I Told You So
The club was a popular DC spot, and Tony, Tim, Ziva, Jimmy, and Abby had planned to enjoy the evening together, along with their individual dates. Everyone else was already there, either seated at the table or moving rhythmically on the dance floor, when Tony and Eve, his date, arrived. His eyes immediately located Abby dancing with Winston, and he willed himself to relax. She was right, actually, and who she dated was none of Tony's business. She was grown, and she was capable of taking care of herself. No matter what he thought of the guy personally, Abby wanted to be with him. He needed to respect that, and trust Abby to look out for herself.
Abby saw Tony arrive out of the corner of her eye and felt a twinge in her stomach. She had been really mean to him, and he didn't deserve it. He was worried about her, and instead of appreciating it, she had turned on him. She sighed and decided she'd find a way to make it up to him. The truth was that Tony and Gibbs were the only family she had here, and they weren't even blood kin. Their bond had developed and strengthened over the years, and Abby didn't want to lose either Gibbs or Tony. Tony just wanted to keep her safe, and wasn't that what families did for each other?
Glancing at Winston, she admitted to herself that she was more than a little uncomfortable around him, thought she had not told that to anyone. They had been seeing each other for three weeks, and in that time, she had seen him lose his temper, big time, over four or five ridiculous things. The most recent had been at a movie theatre when a man tried to move in front of them down the row to get to his seat. Unfortunately, he stumbled, and his tub of popcorn spilled over Winston and Abby and some other viewers. Winston flew into a rage, calling the patron a fool and a loser, and threatened to fight him, while Abby worked overtime to diffuse the potentially explosive situation. The manager responded to the fracas, and eventually got them all settled and order restored. Nevertheless, Winston muttered observations and insults about the clumsy movie goer throughout the film. Abby spent the rest of the movie trying to absorb what she'd just witnessed.
However, to give Winston his credit, he was extremely good looking and definitely intelligent, and Abby enjoyed carrying on conversations with him. They had many topics of interest in common with each other. He worked for a prestigious public relations firm, and it was relaxing hearing workplace stories that didn't involve dead petty officers and DNA. Winston considered Washington a power base, and had plans to work his way into the employment of the DC powerhouses. He travelled for pleasure quite often, made possible by his six figure salary, and was even a very talented cook. Yes indeed, he had many impressive qualities.
Glancing up, Abby saw Tony looking at her and she smiled in return. To show there were no hard feelings over their fuss, she blew him a kiss. Tony grinned in reply.
Two hours later the group was gathered at the table, and some of them were reluctantly making plans to leave the club. Jimmy shook his head, "I can't believe it's after midnight already. This has been so much fun that I could stay for hours more." Tony and Abby exchanged looks- they both knew what Gibbs thought about staying out too late. Neither wanted to risk sneaking into the house in the wee hours of the morning, breaking one of Jethro's ironclad home rules. Tony had broken that one once and suffered Jethro's wrath and the consequences firsthand. Since then, he and Abby consistently got through the front door before Gibbs even thought to check his watch. Tony finally set his empty glass down and whispered to his date. She giggled and picked up her purse, and they both said their goodbyes to the others and made their way out of the club.
Abby turned to Winston and told him she was ready to leave, which certainly wasn't what he wanted to hear. He took a swallow of his drink and shook his head. Winston wanted to stay for a couple more hours. He tried cajoling Abby into staying longer, but she was insistent that she was ready to leave. With ill grace he finally slammed his glass down and stood up and they started out. The others used their departure as their cue to leave, and they gathered their things as well, and followed to the parking lot.
Winston was angry at the early departure, and was making sure that Abby realized it. He started a verbal tirade stressing his opinion that she had deliberately ruined a perfectly good evening, which he continued as they made their way outdoors. Tired of listening to the insults, when they entered the parking lot Abby stopped, turned around and said firmly, "Winston, you go back if you want. I'm going to get Timmy or one of my friends to take me home. There's no reason for the evening to end early for you. Go on back and have a good time."
Winston took that as a challenge. He reached over and grabbed Abby by the upper arm, snatching her to him. "What do you think you're doing? You're trying to get rid of me aren't you? What's up with that? Have you got some other guy you're running to tonight?" Abby tried to pull away but he yanked her harder. "Let me tell you something- you don't call the shots here. I do. We'll leave this place when I'm good and ready for us to go! You got it?"
