The next day
Gibbs has been in the interrogation room all night with the suspect without getting any break in the case. It is about 7 am, and Gibbs has just come back from the coffee shop. He walks into the lab. There is completely quiet. He looks around in the lab. He was expecting Abby to be in her lab by now. The lab has been "decorated" in Abby style since his last visit down here. There is some sort of dolls placed on the shelves and some sort of bubblehead skeleton. Gibbs looks around as he can hear the sound of what at first sounds like someone farting. He then sees Abby's black booths coming out from under one of the tables. He walks over and kneels down. Under the table is Abby sleeping with a grey stuffed animal in her arms.
"Abby," he says gently to wake her up.
"morning." She says yearning and is about to sit up.
"Watch your head." He says and helps her out from under the table and to her feet. While getting up she supports the weight of her body with her hand. She presses her hand down on the stuffed animal she was sleeping with and it makes a farting sound.
"that is Bart the hippo," Abby explains as she is standing on her feet and receives a questioning look from Gibbs. "What time is it?" she asks as she whips the sleep out her eyes.
"7 am. Have you been here all night?" he asks, surprised.
"yep. And I got something good." She says, now fully awake and enthusiastic. They walk over to the evidence table. Abby notices the red cup with yellow letters and a plastic straw sticking out in Gibbs's hand.
"I didn't know you drank caf pow. I love caf pow. It is sort of my main sort of energy."
"it isn't for me, Abby," he says with a smile and hands her the cup.
"for me?" she asks, excited.
"yes."
She takes a sip.
"thank you." she says and is excitedly about to hug him and then remembers he is not a hugger. "oh right. Not a hugger.
"you can give me a hug before I leave here if I walk out of here with a lead in the case."
"you are a tough dealer. I'll see what I can do." She says determined and starts presenting the evidence findings she has been working on all night. She finally got to the last piece of evidence she has found, which is a DNA sample and a partial fingerprint.
"it wasn't easy, but I managed to get an 87% percent match to the suspect. I don't think it will hold up in court, but…"
"no, but the suspect doesn't know that." Gibbs interrupts her.
"but… his lawyer will," Abby says. She is confused about Gibbs's confident statement.
"he hasn't asked for a lawyer. He thinks he has the upper hand. He doesn't believe we have found any evidence that links him to the crime.
"well, Abby Schuito can always find even the tiniest shred of evidence," Abby says confident and takes a sip of her caf pow.
"This is my favorite kind of caf pow." She says with a big smile. "thank you, Gibbs."
"I was expecting a hug." He says, sounding a bit disappointed when she doesn't move. She looks at him with wide eyes.
"for real?"
"you don't have to ask." He says with a big smile and receives a big hug from Abby.
"thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Gibbs." She excitedly says as she hugs him. Gibbs grabs the paper with the DNA result and walks to the door. He is about to leave the lab but stops in his tracks and walks back to her.
"did you forget something"? she asks when he comes back. He places a gentle soft kiss on her cheek.
"good work Abbs." He says and leaves the lab.
The bullpen
The case is solved, and Gibbs is sitting at his desk, finishing up paperwork. DiNozzo has left for the day. Abby comes into the bullpen and stands in front of Gibbs's desk with the forensics rapport in her hand. She places the rapport on his desk. He looks at the rapport and then up at her with a smile.
"Thanks, Abby. You can go home. Get some rest. You earned it."
"thank you." he is expecting her to leave, but she doesn't. She stays, and he looks up at her.
"you need something else?" he asks.
"I just wanted to say thank you for the pep talk you gave me yesterday."
"you are welcome." He says and looks back down at his paperwork. She places a small piece of paper on his rapport. It reads, "to days new friend is tomorrow's family."
He looks at her questioning, so she explains: "that was the fortune in the cookie you gave me last night." He picks it up and rereads it and smiles. "it is a good one." He says and places it on the table.
"Yesterday, I didn't think I would fit in her. All the navy and rules and regulations and uniforms. My music. My caf pow. My style. "
"it isn't about the clothing, drinks, music, or style, Abby." He closes the rapport in front of him and turns off the light at his desk and gets up. He grabs his jacket and walks out of the bullpen with Abby walking next to him. "It is about personality." He says and places an arm securely around her shoulders as they walk to the elevator. She leans into him and rests her head on his shoulder as they are standing in the elevator. "You will fit in just fine here, Abby," Gibbs whispers into her hair and places a kiss on the top of her head as the elevator doors are close.
"Today's new friend is tomorrow's family." The fortune read. Abby was confident that it was true. Her new friends at NCIS, Gibbs, DiNozzo, and Ducky would definitely become her new family, she was sure of that.
Well: this is the last chapter of this one, BUT my brain works in mysterious ways so don't fear it will probably come up with more story's as I continue my rerun of NCIS. If you have any ideas about a story based on a scene or a line in the show. Don't hesitate to let me know and I will see what I can do ? I hope you enjoyed this and please let me know what you think of it.