Grok

Abby bounded down to Ducky’s lab excitedly. Her excitement over sharing the news of Tony and Jethro’s relationship had overcome her fear of autopsy at least temporarily.

“Ducky. Ducky!” Abby babbled excitedly. “I have the best news to tell you. Can you guess what it is? Oh wait where’s Jimmy? I’m only allowed to tell you, Ducky.” Abby glanced around nervously like she expected Palmer to magically appear out of a supply closet door.

“Mr. Palmer is not in, yet. But perhaps we should move this to my office if you wish to avoid being overheard.” Ducky suggested.

Nodding her head frantically, Abby went on. “Yes, yes. Let’s do that.”

Ducky opened his office door, ushering her in and locking the door behind her. He gestured for her to sit as he moved to make them both a cup of tea. “Settle down, dear girl. I grok that this must be something of great importance. So you must take your time to tell me. I wouldn’t want to miss out on any important details.” Handing Abby a cup of chamomile tea, Ducky settled in across from her with his own tea.

“Oh thank you, Ducky. I know a secret.” Abby babbled still talking fast as she held the teacup in her hand, but made no move to drink from it. “And I was sworn to secrecy, so I couldn’t tell anyone, but it’s been so hard and I begged them to let me share it with someone and they still won’t let me share it with anyone else, but they did give in and say I could tell you.”

Ducky nodded sagely still a bit unsure where this was going, but one of the benefits of years of experience was patience that allowed him to sit and wait for the answer. He knew Abby would eventually get to the point. “I surmise then that this has something to do with someone I know else they wouldn’t have suggested sharing it with me, correct, dear girl?”

“Oh yes. You definitely know them. I mean they’re Tony and Gibbs Gibbs Gibbs! How could you not know them?” Abby continued to babble on.

Ducky sighed. “Abigail, you simply must calm down.” Nodding his head to her tea, he stated. “Drink some of your tea maybe then you can calmly explain what Anthony and Jethro have to do with anything.”

Abby stopped babbling long enough to drink a sip of tea before continuing on. “Don’t you understand, Ducky? Isn’t this the best thing in the world?”

“I’m afraid I’m still not groking what you’re talking about, Abigail. I’m sure it is the best thing in the world, but you haven’t told me what it is, yet, dear girl.” Ducky countered.

“Oh. Oh!” Abby clapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry, Ducky, I meant Tony and Gibbs getting together is the best thing in the world.”

“Together, Abigail? They’ve always been together.” Ducky looked at her blankly.

“No, not together as in on the same team. Together together.” Abby wiggled her eyebrows to indicate the deeper meaning.

“Oh, you mean they’ve finally admitted they care about each other? Well that is good news. Thanks for telling me, dear girl.” Ducky nodded sagely.

Abby then proceeded to inundate poor Ducky with an onslaught of words covering how she found out and how cute Tony and Gibbs were when they watched the movie with her and how she knew they’d been on a boat for at least one of the dates recently.

After she seemed to run out of steam a bit, Ducky cut in. “Quite. Quite, dear girl. But you best run along to your lab before someone notices you’re missing. It wouldn’t do for them to get suspicious and question you, now would it?”

“Oh!” Abby’s eyes went wide with surprise as she glanced at the clock. “You’re right. I’ve already been down here too long. Thanks Ducky.” She called over her shoulder as she hightailed it out of autopsy and back to her lab.

Ducky himself stayed in his office for a while just thinking about what he found out. He would have to see for himself if this really was the good thing that Abigail thought it was. If there was any suspicion of either of them taking advantage of the other he’d have to put a stop to it. Though he didn’t think Jethro or Tony was a personality to do so, it was his job as their friend to make sure. Plus if he were to help cover for them with Vance, they would need to be able to prove it was not affecting the job if it ever came out.