Disturbing Behavior
By: Raven612
Chapter 6: New Day, New Obstacles
A/N: And here it is ladies and gentlemen!! The chapter you've all been waiting anxiously for! So now, please read and I would soooo love for anyone that reads it to drop me a sweet little review, they are what I look forward to the most, aside from an actual Gabby relationship on the TV show, but hey I can dream.
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The first day in the hospital had passed by in a blur for both Abby and Ducky. They both went through explanations on their physical therapy, what they can and cannot do once they leave the hospital, (Gibbs and the team are to make sure they stick to their can do's and can't do's) and the results from the tests run on their lungs. The results had shown what the doctors had expected; both Ducky and Abby had inhaled some poisonous fumes. That result had given them an extra two days in the hospital to complete lung exercises and to make sure they get a good intake of pure oxygen three times a day.
Abby was just finishing her morning breathing exercises when Gibbs softly knocked on her door. She and her nurse looked up, and both gave him a welcoming smile. "Hey Gibbs, ho-"
Abby was about to ask him how he was doing, but June cut her off, "Now Abigail, you know there is no talking while you wear the mask, just deep breathes in and deep breathes out," June patted Abby's hand as if to make some sort of point, Abby just rolled her eyes and continued her breathing once she noticed the stare from Gibbs.
"She actually lets you call her Abigail?" Gibbs asked with a raised brow as he went to stand next to June.
June chuckled and her large bosom bounced along with her laughter, "She knows I only get formal with her name when I have a point to make or when I want her to listen, you know she is one of the chattiest patients I have ever had, and she is also my favorite. She's got a fire." June then winked down at Abby, Abby merely shook her head.
Gibbs, how is everything, is he being sent away? If Abby couldn't use her mouth to talk to Gibbs, she'd just use her hands.
He has to go to trial first before anything is decided; if I had any say in the matter I'd kill him right now.
I know Gibbs, and I might be a bit more comfortable knowing he was dead, but it's not up to us right now.
He doesn't deserve anything he gets.
Gibbs, there's no way he could walk, no way at all, by the way, who is processing the evidence?
Gibbs sighed, she was always thinking about evidence and worried it would get screwed up, Don't worry Abby, it's getting processed by capable hands, one of our lab techs is using metro's lab.
Abby cringed at the thought of the mediocre lab; well almost any lab was mediocre compared to hers, in her mind at least. They better know what they're doing.
"Oh enough with the flying hands, if you wanna talk you can do it now, you're therapy for the morning is over." June said as she turned off the oxygen machine and gently took the mask from Abby's face.
Abby smiled at her, "Thank you June, it was a pleasure."
June smiled a knowing smile, "Abigail, how many times have I told you, sarcasm does not fly with me pumkin."
Abby smiled at the nurse, "I know, but I gotta test the waters every now and then, I don't want to lose my ability with it."
June chuckled as she wrapped the plastic tube around the oxygen tank so that she could wheel it out of the room, "Well you kids behave yourselves, I'll be back soon to check on ya, gotta see how my other patient is doing." As she walked out of the room she turned her head and gave a wink to Abby and Gibbs.
Gibbs watched her leave before turning to Abby, "She would annoy me."
Abby swatted his arm, "Gibbs!"
He looked down at her with a smile, and she smiled back at him sensing he was only joking with his earlier comment. "You doing alright, are you in any pain?"
Abby shook her head, "They keep me pretty well drugged up, can't feel a thing, but it is hard to sleep with my leg up in the sling 24/7." She frowned as she recollected this information to Gibbs.
Gibbs nodded his understanding, "Well you and Duck should be out of here soon," he didn't want to add that they may not be out in time for Clay's funeral; it was less than a week away.
Abby looked sad a moment, she began to wring her hands, "Gibbs," she ventured in a quiet voice.
He looked at her quizzically, "Hmm?"
"I miss Ducky; I haven't seen or talked to him in two days, two days Gibbs! I'm dying here, I need to see him, need to see that he's okay. I have to see with my own eyes."
Gibbs sighed, "Abby, I would love to take you to see him, but you're confined to your bed until your oxygen exercises are complete, you heard what the doctor said the other day if you over exerted yourself with the weak state your lungs are in."
Abby fixed him with a look, "Gibbs, you make it sound as if I'm dying and that my lungs will disintegrate at any moment, but you know and I know that they're just fine. Ducky and I didn't inhale enough fumes to make it so hazardous to our heath. You just got over protective of us and that's why we have to have treatment three times a day rather than one."
Gibbs then fixed her with his own stare, "There is no argument, and you are both to stay in bed until the doctor gives his okay." As he finished his sentence Gibbs bent and gave her a good-bye kiss on her forehead.
"Don't you mean until you give the doctor the okay to tell us okay?" she called after him as he left her room; he merely chuckled and shook his head without looking back at her.
Gibbs continued his chuckling as he entered Ducky's room, "Morning Duck," he greeted as he pulled up a chair next to Ducky's bedside.
Ducky had already completed his breathing exercise for the morning as was propped up in his bed with some pillows, that after noon some specialists were coming to see him and get him started with his physical therapy. "Ah, good morning Jethro, I heard Abigail yelling at you as you walked in so I trust that she is doing alright."
Gibbs smiled and nodded, "She's her usual self, but I'm still worried about her Duck."
Ducky smiled his always knowing smile, "I know you are Jethro, I think everyone is. Abigail doesn't seem like it and she would surely never admit it, but she is a rather fragile girl."
Gibbs nodded, "I'm just afraid that her good moods and cheery disposition is just an act, to steer us away from worrying about her and her way of hiding how much this whole thing has affected her."
Ducky nodded once again, "Abigail doesn't like when others worry about her, she doesn't want to be a burden, and I dare say she is very far from ever being one, but she worries about those kinds of things. I would like to see her, get her to talk to me, I know she has nightmares; I hear her wake up and scream in the middle of the night. She is trying to be brave, but it's an act she won't be able to keep up long, but I hope that when she lets her guard down, one of us is there to help her through her feelings."
Gibbs sighed and ran his hand over his face, "Don't worry Duck, you know we're always here for her, and you too," Gibbs raised a brow at his final words and waited to hear what Ducky had to say.
Ducky looked away a moment and was silent for a few minutes before he looked at Gibbs once again, "Jethro, if I could be brutally honest for a moment…" he trailed waiting for Gibbs' reply.
"What is it Duck?"
"This whole situation scares the shit out of me."
Gibbs couldn't help the smirk that appeared on his face when Ducky forcefully pushed those words out of his mouth; Gibbs reached over and thumped him on the shoulder in a friendly manner, "I wouldn't think you sane if you felt otherwise, Duck."
Ducky managed a small, good humored smile, "No, I should suppose not, who isn't afraid when they wake up after a thirteen hour nightmare to find they are paralyzed."
"But you have the chance to walk again, albeit, that it will take some time, and it will be painful as hell, but I know you can get through it."
Ducky chuckled lightly, but then grew serious a moment as he realized it was a weekday and Gibbs was out of the office, "Jethro, aren't you supposed to be at work right now?"
Gibbs sighed and nodded before pushing himself out of his chair, "Yeah, but neither me nor the rest of the team could concentrate until one of us came over to check up on you both and come back with a full report. DiNozzo really wanted to come, but I knew he would screw it up somehow."
Ducky chuckled at that thought, "Anthony is a bit of a walking disaster, say Jethro, before you leave, could you let Abigail know I am fine and that I miss her."
Gibbs nodded as he walked towards the door, "Sure thing Duck."
Ducky smiled and nodded a farewell to Gibbs before he turned his head back to face the wall. He tried with all his might to move a toe, but it was useless, and he knew it would be until he went through some therapy. He sighed and slapped his hand across his thighs, "Useless legs," he muttered in an annoyed tone under his breath.
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Just after Gibbs had left Abby a second time she had begun her quest to pester the doctor to let her leave her bed for a quick visit with Ducky. She also had a back-up plan, if the doctor didn't fall for her methods, she figured she could always sweet talk June. June had come to take Abby's breakfast tray when Abby asked June to get her doctor, it was an emergency. June hurried down the hall to fetch the doctor.
"Abby, what is it? What's wrong?" He practically shouted as he began the frantically search her vitals and the printout from the machine hooked up to her lungs.
"I demand an hour out of this bed so that I can see Ducky."
The doctor stopped his searching and rounded on her, "That is what you had me rushing in here like a mad man for? I thought it was an emergency!
"But it is an emergency, I haven't seen Ducky in two days, I need to talk to him." She tried her innocently pleading voice on the doctor.
He crossed his arms and gave her a stern look, "Miss Scuito, for the betterment of your health you are restricted to your bed for the next thirty six hours."
"But I've already been in this damn bed for over twenty four hours; I'm starting to get sores on my butt!"
June hid her chuckle and looked away when the doctor shot her a look, he then sighed, "Miss Scuito, I am very sorry, but there is no way I am authorizing you to get out of bed before 11pm tomorrow evening."
Abby fixed him with a glower, "What is so wrong with me getting out of this bed for an hour, I'd only be transferred to a wheelchair, it's not like I'd be walking."
"She does have a point there, doctor, the only reason she is confined to her bed is so that she doesn't over exert her lungs, but if we were to put her in a wheelchair and wheel her over to Mr. Mallard's room, that should be fine, right?"
The doctor then rounded on June, "I do not need you taking the patients side, you are to make sure she stays in this bed." And with those final words he strode out of the room.
June went to stand next to Abby, "Sorry sugar, it seems your little plan didn't work out after all."
Abby looked up at the nurse, a smile on her face, "June, you could wheel me over to Ducky really quick, then bring me back here before the doctor would ever find out."
June looked at Abby sternly, "Now Abigail, you're worse off than the kids down in pediatrics tryin to get me to smuggle in some candy for them."
"And I bet you get those kids their candy, don't you?" Abby asked in an accusatory tone.
"I will not dignify that with a response; now do you want me to assign you a different nurse, one who has a glass eye and a cold attitude?" June threatened, but Abby could see the humor in her eyes.
"No," Abby said with a sigh of air, "but it would be nice if I could see Ducky, he could really cheer me up."
June raised an eyebrow, "Oh now, is that so? And here I thought it was that Gibbs fellow that always put a sparkle in your eye."
Abby blushed, "Gibbs does a good job of it too, but Ducky is like my confidant, no wait, Gibbs is too, but Ducky is like a grandfather to me, whereas Gibbs…well Gibbs…I just think of Gibbs in a different way."
June smiled as she started to exit Abby's room to finish her rounds, before coming back to Abby, "Uh huh, and what exactly is Gibbs' role? Your secret lover?" she smirked as she watched the rose color spread in Abby's cheek, she then exited the room laughing, she could read both Abby and Gibbs as if they were open books.
A/N: So what did you all think?? Leave a review and let me know!! Love you all!
