A/N: I'm so sorry about the lateness of this. It's been sitting beta'd on my hard drive for weeks, but my head has been other places and I spaced on it. nyciby is the bestest beta and I love her to bits. I owe her a thousand hugs. A thousand hugs too, for all of my readers and double that to those of you who have left me such kind reviews.
II
It was almost time to go home anyone but Ducky visited her in the lab. A dead body, with wounds eerily similar to those of a Lance Corporal they had investigated the previous week, had been found at the edge of a city park. Gibbs, Tony, and McGee had been kept busy at the crime scene all day, as Abby went over the evidence that Ducky had brought to the lab for her. She'd been peering into her microscope, looking for anything that shouldn't be in a drop of blood, when the tell tale rattle of ice floating in a cup informed her that she wasn't alone.
"Thanks Tony." She took a long sip of energy before setting the cup on the table and giving the man a hug. "That was just what I needed."
"No prob, Abbs." Tony grinned at her, and tugged at a black pigtail. "Are you about ready to get out of here? We're going out to dinner."
"Thanks, but I have a couple more tests to run," she replied, returning to the microscope. "Besides, I can't imagine Gibbs is going to let you go home anytime soon."
"Au contraire, my Mistress of the Dark. Gibbs is the on who sent me down here to deliver the message. You have fifteen minutes to finish up whatever you are doing, and then we are all going to Chuck's."
II
It was closer to thirty minutes before they left, because Abby insisted that there were a couple of tests that couldn't wait until morning. Gibbs had ended up coming down to the lab himself and looping his arm through hers, walking her out. When they arrived at the restaurant a table was waiting for them. No mean feat, as Chuck's was crowded and people were lining up to get in, but Gibbs had made a call.
They all ordered steaks, in varying shades of doneness. Tony and Gibbs both cut their meat to reveal barely cooked centers, while Abby and Ducky with their detailed knowledge of science both insisted on well done. McGee's was somewhere in the middle. For most of the meal heavy topics were avoided. Everyone seemed to have a joke to tell or a funny story to relay. Not until the second bottle of wine was brought to the table did McGee ask a question about Abby's trip. She'd only had two glasses of the Burgundy, but it was enough of a cushion. She told the group about water logged teddy bears and houses without roofs. She didn't tell them about throwing up because of the smell or the brokenness of her mother as she'd sat on the edge of a hotel room bed with her head bowed.
Ducky was the first to leave; he needed to check on his mother. McGee and Tony leave together, because both have had too much wine to safely drive home, and they lived close enough that sharing a cab was a frugal idea. Alone now in the booth Gibbs opened another bottle of wine. Their fourth, Abby thought, but she wasn't quite sure.
"Trying to get me drunk?" she asked, knowing that she is already halfway there.
"Do you want to be drunk?" he fired back as he tipped the bottle into her glass.
"Not usually. I hate the whole out of controlness that it leads to. That's why I stick to the caffeine. The heart may race, but I never loose awareness of my surroundings." She waited until he had finished pouring his own drink before picking up the delicate stem wear of hers and downing half the contents. "I don't think I want to be aware tonight."
"Tell me about it," he insisted. He let her refuse once, but not this time. She needs to talk, and know that someone else is listening.
Abby peered into the wine glass, studying the mired reflection as if it was a crystal ball with answers to reveal. After taking a sip she set the glass down on the table.
"When I was ten, I painted my bedroom..."
II
The restaurant closed at eleven, and although Abby knew of a club within walking distance, Gibbs insisted on the need to go home. He called a cab, and gave the driver his address. He'd feel better knowing that she wasn't alone tonight, and while she only has one bed and a coffin, which he refused to sleep in, he had a guest bedroom with a queen-sized bed in it.
Not trusting his balance enough to attempt carrying her, he shook her awake when the cab pulled up in front of his house. Handing the driver a twenty and waving away the offer of change, he lead Abby up to the front door, his hand on her back. Returning to the guest room after retrieving a t-shirt to act as substitute pajamas he found her already asleep again. Curled up in a ball in the middle of the bed, he saw no point in disturbing her. It took a minute to figure out how her shoes unfastened, but once he did he pulled them off and slid the sheets from under her. After kissing her forehead he turned off the light. Before going to bed himself he took a bottle of aspirin out of the medicine cabinet and set it, along with a clean glass, next to the sink in the bathroom.