54.

ABBY

She'd been lying in wait for them to come out of the debriefing, and fortunately Kate was the first one out. "So Kate."

Kate turned on her heel and beamed. "Hey, Abs!"

Abby squashed the urge to laugh as Kate dove in for an enthusiastic hug. Man, she was positively glowing. Kudos, Bossman. He really did have skills.

When Kate released her, Abby held her at arm's length and looked her over. "No injuries, wounds, bullet holes?"

Kate giggled - actually giggled - a sound Abby didn't remember hearing for a very long time. "We're all fine, Abby."

More than fine if Abby was any judge, and she prided herself that she was. "I can see that." She was just about managing not to laugh at her friend, but she couldn't quite help the tone and the smile, and Kate started to blush a very becoming shade of pink. "Maybe you can come down to the lab for a bit, some girl talk?"

Kate glanced at the closed door behind her, as if she was expecting Gibbs to reappear and sweep her off for a dangerous liaison any second, but then nodded her head. "Sure, Abs."

NCIS NCIS NCIS

The futon was still out from the last time she'd caught nap at work. Abby sat down cross legged and gestured for Kate to sit down next to her. Kate being Kate folded her legs underneath her like a most proper young lady, as if she hadn't just been behaving badly with Gibbs not two hours ago. Abby smiled to herself. Kate was still Kate, even when she was breaking the rules, and it was kind of nice.

"So, anything exciting happen while we were - I mean, during the op - when I wasn't here?"

Abby grinned. "Nope. It was boring without you guys here. The only thing I had to distract me was Major Mass Spec and gossip."

Kate didn't take the bait, and Abby was kinda impressed. "Well, everything seemed to go well from our end, so I guess it was a success."

"So I heard."

Kate smiled a little secret smile to herself, looking off into nowhere with a dreamy expression on her face. "Yeah." Abby thought that if she didn't like Kate and Gibbs so much, she would probably be totally nauseated. As it was, it was cute.

She did want official confirmation, though. She didn't want to embarrass Kate - well, okay, maybe just a little, for fun - but it would totally suck to have to pretend she didn't know, act like everything was the same, when her best friend was so clearly head over heels in love.

"So, are you going to tell me about it, or am I going to have to start collecting evidence and spying on you whenever I see you and Gibbs together?"

Kate blinked. "What?" The beatific smile was still on her face, and Abby thought ruefully that her attempt at approaching this with a little humour would've worked better if Kate wasn't floating about three feet above her fellow not-in-love humans.

"You didn't hear a word I just said, did you?"

Kate blushed again. "Sorry, no, I was miles away."

More like a couple of floors away. It was pretty obvious what, or more precisely who, Kate was thinking about, and why it was making her light up like a Christmas tree. "Please tell me that's just sex glow, Kate. You did use protection, right?"

The colour in Kate's cheeks went from pretty pink to bright beetroot as she came back down to earth. "Ye- I mean no. I mean... What? We didn't need- I mean, I don't know what you're..."

"For a Special Agent, Kate, you suck at lying."

Kate took another deep breath, and then just let it out on a long sigh, shaking her head. "I know," she admitted. "Oh, God. Being undercover is one thing, but I don't know what I'm gonna do when Tony or somebody asks me."

Abby giggled. "I think when it's Gibbs you're sleeping with, Tony might just be wise enough to keep his big mouth shut."

Kate cocked an eyebrow and grinned suddenly. "Good point. I knew there had to be an upside."

"More than one, I'm guessing." Abby reached out to smooth a lock of Kate's usually fastidiously tidy hair back behind her ear. "I'm not actually gonna ask how you managed to get bed head hair on a car journey, but I bet I can guess."

"We didn't- we just-" Kate paused, shaking her head. "Okay, you really don't need to know the details. It was just nice to have a little privacy." She smiled, her cheeks dimpling, looking bit embarrassed but also like she was sitting on the best secret in the world.

Abby grinned and shook her head. "Damn, girl. You are so smitten."

Kate hugged her knees, rested her chin on them, and grinned back. "Yup."

"Is he smitten too?"

Kate blushed yet again. "I - well he - hesaidhelovedme." The words rushed out in a jumble.

Abby blinked. "I'm sorry, Kate, did I hear that right?"

The blush deepened. "He said he loved me." She shook her head briefly. "I mean, it was in bed after we- well- um."

Abby fought back the urge to laugh at Kate's reluctance to actually say 'had sex' out loud. There were much more important things to concentrate on here. "But he did say it?"

Kate's smile broadened to epic proportions. "Yeah. Yeah, he did."

"So Kibbs is official! Amazing."

That got her a funny look. "Kibbs?"

"Uhhmmm..." Oops, yeah, she hadn't told Kate about that yet. "Yeah, you know... Kate, Gibbs... Kibbs." Abby smiled sweetly and hoped that Kate's good mood would forestall any retribution.

Kate just narrowed her eyes. "If DiNozzo gets hold of that, you're a dead woman."

Despite her words her tone was mild. Abby grinned. "Fair enough. So..." She paused, trying to figure out how to put it. "I know, I know, he's our boss and it's kind of weird, and I so do not want the gory details of last night-" well, she added, in the privacy of her own head, not enough to risk pissing off Kate and Gibbs, anyway "-but you have to tell me how it all happened and everything, okay? Two of my best friends are in love, I need to hear all about it."

That look of pure happiness blossomed again on Kate's face, and Abby scooched in closer as if some of it might rub off. It was like they were two teenagers gossiping, except nothing this great had ever happened when she was a teenager. Two of my best friends are in love, she repeated to herself as Kate started to talk. Abby was 100% empirically, scientifically certain she would never get tired of hearing about that.