Oh crap oh crap oh crap.
"Gibbs is going to kill me."
Abby looked around herself, searching for a familiar landmark, a helpful street sign, a big flashing light saying 'go this way'.
Nothing.
She was lost in Baltimore.
She was lost in downtown Baltimore.
She was lost in downtown Baltimore at one in the morning.
Forget kill her. Gibbs was going to lock her in his basement and handcuff her to his boat, never letting her out of his sight again.
A stray cat knocked over a trash can and the resounding thud made Abby jump. She wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered.
"It's fine, you're fine, everything's fine. Just call Gibbs, he'll know what to do."
She pulled out her cell phone and pressed his speed dial.
NO SERVICE.
Oh crap oh crap OH CRAP.
"Okay, that's okay, you know what, something around here has to be open, I'll just find a bar and get directions, no problem. Everything is going to be alright. There is absolutely no reason to panic."
Despite her personal reassurances that freaking out was not the right answer a voice from behind her sent her right back into a spiral of dizzying panic. Especially since the voice was Mr. Cheesy Foreign Accent Man.
And he had friends.
"Rallenta, piccola, dove vai?"
Abby sped up her walking, trying to ignore the voices calling out to her, even as they become ever closer.
"Aspetta, tesoro, non vuoi divertirti un po'?"
A hand on Abby's shoulder whipped her around and she gasped as she was shoved into the hard cement of a dark building.
The man laughed at her expression and said something else she couldn't quite catch, trying to remember what was left of her high school spanish.
The man moved closer to her and whispered something in her ear. Abby shivered and tried to build up a scream but the man pushed a meaty hand over her mouth before she got the chance, obviously goaded on by the catcalls of his friends.
A small voice in the back of her head acknowledged that what that men were saying wasn't spanish, but that didn't really seem like the biggest problem at the moment.
She jerked her knee up again to make the man step back but was surprised when he caught her leg. Instead of forcing it back down like she expected he began rubbing her knee.
Abby let a small whimper of fear and then cursed herself for it.
She could almost hear Gibbs voice in the back of her head, telling her to be careful, she was outnumbered, and not to do anything that would get her killed. Her mace wouldn't do anything but make them angry now. She couldn't spray all five of them at once.
The man suddenly shoved her leg down pushed her until she was completely against the wall, coming against her until he was flush to her.
He put his hand in his hair and said something loudly in the foreign language, prompting laughter from all of his friends.
Abby closed her eyes as tight as they could go as the five voices blended together, held together by the sickening drunken laughter weaving its way in-between.
"Hey!"
Abby's eyes reopened at the sound of a new voice. There was a tall dark shadow coming up quick behind the group of men. They turned around, the one still keeping Abby against wall, not willing to let his prize get away. The lead man shouted something Abby couldn't understand at the new comer and she was surprised when the man was unfazed and responded in kind.
Two of the men took a step towards the new guy, seeing he was not going to leave.
Abby strained to see past the man holding her back, trying to see the guy coming to her rescue. She couldn't see his face, but she could see how he braced himself, ready for a fight.
She looked around, seeing if there was anyone around that a scream would draw.
No one.
Just five angry men and the a good Samaritan about to get the crap beat out of him.
This was so bad.
NCISncisNCISncis
All Tony wanted to do was go home. Honestly.
In one day he had been shot at, screamed at, threatened, and fired.
To be truthful it wasn't the worst day he had ever had, it wasn't even in the top ten, but it still wasn't exactly pleasent. All he wanted was some peace and quiet.
So that's what he went looking for.
After leaving Marshal's he headed home walking the three miles to try and clear his head. He was only a block away from his apartment complex when he heard the sounds of a struggle and strains of Italian.
His ears prickled at the sound of such a familiar sound. Without thought he moved towards the noise, wanting to find what was going on.
What he saw made his blood go cold.
A woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties, dressed in all black was shoved against a wall, just out of sight of a streetlight, with an angry looking man pushing himself against her. He had one hand in her hair and the other hand over her mouth, holding back the scream she was trying so hard to get out.
The man laughed and shouted to his friends in Italian.
"Looks like we've got a fighter here!"
"Hey!"
The yell escaped Tony's lips before he even thought about it. Four of the five men turned around immediately, while the fifth took his time, leaning his back against the poor girl, keeping her trapped against the wall.
"This doesn't concern you, get lost."
Tony narrowed his eyes and took a step forward.
"I don't think so. Why don't you let the girl go and pick on someone your own size?"
Boy that sounded cliché
The two men in front smirked and started towards him. Five against one. This was really going to hurt. Maybe if he could keep these idiots distracted for long enough the girl could get away... That would count as a victory.
Getting his butt whupped? Well that would just be the perfect way to end this day.
"Are you offering?"
Four of the men arranged themselves in a half circle around Tony. He glanced at the girl, still caught against the wall. Her eyes were wide with fear and concern. At this point he wasn't sure who she was more scared for though.
"Let's see what you got."
Whatever new guy said made them made mad.
And wherever new guy came from, they sure knew how to make them.
He had two of the men on the ground before one of their hits even touched their mark. Then Abby couldn't tell who was winning, new guy was taking a lot of hits, but was still holding his own. Unfortunately the two he had taken down didn't stay down for long. New guy had his hands full, but amazingly, despite the beating he was getting, the men he was facing were moving slower and slower. And better yet, Mr. Cheesy turned Scary was becoming more and more distracted by the fight. Her eyes narrowed as he took half a step away from her. She just needed a little more room…
There!
He took another step towards the fray and she shot away from the wall, pushing him away from her. She made it three feet down the alley before grabbing a lid from a near-by trashcan and slamming it down on Mr. Cheesy's head hard enough to made his teeth knock together.
He hit the ground with a thud.
The noise and Abby's cry of victory was enough for the new guy to raise his head from the mess he had found himself in.
Their eyes met, and Abby saw relief shining in the vibrant green at the sight of her free.
The relief was replaced with pain when one of the men caught him in the abdomen. The soft cry of pain was deafened by the sound of something cracking.
Abby winced and moved forward, her grip still tight on the trash can lid.
She smashed on another one's head while the new guy swung his fist out and took one guy down with a single hit to the jaw.
Two down two to go.
Abby moved closer to the new guy, her eyes scanning in for injury. He didn't look good. Not at all. Judging by the blood seeping from a cut above his eyebrow and the way his arm was curling around his torso, Abby didn't think he was going to be lasting much longer.
He glanced down at her and murmured quietly enough so the men wouldn't hear. Abby leaned closer, straining to hear.
"Sei ferita? Devi andare in un posto più sicuro."
Abby shook her head and placed her feet, gripping her trash can tighter.
"I don't understand, I'm sorry."
She was getting really sick of foreign languages.
Tony looked at her in confusion.
What part didn't she understand?
You spoke to her in Italian, genius. Try again.
Tony opened his mouth to ask again if she was hurt and to warn her to get away but she stopped him.
"Look, we'll talk in minute okay, let's take these guys on first, okay?"
Well, she certainly had spirit.
Tony looked down at the girl standing next to him, holding a battered trash can lid like a weapon. And considering the damage she had inflicted with it, it made a pretty effective weapon he had to give her that.
He turned his attention back to the men in front of them. The two on the ground were not getting back up and the one that had held the girl was going to be out for quite a while and the two in front of them were looking less and less confident by the second.
Which is good because I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to keep standing.
Tony forced himself to focus. The two men didn't look at the great themselves. He knew he had gotten some pretty good hits in there, he just hoped they were good enough to convince the guys that this fight wasn't worth it anymore.
The two men glanced at each other and simultaneously turned and ran down the alley way, leaving Tony and the girl watching their flight with suspicious eyes.
Tony watched the three men on the ground for a second before realizing there was someone talking. He looked around himself for the source of the noise and found the young woman still next to him and talking a mile a minute.
He blinked at her, giving himself a moment to make the switch from Italian to English in his head.
She had just asked him a question.
"Tony. My name is Tony."
Abby smiled and nodded. Tony, nice name.
"Nice to meet you Tony, my name is Abby. I think you're hurt pretty bad, I'm going to get you some help okay? I'm going to call-"
NO SERVICE
Abby let out a curse that was decidedly not lady-like.
Tony reached out an arm and touched Abby's shoulder, both to draw her attention and maybe a little bit to steady himself, even if he didn't want to admit that.
"No, don't call anyone. My apartment is right there. I just need to get there, I'm fine."
Abby looked at him with disbelieving eyes.
"I don't think so Mister. Fine is the one thing you are not."
Tony decided to change tactics.
He smiled at her.
Abby stared at him for a second.
Wow.
This one sure could smile.
But she was not going to be distracted.
"At least let me help you to your apartment."
Tony looked at the girl standing next to him and then at the walk that was waiting him. It was looking longer and longer the more time he spent looking at it.
Abby could see him deliberating whether or not to accept her help, so she decided to change her attack plan. She dug inside herself and pulled out every bit of Gibbsness she had.
She harshly cleared her throat.
Tony tore his eyes away from the endless walk between him and his apartment and looked back at Abby. She crossed her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrows.
"Let me rephrase this. What is your apartment number and where are your keys?"
English Italian translations. Thank you to McMoni for the right translations!
1)Slow down baby, where are you going? - Rallenta, piccola, dove vai?
2)Hold on Honey, Don't you want to have some fun? - Aspetta, tesoro, non vuoi divertirti un po'?
3)Are You Hurt? You need to get somewhere safe. - Sei ferita? Devi andare in un posto più sicuro.