Chapter 11
Abby walked slowly into the room, and paused. She knew that he was still unconscious but she had secretly hoped that he would be sitting there with his eyes wide open and an angry word on his mouth. But he wasn't, he lay as he had when she had left him a lifetime ago.
Abby slowly crossed over to Gibbs's bedside and stroked back his hair.
"Hey my silver fox" she whispered, her voice cracking slightly. Abby sat down in the chair pulled close to the bed and slowly pulled down her pigtails, swinging her head to shake down her hair.
With a bone deep sigh she lay her head on the bed, her hand finding his and clutching it tightly as she closed her tired eyes and struggled to push back the exhausted tears that threatened to consume her.
"It was her, Liz got your cup back." She told him softly, her eyes still closed, her voice showing the strain of the day. "Her prints are all over it, and the dregs had a mega high content of Arsenic in it." She carried on, as if reporting her finding at the lab. "Liz is with Fornell at the moment… the Jerk" Abby shifted her head slightly so that she could see his face clearly. "Just need to find out why she did it. She's FBI Gibbs, it just doesn't make sense." She whispered closing her eyes again. "We'll get her though" she said her voice slurring as she began to fall asleep. Abby struggled against the sleep pulling her down for a few moments, her conscience arguing that she should tell him about Ari, but her heart refusing to tell him like this, neither won the argument though as sleep finally beat them both.
Gibbs lay silently. His senses returned slowly and he lay there assessing the noises around him and the threat level they posed to him. Slowly the sounds registered, the rhythmic beep, the smell of disinfectant and illness and he realised he was in the hospital. Know he just needed to figure out why.
He slowly opened his eyes, blinking rapidly at the bright light of his hospital room. Before moving anything other than his eyes he took stock of his injuries. He worked from his feet up, moving gently and feeling for pain. But he found nothing to tell him why he was in the hospital; there was certainly no gun shot, or other serious injury. The only pain he was registering was from the canular in his hands and a mild stomach ache. Having assessed his injuries Gibbs turned to his surroundings, he slowly moved his head to take in the room, then he looked down towards the foot of the bed, finally noticing the black haired head lying sleeping on his bed, just below his hand. He stretched out his fingers and caught a few strands of the silky hair in his fingers, allowing it to run through his fingers like water.
"Abby" he whispered croakily to himself, realising that his throat was slightly sore.
He watched in soft amusement as Abby's head shot off the bed as if a starting pistol had just gone off next to her. He watched as she turned to look at him, fear and hope warring in her dark eyes.
"Gibbs?" she asked softly, her hand reaching for his and grasping it tightly. Gibbs grasped it back, surprised at how weak he felt. And at the tremor he felt in Abby's hand. "Thank you" he heard Abby whisper quietly, her eyes telling him far more than his own mental and physical checks had. Whatever had happened to him he had nearly died from it, and Abby was paying the price of loving him.
"What happened?" he whispered against his raspy throat, struggling to get the words out. Abby pulled his hand up to her face and laid his palm flat against her face, feeling the warmth of his skin, loving the way his fingers curved to cup her cheek.
"You were poisoned" Abby replied softly, watching him carefully. Gibbs laid there for a moment his memory slowly returning.
"Ari" he said his eyes hardening slightly at the name. Abby started to say something, not sure if she was going to defend the terrorist or what she was going to say, but Gibbs carried on, not noticing her.
"He tried to warn me" Gibbs said softly, closing his eyes briefly. "Get the doctor Abby and get me the hell out of here" he demanded, strength returning to his voice along with his determination.
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"Agent Gibbs, I really think you need to remain in this hospital for a few more days, we need to continue with the Chelation therapy as well as…"
"I'm leaving now, with or without my clothes, with or without your permission" Gibbs growled at the young doctor, causing him to step back nervously at the cold blue eyes staring at him.
"Agent Gibbs I don't think you understand…" he tried to begin again.
"I understand perfectly, do you?" Gibbs asked softly, his words taking on a far more sinister meaning with the soft voice Gibbs used.
"Gibbs" Abby said quietly, having stood and watched the by play for the last 5 minutes, "Play nicely" she warned him, crossing back to his side and flashing the doctor a large grin.
"So you want to get out?" she asked him, ignoring the glare he levelled at her.
"I am getting out" he corrected her, not liking the look he saw in her eyes.
"Yeah?" she queried with a grin, "Nurses will love your butt flashing past" Abby warned him with a grin, pointing out that he was only wearing a paper gown.
"But I have a solution, if you promise to leave the nice doctor alone." She told him, her eyes sparkling with relief and happiness. If Gibbs was well enough to but up a fight like this then she knew he was well enough to go home.
Gibbs stared at her through narrowed eyes, but remained silent.
"Promise?" she asked again, her hand absently stoking the back of his that was now free of tubes and wires.
She watched as Gibbs turned and glared at the Doctor, causing him to step back even further away from the bed.
"GIBBS!" Abby admonished him with an exasperated voice, knowing he was doing it deliberately.
Abby turned to look at the doctor, smiling at him disarmingly, not noticing the effect it had on the tall young man, or the reaction Gibbs had to the doctor's reaction to her.
"I can do the Chelation at home with him. There are a tonnes of really cool Chelation therapies from the health food store. Or I can concoct my own one, with a blend of Alfalfa, garlic, fibre, Turin and selenium. Or maybe Rutin and apple pectin" she told the doctor with a grin. "I could make them taste really yucky too" she said, her grin turning to an evil Cheshire cat one. She turned to smile wickedly at Gibbs when the doctor nodded enthusiastically at her suggestion.
"Clothes" Gibbs growled at her, knowing if he wanted out then he would have to agree to her scheme. Abby debated pushing him for the promise to behave but decided that he had given in as much as he ever would. She bent down and reached under the bed and handed him a paper bag with his clothes in it. She then shot off the bed and out of the room before he killed her.
Abby had just finished talking to the Doctor outside of Gibbs's room, whilst he got ready to leave. As she watched the young doctor walk away she sank down on the chair that Tony had vacated a short while ago and grinned weakly at Ducky, standing on the other side of the corridor.
"You think he will be ok?" she asked Ducky worriedly, doubts beginning to creep in about the wisdom of letting Gibbs go home.
"My dear Abigail, Jethro will get better quicker if left to his own devices and your potions." He smiled at her "And he will feel less inclined to rip all of our heads off and use them as footballs" he said with the first real grin he had shared in what seemed like weeks.
"You are so right my Darling Ducky, and I believe the doctor will get to live if we get Gibbs out fast" she said relief washing through her that Ducky believed they were making the right choice. Not that they really had a choice, she thought ruefully.
"He will live longer if he doesn't make puppy eyes at you in front of Jethro" Ducky warned her sternly, earning him a large grin from Abby.
"I might shoot him on principle" Gibbs growled from behind Abby, standing fully dressed in the doorway of his room.
"Now, now Gibbs, that's no way to talk about Jerry. He helped save your life" Abby admonished him with a smile, as she crossed to his side and linked her arm through his.
"I'll make it quick then" Gibbs muttered as he and Abby walked down the corridor.
Ducky watched them for a moment, a smile on his face before he too followed them out of the hospital. A few hours ago Gibbs had been at deaths door; now he was on his way home. Sometimes the man amazed him, and sometimes, he reflected, you just had to accept that that was Gibbs.