~*AUTHOR NOTES*~
Reboots have been a nice change lately and well, let's just say it got me thinking about re-visiting my OTP "one last time?"
Truthfully, I stopped watching NCIS after Abby's final episode. If there wasn't any Gibbs & Abby, I couldn't watch any more. Besides one exception, I watched the final episode of Gibbs... ever since then, I've been debating on whether I should come back for one more fanfic. Eventually, I've given in – so I guess I'll find out if there are still any Gabby Shippers still out there after our beloved characters said goodbye.
If you followed my stories, you know the drill. Drop a review, let me know you're there. Now, let's see if I still remember how to do this... I hope my writing has improved. I haven't written about my OTP in a long time. Plus, ngl remembering my login credentials nearly made me scrap the idea of returning. *SPOILER ALERT! * I logged in.
This fic was inspired by Abby, then Gibbs leaving NCIS. I picked Season 15 (first couple episodes then the episode when Abby leaves) to binge lately and also Gibbs' last episode, helped inspire this FanFic get started. In case you're trying to place some events, I'll touch on in this story. Other than that, grab your favorite caffeinated drink and allow me to mess with your shipper hearts & minds. Sorry, not sorry.
CHAPTER ONE
It had been roughly four years since she left. Since she was Abby Scuito, NCIS Forensic Specialist. Four long years since she had been in D.C., but for some reason these past few months felt longer than usual.
Maybe it was because she was no longer sending him funny memes or sending him random rants via email about what she did in between her busy schedule of teaching and volunteering at charity events. All their lives seemed to have changed so drastically in the past couple of years. They were no longer a team but remained a family in-between months of silence and random chats when their busy lives slowed for a moment.
He was a father now and Ziva had come home. McGee was all grown up and living his life with his own family, even Jimmy had grown up and endured his own loss as well. Then there was Gibbs. He was never one for goodbyes but silently he had hoped he had said something before completely disappearing and ending all contact with them.
Tony sighed, as he looked at his computer screen. The cursor was blinking after another email he had composed.
Where the hell are you, Abby?
Text, call or email... let me/us know you're ok.
Tony
"Are you coming to bed?" Ziva asked from the dark hallway.
Snapping out his thoughts, he looked at her. "Yeah..." He breathed.
"Anything?" She asked as she entered his office.
Taking in a long-drawn-out breath he silently shook his head.
"I'm sure it's nothing Tony." She assured him. "She's out somewhere living her life, like we are here." She smiled.
He forced a smile. "Right... it's just – it's been nearly 5 months since I got anything. I text Jimmy and called McGee. Jimmy isn't too worried and McGee, doesn't seem to care or is too busy or -"
"I think you're jumping to conclusions." Ziva cut him off.
He huffed. "You don't find this strange? She hasn't been active online in months. Her social media accounts have been deactivated. She always, always calls to check on Tali and nothing. She would call just to check on us. Now, nothing. If this happened when we were all still together – we all would be worried. Now that we all left D.C. no one cares that Abby has gone ghost."
Ziva watched him rise from his chair and look out the window. "Tony, we all have our own lives now."
"It's like no one cares." He cut her off. "Abby is never this silent for this long."
"She's pulling a Gibbs, that's all." She gave a half smile.
Tony shook his head. "Gibbs... he left and fell off the fuckin face of the earth-"
"Tony, keep it down Tali is sleeping." Ziva warned.
Looking at her in the dark he exhaled loudly. "If this happened when we were together, he would have noticed something was wrong before any of us. He would search this damn planet for her just to know that she was safe." He chuckled. "No, instead he's in fucking Alaska not giving a shit about anything anymore. He doesn't care at all; you don't care at all." He seethed at her.
Ziva stepped up to Tony. "I care, Tony. Am I worried? a little. But I don't think anything is wrong. When was the last time we reached out to them? We go weeks and months without saying anything."
"That's us, Ziva. This is Abby were talking about." He trailed off as he looked his laptop. "I need to know that she's okay. This world has gone crazy lately. We're lost in our TV shows and watching stupid 15 second videos and forgot about each other... I need to find her." He said as he closed his laptop.
Seeing the sadness engulf him, Ziva rubbed his arm. "Okay, who else have you talked to?" She asked.
"Fornell, Vance and even Ducky... nothing. Vance said he and Fornell would look into it, but that was three weeks ago."
She closed the gap between them as she draped her arms around him. "You're going to find her and she's going to be fine." She placed a kiss on his cheek. "I think you and I know the one person that can find her." She whispered.
He let out a low groan. "I think finding him will be harder than tracking her down."
Smiling she looked up at him. "I'd start with McGee. Something tells me he'll narrow things down for you."
"I might be gone for a while. Will you two be okay?" Tony asked as he wrapped his arms around his wife.
"Don't worry about us, just tell me what she's been up to when you get back." She said before planting a gentle kiss on his lips.
He smiled at her as he watched her retreat back to their room. In the dark, he looked at the safe sitting on the self. He didn't need what lay inside for a long time, but something told him that he needed it. Quietly, he made his way over to the safe and punched the code then unlocked it. The gun inside shimmered a little as the city lights hit the metal.
In the dark, he pulled out his cell phone and made a call.
After a couple of rings the voicemail he had been getting for the past couple of days greeted him.
This is Abby! You know what to do after the you know what!
He sighed and ended the call but didn't put away his phone before making another. Silently he scrolled to the 'G' section of his contacts. He had expected the same thing, but this time it was different.
"Yeah, wassup scammer?" A teenager answered.
Taken back he scoffed. "Sorry who's this?"
"You called me bitch." The boyish voice shot back.
"Sorry, wrong number." Tony said replied.
"You think?!" The teenager spat back. "Dumbass..."
Tony looked down at his phone, making sure he had dialed the correct number. Annoyed he shook his head.
"Really, Gibbs? How the hell are we supposed to get in contact with you if we don't have your..." He trailed off, realizing that was exactly the point. He didn't want to be contacted for anything, not even by his friends. He had severed all ties and that pissed off Tony even more.
"Fuck..." He breathed as went to bed before his wife came looking for him again.
3 Days later.
He had said goodbye to his wife and daughter days ago. Now, with years of experience in investigative skill under his belt he was still at square one. He had a rough idea of where to find Gibbs but where Abby was, was still unclear. So he asked for help.
"Sorry, Tony I'm late but I'm here." Tim said a bit out of breath as he sat down across his friend.
Checking his watch Tony smile. "Oh, it's okay. It's not like I didn't mind waiting for an hour."
"I'm sorry." Tim apologized again.
"Did you find anything?" Tony cut him off.
"Well, 'hi' Tony, yes I'm fine. How are the kids? Oh, they're great. How's the work? Oh, you know-"
"Alright Elf Lord, sorry but we can do all this whenever. I'm here for something else." Anthony replied annoyed.
McGee shook his head. "Who died and made you Gibbs?"
Tony smirked. "Oh, I don't know... maybe he did that's why we haven't gotten in contact with him or find anyone that seen him since you left him there."
"I didn't leave him. He chose to stay. There's a difference." McGee responded to the already irritated man sitting across him.
"Anything on Abby?" He asked.
McGee rolled his eyes. "Not really. As you know she deactivated all her social media accounts. No biggie, she does that from time to time. Emails, however, it takes her longer to respond..."
"It's been five months for me." Tony pointed out.
"I know..." McGee trailed off. "I looked into her IP address-"
"Just skip the geek speak okay." He insisted as he took a drink of his now cold coffee.
"Right, last location was Iceland."
Tony cocked his neck. "What?"
"Then, Manchester, California, the Philippines, Russia..."
Tony laughed. "She's doing a lot of traveling."
McGee shook his head. "It's a VPN. She's using a VPN to hide her actual location."
DiNozzo sat up in his chair and groaned. "McGee." He warned.
"It's a way to hide your actual location when you're online. It's nothing suspicious, really. I use one all the time. It's a way to stay safe online and if she wasn't using one then that would have been a big red flag for me. Other than that, I was able to find out she was using a virtual computer..." McGee trailed off as he saw Tony roll his eyes. "It's like building a computer virtually online and using that to hid your tracks even more."
"Why all the hiding?" Tony asked his friend.
"It's nothing suspicious for nerds like Abby and I to do. Although, the last place she used her personal email was for a purchase she made about six months ago." McGee watched Tony raise an eyebrow. "Caf-Pow!" McGee smiled. "The kind you mix in water bottles. A large order but you know Abby and Caf-Pow!"
Tony sighed. "Nothing. That's nothing. I'm back to where I started."
McGee watched his friend look across the street and noticed the distant look that came across his face. "Tony..." He said quietly. "Why are you so desperate to find Abby."
"Why aren't you?" He replied.
"There's nothing that indicated that she was in trouble." Tim innocently replied.
"It's been five months since we last heard from her." He shot back at Tim.
"Three..." Tim pointed out.
Tony quickly turned back to him. "What?"
"The last time I heard from her was three months ago." He replied as he reached for his phone to pull up his email, then handed his phone over to Tony.
Hey Tim
How are you? Sorry been busy busy busy lately. Just got done with a house. Now onto the next adventure! There's talk of some carrots & potatoes. Gardening and possibly a greenhouse. Did some home decorating for the house we just finished. Who knew I could be an interior designer. Well, maybe not exactly one but you get the idea. Made the kitchen look like home. A simple coffee pot for coffee, nothing too fancy. A blue rug that made me think of Gibbs for some reason. Speaking of which, it smells like sawdust here after all the work we did. And a patio that I'm in love with and view that you would give up the world for. Sorry for my rant. Love you Timmy xoxo
"My email is when she started on that project..." Tony said as he reached for his own phone and handed it over to McGee.
Tony
Hi hope you're doing well. Send Tali my love as always but just thought I would send you an email while I can before I get back to the hammers and nails. I know I said I hated the sun or was it the sun that hated me? I don't remember but the sun and I are friends these days. I think the moon is jealous, because sometimes he stays with me longer than usual. I don't mind. Anyway, there's this cute carpenter with a scar on his neck here. He's nice. A closet nerd I think, He loves books. You know the kind of guy you would write back home to mom about. Haha since you're the closest I have I thought I tell you. He's been here a while and very mysterious in a good way. But my crew and I are grateful for his help. I miss work sometimes but building this home for this family has made me see that there are some things you can give up in a heartbeat for the simple things, you know? Sorry break over, the work must continue... p.s. do you think it's rude that I'm letting the cute guy do all the work while my crew and I take breaks? Haha
Love you Tony! Smooches!
McGee narrowed his eyes at Tony. "The guy stands out, but she seems like she's volunteering on another Habit for Humanity venture somewhere hot."
Tony drew in a breath. "Nothing stands out to me too, except the guy – then again it's not the first time Abby gushed about someone and she's around a lot of people. You know her too. She's always looking out for herself and doing background checks on people she works with..." Tony shook his head. "Am I jumping to conclusions?"
Tim slowly shrugged. "Dunno... maybe, no... I don't know."
"I would feel better if I found her, even if she was building a house somewhere for a family. I can check this guy out too." Tony said as he tapped his phone. "Make sure, I approve." He stated brotherly.
McGee frowned and he looked at his phone. Silently, he sent over a text to Tony.
*ding*
Tony looked at his incoming text. Coordinates and a digital map uploaded to his phone. "How accurate is the location?" He asked.
Tim cleared his throat and looked away from Tony.
"What?" DiNozzo asked.
McGee, silently shook his head. "It just feels wrong." He whispered.
"It's for Abby; he'll understand." Tony assured him.
Still shaking his head Tim looked up at Tony. "He went there because he wanted to... to be away from all this. He said he found peace, Tony." His voice cracked.
"Peace? I'm glad for him." Tony replied sarcastically.
Tim grimaced. "You sound like you're not happy for him."
Tony sighed and dropped his gaze from Tim. "He should know about Abby. He should be the one to help me find her. Hell, he's the only one I know that will find her." Tony shook his head and looked up at Tim. "I don't know, maybe I'm pissed at him because he just left. No goodbye no explanation, just gone. If he did find peace, he deserves it. It's just-"
"You wish he came back." Tim finished.
Tony smiled through the hurt expression on his face. "Yeah." He breathed.
"Me too, Tony. Me too." Tim looked down at his phone. "But I saw the look on his face. He was happy right where he was, in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the fish and trees." Tim smiled. "It's beautiful Tony. Beat the basement hands down. I think that's why he loved it. He finally found something that he couldn't find all those years in the basement."
The words sunk in as Tony thought about all those times, he found Gibbs tinkering in the basement. Building things as the world around him seem to crumble away. Every day in their lives they work in the ruins of other people's lives, so of course, Gibbs would try and build things to counter that, he thought.
Suddenly, Tim's phone dinged.
"I gotta go." Tim whispered.
Tony nodded. "I'm leaving tonight. Be there tomorrow." He informed Tim.
Taking a deep breath Tim nodded back. "If you find him, let him know we're ok... tell him we miss him." Tony nodded at him with a half-forced smile. "...and Tony, if anyone can find Abby – it's Gibbs."
"I think that's the 11th commandment." Tony smiled at him.
Tim chuckled. "Give this to him for me." He said as he dropped a small photo of his family on the tabletop in front of Tony. "Make sure he tells her to contact us as soon as possible too. She'll listen to him." He grinned before he left.
Tony watched Tim drive off as he rose to his feet. Picking up Tim's family photo he stuffed it in his back pocket. He felt the tension in his gut as he made his way toward his rental, knowing that in a few hours he would be in Alaska and maybe, just maybe by this time tomorrow he would find the Marine who had found his peace in the mountain's months earlier. If he found Gibbs, he knew he would find Abby - that was a cosmic certainty.
~*Next Chapter?*~
"Well, that part will be up to you... and yes I'm "back," it's me. Hope you've all been well and staying safe."
