Poor Gibbs, probably feeling pretty used and hurt… and OMG, ten brownie points for anyone what writes a little ficlet based on that loving look he gave her in the first ep.

The moment she opened the door, her heart sank. Despite wanting to believe the best in Rex – he'd never done anything wrong by her – she instantly knew Gibbs was right. He was always right. "Rex, I don't…. now isn't a good time." She slowly tried to close her apartment door, mentally trying to remember where her cellphone was.

"Addy, we've got to get out of here. Don't let this man brainwash you into being someone you're not. We can get away, we can disappear forever!" He stepped forward, putting his foot out so the door couldn't close. "Come on, let's pack you a bag." He pushed his way into her apartment and closed the door behind him.

"Rex…" Abby shook her head, unsure of what to do. "How about… um… you make us some sandwiches in my kitchen and I… I'll go back a bag with clothes."

Rex seemed to consider the idea and then nodded. "We'll need food for a few days until we're well out of the area."

"And… and don't forget to fill two water bottles. I keep those in the drawer to the left of the sink." She pointed toward her kitchen. "Will I… will I need warm clothes, or…?"

"A little bit of everything, probably." Rex seemed satisfied with her response.

"Oh… okay," she slowly backed away from him. There was no way to get out the front door without him seeing her. She wasn't sure how fast he was, but she didn't want to risk him catching her – she had no idea if he was armed. She hurried back toward her bedroom and dug through the piles of clothes she had been wearing before Gibbs came over. She dialed his number, "please, please, please answer… Gibbs!" She covered her mouth, hoping she hadn't been too loud when he answered the phone.

"Yeah, Gibbs." He sounded tired, hurt… everything she would have expected.

"You were right," she whispered, "he's here!"

"Addy-" Rex stepped into her bedroom. "Who're you talking to?"

"No one!" Abby spun around, holding the phone behind her. "I… I was talking to no one."

"But I heard…"

"Oh, I was… I was, uh, talking to myself. I do that a lot. Asking myself what was worth packing." She tried to speak a little louder, hoping Gibbs could still hear.

"Where's your bag?"

"I haven't gotten it out yet, wasn't sure how big of one I needed until I pulled my clothes… Did… did you make lunch?"

Rex shook his head. "You have no food; I just filled the water bottles. We can grab something to eat along the way."

Of course she had no food, she hadn't been living there. Giving up on being able to talk to Gibbs, she moved to her dresser drawers and set the phone down gently, keeping it out of Rex's sight. She wasn't sure how far Gibbs had gotten, or if he'd been able to hear much of anything, she just prayed he would turn around to at least investigate her strange call. She took her time, asking Rex's opinion on various outfits, where they might stay – anything to buy time.

Finally she made it back over to where she had set the phone down to see that the call had ended – Gibbs had hung up. She was running out of ways to stall when she heard the front door open slowly. She glanced back at Rex, who seemed not to have heard anything. He was mumbling to himself where he stood by the door to the master bathroom. "I um… I think my favorite sweatshirt is out on the couch, I'll just go grab-"

"No!" Rex shouted at her, suddenly agitated. "I'll get." He continued to mumble something about going away. He took a step toward the door and stopped when Gibbs appeared, his gun drawn. "How did you get in here?" He backed up and grabbed Abby, using her as a shield.

"Let her go, let's talk this over."

"She doesn't love you, she loves me. We're going away forever and you can't stop us."

"I'm not trying to stop you, just want you to sit down and think things through first, that's all."

"No no no no… you want to take her away again, you want to break us apart."

"Rex," Abby squirmed and tried to loosen his grip. "He won't hurt us, he just wants to talk, please. We can go sit in the kitchen."

Rex seemed to think about it and then nodded. "You go first, we'll follow." He motioned for Gibbs to move.

Gibbs backed out toward the kitchen, and glanced over to the front door. It looked closed, but he had left it open just a crack. As soon as he had heard Abby's panicked voice, he'd made the tough decision to hang up and call Tony. He believed her when she had told him she didn't think Rex would hurt her, and there was nothing he could do over the phone, so he'd made the tough decision to hang up.

Rex followed, holding on to Abby tightly. Every time he thought she was pulling away, he held her tighter. If she really wanted to, she could probably fight him off, but Gibbs was trigger-happy in cases like this and she didn't want Rex to die – he just needed help. "I don't like you here," Rex mumbled. "I just want you to leave. Why can't you leave us alone?"

They were almost to the dining table when Rex suddenly let go and lunged for a knife left on the counter.

"Rex…" Gibbs warned. There was enough distance that he wasn't concerned yet. Abby fell to the side when Rex let go and scrambled to her feet, rushing to Gibbs' side. "Put it down, Rex. We need to talk, having a knife isn't going to solve anything."

"You have a gun."

"I'll lower my gun once the knife is on the table and you step away."

Rex thought it over and looked at Abby. "Addy, why did you let him do this to us? I thought we were leaving. We had plans…"

"Rex, no… I was hurt, confused. Put the knife down and we'll figure it out."

"No!" Rex shouted as he stepped forward, "you can't do this to me!"

Rex lunged forward and Gibbs had no choice but to pull the trigger. He wanted to go for the kill shot – any threat against Abby was enough to warrant it in his mind, but he knew she would blame herself. Instead he aimed for the shoulder, knocking Rex back off his feet.

The knife fell from his hand and Gibbs kicked it away before kneeling beside him. "Relax," he turned to Abby, "grab a towel to help the bleeding."

"You shot me!"

"Boss?!" Tony burst in, his gun drawn.

"We're secure here, call an ambulance, would ya?"

Abby returned with a towel and knelt down to press it to Rex's shoulder. Rex glared up at her, but the blood loss had knocked him down a few pegs. They sat quietly, Gibbs securing his hands in cuffs in front of him while they waited.

"So… what happened?" Tony finally asked.

"He came over after Gibbs left, said we were going away. I managed to call Gibbs and…" she shrugged. "Gibbs was right," she admitted quietly, "I should have taken the possible threat more seriously." She looked up at Gibbs, "I'm sorry."

"I know." Gibbs sighed and nodded. "Where's your guy? Wasn't he still tailing?"

Tony frowned. "He didn't follow when I drove her home, maybe thought I was staying with her, or figured you were. I said he only needed to keep an eye on her around NCIS."

Abby was about to ask them to clarify what they meant by Tony's guy, but they heard the call of sirens and soon several local LEO's came rushing in, their guns drawn. "Stand down, NCIS…." Tony flashed his badge. "Situation is under control, but we need a medic for this guy."

"Ah, they are right behind us," he headed back for the door and called the medic up. Abby and Gibbs moved out of the way, while the medic tended to Rex's shoulder and then moving him to a stretcher. "Is NCIS taking this case, or…?"

Gibbs thought about it, but then looked to Abby. It would be open and shut regardless – clearly the man's mental state was to blame. He would be sent to a psychiatric hospital and likely kept under lock and key for quite some time while they sorted out his meds and looked up any family. If NCIS took the case, they would be required to work it rather than just show up for interviews and give statements. So for Abby's sake, Gibbs shook his head. "No, no this one is all yours."

"Okay," the cop pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. "I suppose you know the drill. I need some basic information now, a statement, don't leave the area, etc etc."

Gibbs nodded. Abby went with one cop, Gibbs with another. They each gave their version of what happened, while Tony spoke to the third cop and exchanged contact information. Gibbs and Abby were still busy talking when he finished, so he headed for the kitchen, gathered some cleaning supplies out from under the sink and cleaned up the bit of blood on the tile floor. He figured Gibbs and Abby needed time to talk, but he didn't want leave without letting them know. Abby was done first – they had a few extra questions for Gibbs since he had pulled the trigger. "You gonna be okay if I head out?" Tony pulled her into a tight hug.

"Yeah, thanks for coming."

"Welcome. I'm just glad no one died and you weren't hurt."

"Me too."

She gave him one last squeeze and then walked him to the door. "I'll see you at work soon, thanks again." She watched until he was out of sight and then looked over to the corner where Gibbs and the officer were still talking. She noticed that the blood had been cleaned up and made a mental note to leave a thank you and a candy bar on Tony's desk the next time she was at NCIS.

She could tell they were wrapping up, and she watched as the cops gathered their notes and headed out. As soon as the door closed, Abby moved toward Gibbs and wrapped her arms around his middle for a hug. "I'm really, really sorry."

"Shhh, it's okay."

"No, I just wanted to be right. Why do I always attract the stalkers?"

"You were right in that… I don't think he would hurt you. Or, he didn't want to hurt you. I can't say what he would have done if you had tried to get away. But I believe he really cares about you."

"Yeah," Abby agreed. "Thank you. Thank you for coming back."

"I promised I'd always keep you safe, and I meant it."

"I appreciate it. I was just worried you wouldn't answer or that you'd just hang up or something. I didn't know what I would do if you didn't come." She looked up at him, resting her chin on his chest.

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead and then the tip of her nose. "I will always come back for you, no matter what."

Abby sighed and pressed her ear to his chest, and listened to the steady thump-thump of his heartbeat. "You don't think they'll let him go, do you?"

"No, I'll make sure of it."

"Gibbs?"

"Hmm?"

"It was Tony that assigned me protective detail, wasn't it?"

Looking down at her, Gibbs wasn't sure what to say. "We both wanted to be sure you were safe."

"Why didn't you say that he was in on it?"

"Doesn't matter."

"It does. I lashed out at you."

"It doesn't matter who made the call. If he hadn't, I would have."

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to believe that he could be a problem. I shouldn't have stormed out the way I did. I just want… can we go back to your place now?"

Gibbs sighed and then gently pushed her away from him. "I think you were right, earlier. You need to spend some time here, figure out what you really want."

"Gibbs…" Her eyes went wide.

"No," he shook his head. "I know what I want, I want you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but you need to make sure it's what you want." He hated to see her eyes well up with tears. "I don't want to rush you into anything, but moving forward I have to know where we stand. Preferably, it's with you by my side. Think about it." He leaned and pressed his lips softly to hers and then headed for the door. "Think about it."

Then he was gone.

TBC