Disclaimer: Not mine...don't sue

Spoilers: Nothing really. It's set after Bloodbath but before Hiatus pt 1.

A/N: Sorry this is short, but the first couple chapters will be about this short. They'll get longer once the story progresses, just hang with me )


Abby sighed. Filing the last of her paperwork, she flopped back into her desk chair. It was that time of year again. The time of year where she pretty much did nothing but work...and drink. Abby rarely ever got flat-out drunk (other than that time in Gibbs' basement...but those were different circumstances), but she always stocked up on scotch for the third weekend in June.

Father's Day had always been rough for Abby ever since her dad passed away five years earlier. Abby's relationship with her dad was the usual kind of father-daughter relationship...she was his little Goth princess. Abby leaned forward and rested her head on her folded arms, and sighed sadly. Father's Day was two days away and Abby felt lost. As lost and as empty as the day he left her forever.

For the first couple of years, Abby would go to her dad's gravesite with her mother. However, since her mother moved in with Abby's sister in Lousiana three years ago, Abby stopped going to the cemetary. She couldn't do it alone. Gibbs had offered to go with her on several occasions, but Abby always declined. It was easier for Abby to just stay away and mourn her father in her own way.

Not that she didn't appreciate the offer. Abby didn't know how she could've gotten through the toughest stages of her grief if it weren't for Gibbs. Well, the whole team, really, but Gibbs especially. He and Abby always shared a special relationship, but their bond strengthened during her turmoil.

Whenever Abby found herself depressed past the point that chocolate and Plastic Death could cure, Abby always called Gibbs; and he never minded one bit. Day or night, weekend or weekday, at work or at home, Gibbs' cell phone was always on. They developed a tradition where on two of the hardest days of the year for Abby--her dad's birthday, and the date he died--Abby and Gibbs would spend the day and evening together. They would either go out to eat and catch a movie at a theater, or order Chinese take-out and watch one in either of their homes. In fact, the tradition of Gibbs taking Abby out to dinner the night before her birthday was one they continued from when Abby's father was still alive.

Gibbs always reassured her that he would always be there for her. He loved her and promised to protect her...like a father.

Suddenly, Abby's head snapped up, eyes shining with the glow of realization. Of course! How could she not have thought of this before now? Leaping up from her desk, Abby grabbed her purse and ran out of her lab.