Chapter Two
Gibbs glanced at his watch. Traffic wasn't always the easiest, but it had been than enough time for Abby to make it in to work. He glared at no one in particular and reached for the phone on his desk, dialing the extension for the lab. It continued to ring and ring, with no answer. And unless she was right in the middle of something, it never went past two rings.
It wasn't like Abby to be late, and on the rare occasion she would be more than just a few minutes, she always called to let him know. And it certainly wasn't like her to bypass the squad room, especially if she had been out dancing. It was obvious that she knew that Gibbs, Tony and McGee liked to see her dressed up, so she would always saunter through with a flirtatious smile and a wave.
Gibbs was just about ready to dial her cell phone when the elevator dinged.
"Hey guys," Jimmy Palmer strolled through the squad room. He had been doing some extra cleaning for Ducky and hadn't had the chance to leave before they got the call. "Have you seen the news? That new club downtown, Glow, went up in smoke."
Tony laughed, "I can't see that ruining your weekend plans. Can't say that seems like a place you'd visit, Jimmy."
"Thanks Tony," Palmer rolled his eyes. "But no, guess there was a gas line explos-"
"What did you say?" Gibbs slammed his phone down in its cradle and jumped up. He grabbed the remote and turned the TV to ZNN.
"Don't tell me boss, you wanted to go too?"
Gibbs walked silently over to the screen, his attention focused on the chaos caught by news cameras. He turned slowly to look at Tony and Ziva as they approached. "Abby was there."
Tony paled and Ziva reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. McGee, still sat at his desk, picked up the phone and dialed her cell phone. "Went right to voice mail." Abby never had her phone switched off - ever since she had learned Gibbs' rules, she was never unreachable. Even in church or at the movies, she only ever put it on silent so she could feel if it started to vibrate. "Maybe she dropped it and it isn't working, maybe…"
"In the car," Gibbs rushed back to his desk to grab the keys, his badge and gun, and as a group they rushed for the elevators, leaving a bewildered Jimmy to stand alone in the squad room.
The city moved by in a blur as Gibbs navigated the streets faster than he ever had before. Tony sat beside him in the front and told him when and where to turn. They could smell the smoke before they saw the building, and Gibbs' knew had to find Abby – and once he did, he wasn't letting her go. For months, years they had danced around one another. Flirting without crossing that line, neither of them 100% sure about how the other felt, so they kept things safe – unwilling to ruin the friendship that had come to mean more than either of them could describe.
Gibbs remembered the panic he'd felt when he'd gotten the phone call that there had been an accident back home. He'd know they were both gone before he had even gotten the details. His throat tightened and he pressed his foot down on the accelerator bringing their speed to a dangerous level.
He skidded the car to a halt just outside of the police tape, and all four agents jumped out. A local cop tried to stop them, but they all flashed their ID's and were let in.
"I didn't know NCIS was involved," one of the cops commented.
Gibbs walked slowly toward the smoldering building. The fire had burned hot and quick, and firefighters had contained it easily. The new building had been reduced to a pile of rubble – twisted metal, wires and charred sheetrock. The sound of people crying and the scream of ambulance sirens shook him from the shock of what he saw. "Abby…" he turned to the parking lot where medics had gathered survivors.
The four ran over, looking for Abby's familiar raven hair.
"Abby Sciuto, have you seen her?" Tony pulled up a photo of her on his cell phone and moved from person to person.
"We've already sent 20-30 people to various local hospitals," one medic said. "But was she inside the building?"
"Yeah, we think so. Or she was headed out."
"All the people here, and the people we've already transported, were standing outside smoking or in the parking lot. It was a big blast, anyone inside the club never had a chance."
Gibbs turned to look at the building again. "I had called her, told her we needed her. She must have been on her way to NCIS." That had to be it. Maybe she heard the explosion so she had turned around. Maybe she was with a friend at the hospital… Gibbs knew he would feel it in his gut if she was gone. He could feel the edges of panic starting to creep up on him and he wasn't sure what he was feeling anymore.
"Boss, I called into the office to have Dorneget try and trace her cell. It's not coming up," McGee tucked his cell back in his pocket.
"Time of the blast?"
"18:54 by our best estimate," one of the medics answered.
Gibbs flipped open his cellphone to see that he had ended his call to Abby at 18:48. "About six minutes." No one was willing to voice it, but they all knew that it was doubtful Abby had said goodbye to all her friends, picked up her jacket at the coat-check and made it out the door in that time frame.
"Boss..." Tony's voice was strangled.
When Gibbs turned to him, he saw Tony had stopped a few feet back. He followed the younger agent's gaze. There, parked in the far corner of the lot, was Abby's hotrod. Seeing her car still in the lot felt like a punch to the gut and a wave of nausea washed over him. "We'll check the hospitals."
Gibbs' dropped Ziva and McGee back at NCIS so they could get a different car. They had gotten the names of four hospitals in the area that had taken patients from the blast zone, so McGee and Ziva would take two and Gibbs and Tony would take the other two. It was quiet in the car as Gibbs drove toward their first hospital. They jogged through the parking lot and only slowed as they approached the front desk in the ER, their badges already out.
"We're looking for a woman that may have been brought in from the explosion downtown," Gibbs held up his badge and Tony held up his phone with her photo. "We don't know if she was hurt, or maybe accompanied a friend."
The nurse shook her head, "We've only taken six patients so far, expecting a few more… she doesn't look familiar, and everyone that is waiting on a friend or family member is waiting there," she nodded toward a small waiting area. Everyone was visibly upset, a few with minor scratches, likely from hitting the pavement as they ducked for cover, but Abby wasn't one of them.
"You mind if we have a quick peek at the people you've taken back."
The nurse looked as though she was about to deny them, but something in her changed as she looked at Gibbs. She gave a quick nod and pointed down a hall to the left. "That way."
Each time Gibbs peeked into a room to find that Abby wasn't there he felt his heart squeeze just a little tighter. By the time they were back at NCIS and still no sign of Abby, he wasn't sure he'd be able to breathe much longer.
With their case passed off to a different team, Gibbs and his team spent the rest of the weekend and into Monday trying to find some sort of clue as to what happened to Abby. They checked and rechecked all the hospitals in the area, and spoke to the survivors. None of them knew who Abby was and only one vaguely remembered seeing her dancing earlier in the night. Vance was the voice of reason, but because of how popular Abby had been with everyone in the building, he allowed them to use NCIS resources to try and find her.
Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, Gibbs got the call that he had been dreading. He listened, wrote down a few notes and then hung up.
"Boss?"
"Abby's friend Carol. She, together with Abby's brother, has decided that she was most likely lost in the building when it exploded. She would've found us, or found help… Her brother is planning a funeral in Louisiana this weekend. Carol is planning a memorial here at her church for the following weekend," Gibbs let out a shuddered sigh. "Go home, I'll figure out flights and let you know when to be at the airport." There was no sense in keeping them at work when they wouldn't get anything done.
No one said anything as they collected their things. Gibbs worked hard to keep it together. He waited until his team had gone home, their shoulders slouched forward and their heads hanging low as they headed for the elevator. He gathered his things and jogged up the stairs to tell Vance. Their conversation was brief, and Vance didn't object to them taking the rest of the week off. "I'll call the FBI, their director owes me a favor or two, I might be able to get you on their jet to fly down for her service."
Gibbs nodded and then left.
He headed for autopsy and judging by the fact that Ducky was alone and had brought out the scotch, he had either gotten a call from one of the team, or Carol had called him as well.
"Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation…" Ducky pushed a glass toward Gibbs and then lifted his own.
"Kahlil Gibran."
"So you're familiar with his words."
"My father quoted the same line just before we laid Shannon to rest."
Ducky thought about apologizing, but kept his mouth shut, knowing Gibbs didn't want to hear it, nor would it do any good. It had been obvious from day one that there was a mutual attraction between Gibbs and Abby. Gibbs had been struggling through the end of his last marriage and Abby had been in a relationship as well, but she had always been there with a shoulder to lean on, an ear to listen and a non-judgmental way of offering her opinion.
As Gibbs' relationship had come to a final end, so did Abby's. From then on, neither had be serious about anyone else, and Ducky knew for a fact that they had both cancelled on dates in order to spend time with the other. He wasn't sure why nothing had ever happened, but he supposed it was likely Gibbs' that was holding back – his rules, combined with his fear of ruining all of his relationships, kept him from exploring the possibility of a relationship with Abby.
Gibbs downed the scotch and then headed back to the door. "Go home Duck, get some rest."
He thought he was driving himself home, but when he put his truck in park and looked up, he realized he was parked in front of Abby's apartment. Tony had been by twice to double check that she hadn't caught a cab home, but Gibbs had yet to set foot inside her place. He debated turning around and going home, but body seemed to have a different idea, and he found himself making his way toward her apartment, picking the lock and letting himself in.
"Abbs…" He knew she wasn't there, but still felt the need to check. He just couldn't believe that she was gone.
He dropped his keys on the table just inside the door and moved through her apartment, checking all the rooms just in case. He headed back out to the living room and settled on her couch. Looking around, he took in all the photos she had displayed around the room – her friends, family, the nuns. On the bookshelf there was a photo from her visit to Stillwater. She was hugging Jack who was smiling big. Tony was in the background making a face. Gibbs now wished he had been in the photo as well, but he had been the one to take it, declining her offer to be in it at the time.
Kicking his shoes off, he stretched out on couch and stared at the light above. He had stayed the night on her couch more than once for various reasons – once because of termites in the basement, a few times to make sure she was safe. He could almost hear her moving around her kitchen, and he half expected her to bring him a cup of coffee.
"Not quite as strong as you like it, but should do the trick…" Abby interrupted his thoughts and carried in a mug of coffee and sat on the edge of the couch looking down at him.
"Don't need coffee, Abbs. Need you."
"Don't be silly Gibbs, I'm right here." She set his coffee down on the table and then reached out to brush her hand along his cheek. "I'll always be here for you."
Gibbs blinked away the moisture from the corner of his eyes and watched as Abby faded away. He didn't know if he would survive this.
Didn't know if he wanted to.
TBC…