Title: Abby in the Lab Chapter 2
Genre: NCIS – Romance/Science Fiction
Pairing: Abby and Gibbs
Rating: M. (and just how long did you think it was goanna remain at the lower ratings?)
Timeline: Season ten-ish. But is completely A/U… or is it?
Spoilers: They are there… but not obvious enough to be spoilers.
Summary: Double bubble and squeak, this potion is too weak… or is it?
Disclaimer: It's always more fun to play with someone else's toys.
A/N: Don't even look at the dates, I cringe…. I'm busy working through the backlog this weekend.
Written: June 2013 – July 2014
Published: July 2014
Language: International English.
Word Count: 3,098

*·.·´¯`·.·* *·.·´¯`·. GABBY .·´¯`·.·* *·.·´¯`·.·*

Abby dropped her notebook onto the coffee table and then helped Gibbs to settle on the couch, before stepping back and agitatedly twisting her fingers as she looked at him in concern.

A few moments later the front door opened, admitting Ducky, who carrying his case ambled over in his usual unhurried manner to where Gibbs sat. "Well now my boy, what have you been up to?" he asked as he placed his case on the table next to Abby's notebook.

"Drank something Abby was distilling." Gibbs flatly replied.

Ducky looked at Abby, lifting his one eyebrow in question.

"He was not even supposed to be there," she agitatedly replied, holding up her hands in defense.

"And what was in this… drink?" Ducky asked turning his attention towards Gibbs.

Abby shifted on her feet, "He drank a cocktail of protein sequences…" she started, which had Ducky again look towards her as she tried to find some means of explaining what Gibbs had drunk, without revealing the true extent of her experiment and the reason for the particular protein sequencing. She eventually picked up her notebook and handed it to him. "You will understand better if you read this."

Ducky took the notebook from her, and opened it.

"It's bookmarked." Abby said nervously pointing to certain sections in the book.

Ducky paged through the notebook, his eyes following the squiggles on the pages before nodding, "Your cocktail contained some DNA sequences," he said turning to look at her before closing the book. "The question now is whether his body would recognize them as foreign, and so fight against what his body will perceive as an invasion." Ducky then turned his attention to Gibbs, "And from his apparent flushed state, I'd say it has seen it as an invasion, with his immune system already fighting it."

"Stop talkin' 'bout me like I'm not in the room." Gibbs grumbled.

Ducky stepped over towards him, placing his hand against his head, while checking him over. "How much of your concoction did he consume?" he asked Abby as he continued his assessment of Gibbs.

"I'm not sure," she hesitantly replied, "I hadn't noted down how much had distilled before he drunk it."

"Now that is a bother." Ducky said reaching for his bag.

"It was about two shots worth," Gibbs said, righting himself on the couch, only for Abby to quickly move forward and place her palm against his chest to keep him down.

He was visibly flushed ant seemed to be gasping for breath as he spoke. "I ain't getting up Abbs." His one hand landed on the back of her thigh, just above the knee.

The warmth of his touch shot up her leg, causing her first to freeze and then for her lower abdomen to contract. Swallowing several times, his touch rooting her to the spot, she knew she should move so that Ducky could continue his assessment, she however did not want to break the contact. He had touched her so many times in the past, and every time his touch had felt like a brand… only this time it was more intense, possibly because the contact was skin to skin, and it was so close to where she has longed for him to touch her.

"Jethro, can you hear me?" Ducky voice registered with her, although seemed miles away. Even Gibb's reply, "Yeah Duck, nothing wrong with my hearing," seemed distant.

Gibbs's hand fell away from her leg just as Ducky replied, "Well that's good to know." He moved closer to Gibbs, causing Abby to step away. The area where Gibbs had touched her leg instantly cooled, the skin tingling as Abby just prevented herself from stumbling and slamming into Ducky, who was bent over, shining a light in Gibbs's eyes. She retreated to the other side of the coffee table and her heart tightened as she looked at him. It was hard not to feel the stirrings of arousal, although she hated the fact that she always had to beat them down whenever he touched her – not that he ever touched her like that in the past. It has always been on her shoulder or back, alternatively an arm wrapped around her… never in a sensual or sexual way – even that time he's massaged her leg, it had been all business. His touch has always been linked with comfort or encouragement. He never touched her in the way she really wanted… and it frustrated her.

She wanted to bask in the heat of his touch, but instead drew in a deep breath and steeled herself against the familiar sense of wistfulness that always befell her when their interactions became more personal – but never quite enough.

Ducky laid his hand on Gibbs's forehead again, while looking at his eyes, lowly uttering, "He's pupils are responding although he seems to be running a fever." before standing back to look at Gibbs, "You experiencing any sensations of pulmonary arrhythmia?"

"My heart's fine Duck, just hot." Gibbs said, once again trying to sit up, while pulling at his shirts.

"Well that is not uncommon, given your body's most likely response to foreign matter. We will have to keep you under observation for the remainder of the day." Ducky said turning towards Abby, "Abbigale, would you be as kind as to make us some tea, and bring a glass of water for Jethro so as I can administer some antipyretics."

Abby nodded her head and turned from the men, taking a deep breath as she moved from the lounge, only to hear Ducky ask, "Jethro my boy, you experiencing any hallucinations?"

"No, just hot," Gibbs replied and Abby heard some shuffling as she entered the kitchen.

"Well from the look of it your body is resisting the DNA, which is to be expected…" Ducky's answer was just audible enough at first for Abby to hear, but eventually faded, meaning he either had lower his voice or turned towards Gibbs.

Abby moved about the kitchen, well familiar with where Gibbs kept everything. It was another of those comforting familiar things about him, he never moved the stuff around, one could always find whatever you are looking for where ever you found it the last time.

She set to work on their tea, the murmuring of voices from the lounge was just so that she could not really make out what they were saying. It frustrated her, because she wanted to know. The same as she knew that she should note down all of the symptoms Gibbs displayed. Like it or not, willing or not, he had just become her first test subject. She just hoped that whatever was happening to him would soon pass because she did not want to see him suffer any severe side effects.

Abby returned to the lounge with a tray and their teacups, the scene before her stopped her dead in her tracks. Ker mind quickly kicked in, telling her not to drop the tray. The murmuring and shuffling she had heard had obviously been Ducky helping Gibbs out of the majority of his clothes, as the man in question was laying on the coach with only his white undershirt and boxers on.

Steeling herself, thankful that she had in fact not dropped the tray, she moved to place it on the coffee table, causing Ducky to look at her. "Thank you my dear."

"How is he?" she hesitantly asked pointing to Gibbs who remained unmoving on the couch, his eyes shut. The stilted rise and fall of his chest indicated that he was doing some kind of breathing exercises.

"His clothes felt confining, so I suggested he take off everything but the most essential. He says his skin is tingling." Abby nodded and picked up her notebook from the table again. Opening it and picking up her pen.

"You are going to keep track of his symptoms?" Ducky asked once she started writing.

Abby simply nodded in response and continued to scribble, murmuring, "Might as well."

Gibbs opened his eyes, turned his head and grunted, before shaking his head some and shifting his legs on the couch.

"Jethro?" Ducky asked in concern, "You feeling any pain?"

"No Duck, skin's tingling again."

"I'm going to give you a diuretic, it may speed the process some." Ducky said as he moved to his bag.

"What are you going to give him?" Abby asked moving closer to Ducky.

"I only have chlorothiazide with me at the moment," Ducky said extracting the package, "I'll give him a standard dose and then we can see what happens."

Abby nodded and stepped back scribbling in her notebook, trying to keep her attention focused on what she was writing. She had been around Gibbs in almost any state of dress, the most distressing had been the time he was in hospital scrubs, but never has she been around him while he had only the most essential on, and looked… aroused? On that thought she looked up at him just as Ducky was handing him the medication. He groaned as he shifted back into position on the couch reaching up this time to draw the cover over him.

Ducky helped him with it and Abby could not help but ask, "Is he cold."

She saw both men hesitate, however Ducky was the one to answer her, "It's for modesty my dear."

It took Abby a moment to hone in on the meaning and then gave a startled "Oh!" before again looking down at her notes, swallowing as she tried to scribble down the range of symptoms.

Ducky must have thought nothing of her predicament as he continued, "Even though you would approach it from a scientific perspective, I fear Jethro here is not as comfortable with the situation."

Abby just nodded her head in response, swallowing as she tried to regain her train of thought. On the one side, her concoction was working. On the other side being in the same room with Gibbs and Ducky, while Gibbs possibly would have liked some level of privacy to see to the matter – possibly call someone… some lucky woman who got to enjoy his arduous attentions – because she was not foolish enough to even think he would want her help with it, was hard.

"Right my boy, I just need to take your pulse and blood pressure and keep a close eye on you. If anything appears off I'm afraid we will have to take you to the hospital."

"Don't like hospitals," Gibbs huffed.

Abby remained silent and placed her notebook on the coffee table again. She picked up the cup of tea she made for herself and moved to sit on the other coach, watching Ducky and Gibbs. Her movement drew Ducky's attention who turned to look at the tray on the table, "Heavens, I forgot about our tea." He said turning to pick up his cup, he appreciatively sniffed the brew before lowering the cup, "Sadly it has gone cold."

"I can heat-it for you," Abby offered, standing from her seat.

"I'm afraid my dear I have never much liked heated tea, it is just not the same." He said returning the cup to the tray. Then tilted his head some, before asking, "Abigail, my dear, I know this research is important to you, but I have to ask, is there anything particular that I need to know about these DNA sequences?"

Abby shook her head, "There is nothing I can tell you. It's the first time I've extracted them, I have not even had a chance to look at them."

Ducky nodded at that, "I saw something about the P53 gene, and knowing your involvement with that one case and the arms dealer– "

"No!" Abby held up her hand to silence him, "No. this is nothing like that, I mean, yes it is supposed to target an individual on a genetic level but not to kill them!"

"What was it supposed to do?" Ducky asked.

Abby nervously swallowed at that, chancing a glance at Gibbs, "I haven't really decided, whether it would have a cell rejuvenation, possibly a reversion property, or if it would look at correcting things at a DNA Level."

Ducky gasped at her in shock, "Abby you're thinking of reverse engineering somebody's DNA?"

Abby shook her head, "No, No I'm not trying to create a fountain of youth, although it would be nice, I could retire a multi zillionaire, could see the attraction in that. I was thinking more in line with undoing genetic disorders, besides it would cost too much to treat an entire human body, but small things like heart defects in kids… If you could program their heart tissue to correct itself… if the DNA told the body that it should be different, think of the changes that could make, how many people would not die waiting for vital transplants.

"This is because of that one thing with your church?" Ducky asked,

"No. well maybe, I don't even know if it will work, it's all still only theory."

"Only Jethro has consumed a measure of this."

"Oh there is nothing altered to the DNA sequences I extracted this morning, well unless his eye color changes."

"Whose DNA did you extract?"

Abby swallowed before answering, "Mine," silently adding 'and his.'

"But that should not have done this to him." Ducky said turning towards Gibbs.

"I used almost a high concentration of alcohol as a preservative."

"He has a high tolerance for alcohol, so I would not fear alcohol poisoning, it however does explain the other symptoms."

"The altered levels of serotonin and dopamine could cause…" She did not finish instead glancing at Gibbs.

"Yes, it is not uncommon for alcohol to affect one in such a manner."

"Whatcha mean Duck?"

"Your… ah… condition Jethro," Ducky said uncertainly looking at Abby, "…could be as a result of the alcohol and not the actual protein sequences."

"So need to sleep it off, Gibbs deadpanned, fixing Ducky with a glare.

"Possibly," Ducky said.

"Well that's it then," Gibbs said sitting up. "Off with you both, I'll handle it."

Ducky uncertainly looked at Abby and then back to Gibbs before he spoke, "only if you promise to call if something is off."

"Don't I always."

"I'll keep my phone with me then. Come Abbigale, I don't think you need to document this, there has been enough research on alcohol's effect on the human body."

Abby looked between Ducky and Gibbs, nervously moving from one foot to the other, her glance falling on the tray on the table, "Let me just clean that up first," she said indicating to the tray,"…and maybe make him a sandwich."

Ducky nodded, "That could possibly help," and the gather up his goods while Abby picked up the tray and retreated to the kitchen. She silently washed up and leastened as they spoke, waiting for Ducky to leave before returning to the lounge.

"What would you like on your sandwich?" Abby asked casting a quick glance over Gibbs as he sat uptight on his couch, his phone in his hand, obviously going through the phone book. Abby felt a band tighten around her heart at that, her shoulders sagged as her eyes lowering to the notebook laying on the coffee table.

"Don't want one. Go home Abbs," he flatly instructed not even lifting his head to look at her.

"I can't do that, Gibbs, you need supervision."

"Dammit Abbs, go home, Now!"

"You know I can't do that," Abby said trying to reason, "What if something happens? There is no telling what might happen?"

"You and Ducky just discussed this, I will call ya if I need ya."

His words cut deep, deeper than they should have, deeper than they had a right to, but then she had always known that of him. She watched as he went through his call list, knowing it was not that long that it needed such perusal. All the team menders were on speed dial. She shifted her gaze to assess him again. The glazed expression in his eyes concerned her, it was almost as if he was looking at his phone but not really seeing anything. His skin was still flushed, and as much as she would have wanted to give him his space, the thought that he was gonna phone a woman, someone to take care of him crushed her. It was a whole lot different from knowing he had someone but not knowing the when.

Forgetting his harsh words, she replied, "You're flushed Gibbs, eyes unfocused, Ducky may be willing to leave you to your devices but I'm not. I'll make you a sandwich and give it another hour." She then turned towards the kitchen.

She heard him move, which was strange because he'd snuck up on her so many times in the past, but thought he'd relented and again settled on the couch. However Justas she was about to enter the kitchen she felt his hand clasp her arm. She was just about to object, knowing he was going to march her from his house, after all he was Gibbs, he would do such a thing, but instead found herself pushed against the wall pinned between it and his hard, aroused body.

His jaw was tightly clenched as he spoke, forcing the words out, "Go home Abbs, before I do something you really don't want."

The press of his body against hers, the look in his eyes, sent her heart racing. Heat flushed over her body as it instinctively responded to his presence and the promise of more, although she fought to keep her thoughts straight. She knew Gibbs could fight dirty, that he could get right in your face and in your space to intimidate you.

"Your heavy handed tactics don't scare me Gibbs, I'm used to them."

"Go, Abbs, now. Before something really stupid happens or I hurt you."

"You'll never hurt me," Abby said, her heart thumping in her chest.

He pressed his body against her harder, his erection pushing against her lower abdomen." "Hurt is not quite what meant."

Abby heard distress in his voice and did not like it one bit, and as always her concern for him won out in the end. "Call her, I'll stay out of your way, but I cannot leave you alone."

"Dammit Abbs," he seethed, pushing is forehead head against the wall next to hers, "don't make me do this!"

"Do what?"

"Go, before I rip that skirt off and give it to you any which way."

*·.·´¯`·.·* *·.·´¯`·. GABBY .·´¯`·.·* *·.·´¯`·.·*