I thought about letting people hang on the last chapter – just for my own shits and giggles, but… I'm not. Feel special.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…" Abby took the stairs two at a time up to Gibbs' bedroom, but was stopped by Tony at the door. It wasn't the first time Gibbs had been hurt, or even poisoned, but it was the first time he'd been so… so un-Gibbs. And the fact that he had pushed her had scared her more than anything – though finding out that he was under the influence of a psychotropic agent was slightly reassuring in a at-least-he-didn't-mean-it sort of way.

"Abby, you've got to calm down. Breathe." Tony pulled her into a reassuring hug. "He'll be alright; Ducky just says it's a matter of waiting until the drug passes through his system. He should be fine by morning."

"I know, it's just… it's Gibbs. He doesn't get sick."

"He's not sick, Abbs. He was poisoned."

"I know! That's even worse. Who would do this? It's Gibbs! He saves people. He's a good man." Abby sighed, and buried her face against Tony's neck. "I'm just… I'm so worried."

"I know, but he'll be-" Tony was cut off by Ducky stepping into the hallway.

"Abigail." Ducky opened his arms for a hug. "He's resting comfortably. His fever is still higher than I'd like, but has come down a bit. The drug has been causing severe muscle cramps and hallucinations. It should be through his system by morning."

"Hallucinations?"

"It shook him up a bit, but he seems to have fallen asleep. It's probably for the best. You can see him if you like."

Abby nodded, unsure of what to say. She pushed the door open and stepped in. Though it was still early evening, his room was dark. The shades were drawn, and the lights were off. His breathing was labored but his eyes were closed and appeared to be resting comfortably. Abby edged quietly around the side of the bed and picked up a wet cloth before running it gently across his forehead.

"You're here." Gibbs blinked a few times hearing the floor boards creak. A smile spread across his face. "I never thought I'd see you again."

"He was hallucinating that Shannon was here earlier." Ducky whispered softly

Abby's eyes shot up to look at Ducky. "He thinks I'm Shannon?"

"I'm sorry, dear." Ducky gave her a sad smile. He was well aware of her feelings for Gibbs. "It would seem so."

Gibbs reached out to Abby, grabbing her hand, trying to pull her down to him. "I need you. Don't go," he choked out through gritted teeth. He writhed in pain as his muscles cramped, his head dropping back on the pillow.

Abby fought back the tears as she let Gibbs pull her into an awkward hug. She started to pull back, but hesitated when Gibbs seemed to panic, holding her tighter and mumbling something about not wanting to let her go.

"Abigail, it might be for the best if you stay with him. It will make it easier for him to get through the night while the drugs work through his system. But if you aren't comfortable, I know he'll understand once he's back to his normal self."

"No. No, I'll stay. I'll be alright." Abby looked back at Gibbs. His eyes were closed again, though his grip on her arm hadn't relaxed.

Ducky nodded. "I'll be in the guest room and will check back in later. Just try to keep him quiet and relaxed."

"Okay." Abby tried to stand up, but Gibbs wouldn't let go. "I won't go anywhere, Gibbs." Abby used her free hand to brush across his forehead. "I just want to take my boots off."

His eyes stayed closed, but after a brief moment his grip relaxed and Abby was able to remove her boots, though he kept a hand on her arm to make sure she didn't leave. When she was done she sat on the edge of the bed, but Gibbs pulled her down to lay beside him. He urged her to move close to him, and Abby complied. She rested her head on his chest and cried quietly as he stroked her hair and held her tight.

Abby woke the next morning to Gibbs' fingers pulling softly through her hair and Ducky's voice as he drew blood from Gibbs' arm.

"Morning, my dear." Ducky smiled at her when she blinked her eyes open and slowly registered where she was.

"Morning, Ducky." Abby pulled out of Gibbs grasp and sat on the edge of the bed. "Are the drugs out of his system yet?" She turned to face Gibbs and picked up his hand. "How do you feel?"

"I'm okay." Gibbs gave her hand a little squeeze.

"I need you to run his blood back in the lab to be sure, but it should be cleared from his system by now." Ducky held up a small bag with two vials of blood.

"Alright," Abby slipped into her boots and then turned to give Gibbs a shy smile. "I'm glad you're feeling better."

Ducky kissed her cheek and gave her shoulder a squeeze before giving her the small vials of blood.

Gibbs listened to Abby's footsteps down the stairs and then propped himself up in bed, fighting a groan as his muscles protested. He felt better, though his muscles felt weak from the constant cramping the night before. "She okay?"

"Oh, you know how she gets when you're hurt." Ducky slipped a thermometer into Gibbs' mouth. "She'll be fine, though I think the fact that you thought she was Shannon hit her a tad harder than she's let on. But you know Abby, she'll be her usual self as soon as we find out who has done this to you."

"Shannon…?" Gibbs tried to pull the thermometer from between his lips, but Ducky stopped him.

"Yes, you thought you saw Shannon and then asked if you were dying. It's a common side effect, both hallucinations and confusion. I told you that you'd be fine and then you went on about how you'd never see her again. Once Abigail arrived, you… oh. Oh dear." It suddenly dawned on Ducky as he realized that Gibbs had known it was Abby all along.

"No!" Gibbs struggled to sit up and slide his legs over the edge of the bed. He needed to clear things up with her.

"Lay back Jethro, she's busy in the lab. She'll be back." Ducky checked the thermometer and was pleased to find his temperature within a normal range.

"I tried to open up to her… I… I knew it was Abby that was here last night. I saw Shannon at some point and I thought I was going to die, but then Abby showed up, and I-" The previous night was a blur in his mind.

"No matter." Ducky helped Gibbs to settle back under the covers. "You need to drink a bit of water and then try and get some rest. No need to get yourself worked up over it, she'll be back before long."

"Ducky?" Abby called softly as she headed up the stairs towards Gibbs' room. The door opened, and Ducky motioned for her to step inside.

Gibbs struggled to sit again. "Here," he reached out for her. "I need you here."

Abby gave Ducky a panicked look, his blood showed no sign of the drugs, but if he was still seeing her as Shannon…?

"Duck, will you give us a minute?"

"If the blood tests were clear, I can head home." He gave Abby a questioning look. Abby responded with a nod. "Then I will leave you under Abby's watchful eye. Get some rest and call me if you need anything. There is an FBI agent downstairs should you need immediate assistance for anything."

Gibbs thanked him one last time and then looked to Abby as soon as the door closed behind Ducky. "Over here. Please… Abby?"

Abby gave a sigh of relief as he called her by her name, edged closer to the bed and picked up Gibbs' hand. "You feeling okay?"

"No."

Abby's eyes widened. "Then Ducky should stay!"

"Relax, Abbs. I feel bad about last night…"

"It's okay, really. You were… seeing things, I guess, and in so much pain. It's okay." Abby sat on the side of the bed and gave his hand an extra squeeze. "I'm just glad you're feeling better now."

"I needed-" Gibbs was cut off when his bedroom door opened again.

"The next time you steal one of my cases, remind me that poisoning you doesn't work. How you feeling?" Fornell leaned against the door frame with a slight smirk. "Abby," he acknowledged her with a friendly smile.

"I've felt better." Gibbs gave Abby an apologetic look. He wasn't interested in what Fornell had to say, not until he could clear things up with her, and it wasn't a conversation he wanted to have with an audience.

"I hear it was a pretty rough night. Any idea on how you were slipped the drug?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Not sure."

"It had to have been your coffee." Abby looked at Gibbs and then at Fornell. "Gibbs and I… we had a quick lunch together yesterday. I got a big sandwich at the deli on the yard and we split it. I would have been sick too, if it had been the sandwich. Plus, I noticed something was wrong. It wouldn't work quite that fast if it had been in your sandwich."

"It wasn't my coffee," Gibbs grunted. "I got my coffee from the same place I always do."

"I know you like to think NCIS is better at security than the FBI," Fornell looked annoyed, "but Abby may be right. If you go there every day, it would be easy to predict. Was it the same barista?"

"The same what?"

"The same person who makes your coffee?" Fornell sighed.

"Yes? No? I wasn't paying attention to who made it."

Fornell turned his attention to Abby. "Do you know the people who work there?"

"Some of them," Abby nodded. "I know the manager, Amanda. She could tell you who was working and when."

"Why don't you have her give me a call." Fornell handed her a business card. "I've already got DiNozzo pulling the security cameras for all the entrances and exits for the yard, but will you ask him to do the deli as well."

"Yeah sure." Abby tucked the card in her pocket, but made no move to get up until Fornell cleared his throat. "Oh, you mean right now. Yeah, sure."

"You were just there; Fornell can do his own errands."

"No, it's okay. He wouldn't even know who Amanda is and if the person who did do this to you is still there, then it might scare them away. We need to get whoever did this to you."

"Take someone with you, don't go alone."

"I'll be-"

"No Caf-Pow! either."

Abby froze as she stood to leave. "What?"

"I'm serious, Abbs. If whoever poisoned me is working at the deli they could poison you as well."

"But… but they aren't after me."

"They could use you to get to me."

"Gibbs," Abby tried not to panic. "I can't just not have Caf-Pow!" Just the idea of going cold turkey from her favorite caffeine source made her jittery.

"Get it somewhere else."

"Oh, right. Of course." Abby shook the thought of no Caf-Pow from her mind. "I'll come check on you later, okay?"

Gibbs nodded.

"Take care of him," Abby whispered as she passed Fornell.

"You know," Fornell glanced down the hallway to see that Abby was gone. "I still can't figure out what you did to deserve her loyalty."

"Me either. What do you need, Tobias."

"Well, I'd like to find whoever is pissed at you so I can get back to my regularly scheduled life."

"I didn't ask for your help," Gibbs grunted.

"Yeah, I know. If you had, this might have never happened. Suck it up and let the closest thing you have to a friend help you. Plus, I agreed to give our ex full custody while we figure this out, so if you could be cooperative so I could have time with my daughter back, I would be most appreciative."

Abby took an extra minute to collect her thoughts before she entered NCIS. She tapped her fingers against the elevator railing as she waited for the elevator to bring her to the squad room. She had considered going right to the deli to pull Amanda aside and talk to her, but Gibbs had asked her to bring Tony along and seeing as it was his safety that was in question, she was going to follow his instructions to the very best of her ability.

She wanted to yell at him, tell him I told you so, but she knew that it would be futile. She had known – felt it in her gut – that something was wrong the past few weeks. All the accidents that he had claimed were nothing, they had all seemed suspicious to her. But Gibbs listened to no one but himself and dwelling on the fact that she was right and he was wrong was a waste of time.

Tony was at his desk when Abby stepped out of the elevator and he gave her a questioning look.

"He's okay. Worn out, but the drugs are out of his system so he'll be fine." She wasn't sure if she was reassuring Tony or herself. Either way, she wasn't sure it worked. "Fornell wants me to go to the deli to talk to Amanda, see who was working yesterday, and then he also wanted me to ask you if you could pull security from the deli."

"I did, and the building next to it. Just in case."

Abby nodded and her voice lowered to a soft whisper. "We have to find who did this, Tony."

"We will."

"Yeah. Where are McGee and Ziva?" Abby glanced at their empty desks.

"The director wants them to keep working the Maldonado case until we have something a little more concrete with Gibbs, and even then, I think he's letting Fornell take charge since Gibbs obviously can't work it himself."

"But the rest of us-"

"I know, but come on; let's go ask around at the deli. Did Gibbs see who made his coffee?" Tony nodded towards the elevator.

"No, he didn't pay attention."

"You probably shouldn't get Caf-Pow! from there either," he pushed the down button and they waited for the silver doors to open.

"Gibbs said the same thing."

"He's just being cautious."

"I wish he'd be cautious over himself too. I've been telling him the past few weeks that things have been hinky – that flat tire, the spray paint on his car? I told him it wasn't random, but he just kept saying that it was kids, or random, but I told him it wasn't. I told him." Abby didn't understand why he hadn't listened to her, though the fact that he had involved Fornell told her that he wasn't completely oblivious to the threats he'd been receiving. "What if we hadn't gotten him to the hospital or if he had gotten more of the drug? He could've died, Tony. Because he's stubborn and bull headed and, and… ugh."

"Relax." Tony pulled her into a tight hug and ran his hand back and forth across her back. "He's just being Gibbs; you know what he's like. And he was with you when he started acting funny, and you called Ducky right away. You did good."

"Thanks, Tony." Abby pressed her face against Tony's chest and waited as the elevator took them to the ground floor.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they stepped out into the days' sun, and walked the few blocks to the Navy yard deli. It wasn't busy, so Tony hung back while Abby waited in line. She didn't recognize the woman working the cash register, but she seemed to recognize Abby, her eyes widening for a fraction of a second before she smiled. "Hello, you get a Caf-Pow!, right?"

"Usually, but I'm actually here to talk to Amanda. Is she in?"

"She just ran to storage because we're running low on napkins. She should be here – oh – here she is." The woman nodded toward the door and Abby turned to see Amanda walk in with large box. "Amanda, do you have a second?"

"Abby! Let me just get these behind the counter," Amanda smiled at her and circled behind the counter to set the box down. "Need a Caf-Pow!"

"No thank you, I just had one." Abby smiled politely and waited for Amanda to walk back around to stand beside her.

"How can I help you?"

"Can we… can we step outside a moment?" Abby nodded back at Tony.

"Oh? Is everything okay?"

"Let's step outside."

"Okay, sure." Amanda turned back to the cashier. "I'll be right back. You good on your own again for a few minutes."

"No problem," the woman smiled at them.

Abby waited until they were outside and the door had been shut firmly behind them. "We've got a little problem. I can't go into much detail, but can I get a list of employees and when they worked over the last few days?"

"I… sure. Any specific day, or time you are wondering?"

"No, not at this point. I'm also suppose to give you FBI Agent Tobias Fornell's card. He'd like you to call him at some point today, and actually, he's the one who would like to see the employee list."

"Abby… You're scaring me."

"You don't need to be scared," Abby soothed. "We're just trying to figure a few things out. And if you can tell us who was working when, it'll be extremely helpful for us."

"You hire anyone new lately?" Tony interrupted. He couldn't help but be nosy.

"Cheryl. She's the one at the cash register right now. She's been with us a week. Why?"

"Just curious. And if you could do us a favor." Tony upped the charm, flashing her a dazzling smile that occasionally got him a free extra shot in his latte. "Keep it between us and the FBI. I'd hate to worry your employees over nothing, you know?"

"I, sure… are you sure there is nothing you can tell me? Maybe I can help in some way."

"We aren't quite sure what we're looking for at this point, but if we have any other questions or think you might be able to help, we'll be sure to let you know. But if you could contact Agent Fornell as soon as possible, it' would be a great help to all of us." Tony's smile widened impossibly further and Abby found herself wondering if there was anyone on earth he couldn't charm.

"Oh, absolutely." Amanda nodded and gave Tony a shy smile. "I'm off in two hours, would that be okay? Or should I call sooner?"

"Two hours is fine." Abby needed to stop Tony before he dug himself too deep.

"Can I get either of you a coffee or anything? I feel so bad if something happened in my deli."

"No, we're good. Thank you. Maybe another time." Abby grabbed Tony's sleeve and gave a little tug. "Come on, Tony. We should get back to the office."

"Yeah, sure. Have a good day, Amanda."

Abby waited until they were back inside NCIS before she slapped his arm. "Do you need to flirt with everyone like that?"

"It's the power of being a DiNozzo, Abbs. You never know when she might come in handy, and if she thinks we've got a little 'something something' going on, she'll be more likely to cooperate with us."

"The power of being a DiNozzo?" It was the first genuine smile he'd seen on Abby's face since Gibbs had gotten ill. "Anything else I should know?"

"You might not believe it now, but who do you think she'll want to cooperate with now? Fornell? If he hits a roadblock with her, I've got it all under control."

"I guess." Abby could see his point. "So what now?"

"A billion hours of security footage. You still keep popcorn in your lab?"

"Of course."

TBC…