Three Bs

Rating: 15
Author: Gosgirl
Spoiler: Lt. Jane Doe
Summary: post-episode for Lt Jane Doe.
A/N: Written for the Gabby Collaboration Project on the Gibbs/Abby Shipper Forum.

Ducky walked through the quiet roads of the cemetery heading back to his car, enjoying the solitude.

After delivering the remains of Lt. Jane Doe for internment, he'd experienced a degree of satisfaction that at least now they knew who'd murdered the young girl. But it still felt like only half the story. They were no nearer finding out who she was, and that would continue to haunt him.

In the same way he'd kept her close to him these past ten years, he foresaw regular visits here to the cemetery; if for no other reason than to remind himself of all the unsolved cases, of all the ones they couldn't save or couldn't identify.

As he neared his Morgan, Ducky saw one of the NCIS sedans parked behind it and two familiar tall figures leaning against it, standing shoulder to shoulder. Even if he couldn't have guessed who'd be waiting for him, the black parasol held over a dark head and the silver hair of the other figure would have clued him into the presence of Abby and Gibbs.

He shook his head, smiling fondly. Jethro was being his usual over-protective self and Abby was always caring and thoughtful. It wasn't a surprise therefore that they'd banded together to check up on him.

Ducky always thought these two were so attuned to each other, that they only looked complete when they were standing together. Even when they might have been seeing other people, it didn't seem to diminish their connection.

Ducky had felt sorry for McGee these past few months. He knew the young man was infatuated with Abby, but she didn't look at Tim in the same way Ducky had seen her look at Jethro. The crackle in the air when they were in the same room was electric, but Ducky had long ago given up wondering whether they'd ever get round to dealing with it.

"Hey, Duck, you okay?" Gibbs had his collar turned up against the autumn chill and was typically standing between the cool wind and Abby, always unconsciously protecting her. Ducky wasn't even sure Gibbs was aware that he was doing it.

"Yes, Jethro, I'm fine." Ducky tried to sound reassuring, but knew his tiredness would show in his voice. "Perhaps her spirit can rest in peace now. Either way, I think she belongs here and not on a shelf in my autopsy."

"You can still come and see her though, Ducky." Abby folded her parasol as she came up to him, kissing his cheek and looping her arm through his.

"Yes, Abby, I can and I will." He smiled and patted her hand where it rested on his arm. "What are you two doing here, as if I didn't know."

Gibbs shrugged. "Came to see if you were okay, if you wanted company."

"Do you want to have dinner, Ducky?" asked Abby, concern colouring her voice. "I could cook for the three of us, if you like? We haven't had dinner all together, just the three of us, for a while."

"Oh, thank you, my friends." Ducky reached out and pulled Abby into a hug, touched by her thoughtfulness. "I'm tempted but no, perhaps not tonight." He went on before either of them could protest. "Not that I don't love your cooking, Abby, you know I do, but I think I want to go home and spend a quiet evening on my own. We could all have dinner this weekend instead, you could both come over to me as mother is away."

Abby smiled. "I'd like that, Ducky, you've got a date."

"Besides, you've both looked after me enough these past few days, keeping me occupied."

Abby exchanged a rueful glance with Gibbs, neither surprised that Ducky had seen right through their attempts to keep his mind from brooding on the case. "It was hardly a chore, Ducky."

"And don't think I don't appreciate it, Abby, but I'd quite like to be alone tonight."

Hugging them both goodbye before he could be persuaded otherwise, Ducky got into his car, waving as he drove off. Abby returned to lean against Gibbs' car, standing next to him.

"I worry about him, Gibbs. Will he be okay?" she asked quietly after a few moments, glancing at him.

"Yeah, he'll be fine, he's tough." He reached out an arm to draw her into his side. "He just needs time to accept we may never know who Lt. Jane Doe was."

"But at least we know who killed her," Abby leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Yeah, that'll help." Gibbs resisted the temptation to bury his nose in her silky hair, her nearness having its usual effect on him. They stood in comfortable silence for a while before Abby broke it.

"That offer of cooking is still open, Gibbs. You hungry?"

"For your cooking, always Abbs." They hadn't spent much time together outside work lately, for various reasons and he'd missed her company. "My place?"

Abby raised her head and gave him a wide smile. "You're on. I'll cook, you wash up."

"Okay. Boat and bourbon after?" His eyes were drawn to the spider web tattoo on her neck, trying to quell his usual urge to brush his lips along every line.

"Won't the boat be a trifle chewy for dessert?" She grinned as he rolled his eyes at her. "I'd settle for ice cream and bourbon, plus boat."

"Deal." Gibbs hesitated, not sure he wanted the answer to his next question but needing to know. "Unless Special Agent Goodwrench objects?"

Gibbs recalled the surge of possessive anger that had swept through him as he'd walked into Abby's lab to see McGee on the floor with his head under her desk. The sense of jealousy he felt over her relationship with McGee hadn't diminished over the past few months since he'd suspected they'd first got together.

"It's nothing to do with Special Agent Goodwrench. It's you I'm asking, not him." Abby looked at him, curiously. He saw her eyes widen as she reacted to something in his expression. He must have been too slow to hide behind his usual mask.

"Not even to rewire your hotbox again?" He couldn't help teasing, even though he wasn't sure he'd like the answer.

He recalled McGee's stumbling explanation of a hotbox, and how the young agent had been seemingly oblivious to the double meaning in his words. The smile curving Abby's lips at the time showed that she was taking the description of 'waves of rhythmic pulses' in exactly the same way Gibbs was.

"He hasn't been... rewiring my hotbox for a while now." Abby chose to continue the suggestive analogy, intrigued to see how far he'd take it. She saw the teasing glint in his eye but thought she could also see a vulnerability there as well that he didn't often show.

The atmosphere was becoming charged, she'd have to be blind not to sense it.

"No?" he asked, feeling a sense of relief wash over him... assuming he was reading her meaning correctly.

Abby shook her head, shifting subtly closer, unable to look away from his intense gaze and the hunger she thought she could see there. "No. Not for some time now. We broke up a while back. He wanted commitment... I didn't want that, at least not with him." Her voice sounded hesitant, as if she was feeling her way, not sure how Gibbs would react. "We're still working out how to still be friends but I think we'll be okay. It wasn't fair to keep using him as a distraction."

"Distraction from what?" Gibbs found himself holding his breath, wanting to believe what he could see in her eyes.

"From wanting something... someone I thought I could never have." She glanced down, hesitating before continuing. "Someone who was pulling away... not only from me but from everyone, shutting all his friends out."

His obsession with Ari Haswari had left many scars, damaged a lot of relationships; at one point Gibbs wasn't sure if everyone would understand, let alone forgive him for his behaviour. But even in the fog of not being able to see further than the hunt for the terrorist, he'd seen Abby slipping away from him, drifting closer to McGee.

Gibbs reached down to tilt her chin up, to see her eyes, feeling the hitch in her breathing at the contact. "Perhaps he regrets that now?"

Abby nuzzled into his hand, a smile curving her lips, her voice sounding hopeful. "I think... I hope he might be, coz he's not shutting me out any more. Maybe he's letting his... obsession go, maybe he's seeing us all again... seeing me again."

"Oh, he can see you, Abbs."

And he could... and he was so tired of holding back.

"Just didn't think you could see him... or that you wanted him." He was mesmerised by the lovely curve of her cheek, soft porcelain skin and strong jawline.

His stomach flipped over at her next words.

"Oh, I've always wanted him... no one else has ever compared with him, and it's not fair on Timmy to use him as second best." Abby reached up with shaky fingers to run her hand along his jaw, seeing the desire she felt reflected right back at her... although something still held her back, something she needed to know. "Although isn't it about time for a certain redhead in a Porsche to come and pick him up?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Nope, not any more." That long term relationship was another casualty of his obsession with Ari.

"Then...?" Abby asked, hesitatingly, pulse pounding. She still couldn't quite believe that everything she wanted seemed suddenly within her grasp... or more precisely, standing right beside her.

"C'mere." His voice was low and full of promise.

Curling his hands around her hips, Gibbs pulled her flush against his body, lowering his head to kiss her, starting slow and soft. She responded instantly, opening her mouth as his tongue swept across her lips.

He felt his body responding as the kiss deepened and tried to rein himself in, or he'd end up spreading her out on the hood of his car and taking her right now, regardless of where they were.

When they broke for air, Gibbs pulled her inside the warmth of his coat, wrapping his arms and coat flaps round her, feeling a sense of contentment he hadn't felt in months. Abby snuggled into him willingly, nuzzling his neck and breathing in his distinctive scent. "Does that mean there might be a third B on offer tonight, as well as boat and bourbon? As in your bed?"

"Count on it," he promised. "I'm gonna take you to bed until we both can't move."

The suggestive smile Abby bestowed on him mirrored those she'd given him so often in the past; the one that always made him want to kiss her senseless... except this time he could.

And he did.

The end