Winter Squall

A/N: Part 3 of the Seasons tags (Part 1 is Summer of Extremes and Part 2 is Fall of Recovery, and part 4 will be Chasing Spring). Winter Squall will cover tags for Season 10 from episodes 9, Devil's Trifecta to 19, Squall. So this one is starting with her…

Chapter 1 - Not Alone

Gibbs smiled inwardly as he heard a second set of familiar and, this time, welcome footsteps overhead. He glanced up as Abby came through the door at the top of the basement stairs and leaned on the railing, smiling down at him.

"Is it safe?"

Gibbs chuckled, inclining his head. "Is now. You heard her leave."

"I did." Abby descended the stairs, coming over to wrap her arms round his waist, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Waited for her to go."

He hugged her back. "Didn't need to do that."

When Diane had arrived and steamed straight down to the basement, she hadn't seen Abby in the kitchen. Abby had stayed put, unwilling to show herself and trigger any difficult questions about what she was doing here, which Gibbs might not want to answer. Abby had no idea if Gibbs wanted his ex-wife to know about their relationship, or not.

So she'd hovered... for the first time feeling uncomfortable in this house which was rapidly starting to feel like a home to her, and it wasn't a feeling she enjoyed.

She'd overheard some of what Gibbs and Diane discussed and it made her feel worse... her gut churning as she realized the implications of what the redhead was angling for. It had been all Abby could do to keep quiet and not burst in to back up Gibbs' response to Diane's question, that he 'wasn't alone.' It was only the complete confidence with which Gibbs said it that made her hold back and gave her some comfort.

But Abby wasn't sure how much to confess to Gibbs, that she'd been eavesdropping on a private conversation.

"Kinda felt I did need to stay upstairs. Thought it'd be easier that way," she mumbled into his shoulder.

He pressed a kiss to her hair, tightening his arms round her. "Don't give a rat's ass about easy... Want you here. Not Diane."

She raised her head, a slow smile spreading across her face and she leaned in to kiss him softly.

It registered for the first time that not only was he wearing his NCIS cap but an old sweatshirt Abby had seen him wear occasionally, and which always made her want to cry. It was ragged and soft through being washed so many times, and with 'daddy' scrawled across it in paint and a child's hand prints all over it.

She smoothed her hands along his shoulders. "Looks you felt the need of some armour plating too... I love this sweatshirt."

If he was wearing this particular emotional Kevlar, then he'd obviously felt the need to send a message to Diane.

"It all helps," he acknowledged, ruefully.

The irony was, he doubted Diane had even noticed the familiar sweatshirt, which she'd seen during their marriage. She'd never liked him wearing it but even Diane had the sense not to make unfavourable comments about Kelly's present to her dad.

If Diane had noticed the sweatshirt tonight, she chose not to acknowledge it. But then that was Diane all over... if it was something outside her current preoccupation, she could be blind to almost everything else.

It was one of many differences between Diane and Abby.

Abby welcomed and embraced all his memories and mementos from his girls and wanted to know more rather than resenting any of them.

Abby moved away from him and started on a circuit of the workbench, trailing her fingers almost absentmindedly across the tools and Gibbs could see her sorting something through in her head. He went back to what he was working on, the front door to their cabin, content to wait her out until she was ready to talk.

She'd almost reached him again before she spoke but kept her eyes averted, drawing random patterns on the workbench. "Diane wants you back, doesn't she?"

Even if she hadn't overheard their conversation just now, there were other clues from the past few days about how Diane still felt about Gibbs... a few things the older woman had let slip, the way she looked at him when his back was turned, her reaction to the proposal Gibbs had repeated to get her to safety...

… and with the news that Victor was thinking of leaving Diane, it had Abby badly rattled.

She hated feeling this paranoid but their relationship was still new enough that she couldn't help second guessing herself, and wonder if Gibbs would think he'd made a mistake.

It wasn't that Abby didn't trust Gibbs' feelings for her, it was the force of nature that was Diane that scared her the crap out of her.

Gibbs eyed Abby warily. "What makes you say that?"

Abby shrugged, flicking a glance up and then away before he could register her expression. "A few things gave her away."

Gibbs sighed when she didn't elaborate, not sure what Abby wanted him to say. "Doesn't matter what she wants."

But he didn't deny what Diane wanted and Abby's heart sank.

"Doesn't it? Must be a lot of history between you... you must've loved her at some point. Maybe Diane figures there's still some of that left and you can try again."

She'd heard Diane talk just now about the last time she was in the basement, presumably last year, when apparently the redhead had accused Gibbs of never loving her. But judging from what she'd overhead, Diane had now decided she was wrong and Abby couldn't help wondering what had given her that hope... what had happened between them that Abby was unaware of.

Whatever it was, it only added to Abby's nerves.

"If she thinks that, she's forgetting I remember the divorce too." Gibbs waited but Abby didn't respond and nor did she meet his gaze.

Gibbs threw down the tool he held and walked towards her. Startled, she looked up as he suddenly appeared in front of her. He cupped her face, not liking the worry in her eyes. "Doesn't matter what Diane wants. Want you."

She stared at him for long seconds, before her expression softened. "Want you too."

"Then what's wrong... why the sudden doubt?"

"It's not doubt. I just…" Abby shrugged almost helplessly. "She's sophisticated, elegant, funny, beautiful… Why would any man choose me over her? She's…"

"Difficult, unpredictable, manipulative. Trouble with a capital T." He grabbed her hand and slid it into his hair above his ear to a spot she'd felt many times before, a ridged scar courtesy of Diane's golf club. "Feel that..."

Abby smiled softly, tracing the familiar outline. "Yeah, I know what that is. Of course I do."

"Well, that's Diane. You think I'd forget how that got there, all that led up to it and since?"

She swallowed as she saw the hurt in his eyes, smoothing his hair back as she pulled her fingers away. "I'm not doubting you, Gibbs. It's just..." Abby trailed off.

"Just what?"

She flinched at the note of annoyance in his voice and blurted out, conscious how lame it sounded. "I heard what happened at the wedding."

So that was it.

He should've realized.

"You mean the proposal. Is that what this is about?"

"Yeah, I..." She turned away from his grasp and waved her hands almost helplessly, unable to articulate what she meant. "Ziva told me what happened and Diane wouldn't stop talking about it later at work, about how it was the same proposal, the exact same words you used before... and I just... oh, I don't know what I thought."

Gibbs paused as he gathered his thoughts, conscious he was treading on eggshells. "Seemed easier to use it... wanted Diane's attention on me."

Abby huffed a soft laugh. "Oh, I imagine every woman in that room had their attention riveted on you... including the bride. Mine would have been. It's a wonder you didn't get crushed in the stampede."

"Didn't want Diane trying to get away from the guy herself and maybe getting shot. Too many people in there for a gun fight," explained Gibbs.

"I know in here," Abby tapped her head," it makes sense and I know it sounds silly now but for some reason, it hurt at the time... to know it was the same words, even if it was just for show."

"Wasn't gonna use what I'd said to… what I said before," Gibbs amended. "It was just… automatic to use the same."

Technically, he had four proposals he could have chosen from but he was hardly going to use the one that had meant the most.

Abby nodded, hearing the unspoken message about his first wife's proposal. "Yeah, I get that. I was so scared, I guess, about what it might mean... what Diane might take it to mean, that it might give her hope. I'm sorry... it's just..."

"Diane," he stated, flatly.

"Yeah... Diane. She just sort of whooshes through everything and everyone's lives like a steamroller... like some tornado at warp speed..." She began pacing, gesturing with her hands and despite her obvious distress, Gibbs had to smother a grin at the familiar picture. "She's like a hurricane or a typhoon... a whirlwind... a tempest, a cyclone, a twister, a squall, a gale... the oncoming freaking storm."

"Good description." He snagged her hand as Abby passed him and tugged her to a standstill in front of him.

She gazed up at him, resting her hands lightly on his chest. "And she's got Tobias all riled up for no good reason... and what about poor Timmy? She was just messing with his head."

Gibbs nodded. "Diane's idea of a little fun."

"Yeah, you see what I mean? What she did to Timmy was plain mean."

"He'll live." Gibbs smiled slightly. "Even if he does need therapy."

Abby giggled softly, her smile taking on a teasing glint and Gibbs was relieved to see it. "Point. Although you and Fornell did set him up… and I was wondering just how far you two would go to keep Diane out of your houses."

"Fornell's kitchen didn't have toxic black mould last time I looked."

"And your heater works just fine, Gibbs," Abby poked him in the chest and he smirked, shrugging. "Wonder how far you'd have gone… I can hear it now." She lowered her voice. "My house has burned down… just as soon as I can get home and set it on fire."

Gibbs grinned. "That was plan B."

Abby chuckled, leaning into him for a moment. "She even steamrollered me. I'm not sure what came over me."

"I noticed," he commented, dryly. He'd been surprised in Abby's lab that she'd told Diane the results first. "What Diane wants she usually gets."

Abby tilted her head. "Which brings me back to my original question... she wants you back. I'm right, aren't I?"

"And I told her I'm not alone and she's gotta let it go coz it's not gonna happen." He leaned in to kiss her softly. "There's only one woman I want and I'm looking at her."

TBC…