AN: This is it. Hopefully I can still throw a surprise in with this chapter.

After the guilty pleas were formally entered in the courtroom, and the sentencing scheduled, Tony tried to find time to meet with Abby. Unfortunately, between their work and prior engagements, another week had passed before they could get together.

Tony walked in his apartment building and saw the super in the hallway. "Hey, Bob," he called.

"Yeah?"

"I just want to let you know that my father has been served with a restraining order. He is not legally allowed in this building. If you let him in again, I will arrest you myself."

"Hell, Tony, I never thought about him causing trouble," Bob said. "He talked about how you never came to see him, how lonely he was for you. Just trying to help the fella out."

"What you did was help him put me in the hospital." Tony leveled a stern stare at the old man. "Do not let him in this building again. If you see him, call the cops. Call me. Call someone, but do not let him in."

"Okay, okay. It's not like I knew he was like that."

Sighing heavily, Tony tried not to take his anger out on Bob. "Look, I'd have thought that me constantly changing my locks would've been a clue. Or the fact that I threw him out last Christmas. Or any of the other things."

"Come on, Tony. I know you don't get on with him that well, but throwing him out?"

"He's an abusive old drunk. Take it from me. He's had more than enough chances already. Don't make me arrest you."

He ignored the rest of Bob's complaints, gathered his mail, and went upstairs to his apartment. His anticipation of spending time with Abby had been dampened by having to deal with the old man. Bob was sentimental and sympathized with Senior's games because he was lonely himself. His kids all moved out of DC as soon as they could get out, and they didn't come back to visit. However, Bob wasn't an abusive alcoholic, and that made a huge difference. The threat was real, though. On the off chance that Senior managed to worm his way out of prison early, he wasn't about to risk the man sneaking back into his place.

Tony changed out of his work clothes and into something more comfortable, namely a pair of comfortably worn jeans, an old Ohio State tee shirt, and his fuzzy purple LSU socks that Abby had gotten him for his birthday several years ago. He was looking forward to getting to spend time with his friend.

Most of the efforts on his memories had been work focused. That made sense, as he had psych and physical exams coming up soon. He had the itch to get back into the field. Working in the office had been good for him, but he was needed the balance and normality of doing what he excelled at, being a field agent.

He smiled at the knock on the door and walked over and unlocked it. Abby was standing on the other side, wound tightly as a spring but quietly containing it. "Come on in."

"Thanks," she said. Once inside, she let him take her coat and curled up in a chair.

"How are you?" they asked together, then laughed at their timing. He nodded to her. "You first."

"I'm okay," she said. "How are you?"

"Better. Relieved that Senior took the deal. I wasn't real thrilled about the idea of his sleazy lawyer beating me up over the fact that I can't process memories like I used to be able to. It sucks enough having to deal with that at work. Having to admit to that in public … Not good."

"I'm sorry, Tony."

This was the not-so-fun part. "For what?"

"I took your dad's side. So many times. I knew what you'd said about him, but after I met him, I thought that you must be exaggerating. There's no way that sweet man was capable of doing what you'd said he'd done. So I ignored what you'd said. Yes, I know. I'm wrong. Ducky told me about how wrong I was. But when I saw him smash that bottle over your head, I finally saw what you'd told me about."

"What did you do, exactly?" he asked. He'd heard her statement through Gibbs, and he'd seen her go off at a couple of the clubs they'd gone to, but he needed to hear it from her.

"I, uh, I kinda … tackled him," she said, her voice trailing off until the final words were nearly inaudible.

"You tackled my father."

"Yeah."

"You tackled my father."

"Um, yeah."

"That's my girl," Tony said with a smile. "Come here." He opened his arms wide.

A shy grin lit her face and she lunged into his embrace. "Oh, Tony, I was so afraid that after all I did that you'd never forgive me, or worse, you'd forgive me because you thought I expected you to. I love you so much, and I never meant to hurt you so much. I never meant to hurt you at all."

"I know, Abby. You were one of the first bunches of memories that came to me. I could hear stuff going on around me, even though I wasn't really able to figure out where I was. I could hear you, telling me how sorry you were and how much you loved me."

"I do love you, Tony," she said, sitting up so she could look him in the face. "I love you so much, and I was so horrible to you and I-"

Tony shut down her flow of words by kissing her right on the mouth. He felt her shock, which deepened as he continued teasing, tasting.

Abby was frozen stiff. Tony was kissing her! Really kissing. Really, really kissing. It was about that point that she stopped thinking.

The kiss lasted for a couple long moments. They drew back and stared at each other.

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but where did that come from?" Abby asked softly.

Tony's eyes widened. "You kept telling me you loved me."

"Oh. Well, okay."

"Do we not … do that?" he asked, confusion on his face.

She hesitated. "Not really."

"Oh." He hesitated for a moment. "Abby, I can remember going dancing with you, cuddling up and watching movies, even sleeping in your bed. And you kept telling me how much you love me." Tony frowned. "Am I missing something?"

Abby grew still. "Oh. Well, yeah, I can see where that would be confusing. But Tony, we've never, never kissed like that before."

"Was it bad?"

"No! It was good. Really good. It's just that we've never done that."

The slow, sexy smile she'd seen him use with devastating effects slid into place. "Maybe we should, then. You know, try it again."

A shy grin started to appear on her face before he kissed her again. Abby had never seen Tony as anything more than someone to pal around with, to flirt harmlessly with. He was her friend, and she loved him dearly. However, as this kiss deepened and lengthened, she honestly wondered why this aspect of their relationship had never once been explored.

Tony felt her grow pliant as he continued the kiss. He spent a brief moment searching through his memories, realizing that the only kisses he remembered were pecks on the cheek, but the idea had been planted, and he couldn't deny that kissing Abby was a wonderful thing to do.

His hands slid from her shoulders to her back, gently pulling her toward him. When one hand slid up the back of her neck to cradle her head, she moaned, and he used that encouragement to guide her in to a deeper kiss.

Her hands had been laying in her lap, stunned by the kiss, but when she felt his hands moving, she got brave enough to mimic his motions. Sliding her arms around him, she hugged, feeling the same solid, muscular physique she'd commented on when he'd risked himself to save her from Ari's bullet.

That started a cascade of thoughts, and she gasped and pulled back. "Gibbs!"

"We're kissing and you think of Gibbs?" He blinked in confusion. "What about him?"

"Don't you remember his rules? Number twelve?"

"Yeah, I do, Abby, but NCIS regulations do not prohibit coworkers from dating, particularly when said coworkers are in different departments. Do you honestly think that Gibbs would blast me for dating someone in HR, or accounting, like he blasted me for dating Paula or E.J.?"

She considered that. "Probably not. Rule Twelve does seem to apply more to agents than anything else."

"Besides, if we decide to continue with what we've started here tonight, which I would really like to, his rules really don't apply to me. They're his rules. I know he expects his agents to obey them, and honestly, most of those rules are just common sense, so I do follow many of them. Like always carry a knife.

"But when it really comes down to it, Jethro Gibbs does not have any say in my love life. Or yours, for that matter."

"Oh." Abby thought about it. It was true; there were several married couples working within NCIS. Joseph Garcia worked as a janitor, and his wife Inez worked as an admin. The Reillys both worked in legal. She started to relax.

"Is he enough reason for you to stop this?"

"No. You're a great kisser, although I suspected you would be. I've seen you at work before." She shrugged. "It's just …"

"Weird?"

"More of an adjustment than weird. I mean, you've been in my life, close in my life, for so long that … Well …" She saw his silent entreaty to finish her thought. "I guess it's just me trying to figure out why we haven't done this before."

Tony smiled. "I think Rule Twelve has influenced you more than you think."

"What about Ziva?"

"What about her?"

Abby shifted and frowned. "Well, I know she's gone crazy and all, but you guys still have your thing going and all."

"Wait, what?" he asked, blinking in confusion. "What thing?"

"You guys sleeping together. I mean, I don't need exclusivity, but I try to aim for it." She stopped when she saw the shock on his face. "You and Ziva aren't exclusive?"

He shook his head wildly. "Me and Ziva aren't anything. I've never slept with her, and quite frankly, I never intend to."

"What? But she said…"

His expression grew icy. "What exactly did she say?"

Abby hesitated, concerned by his cold reaction. "She said you guys had been sleeping together regularly for a long time. She even talked about you, kind of ranking you, I guess."

"Did she?"

She shivered, not liking how the conversation had turned, even though she was the one who'd steered it. "Yeah. She said you were pretty good, although you talked a better game than you played."

Tony snorted and shook his head. "Bet she was talking about Senior. They've been banging every time he comes to town." He saw Abby's look of shock and smiled wryly. "Don't you think I can tell when my father is sleeping with someone? I've known since the first time he showed up that he gets Ziva into bed every time he can. They're not particularly subtle about it, either.

"And Abby, if you thought that Ziva and I were sleeping together, why didn't you throw Rule Twelve at me then?"

She blushed, caught that she hadn't really considered the double standard there. "I guess I was kinda pulling for you guys. You look good together."

"I need so much more from a woman than looking good together." He sighed and shook his head. "I guess we do need to talk more out. How about you and McGee?"

"What about us?"

"With him remaining at NCIS, and since you guys dated, will that be a problem?"

She shook her head until her ponytails flew. "Oh, no. There is definitely no thing left between me and Timmy."

He sighed again, pulling her close. "How about one more kiss, then we talk, and then we get something to eat? Or do you want to eat, then talk?"

"How about order, talk, talk while eating, then watch a movie?" She looked at him, shyer than she usually was in his presence. "We can still talk later. I think we've got most of the bad stuff out."

"Yeah." They settled on the takeout before returning to their conversation.

"Abs? I know you regret doing it, but why didn't you believe me when I said stuff about Senior?"

She looked down and squirmed. "He was so nice. And charming. I could see where you got your charm, although in retrospect, his came off as kinda slimy. Anyway, Ducky pointed out that I was too naïve, that I bought into his conman stuff too easily. And I did. I hate to admit it, but I did."

"He's conned a lot of people, many much more cautious and cynical than you." He felt her stiffen against him. "That's not an insult, Abby. You are open and caring and you want to believe the best of everyone. There's nothing wrong with that. You just need someone who can help you temper that reaction. If you continue this way, you will get taken in by someone who will hurt you."

"Like you or Gibbs?"

"Yeah." Tony smiled. "But even Gibbs got taken in, to some degree."

"What?"

"You think Gibbs would've let him strut around like he owned the place if Senior hadn't sweet-talked him into it? I know Jethro Gibbs doesn't let the world know when he gets taken for a ride, but it does happen."

"Oh." Abby didn't feel quite so bad knowing that even Gibbs could be fooled. "Is that why he didn't just shoot him on sight?"

"Maybe," Tony said, trying to deflect the question. Then he grimaced. "Probably. Gibbs knows more about my background with Senior than I'm comfortable with. He knew about the abuse, about how I got disowned. He knew about my mom committing suicide. But it was easy to ignore that, especially the way I acted. I worked hard to throw everyone off."

"Even your friends, who should've known better."

"Yeah, even you guys." He shifted. "Although it's not like McGee or Ziva had much sympathy for me, anyway."

Abby stiffened again. "I can't believe that they did all those things to you. I mean, why did they try to hurt you so much? Are they really that jealous?"

"McGee? I think maybe he was, at least for a while. Ducky said he opened his eyes about me."

"Ducky said the same to me."

"As for Ziva? I think she's been used for so many years, by Mossad, by Eli, by Senior, that she just broke."

She heard the sadness in his voice. "Did you love her?"

"No, that wasn't it. She was my partner. I tried to like her, but she just never struck me as genuine. She was so, I don't know, back and forth. One day she'd be sweet as sugar, the next she's threatening to kill me." He frowned. "I think that psych evaluation said something about being bipolar. But whatever it was, I couldn't quite accept her like she wanted.

"Also, she flaunted the sex appeal thing a little too much. I mean, I know I tried to play up like I was into the casual sex thing, and maybe that's why she took that angle with me. But I grew out of that phase long before I got to NCIS." He laughed. "It sure pissed off Kate, though."

"Everything pissed off Kate," Abby agreed. "It was fun to wind her up and let her go."

"Fun for you, maybe. But it seemed like I got accused of sexism every time I breathed. That gets old real fast. Anyway, with Ziva, it was like she needed to control me, and she got pissed when I wouldn't let her."

Abby thought about that for a minute. "That's possible. Whenever we went out, she always wanted to choose where we went, what we did. And she always left with a guy before I was done."

"You mean you were left at those clubs alone?"

"Sometimes. But when she chose the club, I usually took a cab about the time she left. Her clubs were a lot more tame than mine, although I didn't tell her that. The one time I said something, she got mad and didn't go out with me for months."

"The problem is she expected me to fall for her act, and I didn't want to. She is a beautiful woman, but there is no way I'd want to crawl into bed with her." Tony dropped another kiss on the top of Abby's head. "I'm much more interested in seeing if I can take those images of you and expand on them."

"Tony, I've never thought of you like that."

"Never?"

She blushed. "All right, not never. But that attraction seemed like a dead end." Glancing up at him, she said, "I'm not exactly your type."

"And what type would that be?" he asked quietly.

"Gorgeous and smart, like Jeanne. Or ballbusters like Paula."

Tony was quiet for a long moment. "I loved Jeanne. I can't deny it. That relationship was as star-crossed as any of Shakespeare's. Even as I wanted to make a life with her, I knew, somewhere in the back of my head, that it wouldn't work. Paula?" He frowned. "I'm a little sketchier on Paula. I have the memories, but they won't connect as smoothly as they do for Jeanne. Or you."

"Tony, I'm interesting looking, at best. I'm too tall, too geeky, too goth, too … everything. I'm not exactly glamorous."

"Maybe not, but you're Abby. The woman who's been by my side for all these years. And I have always thought you were quite lovely." He smiled and laid his fingers over her mouth to stem her protest. "I admit, you don't have traditional beauty, but let me tell you, that year you dressed up for Halloween as Marilyn Monroe, you were a stunner. And that is in the traditional way.

"So the fact that you choose to dress the way you do just makes you a little more special, a little more Abby."

She grinned and snuggled into his chest. "Maybe we can watch a movie now. We've talked a lot."

"Comedy, drama, action, classic, or rom-com?"

"Whatever. You pick."

Tony chose The Fifth Element, and they snuggled on the sofa.

NCIS~GOOMH

The next evening, Gibbs was in his basement, working on his boat. He heard the footfalls creak overhead, and blinked in surprise when it took him a second to recognize them as Tony's. It had been far too long since he'd visited. Or, more likely, Gibbs thought with a disgusted grimace, since he'd felt welcome. Either way, Tony was back.

He cleaned out two mason jars. Tony made his way down the stairs and took a seat, just as he had in the past.

"Drink?"

"No, thanks."

Gibbs shrugged and went back to running the planer across the planks. He waited for Tony to speak, and was relatively surprised when the younger man was silent. Glancing over, he saw his second sitting, watching him with interest.

This new Tony was a lot quieter than the old one. He didn't talk for the sake of noise anymore, and rather surprisingly to Gibbs, he took no crap in the office. His method of dealing with Ziva by poking her, daring her to do something, then quietly putting her down had been the most obvious break in behavior. However, his quiet dealing with McGee, especially since the agent had taken the position in Cyber Crimes, was as large a deviation, if not as public.

Tony simply operated as if he had the respect of anyone and everyone who crossed his path, respect that he had earned over his tenure at NCIS. He did deserve it, and calmly and quietly corrected anyone who tried to treat him like the old Tony. Apparently, the old Tony was gone for good.

So Gibbs let him sit until he was ready to talk. He gestured toward the sandpaper and was pleased when Tony picked up a piece and silently took direction from the older man about which pieces to work on. They worked in silence, and Gibbs smiled. This was good.

"You do realize that your rules aren't truly enforceable on me, right?"

Gibbs stopped, shocked, and stared at Tony.

"Most of them are good, common sense rules, and as such, are easily followed. Never screw your partner. Always carry a knife. Never involve lawyers."

"So which one are you tossing to the wind?"

Tony met his gaze squarely. "Number Twelve."

Gibbs thought furiously about who he could be dating, or interested in dating. There was the new agent on Reynolds's team, the blonde. She was pretty but Tony hadn't showed much interest in her. There was the redhead in accounting; she was attractive, too, but too airheaded for Gibbs. And for the new Tony, he decided. He shuddered at the next face. "Not Ziva."

"Hell no. She hates me. Besides, I've never done anything with Ziva, in spite of what she's told."

The closed off expression on the younger man's face made Gibbs frown. He'd heard vague scuttlebutt about his agents, but hadn't heard that it had been coming from Ziva. Gibbs knew damn well that for all his talk, Tony was private about his love life.

"Who?"

"Abby."

"What?" The tool fell from his hand with a clatter onto the concrete floor, but for once, it went ignored.

"Last night, Abby and I decided to date." Snagging his boss's astonished gaze squarely, Tony stilled his own work as he continued. "There are no NCIS regulations regarding personal relationships between coworkers, particularly coworkers in different departments. Even if this doesn't work out, we've been friends for so many years that I don't see why we can't remain friends afterward. However, I think, and hope, that this will work." A glimmer of a smile softened Tony's face. "We've loved each other for years. This is just trying out a different kind of love."

Gibbs hadn't been so shocked since his ex-wife had blindsided him with the golf club. Tony? And Abby? They'd been brother and sister for so long… His thoughts focused on those last words. They had loved each other for years, up until the last couple, at least. They had drawn apart, and when he thought about it, Senior probably had a lot to do with that. Ziva and McGee weren't innocent, either. Between those three people, they explained a lot of how Abby had let herself be pushed away from Tony.

However, her reaction at finding Senior attacking his son had stripped the blinders from her eyes. She had been so apologetic to Tony, especially after he woke in the hospital. Gibbs wasn't surprised that she'd made back up with her friend. "Who made the first move?"

"I did." For the first time, Tony looked a little less certain. "She was babbling, trying to convince me yet again that she was sorry for all the pain she'd caused me, and I kissed her to stop her talking."

"Why in the world was that your reaction?"

Tony shrugged. "I thought it was right. I had so many memories of dancing with Abby at clubs, of sleeping in her bed, of cuddling watching movies, of hugs any time of day or night… It seemed like the right thing to do."

"What was her reaction?"

"Shock, I think. She explained very succinctly that we didn't do that. So I did it again, and we both liked it."

Gibbs shook his head absently. "Tony, of all the women in the building I expected you to say, Abby Sciuto wasn't the one."

"If you say she's not my type, I'll have to call you out on that one. You know damn well that my 'type' is nothing more than an act. You saw through my player façade before you offered me a job."

Caught on that point, the older man smiled slightly before acknowledging the fact. When Tony explained the situation, it made perfect sense, particularly with his memory issues. Gibbs knew for a fact that over the years, Tony and Abby had done all the things that he'd described, and probably a lot more. He knew their relationship had never been sexual, but … Maybe it was time they tried something new.

"You do realize that there is a damn good reason for Rule Twelve?"

"Yep. Jenny was kind of proud of that fact, actually."

Gibbs opened his mouth to ask how he knew that, but closed it when he recalled all the time they'd spent together on his undercover fiasco.

"Besides, Gibbs, this is not the same situation and you know it. We'll keep it on the quiet, if you wish, but you have no right to try to run your agents' personal lives."

A wave of pride swept through him. Tony had always had the balls to stand up and tell him when he was wrong. No other agent had ever done that with him. "You're right. I don't."

Tony hesitated. "Do you want us to keep it a secret?"

Gibbs smirked. "I don't think that's necessary. Or possible, for that matter. When has Abby ever kept a secret?"

It was Tony's turn to acknowledge Gibbs's point. "Fair enough. I don't plan on any PDA at work, and I'll explain that to Abby."

"Yeah, good luck with that."

"I don't expect her to stop being herself, and if it breathes, she'll hug it. Even a few inanimate objects, like Bert and Mass Spec. But I know what's appropriate for work. Hugs are expected, anything else, we'll keep to ourselves."

Relieved, Gibbs nodded. "That makes sense. And I'd miss the hugs if they were to all shut off."

"I'm not out to change Abby. I don't want to. She's a friend to too many people for me to want to shut her down." Tony went back to sanding. "We've survived so much as friends. I want to see if we can take the next step, and make it forever."

A genuine smile spread across Gibbs's face. "If it helps, I think you can."

"No offense, boss, but the last person I'd take relationship advice from is you." He waited for the expected grunt of laughter, conceding his point. "Still, if life had been just a bit different, I think you and Shannon would've been together for the long haul."

He hid his reaction by retrieving the tool from the floor. Again, Tony had hit a little too close to home. Keeping his face down, he began working again.

"I suppose I don't have to tell you about hurting her."

Tony ignored the roughened voice. "If I hurt her, you're the last person I'll have to worry about. Abby will just kill me in my sleep and get rid of the body."

Another snorted laugh erupted, and they worked in silence for a long time. "I wish you and Abby the best of luck."

"I know, boss. I know."

AN: All right. All done now. I have a couple of ideas poking around about how to continue this, but nothing has grabbed me the way this story has, so I probably won't do a sequel to this.

For anyone hoping I'll do a sequel to Painful Treasures, I'm not sure that one will ever come to pass. I've worked on it, off and on, for years, and it just isn't coming together. I do hope that one day I'll give you guys the closure on that one that you deserve.

Thanks for hanging around for this ride. I really hope you enjoyed it.

~ashleezak