Title: Beside You
Author: KouenTaisa [on ] Chedders
Rating: K+
Fandom: NCIS
Pairing: Abby/Gibbs
Status: Incomplete
Category: Drabble, Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Spoilers: None
Summary: If your heart wears thin I will hold you up, and I will hide you when it gets too much. I'll be right beside you.
A/N: This idea just popped into my head and it won't go away. I'm sorry that it's horribly vague, but I think it's going to be a small mini-series.

When your tears are spent on your last pretense
And your tired eyes refuse to close and sleep in your defense
When it's in your spine like you've walked for miles
And the only thing you want is just to be still for a while - Marianas Trench

She was sitting on her futon in the sanctum of her lab, legs pulled tight to her chest. Gibbs paused in the doorway, his eyes taking in everything, but his focus stays on her. Caf-Pow cups are everywhere, and Bert is within arms reach, but she doesn't really seem to notice. Her face is buried against her knees, but he can see the slight tremors running through her body and his chest tightens. He should've come sooner. He wanted to come sooner, but the loose ends kept him away.

Moving without a sound, Gibbs kneels beside her, letting his fingers run along the exposed skin at the back of her neck. She doesn't acknowledge his presence with words and the sudden warmth of her body against his is not unexpected. Closing his eyes, he allows his fingers to run up and down her back in a soothing motion, not trusting himself to speak when he knows that words won't be enough. The minutes tick by and eventually she shifts beside him, hiding her face against his shoulder. She isn't crying anymore, and he doesn't know if that scares him worse than when she was.

He has already broken so many rules today that it only seems natural to sign how he feels against her back. The apology is just as silent as the breakdown that caused it. She fists his shirt in her hands, unwilling or unable to sign back to him. Unable or unwilling to speak the words that he dreads, but wants to hear nonetheless. She hasn't slept at all during the entire case and he knows that she is exhausted. He wants to voice his concern. He wants to take control and command her to lay down and go to sleep, but he knows that it won't happen that way. It rarely does.

Instead, he continues to shift around until he is lying back on the futon and her body is resting on top of his. It's warm and her weight is heavy, but not uncomfortable. Brushing his lips against the top of her head, he keeps his arms wrapped around her body, instilling his warmth into her. Abby already has everything else of his. She has his heart and his soul, and it only seems natural to give her apart of this as well. She's Abby and he is Gibbs, and in this moment, he wants to give back to her the one thing she's always given him.

Life.