Authors notes:
1) Thank you so much to my beta, Abbyforever. You rock muchly.
2) Everything surrounded by a * is a quotation, see the end for the source.
3) McGee wouldn't really have been with the team so much at this stage, but it took me a while to remember that. Let's just say he wanted to play, too.
________________________________________________________________
High Stakes
Kate and Abby were giggling on the latter's sofa in her comfortable mid-town apartment. Kate had come over early to help Abby ‘set-up' for their poker night. As Tony was bringing the pizza, Ducky the snack food and McGee the drinks, this pretty much just involved getting the chips and the card out of the cupboard, as well as getting the wine and conversation flowing, pre-male arrival, to ensure a good time was had by all.
Team nights changed venue according to a rota, this month they were supposed to be at McGee's poky basement, but Abby had requested the change herself. She had wanted to play hostess so that she could ensure FULL participation.
Flashback to earlier that afternoon//
"Come on, Gibbs. You said just the other day we should play poker sometime. Why not join us."
"I said no, Abbs."
"But why? You need a little extra-curricular activity in your life."
He raised his eyebrows "I have my boat."
Abby put her hands on her hips and looked at him sternly. "Kate told you when you wouldn't come for after work drinks with us that that was the last time you were allowed to use the boat as an excuse for a month." She pouted gently at him. He wavered, and she let her bottom lip slip a little further, inclining her head slightly to the left.
The agents at the surrounding desks now dropped any pretensions of not listening to the conversation going on between their boss and his lab rat. None of them had been able to get Gibbs to join them in an activity for months. Apparently the boat had reached a crucial stage, and blowing off his team was not a problem. Blowing Abby off, on the other hand, well that was a different matter. Abby had been happy to let him stew for a while. For a few months, as her team mates had offered invitation after invitation she had stayed out of it, but not tonight. Tonight he was going to join them.
She had him wrapped around one of her adorably inky pigtails; he knew it, she knew it, worst of all for him, Gibbs-second-B-stands-for-Bastard, his team knew it, too! They watched as he dropped her gaze, tilting his head back slightly and grinned in amused defeat. Kate shook her head in disbelief and handed Tony the $20 she had bet him. Abby had done the impossible again.
"Fine, I'll come. But I'm only playing a few hands."
Abby gave him a cheeky smile and stepped up to where he stood. Rising up on tip toes, she gave him a peck on the cheek, then whorled in a flurry of black pleats to trip off back to her lab in triumphant cheerfulness.
Back to present//
"So you really think he'll come?" asked Kate as she watched, incredulously, as Abby emptied the last of the bottle of red into their glasses. That was a bad idea, she thought. Tony insisted that the only way to play cards was with pizza and beer. If she and Abby had already gotten through a bottle of wine then they were going to be in for trouble come the third round.
"Of course he'll come," Abby turned to Kate with a smile, holding out her glass before joining her with her own, on the sofa. "You're not getting your $20 back from Tony that easily I'm afraid. You'll just have to do it with the cards."
The door bell chimed and Abby rose to let Tony in. He bustled off into the kitchen with the pizza, throwing a quick hello to the girls over his shoulder. Abby was about to retake her seat when the bell went again. She opened the door to reveal Ducky who pecked her on the cheek as he slid past her to enter the living room, "Look who I found lurking in the parking lot," he exclaimed as he was followed by Gibbs. "It reminded me of his second wedding, always knew that one wasn't going to turn out well…" Ducky trailed off as he caught the murderous look on Gibbs' face. "Yes, well. Are we all here?"
"Just waiting for McGee" as Abby said the words McGee entered the apartment, precariously having opened the front door with a key around the 2 crates of beer he was holding. Tony, returning from the kitchen, walked right passed the struggling McGee and took a seat next to Kate, who shot him a long suffering glance before moving to help the hapless Probie with his load.
"He has a key?" asked Tony, looking between McGee and Abby with a look a cross between wonderment and faint disgust. Abby and Kate shared an amused glance, as Kate led McGee out the back, towards the kitchen. Gibbs shifted uncomfortably in the door way and Ducky cleared his throat, motioning his hostess towards the dining table, already set up with the snacks he had provided, and the cards.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Abby: Huh
Gibbs: Huh
Abby: We should play poker sometime.
Gibbs: Yeah, we should. (1.14)
Gibbs: Huh
Abby: We should play poker sometime.
Gibbs: Yeah, we should. (1.14)