Chapter 11 – Moving Forward
"You can take me to Gibbs' place too," she said softly, her gaze focused only on Gibbs.
Tony couldn't hide his grin at the couple in front of him, taking what appeared to be their first steps together. They'd both been through a lot over the last several days and seeing that out of all the worry and pain, something very special was starting to take hold of them, made him even more grateful they'd found Gibbs in time.
"Whatever you want, Abbs," Tony answered, turning when he felt the presence of someone behind him.
"Ah, Jethro," came the familiar Scottish accent of Ducky as he walked in from the corridor. "It's wonderful to see you sitting up. How are you feeling?"
"Fine Duck, lookin' forward to getting out of here."
"I'm sure you are." Ducky smiled at Abby and reached out to place his hand on her arm, before turning back to Gibbs. "Your doctor is doing his rounds now, but I'd like to give you a check over myself if that's alright?"
Ducky put his case down on the bed beside Gibbs, and proceeded to sort through his instruments when Gibbs asked Tony, "you gonna tell me what happened yesterday after I got carted away?"
"Not much to tell," DiNozzo answered, cringing slightly under the full brunt of Ducky's warning stare as he checked Gibbs' blood pressure. "Hastings and his two lackeys are currently residing in the morgue, all died from fatal gunshot wounds. We turned the place over looking for any clues that might've pushed him to breaking point but found nothing...we might not ever know."
"He just wanted someone to pay for what happened to his family," Gibbs mused. "I was the one who made him run when we wanted to question him."
"It is often easier to blame someone else for your own mistakes than accepting responsibility, Jethro...no matter who had gone to question him that day, Lieutenant Hastings would've been seeking revenge," Ducky tried to reason.
Abby moved to sit on the other side of the bed, wanting to be near Gibbs and offer him support. "If this was all about revenge on Gibbs, why did he want me then?" She asked, regretting her words the instant she'd said them.
"What?" Gibbs turned quickly to face her, grimacing as his raw injuries pulled, and ignoring Ducky's suggestions that he remain still while he checked his vitals.
Abby didn't know whether Hastings had taken it upon himself to taunt Gibbs with his intentions of exchanging him for her but from the look of shock on Gibbs' face, he knew nothing. Abby hadn't meant to keep it from him either. Most of the time she'd been with Gibbs they'd been asleep, and the few precious moments they'd been alone, she'd been swept away by his reactions to her.
"I would never have let her go, boss," Tony intervened. "Had her under constant protection."
"Are you telling me Hastings threatened Abby?" Gibbs asked, his jaw flexing as he grit his teeth together.
Gibbs' stomach dropped. Since being reunited with her, he thought Abby had been safe the entire time he'd been held captive. It hadn't stopped the nightmares or the tricks his mind continued to play on him, but to find out that she really had been in danger had him blindly reaching for her hand.
"He didn't threaten me..."Abby knew she had to tell Gibbs the truth but at the same time she didn't want to add to the strain he was already under. Either way he would find out, and she didn't want to lie to him, especially not now they were building on the trust they already had. "He sent a note saying he wanted to swap you for me."
The death glare Gibbs threw DiNozzo made Abby squirm, even though she wasn't on the receiving end of it. Although his reaction was predictable and understandable for the man he was, Abby couldn't help but feel sorry for Tony, he hadn't done anything wrong. None of them had.
Tony cringed. "Like I said boss, I would never have let her go...I knew we'd find you another way."
"Jethro, you really must calm down," Ducky interrupted him. "You're not going to heal with your blood pressure so high."
"Did everything I could to keep Abby safe," Tony said reassuringly. "Until you could take that honor back yourself...I'd never let anything happen to her."
Gibbs sighed and nodded his head. He trusted Tony with his life, and there were very few people who he'd entrust with Abby's life besides himself, but DiNozzo was one of those few. "I know, Tony...glad you were there, to look after her."
Before any of them had a chance to further explain, Gibbs' doctor walked into the room, a warm smile covering his face at the sight of Gibbs sitting up and looking slightly better than he had the last time he'd seen him.
Abby sat down next to Gibbs on the bed, listening carefully as the doctor gave Gibbs a run down on what he should and shouldn't be doing for the next several days; plenty of rest, fluids and warmth being of importance, along with taking care of his injuries. He flat out refused to use a walking stick until his knee was able to carry him more steadily, insisting that if he did need help Abby would be close by.
Ducky and Tony watched the couple from just inside the doorway, both men taking in what the doctor was saying but more observant of their two friends comfortable in their new closeness.
Once Abby assured the doctor she would be staying with Gibbs for the next several days at least, he said he'd send someone around with discharge paperwork later on in the day and continued on his rounds, leaving a prescription for some painkillers for Gibbs.
"Abby, why don't you write out a list of things you'll need while you're staying with Jethro and I'll see if Ziva would be so kind as to pick them up from your apartment," Ducky suggested. "I'll see to your painkillers Jethro, though I know Abby will have her work cut out getting you to take them."
Gibbs rolled his eyes at the comment, hearing Tony snort in amusement beside him.
"Thanks, Ducky," Abby said appreciatively. She stood up off the bed and walked towards him, taking the notepad and pen he offered her.
Tony moved away from Ducky and Abby and over towards Gibbs, watching on amused when Abby started giving Ducky a complete rundown on each thing as she wrote it on the list. When he was sure their conversation was loud enough so they wouldn't hear what he was saying easily, Tony stood in front of Gibbs.
"Gonna need a statement for the report, boss."
Gibbs turned to look over his shoulder, seeing Abby animatedly waving her arms around and giving Ducky some kind of directions, he looked back to Tony. "Not with Abby here, don't want her to hear some of it."
"Sure thing, what if I drop by the house tomorrow? Knowing Abby she'll want to lay down the law to the temp for while she's off work, but she won't wanna leave you, this way I can stay with you while she's gone...two birds, one stone and all that."
Gibbs nodded his agreement. Normally he'd want to give his statement right away to get it out of the way and so Tony could close up the case, but Abby had enough to try and get over and he didn't want to add to it. "Don't wanna upset her," he said quietly, both to himself and DiNozzo.
"It's okay boss, I understand, tomorrow is good."
"You find anyone else at Hastings' house?" Gibbs asked quietly, remembering the sound of what he'd thought was scratching on the wall.
"Turned the place upside down, was no-one else there. We did find a small room joined onto the basement, only entrance was from outside." Tony looked up to make sure Abby was still talking to Ducky before he continued. "Was filled with boxes and stuff that looked like it belonged to Hastings' wife and son...photos stuck on the wall, kinda looked like a shrine to them."
As relieved as Gibbs was that there hadn't been anyone else being held hostage, for a moment he couldn't help but be drawn into the similarities between himself and Hastings. They were both men who had been caught up in the past, blinded by their feelings of lost love and unable to deal with the consequences of those losses.
But Gibbs also knew he was different from Hastings. While there would be some things that he may never fully learn to deal with in losing Shannon and Kelly, he felt ready to finally move on. He'd tried, numerous times, before now to take that next step and move on with his life, but he'd never truly been prepared to accept someone and open his heart completely like he had done with Shannon. Until now...until Abby.
Gibbs was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Abby repeating the things Ducky was telling her she needed to look out for once they got home.
"Dizziness, nausea, blurred vision..." Abby rambled on.
"Sound like you're gonna have your own personal nurse," Tony grinned at Gibbs.
When an actual nurse walked in a few moments later to try and coerce Gibbs into a shower and change his bandages, he shot her down in flames in seconds. She left the room in a huff after a few more unsuccessful attempts, Gibbs pointing out he was perfectly capable of showering himself when he got home and either he or Abby would change the bandages.
After the nurse had gone, Ducky and Tony said their goodbyes, leaving Gibbs and Abby alone again.
Director Vance called Gibbs after they'd both had something to eat and drink, and brushed their teeth, Abby using a brush one of the nurses had brought her. Vance had made his point clear to Gibbs that he was to take at least a week of work, and Abby had checked that it was okay to use some of the holiday time she was owed to look after him.
The director didn't question her request, though his few moments of silence on the other end of the phone did make Abby wonder if he was going to. She agreed to go into work briefly in the morning when Gibbs said Tony would be heading to his house to take his statement and they ended the call, realizing that in a way Vance had just been notified that their relationship had taken a turn.
Telling Vance about the change in her relationship with Gibbs had been the furthest thing from Abby's mind. Tony and Ducky knew, and Abby was certain Ziva, McGee, Jimmy and Fornell had all worked it out from the way she and Gibbs had been acting towards each other since his rescue.
A lot had changed in a short amount of time, and she just hoped the people they cared about and thought of like family would be accepting of their relationship. Abby also didn't want Gibbs to feel pressured into anything, he'd been through so much already and the last thing he needed was to be forced into making decisions about them being together before he was ready.
He'd been nothing but affection with her since he'd been rescued. Spending the night in each other's arms, their kisses, not to mention Gibbs telling her he loved her were all positive signs for Abby but she also understood it was still early days. They had a lot to help each other get through.
In a way, things had moved fast between them since Gibbs' rescue. But once he was out of hospital and she was staying with him, it would finally just be the two of them, living under the same roof and trying to slowly take their next steps together.
The circumstances under which she would be staying with Gibbs were different from what Abby would have liked for their first nights together as a couple. More than anything though, she was just happy that they were beginning to understand the strength of their feelings for one another and that neither of them was trying to hide any more. There would be plenty to talk about and work through in the coming days, but for now Abby was content to just be with him.
TBC...