Chapter Five
The sound of coughing pulled Gibbs out of his doze in Abby's chair. Mentally berating himself for falling asleep, he scrambled to his feet. Ducky was already kneeling beside Abby, who had moments ago also been sleeping, but now was quite awake, pushing herself into a sitting position and trying to catch her breath. Gibbs hurried over.
"I'm okay," she managed after a moment, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out in a sigh. Ducky kept a supporting hand on her back, while taking a gentle hold of her wrist to check her pulse, then moved up to brush across her forehead. Gibbs kept a careful eye on his face, trying to judge his expression. What he saw didn't make him feel much better. Sliding his arm around Abby as Ducky moved away, Gibbs carefully lowered her back onto the futon.
"You alright, Abbs?" he asked softly. She smiled and nodded.
"I'm fine. Coughing isn't gonna kill me." Gibbs couldn't help but wince at her choice of words, and that didn't escape her notice. "Seriously, I'm okay." She glanced around. "What time is it?"
"1832," Gibbs replied automatically with a glance at his watch.
"6:32?" Abby translated. "I was out that long?" She sat up rather quickly and tried to stand, but Gibbs pulled her back down.
"Where do you think you're going, Abby?"
"I just slept for a good two and a half hours, Gibbs! I have work to do, and…"
"No, you don't Abby," he cut in. "The work can wait. You need to stay here and rest."
"I just took a long nap, what more rest do I need?" The look Gibbs gave her stopped her from arguing anymore. She sighed heavily. "Well, am I at least allowed to get up and go to the bathroom?"
"That can be allowed." Standing, Gibbs pulled Abby up with him. "You need help?" Abby smiled at him.
"I think I can find it on my own, Gibbs." At his look, she rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine, Gibbs. If I'm not back in ten minutes, then you have my permission to come looking for me if you really feel you need to." She headed out of the lab, though Gibbs did note that she kept a hand either on a table or the wall, he assumed for balance.
As soon as the doors closed behind her, Gibbs turned to face Ducky. "What's up, Duck?"
Ducky sighed slightly. "Fever's gone up, pulse is a bit uneven, and I think we need to watch that cough." He shook his head. "All together, it does appear to be following the descriptions we were given." Glancing over at the door, he noted, "At least she doesn't appear to be as dizzy as she was earlier." Catching Gibbs' glance, he added, "Always good to look on the bright side."
Gibbs paced back and forth for a moment, thinking. Finally, he looked back up at Ducky. "Should we get her to the hospital, Ducky?"
The doctor shook his head. "Jethro, if what we were told is correct, there is nothing they could do for her."
"But what if…"
Ducky continued as if Gibbs hadn't said anything. "And, also, Abigail would not consent to it. She hates hospitals, Gibbs. I'd almost go as far as to say that she is quite frightened of them. She would not willingly go, and I don't think it would do any good to fource her, because again, there is nothing they could do." He looked at Gibbs. "They would likely listen to our story, quarantine her on the chance it may actually be contagious, make her as comfortable as they could, and wait for her to die." He shook his head again. "We would not be able to see her, Gibbs, and we couldn't do anything. Even if we brought the antidote to them, they wouldn't allow us to get to her, and might not administer it if we gave it to them. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have her here. And I'm certain that this is where she would rather be."
Gibbs sighed. "Is there anything we can do here that they can't there, Duck?"
Ducky nodded. "Many things, Jethro. We can keep an eye on her. We can keep her comfortable. We can talk to her and keep her calm." He looked Gibbs in the eye. "We can approach the situation with her life in mind, not her death. And when we get a hold of the cure, we can be certain to be able to administer it."
"Is there anything we can do for her medically?"
Ducky was silent for a long moment. "Yes, Jethro. We can pray." Gibbs sighed and went back to pacing. And when Abby came back in, stumbling slightly and looking a bit paler than usual, he couldn't help but think, as he helped her over to the futon, that the ability to pray didn't feel like it was enough. Not enough at all.
Chapter End Notes:
And chapter five. ^_^ Enjoy, everyone! And please review. I'm starting to wonder if anyone's reading this.