The Right, for wiccagirl24

[imaginary-iby.livejournal.com]

Title: The Right
Author:

imaginary_iby
Written for: wiccagirl24
Characters: Abby, Gibbs and a sneaky Fornell
Archive:  Sure, just let me know where it's going first please.
Pairing: Abby/Gibbs friendship, possibly more.
Rating: G
Spoilers:  Set at the start of season four.
Prompt: Abby flirts with Fornell (she does have a thing for older men...) Gibbs either catches them or finds out later. He is jealous.
What does he do?
Discalimer:  NCIS isn't mine.  Sadly.
Word Count: 1,687
Summary:  Gibbs is having difficulty trying to regain Abby's trust after his four months in Mexico and Abby flirting with Fornell isn't helping.
Authors Note:  A little angstier than I had intended.  I feel like it steers off the prompt a little in the middle, but hopefully everything works out in the end.  I am just completely stoked to be able to write for wiccagirl24, whom I adore and squish!  I'm sorry it's a little late, my dear!

 

With a frown, Abby turned to eye the sliding door of her lab suspiciously.  It had beeped and swooshed, as was its way, but even though it held open for a few seconds, to allow navigation through it, Abby remained alone. 

 

Watching it until it closed again, she tutted and walked towards it curiously.  It beeped and swooshed for her, and she stepped into the outer lab.  Her domain was just how she loved it best; dimly lit and murky with only small pools of illumination.  More to the point though, it was empty.

 

She felt a little silly.  Her mind cast back to her first week of living alone, fresh out of college, when every creak was an axe murderer creeping down the corridor.  She also felt a little silly because, she had to admit, for a second she’d thought it was Gibbs and hope had sprung up in her.

 

Throwing her hands up in surrender, she turned and made her way back into the inner lab, muttering to herself about being too flighty for own good.  Reaching the evidence table. she picked up the victim’s stained red hoodie for inspection and promised herself that there’d be no more delays.

 

Suddenly. the lamp on her desk switched on in a fiery blaze, illuminating the room.

 

As much as she’d try to deny it later, she let out a squeak of surprise and dropped the hoodie in a flurry.  Brandishing the closest thing she could find, which unfortunately was the victim’s bra, she span to face her desk and waved the garment at the offender.  It was hopelessly ineffectual but visually comical.

 

As her eyes adjusted to the light, the figure at the desk melted into view.

 

Abby dropped the bra.  “Fornell!  What the hell are you doing?”

 

As was his way, he just smirked and remained silent.

 

“Were you after something?” she asked snippily as she bent to scoop up the bra.  She turned her back to him and put the garment into its plastic bag, decidedly being rude.

 

“Evidence.”

 

Abby rolled her eyes.  “Obviously.”  With a majestic sweep of her arms, she indicated the plethora of objects and files that surrounded her.

 

Damn the man, he just kept smirking back at her.  “No, I brought you some evidence.”

 

Filing her annoyance away to the back of her mind for later use, she crossed her arms and eyed him curiously.  “Is NCIS working with the FBI on something?”

 

To her shock, Fornell shook his head and pulled a clear zip locked bag out from an inner pocket of his jacket.  “No, I have something I need looking over.”

 

Intrigued, she inched towards him.  “Illegal?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

He looked at her, and Abby found herself held by his expression.  It was part amusement, part determination.  “Off the books,” he conceded.  “For a good cause though.”

 

Abby trusted that it was, and she wasn’t prone to believing anything that was just thrown her way.  “I’m very good at ‘off the books’, Fornell.”  Her tone surprised even herself.  It was somehow more suggestive than she’d intended.

 

No harm no foul.

 

She dropped her hands to her hips and smiled brightly.  “What exactly can I do for you, Very Special Agent Fornell?”

 

With a laugh, Fornell stood and made his way to her.  Curling his hand around her wrist, he walked them to the evidence table.  He kept the bag hidden from sight, a fact Abby didn’t fail to notice. 

 

“I can keep a secret, Fornell.  More than one, actually and I’m very good.  At what I do, that is.”

 

“I know.  That’s why Gibbs trusts you so much.”

 

At the mention of Gibbs, Abby looked down and away.  She didn’t want to hear about how much Gibbs trusted her.  She wanted to focus on Fornell.  She looked up at him and smiled.

 

He placed the zip locked bag under the light.  A Bowie knife sat nestled between the plastic walls.  It was stained red, but the blood was crusted and obviously very old.

 

“I think this might have something to do with an old case.  I want to be sure though, before I do anything officially.  Can you run the blood, trace the knife?  As a favour?”

 

Abby laughed, the beep and swoosh of the sliding door not registering with her.  She touched his shoulder.  “For you, Fornell?  Anything.”

 

She only realized something was off when Fornell didn’t reply.  He was looking past her shoulder, his gaze held by something.

 

“What the hell is going on?”

 

. . . .

 

Taking a quick gulp of his coffee, Gibbs tapped the wall of the elevator as he waited impatiently for it to reach the lab.  The case had hit a dead end and they were relying on forensics for a lead.  With more sadness than he thought appropriate, he’d realized that the likelihood of Abby calling his line was slim.  These days, it was always DiNozzo’s phone that rang when a discovery was made.

 

With a ding, the elevator sprang open and he stepped out into the darkness.  A cursory glance told him that she wasn’t in the outer lab, but her desk light was on, so he made his way to the sliding door. 

 

He was about to barrel right in, as was his way, when something caught his eye.  Abby was in there, but she wasn’t alone.  Someone was sat at her desk.  Fornell.

 

Abby was smiling sweetly, her hands on her hips and Gibbs knew instantly that she was flirting with the FBI Agent.  She was by nature a flirtatious creature and Gibbs knew the signs, but he was a little unsettled by the way he himself noticed the curve of her hip.  She was speaking, and even though he couldn’t hear her words through the glass, he could see her face as she said them.  She was all smiles and being cheeky. 

 

Suddenly, Fornell stood, rounded the desk and took her wrist in his hand, walking her towards the evidence table.  Gibbs ground his teeth together, then promptly remembered that he had no cause nor right to do so.

 

Abby didn’t let just anybody touch her.  She was a tactile person, to be sure, but if you got closer than she wanted you, she’d let you know.  For as long as he could remember, he and Abby had ignored the necessity for personal space when it came to each other.

 

Fornell said something, and for a second Abby’s face seemed to fall.  She quickly shook it off though, looking back up at him with a sunny smile.

 

Fornell moved something into the light.  Gibbs couldn’t quite tell what it was.

 

The pair exchanged more words and then Abby reached out and put her hand on Fornell’s shoulder.  It was a fairly innocent gesture, but it made Gibbs’ insides feel uncomfortable.  Fornell shifted slightly and the light glinted off the bag.  It held a knife.

 

He felt himself move forwards, felt the words leave his mouth.  “What the hell is going on?”

 

. . . .

 

Abby stepped away from Fornell quicker than lightening, although she wasn’t quite sure why.  She was getting a little sick of people sneaking up on her.

 

“Gibbs.  What do you want?’  She flinched a little at the tone.  She hadn’t meant it to be quite so harsh.  “I mean…what’s up?”

 

Gibbs raised an eyebrow.  “I think I should be asking that.”  His brain yelled at him to make it very clear to them that he was asking about the knife, and only the knife.  Not the way Abby had put her hand on Fornell’s shoulder, not the way she’d been smiling at him, nor the way he’d dared touch her wrist.  Even if that was what he really wanted to know about.  “What’s with the knife?”

 

Fornell placed the bag on the table, a knowing look in his eye.  “Just asking Abby a question.”

 

Ask your own forensic scientist then, not mine!  Gibbs shook his head at himself.  “Don’t you have lab techs at the FBI?”

 

Abby’s eyes narrowed in warning.  “I can take on any contract I like, Gibbs.”

 

Fornell coughed.  “Just give me a call when you’re ready, Abby.”  He headed towards the door and gave Gibbs a quick nod.  “Jethro.”

 

The door sang its little song.  “When you’re ready for what, Abby?”  Gibbs walked towards her.

 

Abby sighed and picked up Fornell’s evidence bag.  “It’s not really any of your business.”

 

“He’s not getting you into trouble, is he?”

 

She would have been annoyed by his insistent prodding, had it not been for the tone of his voice.  He sounded worried.  For a second, she remembered when he’d held her close, his wet hair dripping on her shoulder as he’d told her that he’d keep her safe.  He always seemed to be telling her that.

 

“No,” she conceded.  “You know Fornell, you trust Fornell.  He’s just asking for some help with an old case.  I think it’s personal.  I’m going to help him.”  She finished off with a challenge in her tone.  “That’s not what you’re angry about.  You saw me flirting.”

 

He kept his expression neutral, but of course Abby saw right through it.  “You’re always being so possessive!  You don’t have any right.”

 

“I know.”

 

Abby opened her mouth to bite back at his rebuttal, before noticing that he’d actually agreed.  She looked a little put out.  “Well, then…if you agree.”  She made to turn away from him, but he reached out and grabbed her hand.

 

“I don’t have any right.  I was gone for four months, but I’m back now and I’d like to.”

 

Abby’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.  Gibbs was clearly not going to say any more, but he tightened his grip on her hand.

 

“You’d like to…?”

 

Gibbs ground his teeth together in determination.  “Have that right.  Like I used to.  We were friends, Abby.  We were…”

 

She looked like she was sizing him up.  “You’re really back now?”

 

Gibbs knew a lot rested on his answer.  “I’m really back now.”

 

She smiled at him, a thousand times brighter than anything she’d flashed at Fornell, and he found that he couldn’t do anything but smile back.

. . . .

There we go!  Hope you like it my dear! : ) : ) : )  Erm, also, I must apologise for the flirting.  I have no skill in the art whatsoever, so...
 

Comments

[wiccagirl24.livejournal.com]

Iby! How awesome is it, writing for each other.

This is awesome. I love the friendship between Fornell and Abby, and the idea that e would come to her for help. Now I'm intrigued by the knife- any chance you'll expand on that?

I adored the way you showed the scene from both sides, first from Abby and then Gibbs. And Abby "defending" herslef with thebra- best visual image ever!

He looked at her, and Abby found herself held by his expression. It was part amusement, part determination.

You have Fornell perfectly.

These days, it was always DiNozzo’s phone that rang when a discovery was made.

I like how much this single line tells about the status of their relationship and the damage it suffered when Gibbs left.

She was a tactile person, to be sure, but if you got closer than she wanted you, she’d let you know. For as long as he could remember, he and Abby had ignored the necessity for personal space when it came to each other.

Love!

His brain yelled at him to make it very clear to them that he was asking about the knife, and only the knife. Not the way Abby had put her hand on Fornell’s shoulder, not the way she’d been smiling at him, nor the way he’d dared touch her wrist. Even if that was what he really wanted to know about.

Oh, my gibbs! *hugs him*

She would have been annoyed by his insistent prodding, had it not been for the tone of his voice. He sounded worried. For a second, she remembered when he’d held her close, his wet hair dripping on her shoulder as he’d told her that he’d keep her safe. He always seemed to be telling her that.

My little heart is melting.

She smiled at him, a thousand times brighter than anything she’d flashed at Fornell, and he found that he couldn’t do anything but smile back.

Brilliant!

I'm so very pleased! Thank you so much, my dear.

[citymusings.livejournal.com]

Very nice!

[daddys-cunt.livejournal.com]

awww I ♥ this - you deserve an Internet Caf-Pow! :D

[goodisrelative.livejournal.com]

This was awesome and cute!
excellent job