AUTHOR: April C-M
EMAIL: aprilmermoud
FEEDBACK: Yes, please. That would be so nice of you.
SUMMARY: A quick possible One-Shot about season 15. The separation between Abby and Gibbs, and why she might be leaving. I hope I'm way off…
DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters and I am make NO money off this story. I appreciate the minds at NCIS and The amazing actors who help bring these characters to life!
Before Gibbs and McGee had gone missing in Paraguay life was great, She had her friends Her Family, Everything was hunky dory. The moment they disappeared her life turned upside down, just a week after she loss of her two friends, her brothers had left for a road trip to get to know each other better, It had ended 50 Miles outside of DC. A Drunk driver had taken both of them in one moment, Her life was crumbling, She needed Gibbs.
After a month she had noticed she was getting headaches more frequently, but she assumed maybe she just needed glasses. So she went to the eye doctor and her sight was perfect. So She assumed it was from the stress, she tried to ignore the headaches until one of them caused her to get a nose bleed in Autopsy, Ducky had immediately made her go get a CT scan and so until now Ducky (who she had sworn to secrecy) and her were the only ones that knew She was dying, Her brain had turned against her, She had a tumor growing inside her head, There was nothing that could be done. No Chemo no radiation would help, surgery would just leave her a vegetable. She Desperately Needed Gibbs, She couldn't do this alone. She needed her best Friend.
They found them, They were safe, so She had waited five days, five long days to go talk to him after he and McGee had gotten home. She had seen him, hugged him, but that was it. She couldn't bring herself to talk to him at work. So here she was, at the door to his basement, As she walked down the stairs the look he gave her made her stop in her tracks, he wasn't happy she was there. "Gibbs?" He just looked away "yeah, Abby?" "C-Can I talk to you for a minute? Its pretty important?"
He gestured for her to come down, But Never turned to look at her. She slowly sat on the stool by the stairs, she opened her mouth to talk but just couldn't bring her self to speak. He seemed annoyed at her. "Are you OK?" she finally settled on. He turned to look at her "Do I look OK to you Abby? Why are you here?" The tone of his voice caused her to jump up from her seat. "I'm -I'm Sorry! I will just come back later." she said as she ran up the stairs "Don't bother." That stopped her in her tracks, She turned to look at him but he refused to look at her. She could feel her heart breaking, What had they done to him? What had she done? "What ever you say, Special Agent Gibbs." She whispered as she ran from the house and to her car.
Gibbs stood in the basement staring at the spot she had just been, a tear slid down his cheek. "I'm Sorry Abbs. Gotta save you…. From me."
The following 4 months were hell, He never came to the lab. She very rarely spoke to him, even more rarely saw him. Ducky had asked if she had spoken to him. She told him not yet, He needed to heal more. Ducky fully disagreed but wouldn't go back on his word to her. Her headaches seemed to be getting stronger, some days words would escape her, she found it hard to focus. She knew the other agents had noticed, but she just told them she wasn't getting enough sleep and told them to leave it alone. Until McGee found her unconscious on the floor of her lab. "Abby. You got anything?" He asked as he walked in, the Caf-pow that was in his hand hit the floor when he saw her. "Abby?!" He rushed to her noticing the rather large goose egg forming on her forehead, He reached for his phone dialing the first person he could think of. "Yeah Gibbs." "Boss, Somethings wrong with Abby!" He could hear Gibbs jump out of his chair "What do you mean?" "I don't know, I walked into the lab and she passed out of the floor!" He could hear the stairway door slam open "I'm on my way! I'll get Ducky." McGee carefully moved the hair from her forehead wincing at the rather large bruise that was already forming. He noticed she was pale, even paler than normal and she was covered in sweat. Suddenly Gibbs and Ducky rushed into the room. "Timothy, Call for an ambulance NOW," Ducky demanded. Gibbs knelt next to her head and looked at Ducky. "Whats happened Ducky?" "Shes a stubborn fool that's what, Jethro, now help me get her head elevated." Gibbs reached over and grabbed Bert off the desk and carefully lifted her head and placed the stuffed Hippo under her head, "Paramedics are on the way... Is she OK?" Ducky turned to look at McGee before looking back at Gibbs and sighing "No, I'm afraid my dear boy, She's not." Gibbs swallowed deeply before looking down at the pale woman laying unconscious in front of him, and wondered what he had done all those months ago when he'd sent her away. He wanted to protect her, He was damaged and angry. She needed someone who wouldn't hurt her by her side, maybe he had been wrong, maybe she just needed him.
Abby woke with a throbbing in her head, She couldn't remember what happened. It was all just too fuzzy, she could remember was waiting for a match in AFIS, when a pain in her head made it feel like someone had hit her with a baseball bat, and then nothing. She knew she was in the hospital, the smell gave it away immediately. She slowly opened her eyes hoping it wasn't too bright, but luckily someone had dimmed the lights and she sighed in relief. She looked around the room for several minutes before noticing the man standing at the door, She hadn't seen him there a minute ago but that doesn't mean anything. He was pretty quiet when he wanted to be. She flinched when he went to come closer, so he stopped. She could see the pain in his eyes, but knew he wouldn't welcome any comment on it so she did what she had been doing for the past four months, she looked away from him before she spoke "Agent Gibbs, What can I do for you?" She didn't see the wince at the formality. "Abby, you can stop with the Agent, You don't have to do that." She swung her head around to tell him that yes she did! He had been the one to close her out, to walk away from her. But the motion caused intense vertigo, her head began throbbing harder and she felt all the blood rush out of her face. She closed her eyes to try and stop it, she reached out blindly to try and keep her self from falling, Gibbs noticed and rushed towards her catching her before she fell sideways out of the bed. His hand held hers as she leaned back trying to stop the world from spinning. "Abby, PLEASE tell me whats going on! Ducky won't tell me anything." after a moment she opened her eyes and looked at their hands, before looking at him. "You didn't want to hear it before." She whispered. He knew what she meant and sadly looked at her "I was wrong. Abbs" She closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek, She felt him reach up to wipe it away, after a few moments she looked back at him, "I'm not sure I can, I don't want you to hurt anymore." she watched as he sat on the edge of the bed "Abby. Please" She just stared at him for several moments before squeezing his hand as tightly as she could, before telling him everything that had happened, She nearly broke when she told him about her brothers, but he never let go of her hand. She looked at him before closing her eyes as she told him that she was dying, She felt a tremor run through his hand into hers. His grip tightened to the point she almost couldn't stand it but she wouldn't let go. Tears rolled down her face as she waited for him to process it all, Only when she felt his hand under her chin did she open her eyes and look at him. The look he gave her was heartbreaking, She wanted to take it back as she noticed the tear run down his face. "I'm So sorry" She blurted out, before she could stop herself. He just pulled her close and held on to her, before whispering in her ear. "No Abbs, I'm Sorry, I'm sorry that I let my fear push you away. I should have been there." All Abby could do was shake her head. She felt him shift closer and lay next to her. She curled into his arms, feeling safe for the first time in 6 months. She knew she only had very few months left, but if he stayed with her. If he could just keep loving her a little bit longer it would be OK. He wouldn't let her die alone, He would never let her go. She would have her best friend by her side.
