A/N: This story seems destined to end up as a series of short chapters, sorry. I'm trying to write them as fast as I can lol. F
Abby watched him go, a little taken aback at his parting words. She tried to tell herself that he must have meant them in a platonic way, but had to admit she was kidding herself. There really wasn't any other construction you could put on them. Tim wanted her. The idea sent a little thrill down her spine. Slowly she stood up from the table and went and paid for lunch, then walked the short distance back to the Yard. They'd constantly indulged in light flirting since he'd joined the team; it was part of their normal interaction. But this went way beyond that. Tim's words were a declaration of sorts.
She knew that he'd been reluctant to end their previous romantic entanglement; the decision to break it off had been hers. But they'd become best friends, and he'd never even hinted that he wanted anything else. So what had made him change his mind? And what was he looking for? Just a fling or something more permanent? Knowing Tim, she doubted he was after a fling. What did she do now? He'd obviously meant to leave the next move up to her. She could pretend it never happened... she felt an odd stab of pain at that. No. She couldn't do that to Tim. He wouldn't have said anything if it didn't matter to him. She'd have to give him an answer one way or another. She hoped he could wiat a little while until she figured things out. For starters, her stray thought of the morning about loving Tim refused to stay banished, and now on top of that she had her stranged reaction to the knowledge that he wanted her in his bed. What was going on with her? Re entering her lab, she tried to force herself to consider the problem logically, going over every possible answer from long buried residual feelings to simple sleep deprivation. When that didn't help, she started a mental list of reasons she'd climbed into bed with him.
The ding of her computer as she got a hit on the DNA sample jerked her back to awareness of her surroundings. She was a little annoyed with herself when she realised she'd slipped into a daydream about Tim.
...
Why had he said that? He asked himself as he walked quickly back to NCIS. He'd spoken nothing but the truth; if Abby wanted to make sleeping in his bed a habit, he'd be overjoyed. But she was his best friend. Talk about crossing lines, he thought to himself. She'd apologised for crossing one by turning up in the first place, and now here he was, so far over the line he couldn't see it any more. He had no idea how she would react to his rather offhand comment. Her lack of explanation as to why she'd climbed into bed with him gave him a little hope. Surely if it had just been a matter of being too tired to drive, she would have used the spare bedroom? She'd done so, many times, after watching movies and ending up half asleep on his couch. No, if it had just been that she was too tired to drive, she would have said so. He hoped he wasn't reading too much into her actions. Exhaustion made people do things they wouldn't normally do, and she said she hadn't slept while he was away. He'd just have to wait and see how she reacted.
He opened the door of Observation, slipping quietly into the darkened room and trying his best to push thoughts of Abby aside for now. He had a job to do.