Chapter Text
After gathering her things, Abby headed up to the bullpen. Spotting McGee at his desk, clicking away at his computer, she slipped up behind him and leaned against his back with her head over his shoulder. “You ready to go?” she said into his ear.
Without hesitation, McGee shut off his computer game and grabbed his bag. Smirking, Abby grabbed his hand and lead him to the elevator. She’d have to talk to him about her conversation with Gibbs, but right now she was in a different sort of mood.
As the elevator doors shut, McGee reached over and pressed the button, leaning over Abby. “You want to hit the emergency stop, or shall I?” she asked, grabbing his shirt and pulling him toward her.
“Abby, we’re still at work,” McGee warned, more to give her a chance to opt out than because he was opposed to it. She just smiled, with a look in her eyes that drove him crazy, and kissed him. He kissed back fiercely, she wrapped her legs around his waist, and he pushed her back against the elevator wall.
When the elevator dinged the second floor, McGee knew he needed to stop, so he backed up and let her down. “That was very Tony-ish of you, Tim,” Abby said, wiping the traces of lipstick off of McGee’s mouth, still smiling devilishly at him.
As the exited the elevator they made a silent agreement to get into McGee’s car. Barely waiting a second, and not sure where his normal attitude went, McGee pulled her over toward him to deliver a powerful kiss in the front seat. He ended up pressed in between the seats with the center console jammed into his back, not that he really noticed. Abby ended up on top of him. She pulled away enough to breathe, noses still touching. “I love you, Abbs,” he said, panting slightly.
Abby smiled. “I know,” she whispered the cliché and kissed him again. McGee moved his kisses down her jawline and neck, unclipping her dog collar and managing to carefully place it on the dashboard while not removing his mouth from her skin. Eventually he made his way back up to her lips.
After an immeasurable amount of time, McGee mumbled into Abby’s mouth, “We should go.”
“Why? I’m comfortable,” Abby replied, not moving.
“Gibbs will notice if both of our cars are still here. You want him interrupting this?”
Abby groaned and got off of him. McGee chuckled, and did his best to drive safely to Abby’s apartment, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to do so, what with the smiles Abby kept sending his way and the hand that kept drifting over to his knee.
When they pulled up, Abby had barely time to get out of the car before McGee scooped her up bridal style. “Timmy, what are you expecting?” she teased.
“Absolutely nothing,” McGee said, blushing at his earlier conduct, and setting her on the couch.
“That’s disappointing,” Abby said, prompting more blushing.
McGee took a deep breath, “I’m sorry I—”
“Shut up, and do it again.”
~o0o~
Tony and Ziva headed home separately, after being duly chastised by the director for their kiss in the bullpen. They’d agreed that it would be better if they didn’t start out sleeping in the same bed every night. When they stood facing each other in the elevator that afternoon, they stood awkwardly, neither knowing what the other wanted. Tony had just opened his mouth to ask Ziva if she wanted to come over when she said, "Tony, I think it would be better if we do not make a habit out of sleeping together.” Tony laughed, and Ziva was quick to clarify, “I mean, I think that maybe we should take this a little slower, you know? The other night was a special circumstance, and maybe we can start slow and work up?”
“Oh,” Tony said shortly. “Right. Of course.”
So, Tony was headed home, mulling things over and wishing Ziva was in his passenger seat. He was a bit conflicted, as he didn’t want to move too fast and repeat past mistakes, but moving slow was killing him. But Ziva had asked to take it slow, so it really didn’t matter, did it, because he loved her too much to push anything anyway.
Ziva drove to her apartment, ignoring horns, and also deep in thought. She had been the one who suggested going slow, so why did she feel like it was the wrong decision? Something was nagging in the back of her mind. Muttering a few choice words at the next red light, she came to a stop and executed a perfectly illegal U-turn, speeding through traffic in the opposite direction.
~o0o~
After a lot more kissing (and blushing on McGee’s part), Abby and McGee ended up in her kitchen, eating ice cream. McGee had discovered early on that Abby was about as well stocked with ice cream as she was with Caf-Pow. For a few minutes, they stood face to face, leaning back against opposite counters and silently eating their ice cream. Then McGee spoke up.
“Abbs, I've been thinking.” She raised an eyebrow, but made no comment, so he continued.
“Before,” he said, meaning the first time they’d dated, “we ended badly, and I don’t know about you, but my heart was in a million little pieces by the time it was all over. I tried so hard to let you do your own thing, I didn’t chase you—”
“But I wanted you to,” Abby broke in softly.
“I know that now. I made a mess of the whole thing, so I just wanted to say that this is me following Rule 45.”
Abby’s eyes widened, “McGee, you’re scaring me, that’s the kind of speech someone makes before they propose, not when they’re just chatting over ice cream.”
McGee laughed, “Sorry, I just thought you should know.”
Abby laughed along with him, but later, after their empty bowls were put away and they were cuddling on the couch with the TV on some mindless show, she turned to McGee and said, “Would you ever consider it?”
“Consider what?” McGee looked down at Abby, who was leaning against his shoulder.
“Proposing.”
“Of course I’d consider it,” McGee answered immediately, “I mean, I don’t think either if us are ready for it now, but, yeah, eventually.”
“What do you think we are ready for, Timmy?”
There was an audible pause, “I hate to sound like Tony, but is this one of those questions women ask just to get men in trouble?”
Abby smiled and sat up to look at him, “No, it’s one of those questions women ask when they want their boyfriend to move in with them.”
“What?” McGee was completely surprised.
“You heard me, but what I didn’t hear is an answer, Tim.”
“Well, yeah, I want to! Are you sure you want me to?” McGee was quick to second guess her offer.
Abby just rolled her eyes and didn’t grace his stupid question with a response. McGee couldn’t stop smiling from that point until he told the news to the team the next morning. Gibbs’s warning head slap knocked the smile away for a second, but not long.
~o0o~
Ziva found herself once again nervously preparing to knock on Tony’s door thanks to a snap decision. She wasn’t sure if it should worry her that she seemed to be making a habit out of this.
Tony’s only comment when he opened the door was, “Well, this is a bit of déjà vu.”
Ziva smiled, “You have no idea.”
“So, you actually know what déjà vu means?” Tony asked teasingly, stepping back so she could come inside, but she stayed in the hall.
“My French is better than my English, Tony.”
“That’s funny, English isn’t my best language either, wanna know what is?” Tony continues bantering, but he was a bit confused as to why Ziva preferred to stay in the doorway. Was something up?
“The language of love?” Ziva arched and eyebrow.
“You read my mind, you insane little ninja. So, what’s up?” Tony asked, slightly nervously.
Ziva sighed, “I made a mistake, Tony, and didn’t follow a Rule.”
Crap, she’s gonna break up with me.
“I was driving home and I realized that in our line of work, well, we never know what might happen. I do not know about you, but I cannot afford to discount Rule 8.” Ziva pushed her hair out of her face, “If we take this too slow just because we’re afraid of going too fast, then something could happen and it could all be over,” she looked into his face, her eyes begging him to understand.
Tony, feeling incredibly idiotic for his earlier line of thought, grinned. “I completely agree,” he mock bowed to her and once more moved aside to let her in. This time she entered, grinning back at him. “I love you, Zi.”
“I love you too.”