"An hour? How far are we from the airport?"
"About 20 minutes"
She took the pile of clothes he was holding out to her, scrambling into them quickly. If working with the MCRT had taught her one thing, it was the ability to work to a ridiculously short deadline while ignoring distractions, and she needed that ability now. She knew they really had to talk about the ramifications of the night before, but they couldn't take time now or they'd miss this flight. It was unlikely that they'd get another flight at all, seeing as though it was a Sunday and most people would be heading home from a weekend in Vegas. That would mean flying home tomorrow, missing a day of work and landing themselves in trouble.
'Well' she thought to herself, catching sight of the gold band on her ring finger again 'more trouble than we're already in.'
She moved around the hotel room, gathering up her belongings from where they'd ended up over the past two days. As she found more of her stuff, she deposited it on the bed. There was one small snag; how were they going to get their things home? She could see Tim pulling some black and shapeless things out of the closet. He turned and tossed one to her; she put her hands out and caught the thing automatically before registering that it was a small duffel bag.
"Thought we'd need these" he commented.
"When did you get them?" she asked as she started stuffing clothes into the one he'd given her. There wasn't time to be neat. "I didn't even notice you had."
"Yesterday, while we were out shopping" he told her.
"Boy Scout" she teased, brushing past him on her way to the bathroom. She caught a glimpse of his 'Scout's Honour' salute as she left the room, and couldn't stop herself from grinning. It amazed her slightly how quickly they'd fallen into their usual bantering pattern. She guessed the return to awkwardness would come later.
She quickly washed her face and hands, running a brush through her hair before tying it up again. Making sure she had everything, she stuffed the toiletries into the duffel bag. Turning to Tim, she announced "I'm ready when you are."
...
Shaking his head a little, Tim went to collect the last of his things from the bathroom. Even without Caf-Pow, Abby still had a ton of energy. He was barely even awake yet, and she was packed and ready to go. Was she like this every morning? He hadn't spent enough early mornings in her company to be able to tell. He suppressed a wish to find out the answer to that question. This morning excepted, he wasn't going to be in a position to answer it. With a last wistful look at it, he tugged at the gold wedding band on his hand. He weighed it in his palm for a moment, wishing that he didn't have to take it off, that this small symbol of their drunken elopement had been a symbol of something more permanent. Sighing, he tucked it in his pocket, and then picked up the last few personal items left in the bathroom, rejoining her. She looked impatient.
"Come on, Tim, we're going to be late" she urged. He smiled. Her constant enthusiasm was contagious. He shouldered both bags, and gestured for her to go before him.
...
After a trip with the world's slowest cab driver, and a mad dash through the airport, they made their flight with 5 minutes to spare before check-in closed. Boarding had already started when they got to the gate, so they joined the queue, managing to get seats together once they made it onto the plane.
As Tim turned from stuffing their bags into the overhead compartment and dropped into his seat, he saw Abby fixing him with an accusatory stare.
"What's wrong?"
"You're not wearing your ring" she stated.
A little confused, he replied "I took it off earlier... I didn't see a reason to keep wearing it." As he spoke, he knew he'd said the wrong thing. Her eyes narrowed.
"If I have to wear it, you have to, McGee."
"Abby-"
"I am not going to be the only one with a visible reminder of this, McGee. Where is it?"
"In my pocket"
She pointed. "Ring. Your finger. Now"
He dug in his pocket, retrieving the ring and slipping it back onto his finger.
"Better?"
She nodded once. "Promise me you won't take it off again."
"I promise, Abs."
They fell silent, the quiet quickly becoming awkward. The episode with the ring had reminded him that they still hadn't talked about the previous night, or about the whole weekend really. And now they were stuck in close quarters for 5 hours. He looked around. Seated as they were towards the back of the plane in a 2 seat section, there were few people within earshot. And those he could see appeared to be occupied with their own activities. He looked back at Abby. She had her eyes downcast; it was obvious that she was feeling just as out of her depth as he was. They couldn't keep putting this off; they had to talk sometime.
Clearing his throat, he asked
"So... where do we go from here?"