**Chapter Five -- SWAK Part One**
**Abby's Apartment -- May 20, 2009 **
"Mmm..." Abby groaned at the loss of Tony's warm body as he climbed out of the bed. "Mornin' sleepyhead, come back to bed."
He froze, feeling her fingertips drawing circles on his back as he sat up on the edge of the bed. "Just...uh, gonna make some coffee."
"Noo...just a few more minutes of sleep! The alarm hasn't even gone off yet!"
He stood up and ran a hand through his hair. "As much as I would love to, Abs...I really shouldn't. I'm gonna go make coffee. You want some?"
She propped her head up on her elbow and looked at him curiously. "Sure. I'll be out in a few." She watched as he walked out of the room, then flopped back on the pillows.
She rolled out of bed and padded to the kitchen, leaning on the counter next to Tony as he made the coffee. "You okay, T?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" He asked, turning the machine on and stepping toward the fridge.
"Oh, I don't know...could be something to do with the fact that you're avoiding me like the plague." Abby hopped up on the counter and watched him carefully. "I can only assume it's because we kissed last night, which I told you not to worry about, but you're letting it color your every decision this morning."
He turned and looked at her, setting the milk carton he had pulled from the fridge on the counter. "You wanna know why I'm upset about kissing you last night, Abby?"
She tensed up slightly. He was getting frustrated, and it rarely ended without a screaming match between the two of them. "Yeah, Tony. I do wanna know."
Tony crossed the small kitchen in a flash and stood in front of her, placing his hands on the counter on either side of her hips. He lowered his voice to a whisper, but she could still hear it trembling with emotion.
"I don't want to use you. You're too important to me, and I don't want you to be a place-holder for her."
Abby's eyes widened when she saw the genuine concern in her friend's eyes. "Is that what you think we would be? What I would be? A replacement for Ziva?"
He pushed away from the counter and tried to move to the other side of the kitchen, but she grabbed ahold of his arm. "Don't avoid me, Tony. Answer my question. Do you think that I would let you use me like that?"
He pulled his arm away from her roughly. "Yes!" He shouted at her, making her flinch slightly. "I do! I think you would do whatever it took to make me happy!"
Abby sniffed and closed her eyes tightly as she hopped down off the counter and walked toward him. "Screw you." She spat, pushing past him and walking down the hall to her bedroom.
**4 Years Earlier -- O'Malley's Pub -- May 9, 2005**
"I'ma walkin' trouble magnet. A fuckin' magnet." Tony slurred, slamming the shot glass onto the bar with the others. He ran a hand through his hair smoothly, sighing.
Abby giggled, downing her shot and leaning toward him. "How many times have I said that? A lot." She narrowed her eyes and pointed her finger at him drunkenly. "You don't listen t'me, y'know."
He rested his cheek on the top of her head and rolled his eyes. It wasn't the first time the two of them had ended up at the bar together, talking about one case or another.
"I do!" He cried. "S'times, listenin' t'you is the cause of my problems!"
"Hey!" She had a pained look on her face as she punched his shoulder. "'Snot my fault that you ran into that car headfirst, m'kay? I refuse to accept responsibility."
Tony laughed and kissed the Goth on the cheek. "Meh, I dunno. Gibbs'll kill me for lettin' him get away, though."
"Nah." Abby grabbed his wrist and turned it, looking at his watch. "We should go. Bossman's gonna want us in early-birdy."
"Alrighty, let's go then." Tony stood up and pulled out his wallet, tossing a few 20's on the bar before wrapping his arm around Abby's waist, helping her to stand. She leaned against him heavily, unsteady on her feet.
Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he dialed the number for the local cab company and gave them the address of the pub. They stumbled out onto the street in the warm late-night air, sitting on the curb to wait for their cab. Abby leaned her head against his shoulder, his arm still wrapped around her waist. She yawned, closing her eyes momentarily. The cab pulled up after a few minutes, prompting Tony to nudge her gently.
"Abs. Hey, hon. The cab's here." He whispered. She grunted sleepily, acknowledging the sound of his voice. Shaking his head, Tony stood up and lifted Abby into his arms. He slipped her into the cab and took the seat next to her, directing the cabby to Abby's apartment.
He ran his fingers through her hair gently as the cab drove the short distance to her apartment. When they pulled up outside of the small building, Tony picked her up once again and carried her upstairs, asking the driver to wait for him to come back. Pulling his keys out, he grabbed the spare to her apartment and slipped it into the lock, opening the door and heading inside. She moaned a little when he laid her down onto her bed, rolling over onto her side as he pulled the sheet up around her. "Goodnight, sweetheart." He pressed his lips to her forehead and left the apartment, making sure to lock the door behind him before getting back into the cab and heading home.
**The Next Morning**
Abby groaned as her cell phone rang impatiently in her ear. Rolling over in the bed, she snatched the device, silencing it mid-ring. "H'lo?" She groaned, her voice hoarse with sleep.
"Good morning sleepy head," Kate greeted, her smirk evident through the phone. "Gibbs wanted me to call and make sure you were okay."
"'M fine. Just hungover. Went out with Tony...got hammered...woke up at home. The in-between is pretty fuzzy."
Kate chuckled into the receiver. "Couldn't have been that bad, Tony's here. And he seems sober." She could hear Tony's indignant voice in the background.
"I AM sober, Katie. You know me, Boss. Can't get too drunk on a school night."
Abby smiled as she scrubbed a hand over her face and glanced over at the clock on her nightstand, her eyes widening at the time. "Kate! You didn't tell me it was so late!"
"You mean you didn’t figure it out when I told you that Gibbs wanted me to call and make sure you were still living? Because it’s not like Gibbs--"
Snapping the phone shut between her fingers, Abby threw the covers from her body and leapt from the warmth of her bed, ignoring her pounding headache. She showered and dressed in record time before she was out the door, slipping her darkest pair of sunglasses over her eyes. She checked her phone as she made her way down to her call, praying there were no angry voicemails from Gibbs. She breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted the two new texts. She was safe, Gibbs couldn’t text if his life depended on it.
--Hey, just wanted you to know that I made it home. Call me in the morning! Hope you sleep well. -T.--
--Gibbs is looking for your report. Where are you, hungover? :) Call me. -Tim.--
Deleting the two messages, she quickly dialed Gibbs’s number as she slid into the driver’s seat, sliding the key into the ignition.
“Gibbs. Speak,” his outgoing voicemail message commanded.
"Hey, Gibbs! It's Abby. But you knew it was me...who else would be calling and leaving you a message, right? Everyone else is there with you. Kate, Tony, McGee...I'm the only one who's not there. Plus you've got the caller ID, which also tells you who called. Sorry I'm not there by the way, I didn't mean to be late for work, I overslept on accident. I'll do anything to ma..."
Snapping the phone closed when the voicemail cut her off, Abby tossed the phone into the passenger seat beside her bag as she put the car in drive, pressing down on the gas just a little harder.
A Caf-Pow, a coffee, and three chocolate doughnuts later, Abby pulled up in front of the NCIS building, frowning at the sight of the rather large gathering of people on the lawn outside. Maneuvering into her usual spot, she threw the car into park and climbed out, the beverages and breakfast forgotten.
Closing the car door behind her, she crossed the parking lot and made her way through the throng of people, coming to a stop at the front of the crowd.
"Bobby,” she called, waving the front desk security guard over. “What happened? Is everyone okay?"
Jogging over to where the Goth stood, Bobby the guard placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, forcing a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Nothing to worry about, Abby. We had a minor scare and evacuated the whole building as a precaution.”
”What kind of ‘minor scare’? What’s going on?” She stood on her toes, glancing past his shoulder. “Where’s Gibbs?” His hesitation worried her. “Bobby. Where’s Gibbs? I don’t see Tony, Kate or McGee either. What the hell happened in there?” She asked, ignoring the burning behind her eyes.
“C’mon,” he said quietly as he pulled her aside, away from the crowd of people who had fallen quiet at her outburst. “We don’t have a lot of information right now,” he said, his voice soft. “All I know is that about 30 minutes ago, DiNozzo opened a letter in the squad room and released some sort of white powder. He was sent to decontamination along with Gibbs, Todd and McGee. They’re probably getting checked out by Doctor Mallard now.”
Turning back towards the building, Abby had taken three steps when Bobby’s hand clamped down on her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. “I can’t let you go in there, Abby. The whole building is on lock down!”
"I have to know that they're okay, Bobby! They're my family. My friends." She shrugged his hands away from her, looking toward the door again. "I can't just sit out here and not do anything to help!"
"Abby..." He started, pausing when his radio crackled. Stepping away from her, he responded quickly and turned back, holstering the device again. "They need you to go to the evidence garage and put on a containment suit."
She didn't have to be told twice. Pushing her way through the crowd, she made her way toward the evidence garage on the far side of the building and walked down the ramp.
"Ah, Abigail, there you are!" Ducky greeted as she entered the garage. Approaching her quickly, he could see the worried expression on her face and the tears that were just behind her eyes.
“What can I do?” She asked.
He tried to clear his own worried expression from his face, stepping toward her and placing a comforting hand on her arm. "Everything will be fine, my dear. You know Jethro wouldn't let anything happen to them."
Abby raised an eyebrow at the ME, shooting him a look of clear disbelief. "Ducky, don't lie to me. Please." She turned away from him and sat down, noticing his hesitation as he followed her to the bench near the containment suits.
She reached up and pressed the palms of her hands to her eyes, forcing the tears away before taking off her boots and slipping into the large orange suit. Pulling the hood up, she headed for the elevator without another word, her vision blurry with tears.
The squad room was nearly empty, save for the three members of the clean-up crew, working diligently to clear the room. She accepted the small box that contained both the SWAK letter that Tony had opened as well as all of the powder clean-up crew collected from the floor and the top of her friend's desk with a curt nod of thanks before heading back down to her lab to start the analysis.
*Keep busy, Abby. Everything will be okay if you just keep busy.* She chanted to herself in an effort to keep calm.
After an hour of pacing her lab and getting yelled at by Gibbs over the videophone from Autopsy, she was surprised to see two large blue containment suits containing Gibbs and McGee rushing into her lab. "Wow, didn't know it was Halloween already!" She joked half-heartedly, faltering slightly as the two men exchanged the worried glance that was her undoing.
Turning away from them, she moved into the back office, plopping herself into her desk chair and closing her eyes tightly, preventing her tears from falling.
"Abs..." McGee started after her, only to be stopped by Gibbs. He shook his head at the younger agent, motioning for him to wait before walking into the smaller portion of the office.
Gibbs walked over to her and leaned against her desk, tapping on her shoulder to get her attention. *Abby...They'll be fine, okay?* He signed to her. *We can go down and see them later on, but right now we need you to finish things here. Okay?*
Her hands shook as she raised them, signing back. *This is serious, Gibbs! It could be anthrax...smallpox...Tony and Kate could die.* She stopped trying to hold the tears back, letting them fall down her cheeks.
"Ah, damn. Abs..." He mumbled, moving forward to wrap his arms around her as best he could while wearing the containment suit.
McGee stepped into the back office and cracked a small smile when he saw Gibbs holding Abby tightly despite the large suit. He didn't know how he did it, but the older man somehow managed to make her calm down.
"Uh, Boss?" He tapped his shoulder gently. "Ducky's on the videophone for you."
Gibbs released Abby from the embrace and pressed a kiss to her forehead. *They'll be fine, my girl.* He stroked her cheek gently with the final sign before turning and walking to the videophone, motioning for McGee to stay with her.
Obediently, he stepped further into the office and pulled the forensic tech up into another hug. "Can you walk me through the evidence, Abs? Maybe there's something I can help you with?"
She nodded, hugging him back tightly. Letting go, she showed him what she had found so far pertaining to the letter that Tony had opened.
"That's all I have, I'm waiting for the CDC to give me the go ahead to irradiate it before I can do more." Abby stood up from her desk as Gibbs walked back in, his suit pulled down around his waist. "Gibbs...any news about..."
He cut her off with nothing more than a look. "Tony?" She whispered, her voice choking up.
He nodded. "All our blood tests were cleared except Tony's."
"He...he's sick?" She dropped her head into her hands when Gibbs nodded again, collapsing into her chair.
Gibbs knelt down in front of her, pulling her hands away from her face and holding them tightly. "He has the pneumonic plague, Abby."
"I...I need to see him, Gibbs! I can't just...I have to go." She gasped, pulling away from his grasp.
Abby attempted to stand but was held back gently by Gibbs' hands on her shoulders. "Abby...you can't go. He's still contagious, and I'm not risking you getting sick."
"What if he...Gibbs, he has the plague! He...I don't want him to be alone." Her voice was meek as she blinked rapidly, trying to keep the tears at bay.
He shook his head, continuing to hold onto her shoulders. "I know you don't. But I can't let you go."
"Gibbs!" She cried, struggling against the hands on her shoulders. "Please! Kate's there, I should be able to go too."
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, whispering into her ear calmly. "Exactly, Abby. Kate's there. She'll watch out for Tony, okay? As soon as it's safe, I promise you that you'll get to see him."
She fell against him as her body gave out, the tears she had been trying to hold back finally falling down her cheeks.
**6 Hours Later**
Gibbs pulled out his cell phone as he drove toward Bethesda, calling McGee.
"McGee." He answered quietly, not wanting to wake Abby as she napped on the futon in her office.
"The bug had a suicide chain. Tony's not contagious anymore. Is Abby still sleeping?"
He glanced over at her sleeping form and frowned. She didn't deal with bad situations very well, usually letting herself get so worked up that she collapsed from exhaustion.
"Yeah, she's still out, Boss. Want me to wake her?" McGee walked over and crouched down next to his friend, stroking her hair softly.
"No. Let her sleep." Gibbs made the next left-handed turn, changing direction to head back to HQ. "I'm coming back now, I'll wake her up. She needs the rest. Don't know why that girl let's herself get so worked up."
Before McGee could attempt an answer, he heard the dial tone. He sighed and closed the phone between his fingers, leaning back against the cabinet next to Abby. He rubbed slow circles on her back, wishing he knew how to help her.
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