What you see is never what you get

It's been a long time since I've uploaded anything up here, and as far as I can see this will be the first femslash NCIS fic. Hope you all like it. At the moment its just innocent fluff, but give it time. Reviews always welcome.


Rain trailed down the newly replaced glass that wrapped up the lab, street lamps cast the shadows of the drops on Abby’s face disguising her own tears. But she still smiled, she could still feel her there and when she looked into the dark corners of her lab hard enough she could still make out that gleaming smile. They would bury her tomorrow, it was all over; they got the bastard and it wasn’t even her hero Gibbs that did it.

She heard the elevator doors slide open it was the lack of footsteps that tipped her off to her late night guest. Ziva stopped about two metres from the scientist, her arms folded across her chest. Without even turning Abby broke the soft sounds of the rain outside.

“I know what you did for us today, what you did for Kate.” Ziva bit back her emotions, Ari may have been her brother but she still hadn’t gone soft.

“I’m sure Agent Todd,”

“Kate” Abby corrected,

Exasperated and exhausted she continued. “I’m sure Kate deserved more.” Ziva sniffed and immediately cursed herself, having emotions made her human, keeping them in check made her Mossad.

Abbey left the sparse light from the window and found Ziva in the dark, she stood about a foot away mimicking the officer’s stance both defensively crossing their arms. “The service is tomorrow,” Ziva curtly nodded her head. Their conversation was brief but they knew the gravity of their words.

As time passed the respect between the two women grew, they were always professional but the initial hatred Abby festered in Kate’s absence had dissipated. They were practically friends but of course the Mossad officer could never publicly admit that she felt a fondness to any of the federal staff, least of all the caffeinated gothic scientist.

The passage of time had made things easier, no one had quite gotten over it but they were moving on. But Abby still found herself staring out of those windows night after night while she waited for whatever experiment she was conducting to finish. The sound of the elevators broke the serenity of the humming machines. Footsteps accompanied by squishing shoes announced a surprise guest.

“I didn’t think you’d still be here,” Ziva strolled through the lab carrying a box of evidence. Abby turned and shot one of her famous smiles the officer’s way.

“There’s quite a bit a bout me you don’t know Ziva. Whatcha got for me?” Glad to be free of the weight Ziva placed the box down, soaked through from rainwater outside.

“We just finished processing the crime scene from the Dobson case we hit this afternoon. Hopefully its not too wet, its raining caps and dobs out there.”

“I think you mean cats and dogs?”

“Whatever, it’s raining, a lot. I’m cold, I’m wet and I just want to go home and have a shower. But I can’t even do that.” Abby tossed Ziva a small towel that she used to dry her face.

“Why what’s up?”

“The water in my apartment has been turned off; the landlord won’t fix it till tomorrow.” Abby’s wide eyed grin quickly turned sympathetic.

“Well that sucks. But I am finally going home, the Dobson case can wait till the morning. Do you wanna head back with me? You can use my shower its cool.” Ziva’s shoulders slumped and her weary features managed a small smile as she mouthed a thank you. Shunning her lab coat she quickly gathered all her things and looping arms with the exhausted woman practically dragged her to the car.

The rain held off until both women were safely in Abby’s apartment. Still dripping rainwater on the floor Ziva stood in the porch like a drowned rat.

“You can come in you know, its just water it never hurt anyone. Well I suppose it does else you wouldn’t drown, but then they say you don’t feel anything…” Ziva broke the rant before Abby spent the whole night thinking on one tiny saying.

“Abby,”

“Oh right! One second!” Abby ran off through the apartment, drips of water fell from the Israeli’s nose.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” She whispered to herself, she walked into the apartment. Abby’s place surprised her more than anything, it looked completely normal, nothing dark or gothic about the place. She walked into the living room smiling at the “extra crime scene” photos and even noticing one of her shielding her eyes from the flash at one of their generic trips. She saw a group photo on the wall; she recognised Gibbs, Tony, McGee, Abby and even Ducky but not the other smiling woman.

“So you’re Kate,” She took a moment to just process the image; she could tell they were a great team just by the size of their smiles. “No wonder they gave me such a hard time.”

“You know in most cultures talking to yourself can be seen as a sign of madness,” Ziva spun on her heel shocked, she felt like a kid caught taking biscuits even though she had really done nothing. Her mouth opened and closed in an attempt to speak. Abby just laughed and threw a towel that landed over her head; her protesting arms fell to her sides as they both gave in to laughter. “The bathroom’s through there, I can get you a dressing gown or something while your clothes dry.”

Ziva pulled the towel down and sauntered over to the shower for the first time a contented smile. It had been a long time coming, but there was finally something other than hate and uncomfortable silences and sarcasm between the pair. Abby took the photo down from the wall and held it lightly in her hand thumbing the faces behind the glass. “What do you think Kate? No one’s ever going to replace you, but at least she’s nice,”

“Well that’s nice to know,” Abby nearly jumped out of her skin as Ziva returned,

“There’s no way that you could be done already!” Ziva quietly laughed,

“No, I just forgot my bag, since Tony had me sift through garbage I remembered to bring a change of clothes to work. Just in case.” Abby tried to hide her smirk remembering how Tony pulled rank just to keep his Armani shoes and his ego clean. Slinging the bag over her shoulder Ziva swayed towards the shower.

Abby bounced over to the stereo in the corner with the flick of a button the results were most surprising. From the bathroom Ziva could hear the apartment fill with a soft jazz and blues rhythm; what was more surprising was she could hear Abby singing along to what appeared to be French lyrics. Shaking her head she continued to wash. “I guess what you see really isn’t what you get with Abby”

Stepping out the shower she soon dried herself off and replaced her sopping clothes. Walking out the bathroom she towelled off her hair, heading to the living room she stopped out of sight to watch Abby bob around the sofa singing to the soft French jazz. She couldn’t hide her smile, “Don’t you usually listen to that, how you say mega death?” Abby stopped singing, but still smiled not bothered about being caught.

“Ah Officer David there is a lot more to me than my lab,” Placing her hands on her hip,

“So I see! Well I must thank you. I feel much better for that. It just leaves me with the conundrum of how to get back to my apartment.” They both looked out the large balcony windows over the night skyline. The lights blurred with the falling rain. Abby marched over waving her hands with her eyes wide.

“There is no way you’re going back out in that! Are you mad! You’ll end up the same as before, cold, wet and miserable.” Ziva put on a small pout and put more emphasis on her accent.

“Who said I was miserable?” It stopped her dead, her features softened but her resolve didn’t.

“You can try that all you want, I’m not one of the guys it won’t work on me. You’re not going out in that! You can stay the night and I’ll drive us both to work in the morning, how’s that?” The Israeli pretended to be weighing the options in her head; Abby lightly punched her arm in determination, “Ziva!” She just cracked up, she couldn’t hold it in. It was so adorable to see Abby like that and she wanted to savour it.

“If you insist Abigail” The goth went to turn before she registered what Ziva had called her, she playfully swung for Ziva again. Pre-empting the strike the assassin dodged laughing at the expression on Abby’s face which appeared to fuel her further. Chasing her around the room Abby tried to swat the mossad agent for even daring to use her full name. Ziva couldn’t contain her laughter and it was contagious, even Abby was laughing while she tried to get her; the irritation had soon gone and it was just now about the fun they were having. It was even new to Ziva, almost ‘tumbling’ with Abby for fun, but she was enjoying it.

That was until as she moved back she caught her ankle on the rug and fell onto the sofa. Abby pounced and pinned her midsection and held her forearms. “That had better have been one of your occasional grammatical slip ups Ziva,” She was trying to hold a stern face, but the smile below her broke it in seconds.

“Mais mon chere, votre nom c’est plus belle, je ne peut pas resiste” Ziva’s sly smile caught her; Abby leaned down so her lips were in line with the exotic woman’s ear.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but feigning innocence won’t work, not even in French” Her warm breath against her neck caused Ziva to quietly sigh,

“Would you prefer I spoke to you in Hebrew?”

“Would you still call me that?”

“Who knows, maybe.” She struck the sly grin again. Abby’s inner child broke out again, returning the sly smile. “Abby? What’s going on in that mind of yours?” She shrugged her shoulders causing her pig-tails to bounce around her shoulders. Ziva raised an eyebrow, but before she could form another thought she was soon under attack again. This time from Abby’s nimble fingers assaulting her skin in a vicious tickle attack. It had been almost two decades since Ziva had laughed like she was.

When Abby stopped she let the woman below her catch her breath, her tanned cheeks flushed slightly. “Not so scary now are you Officer David.” She stuck her tongue out at her in victory. Ziva’s chest rose and fell quickly but soon returned to a normal rate.

“I’m pleasantly surprised, who knew you were such a worthy adversary. However, this,” She gestured between the two of them, “Is far from over,” With seemingly effortless ease she sat up eliciting a squeal of shock from Abby to whom it became damningly obvious that Ziva had let her win. In a fluid moment she flipped the two of them so expertly to not even jar a cushion.

The tempo of the evening drifted to a slow beat as the stereo began another disk began, another French track, but the soft guitar and violins played through the apartment. The devious smiles had dropped from their faces and replaced with more content and comfortable ones. “Miss Sciuto, you continue to surprise me,”

“Well the music I play in the lab helps me concentrate, the music I play at home helps me relax.”

Satisfied with the explanation Ziva still lay atop Abby on the sofa, neither concentrating too much to even realise. As far as they knew they were still play fighting, neither had noticed that they’d stopped a long time ago. Utilising the fact that Abby was pinned under her with no place to hide, she thought it a good oppertunuty to ask some questions.

“I’ve been with NCIS for about four months now, and every night that I’ve seen you at work you’re always staring out the basement window while you work. Do you still mourn over her?” Thankfully the soft music, tiresome day and their current state kept Abby calm. Lifting her weight slightly they sat up on the sofa.

“When I go to NCIS every day, it’s not a job to me. I go there to see my friends, actually its more like a family. Sure a little disfunctional, but that’s how I see it. Kate was like a big sister to me, we were always coming up with little schemes and pranks for the boys. And Ducky’s like the sweet grandpa everyone always wanted. But don’t tell him that, it’ll only make him feel old.” Ziva stifled a giggle.

“What about Gibbs?”

“Well Gibbs has to be the father doesn’t he. He keeps the guys in line, he looks after us when we get in trouble, and when he gets into trouble he goes to Ducky. He makes promises, and like a real dad he keeps them. So you see, losing Kate was like losing a sister. So yeah, I’ll always miss her.” Ziva nodded she knew exactly now how Abby felt, and it all came crashing down why there was the initial shunning from everyone.

“Do you think that I will ever be a part of that?” Abby looked at her as if she had asked for a rock of crack.

“Does Gibbs smack the back of your head?”

“Of course, why?”

Abby’s face returned to the soft relaxed smile. “Then you’re a part of the family. Sometimes me and Kate would make up little things so we could get the boys to do stupid stuff. I remember making McGee cough up $40 for getting Kate to wear a scrubs hat I’d drawn on. We split the money, quickest twenty legal bucks I’d made” She coughed out a laugh as her eyes dampened at the memory. “I still have mine, Kate’s was always in her desk before…” She began to cry just a little, she didn’t sob just let her tears fall.

Ziva’s hands cupped her face, she made soft soothing whispers as she wiped the salty tears away with her thumb. She kept whispering ‘It’s ok to cry, its ok’ in Hebrew in Abby’s ear. The scientist finally gave in wrappng her arms around the offered comfort she held on tight so she could let go. Ziva may not have been able to deal with crying women, but she could definitely help a crying friend, after all that’s what they were now.

Every now and then Ziva would place innocent kisses on her cheek whilst she would repeat her mantra in English and Hewbrew. Abby’s cries had no long stopped but she still kept a hold on the other woman. They sat in the empty appartment listening to the gentle rhythm that had been playing all night and the harmony of each breath they took together. So was this what it meant to be an agent at NCIS, or was this what it meant to be a friend? She felt so needed, and was happy to oblige.

Abby had buried her head in the nape of Ziva’s neck, her arms still wrapped around her back played with her recently cleaned hair. “You’re not falling asleep on me are you Abby?” Ziva smiled softly and gently jostled the girl just a tiny bit. Abby breathed in deeply there was something quite sobering and yet calming about her current posistion.

“Not yet, trying though.” Neither could see but they were sure the other was smiling a little.

“Well I think if you fall asleep there, its going to take an awful lot of caf-pow to keep you happy tomorrow with a sore neck and back.” Ziva made to stand and bring Abby with her. The other woman groaned a little in protest, she knew she was right, but she was just so inexplicably happy where she was. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

“Why Miss David don’t start making promises unless you’re going to keep them.” Neither could help but laugh a little even as Ziva unconsciously squeezed her a little in the embrace before letting her go. But she kept a hand on her back, she never broke contact until they were sitting on Abby’s bed.

They stayed silent, but it wasn’t in the least uncomfortable. Ziva’s hand found Abby’s and held it as she looked into her eyes. A small squeeze asked her question for her, the other woman nodded, “I’ll be fine Ziva. It just needed to come out you know. Like barfing when you drink to much.” Her nose wrinkled up a bit but they both began to laugh a little again. To see them there was no outside sign that they had just spent the best part of an hour wrapped around each other whilst one cried her soul out.

“Good night Abby,” She squeezed her hand again and leaned over kissing her softly on the forehead. As she stood to make for her restless night on the sofa Abby didn’t release her hand. Her eyes questioned her softly, the harsh investigator in her had signed off for the night.

“You don’t have to sleep out there. That is if you don’t want to.” She accepted the invitation without a word of refusal. “I need to go get changed” She nodded watching the scientist leave the room briefly. She took the time to undress to her gym shirt and under pants and get under the covers. Abby soon returned dressed similarly in an oversized shirt, her pale shapely legs a new sight to Ziva. Turning off the light she joined her.


To be continued...

(sooner rather than later, hopefully)