Work Text:
The Shirt
by Starbucks Sue
Gibbs carefully steered his still half-asleep senior field agent into the wardroom to grab some breakfast and more importantly in his view, coffee, before they met Kate for an update. Neither man had slept well, Tony due to the dreams that had haunted his rest and Gibbs simply because Tony hadn't.
Kate had been so affronted with the idea of having to sleep in the cabin with the men that in the end Gibbs had suggested hot-bunking, sending Kate to get some sleep halfway through the evening with the instruction to make sure she was up and dressed by 02:00 hours. A very relieved Kate had finally settled into the small bunk at around 20:30 and had fallen asleep almost immediately leaving the two men to interview the crew on the evening shift, her job was to catch up with those on the early shift and then they would all meet up again at 08:00 to compare notes.
Gibbs and DiNozzo had returned exhausted to the cabin just after 02:00 hours and finding it empty, had quickly collapsed into their beds. From past experience Gibbs knew that the younger man often didn't sleep well especially when he was away from the safe haven of his own home, apart from when he was at Gibbs house however, when, unless they'd had a particularly bad case, the security of being under his team leader's roof was enough to stop the memories from overtaking his subconscious mind. Gibbs had hoped that the combination of exhaustion and the lateness of the hour would mean that Tony would be too tired to have nightmares, but it hadn't worked that way and now they were both paying the price. Although both men were used to operating with little sleep they needed coffee and breakfast first in order to function properly.
As they piled their plates with scrambled egg, bacon and toast, Gibbs briefly took his eyes off his agent, it was only for a minute but unfortunately, that was long enough for Tony to get into trouble, turning suddenly he stepped backwards and straight into a young Petty Officer standing behind him. Before he knew it, Tony was wearing half of his scrambled eggs down the clean tailored shirt he'd put on less than half an hour previously.
"I'm sorry S-sir, really sorry, I . I just didn't see you there." The Petty Officer stuttered, clearly bewildered over the turn of events. One minute he'd been standing refilling his coffee mug and the next minute the NCIS Agent had backed straight into him, he wasn't really sure how it had happened, or why he was apologizing as he was sure he hadn't moved, but he was extremely grateful that he'd put the jug of coffee down just before the incident happened.
"No, it's my fault Petty Officer, sorry, I'm not quite awake yet." An embarrassed Tony hastened to reassure the younger man, who was clearly not used to coming across NCIS Agents in the enlisted crew's wardroom. It was another of Gibbs' quirks. As NCIS Agents they were entitled to use the officers wardroom, however, doing so went against the grain for the former gunnery sergeant and Tony had long ago become used to eating with the enlisted men, both on land and at sea.
Gibbs rolled his eyes with fond amusement. "DiNozzo come and sit down and get that egg cleaned off your shirt before it gets on anything else. Did you bring another shirt with you?"
"No, I didn't think we would be here that long." The young agent confessed with a grimace, knowing exactly what the older man would think to that, he peered up and as he expected received the full force of Gibbs glare at his short-sighted assumption.
"Let me have your shirt Sir, I'll take it down to the laundry, they'll be able to rinse it out for you and in the meantime I'll get you a shirt from supplies. I'm Petty Officer Holt Sir, I work in the supplies office, it won't be a problem."
"Thank you Petty Officer, that will help." Gibbs nodded reassuringly at the anxious young man standing next to them as Tony struggled to extract himself from his shirt without getting egg on any other clothing.
"No problem Sir, you're welcome." Petty Officer Holt scurried off, taking Tony's shirt with him.
Tony fidgeted under Gibbs watchful gaze, not sure of the reaction he was going to get from his superior now that they were more or less alone in the room.
He needn't have worried, Gibbs wasn't about to lecture him in public. Seeing that the younger man was feeling a little self-conscious at his lack of clothing he slipped off his jacket and polo shirt, giving Tony the shirt and putting his jacket back on over his t-shirt before going over and re-filling his young agent's plate.
Reassured that he wasn't about to get an earful of angry Gibbs, Tony tucked into his breakfast, regardless of how well he slept his appetite rarely suffered and he was pretty much wide awake now.
Petty Officer Holt returned just as Gibbs was finishing off his second mug of coffee.
"There you go Sir, I had a guess at your size but this may be a bit big as we didn't have all sizes left. Laundry detail will have your shirt back for you by the end of their shift."
"Thanks Petty Officer, sorry for disrupting your morning, I've not got you into any trouble have I?" Now that he was fully awake Tony was keenly aware that he may have made the younger man late for his duties.
"No Sir, it didn't take me long to detour to the laundry and once I explained what happened Lieutenant Cross was okay about it." The cheerful young man replied, obviously trying to stifle a grin.
Gibbs nodded and taking that for a dismissal Petty Officer Holt turned quickly and left.
"And no doubt everyone in supplies and laundry with have a good laugh over it too, talk about egg on your face." Tony muttered with a disgruntled sigh.
"Why not DiNozzo, you would!" Gibbs downed the remainder of his coffee and stood, chuckling at the wounded look on Tony's face as he followed his team leader out of the room and back to their cabin so he could get dressed for the second time that day.
end