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 5

5 hours... 30 minutes... God, she's beautiful...

In the past 5 and ½ hours, Abby had told him all about everything before she left. From her waking up, still smelling sawdust in the air, and knowing he'd be gone, to their first (and big) case that they solved in record time. She told him about DiNozzo's 'official' promotion, and Ziva refusing to call him Boss. She talked about working her butt off (at which point he'd surprised himself by taking a long moment to check her butt out and getting a sweet blush from her as his response) and about the new case that ended up with Tony getting shot. "So let me get this straight... a new case comes in, and in the midst of going over the scene, Tony was shot? By the perp who was still there and hiding? How in the hell..." Abby shrugged. "You left us, Gibbs. A lot of people are off their game right now. Tony tries to keep it all together, but... well... he isn't the bastard you're known to be. Any ways... apparently the cop on the scene who secured it was a rookie. No one bothered to recheck it, and when Tony got in there, apparently the perp had been sweating it out under the bed for about 3 hours. He got a little antsy..." Gibbs shook his head. It was a dangerous enough job without rookie mistakes. But... those were the pitfalls of working in law enforcement.

She saw the look on his face... the one that said such a thing wouldn't have happened on his watch, but that still, it was a dangerous profession and you knew what you were getting into when you signed up for it. She hugged him tightly. "You can always come back, you know." He shook his head in the negative. "Not yet. Maybe not ever. I don't know if I can do that anymore, Abbs." He trailed off... lost in his thoughts. She took the moment to study him. When she had first walked up the beach, she'd noted that he looked about the way that she felt... lost, alone... scared. Now he looked tired. She too, was coming down. The euphoric high she'd had while coming to him had drained away, leaving her feeling more tired than she'd ever thought possible. She wrapped her arms around him, and nuzzled him playfully. "Not too sound too forward, but... can you please take me to bed now?" He'd chuckled gently, and then stood, offering her a hand. Together, they walked off to the little beach house where he was staying. He simply threw back the covers, and tucked in her, fully clothed. Then he too climbed in, and snuggled into her. Together, they drifted off on the tide of sleep...

15 hours of being with him... god, I'm so happy...

Abby's first thoughts on waking were usually of the 'hap-hap-happy' variety. Waking up next to Gibbs? Astronomically happy. She was pretty sure about a half-dozen Caff-Pow's couldn't produce this much happiness... definitely the peppiness, but the genuine happiness? Nah... Not likely. She was tucked neatly into him, and when she tried to move, she found he had her pretty well pinned. She wiggled gently again, not wanting to disturb him. He cracked open one blue eye and peered blearily at her... "Abbs? What are you doing?" Seeing he was awake, and feeling slightly guilty that it was her wiggling around that had woken him, she began to babble slightly at him...

Till he rolled onto her completely and kissed her so thoroughly that his mouth on hers was all she could think of.

When the kiss broke, he noticed that Abbs was in a world of her own, eyes glazed over with lust and longing, lips swollen from his assault, looking well-kissed. It made him smile. He gently brushed a strand of black hair away from her pale cheek, and smiled down at her. "Abbs?" His voice broke her trance, and she looked up at him, half amused, and half annoyed. "Every time I try to babble at you, are you going to kiss me like that?" He looked thoughtful for a moment... "maybe..." her slight huff of annoyance made him chuckle. "Not funny Jethro! That's just rude, and ya know, I've got total kitten-breath, and you're lying on top of me and I have to pee and..." another kiss silenced her once more. She didn't try to fight it, so he knew she wasn't really that annoyed with it. In fact, the more he kissed her, the more her hands would tangle in his hair and she'd press herself into him.

What a way to wake up... I could get used to this...