"One night I was in my lab and it was dark and stormy…" - Abby To Fornell
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"Just do it DiNozzo!" Gibbs was louder than usual and Tony wasn't sure it was because he was angry or simply wanted to out due the thunder outside.
Tony caught the umbrella Gibbs had started to throw towards him and lifted it up. "On it…" He peered over at Ziva and McGee who were getting themselves ready for the trip outside the doors. Ziva was slipping on her bright orange cap while McGee was buttoning up his jacket as high up as it would go.
The three of them watched Gibbs enter the elevator, and it wasn't long until the complaining began. "Why isn't he coming with us?" McGee spouted off first, followed by a partially annoyed Ziva.
"He really trusts us to handle a scene alone?"
Tony was calm about the whole thing. "He obviously has something more important to take care of…"
"More important than a new case? What could possibly be more important to the man?"
Tony knew instinctively where Gibbs was headed but opted not to share. "Probie, pull up the truck to the curb would ya…."
Gibbs entered through the front door of the lab and half expected Abby to be barricaded in the corner with her futon mattress on top of her. But instead, found her with only a few covers over her face. He reached for them slowly and pulled them down to reveal her child like expression.
"Abs…it's me."
She opened her eyes and stopped fighting the attempt to pull the covers down. She reached her arms around his neck and pulled him down to the ground. "Stay down Gibbs…you never know what could come through those windows…"
Gibbs eased himself down and tried hard not to roll his eyes. "Abs, it's bullet resistant glass…nothing is coming through those windows…"
"Yeah, well if a twister throws a stop sign through one at 200mph, is that glass gonna stop it? I think not." She threw the covers over the both of them and they two were left inches from each other in darkness.
"What's it going to take to get you over this fear Abs?"
Abby shrugged. "If I move out of the state..."
"There's natural disasters every where Abby…you're a scientist, you have to know the odds of something happening to this building because of a storm."
She cuddled in closer to him, with one hand throwing the covers completely over them, letting her free hand grip his own. He responded by taking in a deep breath. He may have been a little too close for comfort.
"And what's the blanket gonna protect us from?"
"The shards of glass…duh!" She sighed. "You know, it's a comfort thing Gibbs…haven't you ever heard the expression…'hiding under the covers." She couldn't make out his facial expression, but assumed he was staring at her the way he always did. "Just trust me, we're safe."
"And why's that again?"
She leaned into him and let her head hide in the crevice of his neck. "Cuz you're here."
It was a simple three words, but three words that almost caused Leroy Jethro Gibbs to blush. Almost. "It's not me Abs, it's the building, the walls, and the ceiling…"
She lifted her head up to meet his eyes, the blue in them still glowing, despite the darkness. "No, it's you…"
Again, another simple phrase, but somehow the mere fact that it came out of her mouth, almost caused butterflies in his stomach. Almost. "You really are something else, you know that?"
She nodded. "Yes, but you love me…"
He wrapped his arm around her and let her head fall once again against his chest. He softly kissed the back of her head. "That I do Abs…that I do."
