CHAPTER 21
Gibbs left autopsy with a heavy heart, he knew he had to tell Abby the truth and it wasn't a conversation he was looking forward to.
Deciding there was no time like the present he made his way to the lab, surprised to find it empty, but as all the machines were still on and music was blaring from the stereo he figured Abby wasn't far and sat down to wait, after switching off the music.
When she still hadn't returned half an hour later, Gibbs went up to the squad room.
"Anyone seen Abby?"
When he got three shaking heads he pulled out his cell and dialled her number, the phone rang out. Acting on a hunch he went back to the lab, dialling her number again. Her cell was sitting on her desk, Gibbs worry meter went up a notch, Abby never went anywhere without her cell, it was practically part of her anatomy.
Running back upstairs he grabbed his car keys, "You see Abby, you call me" he demanded as he punched the elevator call button.
The three agents shared a look of despair, 'would this nightmare ever end?' was the unspoken question foremost in each of their minds.
Gibbs walked through his home, the place was a mess, it had clearly been ransacked. He left the basement till last, feeling ill at the thought of what damage had been done down there but it hadn't suffered the way the rest of the house had, searched; yes, but not obliterated like his front room.
It took him hours to clean up and determine that nothing was missing and despite first appearances, nothing was actually broken. It could only have been Abby, but why? What had she been looking for? Why hadn't she just asked him for whatever it was? Had she realised he was hiding things from her? Gibbs mind flipped from one unanswerable question to the next. He had to find her but he knew he couldn't do it alone.
He hated to do this to them, they had been through enough but Gibbs called his team, again, and they all answered the summons, again. All, that is, except Ziva.
Her phone rang and rang, eventually flipping to voice mail. He tried again, this time the ringing was cut short. The third time he tried the call went straight to voice mail.
Ziva. Abby. He knew this was no coincidence; he jumped into his car calling the boys on the way, telling them to meet him outside Ziva's, praying that he was right.
McGee was pulling into the parking lot just in front of Gibbs, and they both waited impatiently for Tony. After what felt like an eternity, but was really less than a minute, Gibbs barked at Tim to wait while he ran into the building.
Resisting the urge to batter down the door, he knocked gently.
"Ziva?"
There was no response to either his knocking or his calling out but he could hear movement inside.
He knocked again, more insistently, and when he called out his voiced had an edge of panic.
"Gibbs, you should not be here, everything is fine, we are fine"
He knew by both her words and her tone that Abby was there and that there was no immediate need to apply his size 12 boots to the door frame.
He wanted to say something meaningful, something that would diffuse whatever was going behind that door, but words had never been his strong point and they failed him completely now. He hoped that his silence would be understood by the girls, he hoped that they both knew he wasn't going anywhere.
Gibbs didn't understand what was happening or why it was happening now, he did understand that for better or worse, this was the final showdown.