Disclaimer: Only own the plot.
Pairing: Um, post-Gabby, I suppose.

And I threw Tony in because I see this as a post Kate and I think that Tony and Abby are close friends.
Written after reading the lyrics to crashing down by Sugarcult.

XxXxXxXxXx

Abby was six hours late for work, and the messages were piling up.

She almost expected them to come knocking on her door. But Gibbs wouldn't let them of course.

She was strong, but could only be strong for so long. So why wouldn't she snap then he broke her?

Four months.

Four months were all it had taken to build her up and tear her down. She new the rules. She knew romances at work never, well, worked. But she hoped. She hoped beyond any hope she ever had before that they would work. That her black hair would break his redhead curse. But it didn't.

He left her.

And she was alone.

And that's all that mattered.

He hasn't called. Even Palmer left a message, but he hasn't. She set her machine to instant voicemail, having it play aloud with the volume up all the way so she could hear it in every room. But she hasn't heard the voice that she wants. She hasn't heard the words that she wants.

She feels her breath hitch now.

Too much blood on the floor. She was hoping to last a bit longer. Feeling vindictive and wanting him to see her at her dying breath. To see what he did to her. To see how he broke her. Made her whole world come crashing down.

She knew she couldn't face him after. Not when she loves him and he gave up on her. He promised to always be there, but where was he now? At work, without her.

She slumped further onto the floor, taking a last look at her arm. Her last work, her last piece of art. Her last bit of rage at him forsaking her.

She loves him.

She tries to clear the fog in her mind, tries to remember when she first loved him. She can't remember. Can only remember how quickly the realization came to her at work one day that she did love him. Had for so long, just never realized it.

She thought he loved her too. He didn't. Maybe he even thought he did. But he left her in the end. It was funny. She was used to doing the leaving. But in way, she guessed she was.

She smiled.

There was knocking at the door.

In her final moment she hoped with love that it wasn't Tony, and with an equal hurt that it was Gibbs, who would look down on her broken form.