Disclaimer: Totally not mine. Wished it was tho... sigh... GAbby rocks!

A/N: Anything in italics represents thought. Also, the time format goes as Days:Hours:Minutes. (Note the story's title, lol!) This is sort of an 'addition' to my previous story "The Coffin..." So if you haven't read that, it's not a big deal, b/c I'm sure you'll still be able to follow. (Hopefully!) ;-)

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Chapter 4

9:15:02... was he hallucinating now?

He slowly turned, and there stood Abby. She looked slightly dishevelled. Her clothes were rumpled. Her pig tails were coming undone. Her makeup was smudged. She realized he was staring, and she self consciously tried to smooth down her hair and clothes, smiling weakly all the while, as she explained that she'd just up and gone without much forethought or planning, and... she'd trailed off, nervous at his expression, which was still shocked, but also very unreadable right now.

"Gibbs! I know I look a fright! Please don't stare. You're making me nervous and I'm having a serious Caff-Pow withdrawal, and you know me... I get a little twitchy if I don't get my daily doses and... You're still staring at me, Gibbs. What gives?"

"You do not 'look a fright'. You're beautiful Abbs. Never doubt that. Ever. I... just can't believe you're here."

She smiled then... a shy smile. "I hope you don't mind. I didn't just want to barge in on your vacation, and..." she trailed off, seeing a slight frown on his face. He stood quietly... "Why are you here, Abbs? Just to hang out with a friend? Spend some time in the sun, with me?" Abby wasn't sure what to make of this... Gibbs had a most unusual very un-Gibbs-like look on his face. And the tone of voice... he sounded...

Hurt?

She thought back... back to the hospital, and being worried over Tony. She swore that she wasn't going to let anyone walk away from her any more without them knowing just how she felt about them. She had grabbed Ziva in a bear hug, and told her that despite the fact that sometimes they didn't get along, she really respected her. Then she had grabbed McGee and told him that he was a good agent, and a good man, and she knew he'd do great things. She told Ducky that he was a total sweetheart, and she would always love him... he was the heart and soul of their 'family'. Jimmy was told that he was a very astute and smart man, and once he got his confidence up more, he'd do great things as well. Then she hugged Tony as tightly as she dared, and told him she was taking off on a vacation, and even though she loved him, if he tried to stop her, she knew how to cover up a crime and she would NOT hesitate to do so.

She'd left straightaway. She hadn't even really taken the time to pack properly. She'd just thrown a couple of things into a duffle bag, and hoped that she wouldn't need much more than what she had thought to bring. If Gibbs was going to come to her... leave her notes and plane tickets to Mexico... then he must want her there for reasons unrelated to friendship. He must NEED her there. Or, she hoped, any ways.

"Gibbs?"

He smiled... "Hey, I'm glad for the company, Abbs. I haven't been doing too much. But now I've got a good reason to get out." Now it was her turn to frown. He saw, but he wasn't sure what to make of it. He stood there, watching her, watching him. She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes... almost as if she was sizing him up. Suddenly, a smile graced her features... and then she did something very unexpected.

Abby strode forward, and grabbed Gibbs's face... she pressed her lips to his, and prayed that she wasn't making the biggest mistake of her life.

His first thought was that 'Abbs is kissing me!' His next thought was that her lips were very sweet and soft. Then his next was 'is that her tongue?' He hadn't felt like this since he was kissing his very first girl.

Abby allowed her tongue to gently trace the seam of Gibbs's lips before gently delving inside. She coaxed his tongue to move against hers, and tilted her head slightly, deepening the kiss. Her hands tangled in his hair, she sighed against his lips, and pressed her hips closer to him.

She was in heaven.

Gibbs realized that she was enjoying herself. He realized that she wanted this. It was just blowing his mind that it was HIM she wanted.

Abby felt Gibbs truly respond to her kiss after a few long seconds. It seemed to go on forever and forever, and she truly didn't mind, except that too soon, he was pulling away from her, panting slightly. "Abbs?" She heard all the unasked questions in his voice, and she smiled at him.

"The truth, ok? I love you. I think I might have always loved you. I'm not sure anymore. The so-called 'jokes' about your hair? Not jokes. I like it. It's sexy. Your hands give me shivers. I think about all the places they could touch, and the things they would make me feel. I've wondered for months what kind of a kisser you were. You always gave me such sweet ones... but always on the forehead, finger, or cheek... never an honest-to-goodness, lip to lip to tongue to tongue kiss. I have long, drawn-out, complicated daydreams about you. I look forward to seeing you every day. Even when you're complaining and grouchy. Because if I don't see you... then my day isn't worth anything. I freaked when you got blown up. I cried for hours, sitting by your bed whenever the Director would allow me. It hurt me to see you lying there, hurt and confused and not being able to do anything about it. When I thought you were leaving for good? I didn't take it too well. As you well know. And when you showed up at my place, and climbed into my coffin with me? It was perfect. Till I woke up, and you were gone. But you left a ticket. So I thought maybe. And then I figured had to be. And if we hadn't had that case come in, and then if Tony hadn't gotten shot, I would have probably got her a lot sooner, and damnit. I'm not going to let you push me away anymore. You made the first move... now you're stuck with me. So tough luck, Gibbs! I'm here now and I'm not goi-"...

He watched amazed, as she started into an explanation that suddenly became more and more wordy and complicated and finally, he'd simply began kissing her again to shut her up. After another long kiss, she breathlessly looked up at him and began to accuse him. "You did that on purpose to shut me up Gibbs, didn't you!"

He only chuckled in response.

As she opened her mouth to launch another 'attack', he took advantage of the situation to kiss her again. Only to have her loudly admonish him to stop kissing her. He released her, and gave her a serious look.

"It's been 9 days. 15 hours..." he paused to glance at his watch... "and 49... no, make that 50 minutes since I left you. I kept thinking you wouldn't want me. I've fallen in love with you Abbs. And I don't know when or how, but maybe I've always loved you too, because Lord knows I've allowed you to pretty well do as you've wished with little-to-no consequences. And now? Now that you've kissed me like that? Do you really think I'm going to let you go now? You've made your choice. You came to me. Now you're mine. So yes... I did kiss you to shut you up because I really don't want to talk any more... not when I could be kissing you."

It wasn't very poetic. He didn't look sorry for saying that he was trying to shut her up. He wasn't bearing flowers, or candy or anything sweet or romantic like that. But to Abby, the moment couldn't have been more perfect... or heartfelt. She melted back into his embrace with a soft "oh Gibbs!" as his lips crushed into hers. And even though she wasn't a romance and girly-girly type... she felt exactly like one of those romance novel heroines who's being kissed within an inch of her life in the arms of the handsome and dashing knight or Prince or whatever. And she liked it. As the sun melted into the cool blue-grey waters of the ocean, and the music and laughter from the other couple slowly faded away into the night as she was wrapped in Gibbs's embrace, Abby couldn't have been happier than if she'd just found out that Bert had himself a baby farting hippo in some sort of weird farting hippo miracle and...

"Abby?"

"Mmmm?"

"Did you say DiNozzo got shot?"