How Gibbs and Abby met – based on line in Episode "See No Evil" from Season 2, "All you had to do was ask." .
Pre-NCIS series:
Gibbs rushed to New Orleans airport to catch the red eye back to DC. The case was over and it was time to get home. He arrived at the airport only to find no one working at his airline. He was going to have to use one of those machines to check in for his flight.
Abby had waited too long to leave the house for the airport and now she was afraid she would miss the flight back to DC. Abby rushed into the airport to find it almost empty. She had heard the airport was quiet at night since they were only running two shifts at the terminal since Katrina. She was surprised to see no one working at the airline and rushed to get checked in at one of the ticket kiosks. As she walked to an empty kiosk, she noticed one gentleman standing at a machine. As she walked by, she noticed he had a really nice butt. She laughed to herself as she walked by and heard him talking or rather cursing at the machine. If she had not been in a rush, she would have stopped to see if she could help him. As she entered her information, she felt a presence behind her. Someone had invaded her personal space. As she turned to see why, she realized it was the cute guy that was using the other machine. He was staring at her machine and when she turned he said, "My machine was not working so I thought I would see if you were having better luck with this one."
Abby smiled and said, "Yes. I just printed my boarding pass. The machine is all yours."
Gibbs smiled and Abby froze in her spot. He had the most adorable grin she had ever seen and blue eyes that made her melt on the spot. He watched for a moment then looked at the machine. Abby got her body to work again and moved out of the way. As she gathered her stuff together and got ready to walk to her gate she heard him cursing at the machine again. She stopped and went back to see if he needed some assistance. As she stood next to him, he turned to face her without saying a word.
Abby asked, "Do you need some help?"
Gibbs said, "Yes. Please."
Abby smiled and replied, "All you had to do was ask."
Gibbs handed her his paper and she started to enter his ticket information in the kiosk machine. She notice he was booked on her flight and as she entered the info she made sure to pick the seat next to hers for the trip back to DC. She thought she earned the treat of sitting next to him.
Gibbs watched as Abby jogged in her platform boots to keep up with him so they could get to the gate before it was closed. When they were three gates away from the plane, they heard the announcement calling their names and telling them they had five minutes to get to the plane before it was taking off. Everyone from the flight attendants to the other people on the plane gave Abby and Gibbs strange looks. Abby felt bad for being late and making everyone wait while Gibbs did not seem to even notice anyone looking his way.
Once they were underway and the flight attendants came around asking about drinks, Abby watched the red headed flight attendant giving Gibbs a little extra service. She was shocked to find she was feeling jealous. They received their drinks. He had bourdon while she choose a beer.
Once the flight attendant was gone, Abby asked Gibbs if he was heading home or if he was visiting someone. His answers were short but Abby kept talking just because she wanted to keep his attention. She loved the way it felt to have his attention on her. She told him she had been visiting family in New Orleans but was heading home to DC. He told her he was heading home to DC. During the flight they talked about everything but nothing really. Just friendly conversation to pass the time.
Near the end of the flight Abby noticed the red headed flight attendant handed him a piece of paper. When Abby inquired about it, Gibbs handed it to her. She opened it to see she had given him her phone number and name. Abby handed it back to Gibbs and laughed as he put it in his drink bottle and into the trash. Abby had to smile a little to herself to know he was not interested in her.
Gibbs finally asked Abby a question just before the plane touched down. Up to that point, Abby had asked all the questions. His question showed how kind he was. He asked if she had someone picking her up or if she needed a ride home. She explained her car was parked in the garage. She was pleasantly surprised to find Gibbs following her to her car. Once she started the car, she asked if she could drive him over to his car but he declined and told her to drive safe.
As he walked away Abby so wanted to ask for his number but for some reason her normal nerves of steel seemed to have left her and all she could do was watch as he walked away.
Once home, Abby had very little time to get settled because she had an interview at NCIS. She was so ready to leave the lab at DC metro and really hoped this interview went well. She debated what to wear and decided she was going to be herself and hoped they liked her work well enough to be OK with her unique style of dress.
Meanwhile, Gibbs had headed straight into the office and changed clothes. He had promised Director Morrow he would sit in on interviews for the next forensic scientist. The current guy was retiring and Gibbs wanted to have a say in who replaced him. After 4 hours and 6 candidates, Gibbs and Director Morrow both shook their heads as the last one walked out. No one seemed to fit into NCIS and certainly no one fit with Gibbs personality.
Abby walked to the reception desk outside the Director's office and told them her name and time of her interview. They gave her a strange look and asked her to have a seat. The assistant then disappeared into the office.
Director Morrow's assistant entered the office to let him and Gibbs know the next interviewee had arrived and said, "I cannot wait to bring her into you."
Director Morrow said, "Show her in." The assistant smiled and headed back towards the door.
Abby opened the door as directed by the assistant and crossed her fingers this would be a good interview. As she entered the room, Director Morrow came towards her with his hand out and introduced himself. Abby smiled and shook his hand. He then moved to his left to let the person behind him introduce themselves and Abby was shocked to see Gibbs. Without realizing what she was doing, she moved to him and threw her arms around him. Gibbs gave her a quick hug and pulled away.
The Director stood shocked by what he just witnessed and then said, "I guess you two know each other."
Gibbs explained they had met last night on the red eye back from New Orleans. Both the Director and Gibbs asked a lot of questions and neither seemed bothered by her style of dress. Their questions were about her experience and education.
They asked how she like working for DC metro and she must have made a face because Gibbs said, "that bad?"
Abby smiled and apologized. She explained how she seemed to only get fingerprints to run and very little forensic work to analyze. She explained how she had offered to run additional tests, etc., but was always shot down by the DC metro lead scientist.
As the interview came to an end, both the Director and Gibbs shook her hand and told her they would be in touch soon while confirming her phone number.
Once Abby left the room, Director Morrow turned to Gibbs and said, "Wow. I was not sure what to expect when she entered the room but between her hugging you; you letting her hug you; her answers to our questions and her enthusiastic way of looking at life and her work. I am sold. I want to see what she can do for NCIS. But why did you not mention her before we wasted all that time doing interviews earlier today?"
Gibbs said, "I did not know her line of work or that she had an interview this morning. I just ran into her at the airport. I cannot explain why she hugged me. I would like to hire her. I have a gut feeling she is exactly what we need at NCIS."
The Director agreed and told Gibbs to give her a call and get a start date. Gibbs shook his head and headed out of the office. It did not go unnoticed by the Director that Gibbs was actually smiling when he left the office.
