A/N: Happy birthday, mewofford! You once asked me for fluffy McAbby, and I couldn't manage Tiva this year. Hopefully this is fluffy enough.
Suspicions and Smiles
I have the power to channel my imagination into ever-soaring levels of suspicion and paranoia.
Abby Scuito always knew when something was up with el jefe. She wouldn't be the favorite if she didn't have some insight into him.
Except this time, she couldn't even persuade Tony that something was wrong.
Gibbs was continuing to stalk into her lab, demanding answers while bribing her with Caf-Pow! and kisses, expecting difficult answers on almost impossible deadlines, but there was something subtly different about him. She would have sworn he was staring at her when he thought she wasn't looking at him – she had even caught him in the act once or twice. Unfortunately he had reverted to standard Gibbs behavior and ignored her questions.
He also seemed to be arriving in her lab faster than usual. She was well aware of his talent for appearing either just before or just after one of her babies delivered a result, yet he seemed to have sped up recently. Now he appeared a full five seconds before her babies dinged, his psychic powers on overdrive.
And his tone! She was certain his tone of voice had changed. Usually, he didn't bark at his Goth. But he had definitely snapped at her in the last few weeks, more than once. It had been difficult to take; her silver-haired fox was normally so placid around her.
She pulled herself up straight. She was a scientist, not some fluffy person who would happily speculate about anything. In order to get to the bottom of this, Abby needed to observe Gibbs in a different environment, to see if he had changed solely for her or if whatever it was had affected his entire behavior.
It was time to stake out Gibbs. From Timmy's desk.
Timothy McGee had not asked any questions when Abby had appeared at his desk and settled down to work. However much it appeared that she was planning to stay for a while, she was also being sneaky and professional, which could only mean she meant to spy on someone from his desk.
He knew who it was. Abby had this silly idea in her head that Gibbs was acting hinky, and he couldn't persuade her otherwise. But if she observed him for an hour or so, or even a day or so if Gibbs didn't order her back to her lab, hopefully she would see that she was onto nothing.
Gibbs was Gibbs. He never changed, except to growl or bark more at his team and others around him, and to flirt with any redhead that crossed his path. He would never snap at Abby, no matter what she said. The Goth was imagining things.
Wasn't she?
Perhaps it was best if she did observe him for a while. Gibbs would tell Abby of a problem long before he told his team, but not before he began to take it out on them. And Abby was like a daughter to the man; she knew him better than his team and he rarely took out his moods on her. If anyone could spot a subtle difference in him, it was her.
Abby Scuito was frustrated. Two days of sitting at Timmy's desk and staring at Gibbs, who seemed to always know when she was looking at him even if she couldn't prove it, and she had nothing. El jefe hadn't asked why she was there or asked her to return to her lab, but brought her Caf-Pows! directly to her and kissed her cheek in front of his team.
Only after Tony had scowled at this form of affection had she given in and decided to return to her lab. She wasn't going to make Tony jealous if Gibbs liked to show his affection for her more openly than he did to his senior field agent. And so she had enlisted Timmy's help to carry everything back down to her lab, where she could work whatever crazy hours she liked with few people daring to disturb her, and she could play her favorite music as loud as she wished.
She had not batted an eyelid when Gibbs had appeared barely an hour later, turning her music down so he could hear himself think, and pulling up a chair to her desk so he could talk to her. At first, she had ignored him, pissed that she had been unable to get to the bottom of whatever was wrong between them. She knew something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
Time passed slowly as she tapped away at her computer while he observed her in silence. She was convinced she was going to break first and start speaking, but eventually he opened his mouth and spoke.
"You dating McGee?"
She stared at him in sort of shock. "No!"
He fixed her with a steely gaze he usually only deployed on suspects in Interrogation.
She wouldn't crack that easily. "Yes. Sort of. Wow, now I understand why everyone falls over their feet to confess, Gibbs. Is that a gaze of truth or something?"
A soft smile played on his lips. "Didn't mean to scare you, Abs," he promised. "Just wanted to be sure you were telling the truth."
The Goth sighed. "We're sort of dating but sort of not. I mean we've been having dinner together and going out to a few places, and it's definitely a more than friends thing, but we haven't really done anything, so I'm not sure what it is."
"Don't have to give it a name for it to feel right," Gibbs observed calmly.
She eyed him with a soft grin on her lips, a more wicked one than his had been moments ago. "Speaking from experience?"
He returned her grin and coupled it with a laugh, but did not answer the question.
"You're not going to beat him up, are you?" she questioned, her fears suddenly coming to the surface. "Or transfer him to Antarctica or somewhere? Or fire him? Or fire me? Or go after him with your sniper rifle, because I know what a good shot you are and I know you won't miss –"
He gently placed a finger over her lips to quiet her, before pressing a kiss into her hair. "If he hurts you, Abs, just tell me."
And then he was gone, the swishing doors closing behind him, and she sat in silence, a soft smile starting to grow. Gibbs had just given his approval of her relationship, in his own way. Now she had to figure out how to tell Timmy.