Title: Feet of Clay (9)

Rating: T

Pairing: Gabby, Tiva

Spoilers: None.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with NCIS.

Abby and Gibbs ate lunch in silence, after the usual amenities of "How was your morning?" and such. Each was busy pondering the events of that morning.

When they were done, Gibbs reached to take her hand. "What's on for this afternoon?" he asked, even though he already knew.

"We all get together for a lecture on communication strategies." At his questioning look, she added, "Yes, Ziva and Tony will be there, but it's just a lecture. We can sit across the room from them and pretend they aren't there."

He gave a half-smile and stood up. "Ready, Abbs?"

"As I'll ever be!"

*****

Gibbs could tell that Abby was listening carefully to every word the lecturer spoke; if she had been a cat her ears would have swiveled forward. He decided that if she felt it was that important, then so did he. He studied the handouts, and listened to the points the speaker made.

"Use 'I' instead of 'you' statements."

"Work to understand your own emotions so you can share them with your partner."

"Listen to your partner – 100% attention – when he or she is speaking."

"Check with your partner to make sure you understood."

"Be honest about your feelings but don't blame the other person."

If Gibbs had been as hyper as Abby, he would have squirmed in his seat as he realized how many of those guidelines he didn't observe. Maybe it was time for a new set of rules for relationships. He knew that if he had followed them, he might not have so many ex-wives (on the other hand, he might not be with Abby now either).

As Abby listened, she found herself outlining exactly what she wanted to say to Gibbs, based on the suggested guidelines:

'Gibbs, I am very angry that you raped me! I feel hurt and betrayed. I am furious! I trusted you. I am trying to trust you now but it's hard because of what you did to me. I wasn't ready for a baby yet; I liked my carefree lifestyle. Sometimes the pain I feel is just too much to bear. Still, it was wrong of me to act angry towards Jackie instead of you. I was afraid to tell you how I feel, but now I'm not afraid anymore. I am angry!'

When she heard the lecturer ask, "Would anyone like to try sharing with their partner using these guidelines?" it was inevitable that she would immediately raise her hand. Gibbs turned to her, surprised.

"Go ahead, Abby," the speaker encouraged.

She faced Gibbs and took a deep breath. She hesitated only a second, then plunged into her speech, her eyes on his.

She had no thought for the others in the room.

"Gibbs, I am very angry that you raped me!" Her voice was forceful but even; she felt confident now. "I feel hurt and betrayed. I am –"

Abby was interrupted by someone pushing past her and punching Gibbs in the face.

'Oh God – I forgot about Tony and Ziva!' Abby thought, mortified.

The entire group gasped at the sudden confrontation, and Abby felt trapped in a whirlwind of chaos. The next thing she knew she was being led into the corridor and 2 facilitators were dragging Tony and Ziva away from Gibbs. It was obvious he had been hit more than once, but she had to wonder who got to him first (probably Ziva).

She felt a twinge of guilt, overlaid with satisfaction at finally speaking her mind. Well, some of it at least. Gibbs' expression was a strange mixture of anger and relief. She tried to catch his eye but he wouldn't look at her. They brought him some ice for his bruises, then found a comfortable reclining chair.

Abby pulled up a chair beside him, lightly touching his arm to reassure him that she was still there. She didn't speak.

Several long minutes later, he ended the silence. "You weren't finished, were you?" he asked gently. "Tell me, Abby."

She was still convinced that sharing her feelings was best for both of them – it just hadn't been good timing earlier – so she completed her speech, still forceful, still looking into his eyes. The sight of his bruised face and head made her heart ache, but her voice didn't break.

When she finished, he closed his eyes briefly. Opening them again, he signed 'thank you.'

'For what?' she signed back, amazed.

'For telling me the truth. For opening yourself to me. I want --' here his hands hesitated, and he spoke instead. "I want to open myself to you too."

Tears began to run down her cheeks – she had never dared to imagine that he would allow such intimacy. Smiling, she embraced him tightly and laid her head on his chest in contentment.

Meanwhile, Tony and Ziva were having a private session with a counselor…

"Mr. DiNozzo, I really need for you to calm down…"

"Like hell I'm going to calm down!" Tony snarled. "I'm going out there to give that son of a bitch what he deserves. I would have already if you hadn't pushed me out of the way and gotten there first." He glared at Ziva, who was standing against the wall, arms crossed and looking furious, but maintaining a sense of composure.

"Mr. DiNozzo this isn't going to help." The leader was trying to hold him back from the door which Tony seemed determined to get out of. He wasn't calming down. Finally, Ziva walked over, grabbed Tony by the shoulders and pushed him into a nearby chair.

"Sit down!" she said, in her interrogator voice. "You're making an idiot out of yourself. If you calm down, I'm sure everything can be explained."

"Oh, now I'm going to take advice from the queen of impulse control? Who gave Gibbs that black eye, huh?"

"Yes, but I am calm now," Ziva said. "As you should be." He started to get up; she pulled him back. "Try that one more time and you'll spend the rest of the day unconscious."

"Ms. David," the other leader in the room said in a warning voice. "Being calm means not taking out your emotions on your significant other. My name is Stephen; I can see that both of you are very upset. Maybe you could tell me what happened and what you are feeling?"

"We have a rapist bastard for a boss," Tony said, darkly.

"To be honest, I don't think either of us understands the situation," Ziva said. "Two of our co-workers are here and Abby said something about Gibbs raping her. Neither of us thought before we acted."

"So tell me how you feel, like was demonstrated today." Ziva narrowed her eyes at him.

"Is this really the time for that kind of nonsense?" she asked.

"I feel really angry that my boss raped my friend and obviously hurt her a lot," Tony said. Both looked at him in surprise. "What? I was listening during that thing."

"Ms. David?"

"About the same." But Stephen made her turn it into an 'I' statement before he was satisfied. "I can't believe they never told us about it!" she added, when she had done as requested.

"C'mon, Ziva, if it were you, would you want to tell everyone?" Tony asked. She gave him a look.

"If it were you and me, everyone would know about it because I would have to explain why your dead body was missing its reproductive organs," she said.

"Ok, but threats of domestic violence aside, I guess I can kind of understand that part." There was a knock at the door; the leaders were both called out for something and judged the two of them to be stable enough to leave alone.

"Do you think you are calm enough to meet with your co-workers—with supervision—and talk to them about this?" Stephen asked.

"I guess so," Tony said, and Ziva nodded in agreement. Both leaders left.

"I just—" Ziva shook her head. "Of all people; Gibbs—that he would do something like this."

"I always knew that Gibbs had a dark side," Tony said. "But not this dark."

"If it makes you feel any better, Tony, I still have the urge to shoot him. Not fatally. The leg maybe."

"Good thing neither of us brought our weapons," Tony replied. He sat beside her and took her hand out of habit; she pulled away from him. "What? Now you're mad at me too? I'm sorry for what I said earlier."

"It's not that, Tony. It's just that we are no longer a couple, remember?"

"Oh. Right." Tony moved away from her on the couch and crossed his arms. After everything that day, it hurt worse than he had expected it to.

The door opened and Stephen and the other leader came in, followed by Abby and Gibbs. They maintained a safe distance from Tony and Ziva.

"Sorry about that," Abby said. "I wasn't thinking. That was quite a bomb to drop on you guys, especially in front of everyone—"

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Abby," Tony said, giving Gibbs a cold stare.

"I think an explanation is needed," Gibbs said. He then started telling them the same thing he had told everyone else when they found out. To their credit, both remained seated.

"And so we came here," Abby finished. "To try and work things out. And I feel so much better now after I figured out what my feelings are and I told Jethro all about them. And I feel closer to him than I ever did. I know it's going to take some work, but I really think that now we're going to be ok."

Tony got up, walked slowly toward them and looked both of them in the eye. "You mean it, Abbs?"

"Yes."

"Ok. I'll take it this time." He turned to Gibbs. "But if you ever—"

"Tony," Gibbs said. "If I do, you'll have to get in line to kick my ass, and I'll be the first, believe me."

"So we are the last to find out?" Ziva said, walking over to join them. "Everyone else already knows?"

"Jen, Ducky, Franks, McGee," Gibbs counted on his fingers who knew. "Yep. You guys are the last."

Tony was a little annoyed that McGee had found out before he had.

"So, is everyone ok?" Abby asked.

"Yeah, fine," Tony said. Gibbs looked at Ziva.

"If you were anyone else, you would be dead already," she said. "But I suppose these are special circumstances."

"I'm actually glad you two found out," Abby said. "Kind of clears the air with everybody at one time."

"If this has been resolved," the leader said. "We still have a few more things that we would like to talk to Ms. Sciuto and Mr. Gibbs about. Perhaps you would like to rejoin the communications group?"

"What's the point?" Tony grumbled. "We've already—" Ziva kicked him.

"We've managed to resolve some of our communications problems," Ziva said. "Would it be alright if we took a break and did something else?"

"Of course. Dinner will be at six in the large conference room."

"Thank you." They left.

Outside in the hall, Ziva started walking away as if she had forgotten Tony was behind her.

"Ziva," he yelled after her. "Where are you going?" She looked back and shrugged.

"Thought I might go for a swim," she said. "Did you want to do something?"

"No, I, uh, guess I'll go up the room and see if they get ESPN," Tony said.

"Ok," she said. "I have to get my suit so I'll see you up there." She walked away.

Was it really that easy for her? Tony wondered. How could she just break up with him and a few hours later be back to the way they were before? What am I thinking? It's Ziva. It could be our fiftieth wedding anniversary and she still wouldn't be emotionally attached. And here Tony was used to being the one who didn't get attached. And he had tried so hard to keep this going! He felt a little irritated that Abby and Gibbs could keep a relationship going after what they had gone through and yet he and Ziva couldn't survive a few little spats about his car. Of course maybe it was doomed to failure from the start.

In the conference room, there was still some food left out from lunch and he grabbed some and had a snack in the lobby. He told himself he was just making sure that nothing went to waste, but he stayed only enough time for Ziva to get to their room and get her swimsuit. He didn't really feel like seeing her again for awhile.