Author's Note: Yup, it's been a while since I've updated this one. It was only gonna be five chapters or so... I fail at brevity. ;) Here's a new chapter, anyway, and thanks for your patience.

Abby

We head out to meet Ziva for celebratory drinks in the afternoon. Though Tony isn't there, everyone else makes it, and Gibbs apologises to Ziva for missing her ceremony. I didn't even have to kick him under the table – guess rule fifty-one is already in effect.

Gibbs gets his third phone call of the day after the second round of drinks, and I watch his body language from across the room. When I lip-read the word 'hospital', I know something's gone badly wrong. His father? Tony? Fornell? Mike?

He hangs up, and I'm on my feet before he's even halfway across the room. "What is it?"

Gibbs takes my arm and leads me back to the table, commanding everyone's attention before he speaks. "Just heard from Tony. He and Mike Franks were ambushed by the Reynosa Cartel a couple of hours ago."

For just a second, we all freeze in place, waiting for news. He doesn't keep us waiting.

"Tony's fine, just a scrape or two. Mike… he's in surgery with a couple of bullet-holes in him. If he makes it… Tony's gonna try and get him to a secure location. Hospital's the first place the cartel will look."

I hug him tightly, blinking back tears. "He's gonna be okay." I mean it as reassurance, but it comes out as more of a question.

His arms fold around me tightly, and I resist the urge to kiss his neck. As much as I'm not ashamed of what I have with Gibbs, now isn't really the time to tell the rest of the team.

I let go before he does, spinning to face everyone else. "One more drink for luck? For Tony and Mike?"

Everyone agrees, and I drag McGee over to the bar to help me carry the drinks back to our table. We're all gonna need to be a little drunker to get through the next few hours.

Gibbs

I'm working on another chair in my basement when I get the call from DiNozzo. Abby looks up from her forensics journal, her anxious gaze meeting mine, and she waits silently for me to answer.

"Boss, it's me. Mike's gonna make it. Soon as he comes round from the anaesthetic, I'll discharge him and get him somewhere safe."

Sighing relief, I nod over at Abby. Her answering smile is dazzling, and I can't help but return it. "Good to know. Don't bring him across the border. Cartel could have connections in Border Patrol."

"He's too banged up to fly," Tony warns me. "I'll ask him if he has any safehouses in the area."

"Don't hang around too long. Need you back here as soon as he's secure." Knowing Mike the way I do, if he sees DiNozzo as a protection detail, he'll try to give him the slip. Better he stays put where he's safe, and that Tony stays out of the line of fire.

"Will do, Boss. Watch yourself up there."

I hang up, and Abby gets to her feet. I meet her halfway across the basement floor, pulling her into a hug that she returns with almost crushing force. "Thank god," she whispers.

"They're not out of the woods yet. Still gotta get Mike out of the cartel's line of fire and get DiNozzo back here. But the immediate danger's over." I bury my face in her neck, letting most of the anxiety of the past few hours drain away.

Abby clings to me, lending her strength as well as taking the reassurance I'm offering her. For a couple of minutes, she's uncharacteristically silent, and I pull back to search her face for answers.

Her smile is a little wry. "I'd kiss you, but it'd only make someone call you with news of an exciting new catastrophe."

Amused, I prove her wrong, pressing my lips to hers gently. She closes her eyes and savours the contact, and doesn't open them again when I draw back. I kiss her again, and then again; parting her lips with mine, then tempting her for just an instant, flicking my tongue out against hers. With a soft, wordless murmur, she deepens the kiss, turning me on further with every second her lips linger against mine.

"Upstairs," I tell her, the second she breaks off.

Abby grins, taking a step backward toward the stairs. "You know, it's a shame you don't have a boat on the go at the moment. I've had so many fantasies about you pressing me back against the wood and kissing me until I can't breathe..."

She makes it two steps before I catch her, pinning her to the wall and grinding myself against her hard. Her giggle just adds an extra dimension to my need, and I kiss her over and over, tormenting us both.

"You wanna take me on the stairs, Gunny? I don't think that's the best idea, unless you want one of us to end up with a broken leg when we fall..."

I release her reluctantly, and she runs ahead of me up to the bedroom, shooting a suggestive look over her shoulder before leaving my line of sight. When I catch up to her, she's sitting on the edge of my bed, completely naked.

I have her pinned to the mattress within the space of five seconds, my hands roaming over her pale, tattooed flesh, drawing a moan from her lips when my fingers dip between her thighs.

"Guess we'll need to be really quiet once your dad gets here tomorrow," she says, and I nip her earlobe as a reprimand.

"Can we not talk about my dad right now?"

"Just saying this is probably the last chance we'll have in a while to be really, really loud..." She strips off my shirt while I process that, and then rolls me over, straddling me and leaning down to kiss her way over my chest.

"You asking me to make you scream, Abby?" While she concentrates on stripping off my pants, I stroke my fingers over her clit with a feather-light touch, rewarded by her sigh.

"C'mon. You know me. I'm always really quiet..." She punctuates her last words by signing along, looking up at me with faux innocence.

I flip her over, grab her wrists and pin them to the pillow, kissing my way across her throat to the spot just below her ear; the place that makes her moan when I stroke my tongue across it. She doesn't disappoint me, arching against my body with a cry that's only a little exaggerated, playing up to the situation.

"You wanna be loud?" I growl in her ear. "Talk to me."

She laughs softly, the sound travelling through my body at lightning speed to make me even harder than I already am. "Wanna suggest a topic? The stock market? Grocery shopping? The mathematical equation for the speed of-?"

I kiss her into silence, making my point with the heated gesture. When I draw back, she gives me a slow, seductive grin. "Oh, that."

While I trail my lips over her skin, revisiting the places that I know excite her and finding a few new ones in the process, Abby tells me things I've only ever dreamed I'd hear from her lips. Her natural eloquence falters whenever I hit a sensitive spot, but returns after a few seconds of gasping and sighing.

I linger between her thighs until her words trail off altogether, her hips tilting up against my mouth, her fingers running through my hair. She doesn't try to restrain her cries of pleasure, and I work with what she gives me, loving every breathless moan and sharp gasp I manage to tear from her throat with my fingers and tongue.

Even if she was completely silent, I'd be able to feel her orgasm around my fingers – but she's far from quiet when it hits her, her cries of release driving me half out of my mind. By the time she's calmed down enough to open her eyes, I've drawn her into my arms again, and she purrs appreciation as I grind against her.

"Think the neighbours are gonna complain?" she asks mischievously, reaching down between us to position me at her entrance.

I growl as she lowers herself onto me, then roll her over and press myself in deeper. "Let 'em."

Abby surges up against me, and everything else falls away. My entire world narrows to her seductive laughter; the feel of her heated flesh against mine; her hands and lips exploring and teasing; the slick, easy friction where our bodies are joined... By the time I spend myself inside her with a curse, her fingernails are digging into my back, leaving deliciously painful scratches that only heighten my pleasure.

We collapse against the mattress, breathing hard, and when she catches me gazing down at her, her lips curl into a satisfied smile. "You were pretty loud yourself."

Brushing a kiss against her forehead, I laugh softly. "Your fault."

"And I still have so many tricks to try on you..."

If I wasn't so exhausted, I'd find out exactly what she means by that. "We have time, Abbs."

She nods, relief returning to her face as she remembers this morning's discussion. "We do."

After a few minutes of relaxed silence, Abby disappears into the bathroom to remove her makeup and get ready for bed. I check my cell, pleased to see that Tony hasn't called while we were distracted.

When Abby returns, she asks, "Are we gonna tell your dad about... you know? Us?"

I've already thought about this. Shaking my head, I watch her expression become a little guarded, and pull her down onto the bed beside me. "I don't want anyone to know until there's no more danger from the Reynosa Cartel. That okay?"

She shrugs, her expression conflicted. "I guess."

Cupping her face in my hands, I tell her, "Not because I'm ashamed of you, Abbs. This case... it's more complicated than you think. And they will use you against me if they realise we're together."

For a second, I think she'll demand to know what's going on again. She seems to decide there's no point, though, and leans against me with a sigh. "Okay. I trust you."

Pulling her down to the bed and the covers up over us, I hold her close and hope that trust in me isn't misplaced.