So, here's the deal. I have given up waiting for the The Powers That Be to make a move on the Abby/McGee front, so I am deciding that in my NCIS-world, Abby and McGee are already together. If they ever do give us the episode I've been waiting for, I will love it and hug it and watch it five million times and offer it my unborn children...but I'm not holding my breath. And anyway, they haven't explicitly said that they're not together lately... :-P
Post-"Guilty Pleasure"
He heard the apartment door open, then close. "McGee?" Abby called.
"In here," he told her, sinking another inch down in the hot water.
"Long day?" she asked, leaning against the doorjamb.
"Over now," he sighed. "What took you so long?"
Abby slid down to a sitting position on the floor and started to unlace her boots. "Finishing up the report on how the blood from the lawyer got in the victim's wounds. That's surprisingly hard to explain in a technical, non-sensational manner." She gave him a sly grin. "Ziva said you and Tony made up."
McGee opened his eyes long enough to roll them at her, and then closed them again and leaned his head back against the wall. "We're good."
She tugged off her second boot and hurled it out into the hall after the first. "Hey McGee?" she asked, scooting over and propping her chin on the edge of the tub. He toyed with the end of one of her pigtails.
"Hmm?"
"Would you ever pay for it? Sex, I mean," she clarified when he stared at her blankly.
McGee gave a snort of laughter. "I'm self-conscious enough sleeping with non-professionals. And I couldn't afford it. Anyway, there's something…I don't know." He shook his head. "I don't think I could do it." He tugged gently at her hair and then let go. "Why does it bug you so much?"
Frowning, she pulled her shirt over her head. "I don't understand it. And I don't like not understanding things."
"What don't you understand?" he asked, watching her in fascination. No matter how many times he saw this gradual reveal, it never got any less interesting.
Abby huffed out an annoyed breath as she pulled the elastics out of her hair. "Sex for money," she said eventually, ditching the last of her clothes on the floor. She stood for a minute with her arms folded, thinking. "Sex is about…chemistry. Sparks. Or caring." She smiled down at him. "Or," she said, stepping carefully into the tub, "both."
McGee caught her as she slid down into the water, wrapping herself around him. "You know," she said conversationally as she settled her head against his shoulder, "if you'd just told Tony what you were doing in the bathtub when you weren't answering his texts, he probably would have let the whole thing go."
"Mmm." He traced random patterns on her back, watching the light reflect off the wet trails his fingers left and feeling her relax against him. "I happen to think sex and all related activities are the business of the people who are having it, and not their coworkers and/or friends."
Abby grinned. "True," she agreed, and tilted her head up to kiss him. "Where was I?" she said after a minute. "Oh, yeah. Sex, chemistry, caring. You know what's not in there anywhere? Money."
McGee shrugged. "Some people think of it like a skill. Play to their strengths." He leaned in and kissed her shoulder. "I don't really get it either."
"It's not a skill though," Abby said, frustrated. "I mean, I guess it is, kind of. But you can't be really good at it all by yourself. It's like…tennis."
He blinked at her. "Tennis."
She gave him a duh look. "Not singles. Doubles. My sister played, in high school. She used to complain when she got matched with someone who she didn't click with. They usually lost, and she said it wasn't much fun." He wasn't getting it, and she could tell he wasn't getting it, and he could tell it was irritating her. "Here." She caught his wrists and pinned them to the sides of the tub. "Hold still. One person…" She kissed him, long and deep, and then pulled back slowly, smiling. "Not bad." Releasing his wrists, she slid her own under his fingers. "Or the other person…"
Catching her meaning, he kissed her back, keeping her hands trapped in his.
"Pretty good," she murmured, trailing kisses along his jaw. "But two people…" she said, pulling her hands free and sliding them up into his hair. He heard water slop over the edge of the tub and hit the floor and felt her skin, soft against his, as he ran his hands up her sides, brushing over her breasts, streaking her hair with soapsuds. "It's the connection," she continued breathlessly. "That 'click.' You can't buy that."
The parts of his brain that controlled coherent conversation were beginning to go pleasantly fuzzy. He'd always been impressed with Abby's ability to talk logically at times like this. "Maybe they're not trying to buy a connection. Maybe just the sex?" he managed.
"Mmm," she considered, tilting her head to give him better access to her neck. "Nope. Don't think so. Why else would they try so hard to convince every guy he was the only one?"
McGee gave up. "You're right," he said, and nibbled at her ear. "It's inexplicable." And he kissed her. "C'mon, water's getting cold."
They dragged themselves out of the tub and wrapped each other in towels, stumbling backward to land on his bed. "You're beautiful," he said between kisses. Her smile, her eyes, the fall of her hair as it brushed against his arm, the way the curve of her hip fit his hand. All beautiful.
Abby laughed. "You're not so bad yourself." She broke out of a kiss and pulled back so that she could see his face, propping herself up on her elbows. "You're the only one, Tim. You know that, right?" she said softly, her eyes big and green and a little anxious. "You're the only one. You have to know –"
McGee caught her face in his hands. "Abby," he said softly. "Of course I know that."
God, he loved that smile.
"The only one," she repeated as her lips met his.
FIN