ncisficathon | I Know You Can Feel This Too

Title: I Know You Can Feel This Too - posted in parts due to length and LJ only accepting way UNDER max posting length.

Author: Gosgirl

Written for: v_angelique on Dreamwidth

Full header below on first entry...

Chapter 12 – Friendship

Both Abby and Ziva had booked time off so they could leisurely get ready for the dinner dance at Abby’s apartment. Their friendship had come a long way since the early days when Abby had resented Ziva for taking Kate’s place and they were now very close.

Ziva knew how Abby felt about Gibbs.

She shared Tony’s concern over the arrival of Allison Hart on the scene and how upset Abby was, although Ziva suspected things weren’t quite as they appeared with Gibbs’ relationship with the lawyer. But as usual, Gibbs was playing things so close to his chest that his team were left guessing.

So this afternoon they both enjoyed the chance to relax, and Ziva was pleased to see that her friend was looking a lot happier than yesterday.

As they got dressed, they chatted with the ease of close friends. Neither of them dressed formally very often, although Ziva was more likely to do so for undercover assignments, even if it wasn’t for her own pleasure.

Abby’s outfit was an off-the-shoulder dress of black jersey material which fell to the floor in elegant lines from a cinched in waist. The length emphasized her statuesque height and the dark colour highlighted her porcelain skin, showing off her alabaster shoulders. The cross tat was covered but the flower and the stick figure tattoos on her shoulders that made her uniquely Abby were still visible.

Ziva’s dress was a simple but startlingly elegant floor length black silk number, which clung to her curves until the skirt flared slightly from her knees down. The thin straps of the halter-style top drew eyes towards her cleavage and the golden skin of her shoulders.

Ziva eventually brought the conversation round to what was on her mind as she worked on fixing Abby’s hair into an elegant bun.

“You look happier today, Abby, and Gibbs is less of a grizzly,” she observed, thoughtfully.

Abby giggled. “It’s less of a bear, Ziva, although grizzly works just as well for Gibbs sometimes.”

Ziva rolled her eyes, shrugging, starting to pin up Abby’s silky hair. She was so used to seeing Abby in pigtails, it was a treat to see her in another style. “A grizzly is a bear, is it not?” When Abby nodded, laughing, Ziva continued, smiling, pleased to see her friend’s amusement, “Well, it is the same thing then. Sometimes I think these idioms of yours make no sense at all.”

“Don’t ask me to make sense of our language, Ziva, it’s taken me all this time to get the hang of it myself. But in answer to your question, yes, I do feel happier than yesterday and I’m delighted to hear that Gibbs has been less of a… grizzly.” Abby hesitated before admitting, “He actually apologized to me this morning.”

At Ziva’s astonished look, Abby laughed. “Yes, I know. It’s rare but he does apologize sometimes, although it just takes you by surprise when he does. I think he realized he’d gone too far this time with what he said to me yesterday.” She looked down, twisting her fingers together, fighting the urge to fidget. “But it also allowed us to talk a bit and… oh, I dunno, we got interrupted before I could be sure what he was telling me. But the reason he was so snippy with me was because he thought I was seeing Toby… as in romantically seeing.”

“Well, I can see why he might think that but that is no excuse for how he behaved yesterday, Abby.” Ziva finished fastening the last pins into Abby’s hair.

“Maybe. I’m very fond of Toby but I don’t think of him that way… you know.” Abby shrugged. “He’s just a friend.”

“So... Gibbs was jealous. There, will that do?” Ziva stepped back to admire her handiwork. Abby’s thick black hair suited a formal bun, and Ziva had left a few delicate tendrils loose to curl into her neck and cheeks. It emphasised her ivory skin and drew attention to her striking green eyes and long elegant neck.

“It’s lovely, Ziva, thank you,” Abby smiled, delighted with the result, wondering what Gibbs would think when he saw it... if he saw it, if he turned up tonight.

“So are you more confident now about how Gibbs feels about you?” Ziva asked.

“He didn’t say he wanted me in so many words, Ziva, although I think he might have been about to and then Balboa walked in and interrupted us.” Abby rolled her eyes as she remembered the moment. “Sit down Ziva, it’s time to get my hands on that lovely thick mane of yours.”

As Ziva made herself comfortable, Abby picked up the choker to complete her outfit. It was more understated than her usual style, all black but thinner with a single hanging drop emerald at the front.

“That is beautiful, Abby. Let me see.” Ziva reached for it, examining it more closely as she fastened it. The elegant choker drew attention to the graceful line of Abby’s neck.

“It was a birthday present from Gibbs this year,” Abby told her. It had rapidly turned into one of her favourites, for its elegance and simplicity and because of the man who’d given it to her.

Ziva met her friend’s eyes in the mirror, smiling fondly. “And you doubt how this man feels about you? This is a gift a lover might buy.”

Abby blushed and lowered her eyes, wanting to believe Ziva’s words but after all the stresses of the past weeks, not letting herself have the confidence to do so. “I hoped so too at the time when he gave it to me. I thought... at least I hoped he would maybe make a move then, last month when he took me out to dinner, but he didn’t and then she arrived. For all I know he’ll turn up with her on his arm tonight.”

Abby started by brushing Ziva’s thick hair, trying to distract herself from her muddled thoughts. The style Ziva suggested had the front half of her hair drawn back from her lovely face, to emphasize Ziva’s striking bone structure and her warm brown eyes, and gathered at the back to fall in a mass of gentle long curls down her back.

“Did you ask Gibbs about Allison Hart?” asked Ziva, relaxing under Abby’s soothing touch.

“Yeah, I did and he went all into Special Agent cryptic mode, as he usually does. He said it wasn’t what I thought and that he wasn’t involved with her but didn’t elaborate further,” Abby shrugged, ruefully.

“That is... interesting.” Ziva looked thoughtful, thinking back over the events of the past few weeks and the frequent appearances of the lawyer in the Navy Yard and, in particular, Gibbs’ reaction to her presence. He had seemed by turns intrigued and irritated. At the time, Ziva hadn’t thought beyond the fact that Allison Hart was an attractive woman and Gibbs was perhaps as susceptible as any other red-blooded male when Hart began to show an interest in him.

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that and d’ya know what saying keeps rolling through my head, Ziva? ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’ But that may be wishful thinking on my part though,” Abby admitted ruefully, fastening the last section of Ziva’s hair in place.

“No, Abby, I think you might be right.” Ziva reached up to squeeze her friend’s hand where it rested on her shoulder, trying to reassure her. “Recently Tony found a photograph of Hart with Colonel Bell, and Gibbs has Tony checking out any connections between the two of them. Gibbs has not said as much but if I were in his shoes, I would be trying to get close to Allison Hart to see what she was up to.”

It was a technique Ziva herself had used many times under cover and suspected that Gibbs would have no compunction in doing the same, especially if he thought that he was protecting those he cared about.

“Gibbs said that he was trying to protect me and that I was just to trust him, which of course I do but... oh Ziva, sometimes I wish he’d just tell me.” Abby sounded exasperated.

Ziva huffed a laugh. “There are many times when the rest of the team think the same, Abby. Although I can perhaps see his point this time. Until he finds out what Colonel Bell is up to, Gibbs must assume that anyone close to him is in danger. So you may not like what you see when he is with Allison Hart, but it makes sense.”

“I hope you’re right, Ziva.” They batted ideas back and forth for a while longer and by the time Fornell came to pick them up, Abby felt a lot lighter in heart.

Chapter 13 – Anticipation

Fornell looked round with interest as he escorted Abby and Ziva into the ballroom of the hotel hosting the inter-agency dinner-dance. He’d be surprised if there were two more beautiful women in the room than Ziva and Abby, and felt more than a little smug that he was the one arriving with them on his arm.

The tables occupied all the edges of the room, leaving a space in the middle for the dance floor. The raised stage at the far end of the ballroom held the band.

After checking their coats in, they paused in the doorway. Abby could see Tony, Palmer and McGee at the bar talking to Ducky but there was no sign of Gibbs. She and Ziva excused themselves from Fornell to go over to say hi to their teammates, Ziva promising Fornell a dance later on and Abby saying that she’d return after saying hello to the others.

They made their way through the rapidly filling room towards the bar, smiling and exchanging greetings with agents they both recognized.

“Just look at this, Probie. So many beautiful women, so little time and only one Anthony DiNozzo.”

“And I’m sure half the women here will be grateful for that by the end of the evening, Tony.”

“Oh, wow,” came the awestruck comment from Palmer next to them and they both turned to see what had caused it.

“Wow, indeed, autopsy gremlin.” Tony’s wide grin broke out as he saw Abby and Ziva approaching through the crowd, and reached up to reflexively straighten his bow tie.

“They look... wow.” McGee trailed off.

“Real eloquent, McGee, can’t you do better than that?”

McGee shook his head, wryly, “Just wishing I had a camera, Tony.”

“Improvise, Probie,” Tony clapped him on the shoulder. “Use your phone.”

Both women looked incredible. Although both dressed in black and both blessed with dark hair, their beauty was strikingly different. Abby’s ivory pale skin and Ziva’s warm golden olive tones created a remarkable contrast, as did the vivid green eyes of their forensic scientist and the smoky brown eyes of their ex-Mossad agent.

“Hello, boys, you look a little shell-shocked,” came Abby’s sultry purr when they arrived, causing all the men in the vicinity to unconsciously snap to attention.

A warm voice interjected before any of them could reply and heralded the arrival of a very dapper-looking Ducky. “That’s because they’re all struck speechless, Abby, which is quite understandable. You both look absolutely beautiful, if I may say so.”

“Thank you, Ducky,” Ziva smiled at the ME, looping her arm through his and kissing his cheek in greeting. “And you look very handsome too.”

“You all do. You all clean up very well,” grinned Abby, linking her other arm through Ducky’s, who looked very pleased with himself at having two such beautiful women on his arm.

The tables assigned to NCIS were, by a lucky coincidence, within reach of the bar, which Tony had denied he was responsible for. Everyone had so far decided to prop the bar up, the better to scan the whole room until the food arrived and they’d be forced to sit down. Vance had yet to arrive, and Tony and McGee were taking advantage of the time to relax before they were officially ‘on duty.’

Tony drew Abby up to the bar, signalling to the bartender for a refill for himself and a vodka for Abby, before wrapping his arm around her. “You okay, Abbs?” he asked quietly, out of earshot of the others.

She smiled fondly at him, leaning against his solid warmth. “I’m fine, Tony. Much better than yesterday.”

They’d all visited her in her lab at various times during the day to see how she was. Abby hadn’t told them the details of what had passed between her and Gibbs, but just enough so they knew that things were much easier between them than yesterday. That and her much improved mood helped lighten the atmosphere in the bullpen for everyone.

Tony didn’t look totally convinced, but was content to let Abby tell him how she really felt in her own time. Giving her a hug and kissing her temple, Tony turned away to start teasing Ziva who was chatting to McGee. Abby scanned the rest of the room, but the silver head she was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

She heard Ducky’s reassuring quiet voice at her elbow. “I haven’t seen him yet, Abby. I’m sure he’ll be along later.”

Abby smiled weakly at her friend. “Yeah, but who with, Ducky?” She knew she couldn’t spend the entire evening on edge waiting to catch a glimpse of Gibbs, but it was difficult not to torture herself by wondering if he would turn up at the dinner with Allison Hart on his arm.

Ducky squeezed her arm sympathetically, guessing where her thoughts were taking her, and sought to change the subject in order to distract her. “Will you save me a dance later, my dear?”

A genuine smile broke out on her lovely face. “Love to, Ducky but now I’d better get back. It’s only fair that I spend some time with Toby since he brought us both here tonight.”

Chapter 14 – Speechless

After promising dances to Tony, Tim and Jimmy, and hugging Ziva, Abby made her way back across the floor, pausing to hug and talk to more agents she knew. Fornell stood as she approached his table.

As he held a chair out, Fornell smiled down at her. Abby really did look stunning tonight. He could sense eyes being drawn to her from all around and felt unreasonably pleased that she was on his arm tonight.

Fornell still felt guilty that he hadn’t been there in time yesterday to deflect Gibbs. He’d seen the brewing anger from the Marine all week and knew it had to erupt at some point. He’d just hoped that his timing could have been better so he could have taken the majority of the flak from Gibbs, instead of leaving Abby in the firing line.

Abby looked round at the milling people and rapidly filling tables, feeling herself relaxing and the tensions from earlier draining away. Whatever the unresolved issues between her and Gibbs, Abby was determined to enjoy this evening if she could. And it was only fair that she paid some attention to her companion.

What she dreaded, that Gibbs might turn up with M. Allison Hart on his arm, she would deal with if it happened. And she was sure Toby would look after her. He’d been so kind and caring and attentive all week. He may not set her blood on fire like Gibbs, but she enjoyed his company and felt sure that he would be at her side to act as a buffer if necessary this evening.

But if Gibbs arrived on his own, Abby wanted to find some way of talking to him, of finishing the conversation they’d started earlier.

Now she recognised the irony that her dread of seeing the lawyer on Gibbs’ arm may have been matched by Gibbs’ reaction to seeing her on Toby’s arm. But even after their discussion this morning, Abby still wasn’t sure how Gibbs felt... in typical fashion, he’d not revealed enough for her to be certain that what she felt for him was reciprocated.

But whatever Gibbs’ feelings, Abby had resolved that she was going to talk to Toby anyway this evening. She didn’t know whether Toby was reading more into their friendship than she’d intended, and anyway it wasn’t fair for him to hold out hope.

She had to let Toby know that she wasn’t interested in anything other than a friendship with him.

Abby chatted amiably with the other occupants of their table, glancing round occasionally to greet familiar faces from both NCIS and the FBI. Ducky was already twirling a laughing Ziva round the dance floor, Tony was nowhere to be seen and Tim and Jimmy were still at the bar.

Abby worked her way through the food served at intervals, and accepted the wine Tobias offered her, relaxing as they chatted.

“You look more at ease tonight, Abby, and very beautiful, if I may say so,” commented Fornell.

“Thank you Toby. I do feel better. Gibbs... “ she paused, smiling at him as he looked at her, concerned. “It’s alright. We talked this morning and resolved a few things. He apologized.”

“Apologized? Wow... he must have been feeling guilty,” he replied, smiling gently at her. Fornell sensed her reluctance to elaborate on whatever had passed between her and Gibbs, and didn’t push her further, instead changing the subject onto safe, neutral topics.

After a while, Abby felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and looked up to meet an intense blue gaze across the room.

So... her Gibbs radar was still functioning then.

And, oh boy, could he fill out a tuxedo.

The dark of the tux and the crisp whiteness of his shirt set off his silver hair and seemed to intensify the blueness of his eyes, not that they needed much help. His broad shoulders filled out the jacket and he cut an imposing figure as he strode towards their table, drawing every female eye in the vicinity and more than a few of the men.

As he reached them, Gibbs nodded a greeting to Fornell but immediately turned his gaze back to Abby. She couldn’t help the tingle of desire which rippled through her at the sight of him.

“No Ms. Hart, Gibbs?” Fornell asked.

Keeping his eyes intently on Abby, he replied. “No.”

Abby saw his eyes drop to the choker around her neck and a small smile lift the corners of his mouth. His expression was hard to read. Maybe because it was something she’d never seen on his face before when he looked at her, but if she were pushed to put a name to it, possessive heat would come to mind.

Before Gibbs could speak, Fornell stood up and offered his hand to Abby, “Care to dance, Abbs?”

Abby saw a flicker of something cross Gibbs’ face as she hesitated. When he said and did nothing but glare at the FBI agent, she stood and accepted Fornell’s outstretched hand. The look Gibbs gave Fornell would have frozen lesser men in their tracks. But Fornell ignored it and smiled at Abby before leading her out onto the dance floor.

Every step she took towards the dance floor, Abby expected to feel Gibbs behind her, catching them up and stepping in, pulling her away from Fornell. She felt more than a flicker of disappointment when he didn’t appear.

As Fornell turned to pull Abby into his arms, he saw Gibbs still at the table they’d left, seemingly rooted to the spot, and couldn’t prevent a smirk breaking out.

Abby willed herself to relax as she allowed Tobias to spin her round the dance floor. She only caught sight of Gibbs occasionally and saw him make his way over to the bar where she could see him talking to Ducky. Focusing back on her dance partner, Abby smiled at Tobias and felt him pick up the pace.

Laughing softly, she hung onto him as he twirled her around the floor. They passed Tony dancing with a beautiful blonde she vaguely recognised as an FBI agent, and he gave her a wink and a wide cheeky smile as they spun past them.

Fornell was conscious Abby’s mind was elsewhere... specifically about 50 feet away at the bar.

Fornell could see Gibbs out of the corner of his eye as he spun Abby round the dance floor. After a while, she relaxed in his arms but Fornell wasn’t oblivious to the strain he could see on her face. Dipping her towards the floor, Fornell was pleased to see a genuine laugh erupt, enjoying the throaty chuckle that broke out from Abby.