See how much I effin' love you all? Two posts in ONE DAY! I haven't even been posting daily, yet here I am… Sheesh. I warned you about the Gabby!Spam.

Chapter Ten

Gibbs dropped Shannon and Kelly off at his favorite diner for breakfast and then continued on to NCIS. He had an hour or so of paperwork to finish up and then he would pick them up again and tour the city.

His first stop was coffee for himself and Caf-Pow! for Abby. He was sure Tony would have supplied her first thing in the morning, but he couldn't help himself. It was his job to keep her caffeinated and happy. Spending the few minutes alone with her in the basement the night before had brought up feelings he thought he'd been able to push away. He wanted to hold her – wanted, maybe even needed the physical connection with her.

But he owed it to Shannon and Kelly to try for the happy family they had been together 18 years ago. It was the point of his time off, wasn't it?

He was almost through the door when he heard a voice other than Abby's. He knew his team was all at their desks, he'd past by on his way down, and he knew that the other team on duty wasn't likely to stay and chat.

He felt his blood boil when he saw Thomas King getting a tour of Abby's lab courtesy of the peppy scientist herself.

"Oh, hi Gibbs!" Abby smiled brightly at him, almost as brightly as she used to. "Tom was looking for you, but you weren't in yet, so I was giving him the grand tour." Her eyes lit up when she spotted the Caf-Pow! "Is that for me?"

Gibbs pushed the cup roughly into her hands and nodded to indicate Tom should step into the hallway with him.

"You stay away from her."

"I wasn't-"

"You took my wife and daughter away from me eighteen years ago, you keep your hands off of her," Gibbs growled with a nod back toward the lab.

"I was looking for Shannon, she didn't answer her phone this morning and she said she'd spent some time here with you and I thought…"

"I'll have her call you."

"Thank you." Tom headed for the elevator. Gibbs waited for the elevator to close, and then, after giving himself a few moments for a deep breath he turned back to the lab.

"What was that about?" Abby was leaning back against the counter, sipping her Caf-Pow!

"What did he want?"

"I told you, he said he was looking for you. He didn't say any more than that. Did he not tell you what he wanted?" Abby tilted her head. "That's hinky."

"He wanted to talk to Shannon."

"Oh."

"I don't want you around him, Abbs."

"Gibbs, please." Abby rolled her eyes. "He's retiring. It's not like he came to poach me for the FBI like Fornell."

Gibbs scowled at the mention of Fornell poaching his people. "Is there something you need to tell me? You thinking of leaving NCIS, Abbs?" She'd always told him she'd never leave, but now with the way things were changing he wouldn't be completely surprised if she said she was.

Although his voice remained calm, she could read the tension in his body. "Gibbs, I told you I would never leave NCIS. Ever. You know that. Stop asking if I'm going to leave. I'm not here for the paycheck." Abby turned to her computer and typed in a few commands.

Gibbs was about to turn and leave when she spoke again. "Are you leaving?"

He'd almost missed what she'd said, but the look on her face told him he hadn't misheard her. "No. Why would I be leaving?"

"We just thought that now…" Abby shrugged. "Well, now with Shannon and Kelly back, you wouldn't want to work here anymore. Spend more time at home or something."

"Not going anywhere." He stepped forward and brushed his lips softly against her cheek. "I'll see you later."

Abby waited until he was gone before heading back to her office, locking the door and crying.

0o0o0

Shannon placed the phone back in the cradle and stared down at it. She turned her wrist to look at her watch and realized that she had been talking to Tom for the past 35 minutes. The house was quiet – Kelly was up looking through things in her childhood room and Jethro was down in the basement.

She knew they needed to talk, figure out where things were going for them. She felt as though she were stringing Tom along, though she was grateful that he was being gracious and giving her time to sort through her thoughts. He had been a big part of her life the past eighteen years, visiting several times a year under the pretense of work, but always staying longer to spend time with her.

She loved Jethro, always would, but they still seemed to be living separate lives, despite living together. She didn't know him anymore, didn't know his work habits, how he chose to unwind. She didn't get the silence that came with working in the basement when it had originally been full of laughter and Kelly's giggles when she was a young girl helping her father.

She felt safer than she had the past eighteen years, now that she was back 'home'. Sleeping beside Jethro at night, his arm across her mid-section was reassuring and reminded her that she didn't need to look over her shoulder at every turn. And she couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Kelly look so happy. She was almost always near her father, touching him, hugging him, leaning against him, wanting to do something for him.

If things didn't work out between her and Jethro, she didn't want Kelly to feel as though she had to choose between them.

And then there was Abby. She couldn't pretend she didn't notice the tension between them. She wasn't exactly sure what had been going on between them, but it was obvious that there was more to the story than just the fact that they were close. She had tried to talk to Jethro about it, but he had shut her down every time.

She had brought up the topic of Abby around Kelly - who seemed more than happy to talk about Abby, but she claimed not to know much either about the relationship between Jethro and the forensic scientist.

"What did he want?" Kelly's feet were silent as she came down the stairs.

Shannon looked up at her daughter and smiled. "The FBI is having a retirement party for him in a few weeks. Invited us to go."

"What did you say?" Kelly edged closer to the coffee machine in the kitchen. She loved that he father always had hot coffee in the coffee pot. It was always fresh.

"That I would love to attend, but that I wasn't sure if you were free. It's up to you if you would like to go or not."

Kelly shook her head. "I'd rather stay home with dad."

"He was invited too."

"He was?" Kelly looked up with interest. "Think he'll go?" She felt like she owed Tom and that attending a party in his honor would be a good way of thanking him for showing up at all her events as she went through school, but she still struggled with the fact that she felt like he tried to take the place of her father.

"I don't know."

They stood quietly for awhile, thinking. Kelly listened for any sounds of her father working on the boat in the basement he had named for Abby. "Does it hurt your feelings?" Kelly asked as she poured a cup of coffee for her mother and then one for herself.

"Does what?"

"Knowing that dad has…. I dunno, feelings? For someone else?" Kelly handed her mom a steaming cup and then sat beside her on the sofa.

Shannon thought for a moment. "I don't know."

"I wish we could go back, you know? The way things were before. I wish I was seven again and we were headed out camping at the beach again."

"I know, sweetie. Me too." Shannon wrapped an arm around her daughter and kissed the side of her forehead.

"It won't ever be like that again, will it?"

"No. I don't think so."

"And you and dad…?"

"Not something you need to worry about. We'll both be in your life. That won't change, no matter what happens between your father and I."

"I know that, I just… I feel like nothing is settled."

"I'm sorry, Kel. You're father and I, we just need some time to figure things out, that's all."

"And Tom?"

"I don't know. I just don't know."

0o0o0

Gibbs smoothed his hand along the inside of the boat until he felt a rough spot and then focused the sandpaper over the area. Walking in to Abby's lab to find her chatting so easily with the man that had kept him from his wife and daughter had nearly pushed him to put his fist through the wall. He'd pushed everyone else away the rest of the morning he was at NCIS and then, after a quick lunch downtown, he'd retreated to the basement once he was home. He knew it wasn't fair, not to any of them, but especially Kelly. She seemed happy to continue to explore he childhood room. Emptying drawer after drawer, sorting through photos or notes from friends, her old journal from when she was learning to write. But still, it wasn't fair to retreat to the basement.

He knew he needed to talk to Shannon. They needed to figure out what exactly they were going to do – if they were going to make a genuine effort to reestablish their marriage, he needed to find away to give up his feelings for Abby. They had been so close to starting something – hell, the past ten years had been something – and the idea of putting a stop to that was something he didn't know if he could do.

0o0o0

TBC…