Chapter 10

Abby was sitting on the edge of his desk when Tony got back to NCIS headquarters. The minute he saw her he cursed himself. He had told her he would call her and he hadn't and he could see by the slump of her shoulders that she was worried.

"Abbs, I am so sorry I didn't call. This has been a very long and strange night," Tony said as he approached the forensic scientist cautiously. When she looked up at him Tony could see tears shimmering in her beautiful green eyes and he gave himself a mental head slap for not keeping his promise and upsetting her. Abby jumped up from her perch on his desk and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around him and burying her head in his neck.

"Tim called me and filled me in on what little you guys know," she told him and Tony breathed a sigh of relief when he realized he wasn't in as much trouble as he had thought.

"Abbs, loosen up a bit honey, I can't breathe," he gasped out and Abby loosened her hold on him but didn't let go.

"Sorry Tony, I just need to…" she trailed off.

"I know Abbs and you know you can hang on to me for as long as you need," he told her softly, stroking his hands gently up and down her back to comfort himself as much as to comfort her.

"How is Leann?" Abby asked after several minutes of them just holding each other.

"Ducky said she has a concussion and some bruises, but other than that she seems to be okay. They're going to keep her overnight for observation though since she did lose consciousness," Tony told her. Suddenly remembering where they were, Abby pulled away from him and took a step back.

"Oops, little too much PDA there huh," she said.

"No Abbs, it's just us right now and frankly I'm not worried about what other people might think about us being together," he told her and pulled her back into his arms.

"What about Gibbs and rule 12?" she asked settling back into his embrace and giving a little sigh of contentment.

"I really don't think the Boss has any right to lecture any of us about rule 12 right now," Tony told her.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well you know that the Boss and Leann have been dancing around each other for months, well Gibbs must have finally done something about it because I overheard him tell the EMTs that Leann is three months pregnant," Tony whispered to her so that only the two of them could hear.

"Wow, really. Well I guess he really can't say anything about us sneakin around then can he," she said nuzzling his ear and sending a jolt of electricity down his spine.

"Nope," he replied and for the first time at the office, Tony covered Abby's mouth with his and gave her a toe curling kiss that left them both breathless and gasping for air.

"Hold that thought for later cowboy," Abby told him. "I do believe you have a dirt bag to process."

"Yeah, I do and I want to get this all done by the book. I don't want this bastard to get off on some technicality."

"Me neither, I have samples and scrapings to run that the hospital took from Leann. Ducky brought them in personally. I'll see you later," she said and gave him another peck on the lips before she bounced off to her lab.

"Hey Abbs, where is McGee, he's supposed to be workin on a background check on this guy?" Tony called after her.

"He's down in my lab working. I told him I needed a few minutes alone with you. I'll send him back up when I get down there," she answered over her shoulder and Tony couldn't stop a grin from spreading across his face.

"Yeah, I'll bet your working McLoverboy," Tony thought to himself. It hadn't escaped his notice that Ziva just happened to be nowhere around at the moment as well.

Ziva and McGee thought they were being discreet, but Tony had caught some very heated looks passing between the two junior agents and he had a feeling that while he and Abby had their private moment, McGee and Ziva had been doing the same in Abby's lab. His suspicions were confirmed a few minutes later when the elevator dinged and McGee and Ziva exited together.

"Did you find anything in that background check Probie?" Tony barked and he saw McGee's ears turn pink as he answered.

"Had a little computer glitch in the lab so I haven't been able to do it yet, but I'm gonna get started right now," McGee replied and Tony snorted at the lame excuse.

"Computer glitch huh. Well if I were you, I would have every last scrap of information I could find about Donnie Grant before Gibbs gets here tomorrow."

"I'll get it done, I want to put this guy away as much as you do," McGee replied and they lapsed into silence as they got busy on their individual tasks.