Abby lay in a hospital room bed with an oxygen tube. A large bandage was wrapped around her head, protecting the stitches. Her eyes were closed and the machines that were attached to her beeped steadily, indicating she was sleeping.

Gibbs sat in a chair nearby with a coffee in hand. He glanced at his watch. Nearly 1400 hours. He has been up for well over 24 hours and was exhausted but he refused to close his eyes.

The heart monitor started to beep a little faster and Abby opened her eyes.

Gibbs slid his chair closer to her bed, sat his coffee down on the bedside table and wrapped her hand in his. "Hey," he greeted her with a lopsided grin.

"Hey," her voice was scratchy from sleep.

"How you feeling?"

"Drugged," she gave a goofy grin. "It's kinda cool, really."

Gibbs chuckled briefly at her humor before his face fell into an expression of grief.

"Gibbs? What's wrong?" Abby tried to sit up a little straighter as she looked intently at the man she cared so much about.

Gibbs just shook his head a little, "Abbs, I am so, so sorry."

"You didn't do…"

"I did and there is no excuse. It was because of me that Moore abducted you; because of me that you were almost killed after I promised to protect you."

"Gibbs, I wasn't done. It is NOT your fault that you do your job so well that you sometimes piss the bad guys off. It is NOT you fault that this Moore guy snagged me. You didn't even know he was alive… Ducky told me," she answered his questioning expression. "I know that there are risks involved with my job. I also know that there will always be risks involved if I ever want to be with you. Those are risks that I'm willing to take. Want to take! They are totally worth it…"

"Abbs."

"…to me. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else or with anyone else…"

"Abby," Gibbs said more firmly.

"Yeah Gibbs? Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to ramble. I didn't mean to say…Did I really say all that out loud?" Abby's cheeks became flushed as she realized that she just put all of her feelings out in the open.

"Uh huh," Gibb raised his eyebrows at her.

"Oh Gibbs…" Abby sounded distraught. "I'm sorry, I never meant…"

"I think you did," he said with a bemused smile.

"What?"

"I think you meant every word you said," Gibbs leaned over and placed a light kiss on her lips. "And I'm glad you said it."

And...I leave the rest to you. :) I hope everyone enjoyed the story. I'm already brainstorming for my next. Any ideas?