A/N: You know what? There aren't nearly enough suggestive names for poker games. lol. Enjoy! -pj

Abby spent the rest of the afternoon praying to a god she wasn't sure she always believed in, that Tony would survive until she could get him some real help. His temperature fluctuated violently, between drinking cool soda and cracking quiet jokes, to mumbling incoherently as she rubbed an ice cold wash cloth across his forehead and chest.

It was during one of the reprieve moments, when he was feeling a little bit better, that things took a turn for the…interesting.

"Great flick," Tony muttered and Abby 'hmmd' in response, keeping up her repetitive soothing motion of stroking his hair with the palm of her hand. The blinds were drawn to keep out as much light as possible since it bothered Tony's headache and Abby didn't really mind, the whiteout of snow blocked his apartment's mediocre view anyway. They silently watched the credits roll for a few minutes.

"What time is it?" Abby asked suddenly, and glanced around the room.

Tony, who's eyes had drifted shut, opened them again and tried to shrug, but the command didn't quite reach his shoulders from his brain.

"Do you have a clock?" She asked, craning her neck to try and spot a timekeeping device anywhere in the room. Not even the digital display on the DVD player was set right.

"'m phone." Tony mumbled and Abby, taking the hint, gently moved his head off her lap and went in search of their cell phones. Tony in his half-asleep state, tried to track her movements around the room as she rummaged through discarded clothing, dirty dishes, piles of dvds and his backpack in search of either cell phone. His ears immediately perked up, though, at her next words.

"Uh-oh."

"What?" Tony turned so he was looking at her, albeit sideways from his position on his back. She was frowning down at her hands.

Abby pursed her lips and reluctantly turned to face him, "neither you or I have any service. The storm must have knocked out a couple of cell towers."

Tony sighed. "Lets hope the power doesn't go-"

"Don't say that!" She jumped forward to press against his lips with one finger, muffling the rest of his sentence, "You'll jinx us!"

She raised a threatening eyebrow and removed her hand.

"Sorry," he muttered, shifting on the couch as his muscles began to ache and the slight movement exhausted him and he clenched his teeth in frustration. He was never a marathon athlete, but he at least used to be able to move around the living room without breaking a sweat. His irritation was short lived, though, as he had to sit still for a few minutes, focusing on pulling in breaths that seemed far too difficult to keep coming. Even with his eyes closed he could tell Abby was pacing, "I'm fine, Abbs." He assured her, glancing slowly in her direction. He already knew what was causing her anxiety.

"Fine? You're fine? Tony need I remind you that you can hardly breath? You're turning blue! That is not fine."

"Blue," he said to himself, and let his eyes shut again. She frowned when she realized he was laughing.

"What's so funny?"

The laugh turned quickly to a cough and she waited, her stomach turning to knots, for him to get his breath back.

"Blue is funny," he gasped, giving her a tired smile that was a far cry from the charming one he'd intended, "we should have blue lights. Wouldn't want you to catch whatever I've got."

"I don't think bad luck is contagious Tony," she muttered, getting back to her pacing.

"Oh, that hurt."

She smiled at his feigned hurt expression and then glanced back at her phone, lying abandoned on the coffee table beside reheated pizza crusts. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Gibbs must be going crazy right now."

Tony gave her a questioning look as he reached for a bottle of warming sprite.

"You know how he is. He always knows when one of us is in trouble. His gut. And with the storm, the phones being down and the cough you had before he left," she shook her head as if there was no need for her to finish the thought.

Tony furrowed his brow and swallowed half the bottle of soda before responding.

"You're right," he said after a moment, "he's probably completely flipped."

Abby nodded but before she could respond, the room suddenly went black. At first tony thought he'd passed out, but the fact that he was still self-aware and could hear Abby's startled squeak, confirmed he wasn't.

"Look what you did, DiNozzo. I told you not to say it."

Tony could feel her glare though the pitch-black darkness, "but I didn't-"

"Perhaps not, but you thought it."

Tony kept his mouth shut, because he had at that. He waited a moment, his equilibrium too far off to try and move and too far gone to even think about standing, but he could hear Abby shifting in the darkness, and then a short, frustrated sigh.

At least he knew he didn't have to worry about her cowering beside him because of monsters and boogiemen.

Knowing Abby, if she found any, she'd likely invite them over for dinner and make friends with them on Facebook.

"You got any candles in this place?" she said after a moment and he tilted his head at the sound of a thump followed by a very un-ladylike curse.

"Of course," he said, "some girls like mood lighting." He didn't hear Abby's retort and swallowed hard against a tickle in his throat, "hall closet, top shelf. Matches there too."

There was some movement and another thump. "You alright, Abbs?"

"Yeah, just fine," she said, stressing the word she was quickly starting to hate, and continued grumbling in a low voice, "Hall closet, he says. Top shelf he says. Probably be as obvious as a geek at a Star Trek convention…"

Tony furrowed his brow, unsure of how to interpret that reference, and dropped his head back against the pillow Abby had arranged for him. Part of him wanted to get up and help her find the candles, but the rest of him knew Abby wouldn't appreciate his sentiment. Besides, if giving them light got her mind off worrying about him, even for a little while, he was more than willing to let it.

He closed his eyes, though it was hard to tell the difference in the pitch black darkness of the room, and listened to Abby's husky voice mumblings somewhere around the corner and gently and unexpectedly drifted back to sleep.

---

Abby wasn't the type to be easily bored. From a very young age she'd learned to entertain and take care of herself. It was only natural. An only child until she was ten, and the only hearing member of a deaf family, she just spent a lot of time on her own. She didn't usually mind it. Accepted it really with a kind of grace befitting of a six foot something computer loving eccentric.

The only problem was, she wasn't alone this time. Not really. Tony was there. And his intermittent shivering and shifting and all around sickieness was keeping her attention and making it impossible for her to focus on any other way of occupying her time.

She sat beside his prone form on the couch, repeatedly dabbing his too hot skin with a cool washcloth again as she silently recited the periodic table of elements to herself in hopes of keeping the 'worst case scenario' thoughts at bay. She was almost through the alkali earth metals when Tony started to stir again.

"Tony?" she questioned immediately, and then had to wait a few moments for him to open his eyes. Blinking slowly, he glanced around, gaining his bearings, and then looked at her.

"There he is," she couldn't help but smile at the sight of his clear-eyed gaze and quickly grabbed the washcloth out of the bowl to press it against his neck, "your fever was spiking again. I thought maybe..." she started off quietly and couldn't finish, dropping her gaze as if concentrating fully on her ministrations.

Tony closed his eyes briefly, relishing in the feel of the coolness against his skin. "Didn't mean to scare you," he said finally, but the effort it took to speak zapped his energy and he lay quiet for several minutes more.

Abby, could tell he wasn't sleeping by the way his jaw stayed tense, the muscles jumping beneath his skin. She wished he had a thermometer so she could know how bad off he was. But, then again, since there was no way to get him help, perhaps it was better she didn't know.

"I made soup. You hungry?"

Tony made a face as his stomach shifted uncomfortably at the very mention of food, "no."

"Ok," she nodded, expecting the answer. She traded the washcloth for a fresh glass of water on the table, complete with bendy straw (the man didn't have a thermometer but he had bendy straws? In three colors, no less). "Here. Drink." She said, proffering him the cup.

Tony opened one eye at the water, and then both at Abby, "if I'm not hungry, what makes you think I'll be thirsty?" he snapped somewhat edgily, exhaustion and constant pain taking their toll.

Abby gave him a somewhat surprised look. "Snippy," she raised an eyebrow and he had the grace to look apologetic, "And it wasn't a question."

She waited, the bendy straw still hovering mere inches from Tony's lips.

He tried briefly to stare her down, but she kept turning into her own twin and getting blurry around the edges so he gave up, "that was very Gibbs of you," he grumbled and begrudgingly accepted the straw.

"Speaking of, the power is out," she reminded him.

He took exactly three and a half sips and then sat back, his eyes falling shut once again. "I noticed, what has it got to do with Gibbs?"

Abby turned to put the glass on the table, seemingly satisfied that the meager water consumption was all she would get from him, "we missed our 1800 check in," she glanced at Tony's laptop sitting blank and powerless on the table a few feet away. She hadn't been able to find the power cord and she forgot to turn it off for him when Tony's fever had gotten the better of him earlier.

Tony's eyes popped open, though from the news or from realizing how long he'd been sleeping, Abby wasn't sure. "Well that's not good."

She shook her head, "nope." She looked at him and noticed he was looking a bit more alert and reached out experimentally to touch his forehead. She nodded when the feel of his skin did not immediately bring up images of a slow moving river of lava from a recently exploded volcano, "your fever's gone down a bit."

He nodded, but didn't speak, so Abby looked away again.

"You're gonna be okay, Tony. Right?"

Tony turned slightly to look at her, but she wasn't looking back. She was perched on the edge of the couch beside him, staring down at her bare feet and biting her lip again.

He understood what she wanted without her coming right out and telling him. He'd been asleep and, as far as he knew, unresponsive, for hours at least. Coughing and struggling for every breath. It would have been terrible for her.

She just needed to hear him say it. She probably wouldn't believe him. But to hear the words would do her good.

"Yeah, Abbs," he said, trying to come across as strong and confident and unsure if he succeeded, "I'll be fine."

A small smile cracked her lips and she turned to look at him, the light of dozens of candles bouncing across her childlike face, "okay, Mr. Fine…you wanna play cards?"

He grinned as best he could, "sure. But the only game I know is strip poker."

Abby rolled her eyes and went to retrieve the deck of cards from the poker kit on the kitchen counter, "not interested, DiNozzo, I've seen everything you've got. Regular poker will suit me just fine," she jibbed.

"Oh really? And when did you go on this privileged tour of DiNozzotopia?"

Abby arched an elegant eyebrow as she returned to his side and helped Tony sit up, "you were asleep for over four hours, Tony."

Tony started to laugh, thought better of it, and then turned to her, his expression falling slightly, "seriously?"

Abby didn't respond, instead focused on shuffling and dealing the cards, an infuriating little smirk planted firmly on her lips.

"Abby, you wouldn't...didn't."

She finally looked up at him, her eyes sparkling with mischief, "Texas Hold em' or Seven Card Stud?"

TBC