Title: Favorite
Word Count: 1,662
Characters: Abby, Gibbs
Genre: Friendship
Pairings: None (Gabby if you're looking for it, but only if you're looking)
Line: "She will always be the favorite, Tony."- Ziva about Abby, Season 4 Episode 'Leap of Faith'
Special Agent Leroy Jethro 'don't call me 'sir', the second 'b' is for bastard' Gibbs didn't need anyone. Anything he needed done he could do for himself, and anything he couldn't, he could do without. Or so he liked to believe. But those that knew him well knew otherwise. Knew when to leave him be and let him work things through in his typical bourbon and boat building manner. And they knew when to intervene.
Ducky was good for a distracting story and a drinking companion. Tony for a joke and a reminder of his team's unyielding, uncompromising loyalty to him. Fornell for a cup of coffee and some wise ass remark to get them back to normal. And Abby…was just Abby.
"Are you scaring my agents?"
Gibbs slowly looked up from his computer screen and the look he shot at a looming Abby would have sent most hardened Marines running for the hills. Abby didn't flinch.
"Your agents?"
She ignored this and leaned her hands on his desk, her pigtails falling forward on either side of her head.
"Your office. Now," she narrowed her eyes slightly and pursed her lips, then stood and turned toward the rear elevator.
"This is my office," he countered in a tone that wasn't even remotely amused. Abby did a 180 in those precarious boots and looked at him with her hands on her hips.
"Not this office. The one that has ½ of NCIS taking the stairs every other day," she raised a challenging eyebrow.
Gibbs set his jaw, he was not in the mood. Not even for Abby. His voice went deathly quiet, "you're asking for it, Abbs," he warned.
She shrugged, unperturbed by the dark tone, "been doin' that for years," her eyes glittered mischievously, "besides, you can't slap what you can't reach, Gibbs." She waved from her spot at the other end of the squad room to illustrate her point and then turned to continue her way to the elevator. Punching the call button without looking back, she stepped inside and waited. True to form, just before the doors closed, Gibbs slipped inside.
Abby waited until they were en route before reaching over and flipping the emergency stop switch, "why are you being scary?" she asked, crossing her arms and getting right to the point, "and don't say you're not because right now your entire team is hiding in my lab. Ziva's comparing you to instructors she had in Mossad, Tony has apparently been fired twice already this morning and McGee's so scared you're going to follow through on your threat to shoot him that he's stuttering." She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows impatiently.
Gibbs stared at her for several moments, "I thought I was leading a team of Federal Agents not a girl scout troop," he grumbled mostly to himself, and reached past her to flip the switch again, setting the elevator in motion, "and you can tell my team that if they don't get their asses back up here in the next two minutes I'm going to give them something to be scared of."
Abby frowned at his back as he stepped off the lift back on the squad room floor and just barely caught him muttering something along the lines of, 'first my damn coffee and now this'.
"Wait," she caught his elbow and pulled him into the alcove beside the MTAC stairs, "what about your coffee?"
Gibbs just stared at her, his expression somewhere between exasperated and uncomfortable. She furrowed her brow in concentration looking off to one side as she remembered the last few days in her mind. Gibbs had been irritable, snappy and grumpy, and that was in the bright spots. He'd even been short with her and Ducky, which he never did unless a killer was getting the best of them or…
Her eyes widened and she leaned forward, taking a long whiff of the lapels of his jacket.
She leaned back again, ignoring the strange look he was giving her.
"Gibbs," she squeaked, looking horrified, "did they discontinue Jamaican Blend?"
He cracked an unexpected smile and shook his head, "Abby-"
"Gibbs," she cut him off and dipped her chin, serious as she continued, "Abby's rule Number One: DO NOT lie to Abby."
They were locked in a silent battle of wills for a moment, but no one was more surprised than Abby when Gibbs was the first to look away.
"This is more serious than I thought," she said, her eyebrows now completely hidden under her bangs. Her voice flooded with sympathy then and she pulled him to her in a tight hug, "they did discontinue Jamaican Blend."
Gibbs remained stiff but Abby was insistent and after a moment he returned the embrace.
"I'm so so sorry Gibbs," she pulled back to look at him, this time looking a cross of determined and pissed that most would have sworn only Gibbs was capable of.
"I won't let this stand. I promise," she pulled away to march purposefully back toward the elevator.
"Hey Abbs," he said, unable to resist, "tell me again why you're not an agent?"
She grinned and stepped inside the lift, aware he was referring to the fact that she'd figure out in five minutes what had had his agents baffled all week, "it's too hard to run after suspects in platforms," she pointed at him as the doors started to close, "and don't worry, okay Gibbs? I'm going to fix this. In the mean time, be nice to my agents."
---
"Why the hell are you standing around talking about it? Get to work," Gibbs barked, and watched with less than his usual satisfaction when all three of his agents practically scampered back to their desks and made themselves look busy.
He closed his eyes briefly and bent over the paperwork on his desk. He'd tried to be 'nicer' to his team, per Abby's request (he was calling it that because it irritated him less than 'Abby's orders) but he'd be damned if it wasn't a hell of a lot harder than he'd thought it would be.
Gibbs didn't pay any attention when he heard the rear elevator doors ding open until he heard the familiar clomp-clomp of Abby's boots on approach. He looked up to see her marching, literally marching, toward his desk, holding a ceramic mug of coffee triumphantly in the air. He knew it was one of her mugs, judging by the words 'Forensics Rock!' that were painted on the side. He stood at the end of the desk and handed it to him.
He took it with a raised eyebrow.
"Just drink it, Gibbs."
He sniffed it first. And when the familiar scent hit him he looked up at her with unmasked surprise.
Her grin brightened, "taste it," she insisted.
He did. And the first real grin to grace his face in a very very long time, appeared.
"How did you-?" He started, keeping his eyes on her as he took another sip.
"Well," she began, clasping her hands neatly in front of her, "I definitely did not use Major Mass Spec to analyze trace from a coffee cup you left in my lab three days ago to pinpoint the exact ingredient breakdown of your favorite brew," she paused, lowering her voice conspiratorially, "and if I did, the Major totally owed me one so it's okay."
Gibbs stared at her for several seconds and Tony winced, he'd gotten that look before. It was the one that revealed absolutely nothing, and left you wondering if you'd just done something really brilliant…or impossibly stupid.
He tilted his head. Abby was returning his impassiveness with an unreadable mask of her own.
Finally, at the same moment, secretive grins broke out on both their faces and Tony's mouth dropped and then quirked with a small smile of his own and Ziva narrowed her eyes, coming to stand beside him.
"What just happened?" she asked quietly, watching the exchange with interest.
"She called his bluff," he responded, equally as quiet, "and just how often do they take out Abby's trash? Once a month?"
In that moment Gibbs stood, kissing her on her left cheek.
Abby grinned again, "there's more where that came from. I made an entire pot. It's downstairs in the break room in a coffee pot plainly marked 'touch and die - LJG'. It'll be there when you need a fix…I mean, a refill." She finished, her smile almost turning cocky.
Gibbs just gave a slight shake of his head and leaned in to kiss the other cheek and then stepped around her to cut across the squad room and ascend the stairs to MTAC.
He stopped halfway and leaned over the railing.
"Hey Abby."
"Yes, Great One?" She looked up expectantly.
He dipped his chin, "you're my favorite," he gave her another half smile when she saluted smartly.
Feeling positively giddy, she turned to look at the rest of the team, who were all staring at her with wide-eyed, awestruck expressions and sighed.
"Well, my work here is done." She turned to leave but hadn't made it more than four steps before Tony's voice made her turn back.
"Hey Abbs," he stood up and she tilted her head at him, "you're my favorite too."
"Mine as well," Ziva returned to her desk, looking far more relaxed than she had before.
Tim nodded emphatically, finally letting out the breath he'd been holding for a week and a half, "And mine."
Abby's smile was renewed and she opened her arms to encompass them all and then brought her hands back to rest over her heart.
"Ditto," then she bobbled her head a bit, her grin still firmly in place, and spun around to leave. She punched the button to call the rear elevator and stepped inside.
Just before the doors shut, she looked upward and assured the silence, "it's good to be me."
A/N: I've always loved Abby, she's spunky, she's smart, and she's Gibbs' fave...aw, who am I kidding? I want to be Abby. lol. Hope you all enjoyed this lil bit. Absolutely ecstatic about the reviews I've been receiving, keep it up! They make my world go round! I've already gotten a couple of suggestions for lines, one of them I'm actively working on and another I'm still struggling with, but I wanted to come out and ask if anyone has a line they'd like to see done for McGee, I'd love to hear it. So far, all the lines i have in mind are for Gibbs, DiNozzo, Abby or Ziva, I have NO ideas for McGee. If you're cool with that, I'm cool to, but if you want some McG love, gimme a holler! Thanks!!
A/N: Oh! And I have to apologize, it was brought to my attention that the last line from Episode 'Chained' was from Season 2, not Season 3. I knew I shoulda checked before I posted!!
Next Line: "That's a nice suit, Boss. You didn't get married again, didja?"
