Tropical Nightmare- Chapter 21: Visitor after hours (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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I´m checking some samples at the lab when my cell starts ringing. It´s Tony´s ID and I wonder why he´s calling. As far as I know, he was going to see Kate at the hospital tonight. "Hey, Tony." I answer the call and wonder why there´s not the typical hospital-like background noise tonight.

"Hey, Abbs. Uhm...you still busy at the lab?" Something in his voice tells me that he´s got something planned and needs me for that. "I need your help." Yep, right again. It´s so easy to figure out when he needs something. "I got this date tonight...well, actually, it´s dinner at my mom´s place. I can´t put that off, I´ve done so several times last week. Could you come over to Kate´s place and stay with her tonight?"

For a moment, I´m not sure if he´s trying to pull a joke on me or something. "Uhm...hang on. Did you say Kate´s place? She´s still at Bethesda, isn´t she? Kind of a bad joke, Dinozzo." I tell him, but a part of me is wondering if he might be telling the truth.

He sounds a bit unnerved. "Listen, Abby, this ain´t no joke. I didn´t know either, but Kate´s been released today. I took her home and she´s asleep now. Please, just get over here. I´ll get you caf-pow for a whole month, but I need someone to stay with her. Ducky is off to a bingo tournament with his mother -he told me a few days back and I just get his answering machine. And Gibbs...well, you know how he has been lately when it came to Kate. I don´t know what happened between them, but I really don´t want to set him off any further." The tone in his voice tells me he´s not joking or anything. He´s completely serious and no matter how often he has played his childish jokes on me, this time I believe him.

"Give me 20 minutes, okay? Do I need to get anything from the store before coming over or did you take care of that?" I ask and as usually, he hasn´t thought about getting anything up front. I throw my lab coat into the corner and shut the computers down. I can finish the analysis tomorrow or some time later, but that doesn´t really count right now. After picking up a bunch of groceries at the store, I park my car in front of the apartment complex. Tony´s car is parked there too, so I know he´s really been telling the truth. He opens the door before I can ring the bell, so he´s probably been waiting for me to come.

"Thank heavens. I really owe you one for this." He tells me and puts on his jacket immediately. "Uhm...meds are in the green bag on the kitchen counter, there´s a list of administration order too. She´s supposed to get as much rest as possible. Maybe you can check with Ducky tomorrow and we´ll set up a plan to keep her company. Just don´t let Gibbs notice yet. I don´t think that would be good. Okay, I´m off. Thanks again, Abbs."

He´s gone before I can even really process all the information he´s given me. I put my coat over an armchair and put the groceries away. After that I carefully open the bedroom door and smile at the picture. Kate is sleeping soundly, her hair fanning out over the pillow. Tony has dimmed the light down. There´s a chair next to the bed, so he´s probably been sitting with her for a while. I close the door again and turn down the doorbell. It´s a good thing she got one of those newer ones where you can turn down the volume at need.

I haven´t eaten since breakfast, but I can´t bring myself to make something yet.I check out the green back that´s sitting on the counter. There´s a whole bunch of meds inside and I really wonder that they released her already. I´m familiar with the different meds and take out the plastic tray to get everything settled for the next day. This way she doesn´t have to sort through the packs and try to figure out when she is supposed to take something.

I didn´t manage to bring any clothes along, so I just walk into her dressing room and take out a sweat suit. She´sgiven it to me before when I stayed at her place, so I don´t think she´ll mind. I sit down next to the bed for a moment and watch her sleep. She looks loads better than in the hospital, but she´s still pale. I remember the way she used to be and all the fun we had before this happened, but I know she´ll get back to that some time. She´s come a long way to this point, but there´s an even longer way to go if she wants to return to active duty.

I settle down in the livingroom at some pointand turn on the TV. I keep the noise down and watch the 11 pm news on CNN. My thoughts keep drifting away and I wonder just what happened between Gibbs and Kate. I have been working with him for a long time, but he´s rarely as grumpy as nowadays. I´m not sure if it was Kate, who pissed him off, but if it was her, she must have done so very royally. When McGee tipped his coffee over at a crime scene a while back, he was tons better than right now.And spilling the boss-man´s coffee is considered the ultimate crime at NCIS.

Suddenly, there´s a sound at the door and I remember turning down the doorbell. I wonder who´s out there, but figure it will be Tony again. Maybe he wants to check if everything is all right, but when I open the door, I meet a pair of icy blue eyes, glaring at me, but I can see a lot of confusion in them too.