Tropical Nightmare- Chapter 15: Silence (Abby´s POV)

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything!

Summary: Tony and Kate are sent to Argentina for an undercover mission, but they have to take a detour.They are bound to find out that atropical island can be a real nightmare -at least if you´re on your own out there...

Additional note: I usually don´t write 1st-person narrator, but it seemed to fit rather well for this little story as the POV changes with each chapter.Also, the use of present-tense is wanted here, eventhough it may seem a bit odd. I hope it´s still readable.

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It´s been a week since they found them. A week since we learned that Kate was hurt. A week full of hope and questions. A week without Gibbs around. He left for Austin the same day he got that call from Tony. I haven´t heard from him ever since. Tony called yesterday when I was at home. He couldn´t talk long since he was using the local phone at the hospital. He sounded tired somehow and there aren´t any news on Kate yet. I keep hoping that she´ll make it, but the doctors are not raising much hope. She´s in a deep coma and the bleeding is still there. They say, she is lucky that it´s bleeding to the outside and not leading to a brain hemorrhage. I don´t know if it´s something you should call lucky.

I miss them, Kate most of all, but also Tony and Gibbs. It´s weird, ´cause when Gibbs is around, I wish that he´s gone and when he´s gone, I hope he´ll come back soon. He has changed a lot, I think. Maybe he has been thinking about how we do our job here -it´s not like working really. I mean, we sure do work here, but it doesn´t feel like that. It´s more like doing something you really like with people whom you really like. Hard to explain, but that´s the gut feeling I have about NCIS.

I cast a look at the stereo on the other wall. There´s a film of dust forming on the speakers. A sign that I haven´t turned it on in quite a while. Maybe I should, but on the other hand, I like having this silence around me right now. When I close my eyes and ignore the sounds of my three computers, I can hear Kate´s voice around me. The way she came rushing in with some evidence or to remind me of our movie-night. I have to smile when I remember that. I hope she´ll be okay and we can have those times again.

The door opens and I see Ducky coming in. "Hello there, Abigail." He greets me and I smile at him. He´s probably the only person in the world who uses my actual name, but that makes it special somehow. "I was wondering if you would keep me company for lunch today." He puts his lab coat away and looks at me.

I get up and save the results on the computer. "Sure, I´d love to." I reply and put my coat away too. We walk out of the building and he leads me to a small italian restaurant, just a block away. I remember this place. We had lunch here before, all of us did. Tony always had pasta with olives, Kate took a vegetable pizza and I had grilled tofu and vegetables. I don´t remember what Ducky and Gibbs had, I think they always changed their mind. We sit down at a table near the window and order our food. Ducky is getting pasta and ham.

Somehow, there´s a different look in Ducky´s eyes today. I´m not a profiler like Kate or a detective like Tony, but I do notice those things. "What´s the matter, Ducky? You look like you´re hiding something." I tell him and he smiles a bit. I´m not sure what to make of his reaction. I know he has talked to Gibbs at least twice this week, but he never told me anything about it.

He takes a sip from his water and looks at me for a moment. "Jethro has called me last night, Abigail. He told me that Kate´s condition hasn´t changed at all. The doctors are pretty much clueless what to do." He tells me and from the tone in his voice, I know this is serious. My mouth feels dry and I can hear the blood rushing in my ears. A slight smile creeps over his face. "Do not be worried, girl. She´s not worse either, you know? The doctors from Austin have been conferencing with the ones from Bethesda. They have agreed to transfer her to Bethesda and see what they can do here. After all, it´s one of the best hospitals we have."

I can´t believe what I´m hearing. They´re bringing her home -that means all three of them will come back. "Wow." I say, there´s nothing else that comes to my mind this moment. "When, Ducky? When are they coming home?" I ask and there´s this grin on his face again.

Someone puts his hands on my shoulders from behind me and I jump. "Hey, Abbs." I recognize Gibbs and Tony standing behind me. "Missed us? Ducky has been complaining that there´s no music in the lab." Gibbs tells me and laughs about my face. Without really thinking about it, I jump up and hug both of them. After a second, I realize what I am doing and pull back.

"It´s so good to have you back." I tell them as they sit down with us and order their food. We talk a lot about what has happened. "So, Kate is in Bethesda now?" I ask after finishing my lunch.

Tony just nods. "Yeah, they say they want to run more tests on her. They´ve done that all week -test after test and another test for those tests. Kate would hate it if she had a choice." He says and I notice how sad he looks. His eyes are tired and he seems exhausted -mostly mentally, but also physically.

There´s a long silence around the table until Ducky gets up. "If you would excuse me, I have another autopsy this afternoon and I think Mr. Palmer is already waiting for me. I will see all of you later." He says, puts a $20 bill on the table and leaves. Tony uses the chance and leaves as well, he says, he´s going home to get his mail straightened out. He´ll be on leave for the rest of the week, which is another two days before the weekend.

I notice that Gibbs is looking at me. "What?" I ask him and he smiles. It´s one of those smiles you don´t get to see every day.

"I´m just glad to be back home. That apartment was awful, you know." He says, but I know that´s not all there is. "I just realized how close we are, I mean, the team. I´ve never thought about thinking about it like this, but somehow, this is what I would call family. And don´t call me mental now, I will argue everything I said before if you do."

I´m surprised by this revelation. "It´s good to know that all of us have finally gotten there." I tell him and decide to leave as well. There´s work waiting for me at the lab and there won´t be silence much longer when I´m around.