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Title: Gone
By: sandersyager
Pairing: Abby Sciuto/Anthony DiNozzo
Fandom: NCIS
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Through season three finale
Summary: Gibbs was gone.
Author's Notes: Just a little scene I needed to get out of my head to get Tony and Abby speaking to each other again after watching the finale.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to DPB, CBS, Paramount, et al. No copyright infringement is intended.

***

"Semper fi."

The words hung in the air, stung like a slap. This couldn't be happening. Gibbs... Gibbs put his finger to her lips and kissed her cheek and... And he walked out the door.

Abby hugged herself, too numb to reach for Tim, next to her with his mouth open like there were words he couldn't form, or Tony, too far away and with those lines furrowing his forehead. Lines that weren't there three days ago. She'd never reach for Ziva, not like this, not after that day in the lab. So, she hugged herself tight and ran for the stairs, the door slamming shut behind her.

The cold metal stairs cut into her thighs and her sobs echoed off the cinderblock walls. Didn't matter if they could hear her. Gibbs couldn't and he was the only one that mattered and he was leaving. He was gone and it didn't make any sense. And it wasn't a dead gone, that she could think about because it wasn't really gone. It was like Kate, who still showed up sometimes in rainbows and the sounds of laughter in her apartment when there was no one else there.

Kate wasn't gone but Gibbs was.

He did what Kate never had the chance to do. He chose to go and that hurt more. Death made sense, in a strange way, bodies gave out and it sucked but sometimes it happened. Hearts, though, hearts were supposed to keep and Gibbs didn't care anymore. He just walked away from NCIS, from them, from her, like he didn't care what happened to them.

And maybe she wasn't being fair, because he left Tony in charge and that was something, but Tony wasn't Gibbs, no matter how much he glared or ordered black coffee or barked at her with redundant instructions.

Tony wasn't Gibbs because Tony was still standing upstairs, dumbstruck with Gibbs' Sig and badge in his hand and Gibbs was gone.

Abby heard the door open behind her, feet falling on the stairs, the shift as someone sat down on the step behind her. She folded her arms over her head, tears dripping between her knees and pooling between her boots.

"Abby, baby." Tony, it was Tony who'd come after her, his knees on either side of her, his hands rubbing her back. Her hands clenched into fists, her toes curled tightly, everything in her pulled away from him. He wasn't Gibbs, no matter how much he wanted to be, and Abby wanted Gibbs. "Come on, baby. I'll drive you home. It's been a hell of a day."

"Shut up, Tony." Abby slid down the steps, twisting to look at him as she stood up. "This is exactly what you wanted. So don't act like you're sorry. Don't act like you understand because you don't."

"This isn't... you know that's not true. I never wanted this, Abby. Not this way, not at all." Tony looked up at her, and she could see the way his hands shook, and it didn't matter. He was still sitting there, and her heart hurt, and Gibbs left them. Not because of a bomb, not because god willed it, not for any reason other than he wanted to and that... just sucked.

"This sucks, Tony," she said, stamping her foot. "This really, really sucks." Abby watched him stand up, and she didn't pull away when he wrapped his arms around her. "And it hurts, Tony. How could... why would he do this?"

"I don't know, Abs," he whispered. "I don't know."

***