I Know You Can Feel This Too

A/N: I'm spoiling you lot with two chapters in one day. In this one, an inevitable clash...

Chapter 6 – Breaking Storm

When Gibbs strode into her lab with his usual confident stride, Abby picked up on his bad mood straight away. She was subdued as she gave him the results, feeling as if he was a bomb that was about to go off.

Why was he pissed at her?

What had she done to make him irritated? For years, they'd had an easy friendship and now all he could do was snap at her.

And Abby was sick and tired of it.

Lately, Gibbs had been particularly snippy whenever Toby's name was mentioned but he couldn't be jealous, could he? Gibbs didn't think of her in that way, did he? Of course he didn't. And there was nothing to be jealous about anyway, surely he saw that?

Besides, how dare he?

Gibbs was seeing that lawyer, had her eating out of his hand and yet Abby was supposed to accept that without a murmur.

As Gibbs turned to leave, this time without even a thank you or a smile, Abby couldn't take it any more. "What have I done, Gibbs?"

Her soft voice stopped him in his tracks but he didn't turn round. "Done?"

"Yeah, Gibbs. I don't know why you're mad at me, but I wish you'd tell me what I've done so I can fix it." She moved tentatively closer, wishing he would turn and face her so she could see his face, his eyes.

"I'm not mad at you," he stated, matter-of-factly.

"You could have fooled me," Abby stared pacing in her agitation, hands gesturing, her distress evident in her voice. "You barely speak to me, Gibbs. We used to be so close and now... now I don't even feel we're friends any more. What's changed?"

The best friendship she had was crashing and burning around her and she didn't know why.

He finally turned, his face held in the neutral expression that she could never read. "Nothing's changed."

Gibbs knew he was not fooling either himself or Abby when he said it, but he felt more comfortable hiding behind his usual defensive shield than dealing with his feelings... whatever the hell they were.

"Oh, hasn't it? Then why won't you stay and talk to me, like you used to. I never see you any more." Abby knew she sounded whiny even to her own ears as she struggled to put into words how she felt.

His next words brought her up short. "Thought you were fully occupied with Toby."

Abby frowned, shaking her head. "What has that got to do with anything? That's ridiculous, Gibbs."

"Is it?" His blue eyes, usually so warm, were cold as he stared at her. "Every time I turn round, Fornell's here."

"Why on earth should that bother you? We're friends, that's all," she protested, starting to turn away, only to be brought up short...

Hang on – was that a growl she just heard?

"You sure about that?" he demanded, voice tight with anger.

There was a note to his voice that had her own temper rising. "What the hell does that mean, Gibbs? I don't tell you who to date, do I?"

"Oh, so it's a date now. Thought you said you were just friends."

Abby spun to face him, not liking being interrogated as if she was a suspect, feeling her breath hitch at the smouldering anger she saw in his eyes overlaid with... something else.

"Will you stop cross questioning me, Gibbs. I don't pass comment or judgement on Ms. M. Allison Hart, do I?" she snapped, glaring right back at him. "Despite you breaking Rule 13."

"That's not... " Gibbs trailed off, breaking eye contact and running his hand through his hair.

"Not what? Not any of my business? Yeah, you've made that very plain, Gibbs. But you seem to think it's okay to pass judgement on my personal life? Well, I've got news for you. My friendship with Toby isn't any of your business either," Abby exploded, furious with his hypocrisy.

Abby stormed into her lab and threw herself down into her chair, hoping that he'd go away if she ignored him.

She should have known better.

She heard his voice, suddenly sounding soft and weary, from where he stood at her office door. "Why, Abby? Why him?"

Abby didn't look up, jaw and shoulders tense as she typed, taking her temper out on her keyboard. "I could ask you the same thing, why her? But you wouldn't answer, would you, coz you never explain yourself."

His stony silence confirmed her words and she didn't look up to see his expression. "So why should I answer you about Toby, huh? And for God's sake, Gibbs, why does it bother you so much? It's not as if it's affecting my work."

"You sure about that?" His voice was rising again, his anger plain. "You think I enjoy coming down here to find you mooning over Tobias."

Gibbs regretted the words the instant they were out of his mouth as he saw the hurt flash across Abby's face, her eyebrows shooting up in wounded disbelief at his unnecessarily cruel words.

"Mooning?" She slammed her hands down on her desk as she stood up, glaring at him. "I don't moon over anybody. I really can't believe you just said that. How dare you, Gibbs. How dare you criticize my professionalism. That was uncalled for and you know it."

"Abbs..." he began, but she interrupted him, angrily.

"No, don't you dare Abbs me. Just get out, Gibbs... just get out of my lab now and leave me alone."

She felt tears welling up and hated that she was about to cry in front of him. Abby turned away before it could overwhelm her and fled into her ballistics lab.

She didn't see Gibbs start to reach out towards her as she turned away. He stood frozen to the spot for a moment before dropping his hand.

When she didn't return, Gibbs left, knowing he'd gone too far this time. As soon as she heard Gibbs leaving, Abby couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She returned to her office and slumped into her chair, shoulders hunched as she cried.

It was in that position a little while later that Ducky found her.

He crossed to her immediately and folded his arms round Abby where she sat and she relaxed into his comforting hug. The ME had not been blind to the building atmosphere and tension all week and could make an educated guess as to the reason, but he had hoped that Gibbs wouldn't take his ire out on Abigail.

She didn't deserve it.

When Fornell dropped by soon after, he paused as he entered the lab and saw Ducky there, his concern immediate as he saw Abby's tears. He couldn't restrain the anger rising up as he was pretty sure who'd upset her.

Fornell knelt by her chair and took her hand. "Hey, Abby, what's wrong?"

She turned a tearful face towards him, scrubbing at her cheeks and giving him a wan smile. "Nothing Toby. It's..." Abby turned away, biting her lip to stop the tears from welling up again. "It doesn't matter, it's nothing. I'm fine."

Fornell squeezed her hand and stroked her hair before straightening up. He looked into the troubled eyes of Dr Mallard. "What the hell did he do?"

TBC

A/N: *ducks more flying objects*