Trust Falls

Romance: Gibbs/Abby
Spoilers: Light Sleeper
Summary: "…and that's why I love you."

"You two gentlemen were on duty for the sensitivity training is that so?" Gibbs asked as he strode into the administrative office, flashing his badge as quickly as he could.

"Yes Sir," stammered the one on the left, Petty Officer Franks according to the research Gibbs had done. "The training was mandatory for all NCIS personnel, you can check the sign-in sheets, we have them right there." Franks pointed in the general direction of a large and bulging filing cabinet. Apparently these guys weren't so great at their jobs if that was what all their paperwork looked like. If Tony had ever turned in something like that mess, being Gibbs-slapped would have been the least of his worries.

"And you…were you at the training?" Gibbs nodded to the other man in the room.

"Seaman Conroy, Sir. Yes, I was at the training, as Franks said, it was mandatory," said the youngster earnestly.

Gibbs smiled, and saw the other two visibly relax; they were administrators they were not use to questions from investigators, trained interrogators at that. In their bureaucratic little minds, the worst he could be checking up on was their attendance record. "I'm glad I found you guys then, I didn't want to let on, but I wanted to ask a personal question."

"Whatever we can do to help you, Sir," it was Conroy who replied. Obviously with the threat seemingly over, he felt safe enough to speak to the older man.

"Well I kinda just wanted some information on personnel around here, thought you two would be the ones to ask, what with you being admin and having been on the course and all." Gibbs gave them his most winning smile. Really, like anyone could fail to be moved.

Franks shifted uncomfortably; apparently these guys DID have some conscience. "Well sir…" He trailed off expectantly, wanting to check his credentials.

"Gibbs, former Marine Gunnery Sergeant, currently working here."

He nodded "…we're not really supposed to give out personal information and anyway, neither of us has been here that long anyway." Well that explained the lack of recognition. Even if he did say so himself, Gibbs was a pretty noticeable face around the place. Still, it certainly helped his current mission if these guys had no idea who he was.

"Oh that's ok, Franks, I just wanted some general information. You see, like I said it's a personal matter…"

"Well, Sir, why don't you ask us and we'll tell you what we can." Franks said charitably, both men settling back into their chairs, behind their nice safe desks.

Gibbs affected a slightly embarrassed half smile, his eyes sliding away from the Navy boys. "Well you see…it's just that someone has caught my eye and I was just wondering about…well you know, where she worked, hung out…if she liked older men," he stammered.

Both the young men were grinning now, smiling that all knowing smile of men sharing a secret about women. They were now more than tolerant to his request. "Do you know her name?" asked Conroy, practically bouncing in his seat.

"No, I haven't gotten her name yet, something I was also hoping you could help me out with…but she is kinda…distinctive. She's a Goth…" both men sat back in their chairs at this, matching leering smiles stretched over their faces, "…I know that sounds crazy around here but I've defiantly seen her coming into work here a number of times."

Franks whistled through his teeth, grinning broadly; "Energiser Abby, yeah, she works here, alright. She's a sweet piece of ass."

Gibbs' hands clenched at his sides and he fought hard against allowing his displeasure to show on his face.

"It's a good but risky choice though, man," piped in Conroy.

"Oh yeah, why's that?"

Franks shook his head slowly, sorry for the man he though was under the same spell as most of his colleagues, only this poor dumb fuck didn't know the score. "The thing is Abby is a forensic scientist, she's supposed to be shit hot at her work, as well as being, you know, shit hot."

Both men sniggered at Franks' joke; Gibbs gave them a tight smile. My, my, were these two shit heads ever going down.

"Because of that, she works for the NCIS, the crack team, y'know. The guy who commands that team, I forget his name, well he's supposed to be a complete bastard. All old school, by-the-book except when he can bend it to suit his own ends, works his team real hard, gruff and generally unpleasant to everybody… and a crack shot no less. The team is really tight, most people say it's because of him, say they'd follow him to the end of the earth, and do anything to help out each other along the way."

As much as Gibbs liked hearing this character assessment, after all, most of it was true, he wanted to get back on track. "Ok, yeah, but what does this have to do with… did you say Abby?"

"Yeah, Abigail Sciuto. Well, she's one of them but not just one of them, she's like their…"

"…princess," piped up Conroy. Why, what a handy puppy he was.

"Yeah that, or like, their queen. She's never in the field, always safe at home busy working like a queen bee on the things they bring back for her, you know, the evidence. She's protected; you barely get into her lab without running into one of her team members, that guy Tony and his cute partner, or her scary boss. Even that odd guy, you know, cuts up the dead people. They all watch over her and each other, it's like no one else is allowed in. There's another guy, too. Scuttlebutt say's they used to date but it's been over for a while now but he still pining; some say biding his time for another go."

Gibbs tried not to feel a swell of pride at his people; that was how it was supposed to be, he was glad even these two idiots could see how his team were. Their next words brought him up short.

"It's the boss you wanna watch for, though. Even that Tony guy she works with, he sometimes comes down here to chat-up Officer Wu, and he says his boss different with her; like soft, sweet. He still makes her work but he brings her stuff, like the caffeine fix she practically main-lines. He kisses her where he smacks other people about the head and he praises her; that just not his style."

"And," interjected the Swab in the corner, "Tony says they flirt…like all the time, and don't even know their doing it. Real full on, too. He reckons they've either been at it for years on the sly, or they haven't got a clue how they feel about each other."

So, DiNozzo needed to die, always an interesting outcome of any conversation. What did he know? They sure as hell weren't sleeping together and he didn't know how he felt about her, huh? Stupid boy, she was like a daugh… no, she was a great frie… she was Abby for God's sake! When Gibbs tuned back into the conversation going on around him, he found that Conroy had moved on from the hazard that was him and team, to Abby's own, personal defence mechanisms.

"…so it's like the only time her team hasn't managed to protect her and she more than take care of herself! He ends up hog-tie, taped to the floor and drowning in Caf-Pow, that her boss brought her no less."

And he'd taught the disarmament moves, too, Gibbs added to himself silently. Damn it, if he wasn't able to be there to protect her, he was gonna make sure she had everything she needed to do it herself- even if it was as unconventional as a Caf-Pow self-defence.

"So you should be wary," Franks summed up for him.

"Have you guys ever tried making a move?" asked Gibbs as he started around the desks at a slow pace. These guys were so far into their story telling, they didn't even see the danger coming.

"Oh yeah, Franks here tried to make nice to Abby in the bar the other night, even got as far as putting his arm around her before she pulled a Stiletto blade out of her boot and waved it in his face, talking about all the hints she'd picked up from the medical examiner that performs the autopsies."

Franks gave the younger man a disgusted look and said "hey, at least I got that far. All you've done is race to the front line during that training session, hoping she'd trust fall right into your out-stretched arms. Give you a few cheap thrills."

Conroy blushed a deep scarlet, ducking his head. Gibbs moved round to his side, leaning in close, barely a hairs breath from the boys ear as he whispered; "So you thought you'd cop a feel did you, Handy Andy. Thought you'd use government sponsored training sessions to get your jollies, get your hands on something that is so far out of your league she's practically Gabriel to your Beelzebub." The menacing tone froze Conroy in his seat, his wide blue eyes staring at Gibbs in fear and confusion.

"Hey buddy, lighten up. She's not yours yet, man. Nor is she likely to be, if you hear what we're saying," Franks chuckled uncertainly, trying to break Gibbs out of his sudden strange behaviour but only managed to draw his attention to himself. As Gibbs leaned over the second desk, Franks scooted his chair towards the wall in avoidance. Gibbs pressed into his personal space, backed up against the wall as far as he could scoot. "The next time either of you even LOOKS the wrong way at my Princess, I'll make sure that Stiletto is put to good use. I know how to kill a man without spilling any blood, but I also know how to spill just enough blood, in just the right places, to make it really painful, make you really regret going up against me, make you sorry you ever knew Abby was born…and make you unable to ever raise even so much as a finger off of clean white hospital bed sheets to bother another woman again. Understand me?"

With that, Gibbs stalked out of the office, not looking back, only hearing the faint sound of Conroy's whimpering in response. Taking the elevator, he finally let out his smile enjoying the moment and the looks on those boys' faces until he reached his floor. Exiting in the NCIS bull pen he smacked Tony upside the head.

"Hey! What was that for, boss?"

Gibbs glared in response and carried on moving through the bull pen towards his desk. He retrieved the large cup and returned to the lift. On alighting on Abby's floor, he stepped out and presented her with the Caf-Pow he had procured for her. She took it with a grin and a thank you.

"No problem, Princess." He kissed her gently on the forehead.

Abby tilted her head at the name and gave him a questioning smile. Gibbs smiled widely back, turning to exit her lab as she shrugged and turned back to her work. And that's why she loved him. Well one of the reasons.