A/N- Hi all, so I know I should probably be working on my other two stories and I kind of am but I just saw borderland, illegally of course, my being in Australia and all, and the end damn near made me cry, one of the best NCIS scenes ever! So here's a one shot of after Gibbs is arrested, assuming the biggest miracle since the ressurrection of Jesus does not occur.
"Thanks Patricia...and in breaking news an NCIS federal agent has been arrested for the murder of-"
The beer bottle had been hurled at the television screen with such force that the glass shattered into millions of tiny pieces. The moment the alcohol hit the wiring inside of the screen it went haywire and sparks flew out in impotent anger, raging against what had been done and could not be undone.
Could never be undone.
With another smothered cry of grief Abby sunk to her couch and sobbed loudly, her hands splayed across her face to better block out the world. To better hide the shame.
Her shame, over what she had done.
At fifteen hundred that afternoon, the Major Crime Response Team had been taken off the case of a murdered petty officer and ordered back to the Navy Yard. At fifteen thirty Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs had been taken into custody for the murder of Pedro Hernandez. At sixteen hundred hours the entire team was put on suspension while an interdepartmental investigation got under way. Their laptops had been seized; their badges and passes voided, their guns surrendered and their passports declared invalid, piles of yellow tape had been wrapped around, autopsy, her lab and the bullpen. They were under restricted travel visas for the next ninety six hours, any attempt to go outside the District of Columbia would be considered attempted flight and they would be placed under arrest. They were forbidden to make phone calls to any employee of a federal agency, their email accounts had been frozen and their profiles across all social sites had been taken down.
Leon Vance had explained this to them personally as they sat on the asphalt outside the evidence garage, not allowed to re-enter the building even to collect their personal possessions, Vance had explained that authorities higher up then him had wanted to place them all under arrest. That he had been forced to call in favours across the board to spare them that experience, and that he had damned near had to beg to prevent Ziva's temporary citizenship being revoked.
Every last one of them had worked with Gibbs for years- no one would believe that they had been in the dark about this.
"Military Police will be arriving soon to escort you home" he stood there looking down at them, sitting cross legged, shell shocked, waiting for the world to slow down just an inch so they could catch their breath and comprehend how their lives had so suddenly collapsed around them,
"For the next few days I suggest you do not leave your homes unless it is strictly necessary, once the media gets wind of Gibbs arrest, once they get his name it's going to be open season on the lot of you. It's going to get ugly and it's going to get ugly fast, now I'll do my best to protect you, but there are a lot of people out there who will be wanting answers to questions they'll have every right to ask. So I suggest you worry about your careers first and your loyalties second" he paused then and met the furious eyes of Anthony DiNozzo and Donald Mallard. One of them Gibbs son and the other his oldest friend. One of them had little left to lose and the other no longer gave a fuck. Vance sighed and withdrew a fresh toothpick, placing it between his teeth,
"Good luck"
They had left then, each breaking off into a different direction to find their cars. Each unable to look the other in the eye.
All of them knowing they would see a shared terror and grief.
Gibbs had been Gibbs to them. There were no words to describe his presence, his abilities, his...him.
If there was no Gibbs- then what was there?
Abby had tiptoed in her front door and stood looking about the familiar yet suddenly alien territory. It had taken her half an hour to find her passport, even though she knew that she kept all her official documents in her bottom kitchen drawer. The hands that had been opening and closing cupboards and rifling through papers had been stranger's hands, detached from her body. The MP's had nodded politely when she had finally handed it over and left, not bothering to check it was a legitimate passport and she hadn't handed them a fake. Why bother when their faces were on every 'do-not-fly' list across America and the bus and train terminals were running their names against every ticket.
The land of the free, the home of the brave and they were imprisoned in their own homes, cowering in fear at the horrible world they had been forced into.
A world where even gods could fall.
Abby didn't like beer. But that night she drank as quickly as she could, hoping for the blindness that alcohol could bring. She drank German beer that Tony had bought her online, with a gothic label that he didn't understand but had looked awesome. Unfortunately the alcohol level was piss weak so she had been on her fifth when the drab idiocy of the television had betrayed her with 'breaking news'.
Reminding her of all that she had betrayed.
Judas.
Once again she ran out of tears and fell into an apathy brought on by grief.
That was where her intruder found her.
There was a slight scratching against the front door and when she was able to raise her head and look up, Ziva David was slipping into her lounge room. The woman looked about her curiously, noting everything in that analytical way that she did. The busted television didn't even surprise her, not even warranting a second glance. Silently she slid over to the couch and sat down beside Abby, reaching out with a hesitant hand only to rethink her action and settle them both in her lap.
If you touch a leper all you will gain is leprosy.
"Why are you here?" Abby asked wearily, no longer able to care. Ziva gave her a long sideways glance,
"I came to see how you were doing" she announced in her no nonsense way, shifting to the edge of the couch she found a half empty beer bottle and claimed it for her own, taking a large gulp.
"Were you tailed?" she didn't know why she asked this question, it just seemed like a good question to ask, a sensible work question. Something to fill the gap before the accusations began flying.
Ziva shook her head and one beer bottle down began looking for another. "I did not drive"
That mustered a response, "You walked? From your apartment?"
"Lo" she answered, twisting the cap off her drink, "From Palmer's"
Palmer lived on campus with all the other med students. He was a good half hour drive away.
"I have been doing the circles" Ziva explained between long pulls of beer, "Asking if everyone...if hakol beseder"
Abby frowned at the three Hebrew words dropped in less than three sentences. Ziva's English had certainly taken a beating tonight. And judging by the sloppiness with which she placed the second empty bottle on the coffee table, Abby could tell that she had been drinking before she had reached her.
"What are the other's doing?" she inquired, not really caring except that it was her role to care. Abigail Scuito cared about the team, she worried and she fretted.
She suspected, she betrayed.
"Ducky is listening to a rendition of Madame Butterfly and reading T.S Eliot, Palmer is studying for his upcoming exams, McGee is writing and Tony is...sleeping"
Abby picked up the blush that graced Ziva's cheeks at the last statement, and the smell of stale sex on her skin. Tony and Ziva had officially done the deed.
Had it been yesterday, an entire lifetime ago, she would have been so excited by this news.
But what did it matter when the skies had fallen, the earth had crumbled and there was nothing left but to stare at everything that had once been?
"So you're running around Washington drunk, making sure we're...what Ziva? Alive, at home, not trying to destroy every bit of forensic evidence linking us to Gibbs?"
"Actually..." Ziva turned to face her and Abby was stunned by the clear signs of inebriation on her face, she had never seen Ziva drunk, tipsy yes but she'd always had more control than that.
"After Tony fell asleep I raided his spirits cabinet, unfortunately he has been sober for the last six months and there was not a drop in his apartment. I did not want to go to a liquor store and face people so I headed to Ducky's which was closest, had three drinks with him and then onto Palmer's, and then I realised where I needed to be and...here I am"
She spread her hands wide to take in the meaningless room, the air empty and the floor littered with her broken life.
"And why do you need to be here?"
Ziva lay against the back of the couch, her body turned towards Abby's as the question hung between them, as everything hung between them.
"Ari once said to me that 'if the world is shattering around you my beautiful mayflower then I suggest you notice how pretty the falling pieces are', I loved my brother Abby- more than I could ever say"
Abby dutifully nodded, there was wisdom in those words, even with her brain numbed with alcohol she could see that.
What she couldn't see is why she should care about wisdom when truth and knowledge had ripped everything to shreds.
"Did Gibbs ever tell you how my brave lion died?" Ziva inquired her eyes half lidded with a remembered grief. Abby shrugged, Haswari had been her enemy, and it wasn't for her to care how her enemies went.
Not when she could spend the rest of her days caring about how she lost her friends.
"I saw the incident report; he held a gun to Gibbs in his basement"
"Yes, which he did...but I am the one who pulled the trigger, who fired the gun that put the bullet in my brother's brain"
Silence filled the cavernous space between them. It might have been years before Abby was able to process the meaning of Ziva's words, her mind reaching the horrific conclusion that she was not the alone in the committal of the most heinous of crimes.
Ziva reached over and pulled the limp Abby to her, resting her head on her breast and murmuring to her soothingly,
"The guilt will ache less with time" she promised, "Not day by day, but year by year until you are finally able to live with yourself, until then...we have ninety six hours to lie in our beds and cry, after that we shall endure the trial, however it ends and then we shall go on, as we always do. I am a Jew Abby; believe me when I say I know about surviving even when it seems hopeless. We shall all return to NCIS, Tony will be team leader, McGee will be the senior field agent, I will be McGee's partner but Tony's lover. Ducky and Palmer will remain our medical examiners and you will continue as our forensic expert, you will find evidence where other's believe there is none- and though this experience has hurt you, it shall not break you. It is not what Gibbs would want"
And there was still enough magic left in that name that Abby was able to believe in the impossible.
One last time.
A/N- Tell me what you think, if I get a good response I might add a couple more one shots from the other's points of view.