She loves him, of course. Abby. He knows it, and she knows that he knows. Even across the CCTV, even through the monitor, even at the other end of a screen that should be the most impersonal thing in the world, she knows that he knows that she loves him.

Wonderful wizard, she dubs him with a grin.

She supposes that there are folks out there who might diagnose her as having a Daddy complex and perhaps she does, but it’s more than that. She doesn’t always, only, exclusively go for older guys or authority figures or something. Well. Maybe a little. But it’s not totally hinky. It’s â€" it’s the Something Else that does it. She’s not entirely sure what but â€" his mind? And, well, yeah, the packaging that the mind comes in doesn’t exactly hurt matters. Not that there isn’t plenty of eye-candy where she works. McGees’s like a big-old teddy bear, and Ziva’s fluid motion. And DiNozzo’s the one everyone is always drooling over. But â€" the Boss? He’s in a league of his own.

Plus, he sees things. Sees things about people, in people. Like the fact that she loves him.

She doesn’t mind that he knows. After all, he’s Gibbs, and thus an exception to every regular rule on the face of the planet. At least this way she knows where she stands and that kinda makes it all okay. Even at the other end of a speaker-phone. So that she can call him her wonderful wizard. It’s not like just anyone’s allowed to do that, is it?

But she’s his favourite, and she loves him, and she knows that he knows.