Chapter 4

Gibbs pulled up to a drugstore and then looked over at Abby. "Get a lot of 'em," he said. Gibbs had decided on her for the task because it would nail home what they were doing and her part in it. He was giving her an out if she wanted to take it. Not that Gibbs thought she would. Abbs was as invested in their bond as he was, and she was completely turned on by him. Realizing she'd discussed him with other people —their coworkers and friends—was a sexual charge.

"Magnums?" Abby asked with a giggle.

"You can estimate size," he growled back playfully. She'd given him a lot to chew on and fantasize about. She'd been with Tony, Kate, Jenny, Ziva. And he knew she'd had the relationship with McGee as well. It blew his mind how blind he'd been about it all. Gibbs knew that Abbs was a sexually charged creature but beyond her time with McGee and the flirtation with Ziva, he never would have known. And Ziva, Jenny, and Abby together was mind-blowingly hot.

He didn't want to touch the whole Tony thing, not right now. He and DiNozzo had a complicated relationship that had strayed a few times into flirting. Tony and he had given and taken in that manner, never bringing it off work, never deepening things. There was an on and off fascination with Ziva, but Gibbs would never go there, would never push that. It wasn't a sexual bond anyway. There was too much that he and Ziva had in common for it to ever be a comfortable relationship.

Kate ... Kate and he could have had incredible fire. At one point, Gibbs had thought it was inevitable, but then she pulled back, citing her own complicated history as the reason, and a year later, she was dead.

And Jenny. He and Jenny had been so hot together; looking back, Gibbs knew the fire needed to burn out quickly. It had hurt like hell at the time, but it had been a very necessary lesson to learn, one he couldn't regret even today.

The car door opened and Abby settled back in the passenger seat, her grin fading as she watched him. "You okay, Gibbs?" she asked, the bag held loosely in her hand.

"Just thinking."

"Kate?" she asked, scooting closer.

"And the others. Wondering how I never saw it."

"Because we were good," Abby informed him, her voice soft and gentle. "Kate and I ... we never brought it to work. We couldn't. She was way too afraid you'd fire her. And Jenny and Ziva, they had a bond from before when they'd worked together. They just..." she shrugged. "They added me to it. We play sometimes now. There are times when a girl just needs to get off, you know. And having friends with benefits works out really well for us."

"And Tony?" Gibbs asked. For some reason this bothered him the most.

"You know how I said Tony is like a piercing?"

Gibbs nodded.

"Well, it's like that. It hurts like hell, but the pain is kind of a turn on. He and I would never have worked, but we had fun together. He works better as my best friend."

"And us?" Gibbs asked, his voice roughening. He wanted to explore this Tony thing later, but not now, not with so many other pressing questions swirling through his mind.

"Don't know," Abby said, cocking her head in a very controlled motion and looking at Gibbs. "You're... Gibbs. And that changes everything."

"In good ways or in bad ones?" he asked, genuinely curious. Aware that they should be having this conversation in the privacy of his own home, and preferably naked, he pointed the car toward home and began driving, the majority of his attention still on Abbs.

"Good ones," she said, her voice going low and seductive now. "You're sexy. You break the rules and change everything and not only for me. We all feel that way."

"All?" Gibbs asked.

"The team. There's an attraction to you that we all have. It doesn't matter like with Tony or Tim, that they're guys. There's just something about you, Gibbs."

"Beyond the size of my dick?" he teased.

"Way, way beyond! I don't know how to describe it, only that we all have mentioned it. Tony calls it your Superman factor, but I don't know if that is it exactly. I think it's just the Gibbs factor. You're so alpha that nobody else can compare and we're all drawn to that."

"Yeah, I know," Gibbs admitted. He did know that they were drawn to him, but he'd never really understood it.

"And it's just ... you make it easy," she finished, working the plastic of the bag in her hands. "You're so cool under pressure, but then there's this passion that we see sometimes and it's just so attractive, Gibbs. We're all drawn to it and we all want to see deeper inside you."

"No mysteries there," Gibbs said gruffly. He didn't understand it himself. He was just a Marine who believed in the simple things.

"I disagree," Abby said softly, but she wisely didn't say another word as they pulled up to his house.

"Inside," he growled but gentled that sound with a wink. "Get naked and stretch out on my bed." Her eyes widened when he made the request but she nodded quickly.

"Is it okay if I put my Caf-Pow away first?" Abby's voice had turned soft and tentative now and that gave Gibbs a huge charge.

"Go for it but be quick." He watched as she skipped into the kitchen, her hair down her back. She was an intriguing blend of sensual woman and innocence, of intelligence and irreverence. He was so damned drawn to her.

She came out of the kitchen and he motioned his head toward the stairs, taking a good look as she ran up them. There was no way a guy like him should have expected a woman like her to want him, but she did. And he wanted her just as much. He'd give her one request and then get down to business.

Gibbs followed her more slowly, watching as she entered the bedroom and looked around, eyeing her as she stripped her clothes off slowly and then turned, a little knowing smile on her face.

"Coming, Gibbs?"

"Not yet, but give me time, Abbs."

She gave him a smile and he pulled her close, wrapping an arm around her. Abby's skin felt so soft and she just looked up at him, a small knowing smile on her face.

"What?" he asked her softly.

"Knew I'd feel like I belong here," she whispered, snuggling in. "You've always meant so much to me."

"Why didn't ya let me know?" he asked, content to just hold her for the moment.

"The way you looked at me," she said, shrugging. "It always felt like you were stripping me bare, Gibbs, and I was..."

"You were?"

"Scared," she finished. "I never let anyone in like that. They see bouncy Abby, or quirky Abby, or smart Abby, or ... Gibbs, even Jenny and Ziva and Tony didn't see me like you do. Kate and Cass came close and ... then when Kate..." She trailed off with a sigh, pressing her head against his shoulder.