"She's really been sleeping for a while, Boss. Maybe she's up by now."
Tony made a move to get up from the couch, only to be halted by a slap to the back of the head.
"Let her alone, DiNozzo. She's tired."
He sighed heavily and sank back against the armrest of the couch. Gibbs was trying, but he just wasn't as fun to watch movies with as Abby was.
The older man rolled his eyes and shook his head, before softening when he realized just how bored his agent was.
"Tell you what, she's gonna need another dose of that cold crap in about an hour. See if you can get her to take it, and if she wants to, she can come down and watch with you then."
DiNozzo grinned, satisfied that his friend would be laughing and commenting on his choice of movie in a short while.
"Only if she takes her medicine, DiNozzo. She doesn't take it, she stays in bed."
That might create a problem. Abby was an odd mix of stubborn and clingy when she was sick. There was no doubt that she would want to come downstairs, but the hard part would be forcing the cold syrup down her throat and escaping with only minor injuries.
He shrugged and went back to the movie. It couldn't be that hard, and there was no use in worrying about it now.
Tony pushed the door open quietly, before crossing the room and sitting on the edge of Abby's bed. Turning the lamp on the night stand on and setting the bottle of cold syrup down next to it, he waited until the room was bathed in a dim light. Abby automatically turned away from it and groaned in her sleep, unhappy to be disturbed.
"Abby? Abbs?"
He reached one hand down to shake her shoulder gently, while the other automatically rose up to feel the heat on her forehead. Brushing her bangs out of her face with his thumb, he frowned. It didn't seem too high, but that would change quickly enough when her medicine wore off completely.
"Go away," she murmured, grouchy with sleep clouding her head in a thick fog.
"I could do that," he offered, "But, then I wouldn't be able to tell you that you may be allowed out of bed soon."
She sat straight up and looked at him skeptically.
"You have my attention. Go on."
"Gibbs says as soon as you take a hit of that stuff," he gestured towards the bottle on the night stand, "You can come downstairs with us."
Casting a wary eye at him, she shook her head.
"No deal."
"What?" he cried in disbelief, "Abbs, just get it over with."
Crossing her arms over her chest she straightened herself airily.
"That stuff makes me all spacy and weird. And... hinky."
"Come on, Abby. I'm dying downstairs by myself."
"No."
Tony felt a rush of empathy towards Gibbs, who always seemed to handle his team's more youthful behavior with a fragment of patience. He was getting frustrated fast, and Abby had only been awake for less than five minutes.
"Fine then, stay up here."
"Now hold on, come back here," she reached up and grabbed for his hand, effectively tugging him back towards her.
"There's no need to be hasty, Tony. I never said that I wasn't coming down. Just give me a second."
Abby swung her legs over the side of the bed and attempted to stand, only to have Tony push her back down.
"Gibbs says no, Abbs."
She fixed him with a firm glare, slipping out of bed and wobbling a bit on her feet.
"What Gibbs doesn't know won't hurt us."
Tony sighed and followed her down the stairs, knowing he should probably be trying to stop her, but caring very little. Her idea was growing on him.
He grabbed her elbow on the landing, twirling her around to face him.
"Alright, Abby. But the minute you start to feel worse you have to either come back up, or take your medicine. Got it?"
Her sarcastic salute was not lost on him, but that didn't mean he appreciated it.
More of a transition chapter than anything.
This is one of my first priorities at the moment. I'm thinking of doing a companion piece, with Ducky and Jimmy stranded in the same storm. I also have a more serious one in the works, where Abby has another stalker. I'll probably post both, because as you probably know, I'm the queen of starting too many new stories and leaving them sit for a millennium.