Proclaimer: I own nothing of NCIS, just love the show!

Pairing: Gibbs and Abby.


Red or black?

4. Remembering love

Jenny called him righteous once. He looked thoughtful at the redhead next to him, she had physically nothing in common with Jenny. Thinking of Jenny still hurt like hell. His thoughts drifted away, remembering the times when they were in Paris, where they had been so happy together.

For the second time he forgot about the woman next to him as he got lost in his thoughts. Shannon, Jenny … his first and second love, both dead. There had been other women and a few wives, but he never loved any of them liked he loved Shannon and Jenny. Loved them both in so very different ways and for so many different reasons. And the way he loved Abby... The more he silently dared to admit his love for her, the more it seemed real. Now, for the first time, he saw the resemblance between the three women. It was the way they loved him that made him love them, their different personalities made him just love them more for all the other different reasons. It hit him like a ton of bricks. It had nothing to do with hair colour. God, what an idiot! All three had seen him for who he was, deep inside, and loved him for that. Unconditional love, wanting nothing more than for him to be happy, not forcing him into something he wasn't ready for. Could it really be that easy?

"What's wrong, Marine. You seem distracted. Stay with me, I'd hate to lose you tonight." Her voice brought him back again and her words were clear as she placed her hand on his arm. She was going for the kill, and he didn't even know her name, let alone that he was ready for it.

"Just trying to find the missing piece to the puzzle. If I find it, you win."

"Well in that case I'll leave you for a few minutes to figure it out. Hopefully you'll know what you want when I come back" she said, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek, leaving a hint of her perfume hanging in the air as she walked towards the rest rooms.

The smell kick-started a storm of emotions and his body reacted instantly, despite the amount of alcohol he'd already consumed. It smelled like gunpowder, like Abby! "Abbs!", he whispered softly. Nobody else smelled like that, only Abby smelt like Abby. The smell was so out of place that it confused him even more and for a second he thought he was losing his mind. Bourbon didn't help at all, but he drank it just the same. If he was going to lose his mind he might as well speed things up and get it over with, right now.

Like he was struck by lightning it hit him that his mystery lady reminded him of Abby. Not because of the way she looked or dressed, the clothes were wrong, the make-up was wrong, the hair was wrong. But the eyes were right, her body was more than right and the way she made him feel was as right as it could get. Was Miss Mystery really a red headed version of his Abby? Did Abby have a sister he didn't know of?

Impossible, Gunny. Think straight! There's only one Abbs!