"Wow what Abbs?" he sleepily questioned.

Her mind drew a blank. She couldn't just look at him and repeat the words he had tried to choke off during orgasm. Could she?

He leaned over her and waited for an answer, his eyes wondering if she thought this was a huge mistake, begging her to talk.

"Well…" she started, "I was just thinking about how this is a girls dream come true. Not a girl. A woman's. Mine." With only a slight hesitation her rambling continued. "And I'm hoping that this isn't just a one time thing because after what just happened here, I don't think I could ever go back to dating and being disappointed in the guy when we got this far… and really I doubt you could too. Especially after what was said."

He shifted slightly, realizing what she was getting at.

'Shit" she thought. There you go again, letting your mouth get way too far ahead of your brain.

"Abby… I…" she rolled away from him looking across the room at the scattered clothing.

"It's fine Jeth… Gibbs." she sighed. "I understand you probably didn't mean it. You just said it in the heat of the moment."

Grabbing her shoulder, he turned her back to him. When she resisted, he gently forced her to. Cupping her chin in his hand he tilted her face to his and gave her a soft kiss, effectively ending any thoughts she had of turning back around.

"Is that what you think Abby? That I would just say something and not mean it?"

Her eyes threatened to well up with tears so he continued. "What about you?

She blinked at him, confused.

"What I said? I didn't say anything…"

He raised an eyebrow with a smirk and leaned close to her ear, whispering so softly that is could be mistaken for breathing.

"Jethro… oh… I'm yours… forever… I love you…"

She blinked again.

"I didn't…. oh… but… it didn't make you feel obligated to say it back did it? Because I'm ok with that… I mean, I won't hold you to it then. I didn't… don't remember saying that at all. Are you sure? Could it have been something else?" she nervously rambled, realizing she had bared her heart and soul to him and he had no idea it was coming.

He smirked at her again. "Abby… I think the whole apartment complex heard you. You practically.." the "not amused" look she shot him stopped his words.

He leaned in and kissed her again, wiping the tear out of the corner of her eye. "As I was going to say, you practically tell me every day anyhow. I know." she looked up at him quirking and eyebrow.

"And just how do I do that?"

"Your smile." he replied.

"Gibbs, I smile at everyone. It's an Abby thing."

He slowly traced circles across her skin. "Not like you do to me Abbs." he laid a soft kiss on her cheek, to which her body immediately responded and a wicked smile crept to her face. "That's not quite the smile I was going for," he softly spoke against her skin, "But it will do."

He continued lacing her soft jaw line with kisses, moving towards the nape of her neck. "And I can't tell you just how many times I've wanted to continue that kiss, making it more than just a quick peck. But I can't… not in the lab." He continued his assault to illustrate his point, moving over her collarbone and to the center of her chest, kissing and lightly tracing his tongue across her skin.

Her body moved, trying to get him to continue further. "Jethro.." she purred, unbelieving that her body needed more.

"Not yet Abby." he teased her one last time before moving back to look her in the eye. "I'm trying to tell you something. Maybe showering you with kisses as I do isn't the way to go though."

Laying down, he pulled her close to his chest and ran his fingers through her hair.

"I meant what I said. During sex, before we made love, and I'll mean it long after."

A smile crept over her face and she tilted up to face him. "Really? I do too…"

"Thank you Abby." he sighed into her hair.

"Me? For what?"

"For always being there… for your friendship, your helpfulness, for letting me bare my soul and not laughing. And most of all, for being my girl."

It dawned on her then. Every time he had signed 'my girl' or called her that… he was professing his love. How could she have been so blind? She chuckled and spoke before he could ask why.

"I will always be your girl. As long as you let me Jethro."

His hands wandered to her face, signing it again, before pulling her on top of him.

"Good. I don't think I could handle it otherwise."

This time, she was the one to trail kisses across his chest. Slowly and lovingly. He softly moaned at her touch, encouraging her.

They continued exploring, taking even more time in their lovemaking than the first.

When they were finished, she snuggled into his arms and fell back asleep. It was well into the hours of Friday morning when they finally dozed off, but neither cared.

They awoke to the sound of Gibbs' phone ringing from the pocket of his jeans. Exhausted, he rolled Abby off of him and went to answer it.

"Gibbs."

"Hey Bossman," Tony replied. "We were wondering if you had seen Abby… and kind of… well.. Why you weren't here yet."

Gibbs heard the curiosity in his voice and then registered the sound of Abby's phone ringing.

He looked to the small night stand where it was sitting and moved back to the bed as Abby woke. She grabbed the phone and flipped it open. "Hello?" she sleepily yawned.

"Abby… its McGee."

"Hey… oh… I overslept. Don't worry… I'll be there soon." she looked at Gibbs who stared back at her while he talked to Tony.

"McGee… I said I be there soon. I just have to hop in the shower. I mean a girl has to look good when she appears anywhere. One never knows who's checking her out, keeping a record of her good and bad days."

Her words elicited a laugh from Gibbs who shook his head and hung up on Tony.

Abby ended her conversation with McGee and stood, stretching. "I guess we'd better get moving." she said as her eyes wandered over his flesh, stirring up more of a hunger.

"Don't worry Abbs…" he said as he began to pull his clothes on. "After today, there's a whole weekend for us."

She smiled and grabbed clothes from the closet as she headed for the shower. He stopped her at the doorway and offered another kiss. "I'll see you at work."

With a nod and a wink she continued on "Not this much of me you won't"

He chuckled and watched her walk into the bathroom before heading to his car to go home and get cleaned up for work. The weekend was too far away.

Tony and McGee hung up at the same time. Tony passed his conversation off as a 'Gibbs-is-grumpy-from-bourbon-boat-and-lack-of-sleep' while McGee stared at the receiver in his hand.

"What's the matter McDumbfounded? Abby say something amazing? Like what happened when she went out?"

McGee shook his head. "No… I swear…"

Tony quirked an eyebrow and leaned across his desk. "Well?"

"I swear I heard Gibbs laughing."

Now Tony was laughing. "Right McWishful. Or should I say McDisappointed? Probably one of Abby's boys. Gibbs sounded to grumpy to laugh."

McGee sighed and put the phone down. "Yeah… you're right Tony… it was just… never mind"

Tony shook his head at McGee and went back to pretending to do paperwork. His mind wandered cooking up ideas of what Abby spent her night doing, and with who.