Main NCSI Slash page | The new stories | Tony/Gibbs stories | Other pairings stories | Het stories | Gen NCIS stories
Title: Snapshots
By: nancy
Pairing: Tony/Gibbs
Fandom: NCIS
Rating: R
Warnings: angst
Summary: Tony's life in the form of a movie.
***
The Fade Out
Tony watched, stunned, as Gibbs
walked away from them all just like that. If it had been just himself, he
could've understood it, but Abby and Ducky? Just the final
glance that every hero took of loved ones, and then Gibbs strode out the door and
off screen without another word.
Taking the hero metaphor a
little too far there, Boss, he thought, when he was finally able to form
one. And when the hell did you start listening to me ramble about movies?
"Agent
DiNozzo."
Turning belatedly at the Director's
quiet statement of his name, Tony looked at her and answered, "Yes, Ma'am?"
Director Sheppard looked as
shell-shocked as everyone else, but it was fading under the need to take
control of the situation. "My office tomorrow morning, 0800
sharp."
Tony nodded and she turned to
leave. He wasn't surprised when Ziva hurried after
the Director. Her allegiance to the team was really allegiance to Gibbs and
since he was gone, there was no reason for Ziva to
stick around. Looking over at where Abby, Ducky, and McGee stood in a
quasi-huddle, Tony was momentarily at a loss for words. Three sets of eyes
landed on him almost simultaneously and he instinctively straightened, habit
and ritual coming to the rescue as he asked, "Whose turn is it to buy tonight?"
Clearly startled, Ducky
replied, "I believe it's mine, Tony."
"Great! I'll have Kung Pao Chicken and Hunan Beef," Tony informed him.
Ducky sniffed. "As if I'll be phoning in the order? My boy, please."
Tony walked over to McGee and
clapped him on the back, agreeing, "Right. That would be the Probie's job."
For a second, McGee seemed
about to protest, lips bunching up in a prelude to speaking, but he just nodded
abruptly and spun on a dime to walk to the nearest phone. When he got there,
McGee asked, "Abby? Ducky? What would you like?"
Abby wiped at her face and
sniffled loudly before answering, "There's nothing fattening there and I need
something really, really, fattening tonight."
"How about Death By Chocolate?" Tony suggested.
Her eyes didn't light up as
they usually did at that particular suggestion, but there was a lessening of
the complete misery as she took Ducky's handkerchief.
At least a little. "Sounds like a plan to me."
Tony ordered, "McGee! Stop at
Lorenzo's on your way back and get Abby's dessert!"
McGee sighed in a pale
imitation of his usual put-upon air, but it was a start.
Exposition as a way of life...
"If anyone can bring him back,
Agent DiNozzo, it's you."
Tony stifled the impulse to
laugh. No matter how punchy he still felt after a night of no sleep, laughing
at the big boss was not a good idea. Clearing
his throat, he didn't miss the way her gaze narrowed as if sensing he was
trying not to laugh. He said hastily, "Gibbs has made up his mind, Ma'am, and I
seriously doubt that anything I say will do anything to change it."
"You underestimate yourself, DiNozzo,"
Sheppard countered.
Keeping as impassive as
possible, Tony replied, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ma'am, but in this
case, it's overstated."
She looked at him, pointed, and
Tony stifled the urge to sigh. He had the feeling that he would have to get
used to explaining things to people, now that Gibbs wasn't around to cut
through the red tape with Marine ruthless efficiency.
"Gibbs needs time, Director. If
he changes his mind, it'll be his decision, just like everything else. He's
burnt out. If he wasn't, he would be here, in charge, making everyone else's
life miserable as only Gibbs can. That's the sitrep,
Ma'am, and it's not going to be any different if I go after him. Well, aside from
the fact that I might wind up with a hole that doesn't belong in me."
She glared, but didn't dispute
his words. "I'll have the paperwork noting your promotion completed by the end
of the day. You are, however, on probation as team lead."
Tony opened his mouth to
protest, but she overrode him.
"I would do it to anyone, Tony,
it isn't you. If Gibbs comes back, I need the wiggle-room to get him back in
command," she assured him. "There's no reflection on you."
Yeah, right, Tony
thought. If he'd left Ziva in command, she'd be
fully confirmed overnight.
Out loud, he agreed, "Of
course, Ma'am. Is there anything else?"
She looked at him a moment
longer, then shook her head. "No, Agent DiNozzo, that
will be all."
Tony turned and left the
office.
And...Action!
Swearing colorfully, if
silently to save his breath, Tony ran full-out after the suspect who'd tripped
McGee and literally jumped over Ziva to get away. He
spared the breath to hiss, "Friggin' gymnast!" before
putting on another burst of speed. If Gibbs had been there, he'd've
been able to read Tony's mind and bolt to the car to cut the suspect off. He
wasn't, so Tony concentrated on closing the distance between himself
and the dickwad who had the capability to vault over Ziva and take off running without missing a beat.
It was something of a surprise
and a letdown when campus cops jumped out of the woodwork to tackle the young
man on the run. Tony slowed to a jog, taking the last hundred meters to bring
his lungs back to normal. By the time he got to the edge of the building where
they had the suspect on the ground, Tony was composed and not even breathing
hard. It helped that he'd spent the last month since Gibbs had left doing heavy
conditioning so he could present an impervious façade, at least physically.
Pulling out his cuffs, he
hauled Ensign Joey McCardle to his feet and cuffed
him. "Come on, Mary Lou, you've got some serious questions to answer."
McGee puffed to a stop in front
of them, proving that he wasn't the one to call in the rent-a-cops. "I was...right...behind
you...Boss."
"Good. You can retrace our
steps to find where he threw the flashdrive," Tony
ordered, pushing McCardle towards the car coming
towards them. He tossed over his shoulder, "Don't come back without it, McGee!"
Opening the door, he maneuvered
Joey inside with the ease of long practice. The only time a perp
hit his head was when Tony wanted him to and they weren't at that point yet
with McCardle. Once McGee found the flashdrive, the case would be over and he wouldn't even
have to issue any threats.
Damn it.
Tony climbed into the passenger
seat drawled, "Home, James."
Looking at him sideways, Ziva muttered, "My name is not James. My name has never
been James. If you don't stop calling me that..."
She finished in a dire tone and
Hebrew, but Tony wasn't all that worried. If she did kill him one day, he
wouldn't know about it until it was done. Torture was reserved for people she
hated or considered enemies and Tony was neither. Of course, they weren't
friends, either, but still. No torture, so he wasn't worried. Besides, he was
pretty sure Gibbs had warned her off the torture before leaving at some point.
It hardly ever came up anymore.
Then again, maybe it was
Gibbs who inspired the desire to torture in the first place, he thought,
amused.
FLASHBACK:
Tony shivered violently as he
made the final few feet to the dryness of NCIS. Caught yet again in the rain
without an umbrella, he was sure that he'd need to bring in some spare clothes
if he couldn't manage to listen to the weather report the night before. And
since Gibbs considered him his personal slave and Tony rarely left before midnight every night, even when there wasn't a
case, he hadn't seen the news since starting at NCIS four months ago.
The MP on duty gave him a
sympathetic look as he sloshed by and Tony asked, "Catch the game last night?"
"You missed another great one,
DiNozzo," the man replied.
Tony sighed. "Figures."
Friggin'
Gibbs, he thought, pissed. I haven't had a life since coming here! 'A
challenge,' my ass! More like indentured servitude. This isn't Stalag 13! Probie this, probie that. I'm no fucking probie,
damn it! I've been a cop at least as long as he's been an agent, even if I
wasn't a precious Marine before that. If he says one God damned word, I'm going
to quit, I swear to God!
He sneezed violently on
stepping off the elevator a few seconds later and groaned when a neck muscle
pulled at the sudden movement. Rubbing his neck as he closed the distance to
their desks, Tony was caught by surprise when cloth hit him right in the face.
"What the...?"
Pulling it off, he discovered
it was a towel. Since Gibbs was the only other person on the floor, it had to
have come from him, but...
"Don't stand there dripping,
DiNozzo," Gibbs ordered mildly as he stood, then pointed to Tony's desk. "Left
you some spares in the bottom drawer. Get dry, get changed, then
meet me in MTAC. We have a case."
And as Gibbs walked away
without another word, Tony remembered why he'd decided to work for the man in
the first place.
END FLASHBACK
The Quiet Man, John Wayne,
and other things circa 1952...
The Quiet Man was one of Tony's
favorite movies because it had everything: a tortured main character, humor, an
insanely long fight scene, and true love. Something else that made it one of
his favorite movies was the release date. It was the first year of Gibbs' life
and thinking of him as a baby kept things in perspective. It reminded Tony that
the universe really had seen everything, even if he hadn't personally witnessed
it.
In the last few months since
Gibbs' departure, Tony had taken out his dvd
of The Quiet Man no less than once a week to watch it from start to finish.
Usually at the end of a hard case and he was ashamed to admit that they were
getting harder as the days went on.
Pausing the dvd as John Wayne grabbed Maureen O'Hara for a
'stretch of the legs,' across the Irish countryside, Tony rubbed at tired,
gritty eyes and slumped back on the sofa. He understood now, why Gibbs had
called it quits. Technically, he'd understood from the moment that the gold
badge had slapped against his palm that night, but now he really
understood. He knew what it was like to send his team into danger and have it
all be for nothing. He knew what it was like when one of them got hurt because
he hadn't been there. He knew what it was like to lead without any real support
from the higher-ups and, often times, his own team.
Tony wanted to go back in time
and kick his own ass for the way he'd harassed Gibbs over the years.
Staring at The Duke on his
television screen, Tony's lips twitched into a reluctant grin. John Wayne and
Gibbs were cut from the same cloth, no doubt about that. The strong, silent
types that all women swooned over, no matter how liberated the woman in
question was.
His heart panged with regret
for what could now never be, given Gibbs wasn't coming back. There'd been times
over his years with Gibbs that they'd been so in sync, so close, that he'd have
sworn on a bible that sex was a foregone conclusion. Maybe not a relationship
in the traditional sense, given that Gibbs' military leanings had to be
stronger than any gay or bisexual ones he had, but still. The two of them
together, even without the words or declarations, now felt like the sequel that
would never be made because the first one got critical acclaim across the
board, but was a box office flop.
Bittersweet and somewhat
emotionally masochistic, Tony hit play again and settled in to watch the end of
the movie.
***