A few minutes later, Gibbs pushed through the main door to the motel with Abby holding tight to the back of his coat. Briefly, she rested her forehead against his back, between his shoulders. Snow fell in chunks as they stomped their feet and brushed at their coats.
A short elderly woman greeted them at the check-in desk; her face expressionless and her voice a careless monotone. "Welcome to the Deer Run Inn," she iterated.
Gibbs was already reaching for his wallet. "We'd like two rooms for the night.
"One room left," she droned. "Take it or leave it."
Abby quickly stepped forward. "We'll take it." Gibbs grinned at the woman then filled out a form and provided a credit card.
He looked at the small white name tag pinned to the woman's left chest. "Thank you, Marta."
She jerked her chin up into the air as she slid a key onto the desk. "Second floor, room 214." Marta turned to go back to her chair and t.v. and added, "Have a nice stay."
Grabbing their luggage, they headed around a corner to the elevator. As the doors closed, Gibbs held out his hand, palm up. "Look at this. A metal key, not some plastic card. Don't expect too much when we get to the room."
Exiting the elevator, they walked down a narrow hall, hearing muffled voices as they passed other rooms. "The Deer Run Inn," Abby said thoughtfully. "Wonder if that means anything?"
Gibbs used the key on the door with 214 painted in bright orange. As they stepped inside, he flipped on a light and they stopped, side by side, staring at their surroundings.
Abby let her luggage slip from her hands. "Wow, this must be the honeymoon suite."
Rolling his eyes, Gibbs turned to recheck the number on the door before closing and locking it.
Abby went further into the room, walking around and looking at everything. The dominating features were pale pink walls and a large heart-shaped bed. A red and white striped love seat set in a small alcove to the right. In front of the undersized couch was a pink painted stand with a large flat screen t.v. perched on top. A small cold fireplace, without a mantle, was built into the wall near the bed. A deep red shag carpet covered the entire floor.
Gibbs tossed the room key onto a wooden pink painted table that had two white chairs set up to it. "Looks like Saint Valentine vomited in here," he commented.
Abby stared at a large mounted deer head hanging on the wall above the fireplace. "Not very Christmassy," she mumbled, feeling sorry for the buck that had been killed.
Gibbs could see that she was agitated. "Why don't you relax with a hot bath and I'll get us something to eat. You think they have room service?"
Grabbing the smallest of her three bags, Abby headed into the bathroom as Gibbs searched for the phone. There was several seconds of silence before a shrieking scream issued from inside the bathroom. Instantly, Gibbs was pulling his gun and moving across the room. The door banged open and Abby charged out.
She had already removed her shirt, but it was clutched in her hands as she held it over her chest. "There's a… there's a b… bear in there!" Gibbs shot her an incredulous look. "Behind the door, a bear!" she insisted.
With his gun still drawn, Gibbs moved into the bathroom then spun and kicked the door shut. Two seconds later he came out, re-holstering his weapon. "It's a stuffed bear."
"I know that! But it's the whole bear! Standing in the corner like it's gonna come at me. Did you see those teeth? And those claws reaching out?" Abby was about to imitate the pose of the stuffed black bear but quickly realized she wasn't actually wearing her shirt. "I can't go back in there, Gibbs. Jeeeez! What is the matter with these people? A nice room like this and then they put dead creepy animals all around."
Gibbs had disappeared into the bathroom again and came out grinning and chuckling softly. "I can't move it, Abby. It's anchored down. Guess they didn't want anyone to steal it." She was sitting on the edge of the bed and with a jolt, he realized for the first time that her upper body was naked, covered only by a small shirt that she held to her breasts. The creamy skin of her shoulders and arms and stomach were all revealed to his eyes. And god, he couldn't help but let his gaze roam slowly across her body.
Abby watched his eyes and felt her skin heat in response. "Cover it up, Gibbs," she spoke in a quiet tone.
His eyes instantly dropped to his zipper then his chin jerked up. "Huh?"
"I don't want that bear watching me when I'm in there."
"Right," he responded, moving towards the couch. "I'll take a blanket and throw it over the beast." He chuckled nervously. "We'll cover it up."
Get it together, Marine! You're acting like a schoolboy!
Grabbing a folded blanket, Gibbs turned and his eyes instantly focused on Abby's bare back. He was seeing every tattoo, all at once. The stick figures on her shoulders and the beautiful ornate cross on her lower center back. The very bottom of the cross was hidden beneath her waistband, but this was the most he had ever seen of it. His feet stopped momentarily as he looked at every line and swirl and intimate detail. Unknowingly, he took a step closer to the bed, tempted to reach out and trace the inked lines with his fingertips.
When Abby reached up to tuck a strand of loose hair behind her ear, that's when he saw it, the soft outer swell of her right breast. It was round and beautiful and enticing. He could imagine pressing a kiss to the warm supple skin. Gibbs instantly gave himself a mental head slap. This was Abby, for crying out loud! She didn't think of him in that way and he certainly shouldn't be gazing upon her smooth, unintentionally exposed, skin!
As Gibbs' long strides took him past her, towards the bathroom, Abby gave a small knowing smile. The bit of bare skin that she had exposed was definitely having an effect on him. And when she had reached up to fix her hair, she was almost positive he had let out a low moan. Was Gibbs physically attracted to her? Hmmmm, she'd have to keep that in mind as the night progressed.
Thirty minutes later, Abby had taken her bath and was dressed in her warm black and red flannel pajamas. Gibbs had retrieved sandwiches and hot coffee from the small motel kitchen on the first floor. They sat across from one another on the white wooden chairs at the small pink table. The sound of the howling wind continued to remind them of the raging blizzard outside and once in a while, icy snow pelted their window.
Abby took a bite of her thick ham and cheese sandwich. She hadn't eaten since lunch and her stomach growled with appreciation. "Did you call Jack and tell him where we are?" she asked, after half her sandwich was gone.
"Yeah, while you were in the bath. He doesn't know if we'll be able to even make it to his place tomorrow."
Abby couldn't help the disappointed look on her face. "Some Christmas, huh?"
Gibbs had finished his sandwich and sat back, drinking his coffee. "From where I'm sitting, it couldn't get much better," he said positively.
Abby smiled. "Even though we're stuck in the middle of nowhere in a drab little motel?" His eyes were dark and serious as he looked across the table, and Abby felt a tingle shimmy down her spine. Suddenly she was glad that she was stuck in this little motel with Gibbs. The look he was giving her was positively smoldering.
"As long as I'm with you, Abby, nothing else matters."
Standing up quickly, she moved towards the bed to get away from his intense blue gaze. Lifting her suitcase onto the coverlet, she opened it. "I was planning on going to Mass tonight."
Gibbs gathered up the wrappings to their sandwiches and threw them away. "I know. I was gonna take you."
She was digging for her book buried beneath sweatshirts and jeans. "You were?"
"I'm gonna take a shower," was all he responded with.
"I'm gonna read," she said softly and walked towards the couch. Sitting, she pulled a blanket across her legs then watched Gibbs root around in his bag for his sleepwear. As he continued to search, Abby wondered if perhaps he hadn't brought anything to sleep in. They hadn't expected to be sharing a room, so maybe he hadn't packed pajamas. She even wondered if perhaps when he was alone, if he slept in the nude.
Abby could feel her cheeks start to warm as her thoughts strayed. Dropping her eyes to her open book, she knew she had to get her mind on a different track. But to what? The snow and the cold outside. The deep white drifts and bone-chilling wind. Coming in from outside and curling up to Gibbs' hot naked body.
NO! Snow… cold. Repeat. Snow… cold… snow… cold… snow… cold.
Gibbs disappeared into the bathroom and Abby released the tension in her body, physically shuddering from head to toe. Dropping her head back to rest against the couch, she closed her eyes and pressed her cool hands against her burning cheeks.
Get a grip, Sciuto! Musn't lose control!
Opening her eyes, Abby smiled and whispered aloud, "Play the game you've always wanted to play." Quickly moving back to her suitcase, she unbuttoned her cozy flannel top to add something a bit more revealing beneath it. Returning to the couch, she listened to the spray of the shower as images of her silver-haired fox danced in her head. So what if she was opening her fantasy Christmas gift a bit early. She wanted to enjoy at least one present on Christmas Eve.
As she waited for Gibbs to rejoin her, the lights began to flicker and at one point, they actually went off before instantly coming back on. The lights continued to fluctuate for several minutes before a complete blackout occurred. Expecting the lights to regain their energy, she sat and waited in the dark.
"Abby!" Gibbs yelled from the bathroom.
"I'm okay, Gibbs," she called back.
"Don't move. I'll come to you."
Instead of staying put, Abby carefully made her way to her suitcase and could hear Gibbs enter the room. Knowing exactly what she was doing, her fingers easily found her flashlight and she flicked it on. Swinging the beam around the room, she saw that Gibbs had wandered over near the door.
When the bright light landed on his face, he raised a bare arm, shielding his eyes. "You've got a headlamp?" he stated with surprise.
Abby reached up to her forehead and tilted the lamp down off his face. "Yeah, don't you? I always pack it whenever I travel." It was then that she noticed he was only wearing a white towel around his waist. The light glistened off water droplets covering his bared upper-torso. Abby's heart rate quickened as she watched the water drip from his dark silver hair, onto his broad shoulders, then trickle slowly down his muscular chest and flat stomach before getting absorbed into the towel.
Oh, to be one of those drops of water, she thought.
Gibbs stepped towards her with a small grin. "That's good thinking, Abbs. All I have is a small penlight in my bag."
"You really should get a headlamp," she responded and watched him move past her to retrieve his light. "The strap goes around your head so it leaves your hands free for doing stuff. When I travel with friends, I use it as a reading light in bed."
Her lamp landed upon the rippling muscles of his arms then down to his broad hands and long fingers that were searching inside his bag. The incredible sight of his wet toned body was making her jittery, so she kept talking. "It even has a high and low beam." Reaching up, she flicked a switch on the lamp to demonstrate. "This isn't the only one I have, either. I keep one in my car and in my nightstand and I even have one in my lab. That one has come in real handy on several occasions. And the one in my car, well, I couldn't live without it."
Gibbs straightened and switched on his tiny penlight. "I didn't think you were afraid of the dark, Abbs."
"Oh, I'm not," she answered quickly. "I just hate bumping into things. Leaves nasty bruises." Her light reflected off the many droplets that hung tenuously to his silver chest hair and she felt that tingle shimmy down her spine again.
"I'm gonna finish drying off and get dressed," he said, heading for the bathroom. "Then we should go down to the lobby and see what's up."
Several minutes later, when Gibbs re-emerged, he found the room lit with many flickering candles. "You pack these too, Abby?" he asked with surprise.
She no longer wore her headlamp and continued lighting more candles around the room. "I found them in the nightstand. A whole drawer full. Plus some instructions we should follow during a power outage." She handed two laminated sheets to Gibbs. Setting down the box of matches, she moved to sit beside him on the bed. "So, what do the instructions say?"
Gibbs skimmed the paragraphs and read the highlights aloud. "They have two generators but they're not big enough to run everything in the motel. Keep the lights off, use the candles. Turn the thermostat down, way down. Run as little water as possible. There's wood available if we want to use the fireplace. Simple meals will be provided and delivered three times a day in a basket that will be placed outside our door."
"Sounds like they want to keep everyone in their rooms," Abby observed.
"The less people wandering around in the dark, the better." Gibbs continued reading. "There are extra blankets in the closet along with some games."
Abby's eyes scanned the room. "I haven't seen a closet, have you?"
"No. Did you look in the cabinet under the t.v.?"
"Guess the t.v. is useless, too," Abby stated as she pulled open the small doors beneath it. "Oh, wow! I don't think we'll get bored." One by one she pulled out the items and named them off. "Two decks of cards, checkers, chess, Monopoly, and cribbage."
"I think we've only got the two extra blankets," Gibbs stated, "and the bear is using one."
Abby threw him a sly smile. "We'll just have to sleep close."
Gibbs grinned in response. "I have no problem with that."
"So you weren't planning on sleeping on the couch tonight?"
"Are you kidding?" he said giving a small snort. "I've never slept in a heart-shaped bed. This may be my only chance."
Abby turned away to hide her smile and felt a fluttering in her stomach. This Christmas was getting better all the time. She fiddled with the thermostat, trying to regain her composure. "Would you mind starting a fire? Might stay a little warmer that way."
"I was thinking the same thing," he agreed. "We could set the table in front of the fire and play a couple games."
Abby nodded. "It's scary sometimes how much we think alike. What should we play?"
"Up to you, Abbs," he responded before heading out the door to retrieve some wood.
A/N: To be continued…