SNOWED IN LOVE

A/N- A one-shot for my friend in Tabby-ness, Lifeless April, because I changed my new story from a Tabby to a Tony/OC. I hope a little Tabby Togetherness will make up for it, my friend. I thought the title was a neat play on words - 'Snowed In' combined with 'In Love.'

SNOWED IN LOVE~~SNOWED IN LOVE~~SNOWED IN LOVE~~SNOWED IN LOVE~~SNOWED IN LOVE

A blizzard, the likes of which Washington, D.C. hadn't seen in decades, raged outside as Tony DiNozzo settled in front of his big screen TV with a glass of wine for a classic movie marathon. He'd chosen movies with a 'warm' theme - South Pacific, Key Largo (Ahhhhh, Bogie, Tony thought wistfully, wishing he could find his own Bacall), Donovan's Reef (can't go wrong with The Duke, John Wayne!), and, if he got that far, Elvis' Blue Hawaii. A fire crackled in the fire place, the warmth contributing to the tropical atmosphere.

Nellie Forbush was half-way through 'washing that man right out of her hair' in South Pacific when there was a continuous rapping on his door. 'Zero-three hundred,' he thought, checking his watch as he walked to the door. Nothing good ever knocked on the door at three a.m. Pulling open the door, his visitor almost fell right into him. "Abby!" His favorite Goth's pony-tailed head was covered with thick snow as was the rest of her, her eyelashes glistening with ice crystals. Ushering her in, Tony could not only feel her shivering, but he could hear her teeth chattering. Bringing her in front of the fire, he saw that there was a faint bluish tinge to her lips. "Oh my God! Abbs!" He began to unhook her black, wool cape - hard to do because the fabric was so sodden. Just touching it made his fingers feel frozen. Throwing the cloak aside, he saw that the rest of her clothes, while not dripping, were wet, too. "Dammit, sweetheart, what were you thinking?" Abby was too busy shivering to answer, but that was ok, Tony didn't really expect one.

Tony dragged an ottoman right up in front of the fireplace and sat Abby down, grabbing a fleece blanket off the back of the sofa and wrapping it around her. "Stay right here, I'm going to get you some dry clothes, ok?" He didn't wait for an answer, just ran for his bedroom. He found a pair of sweats and a fleece sweatshirt, and on his way back to the living room, he tossed them into the dryer to warm them up. While they were tumbling, he went to the kitchen and filled a mug with wine, then put it on the microwave for about 15 seconds. Have to warm her slowly from the inside, out. He grabbed up the mug, stopped by the linen closet for more blankets, took the sweats out of the dryer, and ran back to the living room. Kneeling by Abby's side, he saw that the blue tinge had faded from her lips, but she was still shaking and chattering.

Setting the clothes on the floor close enough to stay warm by the fire, Tony unwrapped the blanket from around Abby's shoulders. Or tried to, anyway. Her frozen fingers had the fleece gripped tight. He massaged her fingers with his warm hands, concerned by the coldness he felt. Once he'd pried her hands from the blanket, he handed her the mug of warm wine. She was shaking so badly he had to help her hold the mug. He wished he had a couple more hands so he could get everything done. After a few slow sips, she seemed a little more stable, so he set about unzipping her boots. As he feared, her socks were damp, so he pulled them off, too. Her feet were like blocks of ice, so he gently massaged them one at a time to warm them and bring feeling back slowly. He could tell when it started to return because Abby began to whimper. Not letting go of her foot, he toed off his own thick socks then put them on her feet.

The wine and the fire were beginning to have an effect, as Abby's shivering turned into trembling. "Abbs, I've got some warm clothes for you. Can you change by yourself?" He was skeptical when she nodded shakily, but gave her a chance to try. When her fingers were still so cold she couldn't unbutton her shirt, Tony grimaced. He'd have to take her wet clothes off for her. With a sigh, Tony knew this wasn't the time to be worried about propriety. He brushed her hands out of the way, not missing the tears in her eyes at her inability to do such a simple task. He sucked in a breath when his knuckles grazed her ribs as he unbuttoned her shirt. Her skin was so cold! Before he could think about being embarrassed, he turned his head and unhooked her black, lacy bra, which he could feel was damp like everything else. He tried - he honestly did! - to keep his gaze averted while helping her get the dry, warm fleece sweatshirt over her head. His mouth went dry at the sight of her erect nipples, even knowing that they were that way because of the cold. Did he imagine that she pressed her breast, and that pebbled, dusky pink nipple, against his arm when he pulled the sweatshirt down for her? One of them sucked in a deep breath at the contact, but Tony wasn't sure which one of them it was.

His finger skimmed her belly button as he made his way to the snap on her tight, black jeans. He cleared his throat. "You're gonna' have to stand up to get these off….if I hold you up….?" Abby nodded slowly and began to try and stand. Tony grabbed her by both hips and held her steady. His position put him in direct view of her quivering belly. With his own fingers shaking - but not from the cold - he tentatively slid the zipper down. She placed her cold hands on his shoulders - he could feel how cold they were through his shirt - and he carefully helped her step out of the saturated denim. Helping her straighten back up, one of his hands skimmed over her black lace-covered ass. Which was just as just as wet and cold as the rest of her. He groaned to himself. But Abby saved him some trouble by hooking one side of the panties with a finger and shimmying them down, practically falling back onto the ottoman, feeling sluggish. Throwing a blanket over her, Tony slid the sweatpants over her feet and up her legs and over her ass when Abby canted herself up a bit. She sank back down, completely exhausted.

The elastics holding Abby's pony-tails had gotten wet and had frozen, so Tony had to cut them out. Then he gently rubbed her hair with a warm towel, getting it as dry as he could so it wouldn't hang wet on her neck and undo all his warming up.

Abby sat as close to the fire in the fireplace as she could without setting herself on fire. Although at this point, she was so cold, she doubted she'd even feel it if she did set herself ablaze. The cold had seeped through her clothes right down into her bones. She didn't think she'd ever be warm again. She knew Tony wanted answers, but the only coherent thought in her head was 'so cold.' Not to mention tired. It wasn't much more than a mile from where her car had gotten stuck in a snow bank, but the snow was heavy and up to her knees, making walking difficult. She figured it had taken her twice as long to get here as it would have if there hadn't been any snow. Maybe longer, because of all the slipping and face plants she'd done. So many times she'd just wanted to not get back up, just lay there and sleep. But the promise of warmth and safety with Tony had kept her moving, slow though it may have been.

Seeing Abby curl in on herself again, Tony slid onto the ottoman with her and wrapped her tightly in one blanket, then another. Then he surrounded her with his arms and pulled her close., kissing her on the temple. "Oh Abbs," he whispered, "what were you thinking, going out in this storm?"

She tucked her head up under Tony's chin. "I-I w-was on my w-way to s-s-s-stay with the-the n-n-nuns," she mumbled sleepily in a shaky voice. "It was-wasn't this bad wh-when I lef-ft h-h-home." She felt him shiver when her cold nose rubbed on his neck. "S-sssor-ry. Car…car got s-st-stuck. Cl-closer to y-you're place than any-anyone else….s-s-so, so co-cold."

Tony could feel the cold seeping into his bones even through all the layers Abby had bundled around her. "Why didn't you call me, sweetheart? I would have come to get you."

The mumble from beneath the blankets sounded like "lost my phone the first time I fell."

Hugging her closer, Tony asked, "the first time you fell? How many times did you fall?" A shrug and what sounded like "a lot" were his only answer. Well, that explained why she was so sopping wet. "What's that, honey?" She was so physically exhausted, her voice was barely there.

"Sc-scared, Ton-ton-y. So c-cold. Can't get, get w-warm…."

Tony stood then bent over and picked Abby up bridal style, carrying her over to the sofa. He lay her down so her back was to the back of the sofa, then he lay himself down chest to chest with her and wrapping her up again with blankets and his arms. After a few minutes, he felt her sigh against his chest. "Warming up?" he asked, rubbing his hands firmly yet gently up and down her back.

"Um-hm. Th-thank you, T-tony." Not too much longer, and she was sound asleep, breath blowing gently along Tony's neck, driving him crazy.

He didn't know how long they'd both been asleep, but Abby's shivering woke him up. Looking around the apartment, he felt something was wrong. He had banked the fire earlier and it had burned itself out. That wasn't it. Wait - the TV was off. When the movie ended, it should have gone to a blue screen, not off completely. The remote didn't turn it back on. Then he noticed that the blue digital clock wasn't lit up. Sitting up as much as he could with Abby entwined around him like an ivy plant, he looked out the window. He could see nothing but the snow still falling. No lights. Now that he thought about it, he was a little chilled himself. Great, no heat. The last thing Abby needed right now.

Tony tried for almost an hour to keep himself and Abby wrapped up like a cocoon, but her shivers were getting worse. She'd wormed her hands up under his sweatshirt and into his armpits. Her nose was tucked under the collar of the shirt. "So cold, Tony," she murmured hoarsely, snuggling even closer to him. He closed his eyes in mental pain….there was one sure-fire way to warm them both up, but he didn't think it was such a good idea. Well, there was one part of his anatomy that thought it was a good idea, but he'd stopped thinking with 'Little Tony' several years ago, he reminded himself as Abby draped a leg over his hip. "Oh, shut up," he grumbled. "Not you, Abbs," he murmured, looking down at the traitorous part of his anatomy. If it could, he knew 'Little Tony' would be laughing at him right now.

"Tony?" Abby crooned, taking his hands in hers and pulling them under her sweatshirt. "You know what we have to do to keep warm…." He tried dragging them away, but she held fast. She laced her fingers with his and slid his hands up to her breasts so his palms cupped her hard, pointy nipples. "See how cold I am?" She moaned as she pressed his hands more firmly to her flesh. "Mmmmm, please Tony….warm me up…."

'Little Tony' jumped to attention. "Abby….honey…" He tried again to remove his hands from under her shirt. He'd be a gentleman if it killed him. This wasn't just any woman. This was Abby. "Abbs…please….I can't…" He gritted his teeth.

Abby let go of his hands long enough to tug her sweatshirt up and off over her head. "But why, Tony? You could with Paula…you did with Jeanne….you probably have with Ziva….why not me?" she whimpered, near tears. "Am I not pretty enough? Tough enough? What?" She reached for the bulge in his jeans.

Tony grabbed her hands. Damn, how had things gotten so out of hand? "Abby….you're beautiful. Smart, sexy….when it came down to it, Jeanne was an assignment that I let get away from me. Paula, Ziva…." he sighed, knowing he was going to sound like a pig. "Convenience. Need. Conquest. Whatever name you want to give it. It all meant nothing…" Seeing a tear run down her cheek, he knew he had to come clean, bare his soul, even if it changed things between him and Abby forever. "Abby…I…care about you. More than I probably should. You deserve so much better than me. I can't….if we….Abby, I can't just sleep with you and have it mean nothing." He placed a hand on her cheek lightly, toying with the ends of her hair. He could see the question 'why?' in her eyes. He closed his eyes, trying to gather the strength to actually say it. When he opened them again, he looked deep into her hazel-green eyes. "It can't mean nothing….because you mean something. I can't just ….not when I love you so much….." He watched Abby's face change - soften, glow.

"You love me?" Her breath hitched. "Me. Abby Sciuto, lab bat, science geek, weird dresser…me?"

Seeing the hope in her eyes, Tony smiled tenderly, resting his forehead against hers. "You. Abby Sciuto, most sought after forensic scientist extraordinaire with the sexy-as-sin clothes….you." He leaned down and took her lips in a sweet, hot first kiss. They were both breathing heavily when they broke apart. Sitting up, Tony drew his sweatshirt up and off, then settled himself back down, chest to chest with Abby. The feel of her, naked against him, was driving him crazy. He reached for the waist of her sweatpants as Abby reached for the button on his jeans. And finally, they were both naked, skin to skin, touching and caressing each other.

Abby felt a shiver run through her when Tony lightly played with her tight nipples. She wound her arms around his neck and brought his lips down to hers. "Warm me up, Tony…." she murmured huskily as their lips met.

The chirping of Tony's cell phone the next afternoon found the couple in Tony's bed, having moved there at some point when the sofa had gotten too uncomfortable. Without thought, Abby answered, still half asleep. "Oh, hey Gibbs," she slurred. "Hmm? No, 'm fine. …. Tha's ok, Tony's keeping me all cozy warm….'m sorry you worried…won't do it 'gain….'k."

Tony barely woke as he pulled Abby closer. "Wha'd Gibbs want?" He dusted kisses along her jaw.

"P'lice foun' my car, called him. He figgered I'd be here. Knew the electricity was out, wanted to make sure I was keeping warm." Abby groaned when Tony's hot mouth dropped to her breasts.

"And are you?" Tony smirked satisfactorily, making her moan again.

Abby lazily opened her eyes and found his gaze as she wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer. "Mmmm, I'm about to be. Warm me up, McCloud,*" she purred.

Tony kissed her temple, the tip of her nose, and finally her lips. "With pleasure, Nora,*" he smiled, and wrapped her in his arms once again.

* Denotes Humphrey Bogart's character in "Key Largo" and Lauren Bacall's character in the same movie.