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Chapter 1
Leroy Jethro Gibbs took a deep breath. He was surprised to discover he wasn’t dead. Obviously, Tony had somehow managed to come back for him and had broken the steering column and brought him up to the dock. He rolled his head a little and looked to his side. He saw Maddie lying there. Her eyes were open and she was watching him, looking as wet and cold as he felt. She held his hand in hers. He was very relieved that she was all right. It seemed Tony had accomplished what Gibbs hadn’t been able to do; save Maddie’s life.
He heard someone panting and looked around some more. He saw Tony kneeling between him and Maddie, breathing rapidly and letting out an occasional cough.
Gibbs rolled to his side and reached with his other hand to Tony, who noticed his efforts and grabbed his questing hand.
Tony moved closer to his boss and leaned over him and said between panting and coughing, “If you ever… do anything that… stupid again, I’ll… head slap you… all the way to… Mexico.”
Gibbs didn’t respond to Tony’s words, because it was a given fact that Gibbs would do something that stupid again. He said sincerely, “Thank you, Tony.”
Seeing his wife and daughter again had filled Gibbs with a sense of peace that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. When he’d seen Shannon and Kelly, he’d wanted nothing more than to join them, but he could sense that Shannon didn’t want him to be with them yet. Although she hadn’t said anything to him, he could feel that she wanted him to continue to live his life and find some happiness.
Kelly had even encouraged him to ‘go back’, and so here he was, back among the living again. He knew in his heart that he could finally lay them to rest, knowing his girls were happy and safe where they were. He knew he would never forget them, but he decided to grab that chance at happiness that he could sense Shannon wanted him to have.
He remembered telling Hollis Mann once that he’d put the deaths of his wife and daughter behind him. At the time, he didn’t know who he had been trying to convince more, her or himself. But he knew deep down in his gut that if he said the same thing now, it would really be true.
Gibbs also knew that Tony had feelings for him, loved him even, and had for a long time. Several years before, he’d inadvertently overheard a phone call Tony had made to an old friend when the younger man thought he was alone in the bullpen late one evening, and what Gibbs had learned that night had been very enlightening. He’d never said anything to Tony about it because even though he loved Tony, and had for longer than he was willing to admit, he’d given up on having love in his life. He’d tried to recapture it three times since he’d lost his family, and had failed miserably each time.
With his track record of broken relationships, he hadn’t wanted to ruin the friendship he had with his senior field agent. Having Tony’s friendship and seeing him nearly every day had been better than risking all that in a relationship that he was sure would eventually fail. Looking back at each of his marriages, he could now admit to himself that he’d really been trying to replace what he’d had with Shannon, rather than building something new.
But after seeing Shannon and Kelly, he felt he was truly ready to move on and build something new with Tony, and he wanted love in his life now and he was ready to take the chance with Tony.
Gibbs pulled on Tony’s hand until their faces were close together. Tony looked confused, but then he realized what Gibbs wanted and met Gibbs’ lips with his own and they kissed, neither caring that Maddie was watching them.
Maddie smiled as she watched Jethro kissed the man who had saved them from drowning. She was happy that her best friend’s father had found someone to love. She could see that the man was obviously very important to Jethro. When she’d seen Jethro at the funeral so many years ago, he’d seemed so lost and alone.
Tony and Gibbs were still kissing when they heard a car screech to a stop not too far away. Although he didn’t want the kiss to end, Tony needed to breathe, and he figured Ziva and McGee had finally arrived. Only Ziva could make a car sound like that. Even Gibbs didn’t treat vehicles that badly.
Tony pulled away from the kiss with an incandescent smile on his face. He’d been waiting for that kiss for years and had given up hope that it would ever happen. He looked at Gibbs with a promise in his eyes, “We’ll talk about that kiss later. I need to work the scene and you need to lay there and rest until the ambulance gets here.”
“Tony, I’m fi-”
“Don’t you dare tell me you’re fine, Gibbs!” Tony interrupted, still a little breathless, knowing very well what his boss was going to say. The short time that he’d thought Gibbs was dead was the worst thing he’d experienced in his entire life, and he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He said firmly, “You were dead a minute ago. I had to do CPR on you. I’m in charge right now, and you’ll go to the hospital and get checked out. I’ll see you there later, I promise.” He got to his feet and continued, “I’ll even clear it with the director so we can do our reports tomorrow, and I can get there even sooner.”
By then McGee and Ziva were there and Tony had work to do. He was breathing easier, but he was still coughing occasionally as he left to look for some blankets, leaving Jethro and Maddie lying there on the dock with Ziva and McGee hovering over them, each of them on a cell phone, Ziva speaking with Abby and McGee calling for an ambulance.
Gibbs wasn’t as fine as he had tried to claim a minute ago. He was exhausted, body and soul, but he was a little worried about Tony. He’d kissed the younger man on the spur of the moment, but he felt like it was the right thing to do. He’d seen the smile on Tony’s face and the promise in his eyes, and he knew that once the work was done, the two of them would have a serious talk. He’d make sure of it.
Actually, resting didn’t seem like a bad idea, and Tony seemed to be okay for now. He promised himself that he would order Tony to get checked out by a doctor once he arrived at the hospital. As he watched Tony walk away, Gibbs allowed the darkness to claim him.
Story Notes:
Missing scene (or should I say missing scenes) that takes place between the times when Gibbs wakes up on the dock and before he goes into the basement to get Kelly’s time capsule. That amount of time could have been as little as a day, or as much as a several days. In my story, it’s several days.
Gibbs is a little OOC, because he shows other emotions in addition to anger, annoyance and impatience, and does more talking than he usually does.
There may seem to be some character bashing, but it’s only temporary, I swear!
Spoilers for “Requiem”, “Chimera”, “Hiatus”, “Missing”, “SWAK”, “Twilight”, “Kill Ari”, “Ex-Files”, general for Season 4.
This story is not betaed; all mistakes are mine. Thanks, little_janie, for your suggestions and help.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Yet another tag to the episode, “Requiem”. After Tony rescued Gibbs and Maddie Tylor from drowning, no one thought to check on him. Slash Gibbs/Tony, male/male sex, don’t like, don’t read, don’t flame.
Chapter End Notes:
Missing scene (or should I say missing scenes) that takes place between the times when Gibbs wakes up on the dock and before he goes into the basement to get Kelly’s time capsule. That amount of time could have been as little as a day, or as much as a several days. In my story, it’s several days.
Gibbs is a little OOC, because he shows other emotions in addition to anger, annoyance and impatience, and does more talking than he usually does.
There may seem to be some character bashing, but it’s only temporary, I swear!
Spoilers for “Requiem”, “Chimera”, “Hiatus”, “Missing”, “SWAK”, “Twilight”, “Kill Ari”, “Ex-Files”, general for Season 4.
This story is not betaed; all mistakes are mine. Thanks, little_janie, for your suggestions and help.
Gibbs is a little OOC, because he shows other emotions in addition to anger, annoyance and impatience, and does more talking than he usually does.
There may seem to be some character bashing, but it’s only temporary, I swear!
Spoilers for “Requiem”, “Chimera”, “Hiatus”, “Missing”, “SWAK”, “Twilight”, “Kill Ari”, “Ex-Files”, general for Season 4.
This story is not betaed; all mistakes are mine. Thanks, little_janie, for your suggestions and help.