It started after the Coleman case.

Abby liked to think that no matter how long she worked at NCIS, she would never get to the point where she stopped being affected by some of the worst cases they solved. Still, at times, she couldn't help but think that it would make things easier if she wasn't. There were some nightmares that she seriously didn't want to remember.

This case was one of those times. It was always worse when the victims were children.

Tony found her in the lab, curled up in her chair with music blaring to hide the sound of her crying. She knew instinctively someone was there, but she didn't look up. It was probably childish of her, but if she pretended no one was there for just a few seconds longer then maybe they would just go away and

She gasped in surprise when Tony hugged her. Then she hugged back as tightly as she could, clinging to him as if her life depended on it. Abby knew he wouldn't tell any of the others.

"Come on, Abs," he said after a minute or so had passed. "We're all going out for drinks. It looks like you could use one."

Abby managed to give him a weak smile in reply. As he pulled away, Tony's hand lingered on her arm for a second longer than usual. His touch felt as hot as fire on her skin.

1 = 1 = 1

Ducky was the first to leave, mumbling apologies the entire time he was cleaning up his single empty bottle. Less than thirty seconds later, Jimmy's eyes widened as he realized his ride was walking out the door, and he went dashing after Ducky. He stumbled into three tables on the way out the door, but Abby wasn't sure if it was because of the alcohol he'd consumed or simple clumsiness on his part.

Ziva left next, smiling sadly at the rest of them as she downed one more shot of whiskey before making her way to the door. Then McGee, frowning at his watch and blinking several times before pulling out his cell phone to call a taxi to take him home. His face was still a little haunted, echoes of the crime scene they'd found two days before mirrored in his eyes.

"And then there were three," Abby said, smiling weakly. She picked up her drink, silently toasting Tony and Gibbs.

Gibbs gave her a tired smile of his own, downing the rest of his bourbon. "Make that two."

He rested his hand on her shoulder for a moment as he stood up, squeezing slightly. "I'll see you on Monday, Abs." He glanced at Tony and nodded. "You too, DiNozzo."

Tony shrugged, still holding his empty glass. "Unless we get a case."

"We won't," Gibbs said. Abby frowned, twisting so she could look up at his face. It was unreadable, but she had heard that tone in his voice before. She couldn't help but feel sorry for any potential bad guys who made the mistake of doing something before Monday.

Gibbs squeezed her shoulder one more time before he left.

Abby and Tony sat in silence for several seconds, neither of them quite meeting the others' gaze. Then Abby sighed. "We should probably leave too."

Tony nodded. "Probably."

They kept sitting there.

After a minute or so had passed, Abby managed a halfhearted grin. "Want me to go get us some more drinks?"

"Yeah," Tony agreed without hesitating.

1 + 1 = 2

Abby unconsciously relaxed as she stepped into Tony's apartment; he wrapped his arms around her as he stood in the doorway. "You can take the bed," Tony said. His voice was slurred slightly, but she suspected it was more from tiredness than the alcohol. Neither of them had that much to drink, not really. "I'll take the sofa."

"I'm not going to make you sleep on the sofa," Abby said, rolling her eyes as she turned around just enough to see his face. "Not with your back."

Tony shot her a hurt look that was theatrically overdone. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with my back."

"Except age," Abby shot back with a wink.

Shaking his head, Tony let go of her and turned around to shut the door behind them. "Just for that, I think I'm going to make you sleep on the floor."

Abby tried to hide her amused smirk. "Some host you are," she said. "You ask me if I'd like to crash with you, since your place is closer, and then you threaten to make me sleep on the floor. I would at least have offered you my coffin."

Tony just laughed.

She felt her amusement fade as she studied his face. There were dark circles under his eyes and frown lines that she didn't remember being there even a few months ago. "Seriously, Tony, we probably should get some sleep." She hesitated slightly, not wanting to push it. She mentally shrugged and pushed forward. "It looks like we need it."

"You mean, it looks like I need it," Tony said. He sounded somewhat resigned.

Abby knew better than to protest.

Tony gave her a halfhearted smile and threw his arm over her shoulders. "You're taking the bed."

"Want to bet?" Abby shot back, quickly ducking out from under his arm.

"My place, my rules," Tony said, his smile slowly turning into a smirk that Abby almost believed was real.

Abby lightly punched him in the arm. "And your bed is your bed."

"Abby..."

She glared at him. "Don't 'Abby' me, Tony DiNozzo," she said firmly.

He stared at her for a few seconds, studying her face. Then he shook his head. "Fine, fine," he agreed. "I'll take the bed."

"Good," she said.

Tony winked at her. "Or," he added slowly, drawing out the word so that it sounded almost like it had multiple syllables, "we could always share."

Normally, Abby would have rolled her eyes or punched his arm or simply laughed and walked away. If it had been any other time, nothing would have happened save a fleeting thought or two rushing through her head in the instant before she turned down his obviously joking offer. Except it wasn't any other time, and she still remembered the photos of the three Coleman children that had been projected on the screen back at NCIS for the past three days.

"Yeah, we could," Abby said softly.

For a long few seconds, Tony didn't say a word. Then he gently reached out and placed his fingers under her chin, pushing her head upward so she would meet his gaze. He looked almost confused. "Abby?"

She kissed him.

Tony didn't react for a moment. Then, hesitantly, he kissed back.

"Gibbs will kill us," he said, pulling away after a few seconds.

Abby smiled, leaning forward again. "What Gibbs doesn't know won't hurt us," she murmured against his lips.

"Rule number twelve," Tony replied, not trying to pull away this time. "Never date a coworker. Do you really think Gibbs won't figure it out?"

She just kissed him again.

(1 + 1 = 2) ≠ 3

"Gibbs has been staring at me all day," Tony said. He sounded almost panicked as he dropped down in one of the chairs Abby had set up around her lab.

She blinked. "Okay?"

Tony shot her an exasperated look. "I think he knows!"

Abby just blinked again.

"About us!" Tony hissed.

"Yeah, I got that part," she said slowly. "I'm just trying to figure out why you're freaking out."

Tony reached up to rub his temples. "Rule number twelve, Abby," he said. "Rule number twelve."

Abby shook her head, trying not to smile as she walked over and stopped behind Tony's chair. She leaned down and hugged him, nipping at his ear slightly. "You do remember that, technically, I'm not an official part of your team, right? I mean, yeah, I mostly work for Gibbs, but there are other agents here who I run tests for too."

"Your point?" Tony snapped, pulling away.

She didn't even try to resist the urge to roll her eyes. "My point," she said, "is that we're not technically breaking any official rules."

Tony leaned back, leaning his head over the back of the chair in order to look up at her. "No, just Gibbs' rules."

Abby kissed his cheek. "You worry too much."

"You don't worry enough!" Tony shot back.

Someone cleared their throat. "Am I interrupting something?"

Tony let out a rather impressive shriek and almost fell out of the chair. If it wasn't for Abby's grip on his shoulder, he probably would have ended up on the floor. "You're not interrupting anything, boss!"

Even though her back was to him, Abby could practically hear Gibbs raising his eyebrow.

Abby carefully schooled her face before turning around to face Gibbs. "Tony was telling me that he thought you'd noticed that Ziva and Jimmy are having a torrid affair," she said. "I told him you'd only picked up on the one she's been having with McGee."

Tony made a strangled noise.

Gibbs shook his head, not trying to hide his amusement. "Stop gossiping, DiNozzo."

"Yes, boss," Tony replied. It took him three tries to get the words out.

"And Abby?" Gibbs said, looking away from Tony and at her.

She smiled innocently. "Yes, Gibbs?"

"Is that really the best excuse you could come up with?" he asked, his eyes twinkling slightly.

Abby just shrugged, trying not to smile as he left the lab.

Tony cleared his throat after it was obvious that Gibbs was gone. "What was that?" he asked, not moving.

"That?" Abby asked. She shot him an apologetic look. "That was you being right about Gibbs knowing about us."

Tony buried his face in his hands. "We're dead."

Abby smiled as she offered Tony her hand to help him to his feet. "No," she said, "I think he just gave us his blessing."

((1 +1) = 2) +1 = 3

"Are you sure Gibbs isn't slowly plotting our deaths?" Tony asked. "Or possibly just my death?"

Abby rolled her eyes as she turned over so that she was facing him. "Tony," she said, reaching out to tweak his nose, "is there a reason you're talking about Gibbs when you're in bed with me? Should I be jealous?"

Tony's face turned a rather interesting shade of red.

Abby's eyes widened in realization, and she sat up straight. She let the sheet fall to her lap without a second thought. "Oh, my God," she said, gaping at Tony. "You're in love with Gibbs."

"No, I'm not," Tony protested, propping himself up with one arm. "Where on Earth would you get an idea like that?"

"Oh, you totally are!" Abby said, clapping her hands together. "I can't believe I never noticed! I mean, I didn't even realize you were bi!"

Tony didn't meet her gaze. Admittedly, that was because his eyes were focused on the nipple rings in each of her breasts that she'd put in just for his sake, but still.

Abby reached out and swatted his arm. "Eyes on my face when we're talking."

"We're not talking," Tony said. "All that's happening is that you're losing your grip on reality."

Abby narrowed her eyes. "Okay then," she said, "I want you to look me in the eye and tell me that you aren't even remotely attracted to Gibbs."

Tony looked away. "Come on, Abby, why don't we just go back to--"

"You need a few more minutes before we go back to doing anything," Abby cut in. "And you're not looking me in the eyes, which pretty much confirms that I was right."

He still didn't meet her gaze.

Abby laughed, clapping her hands together. "Oh, I was right! I'm so going to have to do something about this."

Tony finally looked up, a somewhat incredulous look on his face. "You're taking this... better than I expected."

"How were you expecting me to react?" Abby asked, tilting her head.

"Jealous?" Tony suggested.

Abby waved a hand at him. "Why would I be jealous?" she asked. "It's Gibbs. I think we're all a little bit in love with him."

He just kept staring at her.

She grinned at him. "I think we should ask him to join us."

Tony made a strangled noise and attempted to bury himself under the sheet.

"Was that a 'yes' then?"

1 + 1 + 1 = 3

Abby pushed Tony against the wall of her lab, kissing him thoroughly. He pulled away after a few seconds, his eyes wide. "Are you crazy?" he hissed. He nodded his head upward. "Cameras!"

"Temporarily on a timed loop," she replied, smiling sweetly.

He blinked. "Coworkers?"

"Anyone who might possibly stop by my lab has gone home for the day," she said. "I checked."

He shot her a suspicious look. "You're absolutely certain?"

She just raised an eyebrow.

Tony grinned as he leaned in to kiss her. His hand slid under her shirt, playing with the smooth skin of her lower back. She let out a moan.

Someone cleared their throat. Loudly.

Tony jerked away from Abby as if she was on fire, his eyes widening. Then he glanced at Abby and glared, though she could tell there wasn't any real anger in it. She just smiled.

"Hi, Gibbs," Abby said, straightening her shirt as she turned around. "I thought you'd left for the day."

Gibbs was shooting her a look that was a mixture of fond amusement and exasperation. "You asked me to stop by before I left."

Tony punched her in the arm.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, punching him right back.

Gibbs just kept staring at the two of them.

Abby bit her lip, suddenly feeling a little nervous. It had seemed like a terrific plan that morning, but now that it was actually happening she couldn't stop thinking about the million and one ways that it could go wrong.

"I had something to ask you," she said.

Tony slipped his hand into hers, and she squeezed gratefully. "We had something to ask you."

Gibbs was still staring at them, a thoughtful look on his face. Abby got the impression that he'd already figured out what was going on.

Abby pulled away from Tony and made her way over to Gibbs, smiling slightly. She leaned forward to give Gibbs a tentative kiss on the cheek, like she had so many times in the past. Then, hesitating for just a second, she pressed a light kiss on his lips. It didn't last more than a second, but she could barely breathe as she pulled away.

"Rule number twelve," Gibbs said gently.

Abby gave him an innocent smile. She had at least thought of a reply to that excuse. "Never date a coworker," she said. "Coworker. Singular."

Gibbs actually looked impressed.

Before she knew what was happening, Tony was beside her. He rested his hand on her arm for a moment, squeezing it gently as he met Gibbs's gaze. "It's up to you."

For almost a full minute, none of them said a word. They just stood there, forming a loose triangle.

Then Gibbs slowly started to smile.

Abby grinned. She turned and kissed Tony, reaching over to grab Gibbs' belt and pull him closer as she slipped her tongue past Tony's lips and into his mouth. Tony groaned when she pulled away a few seconds later, but Abby just grinned at him. She reached up and put a finger on his lips before leaning over and kissing Gibbs.

This time, she wasn't tentative. She pressed her lips against his, smiling against them as he kissed back. There was a light in his eyes that she didn't recognize as she pulled away.

Still smiling, she watched as Gibbs made the next move. There wasn't anything hesitant about the way he kissed Tony, like it was something he'd been thinking about doing for years.

The Coleman case was the last thing on her mind.