A/N: First of all, thanks for all your nice feedback to chapter 20. I´m glad you liked it (those of you who requested it). And thanks for waiting so patiently for each update.
Now back to the story: Abby´s apartment is furnished, Gibbs has managed to persuade her to not sleep in a coffin-like bed and now their last day of "Fourteen Days of Sweet Ignorance" is breaking...
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Chapter Twenty-one
Sleep -- An Enemy?
Sunday.
It is dark and way after midnight.
Leroy Jethro Gibbs is lying awake. He does not know if he has already been sleeping, and it doesn´t really matter. He never sleeps much. Doesn´t need to. Doesn´t want to. Sleep almost always is synonymous with nightmares and he cannot suppress his demons when he is asleep.
His hand keeps traveling through Abby´s hair while he just stares into the almost darkness of his bedroom. He does not know for how long he has been doing so.
He is thinking about what this awakening day will be like.
Sunday.
It would be different from all Sundays he has gone through those past years. That much he is sure of. But how will it be different?
He is full of hope that it will get better now. But he also fears new emotions that might come along.
On Sundays he usually visits his family. His first wife, Shannon and his only child, Kelly. And that is what he will do today as well. But for the first time in all those years he won´t go there in secrecy. He won´t have to sneak away and pretend he goes for a run or to work.
Abby ... knows. Abby, whom he only knows for two weeks now -- she knows. Knows much more than he has ever told anybody about his family. He has told her. He still wonders how this could have happened. He somehow hadn´t been able to conceal it from her. He simply can´t believe it. And he can´t believe the way she had reacted. Understanding, and she has tried and managed to comfort him.
Had he told any of his ex-wives about his dead family, he could have sworn they would have reacted completely different. He had never tried, of course. None of his ex-wives had ever really cared about his feelings. Not really, in the end. They always had wanted him to care about their feelings alone. But this he had only just understood when they had left.
The breathing next to him -- or half on top of him -- is regular and soothing. He loves to listen to it, although he isn´t given much of a chance to do so. Like him, Abby doesn´t need much sleep. Snuggled up against him, however, she calms down rather quickly and she drifts off to sleep easily, especially after ... well, they have been pretty busy these last days, so to speak.
"Can´t sleep?" Abby doesn´t move and if she hadn´t just spoken, he would never have guessed she is awake.
Gibbs only briefly pauses stroking her hair, before he resumes.
"You should," he whispers.
"Can´t."
"Why?"
"Cause you don´t," Abby explains.
"For how long have you been awake?" Gibbs asks with astonishment.
"Quite a while," Abby confesses -- and they fall silent again.
About 15 minutes later Abby breaks the silence once more.
"Jeth?" She has sensed his absent-minded and tensed state and she feels the need to help him relax.
"Hm?"
Abby lifts her head and leans back slightly, making Gibbs turn his head in her direction in that room which is only weakly illuminated by the moon-light.
"Turn around," Abby tells him.
"Hm?" Still deep in thoughts Gibbs hasn´t really listened to what Abby has said.
"Turn around, Jeth," Abby repeats softly. "Onto your stomach."
"Abs!" he moans, not really willing to follow her request.
Abby gently caresses his cheek with the back of her hand, then she leans down to place a soft kiss on his forehead, just like he has done so many times already since they have met.
"Please ... my silver-haired fox," she whispers in an affectionate tone and sits up beside him into a kneeling position.
Gibbs does as asked, although he cannot see what she is getting at.
Before he lies down again, Abby removes his pillow.
"You tell me what this is good for, Abs?" he rumbles as he lies prone on the mattress.
"Nope," Abby simply replies.
She takes his wrist which is nearby and slowly brings his left hand to lay above his head. Then she leans over, takes his other hand in hers and soon his right hand joins his left.
A low grunt escapes Gibbs´ lips as he gives in to the sudden urge to stretch, pressing himself deep into the mattress.
Abby finds herself a comfortable position and brings her hands to his back.
The balls of her thumbs press left and right of his spine into the small of his back, making him groan again. With a certain, but not too firm pressure her hands knead their way up his back, pause briefly when reaching his neck, then proceed to his shoulders, taking care of each of them for several minutes. When they get back to his neck again, they are much welcomed.
He again stretches, arching his neck against her hands, giving her access to every single square-millimeter by rolling and pressing his face into the mattress.
His muffled moans make a smile appear on Abby´s face as she continues to draw soft circles with her thumbs upon his neck and the back of his head and he relaxes more and more, while her massaging gets softer and softer. Abby continues her caressing for another 15 minutes after he has drifted off to a -- thanks to her caressing -- restful sleep.
Sleep -- Gibbs doesn´t need much of it. But sometimes, sometimes even he longs for it!
To be continued...