PLEASE NOTE: This is the second part of the second section- please hit the 'previous' button to access the first half of this section! Thank you!

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Abby shuffled her feet awkwardly, cast her gaze around, and smacked her knuckles together, everything she could think of to show exactly how nervous she was, as they stood on her front apartment doorstep in the grey morning.

"I'll give you the money if you don't have it," Gibbs had told her gruffly over coffee that morning. "You're getting your own damn apartment."

"I-I've got money, Gibbs! You don't have to worry about me-."

"I really don't want to have to pick you up off a street corner again, Abbs."

There was that nickname again. It had about killed her with happiness in her gut, standing there in his pajamas, drinking his deliciously strong home brew out of one of his well-worn navy mugs, grey light streaming in the windows.

"Mr. Avery?" Back in the present, Gibbs was buzzing the apartment.

There was a crackle. Abby held her breath. Finally, "Yeah, it's Jason."

Gibbs laid a finger over his lips as a warning to her. "Package for you, sir."

Jason groaned. Abby could tell exactly when he paused to rub his hands over his face. She worried the edges of the box that she picked up from by her feet- one of the ones Gibbs had stashed in his basement. He seemed to be surprised when she said just about all her stuff would fit into that box. Gibbs had a box, too.

"Hang on. I'll buzz you in. Bring it up to 313."

"Thank you, sir."

The door buzzed. Gibbs put his shoulder into the sticky door, and they stumbled into the small excuse for a lobby, while Abby led the way up to the apartment.

They'd decided not to use her keys to get into the building, so that Jason would open the door for them under their guise. Gibbs caught her eye as she slid against the wall next to the door so as to be unseen. Abby gave him a nervous little smile.

He cocked his head and returned the smile, just a little one, but as reassuring as he could make it. Actual smiling felt a little weird, because smirking, as she'd said once, didn't count.

Abby's smile broadened a little bit, relief at having someone on her side coloring her eyes. Gibbs straightened up a little, and knocked firmly on the door.

After a little shuffling behind the door, Jason peeked out, then opened the door wider as he removed the chain. "Sorry, man. Psycho ex, you know how it is, gotta be care-."

Gibbs knee hooked expertly into his groin as Abby stepped into view. Jason dropped like a stone. "Yeah," Gibbs replied to the man, who was whimpering loudly, "I know how it is."

"Asshole!" Abby was shouting before Gibbs could catch her, kicking at Jason as he tried to curl away from her, shielding his bruised parts from her. "Fucker! I hate you! I wish I'd never met you! You-,"

"Abby!" Gibbs shouted, grabbing her from behind by her arms and pulling her away from the downed man. "Get yourself under control. Go get your stuff."

There was movement at the door to the bedroom, and a barely dressed knockout of a woman with platinum-dyed blonde hair emerged, all legs and confusion. "Jason?" She paled. "Abby!"

"And you!" Abby screamed, "You're a damn whore!" It took several firm shakes from Gibbs until she stopped shouting at the other woman, who by now had seen Jason's state and was edging along the wall.

"Why don't you just come sit in this chair over here," Gibbs said to the leggy blonde as reasonably as he could manage, knowing his voice was deadly, indicating a chair nearby him and Jason with a nod of his head. "Abby's just here to get her stuff."

The woman nodded shakily, eyes darting between Jason and Abby, who had tears streaming down her face and a look of fury in her eyes, and complied.

Gibbs turned Abby around in his grip, still keeping an eye on the man on the floor and the woman in the chair. Meeting her eyes firmly, he hooked some stray hairs behind her ear. "Go get your stuff, Abbs. And just that. Okay?"

Abby's lips trembled, but she nodded.

"Good girl." He released her.

Jason made a reach for Abby's ankle as she walked by with her oversized box, but Gibbs lashed his leg out like a snake before she could even react. There was a crack and a small scream from the man as Gibbs' shoe made contact with his skin and bone. Abby faltered for a second, but then disappeared into the bedroom.

They didn't even have to use the extra box Gibbs brought. Abby came out a little bit later with all her meager possessions in the world, and they left as quietly as they'd come- quieter, since Jason Avery seemed to know well enough to not make another grab for Abby.

Once they were driving away in his car, Abby pulled her legs up to her chest and sat hunched over in the seat, the buckled seatbelt the only formality toward vehicular safety.

"Abbs," he started.

"I know," she said, her voice sounding strained. She was still wearing his clothes- his shirt and a pair of his old sweatpants, since her delicate clothes had been ruined by a long time in the rain the night before, and had shrunk considerably, as he'd discovered when he'd taken the laundry out of the dryer that morning. "You don't have to say it. He was a total jerk."

"We're going to go home, and you're going back to bed," he directed her. "When you get up again, we'll look at apartment listings."

Abby managed a little, bleak smile. "Yes, boss." After a moment's contemplation, she added, "I guess it would be a lot more difficult if my name had actually been on the lease, huh?"

Gibbs rolled his eyes at his precariously-housed forensic scientist.

Abby smiled a little bigger at his discomfort.

"From now on you're living in your own place with your name as the one on the lease, Abby, or I'll know why. No more living off these deadbeats."

Abby propped her cheek on her knee and gazed at him. "Yes, boss."

"And knock that off."

The mirth entered her eyes again with that smile. Gibbs was satisfied. Abby turned her head again to follow the patterns of drying water on the pavement.

"Yes, boss."

"Abby."

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Endnote: Thanks to Nonny for your helpful critique of my wording. I'd like to say I'll go right back and fix it, but I don't have the time right now. Nonetheless, it's awesome of you to speak up! To Jo R., Amy's Den, Pandora of Ithilien (I don't know what exactly your name refers to, but it sounds cool), STLFAN, ascifigirl, MarliGibbs, and Epic LoVer (and Nonny again)- thanks for your positive reviews. It seriously makes me really happy when I check my reviews and find a new one. It's really great. Thanks so much!