NCIS and all of its wonderful characters – no they don't belong to me. Sigh, they never will. Some of them do belong to each other, though, don't you agree?
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (sequel to Sawdust and Gunpowder) – Boundaries get crossed and bridges get burned. Will Abby and Gibbs ever get on the same page?
Rating – M. Not for kiddos. Really.
FWandFS (Fair Winds and Following Seas): Second Fanfic in this Fandom. Have written others as FeliciaMaplewood for Scarecrow and Mrs. King…Yes, I am dating myself by admitting that.
Chapter 7 Nuking Bridges
Abby was so damn beautiful when she was aroused – her eyes dilated with desire and her lips lush and full from their bruising kisses. He playfully pulled on her pigtail to give himself better access to her neck as her throaty moan kicked up his arousal another notch. She was made for loving.
Abby was impatient, too as she slid her hands under his shirt, caressing the warm skin of his back, pulling away from his kisses long enough to tug his shirt upwards insistently. He humored her growled insistence, and peeled off the shirt and threw it over the sofa arm. Gibbs' breath hissed out in tense pleasure and she virtually purred as she ran her fingers through the hair on his chest and pressed a lingering wet kiss in the hollow of his throat.
He wanted to take it slow and memorize every inch of her – every responsive inch that made her sigh, moan and call out for him. But repressed desire had a way of packing a powerful punch, and he had trouble functioning rationally in the haze that clouded his mind. Her hands felt so damn good against his skin, but he gripped her wrists as she skirted her fingertips just below his waistband. If she kept that up, they would be over before they had begun.
And he wanted to see her – he desperately wanted to see her. He had ten years of fantasy to match up with reality. He spun her around, pressing his evident desire into her backside and grew even harder at the whimper she uttered helplessly. Gibbs pressed hot wet kisses along the arch and then the nape of her neck as he caressed her high rounded curves through her t-shirt lightly. He laughed low and possessively as Abby arched back against him, pressing one palm against her breast and pulling the other to rub against her hot core through her pants. She was wearing far too many clothes and he needed to feel the sweet slide of her skin against his. He craved it.
He slowly peeled her black t-shirt over her head, watching the tattoos he had fantasized about for years appear. As he gripped her hot, smooth skin around the waist, his thumbs traced the whorls of her cross at the base of her spine and she shivered. His palms slid forward and upwards to cup the weight of her breasts as he feathered kisses over the characters on her shoulder blades. Later…much later…he would find out what they meant. He had been dreaming about them since he had seen them in her damn Marilyn dress years ago.
She spun impatiently in his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, and his eyes shut in a wave of sensual pleasure as her soft breasts brushed his chest for the first time. He heard his own ragged moan as Abby traced the corded length of his neck with her tongue even as she rubbed sinuously against his erection.
He wanted her so much it hurt.
A car alarm shattered the silence of the night outside.
Gibbs awoke with a start, his heart pounding and body yearning for completion. Fuck. Not again.
He threw his forearm up over his eyes as he released a forced breath, willing his body to calm down as he slowly and reluctantly returned to reality. The chill of the room was a balm to his overheated skin as he restlessly tossed away the blanket. The room was empty. So damn empty.
He couldn't give in to that train of thought. He tried to force himself to think of the job - interviews, ballistics, the dossiers of the victims. Anything that would distract him from his nightly fantasies and the aching pain that accompanied him during his waking hours. Hell - it was no use.
He sat up and rested his elbows on his knees, cradling his head in his palms. It wasn't going to get any easier. He felt broken. Like an over-wound clockwork toy that continued to move, but jerkily and without purpose before giving out.
He hadn't realized how much he had come to depend on the small moments of affection with Abby that peppered his days. He knew his team respected him, even loved him in a way – much as one loved a difficult, cranky uncle that you had tread around lightly. He could depend on them and in his own understated way, tried to show them he loved them too. But he was the boss.
He was the boss. And when they saw the boss round the corner, they all made an effort to straighten up and fly right – eager to please and eager to perform. But the only person every day who genuinely was happy to see him had been Abby. Watching her face light up on his arrival tugged a visceral emotional response in him. How he loved her boundless enthusiasm and sidelong smiles, her gentle flirtations and the sparkle in her eyes. How could he not fall for her just a little deeper every day?
Gibbs pressed the heels of his hands deeper into his sockets, as he felt his throat tighten with tears he could never shed. Somewhere along the line, he didn't know just when, he had fallen in love with her. And before he could admit it even to himself, he had lost her.
With that, he had lost the only remaining point of light throughout his day. Going to work felt like an emotional amputation. How could he face going in day after day having her hate him – or worse yet, having her just not care. Abby would fill the void. She had so much love to give that she just drew people towards her. She didn't know how not to share that love and some lucky bastard would benefit from his own stupidity. But she deserved that – a man who could love her back without a history of emotional failures, someone who wouldn't quash that light like he would. She deserved someone young – someone who could give her a future. But he didn't know how he could cope with watching it happen.
He rubbed his hand across the roughness of his stubbled cheek. Might as well make coffee, he wasn't gonna sleep tonight either. He didn't trust himself to go the basement and the bourbon that waited there. Gibbs reached out for the t-shirt he had flung over the arm of the sofa and slipped it on and rose to head to the kitchen, but was stopped by the frantic buzz of his cell phone on the coffee table.
Huh. Fornell. His night just couldn't get any better.
"Yeah. Gibbs." His voice rasped with sleep deprivation.
"Wanna tell me what the hell is going on over there at NCIS, Jethro?" Fornell barked without greeting.
"Context – Tobias?"
"That slightly off-centered forensic scientist of yours called me out of the blue this afternoon and asked if I still wanted to go to lunch," Fornell responded. "Seems like she's considering the FBI's standard open-ended offer. Gotta tell you my director would be delighted, even if I think she's a few Jacks short of a full deck."
Gibbs eyes shut as he felt his stomach fall in dread. He should have guessed something like this would happen.
"So I asked her 'Why the sudden change of heart?'. She's always been so stuck on staying in that crappy little crime lab of yours – so damn loyal to you, God knows why..." Fornell charged on heedless of the silence on the other end. "Wouldn't give me a straight answer."
Gibbs could hear the clatter of dishes in the background that indicated the FBI senior agent was making his evening's dinner at ten p.m. He hung on silently, his knuckles white as he gripped the phone tightly in his hand.
"So?" Tobias prodded.
He was met with silence. "Yeah. Thought so. Never saw you burn a bridge, Jethro when you figured nuking it wouldn't be a better option." Tobias sighed. "OK. Here's what I'll do. Miss Scuito just emailed me her resume…like I really needed that," he laughed. "I'm waitin' 24 hours before I give it to my director. OK?"
Gibbs bent his head at the brief reprieve.
"Hey – you there?"
"Yeah. I'm here." Gibbs' voice was soft and measured.
"That gives you 24 hours to clean up your nuclear fallout, Jethro. After that, all bets are off." Tobias let out a short, bitter laugh. "I'd like to keep my job and we've been trying to poach her for years."
Gibbs saw Abby's name flash up on his cell phone and his heart jumped. No way was he missing this one.
"Got a call, Tobias," Gibbs bit off quickly.
"Yeah? Well, you're welco.." Fornell's voice was cut off as Gibbs hung up on him.
He picked up the other call in a rush. "Abby!" He wasn't going to miss the opportunity to talk to her, no matter what she had to say to him.
"Gibbs!" Her voice was vibrant and urgent as it always had been whenever she greeted him, unlike the cold indifference she had shown him this week. A second chance. His heart lifted in relief.
Until the line went dead.
TBC
Yeah...I know another cliffhanger. It's getting to be a bad habit. But your amazing reviews do make me run back to the keyboard faster to update! Less emotional angst - more adventure/drama on the horizon...
I know I'm asking you to enable my bad habit - but reviews? Please?
