Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

Prompt #35: Affectionate - Nobody ever turns down an Abby hug.

Words: 798

When McGee woke up, his first thought was an all-encompassing OW.

Then Damn, it hurts EVERYWHERE.

Which was followed by I must be alive. Hurts too much to be dead.

A sudden flux of pain had him gasping for air with a strangled yell. Immediately he was surrounded by two doctors and three nurses, all talking at once as they checked his vitals and adjusted the IV lines he now noticed were inserted in both arms. Once they were satisfied with his condition, they left.

Then Gibbs was there, standing at the foot of the bed with his trademark stare trained on his junior agent. Any other agent would have shrank back from it, but McGee smiled at the imperceptible glow of relief in his boss's eyes. "Hey Boss," he rasped weakly, wincing at his suddenly sore throat. "What'd I miss?"

"Not much, McGee," said Gibbs.

"We catch the guy?"

"Yup." The silver-haired agent took a long sip from his ever-present coffee cup. "You gave everyone a good scare."

McGee tried to grin, but it hurt too much. "Didn't mean to," he whispered.

"Especially Abby." Blue eyes narrowed. "Do it again, and I'll kill you myself."

I guess that means he knows about us. "Got it, Boss."

Trying not to move at all, he looked around through half-opened eyelids. The hospital room was a single, sterile and bare except for the tableful of beautiful flowers. Get well flowers, if he had to hazard a guess. A whole lot of them.

But try as he might, McGee couldn't see any black roses in their colorful midst. The sight was a bit disheartening. After all, he did just survive five armor-piercing rounds to the back. You'd think he was entitled to some show of relief from his gir -

"McGee?"

Her voice floated through the open door like a fresh spring breeze, drawing his eyes back to look. Somehow Gibbs had sneaked out, leaving Abby to stand in the doorway like a dark angel. She looked exhausted and disheveled, as if she'd been at his side since he came out of surgery.

"Hey Abby," he whispered, giving her a wan smile. "You okay?"

"Am I okay?" she repeated, sounding dumbstruck. "Am I okay? Am I okay? What kind of idiotic question is that, Timothy McGee? Do I look okay?"

It must've been the drugs in his system, because McGee couldn't stop himself from honestly saying, "You look beautiful."

She stomped over to his bedside and put her hands on her hips. He recognized the stance as Abby's Bitch-Fit Lecture Pose, only enabled when she was about to ream someone out but good. Usually he was a spectator, but now it appeared that he was about to bear the brunt of this particular Bitch-Fit.

"Well you're wrong!" was her opening line. "I'm wearing two-day old clothes, I smell like antiseptic and sweat, I've drunk half my body mass in bad coffee, and I swear I can recite the contents of the waiting room magazines page for page, vertabim. I am the farthest thing from beautiful at this moment."

McGee's hazy mind only latched on the first part of her rant. "I've been here for two days?"

"No, you've been here three days. The last two you were...were..." She suddenly choked up, tears welling up in her bloodshot eyes as a heartbroken expression covered her face. "They weren't sure you'd wake up from the coma."

Coma? McGee thought before a fog descended over his thoughts. "Wasn' tha' bad," he mumbled. His eyelids felt like they weighed a ton each. "Wow, 'm tired."

"That just proves that they're doping you up with good drugs. And you should get some rest anyway." Abby began to edge away, clearly to give him peace and quiet to rest.

"Wait."

"McGee, you really should - "

He struggled to make his suddenly clumsy tongue form and eject tangible words. "No hug?"

"I thought you wouldn't want one."

"You give Tony hugs when he's got one arm in a sling," McGee countered. "At least I'm lying down."

Hesitant, Abby bit her lip. "I could hurt you."

"Doubtful." His dopey smile felt half-crooked, but McGee was less concerned with appearance than substance. "I've just survived getting shot, Abs. How could you hurt me?"

That was enough for her. As gently as if she were hugging a baby, her arms wrapped around his shoulders and squeezed. "Geez, don't scare me like that."

"I won't," McGee promised as he reached up and patted her back weakly.

"By the way, Gibbs kinda - "

"Knows about us, yeah, I caught that too."

I am SOOO SORRY for not updating. Life has been hectic as the holidays wound down.

Forgot to mention, this is a continuation from #14: Music.

Review if you please! It'll show I haven't lost you!