Tony had just gotten out of the shower when he heard a very distinct knock on his front door. He didn't need to see to know who it was. There was only one person who knocked like that.



He quickly wrapped a towel around his waist and headed to the door. He didn't bother to put on anything more. The person at his door had seen it all anyway.



"Hey Abs," he welcomed, before moving aside to let her in.



"Ooh, nice!" She openly looked him over from top to bottom, appreciating Tony's well-defined muscles and hotter than cute rumpled hair.



"Something I can help you with Abs?" He was tired, grumpy and just wanted to crawl into his bed and wallow in self-pity, again.



Today had been another hard day. This whole week had been hard - Gibbs being back, Tony doing everything he could to keep up the professional façade, instead of falling apart whenever he got within thirty feet of Gibbs. Their heavy caseload hadn't helped either, causing them to be stuck at the office from very early in the morning to extremely late in the night. Thank God it was Friday and he had the whole two days to recuperate. If they would get a case now, Tony would be sure God must hate him.



"Wanted to see if you were okay. It's been a hard week."



He sighed. "Abs, I'm fine, really," he lied.



"No you're not. Come on Tony, don't shut me out now."



Tony dropped his head. "Fine, but can I then at least put some clothes on first? I don't really wanna get plastered in nothing but a towel."



That earned him one of those cheeky Abby grins. "Well, if you really have to. But don't change on my account."



"Cute," he called out, on his way to his bedroom.



Abby took the good stuff out of Tony's living room cabinet and made herself comfortable on the couch.



She was here to talk to Tony, but what Tony didn't know was that she'd come here to try and make him talk to Gibbs again. She didn't know how well he would take it, and was sure she wouldn't have made it past his front door if he did.



But damn, this had been going on for a week! She'd watched both men trying to be casual, but the longer the week progressed, she also saw the slipping up, their emotions coming to the surface. They'd both been a lot more jumpy than usual, Gibbs getting pissed at everything and anyone. Everyone saw an invisible wall slowly growing between both men. And for two people who depended on each other in the field... that could be dangerous.



They had to figure something out before they wouldn't be able to control themselves. Abby knew both Gibbs and Tony were capable of utmost professionalism if they wanted, but they were only human. And human beings had limits. She didn't want to think about what would happen if either, or worse both, men were to be pushed beyond those limits. Gibbs would be told to retire. Tony would lose his job and probably his credibility. Sleeping with your boss wasn't exactly a good reference for job applications. And although NCIS wasn't technically a military operation, it was close enough to it for same sex couples to be frowned upon. And then both men would be gone. Tony would take a job as far away from NCIS as possible and Gibbs would move to Mexico for good. They would probably never see him again.



Something had to be settled. And if they wouldn't take the first step, she would.



Tony came back. Abby was mildly disappointed he was fully dressed in jeans and sweater.



"I see you've made yourself comfortable," he noted dryly.



"Don't I always?"



He sat on the other end of the couch, knees drawn up, making Tony's lean form smaller than anyone would think possible.



He so wasn't fine, Abby thought.



He took the bottle of scotch from her and both sat in silence, in turn taking sips from the amber liquid. Abby was waiting for Tony to start talking. Tony refused to.



After fifteen minutes, she gave up. "Tony, this is killing you."



His head quickly shot up. If she hadn't known him that well, Abby would be scared of the look she saw in his eyes.



"I'm doing fine."



"How long? How long until either of you stop being able to keep this up? You think you're hiding it. Gibbs thinks he's hiding it, but you're both slipping up. McGee and Ziva are noticing it too."



A panicked look crossed his face.



"No, they don't know anything, but McGee has asked if I have noticed something different about the two of you."



Tony slumped even further in the couch, staring at his knees. "Abby, I can't."



"Can't what?" she pushed. "Can't talk to him? Can't listen to what he has to say? You do so every day at the office."



"You know that's different." He looked up. "He left, Abby. He ran. Twice! How am I supposed to forget that?"



He was right, of course.



"He loves you, Tony."



"Then why did he just leave like that? Why did he feel he had to run instead of opening his fucking mouth, talk to me? He said he remembered before he left, that he remembered everything about us. Then why the hell did he run?"



Tony's voice had risen the more he started baring his soul.



"Have you asked him that? Have you even let him try and explain?"



"Have you seen him trying to fix this?"



"Did you give him a chance?"



Tony was saved from answering by another, but this time firm, knock on his door.



When he opened it, his breath caught, his heart froze and his body stiffened.