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Follow Through
By Jaina

 

Moving in hadn't been easy on either of them, although it may have gone more smoothly if they hadn't talked Tony into helping them out with the heavy lifting.

"You've got to be kidding me," Kate muttered under her breath as she walked into her bedroom and found herself staring at Abby's coffin. They hadn't talked about it, but Abby had never complained about Kate's bed on the many nights that she'd spent there, so Kate had just assumed that Abby wouldn't be bringing her coffin.

The sound of Tony's laughter from behind her made Kate spin on her heel and glare at him.

"What's so funny, DiNozzo?"

"You - freaking out about Abb's coffin. That's pretty funny, Kate."

"Shut up, Tony." Kate hissed, squeezing the bridge of her nose and then letting her hand drop back down to her side. She and Abby needed to talk, but she wasn't sure she wanted to do it with Tony standing over them. Besides she wasn't sure how to approach that conversation with Abby.

Abby had after all warned her that maybe moving in together wouldn't be the best idea, but it had been a wonderful moment and a wonderful feeling. Kate couldn't help but want to have that all of the time. She just wasn't sure she could handle the actuality of it.

"Kate!"

Abby was bouncing slightly on the balls of her toes. She gave a huge smile when Kate turned to look at her.

"Abby-" Her hesitation was obvious in Kate's voice. "I'm not sure I can do this," she whispered softly.

"Do what, Kate," Abby asked softly, some of the manic energy that she exhibited draining away.

"This." Kate waved her hand around at the cluttered apartment, now scattered with cardboard boxes and odd pieces of what she assumed was art. Not to mention the coffin. "Here. Us."

"Kate."

Abby caught one of Kate's wildly gesturing hands and pinned it against her chest. With her other hand, she forced Kate to look at her.

"Talk to me."

The look in her eyes and the gentle plea in her voice caught Kate immediately. She took a deep breath and then let it out slowly.

"I want what we had. I want you here with me all of the time, but I'm not sure that I'm prepared for what that would mean," Kate forced the words out, carefully enunciating them all.

Abby bit her lip. "I'm scared too, Kate." She looked down. "Do you want to not do this?"

It was a crazy and ridiculous idea, Kate reminded herself. I asked her on the spur of the moment. It won't really make a difference. This is how we've been for months. But Kate knew that if she backed out now, something would be changed forever between she and Abby and she couldn't stand that.

"No." She looked up at Abby. "We're still doing this." Kate paused. "You still want to do this?"

A flash of a smile. "Yeah."

"Good," Kate leaned in and kissed Abby, letting the kiss soothe away the last of her fears and calm them both. "But Abby? We have to do something about the coffin."

The End

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