Bringing Her Home For Christmas for matt1969
Title: Bringing Her Home For Christmas
Author: citymusings
Recipient: matt1969
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Abby/Gibbs
Word count: 2,346
Beta’d by: trialia
Disclaimers: Unfortunately, Bellisario and CBS have not yet reached an agreement to turn the series over to me. I still own nothing.
Summary: Gibbs goes home for Christmas.
Spoilers: Spoilers for Silent Night
“Merry Christmas, Dad,” Gibbs said. It was late and he had just seen Melissa and her father reunited. It made him ache for Kelly. He missed her so much every day. He couldn’t do anything to bring her back, but maybe he could patch things up with his dad.
“Merry Christmas, son,” Gibbs Sr. answered.
“I've got a few days off next week; thought I might come up and see you.”
“Sure, son. You should bring that pretty young thing with you, too. She’s good for you.”
Gibbs wasn’t quite sure which of the girl his father was referring to. Jack had met both of the girls, and Gibbs wasn’t sure which of them had made such an impression on his father. He suspected it was Abby - everybody loved Abby.
“Abbs?”
“Abbs?” his father asked, “is that what you call her.”
“Yeah.” Gibbs smiled fondly, thinking of his beautiful Goth lab tech.
She wasn’t really his, but he still felt like she was his - not his possession, of course, but his girl. She looked after him and took care of him. She worried about him, just as he did about her. He got jealous when she went out with other men, and had to fight to keep from staring at her long legs when she wore those sexy little skirts. He never knew tats could be such a turn-on, and he certainly never thought he’d have a thing for black hair - he’d always been partial to redheads. It wasn’t really black hair itself that he liked so much as it was her hair. It was cute and completely Abby.
“You still there, Jethro?”
“Yeah, Dad. I’m still here. I was just thinking.”
“ ‘bout her?” Jack asked, hopefully. He’d love to have that lovely young lady as a daughter-in-law. This one might actually last. His son treated her differently than all the rest. He seemed very protective of her - and not just possessively, he cared so much about her safety and comfort. It was sweet. I’m gettin' soft in my old age.
“I was thinking I might come up on Thursday afternoon. That work for you?” Gibbs had become very skilled at deflecting questions over the years.
Jack smiled to himself. He knew what Jethro was doing, but he let the matter drop.
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s fine.” He paused a moment. “You going to ask her to come with you? I've got plenty of room.”
Gibbs didn’t answer at first. “I’ll ask her.” He didn’t tell his father that the time off actually started Monday, but he knew Abby wouldn’t want to miss her New Year’s Eve parties. He had a better chance of convincing her to join him if they left late Thursday afternoon.
“Good. I’ll have a couple of rooms ready for you. Unless you’d rather-” Gibbs didn’t give him a chance to finish that sentence. There was no way. He wouldn’t do that to Abby.
“No. You can put me on the couch, or in the back room at the store if you need to, but-”
It was Jack’s turn to interrupt.
“I've got room. I was just askin’.”
___________________________________________________
Abby was sitting on Gibbs’ desk when he walked in early the next morning. She was wearing one of her favorite skirts. It was a short, pleated black skirt made by Tripp with small white skulls embroidered on the cloth between the pleats. There were three black straps, with red edging and silver studs on each.
All Gibbs noticed was her body language.
“Gibbs,” she began, sounding a little hesitant.
He looked at her closely. She didn’t look too good either. Not that her appearance was lacking - she was always beautiful - but she looked like she was uncomfortable about something. She looked down at the floor and hugged Bert tightly.
“What’s wrong, Abby?” he asked, trying to be more gentle than usual.
“This is so embarrassing.”
Gibbs smiled. He was smiling more than he used to. Abby had that effect on him.
“You don’t need to be embarrassed, Abby. It’s just me.”
He opened his arms for a hug and kissed her forehead gently.
“I met this guy at a party last week. A friend introduced us, and he’s gotten just a little…” she paused, looking for the right word, “creepy.” She started pacing back and forth in front of Gibbs. “I told him I wouldn’t go out with him, so he asked my friend for my address, and she gave it to him. Don’t ask me why she would do that, ‘cause I don’t know, and I’ll talk to her about it later, but that’s not important. What is important is that he came to visit me last night. Of course, it could have been worse, she could have given him the address to my apartment, instead of NCIS’ address, that would definitely have been worse, but -”
Gibbs was furious.
“Why didn’t I hear about this last night?” He tried not to yell at her, but he didn’t want to think of anything happening to her. “What were you thinking, Abby? I would have come over, or -”
“Calm down, Gibbs. It’s not that big a deal. I told him to get lost, and he did, but he said he was going to come back, so I was kind of hoping that maybe…you know, if you don’t have anything better to do, you might let me stay with you, or you could come stay with me, or something, anything, just to let him know to get lost and I might have kinda told him that I was seeing someone else, which isn’t exactly true, so now I don’t know what to do, and …”
Gibbs pulled her close.
“You finished, Abby?”
“Yeah. I think so, or I could keep going, if you need me to, ‘cause I can keep talking for a long time if I have to.”
“I called my dad last night to see about visiting him next week, and he asked about you. I could call him back and tell him we’re coming early, if that would make you feel better, or I’ll come with you to one of your parties. Whatever you need, Abby. We’ll lock the doors and hide out in the basement if that’ll make you feel better, but first you’re going to tell me his name, and I’m going to pay him a visit.”
“I was afraid of that. Don’t totally mess him up, ‘cause I know you can, Gibbs. It’s what you do. You scare bad people and make them stop doing bad things, which isn’t a bad thing, unless, you know, I don’t want you to scare them that badly. I should stop saying ‘bad’ so many times, it’s a bad thing. I mean, not a good thing, it’s just really bad.”
Gibbs couldn’t hide the smirk.
“I promise I won’t give him any more than he deserves. But if that doesn’t take care of it, I’ll make sure he never thinks of you again.”
___________________________________________________
Gibbs made sure that by the time he was done Joseph Blodnieks wouldn’t be bothering Abby for a long time. The man received a restraining order from Special Agent Gibbs and a not-so-friendly warning from Jethro.
The man argued at first and tried to throw a punch to remind the “old man” to let him have his fun. He didn’t realize whom it was he was trying to punch. A few bruises and one broken nose later, Joseph was much more cooperative.
___________________________________________________
“Gibbs!” Abby greeted him enthusiastically as he entered the lab later that day. “What happened to your hand?”
“What do you have for me, Abbs?” Gibbs dodged.
She frowned at him before answering.
“The DNA results came back to a George Hackett. He’s got an apartment about 10 minutes from here.”
”Thanks, Abby,” Gibbs answered as he kissed her cheek.
___________________________________________________
Thursday evening found Gibbs and Abby in the car making their way to the place where Jethro grew up. Gibbs was on his third cup of coffee, and Abby on her second Caf!Pow. Abby had begged Gibbs to let her bring “just a few Christmas CDs” to play in the car. After the fourth version of Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer Gibbs was beginning to seriously regret that decision. Abby had the same enthusiasm for Christmas carols as she did for everything else in life, but he thought he’d go crazy if he heard the chorus one more time. As if on cue, Abby started to sing again,
Grandma got run over by a reindeer,
walkin' home from our house, Christmas Eve.
You can say there's no such thing as Santa,
but as for me and Grandpa, we believe.
Gibbs shut off the CD player. “Need a little bit of quiet here, Abbs.”
“But I was having fun, Gibbs,” she complained with a pout. “Just one more time, Gibbs. Please?”
She looked so hopeful. He hated to say no.
“When we stop for gas, you can play it again.”
“Thank you, Gibbs!” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
The song might annoy him, but she was worth it.
The two arrived at Jack’s store about 6 p.m. that evening.
“Look at all the lights!” Abby exclaimed. She loved Christmas lights. “It looks so pretty. I hope your dad didn’t put them up himself though. Do you know how many people hurt themselves every year putting up Christmas lights? Most of those people are old, too. They should know better.”
“He probably had one of the neighbor boys put them up. He used to hire a different kid from a poor family every year. He got his lights up and they had something to spend for Christmas.”
Jack came out before Jethro could respond. “Jethro.” He shook his son’s hand before turning to Abby.
“How are you, my dear?” he asked more softly as he came to give Abby a hug.
“Good. Except for the crazy stalker, but Gibbs took care of him for me. Not that he was really that crazy, just a little bit, but after last time, I thought it would be a good idea to stop it before he turned really crazy, because last time was really no fun. He wouldn’t stop calling me, and he threatened to kill me, and-” Abby stopped when she caught Gibbs trying not to smirk. “-yeah,” she finished more quietly. “How are you?”
“I’m glad to see you both. It’s been a long time since I've had anyone come visit me at Christmas time. Why don’t you come in? It’s getting cold out here.”
Abby smiled brightly as Jack opened the door for her.
A small puppy came out to greet them. He growled a little, but that didn’t stop Abby from getting down on her knees and talking to him in childish tones. Within minutes the dog was in her arms, licking her face and very interested in the stuffed animal she’d brought with her.
“He’s so cute,” she said. “What’s his name?”
“Reckless.”
_____________________________________________
Jack closed the store up about twenty minutes later and they all drove over to the house. He told Jethro to put his stuff in his old room, and show Abby to the one next to it. Gibbs grabbed both their bags and put them in their respective rooms.
They both slept soundly that night and enjoyed relaxing together the next day.
Their second night in Stillwater, Gibbs was just crawling into bed when he heard a knock on his door. He opened the door to find a sleepy Abby standing there in her long white nightgown and hugging Bert to her chest.
“Hey Abbs,” Gibbs said softly.
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said, “not that I've been trying that long, but I still couldn’t sleep. It’s too early, and so I decided I wanted a hug before I went to bed, so I though I would come and see you and ask if I could have a hug. I didn’t wake you up, did I? I really hope I didn’t wake you up. I just didn’t think you’d be sleeping this early, ‘cause you never sleep, Gibbs. Everybody knows that. Well, not everybody, ‘cause I know that you do sleep sometimes. It’s scientifically impossible to live without sleep and you know how much I love science.”
Gibbs just stood there smiling down at her as she babbled.
“I’m babbling again, aren’t I?”
He nodded.
“I always talk a lot, though, so it’s okay. It’s why you love me.”
Gibbs laughed quietly and pulled her close.
“Yep. That’s not the only reason, though,” he said, taking a chance. They’d danced around the issue for years and he wanted to know where he stood with her. If she didn’t love him, he’d learn to move on, but if she did love him, there was no reason for them not to enjoy a life together.
“I love your smile, and your energy, and your bouncy hugs. I love your short skirts and your tattoos, even though I don’t usually like tattoos. I even miss your music when you’re not around. I love the way you care about everyone, even when they don’t deserve it, and how you look out for my team when I’m being too stubborn. I love how you are the only one woman I've ever met who can stand up to me and tell me when I’m being unreasonable without pissing me off. I love how you know when I’m bluffing and aren’t afraid to call me on it. I love you, Abby.”
Abby stilled as his confession began. She’d never heard him speak like this before. Was this really her Gibbs? Her Gibbs? When did he become her Gibbs? She threw her arms around his neck, letting Bert fall to the floor, and gave him the biggest smile he’d ever seen - and that was saying a lot.
He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She kissed him, moaning softly as his tongue invaded her mouth. She pulled back, whispering against his lips,
“I love you, too.”
Author: citymusings
Recipient: matt1969
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Abby/Gibbs
Word count: 2,346
Beta’d by: trialia
Disclaimers: Unfortunately, Bellisario and CBS have not yet reached an agreement to turn the series over to me. I still own nothing.
Summary: Gibbs goes home for Christmas.
Spoilers: Spoilers for Silent Night
“Merry Christmas, Dad,” Gibbs said. It was late and he had just seen Melissa and her father reunited. It made him ache for Kelly. He missed her so much every day. He couldn’t do anything to bring her back, but maybe he could patch things up with his dad.
“Merry Christmas, son,” Gibbs Sr. answered.
“I've got a few days off next week; thought I might come up and see you.”
“Sure, son. You should bring that pretty young thing with you, too. She’s good for you.”
Gibbs wasn’t quite sure which of the girl his father was referring to. Jack had met both of the girls, and Gibbs wasn’t sure which of them had made such an impression on his father. He suspected it was Abby - everybody loved Abby.
“Abbs?”
“Abbs?” his father asked, “is that what you call her.”
“Yeah.” Gibbs smiled fondly, thinking of his beautiful Goth lab tech.
She wasn’t really his, but he still felt like she was his - not his possession, of course, but his girl. She looked after him and took care of him. She worried about him, just as he did about her. He got jealous when she went out with other men, and had to fight to keep from staring at her long legs when she wore those sexy little skirts. He never knew tats could be such a turn-on, and he certainly never thought he’d have a thing for black hair - he’d always been partial to redheads. It wasn’t really black hair itself that he liked so much as it was her hair. It was cute and completely Abby.
“You still there, Jethro?”
“Yeah, Dad. I’m still here. I was just thinking.”
“ ‘bout her?” Jack asked, hopefully. He’d love to have that lovely young lady as a daughter-in-law. This one might actually last. His son treated her differently than all the rest. He seemed very protective of her - and not just possessively, he cared so much about her safety and comfort. It was sweet. I’m gettin' soft in my old age.
“I was thinking I might come up on Thursday afternoon. That work for you?” Gibbs had become very skilled at deflecting questions over the years.
Jack smiled to himself. He knew what Jethro was doing, but he let the matter drop.
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s fine.” He paused a moment. “You going to ask her to come with you? I've got plenty of room.”
Gibbs didn’t answer at first. “I’ll ask her.” He didn’t tell his father that the time off actually started Monday, but he knew Abby wouldn’t want to miss her New Year’s Eve parties. He had a better chance of convincing her to join him if they left late Thursday afternoon.
“Good. I’ll have a couple of rooms ready for you. Unless you’d rather-” Gibbs didn’t give him a chance to finish that sentence. There was no way. He wouldn’t do that to Abby.
“No. You can put me on the couch, or in the back room at the store if you need to, but-”
It was Jack’s turn to interrupt.
“I've got room. I was just askin’.”
___________________________________________________
Abby was sitting on Gibbs’ desk when he walked in early the next morning. She was wearing one of her favorite skirts. It was a short, pleated black skirt made by Tripp with small white skulls embroidered on the cloth between the pleats. There were three black straps, with red edging and silver studs on each.
All Gibbs noticed was her body language.
“Gibbs,” she began, sounding a little hesitant.
He looked at her closely. She didn’t look too good either. Not that her appearance was lacking - she was always beautiful - but she looked like she was uncomfortable about something. She looked down at the floor and hugged Bert tightly.
“What’s wrong, Abby?” he asked, trying to be more gentle than usual.
“This is so embarrassing.”
Gibbs smiled. He was smiling more than he used to. Abby had that effect on him.
“You don’t need to be embarrassed, Abby. It’s just me.”
He opened his arms for a hug and kissed her forehead gently.
“I met this guy at a party last week. A friend introduced us, and he’s gotten just a little…” she paused, looking for the right word, “creepy.” She started pacing back and forth in front of Gibbs. “I told him I wouldn’t go out with him, so he asked my friend for my address, and she gave it to him. Don’t ask me why she would do that, ‘cause I don’t know, and I’ll talk to her about it later, but that’s not important. What is important is that he came to visit me last night. Of course, it could have been worse, she could have given him the address to my apartment, instead of NCIS’ address, that would definitely have been worse, but -”
Gibbs was furious.
“Why didn’t I hear about this last night?” He tried not to yell at her, but he didn’t want to think of anything happening to her. “What were you thinking, Abby? I would have come over, or -”
“Calm down, Gibbs. It’s not that big a deal. I told him to get lost, and he did, but he said he was going to come back, so I was kind of hoping that maybe…you know, if you don’t have anything better to do, you might let me stay with you, or you could come stay with me, or something, anything, just to let him know to get lost and I might have kinda told him that I was seeing someone else, which isn’t exactly true, so now I don’t know what to do, and …”
Gibbs pulled her close.
“You finished, Abby?”
“Yeah. I think so, or I could keep going, if you need me to, ‘cause I can keep talking for a long time if I have to.”
“I called my dad last night to see about visiting him next week, and he asked about you. I could call him back and tell him we’re coming early, if that would make you feel better, or I’ll come with you to one of your parties. Whatever you need, Abby. We’ll lock the doors and hide out in the basement if that’ll make you feel better, but first you’re going to tell me his name, and I’m going to pay him a visit.”
“I was afraid of that. Don’t totally mess him up, ‘cause I know you can, Gibbs. It’s what you do. You scare bad people and make them stop doing bad things, which isn’t a bad thing, unless, you know, I don’t want you to scare them that badly. I should stop saying ‘bad’ so many times, it’s a bad thing. I mean, not a good thing, it’s just really bad.”
Gibbs couldn’t hide the smirk.
“I promise I won’t give him any more than he deserves. But if that doesn’t take care of it, I’ll make sure he never thinks of you again.”
___________________________________________________
Gibbs made sure that by the time he was done Joseph Blodnieks wouldn’t be bothering Abby for a long time. The man received a restraining order from Special Agent Gibbs and a not-so-friendly warning from Jethro.
The man argued at first and tried to throw a punch to remind the “old man” to let him have his fun. He didn’t realize whom it was he was trying to punch. A few bruises and one broken nose later, Joseph was much more cooperative.
___________________________________________________
“Gibbs!” Abby greeted him enthusiastically as he entered the lab later that day. “What happened to your hand?”
“What do you have for me, Abbs?” Gibbs dodged.
She frowned at him before answering.
“The DNA results came back to a George Hackett. He’s got an apartment about 10 minutes from here.”
”Thanks, Abby,” Gibbs answered as he kissed her cheek.
___________________________________________________
Thursday evening found Gibbs and Abby in the car making their way to the place where Jethro grew up. Gibbs was on his third cup of coffee, and Abby on her second Caf!Pow. Abby had begged Gibbs to let her bring “just a few Christmas CDs” to play in the car. After the fourth version of Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer Gibbs was beginning to seriously regret that decision. Abby had the same enthusiasm for Christmas carols as she did for everything else in life, but he thought he’d go crazy if he heard the chorus one more time. As if on cue, Abby started to sing again,
Grandma got run over by a reindeer,
walkin' home from our house, Christmas Eve.
You can say there's no such thing as Santa,
but as for me and Grandpa, we believe.
Gibbs shut off the CD player. “Need a little bit of quiet here, Abbs.”
“But I was having fun, Gibbs,” she complained with a pout. “Just one more time, Gibbs. Please?”
She looked so hopeful. He hated to say no.
“When we stop for gas, you can play it again.”
“Thank you, Gibbs!” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
The song might annoy him, but she was worth it.
The two arrived at Jack’s store about 6 p.m. that evening.
“Look at all the lights!” Abby exclaimed. She loved Christmas lights. “It looks so pretty. I hope your dad didn’t put them up himself though. Do you know how many people hurt themselves every year putting up Christmas lights? Most of those people are old, too. They should know better.”
“He probably had one of the neighbor boys put them up. He used to hire a different kid from a poor family every year. He got his lights up and they had something to spend for Christmas.”
Jack came out before Jethro could respond. “Jethro.” He shook his son’s hand before turning to Abby.
“How are you, my dear?” he asked more softly as he came to give Abby a hug.
“Good. Except for the crazy stalker, but Gibbs took care of him for me. Not that he was really that crazy, just a little bit, but after last time, I thought it would be a good idea to stop it before he turned really crazy, because last time was really no fun. He wouldn’t stop calling me, and he threatened to kill me, and-” Abby stopped when she caught Gibbs trying not to smirk. “-yeah,” she finished more quietly. “How are you?”
“I’m glad to see you both. It’s been a long time since I've had anyone come visit me at Christmas time. Why don’t you come in? It’s getting cold out here.”
Abby smiled brightly as Jack opened the door for her.
A small puppy came out to greet them. He growled a little, but that didn’t stop Abby from getting down on her knees and talking to him in childish tones. Within minutes the dog was in her arms, licking her face and very interested in the stuffed animal she’d brought with her.
“He’s so cute,” she said. “What’s his name?”
“Reckless.”
_____________________________________________
Jack closed the store up about twenty minutes later and they all drove over to the house. He told Jethro to put his stuff in his old room, and show Abby to the one next to it. Gibbs grabbed both their bags and put them in their respective rooms.
They both slept soundly that night and enjoyed relaxing together the next day.
Their second night in Stillwater, Gibbs was just crawling into bed when he heard a knock on his door. He opened the door to find a sleepy Abby standing there in her long white nightgown and hugging Bert to her chest.
“Hey Abbs,” Gibbs said softly.
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said, “not that I've been trying that long, but I still couldn’t sleep. It’s too early, and so I decided I wanted a hug before I went to bed, so I though I would come and see you and ask if I could have a hug. I didn’t wake you up, did I? I really hope I didn’t wake you up. I just didn’t think you’d be sleeping this early, ‘cause you never sleep, Gibbs. Everybody knows that. Well, not everybody, ‘cause I know that you do sleep sometimes. It’s scientifically impossible to live without sleep and you know how much I love science.”
Gibbs just stood there smiling down at her as she babbled.
“I’m babbling again, aren’t I?”
He nodded.
“I always talk a lot, though, so it’s okay. It’s why you love me.”
Gibbs laughed quietly and pulled her close.
“Yep. That’s not the only reason, though,” he said, taking a chance. They’d danced around the issue for years and he wanted to know where he stood with her. If she didn’t love him, he’d learn to move on, but if she did love him, there was no reason for them not to enjoy a life together.
“I love your smile, and your energy, and your bouncy hugs. I love your short skirts and your tattoos, even though I don’t usually like tattoos. I even miss your music when you’re not around. I love the way you care about everyone, even when they don’t deserve it, and how you look out for my team when I’m being too stubborn. I love how you are the only one woman I've ever met who can stand up to me and tell me when I’m being unreasonable without pissing me off. I love how you know when I’m bluffing and aren’t afraid to call me on it. I love you, Abby.”
Abby stilled as his confession began. She’d never heard him speak like this before. Was this really her Gibbs? Her Gibbs? When did he become her Gibbs? She threw her arms around his neck, letting Bert fall to the floor, and gave him the biggest smile he’d ever seen - and that was saying a lot.
He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She kissed him, moaning softly as his tongue invaded her mouth. She pulled back, whispering against his lips,
“I love you, too.”