A/N: Ridiculously short chapter alert! LOL. I had to work double hours today. My back is killing me, and I've gotta get up and go to my kid's award ceremony at school tomorrow, then rush off to work again. Then I need to spend some much overdue time with my bff... So if you get a chapter tomorrow, it means I'm pretty freaking amazing, and people should start sending me brownies. In fact, either way, you should send me some brownies... DON'T EXPECT a chapter tomorrow lol. That way, if you get one, you'll be all surprised and stuff. But if you don't, you won't be horribly disappointed. Right? ;)

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Tony was lying on Gibbs' couch, headphones in his ears as he listened to his...well McGee's mp3 player. McGee just happened to know most of the songs he'd had on his own, and got them for him, when he'd asked if he could borrow it. Tony's had been in his suitcase. Along with an expensive suit, shoes and some less important items. Tim had also been kind enough to requisition a replacement cell phone for him. He felt naked without the ability to use his phone. And to be honest, it made him nervous, now, not to have a working one. McGee had put in the request while they were still in Arizona. So the phone, technically, should be ready today. Or so that's what the younger agent had told him, and that as soon as it got in, he'd bring it right over.

Being sick, or recovering from injury, really sucked for Tony. He was restless. Always. And this predicament with the everything-sprain, wasn't working too well for that. With Gibbs at the office, he was alone, at the house. It wasn't so much that he couldn't handle being by himself. It was more along the lines of not having anyone there to help distract him. Listening to music, he could only attempt to convince himself that that would work, for just so long.

Tony felt the sound of the front door closing, like a small jolt underneath him, and his eyes shot open. In the doorway to the living room, stood Abby. Gibbs' shadow was on the wall, indicating he was still by the door, doing something, as the afternoon sun beamed orange through the window. But Abby was looking at Tony, like she'd been making sure he was awake, before making her move. Tony pulled the ear buds from his ears, and moved to sit up without showing her any sign of his pain.

"Abs," he smiled at her, trying to comfort the woman he knew had been freaking out for a few days, now, as she stood there giving him a look as though she were trying to calculate the possibility of it being real.

"Oh, Tony!" she forced herself to slowly approach. And by slowly, of course, it was a normal speed for anyone that was not her. Gibbs had warned her that Abby-hugs were off limits; that any amount of pressure on his body would cause him extreme pain, right now. She sank down to sit beside him, without even once tearing her eyes from his. "I can't believe you're okay... I was so worried, when I saw the news," her voice cracked. "I thought you were dead. I thought I'd never see you again..."

"I'm okay, baby doll," he gave her a suave grin, and wrapped shaky arms around her back, pulling her in for a hug.

"God, Tony, don't!" her voice squeaked, as she froze in his arms. "Don't hurt yourself, just because you know how much I wanna hold you."

"It's worth it," he told her, kissing her cheek.

"Tony..." she broke, moving her hands to grasp his face; the one place she was certain wasn't hurt. "I missed you...I love you, Tony, you know that, right?" she peppered kisses on his cheeks and nose.

"Love you, too, Abs," he replied, meeting her wet eyes, as the tears drained down her cheeks. "I wasn't gone all that long, though," he let out a small laugh.

"When you think one of your best friends in the whole wide world is dead, over two-thousand miles away from home, and there's nothing you can do but wait, it's a long long time," she retorted, almost in a whisper.

"You should know better," he told her, pulling away a bit. "I'm a DiNozzo."

"Promise me that you're Superman, and that you won't ever die, and then I'll stop worrying," she told him, with a teary smile.

"Even Superman dies, at some point," he replied. "But...it'll take a lot more than that."

"I guess askin' ya what it feels like to fly, wouldn't be appropriate," Gibbs said with a smirk, as he walked into the living room.

"Gibbs!" Abby turned to him, wide-eyed.

But Tony laughed, "That wasn't flying, Boss. It was falling, with style," he looked back to Abby.

"I dunno how a Toy Story reference made it into this conversation," Abby said. "But I'll take it as a cue to change the topic. What do you, Very Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, want for dinner?"

"Eh...I'm not too hungry," Tony replied. "But if you're staying for dinner, I'll eat whatever you get. Or are you making something?"

"I doubt Gibbs has anything to make, in that kitchen," she raised a brow.

"I do, actually," Gibbs told her. "Go see if there's enough for all of us," he motioned with his head. Abby nodded and stood, making her way toward the kitchen, as Gibbs took a seat in the chair across from the couch.

"All of us?" Tony queried.

"You up for a little company, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, cocking his head a bit...

TBC...

A/N: lol... Guess who's coming to dinner? (You've gotta say that in Chekov's voice. Do it. DEW EET! Do it out loud, so anyone around you will be like, "Should I...even ask?" heheheheheeee