She knew the rules better then anyone. She had worked with Gibbs for a long time, and had seen a few of them added in her time, so she knew she couldn't just come out and say it. A sign of weakness and all of that. But she also knew she had screwed up. Big time.
She had stressed over the situation, and the frustration for a week before an idea came to her. It had actually been Tony who gave it to her. Tony and his constant bickering with the females around him. As she thought about the many fight he had, she had remembered how he and Kate had come to her asking her to help them with one of their many sibling like squabbles. That lead her to think about the dynamic of the team she worked with.
Their was the father of course the illustrious Leroy Jethro Gibbs who listened to everyone fight and when he had enough let them know. He was also the one who punished the children. Tony was the oldest of course, throwing his weight around and simply showing off to try and impress his younger siblings. All he ever really wanted was simply to be told that someone was proud of him. She knew it was a movie cliche and he would tell her at least three different movies that had that as a major plot point, but she suspected this was one case where the movies reflected real life.
Timmy would of course be the geeky little brother that would be teased mercilessly by Tony and no one else. She could help but giggle at the thought of Tony pushing a playground bully to the ground, holding a fist over the quivering boy's nose and saying for all to hear, "The only one who makes fun of McGee is me, you got that?" Then he would help his "little brother" up from the ground only to give him a wedge later in the day. But really, if it was any other way everyone would be worried something was wrong.
Ziva seemed like the girl who didn't know how to be a girl. Of course, with a "father" like Gibbs it wasn't hard to believe she felt a need to prove that she was as good as the other two boys. But there was more to it then just that. It seemed like she had never been allowed to be a girl at all, even before she had come to NCIS. But with what she had discovered by accident about Ziva and her real family, she wouldn't have been surprised to find out that the poor girl had been molested as a child.
Ducky she quickly placed into the position of a doting grandfather. He would buy the team treats and tell them stories about when he was younger, both boring and fascinating his "grandchildren" at the same time. Palmer had been a bit harder to place into the family dynamic. He wasn't close enough to be another child, but he was also a very important part of the team. She had finally decided he was a cousin of some sort sent to live with his grandfather for some reason. She didn't feel a need to delve too far into that relationship, simply because it didn't worry her.
What did worry her was her own position. She knew that everyone protected her like a sister, but at the same time she was held above the others. She was the one they came to if they were fighting and couldn't solve it. She was the one they would come to if they felt down and needed a pep talk and a hug. And because of her special relationship with Gibbs she held a special pull that the rest of them tried to use.
She was in an odd position. A sister who was daddy's favorite could have the pull she did on Gibbs, but it wouldn't account for being the confidant and comforter. And being a favorite aunt wouldn't account for the way Gibbs would treat her. There was only one position in the family dynamic that accounted for her situation, and she made sure to examine her logic from every angle she could think of to make sure she wasn't just placing herself there out of wishful thinking. She found that no matter how she thought about it or reasoned it through there was only one way to describe her position on the team: Mother.
She was the one that made the miracles happen, like the way that mama's cookies and a kiss make all of a child's hurts go away. She was the one that they came to when they needed a pat on the back at the end of the day. Gibbs had always treated her like an equal while the rest of the team -- Ducky excluded of course -- was treated like children who were still learning their way.
There was also all of the special touches they shared. The way he would rub her back if she was particularly stressed, or the kisses he would give her each time she had done exceptionally well. The way his voice would change completely when he was talking to her. Yes, Gibbs definitely treated her in a way that was different then anyone else on the team, and the only position she could find herself fitting into was that of the mother of the team.
Her new found position in the NCIS family didn't dismiss the fact that she was in trouble. She had pissed the father of the family off recently with her actions, and she still had to figure out a way to apologize without saying so. Normally if she wanted to show her feelings she would buy the person a bouquet of black roses. They were her favorite apology simply because they were extremely rare and she had to put forth an extra effort to get them, which meant that it meant more then if she simply bought a bouquet of regular flowers. However, she knew that Gibbs would only turn around and throw them in the garbage. She doubted he would even bother to wait until he was out of her lab.
So black roses were out, as were sending an e-mail or calling him. The man rarely checked his e-mail, and the only thing she could say if she called was simply "I'm sorry" and that would get her nowhere, fast.
The tension between the two of them was practically a physical thing when he came into her lab the next day. She had to call him and ask him to come down to her lab before she saw him, and then it was only long enough for him to hear what she said and leave. The shocked looks of the team who had watched as he walked out of the room without even so much of a "Good job" were small comfort, nor were the caf-pow! and hugs that Tony delivered to her a few minutes later.
"What did you do?" He asked as he sat the red drink on the counter next to her keyboard where she was working.
She barely spared him a glance as she picked up the drink and took a sip, her focus on the computer screen in front of her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I've rarely seen Gibbs pissed at you," Tony replied, leaning up against the table behind her.
"Well, he is," she replied. "If you don't mind, I have work to do. I'm kind of hoping that if I work hard enough he'll forgive me."
"It won't work," Tony replied confidently. Abby sighed knowing what he said was true, but continued to work at her lighting pace.
"It certainly won't hurt," she replied. Tony shrugged in response, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder before leaving. He must have said something to their boss however because he came down to the lab with the rest of the team later that afternoon, caf-pow! in hand. She knew by the way he thrust it out to her that she was far from forgiven, but he didn't want it to get in the way of their working relationship. Tony caught her attention as they filed out, flashing a winning smile which she returned with a small shake of her head. His face fell slightly, and he stepped next to their boss with a small frown.
It startled her when he came storming into the lab a few hours later. "It wasn't enough that you had to embarrass me in front of Shannon's family, but now you had to drag Tony into it?"
"I didn't," she objected, fighting the urge to slap him or break into tears. "He came to me."
"And
so you what? Told him everything?"
"What did you want
me to do? Lie and say everything was honkey dory, even though he was
asking me what I had done to piss you off?"
"Well, yeah, if that's what it takes to keep him happy," Gibbs replied as though it was the obvious answer.
"You've trained him too well. He wouldn't have believed it, and never would have left me alone until he knew the truth."
"So you told him?" His voice had gone flat, and she knew that she was treading on very thin ice with him, but at that point she didn't care.
Turning to face him she gave him a horrified and hurt look, saying quietly, "If you truly believe that then I don't want to see you again."
Struggling to keep her tears at bay, she walked into her desk, grabbing a box of cotton swabs from her supply closet. When she returned to her main lab it was empty and there was no longer any reason to keep her emotions in.
After that, their relationship was practically non-existent. If he needed something from her he would send one of the children. If she had something to share she would tell someone else, who would pass the information along to Gibbs. All of her caf-pow!s were delivered by one of the other team members with an apologetic smile. She didn't realize how deeply it was effecting the rest of the group until she overheard the them talking in autopsy a week later.
"Well, Jethro is very suborn. Who is that has gotten in the way of his ire this time?" Ducky asked Ziva as he pulled the heart out of the body that was laying in front of him.
"That's
just it," McGee said from next to her. "He's mad at
Abby."
"Abigail?" Ducky repeated, looking between
them in surprise. "But Jethro never gets upset with her."
"That's
why we were wondering if you knew something," Ziva said. "He's
going around growling at anyone who does the littlest thing
wrong."
"I'll speak with him. Maybe I can talk some
sense into that stubborn man."
"Don't," Abby said making her presence known. She barely noticed the guilty looks on McGee and Ziva's faces, focusing instead on Ducky. "That's sweet, really, but don't worry about it. I'm fixing it."
"If you say so my dear," Ducky replied in a doubtful tone, accepting the tox screen she had brought to him.
It was another week and a half before she was presented with an opportunity to apologize for her actions. She was still pissed at Gibbs for the way he had treated her, but she knew that nothing would happen if she didn't make the first move. Jethro Leroy Gibbs was a very stubborn man when he wanted to be, and his pride was one thing he never allowed to be jeopardized.
The idea came to her as she watched the director and Gibbs fighting. He had been forced to come to her lab and had instantly set to taking his frustration out on the red haired woman. Seizing her opportunity she pantomimed out the rest of the conversation, impersonating Gibbs like she had only once before. She had to fight a blush when she noticed the smile he was trying to fight as he watched her. Pausing, she spared a look at the director before locking her eyes with his. "The kids don't like it when mommy and daddy fight."
Anyone else who would have heard the conversation would assume she was talking about Gibbs and the director, but she knew he got her message when he came to stand next to her, asking about the results she was supposed to get for him. Breathing in the smell of sawdust she knew he had gotten the message, but she also knew she wasn't off the hook yet.
She spent the rest of that night working twice as hard as she had been which meant four times as hard as she usually did. When she got the results he had been looking for she went to him, enjoying the fact that she could give him the information directly. He flashed her a small smile in response which wasn't what she would have normally received, but she knew it was all she was going to get.
She waited for him to return from catching the bad guys, pacing from one side of her lab to the other. She wasn't sure of how much she had been forgiven, but she knew that she had to try her best. The team -- her family -- was suffering.
When she sensed his presence in the room, she turned to face him, and hopeful smile on her face.
"Mommy?" Gibbs said, rasing his eyebrows.
She shrugged in response. "It was the only thing that fit." Then, before he could ask or dismiss her, she launched into an explanation outlining each of the team member's position. He only watched her pace back and forth across her lab as she talked, not saying anything until she had finally turned to face him.
"So you're what? My wife?" He asked, leaning against the counter, arms crossed over his chest. She cringed slightly at the lack of emotion in his voice and his body language.
"Kind of, but not really. I know that your marriages didn't go that well, so I would think of myself more as..." she trailed off, hands waving in front of her as though she could pull the word she wanted from her mind.
"As what Abbs?" He asked, voice betraying nothing. "Mistress, lover, ex?"
"Not
ex," she countered quickly, pointing at him. "I am nothing
like those three harpies."
"That's pretty obvious."
She resisted the urge to glare at him, turning her attention instead
to the second half of her delicate plan. Squaring her shoulders she
looked him directly in the eyes.
"Gibbs, I know the rules, and I know what it means to break one, but sometimes rules are meant to be broken. I am sorry. I messed up," she said, watching his face for a change in expression. Instead she was left disappointed as he pulled himself away from her table and walked out of the room, not bothering to look back at her.
The next morning she called McGee and told him to let everyone know that she wouldn't be in because she wasn't feeling well. He of course was concerned about her, and asked if there was anything that he could do to help but she assured him that she would be fine and hung up the phone before her tears could break free again. She had spent most of the night crying, though she wasn't sure if it was over her lost friendship or something more.
She barely left her coffin, hugging the vampire bat stuffy Gibbs had given her for Christmas that year, crying when she felt the need, fuming at him when the desire took her. She was in the middle of one such tirade when the door to her room was flung open and the object of her frustration stepped into the room. She cut herself off mid-curse, glaring at him.
"Here to gloat?" She snapped at him.
"I thought you were the mother of this little operation, not one of the mopey children," he replied, standing over her. She didn't answer, looking away from his gray blue eyes, squeezing the small bat tighter. She heard him sigh, and shuffle across the room, but refused to give him the satisfaction of drawing her attention.
"It was surprisingly hard to find these," he said finally, thrusting something under her nose. She inhaled the smell of the black roses, glancing at him in surprise as she took them from him. "When I finally found a flower shop that had heard of them, the man at the counter said to tell you that someone named Simone had said yes. I didn't even tell him who the flowers were for."
"You talked to Gabe?" she said in surprise, looking between him and the flowers in her lap. "But it takes an hour and a half to get to his shop."
"It took three to even find a store that sold those things without letting DiNozzo know what I was doing," Gibbs replied, crouching down next to her coffin. The look on his face was a balance between frustrated and contrite as he looked at her. She recognized the flowers for what they were, and knew that she had been forgiven. Throwing her arms around him, she planted a quick kiss on his lips before hopping out of the coffin. He watched her race across the room to her closet, a smile playing on his lips. "I thought you were sick."
"Well, I've gotten medicine and am better now," she called over her shoulder with a cheeky grin.
"I'll wait for you out in the car."
The ride to NCIS headquarters was spent with him filling her in on their new case, explaining about the evidence they had collected and what his gut was telling him had happened. As soon as they had parked she was off for her lab, stopping only to put the flowers she had received in water and put on her lab coat before she was sorting through the evidence, dismissing the temp who had been filling in for her.
It only took her an hour to find a fingerprint one of the letters they had found at the victims house. She waited until she had a couple of smaller items to present before she dialed Gibbs' number to tell him she had something. A few seconds later the entire family had filed into the room. When they saw her they smiled realizing that her presence meant that the fight was finally over. As soon as everyone was settled she launched into her usual type explanation, walking Gibbs through each step of the process it took to find the evidence she had to present for him.
When she finished she looked at him with a smile, offering her cheek for the kiss she knew she would be receiving. He planted it quicky, calling out assignments for his team.
"Abby, I want a match for those prints," he called out, heading for the elevator.
"Yes daddy," she called after him, enjoying the way he stopped in his tracks and the startled looks of the other agents around her. Grinning, she turned her attention the computer, calling up the usual list of databases she ran through, typing in the commands to check the fingerprint she had. When she looked up the room was empty.
She spent most of the afternoon checking the evidence she had been given, looking for anything that would help her out of the bit of trouble she had gotten herself into with her comment. After the initial rush had worn off she had quickly realized that the comment could have landed her in more trouble then she had ever been in before. When Major Mass Spec beeped that he had something she let out a squeal of excitement, then ran to the elevator to deliver the message personally.
"Gibbs, I have something," Abby called out as soon as she was close enough, cutting off Tony. Gibbs looked at her, leaning back in his chair to indicate he was listening. Deciding to forgo the usual wind up, she dove directly into her findings. "Well, I ran the cookies that you found at the crime scene and found they contained an excessive amount of sugar. SO-o I refined my search for evidence of foreign sweeteners and guess what I found? Insulin!"
She waited for my results to sink in, sighing dramatically when no one's expression change. "Gibbs! That means that Scotdale had to have been at the scene when the petty officer was murdered. I ran a background check and he's diabetic, which means he must have given the victim enough of his Insulin medicine to kill her."
It took a few more seconds for her words to sink in with the others, but Gibbs instantly stood up, pushing the cartridge into his gun. "Good job Abby. Tony, get a caf-pow! for your mother. Ziva, you're with me."
She preened at his comment, breaking into a full grin when Gibbs placed a lingering kiss on her cheek. Tony watched the exchange with a confused look, glancing between the two of them. He was wise enough to wait until Gibbs was out of earshot before turning to her and saying, "Mother?"