Author's Note: For the prompt 'family' at the Gabby forum.


Fact #7: Gibbs discovered he and Abby had a certain skill in common around four months into their professional relationship.

The music level in the lab is ear-splitting, and Gibbs has to yell to make himself heard – again.

"Abby!"

She doesn't hear him, and her expression is completely serene. How she isn't wincing with pain, Gibbs will never understand.

He puts a hand on her shoulder, and she jumps half out of her skin, spinning with wide eyes to face him. "Gibbs!"

"Turn the damn music down!"

She lip-reads rather than hears him, and makes a series of familiar gestures before doing as he asks. It's been a while since he's practiced his ASL skills, and her hands move quickly, but he manages to make out something about keeping his pants on.

Not that he's thought about taking his pants off in Abby's presence. That would be ridiculous, not to mention unprofessional.

And if he ever manages to delude himself into thinking that, he'll give himself a medal.

"Sorry. I wasn't expecting you. You usually have really good timing and show up when I have stuff for you, but I don't have anything yet."

He tries a guess in ASL, a little uncertainly. You have deaf friends?

She blinks, and then her eyes light up and she responds in the same silent language. My mom and dad are both deaf. I grew up not having to worry about how loud my music was.

There's more, but he doesn't catch it – he's rusty, and she's certainly not. "I'm not as good at this as you are. It's been a while."

Grinning, she drops her hands and switches to her voice. "How much did you get?"

"Your deaf parents never had to go through the hell you put my ears through," he sums up wryly.

"That's a creative interpretation of what I said, but close enough. I also asked you how you know ASL and why you didn't tell me." She leans back against her counter, watching him with curious eyes.

"One of the men in my squad was deafened out in the Gulf. We all learned with him."

It hadn't been the best of times – and soon after, Gibbs' first wife and daughter had been murdered to stop them testifying against a Mexican drug cartel member in court. He'd sustained serious injuries as a result of running out into no man's land in a fog of grief… but the ASL he'd learned beforehand stuck in his mind. He still meets with the ex-private on occasion.

"Aww. That's sweet." It was a genuine compliment, and he shrugged it off with a slight smile.

"And I didn't tell you because I didn't know you knew."

Abby takes a second to process that for a second, and then nods. "Then I'll forgive you. But I still don't know what you came down here for. It'll be a while before-"

Something beeps, and she turns to frown at one of the machines across the room. "How did you know I was gonna get something, Gibbs?"

"Didn't."

"You must have! You have this scary sense of timing, and now you're communing directly with my machines? That's impressive on a whole new level-"

"Abby."

She looks around at him, and he signs rather than speaks. What's the result?

She grins. "I can tell you by signing if you want, but I'll have to finger-spell all the compounds and it could take a while."

"Let's skip that, then."

"Good call."