"Damnit DiNozzo!" Gibbs tore open his front door after having seen Tony's car in the driveway. "What do you… Abby?"

"Look boss, I didn't have a choice, she threatened all sorts of things and the nurse gave in and let her leave, as long as she wasn't staying alone." It wasn't completely true, Tony had issued a few of the threats as well, he knew Abby would relax more once she was somewhere she felt safe. "Here are the antibiotics, instructions are on the bottle. She's good for tonight." Tony handed Gibbs a small paper bag.

Abby grabbed the backpack that Tony was carrying and stepped inside, walking past Gibbs, without invitation.

"She wanted to come here, so…" Tony stayed on the front step and rocked back on his heels.

Gibbs sighed. "Come in, Tony."

"You know, I need to get home. Uh, I'll see you tomorrow."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow and watched him turn and rush back to his car. He shut and locked the door and turned to see Abby standing further down the hallway.

Abby had planned out a million things to say on the ride from her place, where she packed a few things for the night, to his. The moment he turned around to look at her, she couldn't come up with one single thing to say. "I need to take a shower."

"Can you?" Gibbs pointed at her midsection.

"Yeah, I just can't let the spray hit directly."

"I'll carry your bag upstairs." Gibbs took the backpack from her hands and waited for Abby to start up the stairs before following along behind her. He brought her bag to his room; the bed was more comfortable than the one in the guest room. He found a soft towel and left it on the bathroom counter.

After her shower Abby slipped into her pajamas, the silky fabric a stark contrast to the dirty clothes she had worn in the forest and to the heavily bleached hospital gown. She let the wound across her stomach air dry while she combed her hair, and then re-dressed it.

Gibbs was waiting in the hallway when she opened the bathroom door. He directed her back towards his bedroom. She thought he was about to place a hand on her lower back, but contact was never made.

"Gibbs, can we talk?"

"We'll talk tomorrow. You need to get in to bed. You need to rest."

"But I'm not tired, I slept all…" The look on his face told her not to argue. "Fine." Abby watched at Gibbs pulled back the covers and fluffed up the pillow.

Reluctantly, Abby crawled beneath the sheets. His bed was comfortable, she decided, snuggling back. Gibbs pulled the covers up around her shoulders and whispered good night.

"Where are you going?"

"Downstairs."

Downstairs only meant one thing, the boat. "Oh."

"Night Abby, get me if you need something; anything." There was a look of sadness in his eyes as he stood in the doorway.

Abby closed her eyes and listened to his footsteps as he left the room, and then headed down stairs. She heard the door to the basement open....

Abby tossed and turned for twenty minutes before she had had enough. She had slept all day, she was far from tired, and she knew that she wasn't going to sleep unless she had at least tried to settle things with Gibbs. She was quiet until she hit the steps to the basement. She thought she'd give him fair warning that she was headed down.

"Abby..?" Gibbs stepped back from the boat to watch her step slowly down the stairs. "Is everything ok?"

Abby paused at the bottom. "Are you that mad at me, Gibbs?"

"Huh?" He tossed the sandpaper to the work benched and turned back to face her.

"I get that you're upset that I lied to the others and left the Navy Yard to trade places with you, and I know you'd never want me to do that, but it, this, has been driving me nuts." Abby stepped off the bottom, wiping at a stray tear on her cheek, and paced slowly beside the boat, a hand over the bandage on her stomach.

"Abby…"

"I need you Gibbs." She continued. "I need you to feel safe, and now you hardly stay in the same room with me for more than ten minutes unless I practically beg, and you won't touch me, it's like I'm on fire or something. I crave contact with you. You've always been there with a hug or a kiss to the cheek… something. You make me feel safe. For three days I walked through the forest. You have no idea how many conversations I had with you out there."

"Abby…"

"No, I'm not done yet. I went over everything I wanted to tell you while I was out there. You kept me going. You told me to keep going, so I did."

"Abby…"

"And now," She turned to look at him, and continued her pacing. "It's like you'd… I don't know, have a root canal rather than talk to me. I get it, you're mad. But I'm not sorry for what I did. I'd do it all over again, and being mad won't change that." Over the course of her rant she had gone from speaking softly, struggling over the tears that welled in the corner of her eyes, to a harsh shout.

"I'm not mad, Abbs."

Abby's face softened momentarily as he called her Abbs, but her stern look quickly returned. "If you aren't mad, then you are blaming yourself, and I think that might be worse. I don't know how to make it clear, but there is no way that this was your fault. You need to believe that, because things need to get back to normal between us, because if they don't…" Abby made her way back to the stairs and sat down. "… if they don't, then there was no reason for me to ever leave those woods."

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TBC