Chapter Nine
On Wednesday, Gibbs tried all afternoon to get a hold of Abby. He'd been convinced she had been there to make him a bit to eat the night before and it irritated him that he hadn't heard her come in. He wanted to see her, and now he was ready to go find her.
"She didn't answer." Gibbs tucked his phone back into his packet. He was starting to get irritated. He understood why she was keeping her distance, but at the same time he missed her and he felt like there was so much to be said.
"Of course not, she's going bowling." Kelly answered.
Gibbs cocked his head to the side. "Exactly how well do you know each other?" Gibbs reached for his keys, but Kelly grabbed them, holding them just out of reach.
"I'll go. I've always wanted to see some bowling nuns."
He wanted to go, he wanted to sit back and watch her bowl from a distance where she wouldn't see him and start to worry. The time alone would give him some much needed time to think before he approached her. He missed Abby – missed her showing up in his basement late at night just to watch him work. He missed finding her perched on his desk at work in the morning because she had been at an amazing concert and wanted to tell him all about it.
Gibbs crosses over to the front door and opened it for Kelly. "Tell her I want to talk to her." And I miss her, he added silently.
It didn't take long for Kelly to find Abby in the crowd at the local bowling alley. "Abby!" She had to call out her name a few times before Abby heard her and waved her over.
"Hey, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?"
"Everything is fine," Kelly laughed. "I love your outfit. You weren't kidding about the whole bowling with nuns, were you?"
Abby smoothed down her poodle skirt and grinned. "Why would I lie about such a thing?"
"It's just-" Kelly was interrupted by an older woman.
"Abigail, you didn't tell me you'd have guest with you this evening. We need her name for the scoring sheets."
"Oh, I'm not here to bowl, I-"
"Nonsense, we've got room on Abby's team. What's your name dear? We'll add you to the list."
"I, uh, I'm not…" Kelly turned to Abby for help.
"Kelly, this is Sister Rosita, you should stay and bowl – if only to see her bowl. Really, she's amazing."
"Oh Abigail." Rosita blushed.
"And this," Abby grabbed Kelly's hand. "Is Kelly Gibbs."
"Kelly, it's wonderful to…"
Kelly watched as realization washed over Sister Rosita's face and then let herself be pulled into a bone crushing hug.
"How… oh, I bet Jethro is just beside himself with joy."
"You know my dad?" She turned to Abby. "He bowls with nuns too?"
"Of course I know your father," Rosita smiled. "I haven't seen him in awhile, but Abby can be very persuasive and has gotten him to join us a time or two. At church as well, on occasion."
Kelly allowed herself to be guided over to the front desk for bowling shoes and then managed to escape Rosita's attention and return to Abby. "She likes to talk, doesn't she?"
"Almost as much as she likes to bowl."
They were silent as the other bowlers began to warm-up, and Kelly watched as Abby's fingers twisted nervously in her lap. She hated that Abby, who was so obviously a huge part of her father's life, was so nervous to be around her. "So, I'm just going to get this out… the guy you were talking about at the coffee shop - that was my dad, wasn't it?"
It looked as though Abby was going to deny it, but then she just shrugged. "It doesn't matter."
"Just because my mom and I are back, doesn't mean you have to stop loving him. Or that he stops loving you." Kelly offered a reassuring smile. "Even if we hadn't had that conversation at the coffee shop, I would have to be blind not to see that there is something between you. I'm not mad."
Abby winced at the use of the L-word. "I'm not trying to get between them."
"Well that's rather obvious. My dad has been trying to get you to come over, but you keep avoiding it. He really wants to see you, talk to you, for more than two minutes at work." She reached out and grabbed Abby's hand, giving it a soft squeeze. "You don't have to avoid him because of us."
"You guys needs your time to catch up, you know, family time."
"Part of family time is getting to know the people in my dad's life. People important to him, people like you."
"I just…"
Kelly watched as Abby struggled with what to say. It had been obvious the first time they met, how much Abby cared for the man that turned out to be her father. "Come over tonight after bowling. We can order some food or something. It'll be fun, relaxed. My mom enjoyed talking to you the otherday."
"I don't know." Abby shrugged.
"My dad really wants to see you," Kelly looked hopeful. "Please?"
Abby rolled her eyes and smiled. "I could never resist a Gibbs saying please."
"Good to know," Kelly grinned. "I'll keep it in mind."
"Yeah, yeah. Come on, we're up."
With the exception of Sister Rosita asking Kelly a few questions about seeing her father again, the two women managed to avoid the topic of Abby and Gibbs' could-be relationship. Abby explained life in the D.C. area; the best restaurants, coffee shops and night clubs. They told each other more about their lives, and Abby pretended that it wasn't Gibbs' daughter that was talking about growing up without a dad. She was glad when Sister Rosita jumped back into the conversation, entertaining them with stories of her misguided youth. Abby had heard the stories before, but she loved hearing the tales that closely matched a few of her own.
Kelly's cheeks were sore from smiling and laughing by the time they had finished. She hadn't expected the nuns to be such a lively bunch, and Abby's added commentary had kept her laughing the entire time.
"So you're, uh, coming over, right?" Kelly asked as she slipped out of her rental shoes.
"I…" Abby glanced down at her bowling outfit.
"No! You said you would." Kelly's glare was similar to the one Gibbs often gave.
"I'll just run home and change. It'll take ten minutes max."
Kelly sighed. "Alright, but ten minutes, that's it."
"Why do you want me to come over so bad?"
She thought a moment. "Look, I've dreamed of going back to the way things were before, but I'm not naïve. Eighteen years is a long time. I at least had my mom. My dad had no one at first, but he's had you the past several years. I don't know what's going to happened between my parents, but you're important to my dad. He's important to me, so you are too. And I know this can't be easy for you." She suddenly found herself wrapped up in a tight hug.
"Thanks Kelly. I'll come over, but I do want to change first. I'll bring some dinner. Chinese?"
"I can get food if you want?"
"I'll call an order in and pick it up on the way. Anything specific you and your mom like or don't like?"
"Nope, we're not picky."
Abby leaned back against her car and sighed. Gibbs' house had always been a source of comfort, but now… her first thought was to turn and leave. Before she could chicken out, she grabbed the food and headed for the front door. She knocked twice and waited. And waited. It took over a minute for Gibbs to answer the door.
"I told you, you don't need to knock."
Abby gave her best you can't tell me what to do smile as she stepped past him, into the house. "And I told you I would knock."
"Abby!" Kelly rounded the corner from the kitchen. "For a minute I thought you were going to skip out on us again."
Abby glanced at Shannon who had followed in behind her daughter, and then smiled at Kelly. "Sorry, I had to hang up the poodle skirt." She moved past them into the kitchen with the food. "Oh, and Gibbs? Sister Rosita will be expecting you at Church on Sunday."
"I figured as much. How was bowling? Kelly said you did well."
"I scored 174 on my best game. Not too bad." She hoped she sounded relaxed, but the way her heart was pounding, she was sure everyone could hear it. "So anyway, I got a little bit of everything," she held up all the food, "because I wasn't sure what everyone wanted." She put the food on the counter and started pulling out plates from the cabinet. "But don't worry boss-man, plenty of cashew chicken for you."
"My favorite."
Abby tried to ignore the look that Kelly and Shannon shared before Shannon spoke. "Kelly and I just put a table cloth on the table on the back patio, if that's okay?"
"Sure." Abby nodded, glancing at Gibbs to see if he had anything to say about it. He didn't.
"Come on, Kel. Help me carry this stuff out to the table."
As soon as Shannon and Kelly were outside, Gibbs caught Abby's arm. "Talk to me."
Abby looked at him, her eyes wide. "What do you want me to say?"
"I don't know," Gibbs sighed. "You've been avoiding me."
"Just giving you space, that's all." She shrugged and smiled softly. "I'm not avoiding you."
"We need to talk. I owe you that conversation, and more of an explanation of everything."
"No, it's okay, really. I understand." She tried to move away.
"This isn't over, Abbs." He started to pull her into a hug.
"Gibbs don't… I can't. Not yet, okay?" She pulled herself from his grasp. "Let's go eat." Abby tried to ignore the look of hurt that flashed in Gibbs' eyes as she picked up the last of the food to carry out to the backyard.
Abby found herself relaxing around Shannon and Kelly, laughing at their stories and sharing a few of her own. They talked about Stillwater and Jack and NCIS and Abby's career in forensics. She could feel Gibbs' gaze on her all through dinner. He didn't say much, only adding to a story when he was asked. Once the food was gone he excused himself to go inside and it took them fourteen minutes to realize he wasn't coming back.
"Maybe I should go. It was nice talking to you guys. I apologize for avoiding this for so long, I just didn't want to interrupt family time, you know?"
"I'm glad you finally made it over. I can see how you've become a big part of Jethro's life."
Kelly smiled and nodded in agreement. It made Abby's heart flutter - Kelly's smile and bright blue eyes looked exactly like Gibbs'.
Shannon followed her back in through the kitchen and stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Before you go, maybe you could go talk to him while Kelly and I clean up? I think he was hoping to have some time to talk, and then we ended up dominating the conversation."
"Oh. Sure." She wasn't sure she wanted to be alone with him, but she headed to the basement because it was Gibbs. And there wasn't much she wouldn't do for him.
"You came to say goodbye?"
Abby couldn't help but smile. "How did you know it was me?" He was at his work bench, his back turned to her.
"They've yet to come down without being invited, or at least asking first." Gibbs turned to face her, leaning back against the work bench.
"Should I start knocking at the basement door too?"
"Abby!" He moved forward, his voice laced with irritation.
"I was kidding." Abby moved past him and walked along the half-covered shell of the boat. "You plan on burning this one and starting a new one?" She hated the idea of this boat hitting the burn pile, she had spent many hours watching him labor over it. "Or are you done building boats now?"
"No. This one means too much." He followed her to the boat and pulled the blanket back to reveal the dark letters.
"You… you named it after me?" Abby traced the black letters of her name. "Why?"
"Abby," I love you. Gibbs sounded irritated and upset at the same time and Abby wasn't sure she'd ever heard him like that before. "You know why."
"It doesn't matter anymore, Gibbs." Abby pulled the blanket back over the boat, and then paced in front of him. "You've got Shannon back now. It's what you've wanted, what you've dreamed about for 18 years."
"Abby stop-"
"No Gibbs, you're happy. You can finallybe happy. I want that for you, don't you get it?" She stopped and looked at him with big eyes that sparkled despite looking like she was about to cry. "Don't feel like you have to let me down gently, because you don't. I've only ever wanted you to be happy and now you can be."
She was about to start pacing again, but was shocked when his hand snaked out and grabbed hold of her arm. She started to pull away, the closer he was to her, the harder to was to guard her emotions.
"Please, Abbs."
There it is. That damn please. She allowed herself to be tugged into his arms and found herself melting against him and then, finally, wrapping her arms around him as he hugged her tightly.
"You make me happy too, you know."
"Gibbs…"
"I don't know what's going to happen yet, Abbs. I just, I need some time, okay?"
She was okay with his hug until he pressed his lips to her temple and the embrace turned from a comforting hug into something more intimate. It was then that she knew she needed to leave before things turned too emotional for her. "I should go. I'll see you on Monday when you come back to work."
"I'll be in for a little while tomorrow. I have some paperwork to finish."
Unable to resist, she pressed up on her toes to kiss his cheek softly. "Then I will see you tomorrow." She wiped at the slight smudge of lipstick on his skin and then headed up the steps.
TBC…
Alright, so I've got this story and one other that I want to get up before the new season starts/I leave on my big trip. So… possible Gabby spam from me the next few weeks. Eeps!
