Chapter Four
On seeing the evidence that he was actually married to Tony, Gibbs looked at his left hand and could see the evidence on his ring finger that he usually wore a ring there, but he didn’t know where it was now. He checked his neck and he wasn’t wearing it on a chain either. He wondered where it was.
If he and Tony were married, he wondered where Tony had been while he was in the hospital. He knew that if his spouse were in the hospital, he would want to be with that person as much as possible.
Gibbs turned his attention back to the wedding album and opened it. On the inside cover was what could only be their wedding vows to each other.
His vows to Tony read:
** I, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, take you, Anthony David DiNozzo, to be my partner, my friend, my confidant, my soul mate. Together, we will be better than we could be alone. Through the good and bad, I want you to always know that I will be by your side. We have already been through a lot together, and I believe that God has been preparing us for this moment and for our future together. I promise to keep the good memories alive, and to let the bad ones die. I vow not to let the sun go down on our anger, and to treat each morning as a new day to love you, a gift I have been given. I will not forsake you or these vows that we have made, but rather strive to show you my love for the rest of our lives. This is my promise to you. **
Tears filled Gibbs’ eyes as he read these vows he had made to Tony. He had made a promise to Tony, and today he had actually been planning to leave, which would break that promise. He couldn’t do that to Tony, whether he remembered everything or not. He now remembered how insecure Tony had been in their relationship at first and how much work he’d had to do in order to gain Tony’s trust. He could never betray that trust.
He then read Tony’s vows to him:
** I, Anthony David DiNozzo, take you, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, to be my partner, my friend, my confidant, my soul mate. Together, our love will grow into a bond too strong to break. When you need someone to encourage you, I want it to be me. When you need a helping hand, I want it to be mine. When you long for someone to smile at, turn to me. When you have something to share, share it with me. Though life may not always be as perfect as it is at this moment, I vow to always keep my love as pure as it is today. I promise to be there for you in your laughter and your tears, in your sickness and your health, in your comfort and your fears, in your poverty and your wealth. I know that our love is heaven sent, and I promise to be there for you for all your life, come what may. **
As Gibbs read Tony’s vows, he remembered seeing Tony at their ceremony, how happy Tony had been and he knew how seriously Tony took these vows he made that day. Gibbs made a promise to himself that he would allow Tony to keep his vows.
Gibbs leafed through the album. There were a few pictures of the ceremony and then there were pictures taken during the celebration afterwards. There were several pictures of him and Tony dancing; sometimes Gibbs leading, sometimes Tony. As he looked at the pictures, the actual event came back to him. He remembered he had been very happy that day.
As he remembered the wedding, he also recalled how he had met Tony. He’d gone to Baltimore to investigate the murder of a Marine, and he’d had to go alone, as his senior field agent, Stan Burley, had just been reassigned as an agent afloat. He remembered he had Ducky and Abby for support, but no agents to accompany him to the crime scene. Gibbs had met with the detective originally assigned the case, Anthony DiNozzo, and he had been impressed with the young man in spite of the way he had acted. Although the man was cocky and sarcastic, and prone to random movie references, Gibbs could see through all that and knew DiNozzo was very sharp and observant. They had the usual pissing contest over jurisdiction, and as Gibbs didn’t have an agent to work with at the time, he had accepted the detective’s help with the case.
Together, they had solved the case in record time, and when it was over Gibbs had offered Tony a job on his team. The rest, as they say, was history. Despite Gibbs’ rule about not getting involved with a co-worker, he found himself ignoring that rule because he fell for Tony in a big way, and Tony had felt the same way. They just clicked.
As Gibbs looked through the remainder of the pictures, he began to remember past events of the last several years and then he began to remember the feelings he had for Tony. He began to remember why he loved Tony like he did. Tony loved Gibbs just the way he was and had never wanted him to change, unlike his ex-wives and various girlfriends he’d had over the years. Tony understood him in a way no one else ever had, at least no one since Shannon. Any unlike his ex-wives, Tony didn’t expect him to pretend his first wife and daughter never existed. Less than a year after meeting, they had gotten married.
Gibbs had been so lost in his memories that he hadn’t heard anyone enter the house, but now he could hear someone moving around upstairs. He replaced the album on the coffee table and reached for his gun, belatedly realizing that he had given it to Tony before leaving NCIS. He went over the fireplace and grabbed a poker and then went over to stand on one side of the doorway and waited for whoever was wandering around his home.
A/N: Wedding vows from Bwedd.com, web address http://www.bwedd.com/
TBC
Chapter End Notes:
Warning - extreme sappiness ahead, and a cliffhanger.