Summary: Driving to Stillwater for Christmas, Gibbs and Abby get caught in a snowstorm and end up stranded at a motel.

A/N: Written for the Gabby Shipper Forum 2011 Secret Santa exchange for bbfan

Gibbs surveyed the full trunk of his car and turned to Abby as she approached. "Sure you got everything?"

"I know, I know. I probably brought too much," she answered with a note of embarrassment.

Gibbs snapped the trunk lid closed. "Not a problem, Abbs. Just askin'." He walked around to the passenger side to open her door but she moved in front of him.

"You sure it's okay that I'm coming with you?"

He saw the concern in her green eyes. "Jack asked about everyone, to make sure no one was left alone this Christmas. He especially asked about you."

"He did?" she said with genuine surprise.

As she stepped to the side, Gibbs pulled her door open. "Yep," he answered then leaned closer to her ear and spoke softly, "You know, you're his favorite."

Her eyes quickly dropped to stare at the black pavement as a small smile graced her lips. She turned to slip inside the car, but instantly spun to face Gibbs again, her braided pigtails flying out and nearly clipping him across the nose. "But is it okay with you that I'm coming?"

He rested a hand behind her on the roof of the car. "Abby, are you looking for an excuse not to come?"

"No!" she answered quickly. "I just… feel like I'm intruding on your holiday with Jackson."

Leaning forward, Gibbs pressed his lips gently against her cheek. "You're not. It feels very natural that you're coming with me."

The kiss warmed her insides and the sparkle of Gibbs' bright blue eyes was too intense for her to linger. Quickly, she ducked inside the car, acknowledging to herself that it did feel quite natural for her to be going home with Gibbs for Christmas. She had that feeling because she was in love with the man, but of course he didn't know that. So why did it feel natural to him, she wondered.

Gibbs slid in behind the steering wheel and paused a moment before starting the engine. "You're thinking too hard," he said, glancing her way.

Abby looked up and saw a different expression on Gibbs' face. He was relaxed and… happy. "Just… uummmm, making sure I didn't forget anything."

Starting the engine, he pulled away from the curb and they were finally on their way. "No more worrying. Let's just enjoy ourselves."

"It's going to be so nice not having to spend Christmas alone in my tiny apartment. But y'know, I feel guilty. You could've… should've left hours ago." She nibbled on her bottom lip.

"Never considered it, Abbs. You were gonna come with me and that's all there was to it," he stated with a finality.

Abby had had to work late to finish running some important tests for Balboa's team. He didn't mind in the least having to wait for her, although now he was a bit concerned about the wintry weather that was forecasted to move into Pennsylvania overnight. It was supposed to be a heavy snowstorm moving out of Canada, sweeping across The Great Lakes. The exact path of the storm was still unpredicted. The weather people couldn't get an accurate read on the storm track until it actually moved across Lake Huron and Lake Erie. And by that time, Gibbs hoped to be in Stillwater.

"You think they have snow in Stillwater?" Abby asked, breaking into his thoughts.

Gibbs smiled. "It's December in Pennsylvania, Abbs. You can almost count on it."

She looked dreamily out her side window. "I'd like to go for a nice walk on Christmas night; look at all the lights put up around town."

Reaching over, he grasped one of her hands. "Sounds good. We'll do that together, okay?"

Abby felt a tingle rush up her arm as he gave her palm a light squeeze. "Better then okay," she answered with a smile in his direction. When he didn't withdraw his hand, she was surprised and pleased. It felt awfully nice having her hand ensconced within his large warm one and resting easily on her thigh.

Holiday traffic was heavy and it took them an hour to get past the northern Washington D.C. suburbs. Gibbs eventually turned onto a two-lane county road with considerably less traffic. He was no longer holding Abby's hand, having to negotiate several turns, but now the road stretched ahead and he wished he could reach over and feel her delicate fingers slide across his palm and entwine with his.

Abby's voice broke his train of thought. "Shouldn't we be on the interstate?"

"Too much traffic. We'll make better time with this route," he answered.

"You won't get lost?" she inquired and he gave her THAT look for a response. It was a look that made most people want to shrink and hide, but Abby had never been intimidated by his silent glare. "Well, I'm just asking. How many times have you actually driven from DC to Stillwater? And of those times, how often have you not taken the interstate?"

"Do you want me to lay the route out for you, Abbs?"

"No, I trust you."

Gibbs smiled and nodded as he kept his eyes on the road. "You're the co-pilot, so you run the controls," he stated as he motioned with his hand towards the radio and heater.

"You sure you want to let me control the radio?" she asked with surprise.

He repeated the words she had said just moments before. "I trust you."

Over the next hour, they talked easily about Christmas, Stillwater, work, and the plans that the rest of their friends had made for the holiday. Abby was relating a conversation she had had with Toby Fornell when suddenly she stopped mid-sentence and slowly said with awe, "It's snowing, Gibbs."

"Yeah, I noticed," he responded with an air of concern.

"Oh, I hope it doesn't stop." Abby put her hands together as if in prayer. "Please, please, please, let it keep snowing. I hope it snows all night and all day tomorrow."

"I hope it quits until we at least get to Jack's," he grumbled.

"Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed, "What would Christmas be like without snow?"

"Like it usually is, where you come from. I don't like driving on snowy icy roads."

"I expect a white Christmas, but you're right," she agreed. "Let's get there first."

Gibbs didn't let his concern show, but within the next half hour, the weather quickly changed. The wind had turned gusty and the snow turned from thick downy flakes to icy pellets. The temperature continued to steadily drop.

As the snow began to build up on the highway, Gibbs had slowed his speed. Abby's eyes were riveted to the road, shocked by the severe snowstorm they had driven into. She took a second to glance over at Gibbs. "You doing okay?"

"I'm fine," he assured. "Just taking it slow and easy." The highway was a sea of snow, with the markings no longer visible and as the wind came in great gusts, there were intermittent white-outs. Gibbs was simply guiding his car by keeping it between the ditches. He was hoping that there would be a break in the storm so they could at least make it the rest of the way. "We should be coming to the interstate pretty soon. Hopefully the plows are keeping that cleared of snow."

Abby had never experienced such raw and wild winter conditions out on a highway. It was nerve-racking and stressful, trying to peer through the whiteness into the dark night.

Within a few minutes, Gibbs was carefully easing his way down the on-ramp to the larger highway, which had obviously been plowed and salted. "This is a little better," he stated with relief.

Feeling better with the safer road conditions, Abby started to relax. "How long can we stay on this?"

Still hoping for a temporary break in the storm, Gibbs confessed, "Not long. Maybe ten miles at the most."

"This isn't good, Gibbs. I don't think we're not going to make it."

"Sure, we'll make it, Abbs," he stated with far more confidence than he felt.

"How much further?"

He hesitated. "We haven't quite made it to Pennsylvania yet."

Abby dropped her chin and rolled her head from side to side. "We are SO not going to make it," she mumbled.

When Gibbs steered his car off the plowed four-lane highway and onto a snow-drifted narrow country road, he was beginning to wonder if Abby was right, but he tried to keep a positive attitude. "I think the snow is starting to let up."

Leaning forward, she turned to look closely at his face. "Just checking to make sure you still had your eyes open," she said, shifting her gaze back towards the road. "Because it looks to me like it's getting worse. Isn't there a town around here somewhere?"

Gibbs could feel his car hesitate as it hit each snowdrift. "Back by the highway there was a town. Why?"

"Maybe we should go back and stay there for the night."

"Not an option, Abbs. Things aren't that bad yet."

Looking out at the blowing snow, Abby had to disagree. She knew it was the Marine in Gibbs that kept him driving forward. Never give up. Onward and upward. Do or die. Well… scratch that last one. Thirty minutes passed and they weren't making much headway.

"You see those lights ahead?" Gibbs suddenly asked.

Abby squinted as she tried to peer through the wind-driven snow. "Yeah, I saw them, just briefly. What do you think they are?"

"Hopefully a snowplow we can follow."

It wasn't until they were nearly upon the lights that Abby announced, "It's the police."

"State Trooper," Gibbs confirmed. The officer was standing beside a barricade, waving his arms. When they came to a stop, the man hustled over to their car and snow billowed inside the warm interior as Gibbs lowered the window. "What's going on?"

The trooper had to shout over the roaring storm. "This road is closed. Drifted shut."

"Closed?"

The officer shined his flashlight directly into Gibbs' face. "Yeah, as in not open." He then focused his light on Abby. "You'll have to take Highway 84 east here."

Gibbs dropped his gaze to the dim lights on his dashboard. "That's out of our way. We need to head west."

The state trooper pulled his collar up tighter around his neck. "This is your only choice, buddy. A plow just went up 84 about five minutes ago."

"Alright, thanks," Gibbs responded and quickly rolled up his window. "Well, what d'ya think, Abbs?"

The interior of the car had cooled considerably and Abby briskly rubbed her hands together. They watched the trooper wade through knee-deep drifts back to his squad car. "We should follow the plow," she finally answered, "and we need a motel for the night. The sooner the better."

Gibbs could hear the resignation in her voice. For the past two hours they had been struggling through the storm in the dark winter evening; both concentrating on the road, peering into the white snow, watching it blow in gusts across the road and against their windshield. He could feel the tightness in his shoulders and fatigue in his eyes. Travelling under these conditions was exhausting.

Reaching over, he took her hands in his and felt the iciness of her slim fingers. He rubbed them gently between his rough palms. Her weary green eyes looked at him and he immediately felt guilty for putting her through this. He should have stopped at a motel an hour ago and now he wanted to kick himself for the tired and worried look he saw on her face. "You're right, Abbs. We'll stop for the night at the first place we see. I'm sorry."

Abby's eyes grew round. "Don't say that! This storm isn't your fault. Don't go soft on me now, Marine." Her lips and eyes crinkled into a smile.

He had never met a woman more forgiving. "I shouldn't have pushed so hard." Bringing her warmed hands to his mouth, he pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles. When he looked up, her head was bowed forward and it would have been so easy to lean in and kiss her beautiful lips in re-assurance.

Instead, Gibbs released her hands and turned the car onto the road headed east. Twenty minutes later, he pulled into a small road-side traveler's motel. The cars in the parking lot were almost indiscernible, laden with snow. After turning off the engine, he and Abby both gave heavy sighs.

He chuckled when she giggled. "Let's just hope they have a couple of rooms for us," he stated.

"They better, Gibbs!" Abby said adamantly. "I'll sleep in the lobby if I have to."

"Let's hope not," he responded and turned his body towards her. "Okay, here's the plan. We'll get out, get what we need from the trunk, and you follow behind me. Let me make a path through the snow for you. But stay close so you don't lose me. Hang on to my coat or something. Ready?"

Abby gave a firm nod. "Ready."

A/N: To be continued…