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.