Chapter 1

It had been a long hard day. Mac had driven to DC after working ten days solid. Jet still needed to settle down after losing McGee to that psychopath Ar and Mac had been spending a lot of time down in DC, trying to cheer him up. Now that Kelly was back living at the dorms at Georgetown, he wanted to keep a close eye on his best friend. And lover.

They'd taken each other hard, had showered and now Jet was downstairs working on the boat, sipping bourbon, his form of afterglow. Mac had ordered some Chinese food and was leafing through a forensic journal, waiting for the food to arrive.

The sound of the door opening yanked him out of the article, and he reached for a gun he wasn't carrying before launching himself toward the door. "Be right there!" He didn't even have time to tuck his shirt in.

"Hey, thanks. We're starved." He reached out for the bags, but the dark-haired woman just watched him, tears pouring down her face. She was looking around and beyond him, gripping the doorjamb.

"It's okay, ma'am. I'm a police officer. Come inside. You're safe here." He reached for her arm, but she pulled away and whimpered. She was babbling incoherently but he thought he heard "Gibbs".

"Jet! Situation up here!" he called.

There was something in Mac's voice that worried GIbbs. He wasn't going to lose someone else, especially not Mac. "Mac! What is it?"

When he got upstairs, he saw Mac at the door with ... Abby?

"Abbs? Hey ... hey. What's going on?" He nudged Mac aside with a hip, pulling Abby into the living room. "Having a tough night, Abbs?"

"Gibbs." Abby was so happy to see her boss, she didn't know who the other guy was, but she didn't care who he was. "More than a tough night."

Mac gave a confused look and Jet shrugged. He had no idea what was going on with her, or what she'd think of him having a stranger bare footed, shirt wide-open, jeans unbuttoned, answering his door.

"Couldn't ya button up, Mac?" he didn't know why he said it, but his lover flushed, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

"You might want to put some clothes on yourself, Jet. I'm not sure how your friend feels about you and your boxers."

Mac flicked his eyes over him and Gibbs realized he probably looked just as well fucked, even if he didn't look rumpled. "Yeah, I know, Mac. I know. Abbs? Ya need something to drink? Come in and settle down. We have Chinese on the way."

"Jack, no glass." Abby ordered, cautiously watching both men. Both were good looking still, even though they had to be over forty. "You don't need to feed me. I shouldn't stay. You know someone who can get me into New Orleans? I need to get down there, Gibbs. I can't get a hold of my parents, and the neighbor who normally helps them says that she couldn't find them when she went to get them to evacuate. I don't know what's going on, but I don't have a good feeling. I need to get down there, in case the levees give out."

"Both her parents are deaf," Jet told Mac. He met Mac's eyes and his lover tossed him his cargo shorts and a T-shirt. Ever the Boy Scout, Mac had brought down some clothes. He dressed quickly as Mac grabbed the bottle.

"What's going on, Abbs? The hurricane? It passed, didn't it? Everything is okay?"

She bit her lip and shook her head and he led her to the den, where he flipped the TV on, and sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her. What had seemed to be a moderate hurricane was more, he could feel it.

"Here," Mac said softly, handing Jet the bottle. He dropped into a chair, buttoning his shirt up, giving Jet a wince. Looked like they were out, though she was so upset she might not comment for now. Jethro knew Abby would comment at some point. It was her nature.

Jet motioned to the TV. It looked like the hurricane had passed New Orleans, but that didn't mean a real lot. There could be problems. There would be problems, despite the fact that all the reporters were crowing about how New Orleans had dodged a bullet. "You have any connections down there, Mac? Abby's folks are deaf and we need to locate them."

Mac nodded. "Let me get some calls made." He mussed Jet's hair and gave Abby a gentle smile before disappearing.

Jet watched him go, a small smile playing over his mouth. "Abbs, he has a lot of connections and between us, we'll get your folks to safety. I'm not letting you go down there, not if the levees breach. Too dangerous, Abbs. Not gonna lose you. Where is your brother?"

"Steve is in New York. Went up to school early to take some sort of seminar on ASL in mainstream schools. He's been gone about a week now I guess. He's calling me like crazy to see if I've talked to Mom and Dad." Abby tried to relax, but she was still tense. Not even the liquor was helping calm her down.

"If I have to go down there I will, Gibbs. I need to know my parents are fine. I've always lived with the fact that they are different, but I never felt like I had to be a parent to them. This is scary. Gloria doesn't like watching TV, and my dad tends to hole himself up in his shop and ignore the outside world. They might not have even known a storm was coming despite the evacuation orders.

Abby had promised her brother that she'd find their parents and bring them to live with her. Her house was small, but it was dry and relatively safe. "Your friend, he's more than a friend, isn't he? You trust him to find my parents? I need to know, because if I have to, I'm driving down there, to hell with the levees and the danger that being there entails. I need to know my parents are safe, and I'm not stopping until I know that."

"I'm not letting you go there, Abby. Way too dangerous. If anyone has to go, I'll go. Or Mac'll go. We're Marines, Abby. We can handle a situation that might get out of control."

New Orleans was a rough city at the best of times, and this could easily spiral in to chaos. A cute Goth girl would be in trouble. She didn't like to shoot, sure didn't keep up on the range, no ... he wasn't losing someone else.

He tried to skirt her first question. "Abbs, I trust Mac with my life. I'd trust him with Kel's life. If anyone has the connections to find your parents, he's our man. Ya trust me to know he's gonna make this happen?"

"I trust you, and I trust your boyfriend, Gibbs." Abby saw the fleeting moment of panic in her boss's eyes, before acceptance settled in. "You were in your boxers, in a closed up house with another man. Of course he's more than just a friend. And I won't say a word. I love you like a really old brother, so if you want to play with boys, you can. And if your partner can find my parents, I'll stay home. I need to get to them one way or another. And I'm not letting you go down into a hurricane. It's my hometown; I've seen it good and bad. I can handle myself down there. Not even a trained Marine can mange in New Orleans the way a native could."

Oh yeah, they were outed. "He's not ... Abbs, it's much more than that. Not what you're thinking. We were in the Corps together. Damn near died. Became ... close back then. Both lost our wives, his on 9/11. And you know about Shan. Mac is ... it's complicated."

Maybe over Chinese and JD they could explain it to someone who wasn't their parents.

"I don't care. Mac could be a chick with chest hair and if you're happy, I'm happy, Gibbs. Who you sleep with isn't my business, but I hope you don't mind if I get to know Mac some. I want to know him, and if he really manages to find my parents, then yeah, we're cool. You don't ask me who I'm sleeping with, do you?" Abby didn't want her boss to think that she would care if he were bi or even gay. "We find my parents and then we can drink and eat and I can get to know your boyfriend or whatever you want to call him. I'm good."

Jethro chuckled. "He's all man, Abbs." He sighed, nodding. "Not the way I wanted this to happen but yeah. You stay here with us; get to know him. Stay in the guestroom." She gave him a brave smirk and he rolled his eyes. "Yes, Abbs. The spare room is free. And Mac will make it happen."

"If it were up to you, none of us would ever show up at your house. Probably how you kept this secret." Abby was glad to see that her boss was happy and loose. He never smiled at work, at least not willingly. Mac was good for him.

"You don't want me to stay here. I'll just be a bother, you'll be more about entertaining me than entertaining Mac." But Abby really didn't want to go home and wait by herself. "You've got a weekend off and I ruined it, Gibbs. You should be able to enjoy the rest of it."

He shrugged, a little uncomfortable. "There's work life and then there's not. You're the only one I can see in both. As long as Mac stays here and never comes in to the office."

She didn't understand. How could she? "Mac's a fixture here, Abby, for a lot of years. You didn't ruin anything. You stay, eat, drink, and wait for info. With us. Don't need to be alone tonight, Abbs."

His arm tightened around her shoulders. "Mac will move mountains for you, Abbs."

"Why? He doesn't even know me? I really appreciate what he's doing, but he didn't have to." Abby was so grateful, and planned on coming up with something super special to do for both men for helping out this way. "You said he's been a fixture here, but that doesn't mean he needs to do nice things for me."

"It's the type of guy he is, Abby. I care about you and he cares about me. Therefore, he'll move mountains for you. Get to know him and you'll understand."