Gibbs signed off on his last report of their latest case with a sigh of relief. It had been a tough one, one that had kept them all lying awake at night, staring at the ceiling. Tossing the file onto the dangerously teetering stack on his desk, he smiled slightly. It had been two weeks or so since the boys had come back in line, and as he stared at their vacant desks, his smile grew a bit broader.
He'd uncharacteristically allowed them to take an early dart, so they could go to some new movie release or other. He couldn't help but chuckle at the different reasons each one were excited to go. For Tim, it was the…special effects or whatever he'd called them. For Tony, it was the lead, and very beautiful, actress.
A noise startled him, and he tilted his head back.
His smile faltered somewhat as Abby suddenly pinged out of the elevator, with her completed reports.
Watching her intently as she made her way to his desk to give him a verbal run down of her report, he chewed his lip.
He barely heard her conclusions as she spoke them, his eyes racking her slightly paler than usual face and her slightly bag rimmed eyes.
With all the drama going on between the boys, he hadn't had that much time to catch up with Abby, so the subtle signs had been missed by him. Now though, she was the subject of his full attentions, and he wasn't sure he liked was he was observing.
During the last case, he had noticed that his elder girl didn't bounce into his arms when he came into the lab. She quietly declined Caf-Pow's stating politely she was on a detox. She was mysteriously committed to other plans any time he, or any of the other three, asked her along to events or things outside of work. Her music was now generally playing at a tolerable level, if on at all.
All in all, she was acting strange, which for her, was very strange.
He had eventually sat her down despite her protests and firmly asked her what if anything was bothering her. His gut was already telling him the answer, but he couldn't help if he didn't know.
She had stared at him blankly out of those big eyes, and shook her head in the negative. He had pressed her, and she shook her head again. He pressed a little more, and eventually she mumbled something about "woman's problems" and he had blushed deeply and nodded, patting her knee awkwardly before exiting the lab like a bat out of hell.
That had been about a week ago, and as he leant back in his chair and scrutinised the face of his favourite his gut rumbled again.
His brow furrowed.
He had tried to reason with his gut. Tell it that it was just…uhh, things wrong with the kid that couldn't be aided by him. That the…erm, the things…would take care of themselves. He remembered vaguely bulk buying hazelnut ice cream for Shannon when she was dealing with…uhm, things.
As Abby continued speaking, he wondered briefly how he could introduce ice cream into the conversation.
She concluded her report and handed it over with a small smile.
"Anything else Gibbs?"
He chewed his lip again.
"Yeah actually Abbs, there is. You wanna go for ice cream?"
She blinked.
"Ice cream?"
He nodded enthusiastically.
"Sure. We haven't really had a chance to catch up in a while… we could go to that new place Ziva was talking about the other day?"
She looked at him with a certain expression that he couldn't quite decipher, though if he had to guess he would have gone with…confusion?
Since when was ice cream confusing?
She stared steadily for a few moments, before smiling that polite smile that was beginning to drive him absolutely crazy.
He was much more accustomed, and much more appreciative of her usual toothy grin. His eyes narrowed in concentration as he tried to remember the last time he'd seen that smile.
He couldn't
"Uhh…sorry, Gibbs. I can't tonight…I have plans."
He tried to ignore the little part of him that stung from the reaction.
Which was hard, because it wasn't really a little part.
He eyed her closely.
She'd given the same excuse to Ziva and Tim when they'd asked her to go on a day trip with them over the weekend. She'd given the same excuse to Tony when he'd asked her to go with him to some college reunion dinner.
She politely declined every invitation to do anything, with anyone, that wasn't strictly work related.
Gibbs knew that…uhh, things…were hard and everything, but surely this wasn't right?
Not for Abby anyway.
His Abby beamed and bounced into every social occasion like it was the last one she'd ever attend. She was usually the one organising the things he was so often dragged to.
He found himself experiencing another pinch of upset as he realised she hadn't attempted to drag him anywhere, for quite a while.
He sighed.
"Abbs…you sure everything's ok? You know you can talk to me right?"
There.
There it was.
That look…again.
She shook her head, pigtails swinging firmly, and the polite smile was being plastered onto her face again.
"No Gibbs…I'm fine. I've gotta go now, I'll see you tomorrow."
Before he could open his mouth to object, she had flashed him that maddening smile one last time before scampering out of the bull pen at a fast gate.
Gibbs threw himself back in the chair, and threw his pen down in frustration, his good mood growing legs and hightailing it out of the bull pen after his puzzling lab rat.
He couldn't shake the feeling that the girl was mad at him in particular, though she showed absolutely no outward signs of discourse, being perfectly polite and pleasant. Which was in itself alarming. He was used to her hyper active, quirky and intensely unique personality. What he was dealing with on a daily basis, was…a watered down version of Abby.
And he hated it.
He chewed his lip silently.
For once, he was completely staggered.
He felt his face heat up at the thoughts of trying to sit down and talk to his eldest girl, in a clumsy attempt to prise… personal information from her. He shook his head feebly. He had never come across a problem with one of his four to which he genuinely had no idea how to go about helping them.
The heat in his face increased.
He was hopeless at this kind of thing.
Kelly hadn't been old enough to…well, he had never had to deal with issues like this with his daughter.
His lip suffered further abuse as he chewed some more.
He had no clue what to do…but he knew he needed to do something.
Feeling the familiar confusion that so often dogged him when of the four decided to be baffling, he heaved himself up and gathered his things to head out.
He may as well be confused in the comforts of his own home.
Half an hour later, and he was pushing open his door, performing a delicate balancing act between protecting the pizza in one hand, and the stack of files in the other.
Throwing on the lights, he collapsed on the couch, flicking on the game that he'd made pains to record.
Abby's current demeanour had taken up a current residence in the back of his mind, her puzzling behaviour preventing him from fully unwinding.
Leaning back on the sofa, he rationalised that maybe she was just as she said she was. That she was just dealing with…things.
Three or four hours passed, and as he cradled a bottle of water, he finally found himself start to unwind.
He was probably just overreacting. He shouldn't distrust what his eldest girl told him. If she was able to look him in the eye and promise him that she was ok, he had to trust her.
He took another swig, and managed to finally lose himself in the western that was now flickering across the screen.
He was just about to finish off the last cold slice of pizza, when his cell shrilled in his jeans.
Sighing, he fished it out, glancing at the caller ID.
"Hey Ziva, what is it?"
There was a silence, but he could hear the kid breathing.
He sat up straight.
"Ziva?"
He heard a hesitant breath being drawn on the other end of the phone, and instantly his gut kicked into overdrive.
Something was wrong.
"Gibbs…"
He closed his eyes, the indecision and emotion evident in the girl's voice.
He forced himself to remain calm, and his tone controlled.
"What's wrong Ziva, c'mon kid, talk to me."
Another breath was drawn.
"It's Abby, Gibbs…"
He was on his feet, fishing around for his coat, his heartbeat quickening.
"What's going on Ziva? Where is she? What's wrong?"
A split second silence greeted him, before another gulping of air was taken.
"We are at a bar…downtown."
Gibbs instantly reached for a pen and paper, and quickly jotted down the address given.
"Ok… and what's the matter?"
He could practically hear the gulping on the other end of the line.
"Abby…she is…uhh, trying to go…uhm, home…with a man that has uhh...well, a considerable criminal record."
Gibbs' gut instantly churned.
"Kind of record?" he croaked out, thanking god Ziva had the good sense to run whatever putz this was name.
Another swooshing of air was heard.
"Sexual assault…and battery. Please Gibbs…please come down and get her. I made her promise to wait until I came back from the bathroom. I have been stalling her for the last hour, I have told her about this…man. I cannot force her to stay with me, she won't listen…please, Gibbs…"
She trailed off, anxiety screaming in her voice.
Gibbs had already grabbed his keys and was slamming closed his front door, bile rising in his throat. He knew how scared Ziva would have to be for Abby for her to call him behind her back. Those two were thick as thieves. Kicking the car into overdrive, he squealed out of his driveway.
"I'm on the way Ziva, on the way… just keep her there. Do not let her leave."
…..
TBC
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A/N: All credit for this idea goes to KrisShannon! This is the storyline I came up with from your fantastic idea, thank you again!
As always guys, thanks for reading and please let me know what you all think!
(The next chapter of The Trust Equation should be up soon, for those following that one)