Author's Note: This was gonna be the last chapter... but now it's not. XD Still have a little more to write, I think. It's also coming up on Halloween, and I so want to write Halloween Gabby. We'll see!
Abby spends her first night of freedom in the hospital, at Ducky's insistence. Though she protests that she's fine, that she just wants to go home, her words are weak and her smile faint.
McGee drives her down to the hospital from which Mawher had procured the adrenaline, and Gibbs, Ziva, DiNozzo and Ducky begin processing the scene. The small room where Abby was held is all too familiar to Gibbs, and he turns over the rest of the apartment whilst Ducky gets started on Mawher's body. He wishes like hell he could just blow this off and go be with Abby, but there are procedures to be followed in situations like this, and he knows he can't.
Once Mawher's corpse is loaded into the autopsy van and the entire place has been sketched, shot, bagged and tagged, Ducky and Palmer head back to DC to start the autopsy. The others take the sedan to the hospital, where a nurse firmly informs them that they can see Abby after the preliminary test results are back, and even then not until she wakes up from her exhausted doze.
McGee sheepishly waves at them from the waiting area, and Tony's the first to reach him, yanking the magazine from his lap and brandishing it at Ziva. "See! I told you McGee reads girl magazines!"
Ziva plucks it out of his grasp and begins flicking through it. "The Cosmopolitan Summer Special – good call, McGee," she tells the younger agent, punctuating the comment with an appraisingly seductive smile that Gibbs is sure isn't entirely for DiNozzo's benefit.
Taking the course of action obvious to any agent in this situation, Gibbs goes on a coffee run, not bothering to ask if his team want anything. After working with them for so long, he can pretty much predict their orders – cream and sugar for DiNozzo, hazelnut latte for McGee and a fruit smoothie for Ziva.
And of course, Caf-Pow! for Abby. She hasn't had one in over two weeks, and he knows the first one she drinks will last all of two minutes.
By the time he gets back his agents have settled down a little, their expressions sombre, and he knows before arriving within earshot that they've been discussing Abby's plight. He hands out drinks, ignoring their thanks, and sips his strong, bitter coffee, his gaze fixed on the nurse's station.
After what seems like an eternity, the nurse – whose attitude is as starched as her uniform – approaches them. "Ms Sciuto is awake. Five minutes each, please – we need to keep her rested."
Gibbs doesn't debate with the rest of them who should visit first. He pulls rank without saying a word, getting up and following the nurse down the hall to Abby's room.
She seems pale even against the bleached white of the hospital sheets, and each of her fading bruises show up vividly on her skin. Despite this, her eyes light up when she sees him, and her welcoming smile blossoms into a grin as she registers exactly what he has in his hand. "Is that a Caf-Pow! I see before me?"
Amused, he hands it over, taking a seat on the uncomfortable chair beside the bed. She drains a quarter of the cup in one go before sagging back against the pillows in exaggerated bliss. "Oh my god, caffeine, I swear I'll never leave you again…"
Setting down the cup on the nightstand, she leans over and hugs Gibbs with all her strength, which at the moment isn't much. "So how long is Nurse Evil giving us?" she murmurs.
"About four minutes – then it's Ziva's turn to visit." He already knows it'll be Ziva next. DiNozzo and McGee will be too busy arguing amongst themselves to notice her cut right past them.
"Four minutes?" Her face is buried in his neck, and he can feel her scowl. "It's not like I just came out of a coma…"
His only response is to hold her tighter. In a way, he wishes she had just had medical difficulties – a coma would be less traumatic than what she's been through.
Her irritation drains away, and her lips graze the side of his neck lightly. "Can't believe you're actually here…"
The contact they shared in the fraught weeks of Abby's disappearance was nothing compared to this. He doesn't understand the physics of their strange psychic encounters, but although he could touch her, taste her, the sensations were always a little muted – lacking, somehow.
Her lips against his skin now are electric, her hair under his fingers smooth and silken, her breath deliciously warm and a little shaky.
He kisses her, unable to help himself; her hand tightens on his shoulder with relief as she responds. They start slow, affirming that what happened within their psychic contact is still true in reality, but as the moment stretches on she deepens the kiss, her urgency igniting his until he has to pull away or lose all control.
"Did that seem… different to you?" she whispers, looking up at him through her lashes.
"You could say that." More than anything, he wants to pursue the feeling, but a hospital isn't the greatest place for all he has in mind. The same sentiment is etched into Abby's face as she settles back against her pillows.
"So, how many times has Tony managed to say 'Hello, Nurse!' since he got here?"
The answer comes from the doorway. "Twice. Right before suggesting I would look cute in a nurse's uniform." Ziva doesn't sound happy about it.
"Ziva, hey…" Abby's smile fades as the nurse on duty strides in.
"One visitor at a time, please. Sir, if you'll come with me?" she asks Gibbs.
Before anyone can move or speak, Abby takes a deep breath. The caffeine's kicking in, and she's looking more like her old self every second. "I have a problem with this scenario, Nurse Shelby," she says, reading the woman's name from her nametag.
Nurse Shelby's a middle-aged brunette with a no-nonsense demeanour, and she doesn't seem at all perturbed by the challenge. "In cases like this we like to see the patient get as much bed-rest as possible, Ms Sciuto."
"In cases like this?" Abby echoes, her voice adopting the tone she usually reserves for bitching about the forensic methods of DC's Metro Police Department. "Do you happen to know the particulars of my case, Nurse Shelby? I was locked in a room for two weeks, and the only company I had was…" Her hesitation is only discernible to Gibbs, who's expecting it. "… the psycho who kidnapped me. I had nothing to do except sleep. For a week, I was drugged. And now that I'm out, I don't wanna be alone. I'm tired of being alone. I want my friends around me. The only reason I'm in here is for observation, and you can observe me just as well with four extra people in the room. So how about being a human being for just one night?"
Nurse Shelby's rendered temporarily speechless, and Gibbs conceals his amusement as he waits for the inevitable. "I suppose I can make an exception in this case," she says slowly. "I'll let your friends know."
Watching her leave, Ziva takes a sip of her smoothie. "I am impressed," she tells Abby.
Seeming a little embarrassed, Abby reaches for the Caf-Pow! with a shrug. "I've had a really bad week. And I'm pizza-deprived. Think we can order in?"
"Someone say 'pizza'?" DiNozzo says, poking his head around the door. McGee follows, and Abby beckons them forward for hugs of welcome.
Though he knows that in a day or two the enormity of everything that's happened will hit her, Gibbs watches the scene with a small smile. Seeing his team pull together, drawing Abby back into their midst, he at last feels that things are getting back to normal. Only Ducky's absence casts a shadow over the evening, reminding him of the body in autopsy and the events connected to it.