"Oh dear!"

Ducky had watched in silence as Abigail slowly turned, grabbed her bag and walked out of her lab as if in a trance. She had forgotten to turn off her computers and machines in her state of shock. Ducky had beeped in, wanting to ask if she had eaten yet; however, he was quickly silenced as he watched his best friend and surrogate "daughter" kiss.

For years he had been subtly pushing Jethro or Abby to make a move, yet he didn't think that once that move was made, Jethro would leave. Perhaps he had misjudged them. He just hoped that they would resolve this before it created too many problems at work.

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The next day was tense, to say the least. Gibbs, in a rare move, had asked Tony to take evidence to Abby instead of doing it himself as usual. He even sent McGee down with her morning and mid-afternoon Caf!Pows, continuing to avoid her.

In her lab, Abby was quickly becoming furious. Not only had he kissed her, THEN left her standing alone in the dark lab…he was now avoiding any contact at all! As it neared 5 o'clock, Abby felt as if her blood was boiling. Deciding to take the high road, she shut down her lab and stormed out of her lab; heading home…alone.

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"Take this down to Abby."

"Uh, boss, she's gone."

"Gone? McGee, she never leaves this early."

"I know, but she's not there. She already shut off her computers and everything."

"Well, hell. Go home, McGee. Tell DiNozzo and Ziva to head home too, it's quiet around here."

"Ok boss."

Gibbs rubbed his head, feeling a huge headache starting to hit. He barely noticed as the rest of his team left the bullpen, leaving him alone. Which is how Ducky found him.

"Jethro, might I have a word with you?"

"Sure, Duck. What'a got?"

"Yes, well, perhaps this conversation would be best over a glass of bourbon."

"I'll meet you down in the morgue…give me ten minutes to shut down."

"I'll be waiting then, Jethro."

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"Ok, Duck. You wanted to talk about something?"

"Well, I have a confession to make."

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, I had attempted to ask Abigail to join me for dinner last night, as per our usual routine; however, I didn't get that far."

"Uh huh."

"I had beeped in to ask, when I happened to witness a rather personal moment between the two of you."

"Oh hell, Duck, I—"

"You needn't explain anything to me, my friend. However, I do believe you owe one to dear Abigail. She was quite shaken after your abrupt departure. Really, Jethro."

"I didn't… I don't know what to say to her."

"The truth may suffice."

"Yeah, Duck, and what's that?"

"Well, I would venture to say, it may smooth things over if you were to admit that you were shaken by the kiss as well."

"We'll see, Duck. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Jethro."

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