Sorry about the lack of replies to reviews… been super busy today and figured you'd want the chapter instead.

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"Yeah, Gibbs." Gibbs muffled a yawn as he answered the phone. A quick glance at the clock told him what his body already knew – it was 3:45 am, too early to be getting up.

"Agent Gibbs?"

"Yeah." He glanced over as Shannon stirred beside him.

"My name is Tess Martin, I'm an E.R. nurse at Bethesda and I have you listed as an emergency contact for Abigail Sciuto. Is that correct?"

"She okay?" Gibbs flew out of bed and reached for his jeans. "What happened?"

"There was a gang-related shooting downtown…"

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"Sir, there was a gang-related shooting yesterday back in D.C…"

"Shannon and Kelly?"

"They are fine, but Shannon saw everything. She'll be used as a witness. They'll want to put her in protective custody until the case is over. Like I said, they are fine. You've got nothing to worry about."

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"… She'll be fine. You've got nothing to worry about." He'd heard that line before and look where that led him.

Gibbs shook his head and tried to clear the mental image from his head. "What?"

"There was a shooting, appears to be gang-related. The victim was shot while driving and his car plowed into Ms. Sciuto's."

He suddenly felt nauseas. "Shes…"

"She was talking when they brought her in a few minutes ago. The doctor is with her now. She's in the best of hands, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

"I'm on my way." Gibbs flipped his phone shut and tugged a shirt over his head.

"Jethro? What's going on?" Shannon pushed up to lean back against the headboard.

"It's Abby, she's in the hospital." He pulled his red sweatshirt on and tucked his phone in his pocket.

"Oh my God, is she okay?"

"I don't know. I'll call when I know something."

The city moved past him in a blur as he made his way to Bethesda.

At the hospital, Gibbs pushed his way to the front desk. "Abigail Sciuto?"

The nurse was obviously not in a hurry as she flipped through the files. "Abigail Sciuto… Abigail Sci- Ah, here we are. I'm not sure if the doctor is finished yet, if you'll just have a seat in the waiting-"

Gibbs leaned over the desk. "Where. Is. She?"

"Well, she-"

"Forget it." Gibbs pushed away from the desk and started down the hallway. The place was crawling with cops (local LEO's – almost as irritating as the FBI) but they stepped back when he flashed his badge.

He finally found her at the far end of the hallway. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be resting comfortably, so he took a few minutes to pace outside and calm down before going in. Once the urge to put his fist through the wall was more manageable he walked quietly to her bedside.

He was relieved at the lack of any tubes or wires, with the exception of a heart monitor, on her body. From what he could see, she had a lump on the left side of her forehead, likely from hitting the window.

He stood silently beside her bed, listening to the steady rhythm of her heartbeat on the monitor. Eventually the urge to touch her won out, and he ran his fingers along her arm before picking up her hand.

"Gibbs?" Her eyes fluttered open against the harsh hospital light. She hadn't been asleep, but she wasn't quite awake either.

"Yeah, it's just me." He brushed her hair away from her face. "Go back to sleep."

"I wasn't asleep."

"You okay?" Gibbs sat on the edge of her bed, his arms itching to wrap around her.

"Yeah. He wasn't going that fast. He clipped the back bumper of my car and I spun into a street lamp. They are just keeping me for awhile because I hit my head." Her fingers found the lump. "Other than that, I'm okay."

It hit him like a blow to the stomach. She could have lost her life in the blink of an eye and he hadn't been there. "Good." Gibbs nodded, and fought back the wave of emotion that suddenly swept over him. "Good."

"You don't have to stay, I know it's still really early."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, reigning in the last of his panic and motioned for her to scoot over. "You hit your head harder than you think if you think I'm leaving you alone."

Abby moved to make room for him as he situated himself next to her and gently pulled her into his side. He was surprised that she didn't fight it and that she so easily molded herself against him. "Sleep, Abbs."

"You too."

Abby woke to a room full of people talking quietly. She would have startled if it hadn't been for the fact that Gibbs' arm was still wrapped tightly around her and his lips were pressed to the top of her head.

"Hey, she's waking up." Tony's voice was the first she recognized. "How you feeling, Abby?"

She blinked a few times and stretched before settling back against Gibbs. "I'm alright. Still have a bit of a headache, but other than that I'm fine. You guys don't need to be here." She shifted to look up at Gibbs. "You don't need to stay either. I know you had plans for the day."

"No plans." Gibbs shook his head.

"If you think we're going anywhere, well, you're wrong." Tony leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on Abby's bed.

"Abby, if one of us was in a car accident, would you leave?" McGee asked from his place by the door.

Abby didn't get the chance to answer.

"Room for two more visitors?" Shannon and Kelly stepped just inside the door.

"Sure." Abby stiffened and tried to distance herself from Gibbs, but his arm kept her in place.

"I wasn't sure how long you'd be stuck in here, so I thought you might need one of these." Kelly held up a Caf-Pow! "Don't worry, I double checked with the nurse that it would be okay."

This time Gibbs' arm didn't hold her back as she sat up to accept the drink. "Thank you!"

"What is it with the Gibbs' and their drive to please Ab-" Tony doubled over when Ziva's elbow connected with his stomach. "Ow."

McGee laughed quietly.

Kelly ignored the others and sat on the edge of Abby's bed. "What happened? Does your head hurt really bad?" She listened quietly as Abby explained what happened. "He won't get away with that will he? You can do something, can't you?" Kelly asked her dad.

"Don't worry, Kel. The cops are already involved." He didn't need to tell her that the man who had hit her had died from the gunshot wound.

"Excuse me, if I could have a moment with Ms. Sciuto?" The doctor stood at the foot of her bed and nodded toward the door.

As everyone filed out, Gibbs moved to the corner of the room, making it clear that he would give them space, but that he wasn't leaving. The doctor gave him a sharp look, but Abby shook her head.

"You'd need security to get him to leave. It's okay, he can stay."

The doctor glared at Gibbs, clearly not intimidated by the glare he received in return, but said nothing. "I've spoken with the neurologist about the CT scan and he isn't too concerned about where you hit your head. And besides the few other bumps and bruises, you lucked out. That said, is there someone you can stay with tonight? I'm certain you'll be fine, but as a pre-cautionary measure I would like to ask that you stay with someone, or have someone stay with you."

"She'll stay with me."

"No Gibbs, it's okay. I'll have Tony stay with me. A night in my cof- er, bed sounds good. Plus, you've got Shannon and Kelly at home."

"I always have room for you."

"Well, that's for you to figure out. Just as long as you have someone who can keep an eye on you." The doctor exited with a quick nod.

Abby ignored him. "I know Gibbs, but things are different now. You can't just have your co-workers staying over."

"They won't mind."

"Who won't mind what?" Kelly led the rest of the group back in. "The doctor said he was done, so…"

"Yeah, you can come back in. And your dad was just saying that Tony wouldn't mind staying with me tonight. Doctor said I should-"

"Abby! You can stay with us! We have the guest room and – she can stay with us, can't she?" Kelly turned to her dad with wide blue eyes.

Abby tried to ignore the fact that if the guestroom was free, I meant Shannon was sharing a bed with Gibbs.

"Of course I'll stay with you!" Tony broke in. "We're long over-due for a James Bond marathon anyway." He must've read Abby's look of relief.

God bless Tony. "Get the nurse so I can sign papers and get out of this place."

"No, doc said he wanted you here 12 hours. I'm not rescuing you until 3. It'll give me a chance to run home and grab a few things. I'll be back."

"I'm going for coffee." Gibbs left without another world. He wanted to stay away, drink his coffee in peace, but he was soon drawn back to Abby's hospital room. He was shocked (as shocked as Gibbs ever was) and hurt when she saw Shannon sitting by Abby's side as they laughed about something. It hurt that she did her best to distance herself from him, but then had no problem being friendly with Shannon.

"So, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you asked Abby to stay with us and she declined."

Gibbs arched a brow. He loved his daughter, but it was odd having someone so similar to himself in his life.

Kelly didn't expect an answer. "You and mom need to talk and figure out what you want." Kelly pulled him further down the hallway. "You can't keep dragging Abby through all this. You can't keep dragging yourself through this mess either."

"Why does this bother you so much?"

"Since I first talked to Abby at the coffee shop. She's nice and I like her. She's been a good friend the short time I've known her."

"What'd she say?" He'd assumed it had been trivial stuff, but with the way Kelly shuffled uncomfortably, something fore had been said.

"It doesn't matter, you know how she feels. But you need to decide how you feel. If you and mom are going to stay together, then you need to let Abby go and realize that she won't be in your life the same way she was before – however that was. And if you decide Abby is the one you're meant to be with, then… stop stringing her along and tell her."

Gibbs frowned into his coffee as he processed what Kelly had to say. "I'm gonna go."

"Dad, wait."

"It's okay Kel, don't worry."

Kelly watched her dad walk down the long hospital corridor. She leaned back against the wall with a sigh. "What a mess."

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TBC….