Gibbs looked at the face of the women still gripping his hand, looking at him with too bright eyes. Her bottom lip was caught between her teeth to stop it from trembling, and he wondered about how such a simple action could look so drastically different than it had the night before, when she had been pulling off her skin tight shirt and throwing it onto his bedroom floor before grabbing him and pulling their bodies flush together. There was no desire in this action, in her expression.
"I have to go, Abs. You know that."
She nodded, but a stray tear slipped down her pale cheek. "I worry about you. All of you."
"I know, Abs." He pulled her close and rested his chin on the top of her head. "It's only a week."
He could feel her trembling under his touch. They all knew how she got before they left on a long and potentially dangerous assignment, but he had never seen her like this, so unguarded in this manner. It was another bit of Abby he was discovering. Since they had moved from friends to lovers, he had seen the sides of Abby that no one saw, that she kept hidden. Even when he was holding her in the elevator, that awful night so long ago, she kept a brave face. He knew she had been scared to death, but that was his Abby, always strong.
But now, she was crying openly against his chest. "Promise me you'll come back safe?"
He sucked in a deep breath, and hoped he wouldn't be lying. "I promise, Abs."
She pulled back to look at him, green eyes shining with tears. "All of you?"
"We'll all be back safe."
She took a deep breath to compose herself, and nodded. "Thank you, Gibbs." She whispered. "Thank you."
Over her head, he could see the clock, and knew he had to get back to the team. He leaned in to gently kiss her forehead before kissing her lips softly. "See you soon, Abs."
"See you soon, Gibbs."
He could feel her eyes burning into his back as he turned and headed for the elevator. When he stepped inside, he turned to make eye contact with her until the doors closed.
Eight days later, Abby was pacing the floor of the bullpen. The empty bullpen. They were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago. She was going to die if they didn't step through those elevator doors RIGHT NOW.
Just when she was sure she was going to have a panic attack, the elevator doors opened, and out walked four tired looking agents. In a flash, she was in the arms of the closest person, who happened to be McGee. "Whoa, missed you too, Abby."
She turned and grabbed Tony, squeezing him tight before moving on to Ziva, who stiffened awkwardly before patting Abby's back. "Good to see you, Abby."
Abby pulled back and smiled, before her eyes fell on Gibbs, who was standing a bit behind the rest of the team. She shoved between Tony and Ziva and threw herself into his arms.
He laughed quietly. She whispered, "I was so worried about you guys."
"You should know I never break a promise, Abs."
She nodded against his shoulder. Suddenly, he laughed again. She pulled back. "What?"
"Is that my shirt?"
She nodded and looked down. "I missed you."
"I missed you too." He tilted her chin up so she was looking up at him. "My house for dinner tonight?"
"Okay. I'm cooking, though."
He nodded. She met his eyes for another moment before turning to hear Tony's stories about the last week. No PDA in the office was a major Gibb's rule, since they were definitely breaking Rule #12.
She was already sitting at his kitchen table when he got home, having stayed behind to finish up some paperwork. It took him by surprise again how beautiful she was, eyes lined in dark, and the tattoos creeping out from under her clothes. Over the last couple months, he had taken time to learn every detail about all of her tattoos, as well as the rest of her.
She looked up and smiled. "Oh, good, I can start cooking."
"You didn't have to wait for me if you were hungry."
"I wasn't, really."
He watched as she set a pot to boil on the stove, and started getting together the makings for spaghetti. Moving from where he stood in the doorway, he stepped behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. Automatically, she leaned back against him, their bodies fitting together like puzzle pieces. He leaned down to press a kiss to her hair and she measured out the noodles and dumped them into the water. "Missed you."
"Missed you too." She murmured back, hands stilling on the counter as she tilted her head back against his shoulder. He pressed another kiss to her temple.
"Let's get through dinner, I've already started it." She said quietly with a laugh.
He sighed good naturedly, and she laughed again. He didn't let her go, but he let her continue to move around until she leaned her weight against him and said, "You have to let me go if you want to eat."
"Don't need to eat."
"Gibbs!" she laughed. He dropped his arms and helped her get the table set for two. She handed him a plate of spaghetti and sat down with her own. "So, everything went well?"
"Everything went well."
She nodded. "I thought it would."
Dropping his fork onto his plate, he leaned in to kiss her. She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back, hard. After a moment, he pulled back to his along her jaw and whisper, "I think dinner can wait."
She kissed his lips again before whispering back, "I agree."
In one motion, Gibbs stood up and picked Abby up. Her legs gripped his waist, and he carried her up to his room, determined to relearn everything about her and all he'd missed in the last eight days before the night was through.