Looking up from his desk, Gibbs smiled a contented smile as he surveyed the bent over heads of his three agents who were deep in concentration.
His eyes lingered over Tim for a moment, who was clearly engrossed in some program or whatever he called them, his brow furrowed in deep concentration.
His smile widened as he recalled how much progress he'd made with the kid over the last few months.
He'd paroled the younger man back to his own place weeks ago, and the whole bar fiasco had been put firmly behind them.
It had been about ten days ago when the junior agent turned up on his doorstep in the middle of the night, his hair sopping and his clothes in a state of saturation.
Fighting back the tears that were clearly threatening.
After dragging the kid in and insisting he take a hot shower, Gibbs had practically force fed steaming hot coco into the younger man. Several hours and hot beverages later, he had carefully extracted the cause of the clear upset from the technical genius.
This time it had been a dreadfully heated argument with his younger sister, Sarah, that had left his youngest boy teetering on the edge of a complete meltdown. He had gently talked him through the row, and had carefully steered him in the right direction to rectify the situation with his younger sibling.
He smiled wider still as he recalled how proud he'd been, how proud he was, that the kid had finally taken heed of his words and had come to him when he had felt like hitting the nearest bar instead.
Clearly feeling a racking gaze on him, the present day McGee looked up from his desk and smiled his shy smile at his boss, before dropping his head straight back into his keyboard.
The day passed uneventfully, and with a brief stint in MTAC to occupy him, Gibbs left the three at it.
An hour or so later, he meandered down to the lab to check on Abby, and to refresh the lab rats Caf-Pow.
Striding into the lab to find his eldest girl stretched out on a yoga mat, arguing loudly with a mannequin dummy covered in blood, he didn't bat an eyelid.
"Hey Abb's" he greeted, wincing as the blaring music assaulted his ear drums.
Bouncing up from her perch, and telling Fred the mannequin to stay where he was, the young analyst gratefully accepted the outstretched caffeine kick.
"I don't have anything for you yet Gibbs" she informed him, "Fred and I are working on it though."
Nodding and rolling his eyes, the team leader motioned for Abby to turn down the racket.
The answering pout was not unexpected.
Levelling her with what DiNozzo called the "half glare", he smiled as she huffed but did as she was told.
"Why don't you and Fred call it a night Abby, we've done all we can today."
Beaming, the pigtails bobbed up and down as she nodded happily in response.
"Awesome! Ziva and I are going to this amazing twenty four hourconcert tonight, and I could use the extra time to get ready."
Narrowing his eyes immediately, Gibbs chewed his lip.
He had a serious aversion to these concerts Abby took herself off to. They were filled with people he quite simply didn't consider appropriate friends for his favourite. The news that she had clearly roped a presumably reluctant Ziva into attending did nothing to assuage his well founded fears.
"Abby…" he began, in what he hoped were placating tones, "isn't there something else the two of you could do, besides these…these raves you insist on going to."
The answering peal of raucous laughter caused his already firmly narrowed eyes to narrow even further.
"A rave Gibbs? Really?" Abby spluttered, "you are so old fashioned."
Ignoring the jibe that would have had Tony rubbing his head had it come from him, Gibbs sighed.
"I mean it Abby; I don't like you going to these places. They're dangerous, and dragging Ziva along, is that really a good idea? It's hardly her idea of a good time?"
Rolling her eyes at her favourite silver fox, Abby opened her mouth patiently.
"You worry too much. They're perfectly safe, and I have my own personal assassin with me, so what could possibly happen?"
Groaning, and realising that he couldn't exactly forbid either Abby or Ziva from going to whatever dingy dive that was hosting whatever noise she wanted to hear, he reluctantly settled for damage control.
"Alright, but I want you to promise" he said simply.
Rolling her eyes once again, the young scientist sighed.
"Abby…"
"Alright, alright. I promise."
"Abigail…"
Hissing at the use of her full name, she tried again.
"I promise to call you if I need you."
Smiling, Gibbs nodded.
It was sort of their ritual when Abby was going off to do something he wasn't all that wild about, that she would always promise to call him, night or day, if anything happened and she needed him.
"Was that so hard?"
Abby merely grinned her roguish grin at him and once again threw her eyes up to heaven.
"Well if that's all Gibbs, I really do have to go. I don't just wake up looking this good you know."
The team leader rolled his eyes at the dramatics, but obediently stepped out of the excited analysts way as she flew out of the lab with a squeaked "bye Gibbs!" over her shoulder.
Making his way slowly to the elevator, the now suddenly wearied Jethro decided to have a quick word with Ziva before he sent his other three off for the weekend.
Striding back into the squad room moments later, he dismissed a delighted looking Tony and Tim, and dropped quietly down on his knees beside Ziva's desk.
Blinking as the rush of air hit him in the face from the speed of the boy's departure, he waited until they were safely ensconced in the elevator before opening his mouth.
He was beaten to the punch.
"I did not do it."
Gibbs blinked once again.
Looking up in the face of his youngest girl, he shot her a suspicious glance.
"You didn't do what?"
Fidgeting slightly, she smiled the smile he loved with a paternal force down at him.
"Whatever you are about to say I did" she drawled, in her lilting tones.
Letting out an exaggerated breath, Gibbs held up his hands defensively.
"Why is it that every time I want a word with one of you, you immediately assume you're in trouble?"
The perfectly arched eyebrow in his direction, forced a chuckle from him.
"I'm not that bad" he defended half heartedly, knowing he probably was that bad.
"No, of course not" Ziva answered sarcastically, with another wide grin.
Shooting a feigned glare at the cheekiness, Gibbs remembered what he wanted to talk to his resident killer about.
"You're going to this….to this place with Abby tonight?"
Ziva nodded slowly, knowing exactly where this was going.
"I will look after her, do not worry" she assured him in admittedly confident tones.
Nodding, Gibbs arched an eyebrow at her.
He received the same expressive eye roll as his lab rat had given him, and wondered briefly since when his two girls got so comfortable with giving him cheek.
Tony and Tim wouldn't even blink too heavily in his direction.
"I promise" she said, answering the unspoken prompt.
Gibbs merely arched an eyebrow further, feeling a familiar sense of déjà vu.
"That I will call you if I need you."
Smiling, Gibbs nodded and reaching out, he ruffled her hair, chuckling at the alarming scowl he earned himself in response.
"Ok then, hop it. Have a good time, but be safe."
Jumping up from her desk, Ziva beamed.
"We will, have a nice weekend Gibbs."
With a peck to his cheek and a smile, she was gone, sweeping in the same direction and with the same haste as the two boys had.
Shaking his head and wishing his two could just go shopping like every other twenty and thirty something on the planet; Gibbs packed up his stuff and headed out and from the Navy Yard.
Several hours later and several tens and tens of miles away, Abby excitedly clutched a less than excited Ziva as they queued to get into the packed club.
Ziva for her part, was cursing the promise she'd made to her relatively eccentric best friend that she would accompany her tonight, making a mental note to develop more Mossad like defences to the analyst's impressive wrangling skills.
However, after a while, the unwavering joy that was radiating off of Abby began to waft over her, and she too began to relax.
Hours later, and both girls were more than a little bit merry, and were dancing happily with two guys they had met at the bar.
Accepting the drinks each boy pressed into their hands, all four downed the explosively potent shots in one go.
Things began to heat up, and after a brief, drunken consultation with each other, both girls agreed to leave the club with the two guys and head to an exclusive, members only bar on the other side of town.
Had Ziva been even moderately less inebriated, she would have caught the less than friendly smiles exchanged between the two men. But as it was, she wasn't, and giggling she allowed Abby to drag her from the club and into the now deserted ally that lay outside the nightclub.
They blinked in surprise when they saw how late it was.
There were no taxis in the usual rank, there were no late night stragglers making their way home.
There wasn't even a bouncer on the club door, signalling that the last of the late night entries were now also long over.
As the cool wind hit Ziva in the face, she immediately sobered up somewhat.
Glancing to her side, she saw that Abby was also straightening up in response to rapid change in temperature.
Both looked out of their peripheral vision at the two guys accompanying them.
Outside the pressing atmosphere, blaring music and constant supply of alcohol that was the composition of the very secluded club, Ziva's training began to kick into gear and her natural talent for reading people began to signal an alert.
There was something…off about these two.
Turning to Abby, she saw a similar look of realisation on her face, her face…which had taken on a slightly green tinge.
Damn.
She cursed herself inwardly, they never should have drank so much, Abby always got really sick if she did, more than your typical hangover.
Throwing a loose arm around her friend's slight shoulders, the Mossad turned NCIS agent, turned to the two guffawing guys.
"Actually, we think we're just going to head home now" she said firmly, relieved to hear that her voice carried no overly obvious signs of her alcohol intake.
"Isn't that right Abby?" she added, squeezing the scientist's shoulders in a discreet prompt.
"Uh…yeah, home time now…" she managed to get out, finding vocalising her thoughts to be a relatively difficult task.
The two men nudged each other, and smiled wide, knowing grins.
"Sounds good. We'll join you ladies."
Shaking her head quickly, but immediately stopping as the wave of nausea hit, Ziva gritted her teeth.
"No thank you, that will not be necessary."
The smiles facing the two girls increased and Abby began to feel incredibly sick.
How had they not noticed what creeps these two were?
"Come on, don't be like that now. We are coming with you two, don't be a tease" the taller of the two crooned, stepping closer to Ziva, and making to throw a firm and leading arm over her shoulders.
"Step back" Ziva ordered sharply, increasing her protective hold on a now trembling Abby.
Grinning further, the inebriated man took in the petite posture of the strikingly beautiful woman, and chuckled, a deep, low and oddly menacing chuckle. His friend immediately imitated him.
The sound made both girls feel even sicker.
"Ziva…" Abby whimpered…"I want….want….Gibbs."
Increasing the pressure on her friends shoulders, the younger of the two's eyes narrowed dangerously when the shorter of their two…ill advised companions, stepped closer. The two of them were effectively blocking both girls' exit from the ally way.
"Come on sweetheart" the stockier one crooned in Abby's direction, "let's go back your place darling. I have something that will…shall we say…loosen you up."
Ziva's teeth began to grind ferociously.
"Right. That is enough, get out of our way. We are leaving. Now."
The combined laughing of the two inebriated men filled the completely deserted ally.
"In a minute darling" slurred Ziva's admirer, as he took one step closer to her, whilst on his immediate left, his friend took one step closer to Abby.
A brief, tense silence ensued as a now enraged Agent David placed Abby protectively behind her.
The still night air was suddenly pierced by the surprised yelping and squawking of the two men.
Stepping back moments later, Ziva looked down at the two whimpering and groaning guys at her feet in disgust.
Reaching out and grabbing Abby firmly, she propelled her forwards.
"Come on, we need to get out of here" she urged, keeping a secure hand on the still trembling Abby's shoulders.
The two hightailed it out of the ally, and onto the more lighted main, but still dingy, street, before exchanging doleful looks.
"We're miles away from either of our places" Abby stated morosely, feeling much more sober than she could have ever believed possible.
Nodding tersely, Ziva groaned when she realised that getting a taxi this far off the beat and track at this hour of the night, well morning, that was willing to drive a substantial distance from a notorious night spot, were slim at best, and non-existent at worst.
Thinking rapidly for a moment, she remembered and earlier conversation.
"We…we could call Gibbs" she suggested, with uncharacteristic hesitation.
She knew that the man would not bat an eye about jumping into his car at a moment's notice to come and get them, it was just…his response that caused her to pause for thought.
The squeak that immediately escaped Abby let her know she had been right to be hesitant.
"Are you crazy Ziva? He would kill us."
The younger girl chewed her lip and thought hard.
"Well…we did not exactly do anything wrong and he did make us promise to call if we needed him…"
Another squawk escaped Abby as they continued to walk in the general, and hopelessly far, direction of home.
Hampered every step of the way by their respective footwear.
"We didn't do anything wrong?" Abby repeated incredulously.
"We got completely wasted with creeps we don't know and agreed to go god knows where with them before we recovered from our sudden bout of stupid, and then we left them, after assaulting them in a dingy ally, where they had us cornered and were refusing to let us out."
Grimacing slightly, Ziva had to admit Abby had a point.
Forcing herself to be rational however, she tried again.
"Ok…yes, we were…"
"Stupid" Abby supplied helpfully.
Rolling her eyes, Ziva nodded.
"Yes, yes fine…but I really do not think Gibbs would be that mad, he would be more relieved that we were ok no? I do not think however, he would be ok with the fact that we are currently walking around one of the roughest areas in DC in the middle of night…scratch that, morning!" she hissed.
Abby rolled her eyes.
"You're a ninja Ziva, we're safe."
Sighing, the younger girl shook her head in frustration.
"I have been drinking Abby, I cannot process signs of danger as normal. I…I really think we should call him."
The older girl groaned and also shook her head.
"Ziva…no way, we'll never hear the end of it, he'll be worried sick every single time we want to do something. Look, it's about…" she thought as hard as she could through her inebriated shackles "an…hour or so walk back to my place, let's just walk as fast as we can…and then forget this whole night ever happened, ok?"
A silence descended as both girls stopped walking, and as Ziva pondered hard.
On the one hand, the sensible part of her knew that whilst Gibbs would probably lecture them, he would definitely consider this cause to receive a call. On the other, she was still relatively confident enough in her abilities to transport both her and Abby through the public and private transport devoid area, back to lab rat's apartment.
She chewed her lip, as she briefly considered calling Tony or Tim to come and get them.
That idea was quickly dismissed as she remembered that DiNozzo was at some party or other and was probably more wasted than them, and McGee was at some convention out of town.
Groaning, she came to her decision.
Holding out her right pinky finger, she smiled slightly as Abby immediately interlocked it with her own left counterpart.
"Ok. We will walk as quickly as possible. But…Gibbs must never find out, deal?"
The answering smile of relief, that was already tinged with a moderate degree of guilt, closely mirrored her own internalised emotions.
"Deal."
….
TBC
….
A/N: Decided to go the Abby/Ziva route! Credit to ("None" Guest from Jan 23rd) for the concert suggestion, this is the take I came up with for it!
Toying with the idea of bringing Ziva's father into the girls storyline somewhere along the line, let me know what you think?
Thanks for reading, apologies for any mistakes, kinda lazily wrote this one!