So Gibbs and Abby settle into a sort of cosy domesticity, somewhere between room-mates and an old married couple chastely sharing a bed. Abby barely suffers from the nightmares now when they sleep together, but invariably they return if the pair sleep apart for any reason and Gibbs steadfastly refuses to acknowledge to himself that he himself sleeps better in the same bed with Abby - and that really he rather likes sharing his life with her.
‘A while’ turns into several months, with Gibbs resigned to the fact that a night in a motel near a distant crime scene for him means a night disturbed by a call from Abby whether she is sleeping alone in his bed or has returned to her own apartment for the night.
The team are now fully aware of the ‘change’ in Gibbs relationship with Abby. Ziva shrugged it off as none of her business; Tim has the air of a kicked puppy, offended that his past relationship with Abby has not been enough for her to seek comfort in his arms; and DiNozzo oscillates between disbelief that a man still in the prime of his life, like Gibbs, can keep his hands off a woman like Abby, and the odd wistful comment about ‘puppy piles’ that makes Abby think that he is in need of comfort of his own. DiNozzo, being DiNozzo, keeps wheedling at Abby that the ‘old man’ must have a problem if they are not consummating the relationship, unable to comprehend that the old man’s problem is not physical but mental - a fear that acknowledging his real feelings for Abby will destroy their friendship.
Director Vance - despite losing an almighty battle with the Team Leader over Abby seeing the shrink brought in to talk to everyone at the Navy Yard following the bombing - has accepted Gibbs’ assurances that the arrangement is just to help Abby with her nightmares. As nothing seems different in their relationship at work - except that two off his best employees seem to be the most well-rested and relaxed he’s ever seen them - he has reserved judgement until such a time as it actually presents him with issues to deal with.
The one thing Gibbs and Abby haven’t addressed is their sex lives. Without sex in the relationship they could almost be described as having an open ‘marriage’, yet neither have had a partner since the bombing, let alone since they began sleeping together. They touch and caress - almost, but not quite, as lovers; creating desire in and for each other, yet that is a line Gibbs is still not prepared to cross with Abby and one that she mostly accepts for fear of being turned out of his bed for good. She loves the new closeness that has developed between Gibbs and herself and enforced celibacy with him seems a more attractive option than the freedom to have an active sex life without him. Besides, for all of his legendary control there can only be so much of it, and Abby plans on being here when it finally runs out...
Cases come and go, and the team notice that Gibbs actually seems to take more care of himself when they are putting their lives on the line; a certain recklessness that they have always known him for seems to be gone. He is more willing to wear his flack vest when they anticipate being shot at.
With two people in his house, and sharing the cooking, there is more point to cooking rather than takeaway and the improvement to Gibbs’ diet is subtly showing in a slightly reduced waistline and renewed ability to give DiNozzo more than a run for his money in the gym and when pursuing suspects - although he is still the master of heading off their suspect and leaving his younger team members to wear themselves out in the chase.
More than six months have passed since the bombing and over three since Gibbs and Abby have been conducting this unconventional relationship. In reality Abby has almost moved in with him, spending most evenings at Gibbs’ house with him and sharing his bed. Mostly they eat together and spend the evenings at his house doing their own thing, but she still has regular forays back to her apartment on weekends and some evenings to do chores and collect mail - as well as adding to the growing collection of her clothing now accommodated in his bedroom.
Gibbs wonders if he should ask her to move in, but that too is something he feels he can’t quite deal with. His, unacknowledged, irrational mind thinks of this as a betrayal of his first love, a notion that is in reality laughable considering that he had no issues with entering into three further marriages in the years following Shannon’s death.
His rational mind is wary of ruining the friendship he shares with Abby by turning it into a ‘relationship’, he is blind to the fact that it is that very friendship which provides the solid foundation for a romantic relationship and which is exactly what was lacking with his three failed marriages. He’s spent so many years looking for a replacement for his dead wife without ever realising that there could never be a replacement. What he needs is someone with their own unique place in his life and Abby carved that out years ago - co-existing with his love of his lost family, neither threatening of it nor threatened by it.
For all his intuition and his famed gut he cannot see that sometimes a relationship grows and changes all of its own volition; cannot see what is right in front of his nose.
Until...
Author's Chapter Notes:
It's Gibbs' comfort that Abby needs, but what about the man himself? Post-ep tag to 10x02 'Recovery'.