Okay. New fic. I'm mainly posting this for two reasons: one, to see how I'm doing (meaning, review please!), and two, to give myself incentive to brainstorm and keep writing. So, reviews will give me that incentive to keep writing! Pairing is Abby/Gibbs, of course.
Chapter 1
Abby glanced at her watch as she hurried back into headquarters. Only a few minutes late back from her lunch break. If she hurried, and made it into her lab without anyone seeing her, no one would ever know. She could do that. She dashed to the elevator, pressed the button, and hurried in as soon as the doors opened. Press the button, watch the doors close, and… this was a really slow elevator.
Okay. A minute's worth of standing there and she was bored. She dug through her purse to give herself something to do, locating a blue bouncy ball. "What's this doing in here?" she wondered out loud. Figuring that it was at least something to play with, the slung her purse back over her shoulder and dropped the bouncy ball on the ground, catching it as it bounced back up. She repeated this process a few times before actually tossing it down, not really expecting the results.
The blue sphere bounced easily from the hard floor of the elevator all the way up to the ceiling, ricocheting off onto the wall before Abby could stop it. She hurried to try and catch it, but it seemed as though the little ball had a mind of its own, trying to get away from her. She found herself chasing it around the large elevator, unable to help but giggling at the pure humor of the situation. Maybe the bouncy ball wasn't such a good idea.
The elevator doors opened as the bouncy ball hit the back wall and bounced straight out, quite surprising a waiting Gibbs as it bopped him on the head.
"Oh, God, Gibbs, I'm sorry! Wow, I'm sorry. I didn't… the thing… bounced, and… it sorta went everywhere, and… then the doors opened, and you were there, and… yeah, you were there."
He chuckled slightly. "Yes, Abby, I was here. And this…" he held up the bouncy ball, "apparently was too."
Abby grinned shyly. "Yeah. Apparently." She stepped out of the elevator, not wanting to get stuck in it again if and when the doors closed. Gibbs watched her, trying to hide his amusement.
Abby suddenly remembered she was late. There went her ‘no one seeing me' plan. And now bouncy ball would be confiscated, though she could always get another, and… not the point right then. "Well, um…sorry, again… I should get to my lab, huh?"
Gibbs smiled slightly. "Might be a wise idea."
Abby nodded. "Yeah. So… see ya!" She darted off down the hall before she could do anything else stupid or embarrassing or in the get-Abby-in-trouble category. Halfway down the hall, she heard Gibbs call out "Hey Abbs!" She half-skidded to a stop and turned around, half expecting to be able to be told off for her lateness or for goofing off.
"You forgot your bouncy ball," he informed her, tossing it to her as he stepped backwards into the elevator. Startled, she almost missed catching it. By the time she looked back up, the elevator doors had already closed. She stared after him for a moment before grinning, putting the bouncy ball back into her purse, and heading off towards her lab, a good deal more cheerful than she had been.
The first thing she did upon entering the lab was to turn on the music – Lacuna Coil, a band she had recently discovered that she quite liked. Next the computer was started up fully, her starscape screensaver disappearing to a list of all the programs she had left open while she was gone. She sat down in her computer chair, humming along with the music while she tried to think of something to do. They didn't have a case, for once; nothing top priority to work on. It was a Gallipoli day, but her model was done and gone, sitting at home on a shelf with many other ‘art projects' of hers.
After a moment, Abby dug through one of the desk drawers; one she aptly called her fidget drawer. It was filled with fidgety things: Silly Putty®, clicky pens, a spinning top, a metal puzzle thing that could be manipulated into many different shapes, one of those gel-filled stress balls, her first attempts at the people for Gallipoli… all sorts of things with which she could amuse herself. She pulled out one of the Silly Putty® eggs, bumped the drawer closed, and began playing with the Silly Putty®, stretching and squishing and making little people while she let her mind wander.
Gibbs hadn't yelled at her. That was good. Then again, he almost never yelled at her… even when she showed up late and hit him on the head with a bouncy ball. That was actually kinda funny, she thought, allowing herself a laugh at that. Store that in the ‘amusing memories' file in her mental cabinet. She needed to sort through that; it was getting rather full. And kinda messy.
Gibbs was always so nice to her. He wasn't mean, really, to anyone, but she couldn't think of a time where she could ever say he had been at all mean to her. Gotten ticked off at times, raised his voice once or twice, but never been mean, never gotten really angry. She was glad for that; she didn't know what she'd do if he ever got really mad at her. She didn't think she could take it. Not just because she hated when people were mad at her, either.
Okay, maybe that was part of it, but it wasn't all of it. She just felt like Gibbs was different, like it would really break her up somehow. She cared about him too much to let him be mad at her.
Woah, where'd that come from? Yeah, she cared about him, true, but… she didn't… or did she? There's a new thing, but maybe it's not, because somehow she didn't feel too terribly surprised. Maybe she did. Maybe she did actually love him. Maybe? Hell with maybe. She knew she did. "Oh," she muttered to herself, then suddenly "Oh! Oh, wow. Duh, Abby! And people say you're all smart and stuff and you just now figure that out?" Now she had a bit of a conundrum, though… "What do I do about it?"
Putting the Silly Putty® back in the drawer, she stood and began pacing the lab, muttering to herself. "It's not like I can just tell him that. That'd be majorly awkward. And kinda hinky! Weird thing to suddenly discover." She sighed. The chances Gibbs would feel the same way? "Keep dreaming, Abby," she muttered dejectedly, leaning forward against a table, hands holding onto the edge of it to keep her weight even.
She was so lost in thought that she never noticed the presence approaching behind her, never heard the footsteps, never suspected a thing until strong arms closed around her like a vise, drawing a frightened scream from her a second before a hand clamped over her mouth and a deep, unfamiliar voice whispered in her ear "Well, hello there, sweetheart."
Author's Chapter Notes:
When a second terrorist breaks into NCIS, Gibbs is fourced to make a choice: Stand by the rules he's set for himself, or save Abby's life...