Chapter 4: A Proposal

31 October 2027

Abby and Leon moved most of her things to his house over the remainder of July. She did get rid of the coffin, donating it to the nuns for one of them to use when her time came. She had a room at the Vance house that the couple turned into her office. She put touches of her presence in the house in every shared room with her trinkets and treasured items. They agreed to sell the bedroom furniture from both places and buy a new set for them, with no lingering memories.

With them living together, they had to be stealthier to avoid having the NCIS teams know of their new arrangements and taking their relationship to the next level. Since the family dinners had always been at the DiNozzo house, the McGee house, the Palmer house or at Gibbs' house, they didn't have to worry about the extended family seeing that Abby was living at the Vance house. They were still both pretty sure that both Gibbs and Tony and Ziva had figured out that they were a couple.

As Halloween approached, Abby made plans for the trick or treaters who would be coming to their door that night. Leon helped as much as Abby let him, but he was also making his own plans.

Since Halloween was on a Sunday, Abby planned to go all out. She put luminaries and carved pumpkins with candles inside along the walkways and on the porch. She had a full sized skeleton hanging on the front door. In the trees in the front yard, she had hung spider webs with large rubber spiders, ghosts and bats. Leon had found a decoration that looked as though a witch had crashed her broom into the wall, which he hung on the garage door.

Both dressed as pirates to hand out the candy to the children who came to their door. Abby was surprised that Leon had agreed to help out at first, but the more they worked together to prepare for the evening, the more she loved him for how much he really seemed to be enjoying her favorite holiday.

Abby and Leon had told the rest of the family that they would be handing out candy at the Vance house. Abby had "explained" that Leon's neighborhood had more kids. Ziva had whispered to Tony, "Yeah, right!" as Leon had commented that he had asked Abby to help him since he had not done anything for Halloween since Kayla and Jared were much younger. Gibbs just smiled to himself.

The first trick or treaters were neighborhood kids, a group of about ten from three of the houses down the street. Abby recognized some of the kids from seeing them waiting for the school bus in the morning. Several other groups from the subdivision came by in quick succession.

The McGee family minivan pulled into the driveway followed by the DiNozzo minivan about half an hour after the kids had started coming around. The five DiNozzo kids piled out of their van and the McGee twins and the Palmer kids out of the other. All nine walked to the Vance porch together as Tony, Tim, and Jimmy chatted in the driveway. All three had shared their thoughts on the possibility of Abby and Leon as a couple.

Tali rang the bell and waited. Abby and Leon both answered the door. "Trick or treat, Aunt Abby and Uncle Leon!" all nine shouted out.

The men looked up at Abby's squeal. "My favorite nieces and nephews! I love your costumes! Let me look at each of you!"

Tali and Tori had dressed as flappers, which had Abby gushing about their costumes and how cool they looked. She hugged each of the older girls and Leon put a handful of candy in each of their bags. Anthony had on a basketball uniform with the OSU logo. Abby hugged him and Leon gave him a high five as Abby put a handful of candy in his bag. John had dressed as a robot, and Leon complimented the boy on his hand made costume. Abby gave him a hug and put candy in his bag. Katie showed off her princess costume, all purple and pink. Leon gave her candy as Abby hugged her.

Charles had dressed as a scientist and Abby loved his lab coat and accessories. She gave him a high five and Leon dumped a handful of candy in the boy's bag. Rivka and Beth had on their leotards and tutus and did part of a simple gymnastics routine for their aunt and uncle. Leon high fived each one and Abby hugged them before putting candy in their bags. LJ jumped out at Leon and Abby and did his best lion roar. He had insisted on being dressed as a lion for the fifth year in a row. He carried his stuffed lion from Grandpa Gibbs with his candy bag.

"Uncle Leon, did you know your name means lion?" LJ roared again as Leon put candy in his bag and ruffled his mane. Abby hugged the boy until he squeaked, "Air, Aunt Abby!"

The kids all thanked Aunt Abby and Uncle Leon for the candy. Leon waved to Tony, Tim, and Jimmy, holding up the candy bucket. The three shared looks and walked up to the porch.

"You gotta say it to get candy," Abby joked with her brothers of the heart.

"Trick or treat!" the three replied together. Leon held out the candy bucket and each one took a candy bar.

"Thanks," Tony corralled his five and reminded the entire group that Grandpa's house was the next stop.

Jimmy also thanked Abby and Leon for the candy and turned his two back towards the driveway. Tim, Katie and John all said thank you together and followed the Palmers to the van.

More kids from the subdivision arrived at the door and Abby and Leon spent most of the next hour and one half handing out candy and complimenting kids on costumes. Finally, the trick or treaters seemed to be dwindling to just some older kids. After twenty minutes of no kids showing up, Leon went out to the street to start collecting luminaries and pumpkins. Abby started taking some of the decorations down and putting them into totes. Leon spotted a few stragglers and Abby went inside to get some candy for them. They rang the doorbell just as she got back with the candy. She put candy in each of the three teens' bags and turned to put the bowl down. Leon was about two thirds of the way up the walk from the street and he asked Abby to get another trash bag for the paper luminaries and pumpkins.

She closed the door and got the trash bags from under the kitchen sink. She had almost got back to the door when the doorbell rang. She figured that they had a late trick or treater and opened the door to see Leon on one knee.

Abby gasped in surprise and stepped out onto the porch.

"Abby Sciuto, you have taught me how to love again and how to have fun in life. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" Leon pulled a small box out of his pocket and opened it.

Abby gasped again when she saw the ring. In the center was a round black diamond. Surrounding the larger stone was a ring of small round white diamonds. All of the stones were set in black gold.

"Oh. My. God." She squealed, trying to be somewhat quiet since they were outside. "YES! I will marry you, Leon." Abby had tears in her eyes as Leon slipped the ring onto her finger and stood up.

She wrapped her arms around her fiancé as he drew her to him and fused his lips on hers.

The newly engaged couple called Jared and Kayla over the next few days to let them know of their engagement. Leon had been reluctant to call his kids at first, but Abby insisted that the two be the first to know of their father's engagement. Both had been genuinely happy for the pair, and had asked about plans for a wedding.

Abby was the one who decided they would wait for their ceremony until after Kayla's wedding in December. She wanted to let her soon to be step-daughter have the spotlight first.