AURIBUS TENEO LUPUM – ii
-
”A friend is someone who knows all about you, and still likes you.”
-
Before Tony had a chance to reply, Abby had ducked under his arm, kicked her wet shoes off in the middle of his living room floor, and plopped herself down on his couch.
”Why hello, Abby,” he said dryly.”Please, come in. Make yourself at home.”
The glare aimed in his direction threatened painful death leaving no forensic evidence.”Tony, sit!” she ordered. He did. Abby was an intimidating woman, when she wanted to be. ”Now talk!”
He hesitated. He could give her some bullshit excuse, as he'd done in the past in situations like this, but she was a very clever girl, and he wasn't really sure he was up to the task of outsmarting her. As all the reasons why telling her the truth was a Very Bad Idea scrolled through his brain rapidly, he found to his surprise that he didn't want to lie to her. She was his best friend, she understood him better than anyone else, he trusted her and adored her completely, and she didn't freak out...much...earlier...would it really be so bad to tell Abby? After all, she already believed in aliens and spontaneous human combustion, she had friends who were into voudoun and friends who pretended to be vampires, possibly even were vampires, come to think of it, and she'd dated Timothy McGee. How much more open minded could a girl get? This probably wouldn't even faze her.
”If I tell you this...you have to swear it will stay between us.”
”Of course! I can keep a secret!” As he gave in she dropped the anger act. Excitement born from curiosity glittered in her eyes.
”I'm serious, Abs...this is really big. It can't be like when you were supposed to keep Ziva's phone number secret and I got it out of you with a little bullying. You need to be able to keep this from Gibbs without his morning coffee.”
The excitement became tinged with a bit of apprehension, probably at the thought of a caffeine-deprived Gibbs, but she nodded decisively. ”Okay. I swear - on my mass spectrometer! - not to tell anyone. Ever! Now spill.”
”Okay....okay.” He bit his lip and wiped his suddenly sweaty hands on his dress pants. He hadn't been this nervous in...well...ever. ”Well...you see...basically... It's like...I have lycanthropy.” There. That wasn't so hard now was it?
Abby considered this. When her reply came, it was very slow and very deliberate. ”I have a feeling you're not talking about the mental illness.”
”No.”
”You mean lycanthropy as in you're a werewolf.”
”As in I'm a werewolf,” he agreed.
”As in you're violently allergic to silver, you change into a wolf under a full moon, not to mention you just happen to be undead?”
He smiled wryly. ”Pretty much, yeah.”
”Since when?”
”Long before we ever met.” He could tell she wasn't entirely satisfied with that purposely vague answer, but she let it go.
”And the glowy eye thing?”
”Was the wolf taking over my mind. We call it shifting. I can do it on purpose, but mostly it happens when I'm really truly supremely pissed off. Like today.”
She took a deep, deep breath, and then slowly exhaled. ”Oh-kay..!” There was a pause. ”Strangely enough...or maybe not so strangely, after seeing you go all glowy...I believe you.” He hadn't thought she'd just take his word for it, had expected demands for the change, but as always, she surprised him. Her smile was a little shaky, but it was there. ”Come to think of it, it's kind of obvious now that you've told me.”
His eyebrows rose in disbelief. ”Oh really?”
”Yeah! I always thought you were like a big puppy.” He winced internally at being likened to a dog, but then conceded the point. After all, dogs were just wolves forced to stay in the puppy stage...which certainly applied nicely to his current situation. ”And then there's your ridiculously good hearing, and the way you just gorge yourself on food whenever you see some, without getting fat – that is SO unfair, by the way – ” she poked him accusingly, ”- and I'm betting you can smell when people are attracted to you, can't you?” He nodded. ”which would be why you can't stop yourself from flirting all the time, and then the way you just recklessly throw yourself into life and death situations like you're immort- Hey! You...you BASTARD!”
He adopted a wounded expression. ”What'd I do now?”
”You let me worry!” she fumed, outraged. ”All this time! We're supposed to be best friends! You KNOW I worry about you! You've got like a sign on your back that says 'Hurt me'! Psycho killers and terrorists and the plague and crazy wannabe housewives and Gibbs' old boss and god knows who, all bashing you over the head, and Kate is dead and that's bad enough, but if you ever... I don't...you...” Abby at a loss for words was not something he ever wanted to see again. ”...and you weren't even going to tell me you can't even die to begin with!” she finished. There were tears overflowing onto her cheeks now, and the salty scent made him feel like a complete asshole. He could see where she was coming from. From her point of view, he had lied – by omission, if not outright - and he had not trusted her, when she on the other hand had trusted him with her secrets. Of course she was hurt. While it was standard operating procedure – for obvious reasons - for a werewolf such as himself to keep his condition hidden from anyone not of his kind, he'd known in his heart he should have made an exception for Abby long ago. He'd never had a friend like her before. Abby believed in equality in all her relationships, and so far, he had not been giving her half as much as she'd been giving him. It was time to change that now, and hope that she'd forgive him.
”Abby...I can die. I just don't stay that way, unless it's caused by silver. Makes people pretty damn uncomfortable. I'd give Ducky a heartattack, waking up in the middle of him poking my kidneys or something.” He smiled awkwardly. ”If I had died on any of those occasions, my body would have been recovered and brought to revive elsewhere, and I would be every bit as dead to you as Kate is.”
Abby looked at him as if he was crazy. ”And that's supposed to make it better? You'd just DISAPPEAR, and I'd be alone and thinking you were dead, but it'd all be the same in the end, at least on MY end?”
”What else could I do? If I die and people see me dead, if my death becomes official, I don't really have a choice! Mysterious resurrections are kind of frowned upon in this day and age, Abs!” He sighed, and very cautiously put an arm around her, relieved when she accepted the comfort. ”I'm sorry, Abby. I really am. I promise I'll never not tell you something important again, alright?”
”You'd better not! And you'd better stop almost getting yourself killed, too!”
They fell silent, Abby cuddling into his side still sniffling softly. When the sobs ceased, he grabbed her gently by the shoulders and turned her to face him.
”Are we okay?” He'd do whatever it took to fix it, if she said no.
She nodded. ”We're ALWAYS okay, Tony...I just...I don't want there to ever be a Tony-shortage in my life, you know?” She wiped her eyes like a tired child. She was small and upset and her makeup was smudged all over her face, making her look like a raccoon. He felt himself melting into a puddle. Obviously deciding there had been enough emotional upheaval for one night, Abby changed the subject. ”Can we watch a movie now? We've never had a movie night at your place before. It's a really nice place, by the way.”
He snorted. ”Thanks.” Turning to his dvd-collection, he debated a moment before picking out The Lost Boys. ”This okay?” At her nod, he popped it in and grabbed the remote, but didn't press play just yet.
There was one more thing they needed to discuss first.
”Abby,” he said.
”Mhmm?”
”Next time you notice something hinky and decide to confront someone about it, please don't tell them you haven't told anyone else. It could be seriously bad for your health.”
She smiled up at him and sneakily liberated the remote from his hand. ”I know. But you'd never hurt me, Tony.”
”No...never.” That was one thing he was absolutely sure of. He and the wolf, they were in agreement about Abby.
Her smile grew in brilliance and she promptly curled up into a little ball next to him. ”Good. Now shush. The movie's starting.”
-
To be continued.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony and Abby have a talk. o.0
Chapter End Notes:
i'd like to thank you all for the kind reviews. here's your chapter two. enjoy.
and oh...i still don't own anything. surprise surprise.
and oh...i still don't own anything. surprise surprise.