Chapter 7 - Mole Week or... there's a plot in here somewhere, anyone seen it?
Monday saw Abby back in her lab, mentally preparing herself for the task ahead. Absorbed in working out the science of the 'bait' they intended to use, she was nevertheless unable to stop a smile surfacing regularly, triggered by random thoughts and memories from the weekend.
Standing unnoticed in the door of her lab, Gibbs enjoyed watching her as she moved about her domain. He couldn't stop his lips twitching in a smile as he thought of his alarm call that morning. His first thought on waking had been that the soft warmth he'd gone to sleep wrapped around was missing. His second thought was…
Ungmmm
… as his brain caught up with what his body was already enjoying. A warm, wet tongue was licking its way slowly and teasingly up his length, nails grazing lightly over his inner thighs.
Throwing back the bedclothes so he could enjoy the view of her poised between his legs, he'd hardened even further as he was greeted with the sight and feel of her tongue swirling over the swollen tip. She looked up and caught his eye, grinning, before she took him oh so slowly into her mouth. Dropping his head back against the pillow, he fisted his hands into the sheets, trying not to thrust up into her mouth too roughly. With hands, tongue and mouth, she drove him relentlessly to his release until he all but growled her name as his orgasm hit.
Judging by the smile curving her lips, he hoped she was also thinking about their weekend.
"Penny for your thoughts?" his voice was low in her ear as he invaded her personal space in his usual fashion.
"They're worth a few dollars more than that, Gibbs," she turned to him with a saucy grin, and with a few keystrokes muted the microphones in her lab so they could talk privately. "Actually I'm planning revenge on someone for keeping me on the edge of coming for nearly an hour."
Teasing her unmercifully, he'd used his fingers and mouth to nudge her repeatedly towards her release, backing off each time she was close. When it happened the first time, her first thought was…
What the..?
Raising her head to glare at him, he'd merely grinned at her before pressing almost chaste kisses down her leg.
He's going the wrong way was all her befuddled brain could manage.
Writhing and undulating her hips towards his face, she'd alternated between glaring at him and grabbing him to try and pull him back where she wanted, and when that didn't work, she wasn't above begging. He returned slowly, kissing his way back up her legs to tease her to the edge, enjoying the needy sounds she made, only to back off again… and again.
It was only after her third "Pl-ea-se, Jethro," that he finally relented and redoubled his efforts to send her over the edge. When she'd stopped shaking and could breathe again, she'd raised her head from the pillow to see him resting his head on her thigh, a smug grin on his face.
"Payback is going to be such a bitch," she'd promised him, which had only served to make his grin wider.
Shaking himself out of the memory and back to the present, he quirked a half smile at her, "Sounds like the kind of revenge I'd enjoy."
"Oh, count on it, you will," she shot back, eyes sparkling.
With one of her lightning changes of mood, she turned back to her monitor, suddenly all business, outlining the details of the technique she would use to ensure she was caught 'red-handed' at the appropriate time.
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Events moved swiftly during the week, eventually leading to Abby's 'unmasking.' The only hiccup, unless you counted managing to thoroughly piss off Ducky by 'borrowing' one of his bodies, was when Abby spilled some of the radioactive material in her lab. This resulted in the almost farcical situation where she'd had to ban everyone from her lab, literally shutting the door in their faces, lest they get the stuff on their shoes or clothes and make the detector go off like a siren over everyone instead of just over her hands.
Touched by her friends' reactions to her being led away in handcuffs, she wasn't surprised when McGee visited her in interrogation. She found out later that after she'd been escorted out of the evidence lock-up, he'd confronted the Director and Gibbs and ground out with uncharacteristic forcefulness, "She's not a traitor, boss… Director," before marching out without waiting for a reply.
Unable to say so at the time and schooling his features into his usual neutral expression, Gibbs was nevertheless proud of his junior agent's defense of Abby.
McGee had confronted her in interrogation, risking the wrath of both the Director and Gibbs. He knew her too well and couldn't believe that she would risk losing both her lab and betraying Gibbs, unwittingly hitting the nail on the head when he said she loved both too much for that.
Oh, Tim, if only you knew was her rueful thought.
He kept pressing her, concern written all over his face. Finally unable to keep the truth from him, she hoped that Gibbs would understand how quickly she'd caved in to explain that she wasn't the mole and it was all part of Gibbs' plan. She was warmed by the relieved grin that spread across McGee's face and the kiss to the cheek he gave her. She hoped that his relief at her innocence, and his trust in Gibbs, would offset any resentment he would feel when he learned the full extent of how he and the rest of the team had been kept in the dark. She feared that Tony and Ducky wouldn't be so forgiving…
And so it proved.
As it became clear during the day that the deception had been part of his plan all along, Gibbs faced the reactions of his team for being kept out of the loop. He'd been confident that Ziva would understand the 'need to know' aspect of his plan, given her undercover experience, and that McGee would trust him enough to realize he'd had his reasons for only involving Abby. Ducky, he knew, would feel hurt that he wasn't in on the plan, not to mention being angry over the body snatch.
DiNozzo was the unknown quantity, for once. After last year's undercover operation with Jeanne had ended so disastrously, he knew his senior agent was now overly sensitive to lies and deception. His anger and hurt in autopsy was therefore not altogether a surprise.
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Throughout the week, the days were so long that Abby had been able to spend very little time with Gibbs outside the Navy Yard and certainly no nights.
She missed him.
After such an intense first weekend together, it was difficult being apart from him. The sooner this was over, the sooner they could start spending more time together and perhaps work out some kind of normality as a couple… if ever their lives and jobs could be classed as normal.
On the night which had seen the unveiling of Lee as the real mole, he'd left the night shift of agents tasked with guarding her, overcome with a need to see Abby and made his way to her apartment. She opened her door, conscious of a sense of déjà vu as she let him in. He looked as exhausted as he did that first night.
"Hey, Gibbs," pulling him inside and wrapping her arms around him.
"Wanted to see how you were," he buried his head in her neck, wrapping her in a tight hug, a lot of the tension and anxiety of the day draining away in her warm presence.
Considering it was one of the most stressful and time consuming cases they'd had in months, and with so much riding on it, she was touched that he would spare time to think about her. In truth, he just needed to see her, to wrap her in his arms and shut out the world for one night.
"I'm fine, Gibbs. My time in the crosshairs is over, remember. You guys have all the stress now." Settling on her couch, bourbon bottle on the table, she cuddled into his side, conscious of the similarities and also the differences from… was it only a week ago?
"Do you think Michelle is telling the truth about Amanda?" she broke the comfortable silence, voicing the worry that had been at the forefront of her mind most of the day.
"You mean that Amanda's her daughter or her sister?" he asked, voice hoarse with tiredness.
"And that she's been kidnapped, or that she even exists? Any or all of the above," she gestured, unable to keep the frustration out of her voice.
"Her file shows she has a sister not a daughter, Abbs," he replied, pouring them both a shot of bourbon.
"I know, but given she's lied about everything else so far, my gut tells me not to believe her." She glanced at him to see him incline his head slightly in agreement of her assessment.
"I don't," shaking his head.
"Perhaps she's trying to pass Amanda off as her daughter because she knows it would affect you more?" she commented, almost hesitantly.
Any pity she might feel for Michelle, if the situation with Amanda proved to be real, was muted by the suspicion that she might be cynically using Gibbs' history as a bereaved father to gain his sympathy and help. If that was the case, Abby knew her anger at Michelle for that alone would equal any she might feel about Langer's death. She was just as protective of Gibbs as he was of her and threats to kids was the surest way of getting to him; something Michelle might be all too aware of and not hesitate to exploit.
"I don't know, Abbs. Whatever her relationship to Amanda, if she's been held hostage for eight months, the whys don't matter."
"I know, Gibbs," reaching for his hand and lacing their fingers together.
"We gotta find her," he sounded understandably anguished at the thought of the ordeal Amanda might be suffering; eight months was a long time to be held hostage, even for an adult. For a small child, it amounted to a significant portion of their life so far.
"I know, and you will," she sounded confident as always in his abilities, more confident than he felt at the moment. "I should have the results on that hair strand by the morning. I might be able to narrow down her location, or at least where she was held eight months ago when she was supposedly first taken. It'll be a start."
"I know, and you will," rubbing a hand tiredly over his face. She knew he'd been thrown by this new development with Amanda; it unsettled him. The fact that he'd chosen to come to her rather than retreat to his basement warmed her heart even in the midst of everything.
"C'mere," she reached for him and pulled him down to nestle against her, lying full length along her couch. He relaxed against her as she ran her hands gently across his shoulders and back, offering wordless comfort. She knew nothing she could say would help, not this time.
They stayed that way, soothed by each other's presence until he mumbled into her neck, arms tightening around her, "Let's go to bed, Abbs."
He made love to her with such gentleness and heartbreaking tenderness that she was moved nearly to tears. When she tried to whisper her thanks for staying with her and how much she needed him, he'd merely wrapped himself more firmly around her, like her very own Gibbs comfort blanket, and breathed in her ear…
"Needed you too, Abbs."
Author's Chapter Notes:
Abby's help in unmasking the mole at NCIS becomes a catalyst for change