A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

"Right THERE!...No…a little down more…to the left…nope…too far…back over! Oooh! Almost!" With a sigh, Abby walked over to Gibbs who was helping her hang a new painting (of an ugly and terrifyingly neon pink rose) on her living room wall.

"Abbs, why the flower?" he said as he nodded his head towards the painting he was still holding.

"Well, it all happened last Saturday. At the church hall. The parish had its annual Springtime Spaghetti Supper and Salsa Night, which, by the way, Gibbs, is so AWESOME! I'll bring you next year – you should see how Sister Rosita gets going when she starts shaking her booty. I mean, she's got some style when she's focusing on how to bowl a 7-10 split which is NOT the easiest…"

"Abby! The painting?" Gibbs asked, eyebrow raised.

"Oh! Right! Anyway, they had a silent auction and I noticed no one was placing a bid on Pauline here…"

"Pauline? Who's Pauline?" Gibbs began to wonder if he was really getting old because he couldn't remember Abby mentioning any other person.

"That's the name of the flower, Gibbs. Doesn't she LOOK like a Pauline?" Abby squinted at the painting, "Or maybe Pauline is a Paul. That could be possible given that roses are bisexual…"

"WHAT?" Gibbs was beginning to lose not only the thread of the conversation but his patience, as well. He was getting tired of holding the painting so he put it down against the wall.

"Roses, Gibbs, " Abby looked at him as he sat down on the sofa. "They have both female and male sexual reproductive structures on the same flower, so it's perfectly understandable if Pauline can be a Paul. Maybe I'll just call it Pauley - just to be safe."

"OK, so, let me get this straight – you felt sorry for, uh, Pauley, and?" he enquired.

"Well, actually I felt sorry for old Mrs. Higgins who painted her. Him. It…" Her voice began to drift off as her mind began to focus again on the "gender" of her painting.

"Abby!" he bit out.

"Sorry, Gibbs! Her cataract surgery isn't for another six weeks, so her eyesight isn't the greatest." She sat down next to him on the couch and put her feet up on his lap.

"And you placed a bid on her painting," he concluded.

"Yup. The only one! And, I won!" she beamed, a huge smile lighting up her face. "Mrs. Higgins was so excited that someone bid on her painting!"

Gibbs just shook his head and hugged her close. Kissing her on the top of her head, he murmured, "Oh, Abby. You're truly a rose among thorns!"

Abby, for once, did not reply but just sighed contentedly and settled back in his arms to enjoy the comfort of his embrace.

THE END