He was sanding his boat when he heard familiar footsteps overhead. He paused and smiled before resuming the back and forth motion with the sandpaper. The steps grew closer to the stairs and then the feet came into view. "I know you heard me come in." The voice says as his guest comes down the stairs. "Why didn't you come up?"

"I knew you would come down here." was his simple reply.

She smiles. "You think you know me so well, don't you?"

He puts the sandpaper down and turns to pull her to him. "Most of them time." He looks down in Abby's eyes and tells her, "Sometimes you surprise me."

~*~Flashback~*~

She was well and truly drunk. And she was trying to work on his boat. That was a recipe for disaster. She was also trying to work things out in her head and he let her have at it. Up until the point she started thinking she did something wrong to cause this bastard to stalk her. He had to speak up.

"Maybe it was your fault."

"How can you say that Gibbs? I didn't do anything wrong." She started and by the time she had finished her speech, she had figured it out for herself like he knew she would.

~~~~~~~

He knew it hurt her when he kissed her cheek and walked away not letting her say anything. He couldn't deal with all her hurt at that moment. He had to work his way back through the deaths of his wife and daughter. Before the explosion, he would have told her how he felt. Now, he had to re-evaluate everything he thought he had dealt with. He would call her once he got to Mexico, he promised himself, but he never did. He couldn't find the words to tell her what she meant to him and why he had had to leave when he did. And then Ziva called him.

~~~~~~~

His first glance in four months and she was eating candy and talking to pictures of him. He never meant to hurt her this way. His heart ached but he still didn't feel ready to stay. Not until he had helped Fornell and talked with Jen. Funny how she was the one to make him realize he couldn't walk away. He asked Abby to come by his house after that so they could talk. She was hurting but willing to let it go if it meant he was staying. Ready as always to jump in with both feet, she had bucked at the idea of them starting all over and slowly. He had smiled at how vehement she was in her objections. He would have loved nothing more than to take her to bed at that moment, but he knew she deserved more from him. So, he had held his ground and they did things his way.

~*~End Flashback~*~

His way was about to kill him. Abby had all the sensuality in the world when she wanted to turn it on and she was turning it on big time tonight. She was wearing her gunpowder perfume and he smelled like sawdust. "Would you like dinner?" He asked.

Abby shook her head no. "Dinner isn't what I'm after tonight Gibbs."

She pulled him down into a sizzling kiss. When she let him go, he came back for another and another until they were both short of breath. He looked into her eyes and saw the absolute certainty shining from them. Taking her by the hand, they walked upstairs without exchanging any other words.

Abby turned to Gibbs once they were inside his room. She pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor. She stepped closer to him and he leaned down to kiss her again. His blue eyes were not the same icy blue that would stare down a criminal. They were on fire with his need for the woman in his arms. She broke from the kiss and shivered at that look. Pushing him onto the bed, she stepped back where he couldn't touch her.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you all this time, do you?" She asked him in a voice gone husky with desire.

~*~Flashback~*~

Watching him walk away from her was quite possibly harder than having to live without him. Knowing he was hurting and knowing there was nothing she could do to stop it. Oh, she knew he was pissed about the terrorist attack and his inability to stop it. But she also knew the reason he was walking out the door was to deal with the demons a fifteen year old memory had brought back into light. Her heart was breaking because he was broken.

~~~~~~~~

She learned to cope while he was gone. She could hear his voice in her head and his pictures were all over the lab. She started eating tons of sugar to help speed her through the day. Everyone pretty much left her alone, thinking she had only lost a boss and a friend. No one had known or would ever know that he was her lover and her love.

She stood thinking about it one day and realized he was both. Lovers she had had before but none of them had been her love. Not until Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs caught her eye. She had even had a wild thought of dying her hair red one Halloween to see what he'd say. She didn't but she had thought about doing so.

And so she was fine until Ziva needed help. Gibbs had come back to pay off his debt to her and pack up his home. Then another case came along and she handcuffed them together not realizing it would just remind him of some of their wilder nights. Then he stayed and they started seeing each other again. She was frustrated as all hell that he had enforced a slow courtship period but she was determined it would end sooner than he expected.

~*~End Flashback~*~

She was staring at him, fiddling with the buttons on her shirt. His eyes, still on fire, held hers steadily.

"If it's as much as I've missed you then it's been hell." He answered truthfully.

Her smile trembled and she moved back another step when he started to stand. She shook her head and he sat once again. She slowly undid the buttons on her shirt watching his reaction the entire time. His breathing changed and his pupils dilated as she let the shirt drop from her shoulders. She did the same with her short skirt, unzipping and letting it fall where she stood. For Gibbs, she was wearing black lace and from the look on his face, he appreciated the view.

"Abby." He groaned, reaching out to touch her.

She smiled at him then, that devilish smile that meant he wasn't going to like what happened next, he was going to love it.

She pushed him down on the bed and started kissing him. She ran her hands down to his strong wrists and quickly had him handcuffed to the bed. While the situation sank through Gibbs' haze of passion, Abby was working her way down to his chest. He tried to reach out for her and felt the cuffs stop his movements.

"Abby." Gibbs said in a warning tone.

"Uh-uh. You've been away from me to long to not let me have my way with you any way I want. Trust me, you'll enjoy this."

He couldn't deny her anything with that look on her face. He tried to relax his arms and settle in for Abby's special brand of torture.

By the time she had them both undressed, Gibbs was ready to break the cuffs to get his hands on her beautiful body. Abby was gasping for breath from their kisses as she released the clasp on the cuffs.

With lightening speed, Gibbs wrapped his arms around her and rolled her under him. In his mind, he knew how she would look, feel and taste, but it had been so long for both of them. He knew she expected him to take her then and there, but he held back and started on the quest to relearn her body as well as she knew his.

~Calalily~

"I was lost without you." Gibbs and Abby said at the same time, finally getting those feelings in the open.



They stared into each other's eyes both feeling too much emotion to put into words. Abby looked out the window to the dark still outside. "We'll be going to work in a few hours." She said but it was more of a question about his intentions.



"Yes, we will be." He said.



Kissing his chest, Abby propped her head on his chest and asked outright, "You're really back? For good? This hasn't been just a temporary thing right? You're staying no matter what?"



"No matter what Abs. I'm staying here, with you, with the team too but especially with you."



Abby pulled his head down to hers and kissed him. She was telling him with her lips, hands and body how she loved him and how much she had missed him, missed them since he left. These last few months without his arms had been torture. These last several weeks spending time with him but not touching had been miserable as well.



She pulled back from the kiss and rose up over him just a little bit more. "I have something I need to tell you."



He reached his hand down and covered her waist. "You've changed a bit since I left town."



Uncertain once more, Abby nodded. "The team thinks I've gained weight because of all the candy and junk food I've been eating. No one has put anything together any further than I've wanted them too."



"The night before the explosion?" Gibbs asked.



"I think so." She told him.



"Five months already?"



"My doctor says that everything is fine. The first ultrasound came back great. The baby is developing right on schedule. Some women just don't gain a lot of weight." She shrugged then her eyes lit up. "Would you like to see?"



"See?"



"I have the pictures in my wallet." She hopped out of bed and looked around before remembering her bag was downstairs. Pulling him out of bed first, she threw him his boxers and pulled on his t-shirt. Just as he pulled the boxers into place, she grabbed his hand again and took her with him downstairs. Rummaging around in her bag, she pulled out her wallet and carefully took out the ultrasound pictures she had folded and placed in a secret compartment Tony didn't know about. She gave them to Gibbs and watched him as he looked at the pictures.



His eyes moved over each one before looking at her questioningly. "Oh right." She said and pointed out, "This is the baby's head. And this one is the spine. See how it looks like pearls? I never liked pearls until I saw this picture." She smiled at him, still not sure how he was taking this. "Well, this is the foot, can you tell?"



"It's tiny." He said sounding choked up.



"Right, well this was done at three and a half months. My doctor has been pleased with how I've been doing so far." He was still staring at the pictures. "Gibbs, talk to me?"



"Do you know if the baby is a boy or a girl?"



"Not yet. I have another ultrasound scheduled in two weeks just to make sure everything is ok. Since I haven't gained that much weight yet, the doctor wants to be extra cautious."



Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath before reaching out blindly to pull her to him. She went into his arms willingly and his held her tight, one hand fisted in her hair as he kissed her neck.



"Abby?"



Breath unsteady and knees weak, Abby replied, "Yes, Gibbs?"



"You are incredible. You are beautiful and I love you Abigail Sciuto."



Squeezing him tight, knowing he was all right with this, Abby kissed him soundly on the lips. "I love you Leroy Jethro Gibbs. And our baby is going to love you too.