New NCIS fic! This is set in the latest season; and I began to think what would happen to the team if something happened to Abby when she got back from Mexico? And NOT Montezuma's Revenge, either, ha-ha. Very sad story, I'm warning you. Enjoy!
"McGoo! Where are you and Abby? Your flight landed three hours ago!" Tony barked into his cell phone as he lounged back in his chair.
"I'm at the hospital, Tony, I was trying to call Gibbs." McGee's strained voice said, and Tony sat bolt upright.
"What happened?" He demanded quietly, any trace of teasing long gone.
"Some guy was running around the airport, and Abby got shot. The doctor, Tony the doctor told me she's not going to make it." McGee's voice broke, and Tony's breathing stopped for a moment.
"Good Lord, what's wrong with DiNozzo?" Ducky's brisk voice said as he walked into the squadroom. Tony slowly closed his cell phone, and Gibbs was suddenly standing right next to him.
"What happened, Tony?" Gibbs asked with quiet urgency, and Tony looked up at him with shocked eyes.
"Abby, McGee said she got shot at the airport." That was all Gibbs needed to hear as he sprinted for the elevators, Ziva, Ducky and Tony right behind him.
"What else did McGee say, Tony?" Ziva asked quietly, and Tony breathed,
"The doctor told McGee she wasn't going to make it."
"She will." Gibbs said abruptly as the doors slid open, and Gibbs vanished, already halfway to the front door.
"McGee!" Gibbs barked, striding down the hallway to where McGee was sitting. He just looked up and was barely able to say,
"She's still in surgery."
"I'll see what I can find out, Jethro," Ducky said quietly, slipping past the group and towards the doctors standing in the hallway. Tony and Ziva slowly sat in chairs next to McGee, and Gibbs started pacing the hallway.
He could still see Abby's face when she thought she had failed Tony. Sitting in that chair of hers, she was so anxious and blaming herself when he had walked in. Rubbing her shoulders was the least he could do to help her understand that she was not to blame.
When you try your best, but you don't succeed
Ziva looked over at Tony, and she could see the barely-masked worry covering his face like a mask. She could still feel the way his face felt when she had kissed his cheek, and she closed her eyes, remembering when she had hated him with a passion for killing Michael. Now she understood; Michael was what she wanted, but not what she needed. She needed the man sitting next to her.
When you get what you want, but not what you need
Tony could still see the big explosion if he closed his eyes and let his mind wander. The sheer terror he felt at that moment felt like something close to what he was feeling at that very moment. He knew Gibbs had been inside, and when he discovered how serious Gibbs' condition was, he hadn't slept for days. Just like this very moment, when he knew he was bone-tired, but there was no way he was falling asleep.
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
There were so many times when Abby had been in danger. When Chip, the assistant that no one knew was crazy went after her with a knife, Gibbs slapped himself on the back of the head that night, for not knowing Abby was in danger sooner, if not in the first place. He kept replaying that moment in his head for a week afterward, trying to figure out if he missed something, and when he thought of it backwards, it made the memory even more frightening, simply for the reason that one wrong move on Abby's part and she would be dead now, not fighting for her life.
Stuck in reverse
Ziva glanced over at Gibbs, seeing him stop pacing and just look towards the ER doors with a torturous expression on his face. She could still remember desperately trying to get him to remember after the explosion, and making him slap the back of her head. She told him about Ari, reliving it all over again. It was much worse actually saying the words; that made it all the more true and all the more heart-wrenching. The sobs had slipped through, and the tears poured down her cheeks as Gibbs held her tightly.
And the tears come streaming down your face
Gibbs knew the whole team knew about Shannon and Kelly. He never told them, but after the whole amnesia thing, they all knew. But Abby was the only one he ever really told, besides Ducky. He could still remember the look on her face, part horror, part sad, part angry and part compassion. There was never any pity in her eyes, only compassion and when she said she was sorry for his loss, he knew she actually meant it, unlike the few at Shannon and Kelly's funeral. Those two were two people he always thought about, out of the three.
When you lose something you can't replace
Tony slowly scrubbed his face with his hands, taking a deep breath as he saw Jeanne's face swim into his tangled thoughts. Her face when the elevator doors closed was one of the most heartbreaking things he had ever seen. When he told her that their relationship wasn't real, it was the most flat-out lie he had ever told, and gotten away with it. He knew Jeanne wanted to believe it wasn't real, so it wouldn't seem so much like a breakup than a betrayal. Tony had really loved her, and he always would. But he would move on, or at least try to move on.
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
He almost let out a small groan. When Jeanne had left, he thought it couldn't get any worse. Then he remembered when Kate died, and how he thought it couldn't get any worse. But then Jenny died, and he thought the same thing. Now Abby. All of those bad things seemed to just be piling up, and he knew this time, it really couldn't get any worse. Kate was gone. Jenny was gone. Jeanne left. And Abby could be following them. Tears built up in his eyes as he knew he couldn't let that happen. He couldn't take it.
Could it be worse?
Gibbs could remember walking through the elevator doors, still in his blue hospital clothes, with Ziva at his side. He mixed up Tony and McGee's names, but just as a test. He knew the difference between the two; you couldn't really get any more different than them. Gibbs knew Abby was somewhere, but she really did take him by slight surprise when she suddenly came bounding around the corner, throwing her arms around him. When he started tumbling backwards, a grin split his face. Yeah, he was definitely home.
But how was he to know that that home wouldn't feel like home within an hour? When that explosion happened right in front of his eyes, he felt like he didn't belong anywhere. He was no help; there were thousands of lives that were lost. But Abby's look as he kissed her goodbye, that was almost enough to get him to change his mind. He was home, but it was time to leave that home. At least he came to his senses later and finally stayed at NCIS, with Abby, Ducky, and his team.
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
End of chapter 1! There's two more chapters left to go, and btw, the song is "Fix You" by Coldplay, even though I know there's an a cappela version out there by a group whose name escapes me, sorry! Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Adios for now!