Chapter 1: "It's not like I'm dying…"
Director Shepard was a stubborn individual and everyone in the agency knew it. No matter how tired she was, no matter how bad she felt for any particular reason, if there was work to be done, she would not stop until it was complete. That always had been and always would be the case. No matter what anybody said, not even her husband, she was never going to change her ways. Director Shepard would never stop until the job was done.
Nine times out of ten she could deal with her stubborn streak, a streak she was never consciously aware of most of the time, but as she sat in her office that day, skimming through paperwork in which the words seemed to be swimming across the page, she deeply resented it. For what had seemed like hours, her nose had been repeatedly refilling to a point where she was struggling to breathe, and blowing her nose every few seconds certainly wasn't aiding her already throbbing head.
It was highly unlike her to get ill, a trait her husband also seemed to share, but at that time she was not able to say that. Whatever was happening, whatever was wrong, it was certainly knocking her about.
"Director." her Secretary's voice shattered through the silence of the room, "Agent Gibbs is on his way up."
Usually that particular sentence would have filled her with warmth, strange considering when she became Director six years beforehand the two of them always seemed to be a loggerheads. Despite knowing him for a while before that, they always seemed to clash, maybe because of how well they knew each other. Although, since their marriage two years beforehand, his little five minutes visits when he popped up to her office were some of her favourite moments of the day, especially when there was a case ongoing. However, on that particular day, one of his visits was the last thing she wanted.
"Tell him I'm busy, Cynthia…" she requested, "Please..." she added almost silently.
Before her secretary even had a chance to respond, Jenny's door burst open due to Gibbs' famous habit of forgetting how doors worked. Even since they had married, he'd never quite mastered the art of knocking and waiting to enter, at least not at the office at the very least.
"Busy with what…?" he smirked, something which soon dropped when he caught sight of her, "Jesus Jen, you look awful."
She immediately felt his eyes glue to every part of her body simultaneously, making her want to do nothing more than hide herself from him. She was a mess and she was sure that was obvious.
"A woman loves to hear that, Jethro." she joked weakly, doing her best to smile before ultimately having to blow her nose once again.
Closing the door behind him before moving over to her desk with only a couple of majestic strides, Gibbs perched himself against it. He immediately moved to feel his wife's sticky forehead, soon aware of the heat against his calloused hand. He then proceeded to wipe her vibrant, red hair out of her face.
Feeling helpless in his arms, especially as he began to hold the back of her head and gently massaging his fingers through a patch of her hair, Jenny rolled her eyes a little. However, she couldn't deny it, she appreciated the gesture.
"Jethro, stop…" she croaked in a pleading manner, something he blatantly ignored.
"Your not well, Jen." he stated worriedly.
Pulling away from his grip, Jenny once again had to blow her nose into yet another tissue, something which aggravated her head to throb further. Giving herself a moment to let the sudden pain subside, Jenny bent her neck to look up at her doting husband sat in front of her. His eyes alone were enough to make her feel worse than she already did. There he was, growing more and more concerned by the minute, and she knew nothing she said to him was going to change it.
"Its flu, Jethro." she pointed out, "It's not like I'm dying."
Leaning forward to kiss the top of her head, Gibbs sighed deeply.
"Go home, Jen." he whispered into her hair, "Go to bed."
Receiving one of what his team would call a 'Gibbs-glare', something she had learnt to nail pretty early on in their relationship; Gibbs tried his hardest to smile. However, his concern for her was much too great at that moment in time.
"I can hold down the fort for a day or two." he pointed out before she had the chance to argue with him, "Go home, Jen… please…"
Needless to say, Gibbs didn't get his wish and Jenny remained put in her office, something which didn't really surprise him. He was worried, he couldn't deny that, but he had to push that aside and focus on the case: the murder of Petty Officer Clarissa Bentley. The poor woman, who had been on leave, was found dead her home in Charlottesville. Her petite body was unmercifully battered and bruised, the injuries initially hiding the three bullet wounds in her chest. It was clear from police reports that the young woman had suffered abuse at the hand of her so-called fiancé, the team's original suspect. However, CCTV evidence placed the man in question, a Jeffery Marcus, at a bar of the day of the murder. There had been no forced entry at the Petty Officer's house, no obvious signs of struggle… she clearly knew her killer, and Gibbs was going to find him. Of that, he was sure.
Arriving at the floor of Abby's lab, CafPow in hand, the first thing Gibbs noticed was the abnormal silence. For some reason, he had to take a few steps closer to the lab door just to make sure he was right and that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him… and he was. There was no music playing, not at all. That was the first clue that something wasn't right.
"Abby…?" he called lowly, unsure what to expect as he entered the lab.
The first thing he noticed upon entering was the dark-haired woman in front of him jump sharply, clearly startled by his sudden appearance. Part of him expected a typical Abby comment something along the lines of her going to put a bell around his neck, but it never came. All that happened was that she turned to him and smiled so softly he almost missed it.
"Hey Gibbs." she greeted almost silently before turning back to her computer.
Gibbs' brow dropped in response and he crossed the floor to reach her computer, all her actions concerning him further. He was already worried about Jenny upstairs, now Abby was apart of that equation too.
Gibbs honestly didn't understand… Abby was usually the happy, lively member of the team, the one he could count on to make him smile during a particularly depressing case. Her usual, vibrant spirit could do that to a person. Granted, it may have been a little annoying how she tended to get easily sidetracked from time to time but that was part of the Abby he knew and loved…
"I processed the gun Tony brought down." she explained, pointing out the weapon to him, "It's a dead on match for the bullets pulled from our Petty Officer, and her killer: the biggest amateur I've ever seen."
Gibbs nodded slowly, unable to even try to smile. However, it didn't matter since her eyes remained glued to the screen.
"What makes ya say that?" he questioned.
"It was plastered with prints that hadn't even been tried to be wiped away." she explained, tapping away at her keyboard, "I pulled them and ran them through AFIS."
Gibbs nodded softly. "You gotta match?" he asked.
With the slightest of nods, Abby tapped a single button on her keyboard. As a result, a Navy ID popped up on the screen.
"Commander George Thomas… Bentley." Gibbs read, his heart dropping into his stomach.
Abby nodded sadly, a deep sigh escaping her lips. "Her father." she confirmed.
Leaning over to kiss the side of her face, Gibbs placed the large plastic cup down in front of her, earning the first genuine smile of the day from his forensic scientist. CafPow: the best reward possible in the young Goth's eyes. Picking it up, she smiled and was just about to take a sip through the thick red straw but instead she turned to face him, unsure as to what he was waiting for.
"What is it, Gibbs?" she asked, facing him fully for the first time that day.
Initially he had remained in the hope to see what was bothering her but as she turned, he saw three, dark bruises on the side of her face, bruises which certainly didn't look like the result of a small bump.
His eyes ultimately widened and his eyebrows shot up in concern.
"Are you okay?" he questioned, his eyes trailing across them, "What happened?"
Abby automatically frowned in response. What was he on about? She had expected him to ask her why she looked as tired as she felt, not what happened… what did he mean by that?
"What do ya mean?" she asked, "I guess I'm a little tired, but nothing's 'happened'… Why'd ya ask?"
As she spoke, Gibbs glanced at her bear arms in front of him, the ones slightly extended as she was holding up her cup. He soon spotted they too were dotted with bruises, all of slightly different sizes and in a range of slightly different colours, indicating they weren't all the same age.
"Gibbs?" she asked uncertainly, unnerved by his silence.
Breaking away from the spots on her arms, Gibbs looked back up at her face, doing his best not to look directly at the bruises near her hairline. Whatever they were from, she obviously didn't want to talk to him about them… maybe another time. He wasn't going to push her.
"Thanks, Abbs." he nodded, leaving the lab in a rather quick pace.
Due to his concern for her which was mounting by the minute, Gibbs failed to notice a rather confused Abby finally take the first sip of her CafPow as he was already in the elevator. Therefore, he certainly failed to notice her full-on gag as she took a sip of her beloved beverage. The usual caffeinated taste definitely wasn't the one hitting the taste buds on her dry tongue. Never before had she disliked CafPow but that day, she couldn't say that. For the first time ever, CafPow was not working its usual caffeinated magic…
"Eww…" she muttered to herself, "Go…" she ordered absentmindedly to the beverage, throwing the large plastic cup into the bin before returning to work.
Gibbs didn't bother to watch DiNozzo handcuff the Petty Officer's father after the successful interrogation from the younger agent. He had much more important things to be getting on with. His most immediate concern was getting his wife home. If earlier had been any indication, saying she didn't look well was one of the biggest understatements of the year.
The idea that a man could kill his own flesh and blood was something that still sickened him, despite the fact he had been a NCIS Agent for so many years. He didn't understand how any father could take his own little girl's life. He'd have given absolutely anything to have one more day with his daughter.
In the squad room, Agent McGee and Officer David sat writing up their reports. Both looked up and smiled as Gibbs walked to his desk, something he returned in the form of a nod before leaning down to his desk draw and retrieving his car keys. Leaving his desk and heading towards the stairs up to the catwalk, Gibbs looked between the two of them.
"Ziva, McGee." he called, "Go home."
Hopping up the steps two-by-two, the two agents remained almost shell shocked at their Boss' most recent order as he disappeared into the Director's office on the upper floor.
"Did… did he just say what I think he said?" McGee genuinely had to ask.
Ziva slowly turned her head, her eyebrows still up in her hairline.
"I believe so." she admitted before pausing momentarily and leaning forward, "Do you think this is some sort of test?"
Walking quickly up to his desk, seeming to appear out of nowhere, Tony shrugged his shoulders and laughed to himself.
"Let's just go before he changes his mind." he stated, roughly grabbing his things en route towards the elevator.
Finding herself miraculously agreeing with him, Ziva swiftly grabbed her belongings and manoeuvred around her desk, narrowly missing nicking her thigh off the corner. The pair then began to hurriedly make their way to the elevator, leaving McGee the only person left in the squad room.
"C'mon, McGeek!" Tony called after a moment, "I'm not holdin' this thing open forever!"
Meanwhile, Gibbs strode past Cynthia's empty desk and entered his wife's office, only to find the woman in question asleep at her desk, using a stack of files as a primitive pillow. Her skin looked much paler than it had before but on the plus size, her laboured breathing did not appear to be as bad as it had been earlier that day.
Smiling slightly as he softly closed the door, Gibbs silently crossed the room towards her desk, perching himself on the edge. His hand came up to her face and began to caress her head gently, trying to wake her softly.
"Jen…" he whispered lightly.
Jenny soon began to stir, to the point that within a few moments, she managed to lift her head. Greeted by her husband's gentle face, she sighed before sitting up and stretching out her neck.
"Jethro…" she breathed.
"Case's done." he told her with a soft smile, "Ready to come home now?"
Jenny tried to laugh but her nose suddenly filling up stopped her from doing so.
"Take it I don't have much choice." she smiled, quickly reaching for a tissue.
Leaning forward to kiss her head, Gibbs smiled against her hair.
"C'mon." he whispered.
The next morning, the three agents, DiNozzo, McGee and David, all arrived in the squad room in a rather refreshed manner. Despite the fact they actually didn't get anymore sleep than they would have anyway, the fact that Gibbs had let them go earlier seemed to have had a psychological effect on them all, for some reason making them feel like they'd slept forever.
Jenny on the other hand was a completely different story. She had hoped that taking a couple of paracetamol before bed and having a good night sleep would have helped ease the symptoms of the particularly nasty bout of flu she had acquired. However, due to her problem doing the simplest task of breathing normally thanks to her blocked nose, her good night sleep was a certain fantasy rather than reality. The majority of the night, other than sticking to the bed sheets and repeatedly feeling her nose fill to a brink she didn't even know was possible, she found herself almost crying in frustration…
By sunrise, she was ridiculously tired and felt awful as she had been keeping Gibbs up most the night with her. She already felt physically bad enough but keeping him awake just made her feel worse, not that it bothered him. To be fair, he had expected it, knowing what kind of state she was in. It seemed that whenever Jenny got sick, she got sick. He guessed that that made up for all the other times she never had any health problems whatsoever.
Entering the squad room that morning, his third cup of coffee firmly gripped in his hand, Gibbs headed over to his desk, catching DiNozzo's passing comment about feeling utterly refreshed and happy as he approached.
"You won't be if you don't get that report on my desk pronto, DiNozzo." he stated as he passed by, internally amused how the younger agent shot up on his chair and began fiddling with his computer.
"On it, boss." he promised.
Meanwhile, McGee and Ziva, who was leaning against McGee's desk, continued their conversation, satisfied they were safe to do so since their reports were already done and awaiting Gibbs' approval before being sent up to the Director's office.
"I am just saying, McGee." Ziva continued, "Her behaviour is rather unusual. Not only has she been throwing away full CafPow's, I do not believe she went home last night. Something is clearly buzzing her…"
"Bugging, Ziva." Tony corrected, obviously listening in on the conversation when he should have been working.
Rolling his eyes, McGee sighed softly before turning back to face Ziva.
"But surely she'd say something if there was a problem." he stated.
Ziva sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, maybe not to us." she pointed out, "But perhaps Gibbs…"
As soon as the words had left her mouth, both she and McGee turned their heads to look at the said man's desk. However, as they should have expected, it was empty. Upon a further glace, the pair noticed he wasn't even in the actual room... It didn't take a genius to figure out where he was going.
Once again, Gibbs noticed that Abby's lab was music-free when he reached it. The only difference compared to the day before was that that time there was a small noise coming from inside, a noise he soon discovered was a slight wheeze coming from the sleeping scientist at the computer station.
It was clear from the position she was in that she'd been there a while, her head resting gently upon her bruise-spotted arms. Also, since her hair looked rather messy and the clothes she was wearing were identical to the ones she had been in the day before, Gibbs was rather concerned that Ziva's belief was accurate.
"Abby?" he asked gently, before ultimately raising his voice, "Abby!"
With a large gasp, the young woman's heavy eyes snapped open and shot up on her seat, clearly a little dazed due to the abrupt awakening she had just received. It took a few moments before she finally turned to face him, the bruises on the side of her face not as prominent as they had been the day before.
"Gibbs…" she breathed out.
"Abbs?" he asked, his frown falling far while his teeth sunk into his inner lip, "Have… have you been here all night?"
Worried was more than what he was but the young forensic scientist was completely oblivious, mostly since her eyes were still adapting to light invading through the windows on her left.
"What… what time is it?" she managed to ask, struggling to speak properly for a moment.
"0800." Gibbs answered.
"Oh…" Abby whispered before stretching out her back, "Then yeah."
Gibbs sighed deeply. "Abbs, why on earth didn't you go home?" he asked, "What's goin' on?"
"Nothing… I swear." she promised quickly, "I was just…"
Alerted by her sudden pause, Gibbs felt the knot in his stomach tighten.
"Just what?" he queried.
Abby sighed. "Tired…" she confessed.
Seeing the pain suddenly displayed on her face, Gibbs felt his teeth once again return to the tender spot on his inner lip.
"Oh, Abbs…" he whispered, bringing his hand to her forehead, "You're really warm."
Abby shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe I'm coming down with something." she suggested.
Gibbs nodded. "Yeah, Jenny's got a bout of flu." he explained, "She had a rough night and hopefully today she'll see sense and stay in bed… maybe its just something that's goin' 'round."
Abby laughed slightly, soon hindered by an oncoming yawn.
"Yeah." she managed to agree after a moment, "A few of the guys in HR have had something too over the last few days."
Gibbs nodded once again, leaning down to kiss her messy black hair.
"Abbs, go home. Get yourself sorted out." he told her, "I doubt there'll be a case for a while. If there is, I'll let you know. Deal?"
Abby sighed once again, smiling up at him as she felt her tired eyes begin twitch.
"Thanks, Gibbs…"
Abby had been lucky when she called her doctor after going home that morning since she'd managed to get an appointment with him the following day. For a few days she had been feeling off, but falling asleep in her lab was the last straw. Something wasn't right and it was time to get it checked out.
She had actually surprised herself at how she had allowed herself to call the doctor. Usually she would have been her strong, stubborn self and let her illness take its natural cause. When she had realised that a bout of flu had been going around HQ, she was more than happy to believe that was what it was. However, as the days had progressed and her symptoms had only gotten worse rather than better, she'd finally decided enough was enough.
Sat in Doctor Isafie's office opposite to the middle-aged man dressed in his typical lightly striped shirt, Abby shuffled in her seat and continued to play with her fingernails nervously. His tapping on the keyboard of his computer was a little daunting despite the fact she actually liked the man. She just hated doctors' appointments.
"So Miss Sciuto…" he began.
"Abby." she clarified, "Its Abby."
Dr. Isafie nodded slightly and smiled. "Abby." he corrected, "Other than your fatigue, headaches, loss of appetite and general weakness, is there any other symptoms you can think of?"
Abby shook her head. "N-No, I don't think so." she admitted, "Do you have any idea what it could be?"
The doctor smiled and leant back on his chair, easing a little of the tension beginning to build up inside of her.
"Well, you mentioned that there's flu going around your workplace, it could be that." he explained.
"But it could also be something else…" Abby stated, subconsciously rubbing her bare arms, capturing Dr. Isafie's attention in the process.
"Tell me, how long have you had those bruises?" he enquired.
Frowning, Abby looked down at her arms which were where he was looking. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw the amount. Granted she could remember seeing a couple and dismissing them as gentle knocks she had gotten when manoeuvring around her lab, however, there were much more present than she had realised.
"I… I'm not sure." she confessed.
The doctor nodded softly to himself. "I think it would be best to run some tests." he began, "Just in case."
"In case of what?" asked Abby, suddenly becoming very apprehensive, "It's not like I'm dying… right?"
"Miss Sciuto…" the doctor sighed, "The tests are to rule out anything serious, and hopefully find out what's making you feel the way you do in the process. It's really nothing to worry about."
Abby sighed deeply, nodding very slowly. "Okay…" she agreed after a long moment, "What do we do first?"
Dr. Isafie smiled softly at her. "We'll start with a blood test." he explained, "Then we can take it from there."