Tony awoke to rumpled sheets and bass thumping through the bedroom walls. Squinting his eyes, he stumbled from the bed and out the door, where he was met full-on by a blast of death metal.
"Jesus Christ, Abby," he said to himself. He widened his eyes in an attempt to wake himself up, and when they focused, he saw Abby.
She was standing in the kitchen in a black bra and black velour pajama pants. "Hello, Abs," he said, once again to himself.
She faced the other way, so Tony decided to take the opportunity to sneak up behind her. As he was creeping, Abby caught a glimpse of him in the reflection of her stainless steel fridge and decided to give him a surprise of his own.
Just before Tony reached Abby, she spun around, throwing her arms out. "Tony! You're awake!"
He grimaced, not happy with being surprised. "Yeah. I'm awake. Do you think you could turn the music down?"
"Oh," Abby said, looking disappointed. "Sorry." She skipped to the stereo system in her living room, switching it off and leaving the room in resounding silence.
"Wow," Tony said. He thudded onto a stool by the kitchen counter, holding his head in his hands.
"You want some coffee, hon?" Abby asked him, ruffling his hair.
"All I want right now is for this whole thing to be over," Tony said, resting his chin on his hand and looking at her. "I don't have a problem being the boss. I just have a problem being the boss after Gibbs."
"I know, Tony baby, and that's why you gotta talk to Gibbs," Abby said, snuggling into Tony's side.
Tony hacked out a sarcastic laugh. " ‘Talk to Gibbs,' Abs? Gibbs doesn't talk. Not to me, anyway."
Abby pondered his words for a minute, then spoke. "Well, if you don't think Gibbs will talk to you, maybe he'll talk to me." She skipped away from him towards her bedroom.
"Wait," Tony said, easing off the stool and following her. "You can't talk to Gibbs. He'll know I told you about...you know, what I did."
Abby emerged from her bedroom in a tight black dress covered in buckles. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she asked, "Don't you think he knows I'd be the first person you'd go to?" He pondered that as Abby rummaged in her purse for the keys to her hearse. "Don't worry, Tony. The silver-haired fox and I will have a nice discussion about what happened, and everything will be back to normal before you know it." She triumphantly held up her car keys, smiling, but that disappeared when she saw the look on Tony's face.
He looked genuinely worried, like he was scared Abby would tell Gibbs he was in love with him, that that's why he had done what he did. Abby stepped up to him and cupped his face in her hands. "I won't tell him anything you don't want me to," she said.
"Thank you," he said, laying his hands over hers and kissing the pads of her thumbs. They both smiled as she slid her hands down his chin and onto his chest, pausing at his heart, feeling his heartbeat increase slightly. She looked up into his eyes, witnessing a look of lust he had never given her before, one that said he needed some kind of release from this situation. The kind of release he was used to.
Abby blew out a shaky breath as she removed her hand from his chest. She couldn't have sex with Tony! Well, she could, the act itself was no problem, but it was Tony. And after what happened with Gibbs last night, the last thing he needed was to sleep with her, too. She had a feeling this was more than just sex, though, and that's what had her questioning herself.
She felt Tony's hand guiding her chin skyward – she hadn't even realized she had been looking at the floor – and looked into his eyes again.
"Abby," he said. "I need this."
She closed her eyes, preparing herself for the answer she was about to give him, then opened them again, ready to give him her response.
"Gibbs can wait."
Chapter End Notes:
More Tabby.