Chapter Ten

For three days their routine continued. They ventured further and further into NCIS, spending more time getting stuff done on their visits – Gibbs helping Tony and the team while Abby talked to the NCIS shrink Vance brought in. Abby was especially tired at the end of the day, so they headed to bed early. Gibbs would catch an hour or two before the nightmares rolled in. He would wake, check that Abby was still sleeping, and then lie there content to hold her until their alarm went off. Almost always they made love in the morning. With Abby feeling more refreshed, and Gibbs yearning for the comfort of her body and soft touch, it had become part of their routine.

The following Friday, Abby watched him carefully as they sat on the back porch drinking a beer before bed. "Gibbs?"

"Hmm?" He glanced over at her with a soft smile. He loved how relaxed and content she looked in his home. The topic of living arrangements still had yet to come up, but she didn't look like she was bored of him or ready to leave.

"You look really, really tired. Are you okay?"

Her question caught him off guard. "Been a long week, long day," he shrugged.

Abby nodded and downed the last of her beer. "Let's go to bed. Tomorrow is Saturday and Tony talked about maybe meeting up downtown for lunch. So we can't sleep too long."

"Right behind you." Gibbs drank the last of his beer, grabbed her empty bottle and held the back door open for her to let her in. They went through their nighttime routines and climbed into bed. Gibbs was exhausted. He hadn't slept much during the time he had thought she was dead, and with the exception of the first night she had held him, he hadn't slept nearly enough in the past week.

"Love you," Abby barely had the words out before she was asleep, curled against his chest.

"Love you too," he whispered.

"I don't know why you care so much, it's not like you two were in a real relationship." Fornell rolled his eyes. "I mean, she was your employee really. It's not like you can't hire anyone else!"

"But I love her, I need her!"

"She's dead! Find someone else, hire someone else. I'm tired of your complaining. I mean, if this is what she had to listen to all the time, I wouldn't be surprised if she offed herself, you know? You're not a cranky bastard, you're an obnoxious bastard. God, if I'd have known, I'd have saved her from you years ago."

Gibbs woke with a start and instinctively tightened his arms around Abby. They had moved around a bit and now Abby's back was flush with his chest. He pressed a gentle kiss to the back of her neck and settled in to wait for her to wake. He closed his eyes a few times hoping to fall back asleep, but every time he closed his eyes, Fornell's angry face and harsh words came back to him. He lifted his head to see that it was just past two. Her alarm was set for nine. It was going to be another long night.

As he waited, Gibbs debated on when he would ask Abby to stay. He didn't want her to feel pressured into staying, but at the same time, he didn't want her to feel like he was too casual about it, only offering her his home because he felt he had to.

"Aren't you going back to sleep?" Abby's sleepy voice broke through his thoughts.

"Hmm? Did I wake you?"

Abby turned in his arms and yawned. "You had a nightmare and woke up nearly an hour ago. You're still not back asleep."

"Just thinking," Gibbs shrugged. "You go back to sleep."

Abby shook her head and propped herself up on her arm to get a better look at him in the dark. "That's why you've been so tired lately, you're not sleeping." She started to pull away.

"Where you going?"

"I'm not going anywhere, but like the first night, let me hold you. Let me keep the bad dreams away." She worked herself higher up on the pillow and pulled Gibbs in.

He was a bit stiff at first, but soon relaxed against her and pressed his face to her neck. She was warm and soft and when her fingers started to massage the base of his skull, he couldn't help but fight a jaw-popping yawn. "You need sleep, too."

"Close your eyes," Abby pressed her lips to his forehead.

He struggled to keep his eyes open for a few minutes, but as his eyes drifted shut, the visions that had kept him awake the past several nights were replaced by pleasant images. The first time they made love. Abby dancing in her lab. Her dressed in one of his old t-shirts. An obnoxious sound startled Gibbs and as he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see that the room was light and it was Abby's alarm going off. "Abbs?"

"Yeah…" sleepily she reached to the bedside and switched off the alarm. "Five more minutes…" she moved back toward him and pressed her face into the pillow.

Sitting at a picnic table eating ice cream and sharing Abby's attention with Tony wasn't exactly his first choice of activities, but he had to admit… it wasn't bad. Tony was a bit of a goofball and making Abby laugh, but at the same time he wasn't being childish or obnoxious, so Gibbs could sit back and enjoy the sound of her laughter in between sharing bites of his ice cream.

"Things starting to feel more normal?" Tony asked softly.

Gibbs cringed at the question, but Abby seemed to take it in stride. "Yeah, things are starting to feel more natural and the gaps in what I do remember are fewer and farther in-between. Every so often something pops up that just stumps me, but luckily none of it has been work related. Talked to Vance yesterday after my appointment with the shrink, and he said I could probably be back to work in another week."

"That's great! We all miss you at NCIS. Boss, you'll be back next week though, right?"

"Gettin' tired of being the boss?" Gibbs smirked. He wasn't thrilled about going back to work without Abby, but he knew he couldn't smother her either.

"No one does it better than you, boss." Tony grinned ear to ear. "Alright, I've got to get going. There is a pick-up game of basketball at my gym and I promised some of the guys that I'd be there."

"Thanks for ice cream, Tony." Abby stood to hug him as he came around the picnic table. He hugged her back and then shook Gibbs' hand.

"What do you want to do?" Gibbs asked as soon as Tony was gone. It was a sunny day and with nothing to do, their options were endless.

"A walk through the park?"

"Perfect," Gibbs stood and offered his hand, smiling when she accepted. It was a slow, meandering walk through the park. He could remember many lazy days with Shannon spent like this, first just the two of them, then pushing a stroller, and later on with Kelly rushing ahead to look at a pretty leaf or pick up an odd shape rock. He held her hand a little tighter and smiled when she leaned into him. For the first time in a long time, Gibbs didn't care about hiding behind his perfect wall – not caring if other saw him happy. "You make me happy, you know that?"

Abby grinned and pulled their hands up so she could kiss over his knuckles. "Hopefully as happy as you make me. I know you're not so into sharing your emotions or really anything in your private life, but it means a lot to me that you could come out today with Tony and I. You might not have actually said anything about us, but holding my hand in front of him like you did, sharing your ice cream. I know that he knows you're not just watching out for me."

"No need to hide anything. I don't plan on flaunting anything at work, but that's because at work, I'm focused on work. Not because I don't want anyone to know about us."

"I know, and I get that too. We've got important jobs to do and once we're both back, we've got to get our jobs done."

"Doesn't mean we can't take an occasional lunch date."

Abby grinned up at him, "you're going to have to schedule soon, my planner is already filling up. Ducky has asked me out for lunch on my first day back. The ladies in accounting want to take me out, Vance's secretary has promised me lunch… I'm a busy girl."

"How's the schedule for 2013 coming?"

"I might have a few days open."

"Good, pencil me in for those."

"Alright," she laughed, "I'll be sure to send our reminders a few days before."

He stopped and pulled Abby out of the main flow of the path, pulling her to his chest so he could dip his head to kiss her. He loved their banter and had missed it over the first few days as she was more cautious in the way she spoke. "Love you."

"No!" A startled cry broke them apart. "No, Addison, you can't!"

"Rex?"

TBC...