AN: Thanks so much for all the reviews you guys. I'm glad you all are liking it so far! I'm posting tomorrow's chapter now (there's 9 mins til tomorrow)...somehow I doubt you guys will be complaining...me thinks you'll likey the chapter! Review and let me know... :)

McGee sighed quietly and looked down at Abby, her head rested on his chest. He knew she wasn't asleep. It'd been almost an hour since she woke from her nightmare and she still hadn't fallen back to sleep. He'd tried everything to get her to rest.

He'd offered to make her warm milk and honey and went on to explain how his grandmother had deemed it to be a "McGee family secret for liquid sleeping pills." He told her of summers he'd spent at his grandparents' home and how it was the only thing that could get him and Sarah to sleep on hot, sticky nights in the early days of August. She declined.

He tried to placate her with movies. He could never fall asleep with the TV on, but he knew from past experience that Abby could sleep in a front row seat at a monster truck rally if she needed to. So he'd offered her two of her favorites, The Princess Bride or The Goonies. She'd sighed and declined. She didn't even laugh when he'd offered to do the truffle shuffle.

He'd offered to triple check the locks on the doors and windows. That one she'd agreed to, but she'd come with him, hanging onto his shoulder with one arm, while keeping the other one wrapped around his waist. Had he not been so mad at himself for making her cry earlier, he would have yelled at her to get off of him, as walking in the dark with a loaded weapon was made exceedingly difficult with someone playing the part of his Siamese twin.

He'd called Morrison and Davis for a sit rep and the exhausted agents informed him that everything was status quo. He'd called his contact in Metro who reported that three patrols had been dispatched and there was no sign of Mawher or the motorcycle that an eyewitness had described him riding away from McGee's apartment. For the time being, it was safe to say that Abby wasn't in danger, but McGee knew she didn't believe it as evidenced by the way her arms were wrapped tightly around him as they laid in the darkness.

Her voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"Get to sleep McGee. Gibbs'll kill you if you're tired tomorrow," she said, not moving from her position or loosening her tightly clasped arms. He loved being close to her, but the Vulcan death grip she had around his waist was a little much.

"Pretty sure I'm already dead, Abs. Besides, you're up."

"So what, if I'm up, you're up?" she asked quizzically, not entirely sure what, if any, game he was playing.

"You got it." He responded.

He was exhausted, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. For one thing, he wasn't used to falling asleep with her as close as she was. Often times, they'd ended up in each other's company late at night and after extensively strenuous bouts of... physical activity, they'd fallen asleep together. But Abby had always made one thing clear: she didn't do the sleep and snuggle, or "sluggling" as she'd once referred to it. On occasion, they'd wake up entangled in each other, which often times couldn't be avoided, but he was with her on the sluggling. Too many times he would end up with back pain, or a stiff neck. One person would fall asleep comfortably while the other would lay awake in the darkness suffering from pins and needles. The numb one would try and move, eventually waking the other. In both of their eyes, it wasn't worth the hassle.

"McGee, that's crazy. Just go to sleep." She answered.

"What about you?" he asked, trying desperately to not let her know how tired he actually was.

"Sleep's not happenin' tonight McGee. I'm a lost cause. So you may as well try and get some shut eye for the both of us."

McGee wondered why she was encouraging him to sleep. After all, how could he protect her if he was sleeping? He'd sworn to keep her safe while she was with him and he'd meant everything he'd said. So he once again, denied her request.

"I'm fine. I don't need to sleep."

She looked up at him wide-eyed. Clearly, she'd had a revelation. She released her Vulcan death grip and his kidneys breathed a sigh of relief as she pushed herself up on her arms.

"Oh my god, I'm keeping you up. No wonder you can't sleep, I'm sluggling you. Well, technically not sluggling because I'm not sleeping and you're not sleeping, but if you were to go to sleep and I was still like this, then that'd be considered sluggling and…"

He smiled at her rant and for the first time since they'd gone to bed, he felt the old Abby coming back. He placed a finger to her lips and cut her off.

"Abby, I'm perfectly comfortable and I could easily sleep with you in my arms like this," he began. Her eyes softened at his confession, which made him voice a different reason for refusing to sleep. He could have said, "I'm fine," again or he could have made up some excuse about being afraid of Gibbs. Both were viable tactics, but when he saw her eyes, his excuse was not what either of them had expected him to say.

"Truthfully, I kinda missed laying with you like this. It feels… nice. So just shut up and come here, would you please?" he said pulling her back down against him and wrapping his arms around her. And it was then, when her head rested against his chest that he'd realized what he'd said. It was like his brain had been on a ten second delay with his mouth. And he panicked.

Why had he said that? Sure it was the truth, but why had he brought it up? Why the hell hadn't he just gone with…with anything else? Why had he brought up the fact that he liked having her in his arms? It was almost romantic and after the night Abby had been through, the last thing she needed was to have her overly caffeinated brain processing the meaning behind what he'd said.

"McGee?"

'Here we go,' he thought. He knew she couldn't have let it go.

"Yeah, Abs?" he asked quietly, ready to take the brunt of whatever she was going to dish out. Although, he realized that she was still laying in his arms, so he wasn't quite sure what she was going to serve up.

"Thanks."

He furrowed his brow. What could she possibly be thanking him for? Most women were confusing, but Abby was unlike any other in that department.

"Uhh, for what, exactly?" he asked.

She sighed deeply. "For making me feel better. And for staying up with me."

He smiled as his chin rested against her head. The faint smell of her shampoo wafted into his nose and he couldn't help but be reminded of the occasions when he'd woken up entangled with her after a night of passion. He loved those mornings.

"Anytime Abs," he said, hugging her closer to him.

A moment passed and she spoke again.

"Hey McGee,"

"Mmmhhmm?" he answered, sighing. He'd closed his eyes and the green orbs were thankful for it.

"I'm sorry."

And his eyes were open again; filled with the same confusion as before. What could she be sorry for? He'd been the jerk. He'd been the one who yelled at her and scared her half to death when he ripped his own shirt from her body. He'd been the one who let her cry herself to sleep only to be plagued by a nightmare that had made her more terrified than he'd ever seen. Why was she sorry? He uttered the only possible reason that he could think of.

"For calling me an ass…" She cut off the explicative.

"No, not that. You deserved that."

McGee sighed. 'Yeah, I did' he thought as he awaited her response.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you," she said quietly.

And he finally in the pitch darkness of his bedroom he saw the light. He saw everything clearly. As much as he had been blaming himself, she had been blaming herself. He'd been so preoccupied with the fact that he hadn't been there to protect her when Mikel had gotten in that he hadn't even realized that Abby felt completely and solely responsible for everything. He stroked her arm gently as he began to speak.

"Abby, listen to me, none of this is your fault."

"But I shouldn't have opened the door!" she protested.

"And I shouldn't have left you. That was my mistake Abby," he said, tilting her chin towards him with a finger. "A mistake I'm not making again Abs. I'm not leaving you."

He had wanted to kiss her. Badly. His entire body was screaming for him to do so, but as he looked in her eyes, he couldn't do it. Abby needed to feel safe tonight and that was what he was going to do. He would hold her and keep her from harm, but he wouldn't complicate things any more between them. Instead, he placed a long kiss on her forehead. It signified his promise to keep her safe, to put her protection and her feelings of comfort before his own and before anything else. He pulled back and looked into her eyes and knew she understood.

She settled back into his embrace comfortably. He'd told her that he'd missed this…the way they were laying together. And she had too. There was something about his arms being around her that made her feel like nothing in the world could get to her. It reminded her of mornings that she'd woken up intertwined with his body, after a long night. And Abby had to admit... she loved those mornings.

AN: And by the time I made final edits, it's already after midnight here! WooHoo!