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Abby couldn't remember the last time she had been so relieved to see Gibbs already at work on Monday morning when she arrived at 0700 hours. "Gibbs!" She rushed forward and pulled him into a bone crushing hug before he could move around to sit behind his desk.

"Abby." He hugged her back and then moved her out of his way so he could sit down.

"So… everything was… okay?"

"Everything is fine, Abbs."

"And if it wasn't…"

Before Gibbs could ease her with his words and send her to her lab, the elevator dinged and Fornell stepped out. "I managed to pull a security tape from the bank across the street and, oh, good morning Abby."

"What security tape?" Abby crossed her arms defensively in front of her. She knew they weren't working any new cases, and if they had, they would've had her look over the footage, not Fornell. "Well?"

Fornell shifted uncomfortably. Gibbs hadn't said anything about keeping Abby out of the loop, but judging by the way Gibbs was avoiding Abby's gaze, he hadn't wanted to her to know.

"I had him checking some stuff for me."

"Oh. My. God." Abby turned and slapped at Gibbs arm. "You had him pull any security tapes that may or may not have had a view to the parking lot at the ice cream shop. You said it was probably just some kids, but you think someone was after you. And you," Abby turned to Fornell. "You don't hide things like this from me," she gestured around, "and the team."

"Abby-"

"No, Gibbs. Are you in danger? Is he in danger?" She poked her pointer finger against Gibbs' chest and glared at Fornell.

"The tapes didn't catch anything." Abby started to protest, but Fornell managed to cut her off. "I can send you the footage if you like, but honestly, I've had several people in the office look the footage over and the angle doesn't catch the rear half of his car, so whoever did it – if they even ruined the tire there – approached from the other side. And honestly, he could've driven over something."

"You don't get a gash in your tire when you drive over something. Not a gash like that." She stepped back away from Gibbs and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Abby, I was just double checking, so that I could promise you that everything was fine. I just didn't say anything because I didn't want you to worry over nothing, which you're doing a good job of now." Gibbs watched as her jaw tense and she shifted as she tried to figure out what to say next. When he saw her eyes start to well up, he knew he'd pushed her a little too hard. "Abby…"

"No. You know what, never mind. I get it. You're Leroy Jethro Gibbs, nothing bad will happen to you, it was probably just a sharp rock that you drove over that sliced your tire and whatever."

"Whoa." Tony, Ziva and McGee all stood speechless behind Fornell as Abby ripped into Gibbs and then turned on her clunky heels and headed for her lab.

Gibbs glanced at his watch. "Don't you guys have work to get to?" He barked at his agents. Even though they didn't have a hot case, they had mountains of paperwork to catch up on. This was promising to be a long, boring week if nothing new popped up.

"Well, like I told Abby. You can't see anything. If you'd like the footage…"

"No, no that's fine. Thank you."

"Welcome." Fornell nodded toward the back elevator that led to the lab. "Good luck."

Gibbs nodded his head in understand. "Yeah." I'll need it. He decided to give her a little time to cool off. Being in her lab would be good for her, he knew she was likely talking out her frustrations to her machines, and in some odd way he could understand. He might not speak out loud to his boats, but his basement served a similar purpose.

When he felt she'd had enough time to calm down, Gibbs went around the corner to the coffee shop and picked up a Caf-Pow! for her and then took the back stairs down to the her lab. The fresh air had cleared his mind, and he was ready to put their little tiff behind them. The only question was, was she ready? "Whatcha doing?" Gibbs stepped up beside Abby and gently placed a Caf-Pow!, a peace offering, on her work space.

"I'm processing some new DNA samples for a cold case that Johnson's team is looking over."

He half expected her to elaborate; she always did – except when she was mad. So he waited quietly, he could always wait her out. She wasn't a fan of silence, her choice in music could attest to that, but as the clocked ticked on, Gibbs grew concerned with the growing silence.

"Did you need something?"

Ah, there it is. "No, just came down with this," he gestured at the Caf-Pow! "And to see you."

"Thank you." Abby set her pipette down and took a long, slow drink.

"Are we okay, Abbs?"

"We were never not okay, Gibbs. I'm allowed to be angry and upset, even with you. You went behind my back, you lied to me, and that hurt."

"I didn't lie," Gibbs held up his hand to stop her from interrupting him. "I still don't think someone is after me, I just realized that maybe if there was footage I could prove it was some kids, and then, if I was wrong, I could take appropriate action."

"I just," Abby thought for a moment, trying to figure out the right words. "I just don't want you to think that I can't handle things."

"I don't think that."

"You should've told me you were concerned."

"I'm not concerned." This conversation would never end.

"You could've stayed at my place." Abby ignored the fact that Gibbs said he wasn't concerned. If he hadn't been even slightly concerned he wouldn't have asked Fornell to pull security tapes.

Gibbs faltered momentarily at the idea of spending a night or two at Abby's apartment. At least when she spent the night at his place he could escape to the basement if he was overwhelmed by having her so close and trying to keep his hands to himself. "Abby," her took hold of her shoulders, gently directing her to face him. "I'm not worried. I just wanted to be able to show you what happened. If, for any reason I feel there is something to worry about, you'll be the first to know."

"Yeah, security detail, I know."

Gibbs didn't fight the grin. "Dinner tonight? I'll take you out to your favorite diner, the one on 7th that you're always talking about."

"Fine. As close to an apology as I'll get." She accepted the soft kiss to her cheek. "But I will be looking over that footage. I called Fornell and asked him to send it over after all. We all know the FBI is useless when it comes to stuff like that."

"I won't argue." Gibbs tugged on her pigtail and left the lab.

Abby slipped her arm through Gibbs' as they walked from the parking lot to Abby's favorite diner. She laughed at the look on Gibbs' face when he saw where they were headed.

"A fifties diner?"

"Yeah! Isn't it adorable? I almost wore my poodle skirt, but I wasn't sure how you'd feel about that. Though, we could've slicked your hair back. You have a comb? I think I've got-"

"Just because I was born in the late fifties doesn't mean I remember them." Gibbs scolded lightly

"Old man," Abby teased.

Abby missed the brief frown the crossed his face. He knew that he was probably too old for her, that their flirting was just for fun, but it still hit him oddly in the heart. Like a sliver was lodged in his heart and only ever hurt if he moved – or spent time with her. He was well aware of her previous relationships with older men, she didn't hide it, but lately her dates had been a string of men around her own age, and she didn't seem interested in returning to her old habits.

He opened the door for her like a gentleman should and they waited quietly as the waitress cleaned off a table by the window and then handed them each a menu. Abby ordered a club, and Gibbs decided on a burger, and by the time their food arrived, Gibbs had forgotten all about her earlier comment and was laughing at her imitation of his each of the agent's on Fornell's team after having been roughed up a bit by Gibbs.

"Good," Gibbs chuckled. "Maybe it will make them think twice about wanting to work future cases with us."

"One can only hope."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they worked on their meal, but eventually Gibbs spoke. "About earlier, I wasn't trying to hide it from you; I just didn't want you to worry. You worry too much."

"That an apology?"

"No."

Abby sighed happily and shook her head. "Well, I accept it anyway."

"Good to know. You looked over the footage?"

"Yeah. Fornell was right. You can't see anything, and believe me, I tried."

The corner of Gibbs' mouth twitched up in a slight smile. He had no doubt she'd spent the majority of the day going over the footage from the 30 minutes they were at the coffee shop. "You'll stop worrying now?"

"You'll lock your door at night?"

Gibbs gave a little shrug.

"One of these days, Gibbs… one of these days."

"I thought we were supposed to be enjoying dinner, not arguing over if I lock my door or not."

"I'm not arguing, Gibbs. I'm just a concerned friend."

"I know, and I appreciate it. I will lock my door tonight."

"I'll drive by and check."

"I'd be a little hurt if you didn't." Gibbs teased. As much as he teased her, he understood her. Ever since Ari had taken aim at her in her lab, he'd done his best to keep her safe. At times he felt as though he wasn't able to do enough, but he always did what he could within his power. With his Mexican drama, he'd assigned her security it, but it hadn't been the first time she'd ended up with a security guard assigned to her 24 hours a day. She was mostly used to it, she complained, but she never asked him to back off. As much as it annoyed her, he was well aware that his over protectiveness kept her feeling safe. He was honored that he was the first person she went to when she felt uncomfortable.

But somewhere along the line, his over protectiveness of her had turned into a two way street, and she worried about him over every little thing. Two years prior, a snowball with a rock in it had flown through his window, and she had been convinced someone was going to kill him until a neighborhood kid had confessed, his mom standing a few feet behind him, her hands planted on her hips. Gibbs didn't have to shovel his driveway the rest of the winter after that.

"Want dessert?"

"No thanks, I'm full." Abby patted her stomach and Gibbs found himself wondering what it would be like to run his fingers along her soft skin. "Gibbs?"

"Ready to go?" Gibbs stuffed enough cash to cover the meal and a generous tip into the folder with their bill, and then held up Abby's jacket for her to slide into.

Abby slipped her arm around Gibbs' before he had the chance to offer, and he hid the expression that showed how pleased he was to have such a beautiful woman on his arm. He led her through the diner to the door and then dropped her arm to direct her, with a hand to her lower back, through the door and out on to the sidewalk.

They were only steps from the diner when Abby thought she heard her name being called. "Abby!" A little girl's voice rang out, and Abby turned to see Emily running towards her, Diane several steps behind. "Abby!"

"Hey Emily." Abby knelt down to give the girl a hug. "How are you? What are you up to?"

"I'm good! I just gone done with piano classes," she pointed at a music studio down the street. "Now we're heading home so I can finish my school work. What are you and Uncle Gibbs doing?"

Abby saw Diane visibly tense when Emily referred to Gibbs as 'Uncle Gibbs', but she said ignored it. "Piano? That's cool. Gibbs and I were just having dinner."

"Oh." Emily thought for a moment. "Maybe you could come have dinner with my dad and I?"

Abby had to bite her lip to contain the laugh when both Diane and Gibbs tensed.

"Emily, dear, you can't just invite people over like that." Diane grabbed her daughter's hand.

"But mommy, this is Abby. Sometimes she and daddy work together. But only when Uncle Gibbs and daddy work together."

"Very nice, dear. But we need to go." She gave a tight smile to Abby and looked at Gibbs. "Jethro."

"Bye Abby, bye Uncle Gibbs!"

Abby and Gibbs both waved and continued on towards his car.

"Really? You married that woman?" Abby gave him a look of disbelief.

"Not my smartest decision."

"Drugged?"

"I wish." The corner of Gibbs' mouth curved up in a grin.

"We've all had relationships like that, Gibbs. You aren't the only one."

Gibbs gave her a sharp look, silently encouraging her to elaborate. She'd only ever talked about relationships that had ended decently – save for Mikel Mawher, and only then because she had to.

Abby only shrugged. "Didn't get as far as getting engaged, but you know. Some people just suck you dry, emotionally, you know?"

"Something I need to worry about?" Gibbs stopped her from opening the passenger side door and gave her a serious look.

"What? Oh, no. Not at all. I'm just saying that you aren't the only one to have made bad relationship decisions. It's just sad when it involves a kid. Emily, she's a sweet girl. I feel bad for her."

Gibbs nodded and opened the door for her. He shut the door for her and circled around to get in the driver's seat. She looked quiet and subdued as he made his way back to her apartment. He pulled up in front of her complex and parked and gave her a serious look so she knew to wait for him to open her door.

"Thanks for dinner Gibbs, I had a good time."

"Me too, Abbs. Me too."

"You don't have to walk me up, but since you insist on being a gentleman anyway, want coffee?"

He followed her up, making sure she made it safely inside. He did want coffee, but he was tired and not at the top of his game. He easily envisioned pulling her against him and spending the evening curled up together on her couch, kissing her, touching her, their coffee long forgotten in the kitchen. "Maybe next time, Abbs." He kissed her on the cheek, a little closer to her lips than he originally planned and then backed away. "See you tomorrow."

He heard her sigh behind the shut door and he hurried back out to his car. She was getting to him lately, and he figured it had to do with the extra time they were spending together. As soon as he was home he headed up to the master bathroom for a cold shower. He wasn't going to indulge in his fantasies about her, he knew it would lead him nowhere, and he knew that once he started, it wasn't likely he'd be able to stop.

Fresh out of the shower, he changed into clothes reserved for woodworking in the basement. They were old, and ratty, and no matter how many times they were washed, they perpetually smelled like saw dust. He started a pot of coffee, and rinsed out his favorite old mug. He had his hand on the basement door when he heard a car door slam just outside his house.

Gibbs smiled when he heard clunky heels hurry up his front step, he watched as the door knob jiggled and then he heard heavy footsteps retreating. He shook his head before heading down to the basement. "Oh, Abbs."

For two weeks the team had nothing but one dead petty officer after another. Suicide, murder (strangulation by an ex-girlfriend), murder (GSW to the head – jealous lover of an ex-girlfriend), and two car accidents (unrelated), and now their most recent case involved a drowning in a bathtub. Gibbs was running low on sleep and even lower on patience.

"Boss!" Tony jogged towards him across the front lawn of the crime scene. Clothes laid out on the bed makes it look like Petty Officer Hutson had planned on getting out of the bath again. I don't think it was suicide."

"Ducky here yet?"

"Yeah, rolled up about five minutes ago. He and Palmer and doing what they do best. We've got a bunch of nosy neighbors though, what do you want me to with them?"

"Deal with them," Gibbs growled.

"Right, on it boss." Tony had no idea what he was supposed to do with 30 people milling about. The property was too large to be able to rope it off, but Gibbs didn't seem inclined to give him any hints.

"You on crowd control, Tony?" McGee had just barely been able to duck out of Gibbs way as they passed each other in the doorway.

"How'd you guess, McRockstar?" Tony rolled his eyes. He was good with smaller crowds, especially if there was a pretty lady or two that he could flirt with as a method of distraction. But these were neighbors, young and old – none of whom seemed overly concerned with the idea of murder, more interested in getting a photo or two, perhaps a video uploaded on YouTube. "Alright, alright. Everyone needs to back up. Go home people. Oh come on," Tony waved his hands in the air.

The sharp sound of Gibbs' high whistle blasted in his ear and Tony ducked. "Next person to step foot on this property will be hauled in and held on trespassing." The crowd backed off immediately and Gibbs waved Ducky and Palmer out of the house with the body. "Don't make me call in local LEO's to do your job next time, DiNozzo."

McGee grinned at him, but Tony got the last laugh when McGee earned the head-slap rather than Tony.

Three hours later, the ride back to the Navy Yard was quiet as their boss took them down D.C. streets at breakneck speeds. He didn't have to tell them that they needed to rush the evidence to Abby; they were out of the car, boxes of evidence in hand, the moment the car was in park.

Gibbs didn't follow his agents in; instead he headed around the corner to the coffee shop on the yard. His coffee was hot and strong, just the way he preferred it. He was just about to take a sip when someone rounded the corner and knocked his coffee cup with their elbow, sending scalding hot coffee down the front of his shirt, narrowly missing his face. "Fuck!"

"Sorry sir!" The guy didn't stick around, instead he ran off leaving Gibbs red in the face with anger. He crumpled his empty cup, tossing it into the trash with more force than necessary. His agents were smart enough not to comment as he stomped to his desk for a clean shirt, but then, at the last moment, Tony suggested a trip to Ducky, just in case.

"You three better have something for me by the time I get back." Gibbs didn't wait for an answer, but the sounds of his teams' fingers typing furiously on their keyboards echoed in the silent office.

He held his shirt away from his body, thankful to be wearing an undershirt under his polo. There was only a small section on his neck where the hot coffee had touched his skin directly, and it burned.

"Jethro, I don't have anything for you – oh – what happened?" Ducky pulled his gloves off. "Mister Palmer, I do believe you can begin without me. Have a seat at my desk, Jethro. I'll come have a look." Ducky pulled off his apron and went to wash his hands before he began to dig around his first aid kit. "A coffee accident, I presume."

Gibbs sat silently as he waited for the M.E. to approach, waiting until being told before lifting both shirts over his head.

"You were lucky to have been wearing two shirts, though it looks like a minor burn here on your neck. I'll clean it and then I've got a little something to put on it to help with the pain. It should be fine in a day or two."

The doors to autopsy opened automatically and Gibbs sighed when Abby strolled in. He wasn't in her direct line of view, but there was no way he could avoid her. "Hey Jimmy! I've got tickets to an event at my friend's gallery. It's a focus on the human body and all the art is macro photography from crimes scenes, wanna go? Hey Ducky, you can…" Abby trailed off when she spotted Gibbs sitting without his shirt as Ducky applied an ointment to his burn. "What happened?"

"I'd love to."

Abby ignored Palmers answer and walked over to Gibbs trying to hold eye contact and not trace his entire upper body with her eyes.

"Spilled coffee."

"On yourself?"

"Someone rounded the corner and walked into me. It's no big deal."

Abby was used to Gibbs brushing her worries aside so she looked to Ducky instead. "Is it a bad burn?"

"Heavens no, my dear. Only a small burn here along the neck line of his shirt. It'll be red for a day or two, but it will be fine." He handed Gibbs the tube of ointment. "Put this on a few more times today and tomorrow. It should help with the pain. I don't think it'll be sore past tomorrow."

"Thanks Duck." Gibbs pulled the clean shirt over his head and pocketed the ointment. "I'm fine, Abbs," he called out before stalking out of the lab.

"I've got a hinky feeling, Ducky."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it's just… I don't know, I can't explain it."

"We all have those feelings now and again. Perhaps it's because we've got a full moon coming up. Traditionally…" Ducky wrapped his arm around Abby and explained his connection between the full moon and her hinky feeling. Abby listened, and nodded at the appropriate times, but her mind was still trying to figure out what was screaming so loudly in her gut.

TBC…