the lead as he wouldn't have wanted her to see his face as the pain was bad but pain he was used to, it was her voice sounding so worried and concerned for him that was twisting a knife into his heart. He knew he was her hero, he knew she knew he would always be there for her but the traffic was usually one way on the concern front and now it was gradually starting to go both ways. It had been a long time since he felt that amount of care coming his way, he carefully trod round the word love in his head. He knew he said he loved her to her face but that word was a game between them, the family game.

He could sense the downward angle of the drain getting steeper and the water getting deeper and more forceful. The river had to be near.

"Gibbs I think I saw a ….." with that Abby slipped and fell into the torrent in the centre of the drain, Gibbs braced himself to hang onto her but the current was too strong and all he could do was keep tight hold of her hand and throw himself into the water alongside her, that way he could stop her being carried away or drowning, at least that was what he thought, somewhere deep down he just wasn't ever going to let go of her hand not unless it was to shoot O'Brien. He had already decided that if anything happened to Abby his intention to put him in prison wouldn't hold. Even if he was imprisoned he'd find a way of taking him out. Making sure that someone that hurt those he loved paid for it was who he was; he'd done if for Kelly and Shannon, he'd tried to do it for Kate, he'd do it for Abby.

He fought to get close enough to keep her head above water, those damned boots of her must weigh a ton and were probably dragging her down.

"Abbs, Abbs, " he yelled against the noise of the water, willing his voice to cut through the terror she must be feeling, "Look at me Abbs, you fight ok, you damn well fight."

Chapter 7

Gibbs struggled to pull Abby towards him, neither of them could get a purchase on the slick drain beneath their feet and the water was now well up to his neck. The current was so fierce Gibbs had to accept that they had to go where ever it was going, he just hoped that it was heading towards the river.

"I'm ok Gibbs, I'm ok, can swim like a fish, well sort of." Gibbs could hardly hear her as it was muffled by the mask she had tied over her mouth and nose but as she looked back at him in the murk he could tell by her eyes that she was doing better than he had expected.

She shouted something that he strained to hear then her head disappeared below the muddy water. He tried to hang onto her hand but she twisted herself free and he lost her for what seemed an eternity.

"Hey Gibbs, had to get down and ditch the boots," she yelled.

The water swirled them round a steep curve, ahead another drain ran into the bigger drain from their left. Gibbs felt for Abbey's hand in the murk, the pen light had been lost way back. He noticed something flickering ahead on the wall of the drain. It was light, in the blackness Gibbs shouted to Abby, he only hoped she could hear him above the din.

"River!" There was no point in signing , it was too dark to see. He could make out that Abby still had her head above water and he thought he could see her nod. As they rounded the curve the current smashed them against the side wall of the drain knocking the wind out of them both then ahead they saw daylight but stretched across the opening was thick wire mesh. All the large debris in the water was piled up against the mesh. The newest garbage piled on top but underneath Gibbs supposed there was a whole heap of rotting rubbish that had been there for years probably. The drain ended here, the weight of water pounding at the wire as it made its way out to the Anacostia. Gibbs spotted some sort of drain pipe beside the fence. He made a grab for it and managed to hang on although it nearly pulled his arm out of its socket. Feeling with his feet he detected a narrow raised flat edge to the floor of the drain, he could manage to stand up although the water was still up to his chest.

Abby was a few yards behind him, the water was driving her directly at the mesh and the pile of rubbish some of which he could see contained what looked like scaffolding poles, old shopping carts and god know what. If she hit it at that speed she would be badly hurt maybe even impaled on some of the metal poles that jutted out into the water. How the hell did all this crap get down here he wondered. He hung onto the slippery downpipe and leaned out as far as he could, stretching out his hand towards her. If needs be he decided he could jump, grab her and put his body between the mesh and her to soften the impact. As she was swept towards him he could see her reaching out for his hand. It was almost slow motion, at first just their fingertips touched and then gradually her whole hand was held in his. He slowly pulled her towards him, he ignored the pain in his chest and the sensation that the scar there was about to rip wide open.

Coughing and spluttering Abby managed to get onto the ledge beside him, before she could protest Gibbs pulled his belt from his pants, feeling under the water he threaded it round the back of the pipe and put it round Abby's waist, and cinched it tight, tying her to the pipe.

"I'm not about to run off Gibbs," she shouted.

"Just in case Abbs, don't want you leaving me here in the dark alone, do I?" He pulled down his mask so she could see his face, he needed to let her know everything was going to be ok and he knew she always studied his face to read his intentions.

Abby looked into his eyes, although it was still quite dark, those blue eyes of his still lit up what she always thought of as her ok meter. The smile was a back-up but she trusted what she always saw in his eyes. She leaned out as far as the belt would allow her to examine the mesh. On the other side she caught a glimpse of the river that lay beyond. She had no idea where they were in relation to the Navy Yard, probably way past there near the confluence of the Potomac and the Anacostia she guessed.

Gibbs had found the army knife in his pocket and was trying to work at the corroded screws that were holding the mesh in place. He cursed as the knife edge made no headway, they were probably so old they were not about to turn ever again.

Abby yanked on the back of his shirt.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, I think the mesh isn't fastened at the bottom anymore look how it's bending at a certain angle, I reckon I could swim down there and prise a corner of it up using one of those pipes as a lever. I bet there'll be just enough room for us both to get through," she was struggling to undo his belt that was fastening her to the pipe. Gibbs felt for her hands beneath the water.

"Abbs, leave it alone, it's to keep…." He held her hands tight, but she slipped them out of his grasp.

" …keep me safe, so what am I meant to do stay here tied up here like some wimpy girl tied to the railway tracks waiting for the hero to ride up and rescue her. Look at you Gibbs, I can tell you're hurting and you still need to fully recover from being nearly killed by two bullets. I can do this, I held my breath for nearly two minutes for a dare last year at the Forensic Convention in Vegas and that was after two cocktails that they said were virgin but so weren't …" She was screaming at Gibbs and he wasn't sure if it was her trying to be heard above the noise of the water or because she was angry.

Gibbs wasn't going to let her go into that raging torrent but before he could grab her Abby freed herself from the belt and slipped into the water.

He watched as she let herself be thrown towards the pile of rubbish, she grabbed a thin pole that was sticking out of the garbage heap and began to work it free. Eventually she managed to pull it loose. She slowly edged nearer the left hand side of the mesh. Gibbs could see why Abby had spotted that the mesh might not be secured at the bottom corner with each surge of water the mesh seemed to bend more than it would have done if it had been screwed down securely.

Abby was hanging onto the mesh as the water continued to batter her against it, it was all Gibbs could do not to dive in there after her just to wrap himself around her to protect her from it. He could see she was taking deep breathes ready to dive down with the thin pole. He could see the determination etched on her face, he instinctively knew that this was important to her, that if he dove in to help at this point something would be lost between them, some sense of mutual trust that had been growing stronger for years.

With one final breath she disappeared below the water and he lost sight of her, he looked at his watch that seemed to have survived despite everything they had just been through. He was just about to dive in after her when a head popped up above the water hanging onto the mesh but on the other side from him.

"I did it Gibbs, look I did it Tah Da!" She shouted at him a huge grin on her face. "I reckon you can get through ok, if you wiggle a bit."

Gibbs slid into the water and taking a breath submerged beneath the water. He worked his way down the side of the fence until he felt the mesh begin to curl upwards. He found the gap Abby had created and slipped through, it was pretty tight and at one point his shirt got snagged on the wire but with a push he managed to get free and head back up to the surface. He surfaced next to Abby and she spontaneously kissed him on the cheek and wound her arms around his waist.

"Now all we have to do it swim in near freezing water until we can find somewhere to get out. I'm not sure about the current in the river, it always seems kinda' sluggish when I watch it from the roof of NCIS." Gibbs wondered why she went out onto the roof and made a mental note to ask her. For now his brain had gone into overdrive about O'Brien, he needed to get to his team and see if they had caught him and if not why not.

The cold water was beginning to get to both of them and he could see Abby's teeth chattering, her make-up had been washed away and her pigtails were plastered against her cheeks. Beneath her lab-coat she had only been wearing a thin vest top and a very short skirt, which had been fine in the heat of the safe room but here it was leaving her wide open to hypothermia. He could see the exertion of working at the mesh fence to prise it up had taken about the last of her resilience.

"Come on Abbs we need to swim out of here now," he struck out towards the river pulling her with him.

After just two or three minutes of trying to find some way of getting out of the water they were exhausted. Abby had never thought about how the river bank had been built up over the years so that now it was impossible to scramble up sheer walls about 10 feet high. Both of them were treading water and trying to expend what energy they had left as little as possible. At last a couple jogging along the Anacostia River Walk spotted them as they were being pulled along by a current that was sweeping them further away from the bank.

"Gibbs I think they saw us, they're on a cell phone I think , it's hard to tell from this distance. It's alright…it's alright….." Her voice began to trail off and Gibbs took hold of her as she began to pass out, her skin looked almost blue as if the cold was claiming her inch by inch. He owed her his life he had no doubt that without her, he would have probably been dead by now. As he trod water holding her up he couldn't help thinking that now he owed two women his life, Ziva when she had killed Ari, her own half-brother and now Abby who's stubbornness and brains had got him through this. Even if for some reason they just died here and now in the cold arms of this old river that had probably seen so many people die since the first settlers tried to cross, he still owed this woman his life.

He abruptly realised that for the first time he had thought of Abby as a woman usually he always thought of her as a girl. Certainly she was a grown-up, he knew that, but somehow she had always been filed under the word girl, if you could even try and pigeon-hole the phenomenon that was Abby Scuito. Something overwhelmed him, perhaps it was how you felt when hypothermia took you but he kissed Abby's cold wet forehead.

"You need to keep your eyes open Abbs," his voice became more commanding, "Do you hear me Abbs, you keep your eyes open."

Slowly her eyes opened, "No need to shout Gibbs, I'm right here next to you."

"That's right Abbs you're right next to me," he held her as close as he could willing his body heat to keep her warm.

Behind him he heard the sound of a boat approaching fast and he began to shout, the river police boat eased up to them and soon they were both hauled on board and wrapped in space blankets. Abby's eyes were closed and it was as if she had given into the cold now they were safe. He could tell the policeman on board taking her pulse was worried. Gibbs winced when they had first been hauled on board as he saw the cuts and bruises that covered every inch of Abby's legs arms, chest and face some of the cuts looked deep and jagged and she must have been losing a great deal of blood but the water kept washing it away so he never saw how serious her wounds were from whatever had ripped into her on that wild ride through the storm drain. He noticed a patch of deep symmetrical squares on her thigh where the mesh must have been slammed into her by the force of the water. He heard them calling for an ambulance to meet them at the dock and he crawled over to sit on the deck beside her prone body. He took her hand and held it tight, he noticed that some of her fingernails were now ripped and ragged where she must have pulled at the wire mesh, he kissed the tips of her fingers.

"Come on Abbs, we have a very bad man to catch, you don't want to miss that do you?" he whispered in her ear. With that he steeled himself to stand up and once on his legs he gave himself the talk he always did when he was exhausted, hurt and downright close to giving up. He wasn't dead so just keep on breathing and get the damned job done.

He walked over to the radio and demanded to be patched through on the radio to NCIS, they were about to tell him to just relax but one look at his face and they handed the radio over. What Gibbs heard didn't exactly help him relax, O'Brien wasn't in custody yet, in fact O'Brien has disappeared totally off the grid. Gibbs willed the boat to get to shore faster Abby needed help fast and he needed O'Brien to pay for what he had put her through.

Chapter 8

He insisted on traveling in the ambulance with Abby and growled at any paramedic that suggested he lay down. He watched the heart monitor she was attached to, her pulse was very low and thready, they had cut off all her wet clothes which had revealed even more livid bruises and the paramedic was muttering something about broken ribs . They had put more space blankets round her and put warming packs on various parts of her body. They had at least insisted Gibbs get out of his wet clothes and then wrapped at least two blankets around him. He had to admit that the heat packs they gave him felt good on his aching limbs. He had a few cuts and bruises but they were only superficial apart from one cut that the paramedic put sterile-strips on.

He had told the team to meet him at the ER unless they had a clear lead on O'Brien. As he paced in the waiting room, DiNozzo , Ellie and McGee ran into the ER.

"How's Abbs doing boss?" asked McGee unable to hide the anxiety in his voice.

"Hanging on in there, but she's been through a hell of a lot and I don't know how much fight she's got left in her." Gibbs was surprised that he had said that out loud but he was past trying to cover up his fears for her. He knew the team would share them.

"She's stubborn though and I reckon she'll pull through, Abbs doesn't give up easy," Gibbs reflected, in fact he'd never known her give up on anything no matter how tough it got. Any case where she kept hitting brick walls she just kept right on going and found some other way round.

"Gibbs I hate to tell you this but do you know how bad you smell," Tony took a step back and looked hard at Gibbs, " Ducky said that you should get booster shots of tetanus and other things as storm drains and the Anacostia are not the best for swimming in. It's a real Shawshank Redemption moment though Gibbs, it'll be in the annuals of NCIS for years how Gibbs and Scuitio got out of a safe room and dragged themselves through miles of storm drains and even swam the Anacostia to escape…yep real Shawshank stuff…"

Gibbs gave him the look and recalled how Abbey had known Tony would bring up the Shawshank Redemption…Tony prepared himself for the head slap but it never came, which surprised him but what really surprised him was the slight smile that had crossed Gibb's face.

"So bring me up to speed on what is happening with O'Brien, no leads, no nothing, we know this man, for Pete's sake he's been one of us for over fifteen years we must know something that could give us a clue to how he might get himself out of the country. He sure as hell ain't going to lay low in Washington not when he knows I am going to take this real personal." Gibbs scrutinized the faces of his team for any sign that they could offer some help, some small trail of breadcrumbs they could follow.

"Well that's it, he is one of us so he will know how we would go about trying to find him, he may even be hacking into our systems and phones to keep one step ahead of us," Ellie offered, by way of trying to say something, anything that would make Gibbs feel his team weren't a total waste of space. They all felt they were letting him and Abby down by coming up with so little especially when Abby was now fighting for her life. An agent gone bad was something they all hated, it struck at the heart of the pride they felt in being in NCIS and the job they did. Gibbs especially hated someone who turned traitor as he saw it, they were placed in a special box in his head reserved for child killers, rapists, wife beaters and terrorists. If you went into that box they all knew Gibbs would never stop until they were caught.

"You say O'Brien talked about going to the airport and some beach in a country with no extradition treaty that sounds as if he was going out of his way to tell you his plans and its super villain mistake number one in Bond movies never tell Bond what you intend to do next even if you think Bond is going to be eaten by sharks or alligators. Going out of his way to say what he intended to do was his way of putting us off the scent…" Tony was good at using his gut just like him thought Gibbs only he could do without the endless movie analogies but then he wouldn't be Tony.

"Unless it's a double bluff of course and he thinks that we will think that so he does the exact thing he says he's going to do, " McGee interjected. Gibbs knew how smart McGee was, he was always willing to think things through and not go off half-cocked before he had seen things from every angle. Sometimes though he over thought things, put him with Tony and they gave him both the assets that an agent needed gut instincts and a willingness to know when to stand back and make sure every angle had been covered.

"I've been through his file and he seems like the perfect agent, good conviction rate, not a single black mark on his file. He does mainly fraud type cases, that's his forte and the Henson case was a bit of an oddity, but then it only came to light because of some financial anomalies that cropped up over the research money for the weapons system. He's divorced, no kids, no family it would seem and no-one seems to be that close to him at work. He comes over as a bit of a loner, unremarkable guy who turns up every day does an ok job then just disappears until he turns up at work the next day. He'd sort of weirdly bland. People I've spoken to just described him as a nice guy who kept himself to himself and did his job…." Ellie had adeptly given Gibbs a pen picture of a man who had over the years built himself the best cover of all, ordinariness, there was nothing that got his gut twisting more than someone who was the perfect picture of the bland good guy…they were the ones you had to watch when things went belly up.

"So Mr Average is prepared to sell state secrets, get in contact with potential buyers of these secrets, which isn't that easy, and be prepared to get rid of Abby and I without a second thought or rather with lots of thought as he had been monitoring how the case of Henson's murder was going and take the time to prepare for the eventuality of his being found out. This man plans ahead and if he does there must be something in his life that will help tell us what he has planned for his escape. He's had time to put together an escape plan so he will have slipped up somewhere, the man is a proud of being one step ahead of us all the time and you know what pride comes before don't we?"

"The fall boss," Tony chipped in unnecessarily.

"So let's push this man right off a big cliff guys, go find me something." With that he turned and went to find out what was happening with Abby, they had pushed him physically out of the room when they said they had to work on her and find out the extent of any injuries but they'd had long enough and now he needed to be with her, he wasn't going to let her for one minute think he had left her alone. Only first he had to get a quick shower somewhere and some more clean clothes, he could smell the stench of the drains on his skin and in his hair he didn't want to let Abby ever smell that again.

Chapter 9

Gibbs walked into Abby's room, his whole body language daring anyone to throw him out again. A nurse was bent over swabbing some of the cuts on Abby's left arm. They appeared to have washed all the dirt and blood off her and someone had undone her pigtails and combed her black hair so it fell over her shoulders. She was still packed round with heat pads and her body core temperature was being carefully monitored, warming her up too fast could be just as dangerous as doing it too slowly. The nurse turned and looked at Gibbs.

"Hi, you a relative?" she asked, smiling at him.

"No, a friend, a close friend," Gibbs walked closer to the bed and gently placed his hand on the blanket covering her legs. The nurse looked at his face as he stared at Abby, she was so pale, paler than he had ever seen her. Her dark hair emphasised her pallor and devoid of make-up she Qa even more beautiful. At least she was breathing on her own and the heart monitor beside her bed showed some improvement from the ambulance ride.

"She is quite the little fighter, this one, seems to want to live really badly, good job someone fished her out before she succeeded in killing herself, you have to be pretty desperate to throw yourself in that river. Mind you these Goth Emo types can be pretty flaky, just look at al these tattoos for heaven's sake…." She prattled on as she finished swabbing the wounds.

"Oh she was desperate alright, desperate to save me, now get out before I have to raise my voice because you wouldn't like me when I raise my voice and right now I'm having a hard job hanging on to my temper, do you understand me. This is a woman who is smart, brave and was willing to die to save another human being, namely me so just go!" Gibbs had spoken very quietly and had looked the nurse straight in the eye, anyone that knew him would have known that this was the time to beat a hasty retreat as an angry Gibbs was not to be messed with. The nurse somehow failed to see she was in a hole and should stop digging.

"I was only saying…." she spluttered.

"Just go now," yelled Gibbs and with that the woman grabbed the tray of blood stained swabs and ran for the door. Gibbs stared after her as if the thoughts he was thinking right now would somehow make her disappear even faster..

"No need to yell Gibbs, I'm used to being the book they judge by the cover."

Gibbs turned and saw Abby's green eyes staring at him from out of that pale face over the mound of blankets that covered her.

He moved to the side of the bed and bent to kiss her forehead.

"How's it going Abbs, they say you're going to be ok," he searched her face for any sign that she was in pain.

"Well apart from the fact that my head is throbbing fit to bust and I think every time I breathe someone appears to be sticking a knife in my side, apart from all that, I'm just dandy and you Gibbs why aren't you in the next bed resting up, you look tired, although I have to say the scrubs make you look very sexy in a George Clooney way." She struggled to sit up and realized it wasn't going to happen without help. Gibbs lifted her up gently and plumped up the pillow and with a sigh of relief she sunk back into them.

Gibbs had never seen her so frail and vulnerable. She grabbed his hand, "Can you stay for a little Gibbs, it would be nice if you stayed," she still had hold of his hand.

"Sure Abbs, let's see, if you scooch over I can fit on the bed beside you," Abbs moved over although Gibbs could tell any movement hurt her. He kicked off the white clogs someone had loaned him and lay beside her leaning back on the pillows next to her. Abby laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes as did Gibbs. His calmness was always like a sedative to her when she was at her most anxious.

"Gibbs, go to sleep, we both need to sleep ok , you'll catch O'Brien and maybe you'll get a chance to shoot him, maybe just in the leg or something, nothing fatal just enough to make him hurt just a little bit," her voice was beginning to fade into sleep. She looked down at their arms on top of the blanket.

"Look Gibbs, I think we're going to have matching scars, you have that one from saving your dog and mine's for…" as she spoke she pulled back the gauze that covered a deep cut on her forearm.

"…for saving me Abbs, it's for saving me…. thank you," he whispered into the top of her head.

"You're welcome Gibbs, you're always welcome," she mumbled as she drifted into sleep.

The nurse returned with the doctor and a security guard, having complained that there was a mad man in a patient's room.

The doctor took one look at the picture in front of him of the two people asleep peacefully in the bed and indicated for security to go.

"He's an NCIS agent, he came in with her, they were both pulled out of the river, says she's a real hero. I reckon we just leave them to heal together for a little while, they both certainly need to rest." With that he turned and firmly steered the dumbfounded nurse out the door.

Chapter 10

Gibbs strode out of the lift into the bull pen and towards his team, they all jumped up as they spotted him. He had woken up after an hour and had reluctantly eased himself off the bed trying not to wake Abby who slept on but mumbled to herself as he moved. He had stroked her head and she had settled back into sleep. He took a taxi home pulled on some of his own clothes and headed back to NCIS. He had work to do and Abby was in safe hands, well now she was he had told the doctors that if that particular nurse so much as entered Abby's room there would be hell to pay. As a precaution he also called NCIS and had them send down two agents to guard the door to her room with orders not to let anyone in apart from verified hospital staff and his team.

"Hi Gibbs, should you be here yet?" Ellie asked.

McGee and DiNozzo smiled to themselves, she hadn't quite got the hang of how Gibbs rolled they thought. An NCIS agent, or ex-agent they presumed now, had locked Gibbs and Abby in a tiny room, he had been happy to let them suffocate, they had both had to wade through God knows what in an old storm and sewage drain, swim in a freezing river and above all Abby had been hurt; Gibbs would give her the look that said 'Don't go there.'

….and there it was, Tim and Tony smiled at one another as Ellie shuffled her feet and tried to look as if she hadn't said anything.

"Well, what have you got, don't tell me nothing or I will knock all your heads together," Gibbs surveyed his team daring them to have come up with nothing.

"The man's so boring, he appears to do nothing that a boring man wouldn't do, he even has a subscription to Woodsman Monthly." DiNozzo laughed and then thought of the boss' cellar stuffed to the gills with wood working tools and wished he could reel that last bit of information back into his mouth.

"So nothing?" Gibbs' voice was really calm, it wasn't so much a question as a condemnation.

"One thing that seemed odd though boss, "McGee volunteered in an attempt to fill the silence.

Gibbs stared at him, daring Tim to say something useless.

"He was seconded to the Philadelphia NCIS office for a couple of years a while back and he seems to have bought a small run down homestead in Lancaster County, near a place called Intercourse." Tim willed Tony not to make some cheap joke the boss was in no mood for jokes.

"So have we checked this out with our people there?" Gibbs asked staring at DiNozzo who's mouth was open as if to make some comment.

"Yep, it's Amish Country boss and anyone buying round there who's not, sort of stands out, it's not like's it's Witness boss though, he's hardly going to do a Harrison Ford and try and wear all the gear…you know the hats and all…." DiNozzo cleared his throat in an attempt to ignore Gibb's laser eyes on him. Tim jumped in to rescue him, he would have left him hanging n the wind normally but he knew they were all trying to process Abby being hurt and Tony always saw himself as her big brother, joking was his way of covering up how angry he was.

"We sent them a recent photo and it appears a man matching O'Brien's description was in the local hardware store a couple of hours ago but the police checked out the homestead and there was no one there, looked deserted, although they reckon he had been there."

"Make sure the local police keep it under surveillance McGee, until we get there."

"You think he's still around there boss?" asked Ellie.

"Wouldn't be going if I didn't think that. DiNozzo get us a Naval chopper, I don't care if you have to call in every favour we're owed and Director Vance has to crawl on his knees to some Admiral, you get one here in the next 30 minutes." Gibbs was in full on hunt mode now, Tony had seen that before and he knew unless Gibbs was stopped by a bullet or a ten ton truck, he'd have O'Brien in custody soon or maybe he'd be dead, Tony knew that by hurting Abby so badly O'Brien had crossed a line.

As it was the chopper was there in twenty minutes, Vance didn't crawl he threatened an Admiral with something Tony thought it best not to know about but it had resulted in their Navy helicopter being scrambled in supper quick time.

As they ran under the whirring blades to climb in, Gibbs suddenly made a decision, he turned to Tim, " I need you to go to the hospital and be with Abby, McGee, I don't want her left alone and no-one, do you hear me no-one gets to see her without going through you, is that clear. We don't know if O'Brien might have an accomplice here."

McGee heard the sub text of the demand….keep her safe, and he nodded and turned, running back towards his car in the lot. He and Abby may have had a thing going a long time ago which he knew Gibbs had disapproved of but he also knew Tim would protect Abby with his life. Somewhere deep down he understood that Gibbs would rather have been there protecting her, but catching O'Brien was the one way he knew to keep her ultimately safe.

O'Brien was probably blaming Abby for his discovery, Gibbs just happened to have got in the way. Ducky had pointed out that the psychological profile of a man like O'Brien would indicate that he was likely to try killing her again to salve his wounded pride as she had upset his view of himself as the phantom criminal, a man who would never be caught, once Henson was out the way. Cops and others in law enforcement who go rogue usually had overweening egos and took to those that unmask them as fair game for annihilation. He had been convinced that Abby would die in that safe room and now she is safe that would eat away at him. DiNozzo couldn't believe that he would know that Gibbs and Abby had escaped but that belief was short lived when the agents posted at the hospital had called to say a man had phoned purporting to be Abby's uncle. McGee had traced the call to the Pennsylvania area. O'Brien must have had sniffers implanted in the NCIS system to let him know what was going on. McGee knew he probably would have had months to set into the NCIS systems and probably had dummy trails set up to hide his real pathway. All McGee could tell Gibbs was that O'Brien knew that he and Abby had escaped and where she was right now. Gibbs must have been stewing over that information as they headed out, his last minute instructions to him indicated how he wasn't going to take any chances.

They touched down in a field near the homestead in Pennsylvania and met up with the local police and a couple of special agents from the Philly NCIS office. They reported that the place was clear and there was no sign of O'Brien. Gibbs walked round the homestead touching nothing and looking at everything. The place had only the basic furniture and seemed unlived it. Gibbs walked round the kitchen and ran his finger along the wood paneling that made up the walls, he suddenly stopped and banged on the wall.

"Hollow sound," he said and pushed his knife through a groove and a whole panel swung open to reveal stairs down to a basement. Taking out his gun Gibbs edged down the wooden stairs followed by his team.

"O'Brien, NCIS, don't even think of turning this into a shoot-out because I am just itching to put a bullet in you, nothing would please me more." Gibbs edged further in to the basement and peered in to dark,

"Crap!" whispered Tony behind him as they both stared into an empty basement, getting out his torch he ran it over the room and in the corner caught the darker shadow of an open door.

"Must be some sort of tunnel boss, probably left over from boot-legging days or maybe some prepper for the cold war decided to dig their way somewhere.

Gibbs found a light switch and flicked it on, a set of lights along the roof of the tunnel also lit up. They followed it weapons raised it lead to a large room with shelves packed with tins and other things you might need for a long stay, there was even a bed in the corner and a radio and a small stove .

"Seems like O'Brien was expecting to hold out here for quite a while boss."

"He knew we'd find this place, he even made sure he visited a local store to ensure his presence was noted but he was banking on us thinking he had flown the nest, where better to hide than in a place we had already searched and decided was empty. Then after a few weeks he was reckoning it would be easier to get out the country once the initial heat was off"

"So where is he now boss?" said Tony, poking around in the stock of food and bottled water. "Look he's got tins and tins of beans who would eat beans when you're going to be shut in a confined space for a long time."

"He's out there somewhere in the woods hiding," with that Gibbs set off to follow the tunnel that seemed to lead further under the woods that backed onto the house.

Ten minutes later they emerged through a trapdoor into a small clearing, Gibbs signaled to Tony to keep low and quiet as they moved through the woods.

"You any good at tracking boss, we could have done with McGee and his eagle scout skills?" Gibbs glared at him and made a cutting motion across his throat which DiNozzo optimistically interpreted as a signal to keep quieter rather than a desire to shut him up permanently.

Gibbs stood still and listened and you could see him straining to hear anything that shouldn't be heard in a wood in the dark. It was now nearly midnight but only seventeen hours since he had entered Abby's lab to ask about results in the Henson case. Gibbs was determined to wrap this case up fast.

A twig snapped and both men turned their guns in that direction only to see a startled deer run past them and into the night. Gibbs knew trying to find O'Brien in the middle of a dense wood at night was well-nigh impossible but he wasn't about to give the man any more time to think he was clear and free. They had turned off their torches as it would give O'Brien a clear shot at them if he was out there. He signaled to Tony to take a look in the opposite direction. Gibbs gut told him O'Brien was out there and every nerve in his body was telling him O'Brien knew he was here too and was waiting to take his shot. He wanted Tony well clear when he took O'Brien out, best not to involve other people.

As they edged forward the trees became denser, giving him and of course O'Brien more cover. Gibbs heard the alarmed sound of a bird to his left, a sound birds only made when they were disturbed, turning he decided it was time to let O'Brien know he was here.

"It's me O'Brien, seems like I survived and Abby sends her regards by the way. Just think it's time to wrap the whole thing up and take you in, we have a cell all warmed up and waiting for you." Gibbs shouted.

He fired towards the sound he had last heard, throwing himself on the ground as he did so, knowing he would signal his presence. He was relying on O'Brien wanting to finish him. He lay still and waited a nano second, sure enough there was a slight flare in the darkness as O'Brien couldn't resist firing back, Gibbs had riled him.

His sight may not be as good as it used to be but that didn't matter in the dark, instincts went way beyond what you could see, he breathed and fired. He heard a sound that was deeply satisfying, the sound of O'Brien hitting the ground and crying out. Gibbs ran towards the sound and came on O'Brien before he had time to let off another shot. He kicked the gun away from his outstretched hand and stood over his body. He could hear Tony making his way through the woods towards them, O'Brien moaned as he clutched his left leg. Now was the time to end him before DiNozzo arrived, his death would be written off as a good kill. Gibbs fought with himself, he saw Abby's battered body her pale face and he could feel the pressure increasing on the trigger. Then he heard her voice, that soft voice of hers that could be no one else's voice as they lay on the hospital bed together, you'll catch O'Brien and maybe you'll get a chance to shoot him, maybe just in the leg or something, nothing fatal just enough to make him hurt just a little bit.

"There you go Abbs, just a bullet in the leg enough to hurt him just a little bit, well maybe quite a lot," as he turned to call to Tony over he accidentally kicked O'Brien's wound enough to make him cry out.

Epilogue

Gibbs sat back and watched Sister Rosario's action as she bent to release her bowling ball, the nun had real style he thought. He was enjoying watching DiNozzo try and deal with a group of nuns who seemed intent on putting him off his game by inadvertently catching his eye and winking at him. Tony he could see didn't know how to handle a winking nun especially as he had confessed earlier to having impure thoughts whilst watching the nuns in The Sound of Music as a child.

Ellie was deep in conversation with the huge Sister Ingrid about something to do with a milk based recipe. McGee was arguing with a very fierce nun about the score, he was trying to explain that the scoreboard was accurate and that he had in no way tampered with the score from his phone. She seemed to have cottoned on that McGee was a computer expert and that he was therefore capable of hacking the scoring system to effect the result.

Abby slid up to him on the seat and captured his arm in hers.

"How are you Gibbs, this is fun I'm so glad you suggested a Team Gibbs versus the Sisters match. I was really torn you know about who to play for but it was like no contest in the end, it just had to be the Sisters, you have my heart but they have my great bowling action," with that she got up as Sister Rosario approached telling her she was up. Abby pushed herself up, not for the first time Gibbs noticed all the scars that were still visible on her arms and legs but being Abby she was sporting them as a sign of victory rather than desperately trying to hide them, only the deep one on her forehead seemed to bother her as she took pains to keep it covered with her hair.

"It's your Harry Potter scar Abbs, a sign of survival" he had told her a month after their escape through the sewers, tracing it gently with his index finger as she snuggled up to him on his couch.

"I'm impressed yet again at your cultural references Gibbs I thought you only read gun manuals and watched old Gary Cooper movies.

"Since you came here to recuperate Abbs I seem to have been through your whole DVD collection with you, I think you and I watched all of the Harry Potter movies twice a couple of months ago when you first came out of hospital."

Gibbs had insisted she come and stay with him after Abbs insisted on discharging herself from hospital as she was going out of her mind she had told him. He could have persuaded her to stay he knew but he had insisted that if she came out of hospital she would come and stay with him until she felt stronger.

She has fought off a bad infection soon after being admitted that had been caused by all the filthy water getting into her deep wounds. He had paced beside her bed for nearly two days as she ran a high fever and the anti-biotics didn't seem to be working. She had been delirious at points and he had held her tight as she fought off strange creatures that seemed to standing menacingly in the dark around her bed. At her most agitated she had called out his name and it was only his presence that seemed to calm her. He willed her to fight yet again and again she fought and pulled through.

She was mending well and was talking about going back to her apartment and restarting work next week as she knew she must be in his way and she was need at the lab she told him. He was uneasy at realizing he had become used to her company, her washing hanging over his radiators to dry, the padding of her bare feet on the kitchen floor, her toothbrush in the bathroom, even her music blaring out as he opened the door when he returned home from work.

He was watching her and thinking of all this as Sister Rosario sat down beside him. She watched Gibbs watching Abby and gently tapped his arm.

"She's special, that one, Mr Gibbs," he had been unable to persuade her to call him Jethro when she had first turned up at his house to visit Abby. He had a sense that he was in some way being vetted by the woman which amused him in some way.

"She is, I've known that for a long time Sister," he assured her.

"She has one of the biggest hearts I have ever encountered and that makes her more open to love than others," she was meeting his eye unwaveringly.

"Are you suggesting I might hurt her in some way Sister because I…." he began but she held up her hand to quieten him. There were a handful of people on the earth who could by a mere gesture cause Gibbs to be quiet but Sister Rosario was one of them.

"Actually I was thinking that she could hurt you in the long run Mr Gibbs," he stared at the nun unsure where the conversation was going.

"She has a capacity to love someone that could overwhelm them if they knew just how deep and all-encompassing that love was." The nun smiled at him. "Do you understand what I am saying Mr Gibbs, you are both stubborn as a whole herd of mules, both slightly damaged if you'll forgive me for saying. You are also both amazingly strong people, solid to the core in your own ways like two rocks traveling in space and if they collide there are consequences maybe for good maybe for bad but they can't be the same again once they collide." She turned as Abby approached them laughing at DiNozzo making 'help me' faces over the top of heads of two small elderly but excited nuns.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, the scores really tight, it's all down to you now but remember you are not to go easy on us because we are a bunch of nuns and a scientist," she pulled him up out of the seat, slightly regretting it as her ribs protested at the effort. He could see it had hurt but knew better than to ask her if she was ok, she was tired of being asked that and he knew she would be ok as long as he had breath in his body.

As Gibbs walked away to take his turn he turned and smiled at Sister Rosario, "I reckon I can handle that collision Sister, because it's going to happen one day soon, it might shake us to the core but in a good way."

He took up the ball and sent it speeding down the alley. The sound of the all the pins crashing and falling all at once seemed to fill the whole building.

"Strike, Gibbs, what didn't you understand about not going easy on us," laughed Abby over the noise.

The End