Author's Note: This is a rewrite of Falling Screaming from my now removed (due to some stranger than fiction life stuff I won't bother going into) series Absolutely Abby.
Broken. Shattered. Surviving.
Tony pauses for a moment in the doorway of Abby's lab observing her sleeping with her head on the bench. She is so deeply asleep that she doesn't even stir as he places the Caf-Pow! beside her.
"Abs" he gently shakes her shoulder.
"Huh. What? Tony!" she comes awake looking startled and scared.
"Is something wrong Abby?" he asks quietly.
"Nothing. Just a silly nightmare" she shakes her head but DiNozzo is unconvinced.
He stands there a moment. "Are you going to tell me?"
Her response comes out in a rush; words tumbling over each other as she attempts to explain.
"I was falling…falling fast….and I didn't want to be….I was reaching out….and screaming…screaming loudly and no-one….no-one…"
"No-one what Abby? Come on you can tell me."
"No-one heard me Tony. No-one heard."
"Is something worrying you Abs?"
"No, nothing. I guess it was just a nightmare."
"Are you sure that's all it was? Could it have some other meaning?"
"Um. Could be my subconscious trying to tell me something. Maybe that the only person I can rely on is myself or it's some other hinky message from deep within me to me..."
They both chuckle at this last but Abby continues to look upset.
DiNozzo stares at her quite seriously for a moment.
"Well I know how to make it go away."
"You do?"
"I promise to always hear you Abs."
She smiles at him.
"So what have you got for me?'
"Well Major Mass Spec found three types of..."
The End.