*****
Abby let herself into her apartment , feeling as drained as she usually did after pulling an all-nighter without the benefit of Caf-Pow. She closed the door by leaning against it, reaching a hand behind her to lock it. Before she could move away from it, she found herself pinned there by a familiar and very welcome warm weight.
His lips and tongue teased a moan out of her as he showed his admiration once more for the spider web tattoo on her neck and Abby opened her eyes, a dazed smile on her mouth when he drew away slightly.
"You look tired," Leroy Jethro Gibbs told her after a few moments of just drinking in the sight of her. It felt to both of them like they'd been apart for more than just a few hours and Abby found herself wondering how long that element of their relationship would last with the changes she knew were just around the corner. They'd been together for almost six months though no one at NCIS knew about them – a surprise considering they couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other when they were alone. "I thought you were going to stay in and watch TV."
Abby smiled at him but didn't answer, drawing his head back to hers so she could kiss him thoroughly instead. She felt the need for comfort, to comfort, and there was no better way to do that in her mind than curl up in Gibbs' arms and forget all about the world beyond them.
She soon found herself in that exact position, curled up with him on the couch as soft strands of the country music CD she'd allowed him to bring over to her apartment played in the background. She closed her eyes and nestled further against him, a sigh escaping against her will.
"What's wrong, Abs?" Gibbs asked, his voice a low rumble she felt in his chest.
"Nothing." She sighed against and rubbed her cheek against him. "Just tired, I guess."
"You want to cancel going out tonight and just order something in?" Gibbs ran a soothing hand up and down her back.
Abby stifled a snort but knew he could feel her shoulders tense. "Are we ever going to tell people about us?" She asked quietly, her voice a little muffled by his chest.
His hand stopped for a moment before resuming its course. "That's not why I suggested we stay in, Abby."
"But it'd make it easier, wouldn't it?" She pushed herself into a semi-upright position, looking down at him as he lay against the cushions of the couch. "Admit it, Gibbs, you don't really want risk being seen out with me. It'd be easier if we just stayed in so no one spotted us and found out we're a couple."
"Abby..." With an edge of impatience, Gibbs reached up and drew her down against him, winding his arms and legs around her to keep her in place. "You know I don't have a problem with people finding out eventually. I just don't want to share you yet." He tightened his arms around her as if to prove his point. "I like it being just the two of us for now. Me and my girl."
His choice of words made tears spring to her eyes but she lowered her head so he couldn't see them, wrapping her own arms around him as much as she could.
That was the problem, she thought to herself. As soon as Fornell got clearance to bring Kelly Gibbs back into his life, she'd no longer be his only girl.
*****
It took two weeks for the phone call she'd both been hoping for and dreading to come. Abby hung up without saying goodbye, staring blindly at her computer screen. Fornell hadn't had to give her a heads up that he was bringing Kelly – Melissa – Gibbs to the Navy Yard to be reunited with her father but she appreciated the fact that he had.
Part of her wondered about going up to the bullpen and being there when they arrived but she quashed that idea, deciding Gibbs and his daughter deserved as much privacy as they could get surrounded by curious agents.
She sat at her computer and focused on the report she was writing until McGee, DiNozzo and Ziva arrived in her lab, all breathless and wide-eyed as they fought with each other over who got to break the news to her first.
*****
Gibbs sat in the conference room, his hand wrapped around his daughter's as he half-listened to Fornell explaining how he'd found her. He couldn't take his eyes off her, couldn't let himself believe she was really sitting beside him.
"We created an identity for her that should make it possible to live here in DC," Fornell finished, hands behind his back as he watched them closely. "If anyone asks, Kelly is Melissa Gibbs, the daughter of your second cousin on your mother's side from Montana."
"How do you know they won't be suspicious that Annie Richmond has disappeared at the same time Melissa Gibbs shows up?" Kelly asked quietly, her own gaze lingering on her father.
Fornell gave her a supportive smile. "Our expert saw to that, Kelly – Melissa. As far as the Daniels family is concerned, Annie Richmond is living a normal life in the South of France. Regular instalments will be taken from your old bank account over the course of the next few years in various European cities and there'll be a trail of flight and hostel reservations that should keep them busy for years to come. They haven't been following Agent Gibbs as far as we can tell."
"Their issue is with me," Kelly responded. "I'm the one they want to get revenge against."
"They won't." Gibbs gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "I won't let anyone hurt you again, Kel. I promise."
She smiled almost shyly at him and lowered her head. "I guess you'll have to call me Mel now. And I'll have to call you Uncle Jethro?"
Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Only in public. At home you're Kelly and I'm... I'm just Dad."
It was hard to speak passed the lump in his throat and Kelly could see that. She moved from her seat, into his open arms in an instant, her head against his shoulder as they clung tightly to one another.
"I've missed you so much," she murmured, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. "I thought about you every day, Daddy. I wanted to come home so much."
Unable to speak, Gibbs could only tighten his arms around her, watery blue eyes meeting Fornell's over his daughter's shoulder. Fornell held his gaze for a few moments before nodding, the message of thanks received, and slipping out of the room to allow the reunited father-daughter a few moments alone together.
*****
She fit surprisingly easily into her father's life. Kelly was a little nervous about meeting his team – his friends and family, Fornell had forewarned her – but her worries were cast aside almost as soon as she was introduced to them.
Doctor Donald 'Ducky' Mallard embraced her warmly, welcoming her into the fold as though she were his own long-lost friend.
Special Agents Tony DiNozzo and Tim McGee and Officer Ziva David were just as welcoming although none of them seemed to know exactly how to talk to her. They were happy for her and her Dad, though, that much was obvious and she appreciated them all for it.
Abby Sciuto was the last person her father introduced her to but Kelly got the feeling she was possibly the most important one of them all. She was friendly and warm, as welcoming as all of the others combined... But there was something about her, something Kelly was sure she was holding back.
Kelly's suspicions were confirmed when she slipped out of bed one night a few weeks after her reunion with her father. She went to get a glass of water from the kitchen when she heard the murmuring of voices from the basement. Smiling to herself, remembering sneaking down to watch her father work on his boat as a little girl, watching him move as if in time with the music from the old radio he kept down there, Kelly decided it was time to reacquaint herself with the finer details of boat making.
She wasn't prepared for finding her father locked in a heated embrace with the black-haired Goth.
They continued to kiss, oblivious to her presence, for several long moments. Kelly stood on the stairs, frozen in place, a sense of betrayal growing inside her. She remembered finding her Mom and Dad in a similar position once, when she'd been about six. She'd giggled then, finding it funny.
Finding it amusing.
There was nothing amusing about watching her father press Abby against the bow of the boat, his hands in her hair as he kissed her deeply.
They parted after a while, exchanging a long, loving look she recognised, too. She saw her father smile in a way she could see so clearly in her memories, his eyes sparkling as he gazed at the woman in his arms.
A woman who wasn't her mother.
Kelly turned to go back up to her room, tears streaming down her cheeks, but the stair beneath her creaked and gave away her position.
"Kels..." She heard her father say her name and turned to glare at him, wiping her cheeks with the sleeve of her pyjama top.
"You're sick," she spat at them, her voice trembling as her eyes fixed on the black haired woman doing her best to disappear. "She's a freak and you're old enough to be her father."
"Kelly!" A note of anger crept into her father's voice but she ignored it, turning on her heel and running up the stairs to her room.
She buried her head in the blankets on her bed but could still hear the sound of the front door behind closed quietly and a car starting on the street outside. She heard her father's footsteps on the stairs, on the landing outside of her room.
He didn't come in and she couldn't decide whether to be disappointed or relieved.
Curling up like she was a little girl again, Kelly pressed her pillow against her face and tried to block out the ache in her chest.
*****