"Abby! Listen to me. You have to listen to me!"

Abby opened her eyes to see Tony staring down at her through the dark.

He brushed her bangs from her from her sweaty forehead and dropped a kiss to her cheek. "You with me now?"

Abby nodded and tried to speak, but her throat had gone dry.

"You had a nightmare, Abbs. It's okay. You're okay now. Let me get you a glass of water." Tony started to move, but Abby grabbed hold of him.

"No, don't."

"Okay." Tony helped her to sit, and stroked her hair when she fell against him and wept. "Shh… it's okay, Abby. He's okay." He stroked her hair and let her cry. He knew all too well how dreams often felt like reality, and there was nothing you could do by cry out the hurt and anger until it was gone.

Abby pulled back and sniffled. Wiping half-heartedly at the streams of tears down her cheeks she finally spoke. "I… I need to see him. He… something… something happened in my dream."

"It's two in the morning Abby, you need to sleep. I promised to take you back first thing in the morning, but not now."

"But I… it was so real, I have to see that he's really okay."

"We can call Ziva to double check, but we're going nowhere."

"I… please Tony?"

"No." Tony had grabbed his phone when he heard her shout out in her dream. He pressed speed dial for Ziva and she answered with a quiet hello. Tony spoke to her briefly and then handed Abby the phone so Ziva could tell Abby that Gibbs was indeed fine.

With Abby back at a relatively calm state, Tony started to tuck her in again. "Will you stay in here with me, Tony? I don't want to have another nightmare like that."

"Sure. Sure thing."

Abby scooted towards the center of the bed as she made room for Tony. She settled back against Tony when he wrapped his arms around her. "It was so real. I heard the phone ring, and…" Abby tried not to cry. "…then you came to tell me he was gone. I could've sworn I hadn't fallen asleep yet."

"Shh, Abbs. The phone rang as I headed downstairs. It was just Ziva making sure I had you settled in okay. You probably heard the phone ring as you fell asleep and then… but you heard what she said. He's doing fine, and we'll go back in once the sun comes up, okay?"

"Thank, Tony."

"Night Abbs."

"Night Tony."

Abby was able to eventually drift into a deep and dreamless sleep, only waking when the sun reached through the small crack in the curtains.

For a brief moment she thought that the whole thing had been a dream - A warm arm draped across her, and Gibbs' scent was all around her. It wasn't until she looked over her shoulder and saw Tony's green eyes looking back at her that it all sank in again. "Will you take me to the hospital now, please?"

"Sure."

Abby moved slowly to the bathroom. She showered again, though much more quickly than the night before and once she was dressed she found that Tony was waiting in the living room. He had been right to assume that she wouldn't want breakfast until she was at the hospital. Hearing her slow footsteps down the stairs, Tony grabbed the keys and was holding the door open when Abby appeared.

Her hair was wet from the shower and the red and puffiness around her eyes told him that she had been crying again. Placing a gentle hand on her back, he directed her to his car, and headed towards the hospital. It was 7:34 when Tony pulled into the parking lot; he could tell that she had watched the clock the entire ride.

The hallway of the hospital was quiet, only a few nurses getting ready to start their rounds moved around them as they made their way towards Gibbs room. As they neared, they could hear rushed voices coming from Gibbs room.

"Gibbs!" Abby moved as fast as she could, ignoring the burning ache throughout her body.

"You need to calm down, I'd really hate to have to sedate you, but if you don't relax, I will… I know…" Abby entered to see Dr. Williams leaning over Gibbs who was arch against the ventilator. "I know it's uncomfortable but… Ah, miss Sciuto, a little help here?" He motioned her over. "Look, Abby is here to see you, but if you don't calm down, you won't be able to, because the drugs I'll give you will knock you out."

Abby leaned over Gibbs and picked up his hand. She saw the frustration and anger built up in his eyes, but once he saw her, the struggling ceased and he stared at her.

She was hoping that the drive over had been long enough for the signs of her having cried to disappear, but the first two words he spelled in her hand were: what's wrong?

"Nothing." Abby leaned closer to kiss his forehead, but pulled back when he struggled again. Abby looked to Dr. Williams. "When can he have this out?"

"We have set the settings to let him breathe on his own, but if he goes past a certain amount of time without taking a breath, it'll breathe for him. If he makes it through today and tonight with no problems we can look at removing the breathing tube tomorrow. But he needs to relax and not fight it."

"You hear that?" Abby smoothed her fingers through his hair. "You need to relax."

Tony, Jack and Ziva stood by the door watching as Abby did her best to ease the stress, and as the doctor adjusted the IV running into his arm, and then checking oxygen saturation levels.

"You guys were here all night, go get some rest." Tony put a hand on both Ziva and Jacks' shoulder.

"She's okay?" Ziva asked - the concern about the late-night phone call and the fear she had heard in Abby's voice evident in her eyes.

"She is." Tony reassured. "You guys go get some sleep, I'll leave Abby in here for a bit and grab her something to eat down at the cafeteria, she hasn't had breakfast yet."

Jack was reluctant to leave, but watching Abby as she smiled down at Gibbs put him at ease.

Once she was alone with Gibbs, Abby pressed her lips to his cheek and let her lips linger before pulling back to look at him. "I love you." She didn't have to see his hand to know the sign that it formed. "I almost lost you, Gibbs. I tried to be strong, but I… I can't lose you Gibbs. I can't." Abby didn't bother to try and hold back the tears that rolled down her cheeks; she knew it was no use.

Gibbs clenched his eyes shut momentarily, irritated at his inability to talk to her, to tell her how much he loved her, and that he would fight to the end of the world to be with her. Instead, all he could do was reach out to cup her cheek, using his thumb to sweep at the hot tears rolling slowly down her cheeks.

Abby leaned into his touch, her hand coving his and bringing it forward to press a kiss to his palm. "I know. It's just… I had a dream last night. You… something happened, and I… I nearly lost it. Tony helped me, but it just made me realize how much I need you. I love you." Abby leaned forward again to press several kisses to Gibbs' forehead and cheek.

Tony returned to find Abby repeating her love over and over again between kisses until she heard Tony dig through the bag of food.

"Tony?"

"Breakfast. I brought you a bagel and cream cheese, a banana and juice."

"Thanks." Abby whispered 'I love you' one last time before turning to take the food that Tony held out for her. She pulled a chair up to Gibbs beside and sat down, balancing the plate on her lap she used one hand to eat and picked up Gibbs' hand in the other.

Gibbs gave her hand a slight squeeze and then closed his eyes, focusing on not panicking over the tube down his throat. He figured he must've dozed off, because when he opened his eyes again, Jack and Ziva had returned as had McGee and Ducky.

Everyone had a little something to say to him, and he responded by spelling out short answers to Abby. The room darkened as evening approached and again Gibbs felt his eyelids grow heavy. He struggled to stay awake, until Abby urged him to fall asleep, and Tony said he was ready to take Abby home. She put up a brief protest, but Gibbs promised to sleep if she went home to do the same.

Abby pouted briefly, but she could feel herself growing weaker. "Okay. I'll be back first thing."

-----

TBC….

I couldn't kill him off… not yet, anyway ;)