Work Text:
title: One Night
spoilers: none
warnings: unbeta'd, gen so far
One Night
It was late when the phone call came.
"Gibbs," he answered, unfamiliar with the number. He knew it wasn't ex-wife number three, because of the date, but he was wary anyway.
"Hey, boss," the voice on the other end said, and Gibbs immediately knew which one of his subordinates it was.
"DiNozzo," he greeted the other, his curt, exasperated tone saying more than anything else he could have answered with. "Did we get a call?"
"No, nothing like that," Tony answered and Gibbs could hear bustling in the background during the pause in DiNozzo's speech. "I was just wondering, ah, if your couch is empty tonight."
"What happened this time? No light? No water? It's night and it's not like you can't shower at the office, DiNozzo." Did the man have no idea how late it was? Gibbs looked at his watch and shook his head. He could almost see Tony flinch on the other hand, so used was he to the man's reactions.
"No, boss, it's actually- ow, don't touch that," he broke off and Gibbs took the loud background noise as worrying enough to listen closer. He leaned against his workbench and wiped his hands, the phone cradled against his ear.
"Tony? Talk to me," he demanded.
"A gas leak blew up the apartment next to mine. Something broke in 303 - not the apartment next to mine but the one next to that one and now I have panorama view."
That was new - and a lot more distressing than the other times something at Tony's apartment building had given. "I've always told you that you live in a dump," he said in the way of apologizing for his earlier shortness.
"So, does that mean-," Tony broke off, treading carefully.
"Yes, you can sleep over. But I expect you to get a new apartment as soon as possible."
"Thanks, boss!" Tony said, his smile audible through the telephone. "We'll be over in a bit."
The phone call was disconnected before Gibbs could ask what Tony had meant by 'we'.
+
Barely half an hour later, a knock sounded at his door. Gibbs got up from the couch and walked out into the hallway to greet his guest for the night - 'nights', he corrected himself; because if it was like any of Tony's stay-overs, it would last a few weeks.
As soon as he opened the door, Tony shot him a quick and easy grin. "Hi, boss."
That grin, however, could do nothing to alleviate the worry Gibbs felt when he saw DiNozzo bandaged up. His face was scratched, and soot was sticking in his hair. He was wearing a scrub shirt and a too large jacket that definitely didn't belong to him.
"It's not as bad as it looks," DiNozzo commented and reached for his bandaged cheek, hissing when something jarred underneath the jacket. "Really."
"Somehow I doubt that," Gibbs answered and took in the cardboard box Tony was holding under his other arm. "That the other part of 'we'?"
"Ah, yes," Tony hesitated. "That's... his name is Jethro."
Gibbs narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to peek into the box. A gray tabby kitten was sitting inside, nestled in a dirty sweatshirt. "Only you, DiNozzo. Only you." He shook his head, chuckling. He didn't know whether he should be honored that a cat was named after him, or insulted.
Tony snorted. "He's just like you. He hates me - never comes when I call."
Gibbs looked up. "DiNozzo, if you wanted something to come when you call, you should have gotten a dog and called it Tony."
"Haha." Tony rolled his eyes. "And you really don't mind?"
"If I minded, you wouldn't be here."
Tony seemed to accept that. "Thanks."
"Well, you know where the guestroom is," Gibbs reached out to take the cardboard box out of Tony's hands. "Do you have anything else with you?"
"No. I barely had the time to grab Jethro before they got me out of there."
Gibbs noticed the sluggish way in which his agent moved, noting the light limp and suspecting another burn underneath the scrub pants. He didn't say anything - if Tony was out of the hospital, it couldn't be life threatening. They would see in the morning whether DiNozzo needed medical leave or not.
"I'll find you some clothes while you wash up. You're not supposed to get those burns wet, right?"
"Yeah," Tony answered and gingerly pulled the jacket off. Gibbs saw the bandages hiding burns and cuts on Tony's side and nodded. "There are wash cloths in the cabinet under the sink."
"Thanks, Gibbs."
Gibbs turned toward his bedroom and listened to the background noise of the hot water starting to run and the doors of the cabinet clacking. He found some pants and an old, washed out T-shirt that was large enough to fit Tony comfortably. He was just throwing socks and underwear on the folded clothes when he heard a soft meow coming from the doorway. The gray kitten was peeking around the corner, either looking for company or its master. Gibbs doubted that cats had masters, so it probably considered Tony its mother. Just as well. He scooped the kitten up and put it on top of the pile of clothing. Then he heaved the pile up and carried it toward the bathroom.
"You about decent?" he asked, raising his voice to be heard through the door.
"Yeah," Tony answered, his voice muffled.
In the bathroom, he put everything on the dresser and pulled the kitten to his chest. Tony didn't see him; the uninjured half of his face was soapy and he was scrubbing at his hair over the sink. The water coming off was dirty.
Gibbs pulled a large towel out of the cabinet and put it on top of the pile of clothing before leaving the room again, the cat in his arms.
Knowing his agent, he assumed Tony would be hungry after tonight's ordeal and he was sure that the cat hadn't gotten anything to eat either. Jethro was looking at Gibbs with huge eyes, curiously pawing at his chest, trying to climb up on his shoulders.
"Shh, little guy," Gibbs calmed him and carried him downstairs to the kitchen. "Let's see what we can make into cat food around here."
The kitten listened attentively and butted Gibbs' chin with his head.
"Yeah," Gibbs murmured. "I thought you'd like that idea. How about salmon?" he asked then, finding a package of unopened salmon in one of the lower drawers in the fridge. "Looks unsalted."
The kitten meowed.
"Good choice," he said, even as he winced thinking that it was probably expensive salmon Karen had brought with her the last time she'd come over. The IKEA label told him that at least it hadn't come from a delicatessen store. And he could always lie and say he'd eaten it. Not that she would believe him.
"You probably want water with that," he murmured.
The water boiler stopped pumping that moment, and Gibbs decided to wait for Tony before he did something wrong with the cat. He doubted the kitten was very resilient yet.
He sat the cat down on the windowsill and washed his hands. If Tony wanted anything, he'd have to do with sandwiches. He opened the fridge and took the ingredients out, always keeping an eye on the kitten.
When he heard the creaking of the stairs, he straightened and turned.
"That felt good," Tony said and grinned. He was wearing the clothes, and Gibbs noted with satisfaction that they fit exactly as he had guessed they would.
"You hungry?"
"When am I not?" Tony answered with a shy smile. "Do you have anything I could feed Jet?"
Gibbs waved the package of salmon. "If he's allowed to eat that, then yes. Does he drink milk or water?"
"Watered down milk, and yes, he's allowed to eat that. Are you sure you want him to eat your salmon, though?"
"It's no use to anyone in the fridge, is it?"
"I guess not. But it's too cold for his stomach," Tony noted and scooped the tabby up. "Mmm, you're okay, baby, yes?" he asked and stroked over the fur, checking for any injuries he or the EMS guy might have missed. He turned to Gibbs. "I had the medics check him out at the scene. They cleared him; said he was scared but okay."
"Good. Sandwich for you?"
"Please. Give me a moment and I'll make it myself. I'll just put Jet back in the box. Don't want him running around that big house and get hurt."
Seeing the protective mothering side of Tony's nature, Gibbs decided to not tell him that the tabby had made it upstairs all by himself earlier.
"Just tell me what you want in. It's a one time offer," Gibbs said and watched with an unbelieving shake of his head as Tony scratched the cat between the small ears. He hadn't thought that Tony would lose his heart to a cat, even though it probably made sense. Pets tended to give their hearts away easily.
"Anything, really. I'm not picky," Tony answered as he surveyed the contents laid out on the table. Then he yawned and quickly held his face away from Gibbs, hiding against his shoulder. "Sorry. Maybe I should just go straight to bed."
"Eat something first. I know what you're like with a low blood sugar level," Gibbs answered and quickly put together a sandwich. Then he put it on a plate and pushed it toward his agent. "Eat up. You'll have to get up tomorrow."
"Thanks. Hold on, I got some antibiotics I'm supposed to take with that food."
Gibbs got up. "In your jacket?"
Tony nodded. "In one of the pockets. I didn't check."
Gibbs nodded and went back into the living room. In the discarded jacket, he found Tony's wallet, his gun, and a box of bandages, along with the painkillers and more papers - for his release, for the insurance company, and a prescription for more pills. After checking the gun's clip had been taken out, he took everything with him and put it on the kitchen table.
"We'll have to drop by the pharmacy tomorrow morning," he said and took two pills out of the orange bottle, handing them to Tony. Then he got a glass of water and put it down next to them. "You got some stuff for the Human Resources department. You can get medical leave for a week, then you're eligible for desk duty until the burns are healed."
"No," Tony whined and plucked the paper out of Gibbs hands. "I don't want desk duty. We'll just ignore this, all right?"
"Depends on your range of movement. You can probably process scenes, but nothing too strenuous."
"Like what?"
"We'll see. Now, eat up and get your ass into bed. It's one in the morning already," Gibbs said, ending the discussion by turning to the door again. "I'll find a spot for your cat to sleep in."
"Thanks, boss."
"You're welcome, DiNozzo. You drive me up the wall sometimes, but you're always welcome. You know that, right?"
Tony nodded, but Gibbs detected a flicker of discomfort in his agent's face. It didn't come as a surprise - DiNozzo wasn't used to him being anything other than a hard ass boss with a slightly mean streak.
"I'll meet you in the guest room when you're done. I think everything's in order in there, but I haven't used it in a while."
"I'll be there in a moment."
"Take your time," Gibbs answered and made his way toward the basement. He knew he had something that would make a bed for a kitten, or at least a toilet. Anything to make sure there wouldn't be cat droppings around the house.
When he returned back upstairs, he found the door to the guest room open, but no sound coming from inside. Upon entering, he saw that Tony had curled up on his uninjured side and was already sleeping. His breathing wasn't as clear sounding as Gibbs had expected it to be, but smoke inhalation due to the explosion was a valid explanation for that. He would ask about that tomorrow; for now, he let Tony sleep. He stepped around the pants Tony had stripped out of and pulled the blue sheets up higher.
The kitten was curled up in the cardboard box at the foot of the bed, and wasn't happy about being moved to a more stable box with higher walls he wouldn't be able to get out of as easily. When the kitten was settled, Gibbs pulled the dirty sweatshirt out of the cardboard box and held it up. He recognized it as one of Tony's - obviously it was the shirt he'd wrapped the cat up in when he had left the apartment. Gibbs took it with him and threw it into the washing machine.
Then he switched the lights off and went upstairs into his own bedroom. By the time he fell asleep, it was almost two o'clock. He would need a lot of coffee to get through the next day.
+
Used to late nights, Gibbs woke up punctually a few minutes before his alarm clock would have sounded. He turned over and rubbed at his eyes. He usually didn't mind having to get up after only a few hours of sleep - but just this once, he wished he could sleep in.
He got up and walked out into the hallway, listening to any sound that would have indicated that Tony was up already. He doubted the other man was ready to face the world yet, especially not injured and not with such an evening behind him. Gibbs grabbed his clothes for the day and closed the bathroom door behind him.
When he was done, he went downstairs to check on his visitor. He knocked quietly and opened the door slowly. Indeed, Tony was still asleep, as was the cat who had escaped his box somehow during the night and had curled up at Tony's feet. The small ears twitched and Jethro put a finger to his lips. Nevertheless or rather, in protest, as Gibbs suspected, the cat meowed loudly and Tony blinked his eyes open sluggishly.
"Morning," Gibbs greeted with a smile and opened the door full. "You ready to face the day?"
"Morning," Tony replied, his voice raspy. He followed it with a coughing fit and winced, rubbing his chest when it was over. "No, but does it matter?" Tony looked woozy with his hair sticking in all directions.
Gibbs smirke, ignoring the cough to spare his agent. "Not really. I'd let you sleep, but who knows what you'd do to my house if I left you alone."
"With the dog metaphor again?" Tony complained and got up carefully.
"You start chewing on the furniture and you're out of here."
Tony sighed, resigned. Gibbs watched him stretch and saw the bandages pull at Tony's skin. He remembered when he'd had burns and how much they had itched. He knew that DiNozzo would never voluntarily accept medical leave, but a day at the office would most likely tame his bravado. Burns looked like they were nothing, but the pain would constantly tug at his subconscious and wear him down. Then he might be persuaded to take a few days off after all. Gibbs knew his agent, knew how restless and eager to prove himself Tony was, but a day or two off would do him good and tone down those black rings under his eyes.
"Ducky will have something to help with those burns," Gibbs said and pointed at Tony's bandages. "And Abby will be happy to hug you to make it better." Tony nodded in acknowledgement. Gibbs scooped up the cat and left the room. "You have half an hour before we leave," he said over his shoulder and went to make coffee and to feed his namesake.
Tony got ready faster than Gibbs had expected and sat down at the kitchen table. "Where's my gun? I know the officer at the hospital took the clip out and gave it to me. I don't remember what happened afterwards."
"It was in your jacket," Gibbs replied. "I locked it away with mine."
"I need to clean it. And get that clip back. I have a spare one at the office."
Gibbs stepped behind Tony and put his hands on his agent's shoulders, mindful of the injury. "Stop it, Tony. You're riding with me today. You'll clean your gun at the office and that clip can wait. Eat breakfast."
+
In the car, after patting down his pockets to make sure he had everything he needed for the day, Tony suddenly turned to him with a curse. "Boss, my badge is still in my apartment. And my clothes - which reminds me, I need to return that jacket to the donor shelter at the hospital."
Gibbs sighed. Apparently DiNozzo hadn't heard anything he'd said before, other than 'eat breakfast', which he had wolfed down as if he hadn't been fed for two days. "What's the state of your apartment anyway? Is there anything salvageable, or did everything burn down?"
Gibbs glanced at Tony when he didn't reply. "I don't know," Tony finally replied. "I didn't see a lot when they got me out. Kinda smoky and all."
"Then we'll drive by and check. We have enough time." For some reason, he was proud that Tony had grabbed his gun before all had gone to hell. It was ridiculous - anyone who was trained to pull his gun at the sound of a car backfiring would, but it just showed that his agent was just that, an agent. If he were honest, he was almost prouder that Tony had rescued the cat first and not his DVD collection. A man had to have priorities. If Gibbs' house went afire, he would probably try to save the boat. What that said about him, he didn't really want to know.
Tony looked out the window, gripping the handle above the door with familiarity. "I hope they locked the scene up properly."
"In that dump? Probably not," Gibbs replied with a snort, his eyes never leaving the road.
"Thanks, boss, for being so optimistic."
"You're welcome. But your place is so bare and chaotic, no one would think of anything being hidden in there anyway."
"It's not bare. It's modernly decorated."
Gibbs shook his head. There was nothing modern about the sad state of his agent's apartment. "DiNozzo, you don't even have a nightstand. It's like you're expecting to move any day."
"Well, at first I thought so," Tony answered with a shrug. Gibbs found Tony looked rather calm at that thought. He shot his passenger a questioning look, asking him to continue.
" I didn't think I was cut out to be an NCIS agent and you were quite strict, so in the beginning I thought I was going to get kicked out any time."
Gibbs frowned. "You still think so?"
"Sometimes, yeah," Tony admitted. "I make stupid mistakes, Gibbs. I'm not what you'd expect from a federal agent."
"You're you and that's all anyone can ask for," Gibbs said. He honked at another car and watched as the driver pulled back into the lane, allowing him to drive past.
Tony answered after a pause. "Not sure if I should be happy about that."
"You want to change?" Gibbs asked curiously. He knew he had changed over the past decades, but those changes had come slowly and with high prices. A murder here, a serial killer there - there were many things he wished hadn't needed to happen to change him into the agent he was nowadays. He wasn't even sure most of the time if he wanted to be the agent he had become.
"I'm not sure I can," he heard Tony admit and it made sense. Changes weren't always good.
Gibbs nodded. "That's okay, too. You're a good agent, Tony; your attention deficit shouldn't matter."
Tony smiled, shying away from the compliment, just as Gibbs had expected. He added, "You get distracted easily, but I'm there to keep you on track."
"You do that."
Gibbs drove them into the street Tony lived in and upon seeing the wreckage of the apartment building, his stomach dropped. He had seen Tony in danger a lot of times, but then he'd always been there, knowing what was happening. His agent, his partner, could have died the night before and he wouldn't have known until the next morning. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel as he gripped it hard.
"When you find that new apartment, you'll run it by me and I'll either approve or you go look for another."
"Yes, boss."
Gibbs sighed. "There really is a hole in the side of the building."
"You didn't believe me? I told you I have panorama view now. The firemen said the levels up to our floor are stable for now. The whole thing will be torn down sometime soon though."
"Let me help you get your stuff out, then."
"You really don't need to-," Tony began, but Gibbs interrupted him with a raised hand.
"I'll help you. I don't need you distracted and leaving early just because you're preoccupied."
Tony gave into the gesture with a quiet 'thanks'.
"The building is secured by guards now?" Gibbs asked, pointing at the two men standing at the door.
"Yeah," Tony answered. "They set them up for this week until everyone's got their stuff out. They're making sure everyone's just going into their own apartment. Checked my email on your laptop this morning," he admitted with a shrug. He unbuckled his seatbelt and rummaged around his jacket pocket for the keys before he realized that he didn't have them with him.
"Good, then we'll grab your badge now and tonight we'll come back with a couple of boxes," Gibbs said while he parked the car.
They got out and walked toward the building. Tony gave his name to the guards and showed his ID before he was let into the building. They were followed by the second man and started upstairs. The elevator was, once again, out of order. Gibbs remembered it had worked the last time he'd been here, but hadn't used it out of pure distrust for the old thing. He knew Tony never used the elevator either, for fear of getting stuck.
"I can call someone to help with the packing. I even have the moving boxes still in storage," Tony said with a smile.
"Only you, DiNozzo, would consider that to be a good thing," Gibbs said with a shake of his head. He wished DiNozzo were more confident in his abilities as agent; at least confident enough to really move into an apartment without the next move already on his mind. "Next apartment you're moving in, we'll burn those boxes and get Kate to help with decorating."
"Sounds like you're planning on keeping me."
"It does, doesn't it?" Gibbs replied and followed his agent down the hallway toward the apartment he vaguely remembered as being Tony's. "They still haven't washed the graffiti off these walls?" He remembered them being there a year ago when he'd seen Tony's apartment for the first time.
As they turned that last corner, Gibbs could see the damage from the explosion. There was debris in the hallway and where it got worse, the path was sealed off for security reasons.
"Nah, not worth it. The kids would just do it again," Tony replied and pulled a knife out of his pocket. He sliced through the security tape at his door. He turned to the guard and said, "I'll just be getting my badge. We're coming back tonight for the rest."
The man nodded. "That's okay. There'll be someone here twenty four hours a day until everything's cleared out."
"Thanks," Tony answered with an easy smile. Gibbs resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Tony really breathed smiling and flirting when he tried. "I'd invite you guys in, but I'm afraid it's a bit of a mess right now."
"DiNozzo, get that badge so we can leave," Gibbs scolded and tapped his foot impatiently.
"Right, boss. Give me a minute."
Gibbs tilted his head to the side when the apartment door was opened and peeked inside. There really was a chunk of wall missing. He hoped it wasn't a carrying one. He watched it as DiNozzo disappeared into the bedroom and came out with his badge and a locked ammo box.
"My important papers and my extra gun," he explained. "Don't want to leave those here."
Gibbs approved. "You ready?"
"Yeah. I'll just quickly grab some clean clothes while I'm here. I'll be right back if you take that for a moment."
Gibbs reached out to take the box and the badge. He stepped back out and waited with the guard while DiNozzo was rummaging around his closet. Moments later, DiNozzo reappeared with a bag in his hand and closed the door behind them again. The security guard pulled out a roll of red security tape and sealed the scene a second time.
They left quickly and got coffee on the way to the office.
+
"McGee!" Tony shouted when he came into the bullpen. He crouched down at McGee's desk and peered up at his colleague from his eyelashes with a charming smile on his lips.
"Tony?"
"Wanna help me clean out my apartment tonight?"
"I... I've got a date. But if Abby's okay with moving that to another day," McGee trailed off.
"You're going on a date with Abby?" Tony asked, confirming what McGee had said.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Because I'm certainly not keeping you from going on the first date of your life, Probie! I'll ask someone else, don't worry," Tony said with a charming smile and straightened. He went over to Kate's desk and drummed on her desk with his finger pads.
"I'll help, but only if you buy dinner afterwards."
"Great. Thanks, Kate."
+
Tony unlocked the storage container and with a mighty pull opened the door. He immediately started sneezing.
"DiNozzo, when did you visit here last?" Kate asked, covering her face with her sleeve. "It's really dusty in here."
Tony looked offended. "Two years, maybe?"
"You never need stuff from your storage? Why don't you just throw it away then?"
Gibbs switched the light on inside and grinned. "I assume your apartment came furnished?"
"Yeah. That's why most of my stuff is in here. I'm not good with throwing away stuff."
Kate took a moment to really look around and frowned. "You keep your couch in storage? And your bed frame?"
"And apparently a lot of sports equipment," Gibbs added, poking at the various balls and sticks. "Didn't know you played lacrosse."
"Well, I'm a versatile guy," Tony answered and shot a dirty grin at Kate.
Kate held up a hand to ward off any other comments. "You have paintings in there," she said then after taking a look around. "And they're not even nude acts."
"Not even I think about sex all the time, Kate," Tony replied with a roll of his eyes. "That's a repainting of Cesare-"
"Save the lesson," Gibbs interrupted. "Where are those boxes you mentioned?"
"Ah, they should be in that closet."
"Your apartment has a walk in closet?" Kate asked, raising her eyebrows. Gibbs could almost see the jealousy in her eyes and smirked. She really had no idea what kind of dump Tony lived in.
"No, it's just built into the wall. A walk-in one would be nice, though. I should try and get one in my new apartment."
Gibbs snorted. "Just remember, all apartments must get my okay first."
"The Gibbs seal of approval?" Tony grinned.
"Exactly. Now, don't stand just there. Grab some of these and load them into the car," Gibbs commanded and grabbed a couple of the empty, folded boxes.
He was followed by his agents and let them unload the boxes into the trunk before slamming it shut.
"Ready to go?"
Tony nodded and got into the car, leaving the passenger seat to Kate. They drove mostly in silence. Kate knew better than to try and find a radio station Gibbs would agree on, so she didn't even try.
There were more people in the building at this time of the day - the first inhabitants had already packed their belongings up into a U-Haul truck and were getting ready to leave. Gibbs parked the car behind the truck and waited until they had left. He parked in the empty spot and got out.
"You found any other friends to help you out?" Gibbs asked when it was clear Tony was looking for someone.
"Yeah, actually I expected someone to be here," Tony answered and checked his watch. An old pick-up truck drove up just then and the driver honked before he parked his car in one of the empty lots.
"That your guy?" Gibbs asked, giving the tall, well-built man a once over.
"Yep," Tony answered. "He'll cart everything back to storage in the pick-up."
When the man had come close enough, Tony introduced them with a grin. "Josh, that's Gibbs and Kate. And this is Josh - he helped me out when I had just moved here."
Gibbs knew there was a longer story to this friendship, but he didn't ask any questions. He would find the time to ask, later, when Tony was busy elsewhere.
+
Inside the ruined apartment, they divided into pairs and started on the different rooms. Tony and Kate took the kitchen, wrapping everything up in paper before putting it in boxes. A lot of glassware and most of the china hadn't made it through the explosion, and Gibbs heard Tony curse and throw something against the wall from his spot in the living room.
"Don't forget to pack some cat food for Jethro," Gibbs reminded his agent who was just carrying a box with pots and pans past the doorway He smirked when he heard Kate round in on Tony in the other room. "You have a cat named Jethro? And he knows? And you're still alive?"
Gibbs grinned. He loved being feared by his agents way too much.
"You're a hard boss," Josh commented from where he was stacking DVDs and CDs into a box. "But fair. Tony tells me a lot of stories about you - he really looks up to you."
"He better," Gibbs grumbled in response, only half joking, and tilted his head. "So, how did you two meet? There's more to that story, I know it."
Josh chuckled. "He went out to find a couple of ladies, and he's not into that whole crossdressing drag thing, if you know what I mean. Anyway, he went to Dupont Circle and didn't know his way around, so he ended up in a bar with a lot of pretty ladies, only not the ladies he was looking for."
Gibbs laughed at that. "I know he's grossed out by people changing their plumbing - we had that on a case once, but I didn't know anything else."
"Oh, he's got very varying tastes when it comes to his sexual partners. That's why he was pretty freaked out that night. And I kinda got him out of a lot of trouble when the people in that bar thought he was a phobe. Poor guy almost got bashed in a bad way by ladies with mean hooks."
"And you helped him out."
"Yep. Got him out of there with every one of his parts intact except his dignity and introduced him to the DC nightlife."
"Did you do more than that?"
"Yeah. But that's another story," Josh said with a wink. "Not sure if he wants you to know that."
Gibbs finished packing the box he'd been working on getting full and shut it. He kneeled on it while pulling duct tape off with his teeth before he answered Josh. "I'm not sure if he wanted me to know the other story."
Josh shrugged. "Probably not. He's scared of you finding out. Thinks it'll get him kicked out of his job, and he really likes it there."
"It won't get him kicked out. Only kicked, because he thought it would," Gibbs groused and sealed the box with a stripe of tape.
They finished faster than Gibbs had expected. Mostly because Tony had decided to start anew in the new apartment and left a lot of stuff behind. When they were done and had everything loaded up and secured in the back of the pickup, Gibbs led the way to the storage unit. When everything was unloaded there, they were too tired to go to a restaurant and opted to go home and have the promised dinner another time.
+
Gibbs waited until Tony had pulled out of the parking lot and led his agent back to his house. He pulled up and got out, waving Tony in to park next to him in the driveway.
"Thanks for the help today, boss."
"Any time," Gibbs answered and led the way inside.
Gibbs took care of his agents, be it by giving them temporary sleeping quarters or handing them food or coffee when they needed it. He knew the other team leaders didn't always care for their agents, not in the way he did. Johnson had a family of his own and barely enough space in his apartment to put his own kids up. Their definition of 'family' was probably where their opinions differentiated. To Gibbs, his team was just as much family as his lovers were, if not more so because they were with him for a longer time. To most of the other team leaders, family defined what they had at home, and their co-workers constituted as friends and in some cases not even close ones.
He looked over at Tony, who had settled down on the couch, carefully leaning against the back on his good side.
"You in pain?"
"It's there," Tony shrugged. "I'll put on more of Ducky's stuff later. That cream got me through the day. And the painkillers," he added after a moment before digging out the little orange pill bottle to take another dose.
"Told you he'd have something that helps," Gibbs smirked and made his way to the kitchen to get his agent some water to swallow the pills with.
"Is that experience talking?"
Gibbs nodded and came back, setting the glass down. "Actually, yeah. From an explosion, too."
"That why you don't use power tools?" Tony asked and tilted his head back until he could see Gibbs upside down. Gibbs sighed when he saw that smirk and fought against the urge to smack his agent. That Tony didn't have any background information only saved him by a margin.
"No. The reason I'm not comfortable going in convoys through Iraq anymore, DiNozzo."
"Sorry," the other replied with a wince. "Didn't mean to-"
Gibbs interrupted him. "I know." He put a hand on Tony's good shoulder and squeezed. "Up for dinner?"
"Starving, actually," DiNozzo replied and quickly swallowed his prescribed dosage.
"When are you not," Gibbs said and smiled.
"I have a high metabolism, I'll have you know. When my blood sugar drops I get cold, dizzy and cranky."
"And you think I haven't found that out the time we were locked in that freezer and you ate the ice cream instead of helping me try to find a way out?"
"I remember that case," Tony answered, obviously fond of the memory. "They had tiramisu, strawberry and walnut."
Gibbs snorted. "And a drowned ensign tied to the railing."
"That, too," Tony admitted and got up. "So what's for dinner? I can whip up some omelets or spaghetti with pesto if you have the ingredients. I'm not going to eat the cat food we saved from the apartment."
"How about I make us some steaks?"
"You have steaks in your fridge," Tony stated, awe in his voice. "If I weren't straight, I'd kiss you."
Gibbs raised his eyebrows. "May I remind you that you aren't completely straight?" Upon seeing Tony's surprised expression, he quickly continued, "Which is not an invitation, DiNozzo, so keep your lips to yourself. I'll start on the steaks. You go find your cat and feed it."
On his way out, he heard Tony mutter softly to himself. He could only make out the words 'How did he' before he was out of earshot. Shaking his head, Gibbs opened the fridge. Of course DiNozzo wouldn't suspect Gibbs to know about anything other than what he projected daily at the office. His senior field agent still had a thing or two to learn about observation and hiding.
He took a pan out and put it on the stove. He poured oil in and waited for it to start sizzling and for Tony to return from feeding Jethro.
"Cat fed?" he asked when Tony came back.
"Yeah, Jethro's all set," Tony answered and added with a grin, "He's been good. Nothing scratched or bitten through."
"He better not start, either," Gibbs warned.
Behind him, DiNozzo was rummaging around his herb garden, cutting off basil, rosemary and oregano to spice the steaks. He dropped the packed steaks in the sink and opened the fridge to pull two beers out.
"You can take the rest of the week off, if you want," he said, casually opening the beer bottle with the knife DiNozzo had used to cut up the herbs. "I might take the team to the gym," he implied.
"But I'll be bored staying here, boss," Tony resisted. That he subconsciously wrapped an arm around his side, didn't go unnoticed by Gibbs.
"I get the paper delivered. You can check the ads for apartments. Or, with the amount of money you have in the bank and your pay check, you could probably afford a house somewhere. Living from your boxes in a dingy apartment really isn't necessary. You're a good agent, and even if you don't want to stay at NCIS, you could always join another force - police or federal."
Tony tilted his head. "A small house, huh?"
"Yep. Settle down - you're getting close to thirty-five. How much longer do you want to keep moving?"
He watched Tony watch the oil sizzling in the pan and waited for an answer. He could be patient when he wanted to.
"A small house," DiNozzo repeated and Gibbs wondered if he'd struck a nerve there. "I bet the kitten would like staying in a house."
"Yeah, blame the cat," he grunted when he heard that answer. "DiNozzo, this is about what you want to do with your life. Either take the opportunity to find somewhere you want to stay, or seriously start thinking about why you always run from the cities you live in."
Tony swallowed. "I'm not running. I'm moving on."
"Like there's a difference. I was married once - before the other three, I mean," Gibbs said and looked at the wall. "With a daughter. They died. And I was so close," he indicated the span between the one decision and the other with his thumb and index finger, "to offing myself - to running and crawling into a hole to die."
He looked over to see Tony's reaction. "But I stayed and got through it and came out on top and I still fucking miss them but I'm not going to run from life just because it hurts sometimes. You run - you run and run and I wonder what you're going to do once you've gone through all cities.
Tony said nothing, so Gibbs lifted his beer. "You probably hope there's a bullet with your name in one of them."
That got Tony's attention and for a brief moment, Gibbs felt guilty for unveiling the dirty secret DiNozzo had probably hidden so far inside himself he didn't even know it was there anymore.
"I'm not going to look after that bratty cat of yours if you continue that shit," he stated and looked down at the steaks. He turned one over and shook his head. "Jesus, DiNozzo... there's gotta be a solution to whatever's hounding you."
"And you think a house will help me? Want me to start building a boat in the basement, too, huh?" DiNozzo asked angrily and shoved himself off the wall.
Gibbs didn't answer. He knew that Tony wanted him to shout back, but he couldn't - not if he wanted Tony to stay in the house and not run out into the night trying to get run over by a bus. "Building a boat needs knowledge about how to build one. Boats don't come in a kit with little numbers where to put the screws."
He waited for the little twitch at the corners of Tony's mouth and congratulated himself on a situation well defused. "You could start building model boats, however. Or planes," he added and indicated the cutlery drawer. "Lay the table, will you?"
"Cars - I'm all about cars, forgot that already?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows. "Maybe it's not just your sight going, boss." He obeyed, though, and took knives and forks out, as well as two plates. He set everything on the small table.
Gibbs put up with the jibe and toasted at his agent before upending the bottle over the steaks. "So, cars. You could remodel old cars. That's a hobby that could even make you some money. You'll need that extra money soon."
"Well, that sounds ominous," Tony said.
"Oh, DiNozzo, you really have no clue how much money goes into repairs when you have a house," Gibbs replied with a laugh and set the bottle down on the counter.
"You sound so sure I'm going to get one," Tony replied and opened another bottle for his boss.
"You will. It'll be good for you. Very character building. Plus, you might get to know a handy plumber or have a nice single mother as neighbor."
"Damnit, boss. I really don't need - you know. Help," Tony finally got out, waving his hand.
Denying that, Gibbs shook his head. "You don't get to read your psych evaluations. I do. And I know you're being prescribed Prozac each time which you don't take. You've almost lost your life on numerous occasions. There's been a lot of shit in your life - and not just recently."
Gibbs winced when he saw his agent shut down on that. The voice that answered sounded cool. "Childhood traumas don't count."
"I think they do," he insisted.
"A house? Anthony DiNozzo, owner of a nice little house with a white picket fence?" Tony asked again, doubt in his voice.
"Why not?"
Tony hummed and Gibbs let him off the hook.
After a long uncomfortable moment of silence, DiNozzo cleared his throat. "So, how about those steaks?"
"Subtle," Gibbs commented and finished his beer. Then he turned the stove off and lifted the pan. "Dinner's ready."
+
When Gibbs came home the next evening, he was more tired than usual. They had gotten a case around ten, when a maid had discovered a dead Navy lieutenant in a hotel room near the base and without DiNozzo there to do his job, the day seemed to pass in slow motion. They took longer at the scene, took longer to find the background information and around four, after too many coffees, Gibbs wished he hadn't convinced his agent to stay at home.
The house was filled with Edith Piaf's voice and when he walked into the living room to the source of the noise he was ready to explode at Tony for not being there, for being there, for making noise, for not being at the office to make noise - anything to calm down before he went down to his boat.
He was stunned into silence when he arrived in the living room, only to see Tony had found his old record player in the attic and a bunch of old vinyls which were neatly stacked on the coffee table. On the floor, next to the record player Tony knelt with only boxer shorts on and cream and bandages covering his burns, taunting the cat with a stripe of bacon he'd obviously pulled from the half eaten sandwich resting on a tablet on the couch.
"DiNozzo!" he shouted over the noise.
He enjoyed watching as DiNozzo flinched and the cat took the opportunity to snatch the piece of bacon away from Tony's fingers. With his hands free, DiNozzo quickly shut the music off.
"What the hell are you doing?" Gibbs inquired, gesturing at the mess Tony had made of his living room.
"Hey, boss, I was just... going to clean up," DiNozzo apologized and got up. "I'm sorry, Gibbs. I was bored. But I did useful stuff, too. I cleaned and then I checked the ads for apartments and contacted a realtor. And-," he trailed off when Gibbs held up a hand. "What?"
"Slow down," Gibbs told him and pulled his agent to sit on the couch. "I had a long day - don't ask me to concentrate on your ramblings."
"Sorry, boss. I did do what you asked, though - about trying to find a house."
"You called a realtor?" Gibbs asked and leaned forward to see if he remembered any of the records on the pile.
DiNozzo nodded. "Yep. She's faxing me a few prelims and when I've chosen which ones go into the closer running for the new DiNozzo home, she'll give me a tour. I don't know when that will be, but I'll probably need a day off or something."
"No problem," Gibbs answered, hoping it wouldn't be a day where they had a case. No way was he going to let DiNozzo off during one.
"I'll probably need a list of things to look out for," Tony hedged.
"Or you could simply ask me to come with you."
"But," Tony trailed off, clearly not having expected that answer. "If you have nothing better to do that day, I'll ask."
Gibbs knew just what made Tony uncomfortable, so he suggested, "We could take Abby and Kate, even - they'll be able to give you tips about interior decoration."
Tony squinted, making a face. "Abby?"
"Leave her to decorate the basement," Gibbs offered. "You don't want to ask Kate's help and not Abby's."
"True," Tony admitted grudgingly. In his life, he'd learned that not even hell knew fury like a scorned woman.
"And when you were done, you dug around the attic, looking for stuff to amuse yourself with?" he asked then, indicating the records. He knew there were things up there he didn't want to think about. Memories he didn't want to be reminded of - one of the reasons he didn't go up there voluntarily.
"Yeah. I assumed you'd hate for me to go down to the basement," DiNozzo said with a shrug. "I swear I didn't look around much - the record player was pretty much right next to the door. I took it and went back down."
"It's okay, DiNozzo," Gibbs waved off. "I know what's up there. My attic and all." His agent didn't comment on that, so he turned to the next issue. "So, what about dinner?"
"I thought I'd order in?" DiNozzo answered with a winning smile, obviously totally unprepared.
"Didn't expect me to come home at five, did you?"
"Nope," DiNozzo admitted. "But it's nice to know you let everyone go home on time the one time I'm not at work."
Gibbs rolled his eyes. If only DiNozzo knew that he was the reason he had sent everyone home. He just smirked.
"So, Thai?"
"Your call, DiNozzo. You already know what to order for me."
DiNozzo nodded and padded over to the phone, where he pulled the top drawer open and searched the leaflets for the restaurant he wanted to call.
+
"That's the house?" Gibbs asked, doubt crossing his mind about letting DiNozzo choose his future living quarters for himself. He was surprised there wasn't a 'no trespassing' sign due to danger on the fence. "That's old," he tried to describe without outright saying 'that's as much of a dump as your apartment'.
DiNozzo shrugged. "But it's homey."
"Homey?" Gibbs asked, letting all his disgust for the word show and decided being nice wasn't going to get him anywhere. "How many of the houses on your list are described as 'homey' or 'lived-in' or-," he trailed off when he saw DiNozzo fold the list.
"Don't tell me you chose your houses based on descriptions like that, because if that's the case we'll turn around right now," Gibbs groused. And then DiNozzo would get a lecture of phony, wrongly euphemistic phrases. The man was an investigator - Gibbs would have never believed Tony to be so gullible and stupid when it came to trusting someone who wanted to sell him a house.
"Not all of them!" Tony denied vehemently. "I just don't want something modern and ugly and hostile."
"Hostile," Gibbs repeated, stumped. He sighed. "Let's pick up some take-away and sit down somewhere. We'll compile a list and then we'll contact your realtor and tell her what exactly you want. Because I don't think you even bothered to give her any specifics, did you?"
DiNozzo shook his head. "Want to see my list?"
Gibbs grabbed the note DiNozzo was feebly holding out and read through it. DiNozzo was a brilliant man, indeed, but sometimes he had no clue. Gibbs quietly gave the list back and started the car again. "Right. Take-away; then a park bench somewhere."
+
The next time it took the realtor a whole week before she got back to them. The list she prepared was completely different from the other and Gibbs nodded at the choices approvingly. They drove to the different houses, but Tony was picky, and at the last one, Gibbs hadn't even parked the car before deciding the neighborhood was too bad and too far away. They drove back and Gibbs was glad they had borrowed an NCIS car with a navigation system for their house hunt.
The house next on their list was in a quiet neighborhood, despite being relatively close to work. A fifteen minutes drive, and despite the medium range price, it sounded better than some of the more expensive houses they had looked at. At the realtor's office, Gibbs had read the description and immediately given it to Tony to consider.
He parked the car on the street and locked up after them. Tony got the key from the neighbors and Gibbs would have stopped the chatting after ten minutes if he hadn't known that Tony would charm them into saying something about the house.
"The previous owner was a plumber," Tony said when he came back, the key dangling from his fingers. "His wife liked to putter around the garden, so it should still be well maintained."
"Good. That should assure that at least the plumbing is okay. Now, let's see about the rest of it," he said, reaching for the key.
Tony handed the key over reluctantly and took a closer look at the porch while Gibbs went inside. From inside, he could hear the creaking of chains, indicating Tony was trying out the swing.
"DiNozzo, get your ass in here," he grumped and looked around. The inside was solid wood - dark panels and a wooden staircase leading to the upper floor. Behind him, Tony let out a wolf whistle.
"It's spacey," he said and tilted his head up. "Love the high ceiling and the long walls and the lights and the- sorry, boss," he finished when he saw Gibbs' look. "I'm just saying."
"You have your list of stuff you want?" he asked and nodded when Tony waved it. "Check if everything's there."
"All right," Tony said with a grin and jogged upstairs to, as Gibbs assumed, check if the bedroom was large and had a walk-in closet. He rolled his eyes and went to find the door to the basement to check if everything was all right down there.
Fifteen minutes later found him checking out the attic, with Tony at his heels. "Looks good, so far, boss," Tony said. "It's got everything I want and more." Then, a little more hesitant, he asked, "Did you find anything?"
Gibbs smiled. It looked like his agent had already set his sights on this one. He climbed the rest of the way up and started looking for animal droppings and leaks. "Can you afford it?" He turned and saw Tony standing in the staircase, leaning against the door.
"I can. Kinda."
"You should haggle," Gibbs replied. "Usually something can be done with the price." Especially DiNozzo would have no trouble swaying the woman with his charming ways. He was a good undercover agent - a little haggling should pose no troubles for him.
"I will. So you found nothing bad? No birds under the roof, no snakes in the basement?"
Gibbs lit the torch to shine at Tony's face. "Why, scared of snakes?"
"No. I'm just saying," Tony trailed off and walked further into the attic, peeking under the covers. "There's antiques under there," he said, in awe. "And that looks like... a treasure chest."
"DiNozzo, what you do in your spare time is none of my business. If you want to go treasure hunting, do it."
"Will do, boss. But that restoring old cars thing you mentioned sounds real good."
Gibbs smirked. "You could do it, you know? You need to get your mind off of work more. I know you spend nights at the office and you stay home on the weekends watching movies and not going out."
Tony had the grace to say nothing to that. "I don't stay home all weekends," he protested after a moment of silence. "Just some."
"When you're on call, you mean. And I know what names are on the on-call list and how often, you knew that?"
"No, I didn't. But does it matter?"
Gibbs tilted his head. "Well, if you ask like that," he trailed off. "I suppose, no, it doesn't. It's just disturbing."
He turned half and watched DiNozzo uncover a large old oaken mirror. The mirror was mostly blind, but DiNozzo took a long look into it anyway. Maybe he'd said too much again, Gibbs thought and turned around to finish his round. He never knew with DiNozzo - sometimes a sentence was all it took to get through to him, sometimes Gibbs could spend hours talking and Tony wouldn't realize it was about him.
"Ready to go back downstairs?" Gibbs asked and made for the staircase.
"Yep. I can always inspect that later."
"If you choose to take this house," Gibbs added to that statement.
"I guess so. But you didn't find anything, and I really like it."
Gibbs sighed. His agent was too enthusiastic sometimes, a big part of his charm, certainly, but still unusual for a man in his thirties. "We're still having someone look it over professionally."
Tony nodded and followed him downstairs. "But we can tell the realtor that I want it, right?"
"Yeah. I'm sure we can ask someone to look at it this week. Then you can move in as soon as everything's signed and transferred."
Tony grumped. "It'll be weird. I've gotten used to your spare room. It'll feel lonely without you there to shout at me to get up at five in the morning."
Gibbs smirked. "Can't you program your alarm clock to do that for you?"
"To shout at me, you mean?" Tony asked, surprised.
Waving his hand in dismissal, Gibbs answered, "Whatever moves you, DiNozzo."
"Your voice moves me, definitely." Tony's lips were twisted in a sly grin as he replied. Gibbs should have seen it coming. For a natural born flirt, an opening like that was probably irresistible. Hell, had he been hit with such an easy opening, he wouldn't have responded any differently.
+
Moving DiNozzo into the new house was a little more work than moving him out of the old apartment. The Wednesday following the sale, Gibbs let his agent go at four, with the promise to call him if a case came in. He himself stayed and hoped DiNozzo didn't hurt himself trying to get that huge bed into the upper bedroom. But since DiNozzo only got hurt on the job, usually, Gibbs was confident to get his agent back in one piece the next morning.
He left at six, after finishing the red tape stuff he wasn't so overly fond of and then jumped into his car to see if DiNozzo needed any help. He found the quickest way to the house easily, remembering an ex-girlfriend that hadn't lived very far away from his agent's new address.
Tony's car was parked a little off to make space for the pickup truck that was being unloaded by two burly men. Boxes and furniture littered the driveway and just when Gibbs was parking his car, DiNozzo came out to get more stuff inside. He seemed glad to see Gibbs.
"Hey, boss," he grinned, waving and coming closer.
Gibbs stepped over a few boxes and stopped to survey the chaos. "Need some help, DiNozzo?"
"Yeah," DiNozzo admitted and scratched the back of his head. "Josh and Alan are a big help, especially with the truck, but there are still so many boxes. Did we pack that many boxes or did they breed in that storage unit?"
Gibbs didn't answer, but picked up a box instead. On the front was a playboy bunny drawn with permanent marker, and Gibbs sighed. Of course DiNozzo would collect those. "Where do the Playboy magazines go?"
Tony's eyes widened and he made a grab for the box. "I can take those, boss."
Gibbs turned away at the right moment and made toward the house. "Where, DiNozzo."
"Bedroom, of course!" DiNozzo answered with a grin. "But you can just drop them in the living room."
"You still need instructions?" Gibbs asked with a smirk.
"Ha, ha, boss," his agent replied with a grumble and followed him with the lampshade. "Very funny. Don't tell me you never collected magazines."
"I did. But then I realized that I never looked at any back issues of Semper Fi and threw them away," he answered and entered the house. "The living room's right?"
"Yep. I love the layout in that house. So much open space and you can look into the living room from the kitchen! And upstairs," DiNozzo trailed off and Gibbs could see the house would be in good hands. Not that it mattered to him - he just felt better knowing that DiNozzo wouldn't treat it the way he had treated his apartment. Gibbs could see from the entrance door that most of the boxes had been carried inside already. There were some piled up on the kitchen counters, and the couch from storage was already unpacked and in the living room. He went down that one step and put the box down on the other boxes labeled as 'media'.
Then he went to the glass panels making up two walls and surveyed the patio and the garden. Neither looked well cared for, and he supposed it was the time it had been on the market that had made the garden such a wilderness and the wooden deck so gray.
"You'll have to sand and wax that floor," he commented.
"Sand it, huh?" DiNozzo mused. "Finally I can use that power sander for something. And here my father probably had it bought in the hopes I would never have any use for it at all."
Gibbs snorted. Knowing what he did about DiNozzo senior, he thought that a real possibility.
"By the way," Tony said then and pulled a key out of his pocket. He held it out for Gibbs to take and smiled when he did. "It's the key to my house."
"Not to your heart?"
"Bah," Tony replied with a shrug. "That one's a lot easier. A dinner and a movie." He winked at Gibbs. "Why?"
"I have an ex-wife who's looking for a new-"
"Oh no, you wouldn't."
tbc...