I was going to be a little bit evil and split this into two parts... but decided I'd be a nice person because Chirugal and NCIS_love were so very lovely to me this week :)


She dozed for just over an hour, her eyes opening when she reached for him only to encounter an empty bed. Abby sat up, clutching the sheets to her chest. She glanced at the illuminated screen of the clock, unable to keep a wistful sigh from escaping her at the time.

01:47am.

She wanted to freeze time or experience some sort of Groundhog Day like the movie she'd watched with Tony, something that would allow her to live the same twenty-four hours again and again and again. She was more certain than ever that twenty-four hours with Gibbs wouldn't be enough; she wasn't even sure a lifetime with him would satisfy her completely.

She wondered briefly where Gibbs was but didn't have to wonder for long; within five minutes of her waking up, he reappeared, two cups in hand. She arched an eyebrow as the scent of caffeine drifted towards her, accepting one of the cups with a smile as he settled on the bed beside her.

She blew on the hot liquid before taking a small sip, eyes brightening at the cream and sugar he'd added to hers. "I'll try not to fall asleep on you again."

"I didn't mind." He surprised her by leaning across to steal a soft kiss from her before she could take another sip. With a satisfied smile, he drew back and took a sip from his own coffee. "It's not something I get to see every day."

Nor would be it be something he would get to see again, Abby thought with a twinge of sadness.

She drank her coffee as quickly as she could, not willing to waste precious moments that could be spent taking her fill of the man beside her. She set her cup down and took his from his hands, holding his gaze as she reached across him to set it down on the cabinet on his side of the bed.

She smiled when his hands kept her from moving to sit beside him again, letting her own rest on his shoulders as he rolled them, pinning her with his weight. She opened her mouth to his questing tongue, her eyes sliding closed despite her attempts at keeping them open so she could watch him.

His hips pressed into hers and she felt his erection growing through the thin barrier of his boxers and the sheets still tangled around her body. She let one hand wander down his back, trailing her fingernails along his spine, grinning against his mouth when he shuddered against her. She pushed at his underwear, at the sheets between them, opening her eyes when he shifted back slightly to aid her actions before lying more fully against her once the material had been pushed away.

He pulled his mouth from hers to kiss and nip his way along her jaw, down her throat, biting gently where her neck met her shoulders. She bent her legs at the knees, allowing him to settle more comfortable between her thighs as his mouth travelled down towards her chest. His hands weren't idle, either, exploring her skin, fingers skimming gently over sensitive flesh.

Abby shifted restlessly beneath him, running her hands over his back, his sides, his ass. Every part of him she could reach. She let her head fall back, gasping when his hot mouth left her breasts to travel lower. She one hand fall from his body, grasping handfuls of the tangled sheets around her as he left a trail of hot kisses over her stomach, down lower, settling himself between her legs as he lowered his mouth once more.

His tongue drove her crazy, forcing her breath from her lungs in hoarse cries. Her body trembled, a light sheen of sweat coating her skin as he drove her relentlessly higher until she shattered, splintering apart beneath his ministrations, the blood pounding dizzily through her veins.

Gibbs kissed his way back up her body and she opened her eyes to look at him, to prove to herself that yes, it really was her silver haired fox poised above her. She lifted her hands to his face, one travelling around to tangle in his hair at the back of his head, pulling him down for a kiss that was as desperate as it was intense.

She wrapped her legs around him, her eyes locking with his as he pushed into her. He held himself still for a few moments, watching her wordlessly, committing everything about her to memory. Abby gave him an understanding smile; she was trying to do it, too.

When he started to move inside her, she tilted her hips, lifting herself to meet him thrust for thrust. She dug her fingers into his shoulders, a soft moan escaping her. He let his head drop to her shoulder, his lips traversing from her shoulder up along her throat to her lips, his mouth moving against hers, demanding everything she had to give.

His hips jerked against hers, her name torn from his lips in a low growl that he muffled against her damp skin. He moved a hand between them, stroking her insistently, dragging her over the edge with him.

She was still trembling every now and then when he rolled off her and drew her against him, his arms tightening around her as she curled into him, her head resting against his chest as strands of black hair clung to her face. After another few moments, she pushed herself up with a smile that was almost shy but most definitely content and gazed at him with the open affection he'd become used to seeing in her green eyes.

"I really will try not to fall asleep on you again," she murmured quietly.

"I don't mind." He reached a hand up to her cheek, brushing away the tendrils of hair that clung to her face. His fingers lingered and Abby leaned into his touch, her eyes almost closing. "Really."

"I suppose it'll give you an excuse to head down to the basement," she teased lightly, studying him through her eyelashes. "Bet you're just itching to get started on whatever new project you've got in mind."

"I'm not going anywhere. Not while you're here." The honesty in his voice both surprised and touched her.

Abby moved forward, closer. Her lips were just brushing his when a muffled noise from the direction of the door broke the comfortable silence. She held herself still, green eyes ruefully meeting blue as a second sound joined the first.

"Must've caught a case," she sighed softly, drawing back from him.

"Sounds like it." Gibbs' expression showed his frustration as he slipped out from under the sheets, grabbing first his cell phone and then hers. He joined her on the bed, handing hers over as the ringing stopped before glancing at the display, a frown on his face as he pressed redial. "This better be good, DiNozzo."

"Dead Naval Lieutenant," Anthony DiNozzo answered immediately. "McGee and Ziva are on their way here. I was about to call Ducky and I can't get hold of Abby..."

"I'll call Abby," Gibbs said with a sigh, glancing apologetically at the woman already slipping from the bed to gather her clothes. "We'll talk later about the meaning of downtime, DiNozzo."

"Yes, Boss. I..."

He hung up on his senior agent, watching Abby get dressed. After a few moments, she seemed to notice that she was the only one moving and looked at him with a quirked eyebrow. Staying silent, Gibbs held out his hand for her, pleased when she crossed the room to take it and let him pull her against him.

"Tony'll start asking questions if you're not there in twenty minutes," Abby reminded him with a smile, her arms automatically lifting to wrap around his neck.

"He won't if he knows what's good for him." Gibbs pressed one hand against her clothed back and tangled the other in her hair, drawing her down so he could kiss her. "This isn't over, Abby."

Her kiss tasted a little desperate, her body pressed against his. "Of course it isn't." Her smile was there but didn't meet her eyes when she pulled back. "We've still got..." She glanced at the clock on his bedside table, brow furrowing as she tried to work it out. "Just over eighteen hours." Another kiss, chaste and far to fleeting for Gibbs' liking, and Abby pulled away, smoothing the wrinkles in her clothes with her hands as she stood back from the bed. "I'll fix us some coffee to go. Think we'll be needing it."

Gibbs watched her leave, a heavy sigh escaping him as the sound of her footsteps on the stairs grew fainter.

It wasn't over, he told himself as he slipped from the tangled sheets. It *couldn't* be.


With a mournful sigh, Abby watched as the clock ticked over from 11.14 to 11.15pm. She took a moment between shutting down her machines to think about what could have been before turning her attention back to closing down the lab for the night.

Déjà vu, she thought to herself, unable to resist glancing over her shoulder at the doorway.

Disappointment filled her when Gibbs didn't appear.

She knew he was probably still in interrogation, trying to get a confession out of the jealous roommate whose fingerprints had been found on the murder weapon – prints Abby herself had found. The roommate, a woman who seemed intent on getting everything the unfortunate Lieutenant had – her career, family and lover all included – was a piece of work. She hadn't confessed yet as she seemed to believe she had nothing to confess to – in her twisted mind, she hadn't done anything wrong.

Knowing that, and knowing there was an insanity plea waiting for them if and when the case made it to court, Abby suspected Gibbs and his agents would be kept busy for most of the night.

She grabbed her coat and her bag, her feet dragging as her body protested at its lack of sleep. Her mind, however, was still far too busy, too caffeinated, and she knew it'd be several hours at least before she was able to sleep without images of the previous night teasing and tormenting her.

If she could ever sleep without remembering, without the heat of his body beside and around hers, without the comforting and familiar scent of him enveloping her senses...

Abby shook her head and sighed heavily, switching off the lights as she made her way out of the lab and towards an apartment that already felt far too empty to be home.


A long soak in a rose-scented bathtub didn't help. She lay in the warm water, bubbles popping against her skin, imagining his fingers ghosting over her body, imagining his lips blazing a trail from her mouth down her throat, to her breasts, down further...

With a frustrated groan, she pushed herself up and out of the lukewarm water some time later, pulling the nightshirt – a T-shirt she'd swiped from Gibbs house some years before – over her head.

After draining the water from the tub, Abby padded barefoot from the bathroom through to the kitchen, towel-drying her hair on the way as she lost herself in her thoughts.

She didn't notice him until he cleared his throat, and even then she jumped.

"Gibbs." Her eyes fixed on his shadowy form almost instantly, searching him out in the darkened corner of the room where he sat on her sofa. "I... What are you doing here?"

He said nothing as he stood, his expression unreadable in the dim light. Abby tugged at the hem of her – his – t-shirt, feeling strangely exposed considering all they'd done and been through.

"I know we didn't get a chance to... Well... Time ran out, I guess, but... Gibbs?" Her mind went blank and her voice trailed off as he moved to stand in front of her, so close she could feel the warmth of him, feel the movement of his chest as he breathed. "You're making me really, really nerv..."

His mouth on hers silenced her words. His arms slipped around her waist, drawing her closer as he kissed her with just as much hunger and urgency as he had the night before. She found herself clinging to his shoulders, fingers digging in, meeting every thrust of his tongue, sighing into his mouth.

"Twenty-four hours isn't enough," Gibbs murmured against her lips after a long lapse in conversation.

"Twenty-four years wouldn't be," Abby mumbled, her eyes darting up to hers as colour and heat flooded her cheeks as the thought escaped her. She smiled, both relieved and dazed, when a slow grin spread across his face in response.

She didn't have time to savour the expression, though, as his lips soon returned to hers, her body moulding itself against his as they stumbled through her apartment towards her bedroom.

Twenty-four years...

... And counting.


Finis