Chapter 13
There was a little tension when Tony and Abby walked out of the ballistics lab and Tony shot a glance to the Gibbs that wasn’t their Gibbs and then over to Ziva and McGee. “You fill him in?”
“No, Boss… I mean, Tony. We waited for you.” Tim grew uncomfortable when Abby walked closer to Jet. He didn’t like Abby’s apparent attachment to the man.
As she walked to him, Abby gave Jet a smile, hoping that her friends hadn’t made too big of a deal about what had just happened. Sitting at her computer, she pulled up a search that yielded no results and keyed up another, all the while listening to what plans the team had made.
“Thanks, Tim,” Tony said, giving McGee an encouraging nod and barely hiding his smirk over being called Boss. He motioned with his head for Ziva to talk with Abby and went over to the other Gibbs. “We need you to play our boss for now, just until we’re done with work today. Are you okay technologically? If we feed you anything you need through instant message or text, will you manage?”
“Think so. You guys don’t have any active cases, do you?” Jet asked, trying to adapt to a new mindset.
“Nah, cold case review today, unless something comes in, and if it does we’ll fake it the best we can. Right, McGee?” Tony was a little concerned by the expression on Tim’s face.
“Right, fake it.” Seeing Tony’s worried look, Tim relaxed the muscles of his face, knowing he was only making a tense situation even worse. “How are we going to explain his hair and the fact he looks younger? Say Abby forced him to a spa? Think Vance’d fall for that?”
“Not gonna say anything,” Tony replied. “If anyone comments, he can just give them that smirk and cock his head. Gibbs, your…counterpart, I guess, he’s a silent guy. You should be able to deflect a lot that way.” Tony looked at McGee, hoping he agreed.
“Yeah, that would work. Just act like you know everything about what we’re working on, but you still want everyone else to figure it out. Gibbs is a great teacher like that. That should work.” Tim was hopeful that Tony’s scenario would make it less conspicuous of the stranger in their midst.
Jet cocked his head, looking slightly annoyed but smirking anyway. “Like that?”
Laughing despite himself, Tim nodded. “Yeah, that’ll do.”
“Coach me,” he said, directing his attention to Tim.
“Well, for one, Gibbs likes his coffee black and as strong as he can get it. When Tony, Ziva or I are acting immature or are being deliberately irritating, he slaps us on the back of the head. But that’s mainly with Tony. Um…he’s awful with technology, but great at interrogation. And when he comes down to visit Abby, who’s his favorite, he brings a Caf-Pow, especially when she’s found answers in the evidence.” He looked to Tony to fill in the gaps.
Jet made a small gagging sound at the thought of taking his coffee that way, cataloging all the information. He had an analytical mind and an eye for details, and he knew this would help.
“Boss is the strong, silent type, so you can get away with a lot of silence, and scary looks, and arched eyebrows,” Tony said quietly. “And if Tim and I feed you information, we may carry this off without any suspicion.”
Taking a moment, Tim considered all the possible different angles, trying to find any huge holes in the plan. “Yeah, I think that’s going to work. With us filling in the details and you staying in that Gibbs mode…we can give Abby the time she needs.”
That was all contingent on Abby fixing this situation, but Jet didn’t dare say that. “Okay. I can handle it. I’m used to the heat.”
“That’s good. You’re gonna be facing a lot of heat, Bossman , especially from Vance. The two of you have very…antagonistic interactions. As long as you’re aware of what’s coming.” Tim liked the confidence in this man. That was definitely a trait the Gibbses shared.
“What sort of heat? Think your bosses have any idea? How are we spinning what happened upstairs?”
“Training session,” Tony replied, glancing at McGee and then Ziva. “We can spin it if the director doesn’t get too suspicious. You and he have a relationship that none of us understand.” Had Tony called this guy Bossman? Had Probie? This was getting too easy, they were responding to the man as Gibbs.
Tony too a breath, nodding, centering himself. “Tim? Can you get into the personnel files, let L.J. here read up on Gibbs’ history?”
“Yeah, that shouldn’t be too hard. When we go upstairs, I’ll pull it up on Gibbs’ computer. It’ll even look like your doing research or something.” Tim’s mind was working on how best to play this, how best to protect them all.
“Thanks,” Tony said quietly to McGee. Directing his attention to the double of his boss, he nodded. “When we leave this room, you become ‘Boss’ to us, but you can come to me, I’ve been team leader before and I know how that goes. Tim’ll be your guy for technical stuff and I’ll be your guy for the rest.”
Jet nodded. “Sounds good. Your boss is a lucky guy. You seem like a crack team.” He wondered how the dark haired woman fit in, but didn’t ask yet.
“We try,” Tony said, shrugging, quietly pleased. But the praise made him miss Gibbs all the more. Sure, he was a bastard, but he was their bastard.
While the guys schemed and planned, Ziva pulled Abby aside. “Abby?” She knew she didn’t have to say anything more. Abby would understand what Ziva didn’t have to say out loud.
Moving over to her Mass Spectrometer, Abby pretended to fiddle with the machine, trying to figure out what she was going to say. “Yeah.” Sighing, she looked at her friend. “I don’t know what happened. I was working on trying to figure out what I did, had an idea and rushed to search it out. I tripped. He caught me. And we…”
“And you what, Abby? Did you have sex with him?” Ziva asked in a fervent whisper.
“No!” she exclaimed, causing the men to look over at them. Grabbing Ziva’s arm, she turned her around so that they faced the wall again. Going back to a whisper, she tried to explain. “No, we did not have sex. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to. And if he’d been anything less than a gentleman, we would have. Ziva… there’s just something…”
“And you are not confusing this…connection,” Ziva began, using L.J.’s own word. “You are not confusing this connection with him with the relationship you have with our Gibbs?”
“No, Ziva. No. I’m not. At least, I’m pretty sure I’m not. They’re completely different people, even if they do share a face. They have the same qualities, the same basic character, but they’re different people, Ziva. I can tell them apart. And my relationship with our Gibbs never went to that level.”
“And you are not getting in over your head, are you Abby? What happens when he has to return to wherever it is you pulled him from?” Ziva put her arm around her friend, seeing the shadows come into Abby’s green eyes.
“I don’t know, Ziva. I just don’t know. But I have to figure out a way to bring our Gibbs home. I have to focus on that.”
Jet focused on the women, crossing the room and standing next to them. “You okay?” he asked gently.
“Yes, we are.” Offering Abby a little smile, Ziva gave the two what privacy the lab could offer. “I believe I will catch up on the plan you guys worked out before we introduce you upstairs.”
As Ziva walked by her, Abby squeezed her hand in thanks. Turning to Jet, she blushed a little. “I’m okay. Did those two give you a bad time?” she asked, concerned.
“I can hold my own,” he assured her. “They’re okay. Worried about you and their boss. Worried about me pulling this it off. Nothing I can’t handle. You?” Now that he was close to her again, he could feel the chemistry between them. He couldn’t deny it, didn’t want to deny it. But if they didn’t watch out, he was going to kiss her right here in front of everyone.
“Tony’s worried that we don’t really know who you are, and I shouldn’t get involved any more than I already have. Ziva’s concerned…she wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing.” Reaching out her hand, she slid her fingers over his wrist and up his arm. “And I do know. I do know what I’m doing. And I do know you. I don’t know how. It goes beyond having two of you now in my life. This has nothing to do with him. There’s something about you… I know you.”
“They’re right,” he said quietly. They were absolutely right and he appreciated that they were worried and concerned. He understood what she was saying, as impossible as it was. He was as drawn to her as she was to him.
“Even so, I trust you. I know you. And that’s all I need.” Despite the others, she reached up and kissed him on the cheek.
He turned his face, pressing his mouth to hers and pulling her into a hug.
“Oh, Jet.” Opening her mouth to him, she ignored the rest of the room, concentrating only on him.
He groaned, his hand tightening in her hair, his body pressing against hers. His eyes closed and he gave over to her kiss.
She buried her hands in his hair as he tilted her back. She should be embarrassed, she should be feeling all the eyes in the lab on her, but she didn’t. Her entire world was focusing in on the man, on his embrace. Nothing else mattered.
When he realized he had her bent over the table, grinding against her, he pulled away reluctantly, staring into her eyes. Hell…right now he didn’t want to go home, didn’t want to figure out or deal with this.
“Don’t send me away,” he whispered against her mouth.
Grabbing his head with her hands, she pulled a little back, looking at him in shock. “Jet? But…but I thought you wanted to go back, that you had a life there, that you didn’t want to be stuck in this world. Why?”
“You,” he replied quietly, for her ears only. “You,” he replied, voice a little firmer now, He couldn’t explain what this was between them, but he didn’t want to spend a lifetime wondering what he could have had, One thing he knew was that he needed to know more about this.
“Me,” she repeated, stunned. Pulling him to her, she kissed him more passionately, despite their company. Could she have it all? Her boss back, and this man with their strange connection, could they both stay? If this man wanted it, if Jet really wanted to stay with her, she would do whatever she could to make that happen.
“You,” he replied, happy and sad at the same time. He was completely overwhelmed with the situation and his feelings for her. They needed to get back on track and he knew it, but with her mouth on his, the world"both of them"fell away.
Tony rolled his eyes, shaking his head, deeply worried about her and the way the two were making out right there. “Abbs!”
Elbowing Tony in the side, Ziva whispered, “Leave them be, Tony. Even you can see that there is something going on between them. Let Abby have some happiness. Her pain will come sooner than any of us can realize.”
“You’re helping her…when he goes…” Tony trailed off, shaking his head and looking away. He hated Abby’s situation. She was setting herself up for some real heavy duty pain.
“She will need us all, Tony, when he goes back. And none of us want her to be in this position. Not even Gibbs, both of them. But we cannot change the past. We can only affect the future. Let them have their happiness together, before reality has to tear them apart.” Tony had been through his own relationship hell. And though she’d been tough on him, cold even, at the end, she knew his heart was damaged from that experience.
“You’re telling me to let my best friend help break her own heart,” Tony said, his voice sad and vulnerable. He looked at Tim, who was just as conflicted as he was. “It isn’t easy, Ziva…”
“No, it is not easy, Tony. Love never is easy. But they have a connection, you can see it. Let them find their way. And be there for her when her heart breaks. We are family. But we cannot control what fate throws at us. Her heart will break on its own. It is too late for that. But Abby is smart. She will not go blindly.” Walking up to Tony, she grabbed his arm. “I am not telling you, Tony. I am asking that you just…wait.”
This hit uncomfortably close to what had happened between him and Jeanne, and he’d thought he was smart…but he’d gone blindly. And it still hurt now. “I can’t just watch,” Tony told her quietly.
He turned away, staring at the ground.
Understanding his pain, Ziva called out. “We will be upstairs. When you are…done, we will be in the squad room. Where we had our little…training exercise. Do not be long.” Nodding to Tim and Tony, she left, hoping they’d follow her.
Breaking contact with Jet, Abby watched her friends walk out of her lab, a sadness stealing over her at the situation they were being put in. She knew Tony’s concern was justified, that he was worried she was going to get hurt. But she couldn’t resist the pull of the man next to her.
Realizing they were alone, she shook off the melancholy mood and turned back to the man who held her. “So, we’re alone. And I’ve turned the cameras off, as well as the comlink that lets them see into my lab…Any ideas?”
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