The two sat, eating the take out that Gibbs had re-heated in the microwave, pretending it was a 'last meal' of sorts for Abby. Even saying those words to Hendricks made him feel ill.

In the time he'd been in the room with Abby, Hendricks had pushed the couch into the corner for dumping later, and had wrangled Carter's body into a trash bag. Gibbs wasn't worried about getting rid of Carter's body – he doubted Hendricks would have a chance before his Team arrived to rescue Abby.

It was nearing 07:30, so Gibbs packed up the leftovers and trash, and sat quietly next to Abby, unsure of how he was going to tell her what he'd wanted to explain to her for so long.

"Abby…"

"Gibbs, I'm in love with you." Abby broke through, spewing it out ungracefully and forcefully. She looked down at her lap immediately after, bright red and near tears.

Had Abby been looking up, she would have seen one of his rare, wide smiles.

"Abbs…"

"No, I know. It was stupid. I'm sorry." She sniffled a little, a tear dropping onto her clasped hands.

Instead of responding, Gibbs lightly touched her cheek with his palm. She turned her face upwards towards him, a fresh tear rolling into his hand. Closing the gap between them, Gibbs pressed his lips to hers, savoring in the sweetness left behind from their dinner.

Abby's mind flew through a myriad of thoughts – trying to grasp what was happening. It took her a few moment to respond to the kiss, enjoying the taste of coffee while wondering how he could still taste so much like the strong brew when it must have been hours since his last cup. Shoving scientific thoughts from her mind, she focused on Gibbs instead, trying to burn the kiss into her memory forever.

They pulled apart abruptly, Abby surprised at how turned on she felt despite the events that had transpired just hours before.

Neither spoke after the kiss ended. Gibbs pulled her into his chest and held her tightly.

After a moment, Gibbs spoke, "I will be back in two days. I should have everything I need to come back to NCIS and to be cleared by Leon. Come over for dinner?"

Abby nodded, answering in a quiet voice, "Yeah. Seven?"

"Sounds good." He smiled down at her for a brief second, before becoming serious again. "Abbs…I wanted you to know, before I left."

She understood without him having to add just in case.

"I know. I wanted the same."

"…I need to leave now."

Abby whimpered, burying herself in his chest once more before slowly extracting herself from his arms. "Two days?"

"Two days. I promise."

"Well…if you promise." She smiled at him, trying to chase away the pit in her stomach.

"Text them now and then I'll go."

Abby nodded, pulling her phone from behind her where it lay on the bed. Typing in the address, she added 'come now; one kidnapper 'and hit send, making sure all three members of the team, and even Palmer, were each included in the text. She chuckled to herself, "McGee's probably already found me. Soon as he noticed the phone was back on."

The two looked up at each other suddenly. "Crap, I forgot he could be monitoring it, waiting for it to come back on."

Gibbs stood up quickly, "Here, get back on the chair."

The two had planned that Abby would be tied back up before Gibbs left, to make it look realistic. He wrapped the rope around her wrists, knotting it so that it looked tight, but wouldn't actually hurt her.

Gibbs stroked Abby's hair for a moment before he leaned down and kissed her passionately once more.

He stood and made for the door eagerly. Just before opening it, he turned and smiled at Abby, signing I love you. And then the door was shut and Gibbs was gone.

~*~*~NCIS~*~*~NCIS~*~*~

Abby sat quietly, praying that Gibbs would come back safely, praying that the Team would rescue her soon, praying that she would soon forget everything that had happened between the hours of three pm and seven pm that day. She could hear movement in the next room, and her body tensed up at the thought that he was coming to get rid of her before leaving for his own op.

"Come on, DiNozzo…" Abby whispered, her eyes closed tightly as if trying to send her thoughts telepathically. "McGee, Ziva…where are you?"

The movement had come closer to the door when she heard a loud bang of a door bursting open, yells of "Freeze!" echoing through the almost-empty apartment living room.

"TONY! ZIVA!" Abby started yelling at the door, attempting to get their attention.

The door was kicked open suddenly, and Ziva plowed through into the room.

"It was unlocked, Ziva." Abby remarked dryly, before grinning at her savior.

Ziva ignored her, untying the loose ropes that bound her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Abby nodded enthusiastically. "But, Ziva, I was right." Her voice lowered to a whisper. "Gibbs…he's undercover."

Ziva raised an eyebrow at her, and motioned for her to follow. "Wait until we're back at NCIS."

Abby nodded again, "Yeah, good idea."

The living room held only Tim and Tony, with a handcuffed Hendricks. Carter's body had been pulled out of the bag and Tim was taking pictures of the couch and where the blood had seeped down into the carpet where it had spilled over.

"Tony!" Abby swung into him, her arms wrapping around him tightly. She whispered into his ear, "Gibbs is undercover."

He pulled back and gave her a look, "Are you sure?"

She nodded happily. "Absolutely!"

Tony smiled widely, before growing serious again. "Come on, Vance needs to debrief you at NCIS."

Abby's smile faded, thinking about what she would have to tell the Director. He'd make her do a psych eval, and probably want her to take time off. But she needed to keep busy right now – she needed to keep her mind off the fact that Gibbs was on a potentially dangerous undercover op in the Middle East. Maybe she should leave out what Hendricks had done. That wasn't necessary, was it? She wasn't sure Ziva had ever fully disclosed what had happened in Somalia, and though she wasn't technically an NCIS employee at the time, hadn't she had to debrief then, since their ops were used?

As she and Ziva left the apartment, headed back towards NCIS, she considered asking Ziva, but grew weary at the idea of talking about it so soon, and with someone other than Gibbs. They drove back in silence for a large chunk of the ride.

Still about 5 minutes from NCIS, Ziva spoke, still looking straight ahead. "So Gibbs has been undercover this whole time?"

"Yeah, only Vance knows, though I'm sure Vance probably told someone even higher up, like someone on the President's staff or something, cuz I doubt he has that much power, unless they've documented some sort of proof or something of Gibbs' mission and his innocence. I don't know the entirety of it, really. I don't know how much I can tell you, but he's out of the country for another two days. But then he'll be back. With NCIS, I mean." Abby was glad to have something to get her mind of the pending debriefing.

Ziva was quiet for a moment, thinking it all over in her head. "He is not lying?"

Abby shook her head vehemently. "No, not at all. He kept trying to protect me and was even going to arrest the guy and come back in to NCIS before I talked him out of it."

Ziva nodded, as if digesting the information, "Good…that is…good."

Abby looked over at the former assassin, who had stoic expression on her face, and realized that Ziva had really doubted Gibbs, though for how long, she wasn't sure. Given all that had happened – her father sending her on what was basically a suicide mission, the placement of Rivkin as a sort-of spy, and especially, the recent murder of her father – Abby couldn't blame her. She was surprised, really, that she hadn't thought of it sooner. Of all people, Ziva would have been the one most likely to have doubts of Gibbs' innocence. Her heart swelled a little, thinking of the relief Ziva must feel, though she felt guilty for having not seen it sooner.

Abby reached over and lightly touched Ziva's shoulder, "He never would have done that to us. To you. He loves us all too much. Though he never says it." Her mind popped back to earlier, to his admission, before she shoved it out of her head.

Ziva stayed silent for the last minute or so of their trip, only speaking again when she had swung the car violently into the parking spot. "I have to keep reminding myself. But I should have known."

The scientist smiled over at her, "We all had doubts. Even I did, at points." She relived the moment Gibbs had burst into the room, her first time seeing him in two months. She felt the moment of panic when she had questioned his innocence, followed by the relief when it had been clear it was all a ruse.

The two silently made their way into the building, one feeling significantly lighter from the weight that was taken off her.