Chapter twelve
Gibbs eyes stayed shut as he listened. For the past hour as the two of them had settled down in pretty much the same was as they had before, both needing to sleep to not only conserve their energy, but help the headaches that still plagued them from their initial injuries.
He wasn't sure what had roused him from his sleep. Maybe it was from years of being a marine; always on their toes, always aware of every little thing that could become a matter of life and death for him and his fellow comrades. Or was it because he was a cop? Either way the action had served him well over time.
But he heard it. It was distant; the faint rumble of a car engine, the unmistakable soft 'whump' of a door closing. Gibbs unconsciously held his breath suddenly afraid that he would miss something if he breathed too loudly and didn't hear something more valuable.
The container was dark inside apart from tiny shards of moonlight that filtered through the air vents in its top corner. For many long moments he heard nothing, and then a bird twittered in alarm, and it was then that Gibbs knew for certain that there was someone out there.
He lowered his gaze down to Abby's sleeping face and watched her breathe with what little moonlight there was, and the breath that he was holding hitched in his throat almost strangling him as thoughts of losing her washed through his mind. But he couldn't lose her, not now. They'd been through so much together as friends and now his chance had come to go beyond that friendship.
Jethro had bided his time in waiting for Abby. Over the months, even years, he had watched her from the sidelines, waiting for her to finally see him for someone else other than her boss, and friend. He didn't know when the change had happened. He didn't even know why the change had happened. But it had, and after seven long years of patiently waiting on the sidelines for Abby to see beyond the friend that he was and see the lover that he could be, just from that one, small seemingly insignificant kiss, he'd finally decided to make his move.
Then this had happened on the very day that he was going to make her his own, and as he gently caressed her pale cheek he momentarily forgot the predicament they were in, lifted her slowly higher against his chest and placed his cool lips against her even chillier ones and tenderly whispered as he showered light kisses upon her mouth. "I love you, Abby. I only hope to God that you can love me, too, after all this."