Title: Permanent
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: The Ari arc, seasons 1-3, and Sharif Returns, season 4.
Summary: Abby decides on a tattoo design.

Author's Note: Thanks to Jennie for the prompt 'bat'.

"I've decided," Abby tells Gibbs, the moment he walks in.

"Decided what?"

"My new tattoo. I'm gonna get a bat silhouette. For Kate." She holds up the sketch their fallen friend once drew of her – a bat's wings attached to a human head and torso.

Gibbs nods slowly, squeezing her shoulder. "It's a good idea."

Abby leans against him, taking comfort from the gesture. "Some days I'm scared I'm forgetting her."

"Hence the tattoo?" he asks.

"It's permanent. And I was there when Kate got hers." A pause, and she asks, "How do you remember her?"

Gibbs taps his shoulder, the location of one of his bullet wound scars. "Ari shot me here. Whenever I see it, there she is."

"Permanent," Abby murmurs, nodding. "Can I see?"

For a few seconds, he doesn't know how to respond. "Can't pull the shirt down far enough, Abbs."

Abby bites her lip, nods, then turns away. "Okay."

His gut tells him that if he drops the subject, there'll be a barrier between them that wasn't there before. Before she can step out of reach, he puts a hand on her arm, halting her. "Wait."

Her expression is sad, hopeful… but more than that. She's caught him when his defences are down, and his immunity to her unique charms is low. Not that she's trying to seduce him; she's just provocative by nature. It's one of the things he tries hard not to notice, and today he's failing.

With a tiny smile of inevitability, he gives in and hands her his coffee. "Gonna make the security guys watch this?"

Abby puts his coffee down by her keyboard, enters a few commands into her computer and then turns back to him. "All lab cameras disabled." Reaching for her remote control, she presses a button, and he hears a door close behind him. "Door locked."

While she watches, he shrugs out of his suit jacket, pulls off his polo shirt and the clean white tee beneath it. Her lips curve in an appreciative smile, which falters into a wince when she sees how many war-wounds – and agent-wounds – he has. "Oh, Gibbs…"

He shrugs. "Line of duty." Pointing to the healed bullet hole above and to the left of his heart, he tells her, "That's my reminder."

Abby reaches out, then stops herself. "Do you mind if-"

"Go ahead," he interrupts her, and she raises an eyebrow at the swiftness of his response.

Her fingers gently brush over the rounded, slightly indented scar, her touch cool against his heated skin. "She was a great profiler, too," she admits, her eyes on his chest rather than his face. "She knew, right off, that I felt more for you than I was letting on."

Gibbs takes a deep breath, then lets it out slowly, allowing the silence to speak for itself. After a few seconds, she lets her hand drop, though she remains within his reach. "I made her promise not to say anything to you, even though she said you felt the sa-"

He slips a hand to the back of her neck and kisses her, and she lays a palm against his chest as she responds hesitantly. He lets her gain confidence before pulling away, his pulse beating triple-time and his imagination in overdrive. "Think we need to continue this with the shirt on, Abbs."

She leans against her workbench and watches him dress again, waiting until his suit jacket is back on to reactivate the security cameras. "Just so things don't get out of hand."

It's a good call. Everything about her tempts him: her eyes, her lips, her voice. "Decided where you're gonna put the tattoo, yet?"

She sidesteps, keeping his body between her and the outer lab's camera, and pulls up her shirt far enough to expose her midriff. Brushing a finger over the skin just above her navel, she says, "I was thinking here."

If the security cameras were still disabled, he'd give in to the urge to drop to his knees and leave a trail of teasing kisses over the area. But they're not, and he lets his gaze travel slowly over the smooth skin instead, then up at her face. "Good choice."

Abby laughs softly. "Maybe not, since you obviously have other plans for that part of me. Maybe I'll get it here." She lays her fingers over the spot on her left shoulder that corresponds with the gunshot wound on his.

"Let's talk about it after work." If he doesn't get out of here soon, the security guys will get a decidedly X-rated show next time they go through the lab's footage.

"Wanna know what I found under the victim's fingernails?" Abby asks innocently, as he steps back.

"Email it up to McGee," Gibbs tells her, and retreats to the neutral ground of the hallway before his willpower gives out.

END.