A/N: A long over-due "Thank You " goes out to Chelsea123 for your invaluable help with this story.

Was he ready for this kind of challenge on full throttle? Would he be able to handle it and still hold on to himself and his firm belief in doing the right thing? Challenge. Abby is definitely a challenge. And Tim was definitely stubborn about some things. Was she really willing to make it work? Tim's mind flashed through all of these questions even as he reminded himself he was willing to try. They could take it slow. Set some mutual boundaries, maybe, or at least work some of them out.

Did Abby realizet he's not the same person now as he was even as five months ago, much less the same as years ago? She was a special person, one he loved with his whole heart, he always had. Of that, there was no doubt. No, the doubt lay in the ability to make it work. But, he was willing to try if she was. And the fact that Gibbs gave him his blessing, took the weight off his shoulders about it

Tim definitely needed to tell her that he still loved her and would do anything from her but that he wouldn't be willing to go through anything like they'd gone through before. Sure, he'd already told her once, but did she really understand how serious he was about it? But, he didn't need to cover all of this ground with her right away. They could work around to covering all of these bases. So long as neither one of them hurt the other as they had in times past, they'd be okay. Maybe it was time to let her in on it and see where it took them.

As he walked into his apartment after driving Gibbs back to the Yard, he looked at his watch. He saw that it was only 10: 00, but it was Friday night.. Surely, Abby would still be up. Just in case she wasn't, Tim played it safe and quietly emailed her.

Abby:
If you're up, call me, please.
-Tim.

Not even 3 minutes later, his phone rang. Looking at the caller id, Tim smiled as he answered it.

"Hey, Abby. Thanks for calling me so quickly." Tim greeted her.

"Timmy, I'm glad you called. Does this mean what I think it means? Have you reached a decision about us?" Abby asked with excitement bubbling over in her voice.

"Yeah, Abby, I have." Tim replied with her happiness rubbing off on him.

"You sound really happy, like happier than I've heard you sound in forever. Does this mean what I think it means?" she pushed with hope.

"It means that I'm willing to give us a chance." Tim rewarded her hope.

"Timmy! Oh, my God! I'm so excited! You just wait, you'll see! We'll be great together." Abby gushed. "Wait, I heard a 'but', in your tone. Is there a 'but'? Suddenly, Abby's tone made Tim feel bad.

"Abby, yeah, there is, kind of." Tim admitted quietly. "We need to keep it out of work."

"Well, duh! No kidding! I mean I don't want Gibbs thinking we can't handle a relationship seperate from work, right?" she answered in a smart alec tone. Can you imagine if he thought we couldn't handle it? He'd be so disappointed in us!"

"Abby, we are gonna take this slow, right?" Tim asked carefully.

"What? Oh, yeah, of course, Tim. I know you're gun-shy now and need to take things slow, I get that. We'll take things as slow as you need us to." Abby promised.

"Ok. Great. Thanks for understanding Abby. Can we just keep it to dating for now?" he asked.

"You mean like starting over?" Abby asked in surprise.

"Kind of. Definitely like take things way back toward the beginning." Tim's hope was radiating through his voice.

"Yeah, I have no problem with that. I'm just glad you're willing to give us a second chance."" Abby said with genuine joy.

"Me too. It means a lot to me that you're willing to give us a second chance, too, Abby." Tim reminded her of her own open-mindedness.

"Nothin' doin, Tim. If I hadn't been so closed off to the idea of commitment, we wouldn't have to be almost starting over." her self criticism ate at him.

"Abby, don't please. Let's just start fresh all the way around, okay? Can we do that? Can we leave all the negative stuff in the past? We've both had bad experiences with looking for something in other people that we know's been here in each other the entire time. But, we still need to take it slow." Tim pleaded.

"Sure!" Abby replied in sheer joy.

"Okay. Abby, one other thing? I really don't want to be giving Tony any ammunition to throw back at me in his jibes and jokes, so can we just keep this between us and Gibbs, please? Oh and Ducky, of course." Tim requested.

"Sure, that'll be kinda cool." Abby agreed. "But, Ziva already knows I asked you. I had to talk to someone."

"Which means Tony'll be the only one who won't know. I don't like it. He'll think we're lyin' to him." Tim fretted. "Not to mention, he'll be pissed about the whole Rule #12 being bended for us and not for him."

"You leave Tony to me. If you don't want him to be told outright, we don't have to." Abby vowed. "He'll have to understand. He loves us. We're family. And I'm sure he'll see that Gibbs is allowing this for reasons of his own. I mean look how many times he's allowed Tony to treat you like crap for unknown reasons!"

"Not the same thing, Abby. Hopefully, Gibbs won't let it get too bad, though, if Tony does find out and gets upset about it. The more I think about it, Abby the less I want to keep it from him. Look how betrayed we all felt when he kept his undercover mission a secret from us."

"Relax, Timmy. Why don't you just talk to Gibbs about it and see what he thinks?" Abby suggested.

"Yeah. You're right. Thanks, Abbys. I'm really beat, Abby. I'm gonna go to bed now. If you want us to do something together tomorrow, call me, okay?"

"I will. Goodnight, Tim." Abby said sweetly.

"Nite, Abby." Tim signed off and with a genuine smile of happiness on his face; he went to bed and for the first time in months, fell asleep without any problems or bad dreams taking his sleep away from him.

Across the miles, Abby smiled so bright, it lit her entire living room where she was sitting. With her smile still in place, she picked up he phone.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"Thank you!"