Chapter 17

Abby felt the atmosphere in the room change, there were more people and there seemed to be excitement in the air, she just wanted them all to go away and let her go back to sleep, she hurt so much. Her fingers tightened on Gibbs, his hand still there, the only thing holding her back from the blessed darkness, she debated letting go of him so that she could drift away, but she was afraid that if she did she would lose him forever, and so she held on.

She suddenly felt a cold hand on her face and then a light shinning in her eyes, she felt rather than heard herself scream in pain. It was as if the light in her eye had bought all feeling back to her body and the pain was unbearable. She heard voices calling, shouting but she couldn't make out what they were saying, the pain was too much, and there was nothing else only pain and Gibbs's hand in hers.

She held on tightly but it wasn't tight enough, suddenly his hand was wrenched away and she screamed out again, before the pain took over and she slipped away again.

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Gibbs watched in horror from the corner as they fought to bring Abby back, he had finally had to let go of her hand when they shocked her heart, but they could not get him to leave the room, he needed to be there, he knew she was aware of him and he feared if he left she would slip away for ever. He had been elated to hear her call his name but things had changed rapidly, he had watched her monitor go crazy and then the doctors had rushed in, chaos reigning, they had tried to make him leave then but he had refused and then she had screamed, a weak and feeble scream but one that had contained so much agony in it that his heart had shattered at the sound.

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Slowly the pain receded slightly and the voices faded away, but try as she might Abby could not bring the darkness back to shield her, she was aware now of light filtering in under her eyelids, of strange beeping noises, but her tired and pain filled mind could not process what was happening around her, she just wanted to return to her coffin and the darkness that had cocooned her there.

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Gibbs watched the nurses and doctors leave the room, having stabilised Abby again, they had told him that she had come out of the coma, and was now in a drug induced sleep, he sighed as he crossed back to her side wishing she would open her eyes and look at him.

He bent down and brushed his lips over her hair, his hand reaching for hers again, pleased that her fingers curled into his and held his hand gently; he pulled the chair over and sat watching her sleep, hoping they were right and that she was just sleeping.

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Abby didn't know how much time had passed but she knew it was time to open her eyes, but the thought frightened her, what if the pain came back she thought in terror; she flexed her hand and felt his in hers and slowly she began to open her eyes.

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Gibbs felt her hand flutter in his and raised his head to look at her, his breath catching at the fluttering of her black eyelashes, at first just a gentle movement, then one eye opened and closed again, the fluttering stopped and Gibbs lent forward

"Come on Abs, wake up" he said gently to her "Time to open your eyes" he encouraged her, pleased to be rewarded by another flutter.

"Abs open your damn eyes" he muttered more to himself than to her in frustration when nothing further happened.

Abby's eyes shot open suddenly at the command and then gently closed again, Gibbs held his breath and was rewarded as they finally opened and stayed open.

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Abby managed to open one eye, but the light was too bright and she closed it again, frightened of the light that had caused so much pain last time; she heard Gibbs talking to her and tried to listen to him

"…. time to open your eyes" she heard him say, her mind confused at why he sounded so scared, Gibbs was never scared she thought sadly, she tried to do as he asked but the fear returned and she stopped again., she felt Gibbs move, his hand squeezing hers his breath warm on her face

"…open your damn eyes" she heard him demand and without thought she opened her eyes to see what he wanted.

The light hurt and she was tempted to close her eyes again but she knew Gibbs would be angry with her if she did, so she rode out the first wave of pain, her eyes not focused on anything,and slowly the pain eased and she began to focus on the things around her. She was looking up and could see a strip light and a tiled ceiling, she moved her head very slightly too where she knew Gibbs was, but she stopped at the pain that shot through it; her eyes closing brieflyas the pain engulfed her and then receded again,then she openedher eyesagain to see Gibbs looking down at her, his expression one of fear, pain and pride but the thing she noticed most in his eyes was the love.

and slowly she smiled at him.

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Gibbs walked out of the room, both drained and elated, the doctors had just finished their exam of Abby and were pleased with how she was doing. She had managed to answer a few questions and had even cracked a joke about the hospital bed feeling like her coffin, which had at first given the doctors some concern until Gibbs had explained that Abby slept in one at home.

He had sat with her for a few moments after they left, just drinking in the sight of her lying there with her eyes open. She had quickly begun to tire and so Gibbs had left so that her parents could sit with her for awhile.

He crossed over to the waiting room to find everyone still there, but the mood in the room was much lighter than before and everyone had relieved smiles on their faces. Gibbs paused in the doorway, no one yet noticing him and he took the moment to drink in the fact that all of these people, from different walks of life had become not just a team or colleagues or even just friends but had become a unit; his mind balked at the idea of saying family but his heart knew that that was exactly what they had become, a family unit.

Ducky noticed Gibbs first, catching sight of the look on Gibbs's face and smiled to himself, sometimes good things came from bad and he had a feeling this was one of those times.

Gibbs felt Ducky's eyes on him and smiled slightly

"Abby is ok" was all he said as he crossed to the thermos of coffee, finding it empty he turned and looked accusingly at the people standing there. McGee stepped forward and took it from him

"On it boss" he said leaving the room quickly, clutching the thermos to him, Gibbs turned away to look out the window for a moment, noticing that the rain had stopped and he smiled gently to himself

they would all be ok.