A/N – Thanks to everyone for reading... it means a heck of a lot to me.

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Word Salad

Chapter 2 - Interference

They reached the end of the street where the '101 bar' was located. She had chosen '101' because it was one of Tony's favourite jazz and blues bars. It was small, intimate, welcoming... had big, comfy, leather sofas... "It's the kind of place you can lose track of time in" Tony had once told her. Yep. If Tony was going to talk... tell her what was going on in that head of his... this was the perfect place for him to do it.

She had known him long enough to know him. She saw through the bravado, saw through the jokes he used to cover his true feelings and saw through the times he tried to deflect others from delving too deep. His half-hearted attempt at humour a few moments ago was new. He wasn't trying. He had wanted her to press him further, to pry, to look deeper. He wanted her to ask, and he had wanted to tell.

She pushed open the entrance door and led him, by the hand, down the flight of stairs to the bar in the basement. Pictures of the greats lined the walls of the narrow stairway. Pictures of Brubeck, Miles Davis, Coltrane, BB King... others she didn't recognise. But Tony would. That was what mattered.

The soft, melancholic tones of a 12-bar blues number echoed soothingly through into the stairway at its base. The bar wasn't busy at all. A couple in one corner, sitting in comfy seats, a few solitary people at various tables dotted around the bar, a party of four to one side and a few people ordering drinks or sat on stools at the bar. It was a quiet night.

"I'll grab us some seats if you wanna get the drinks in?" Abby chirped.

"Sure. What are you drinking?"

"Ah, the usual... thanks Tony"

"Coming right up"

She watched as Tony made his way to the bar. He was quiet... too quiet. But he wasn't being moody. Tony could be moody, but that usually meant he was angry at something, or someone. Moody meant he was dealing with it... working it out... playing up if necessary. But quiet... well she'd come to realise that quiet meant something was wrong in DiNozzo's world, and that a quiet Tony was not a happy Tony. She didn't want to pry... she didn't want to interfere, but quiet was not good. He wasn't dealing... he wasn't working it out, whatever it was that he had to work out.

She made her way to an empty leather sofa in a small alcove at the back of the room opposite the bar and sat down making herself comfortable. Closing her eyes she drank in the atmosphere. She understood why DiNozzo liked this place so much. Its heart and soul were plain to see. It enveloped you. It spoke to you. It didn't care who you were or what you had done. It didn't judge. She opened her eyes and watched DiNozzo carefully. He was trying to attract the attention of the bar tender who was deep in conversation with a small, blond-haired, twenty-something guy sitting on a stool at the end of the bar. Tony glanced around briefly and Abby caught his eyes. He shrugged his shoulders apologetically and turned back.

Abby smiled.

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Was that a smile? Had he just caught a glimpse of her smiling from the corner of his eye? How could she be so forgiving after what he had put her through? He could be such an idiot at times.

Yesterday she had sent him a text... asked if he wanted to talk. Yesterday... or this morning, when he had finally replied, he had wanted to talk to her, if only to apologise. But now, after everything that had happened today... apologising to Ziva, Ziva apologising to him, seeing Gibbs's disappointment in him as he read him the riot act, Abby in tears a few minutes ago, he wasn't sure this was the right time to be talking about rejection, about his father, about being a bad person. But he couldn't say no to Abby. No one could say no to Abby. Well... almost no one.

Dave Brubeck was playing in the background. Take Five. How he wished he could take five... take the five previous days erase them and start again. But that was impossible. You have to keep moving forward Anthony. He couldn't keep on dredging up the past. He had to let it go. But it was so hard. To let go, he had to let it out. He couldn't do that... could he?

Could he really do this? Could he really talk to her? Abby was a friend, a good friend... she wouldn't talk... not about something like this. Not if he asked her not to. He felt safe, comfortable. This place was like his Mustang... always good at making him feel... It hit him.

Abby, you sneaky...

She was a good friend... manipulative... but a good friend. She had chosen well. One of his favourite bars with music that you could lose yourself in, lose sense of your surroundings, lose sense of time and... well... lose your own sense... Idiot. He gave himself a silent, metaphorical head slap for having not seen it earlier. Gibbs, now Abby. People had been catching him off guard too often for his liking recently.

"Sir?"

The bar tender tried again.

"What can I get you Sir?"

Tony flinched. Not again. He sighed. He could do this. "Sorry, yeah, can I have..."

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Abby had been watching Tony. He was ordering the drinks now but he'd been distracted, deep in thought. Good. She wanted him to think. Get those little grey cells working Tony! Work it out, whatever it is. You can tell me. I can help. But you need to talk to me.

She had known since the moment she received his text message earlier that morning that Tony would be okay... well, eventually. He would be fine, eventually. It just took time, patience and 'Abby Power'. She would have been really, really, really worried if he hadn't said yes. But he had. That was a good sign and he had taken the offer for what it was. A chat with a friend who was concerned about him, who hated seeing him like this and who just wanted to help.

She would let him talk. She would listen to his noise, see what needed tuning and help him tune it. She could do that.

Easy.

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A/N - Another short one I'm afraid. Final chapter up shortly. Please...

"Hey boss, you know you said pleading for reviews and comments was a sign of insecurity"

"Uh huh", the boss sighed, wondering where SA3466996 was going with this one.

"Well, is not pleading a sign of cockiness?"

"Cockiness SA3466996?"

"Yeah... cockiness, and is there an in between... I mean, how do you know when you've moved from insecurity to cockiness or cockiness to insecurity? Where's the sign for..."

Whack

"Shutting up now boss", winced SA3466996, again.