Chapter 5
On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass. When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
Since the hardware store was closer, they made it their first stop. Tony stayed in the car to keep an eye on Probie, while Gibbs went into the store for parts.
“Hey, you hungry?” Gibbs asked as he got back into the car.
“Not particularly. We ate breakfast pretty late so I’m okay for now, but I could eat,” Tony shrugged, backing out of the parking space. Contrary to popular belief - and Gibbs’ teasing - he didn’t actually eat that much. Like most athletes, he was used to eating several small meals a day, a strategy that had worked well for him in law enforcement. Being a cop meant crazy schedules so three sit down meals was practically impossible most days.
“What do you say we go grab some stuff from the store and make lunch instead?” Gibbs suggested. “We’ve pretty much lived on takeouts for the past week, and I could really use some real food. Our breakfast was pretty much the last of the edible food in my fridge.”
“Sounds good to me,” Tony smiled; he was kind of getting sick and tired of takeouts too. “But I’m making lunch. You made breakfast, so it’s my turn.”
“Didn’t know you cook,” Gibbs looked over to Tony with a surprised expression.
“Had to learn when I went to college. Can’t live on Kraft Dinner alone,” Tony mused. “Especially if you want to impress the ladies.”
“Right,” Gibbs scoffed.
“Hey! It works. You have no idea how many women out there like men who can cook,” Tony gave Gibbs an irrepressible grin. “I am half-Italian after all. It’s almost sacrilege for me to not know how to cook.”
“Who taught you?” Gibbs was curious. From what he knew about Tony’s family, there wasn’t anyone who could’ve taught him, and he doubt that the college kids Tony went to school with would know how either.
“Mrs. Coach. That’s what we used to call her. Her real name is Emily - Emily Winters - my old football coach’s wife. She probably knows how to make anything and everything, and made damn sure that the team all ate healthy. She’d terrorize the coach into checking up on us if we weren’t,” Tony chuckled. “The team was more afraid of her than we were the coach.”
“Sounds like a great lady,” Gibbs smiled. He was surprised that Tony was willing to talk about it at all, considering how fiercely private the young agent normally was.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Tony made a goofy grin on his face. “She pretty much adopted the whole team, since most of us were from out of town on athletic scholarships. She used to be a sports nutritionist - how she met Coach in the first place - so she taught everyone on the team how to eat properly. After Brad busted my leg, Emily made me stay at their place so she could make sure I was obeying the doctor’s orders. That’s when she started teaching me how to cook.”
Gibbs snorted. Tony was definitely one to make use of every loophole in the system when it came to doctor’s orders. It’s nice to know that someone had taken Tony’s wellbeing into their own hands. Gibbs silently sent a prayer up for Emily Winters for being there for Tony when he needed it most.
“So where’re they now?” Gibbs inquired casually with a bit of hesitation. He was never quite sure if he was treading on dangerous grounds where Tony’s past was concerned.
“Still in Columbus, last I heard. Tough old birds, those two. Coach retired a few years back, but Emily didn’t want to leave their friends behind so they stayed.”
“You’ve been back to visit them?”
“Did quite a bit back when I was in Peoria. It was close enough to drive up there on my off days. After I moved to Philly, once or twice. But I do call to check up on them whenever I get a chance,” Tony said, his smile open and easy, as they pulled up to the local Safeway. “Been thinking about going up there again some time.”
“You should. You’ve got more than enough time on the books for that, right?” Gibbs asked before opening the doors.
“Yeah. We’ll see,” Tony shrugged, changing the subject deliberately. “I’m thinking pasta, fast and easy. What do you think?”
“Sounds good,” noting Tony’s obvious intention to not discuss it further, Gibbs decided to let it go, for now.
Lunch ended up being a team effort, the two of them moving easily around each other in the kitchen. Gibbs was pleasantly surprised by Tony’s above-par cooking skills, after the younger man whipped up a big dish of seafood linguine within half an hour of them getting home. Gibbs was tasked instead to make a salad after he’d given Probie some water and let him out into the backyard.
He was even more surprised when he tasted the food.
“Huh. Next time you talk to Emily, tell her she’s taught you well. This is delicious,” Gibbs nodded as he ate fervently. The seafood medley was cooked just right in a light broth with basil and tomatoes and tossed with the linguine, and the dish was seasoned liberally to enhance the flavours of the ingredients.
Tony blushed, which he tried to cover up by ducking his head, pretending to eat hungrily. “Thanks.”
After their late lunch, Gibbs took a detour to the basement to grab the plans for the kennel. Tony went out to the patio to check up on Probie, only to find the dog running all over the place, chasing God-knows-what, and as soon as he saw Tony, he came running back to the small patio, wagging his tail happily.
Learning his lesson from the day before, Tony took seat on the steps to the lawn before Probie could try to knock him down again to lick him. Instead, Probie trotted over to the steps, and as Tony held out his right hand, palm up towards Probie, the pup sniffed and began licking it. Tony gave a bright smile and brought both hands around Probie’s big furry head to give him a good scratching.
That was what Gibbs saw when he came out to the patio, drawings and measurements in one hand and a small toolbox in the other. He almost lost his hold on the pieces of paper in his hand as he traced his eyes over the bright but gentle smile on Tony’s face, his heart swelling with emotions he hadn’t felt in close to twenty years.
And Gibbs knew right then and there that he, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS agent and all-around bastard, was head-over-heels in love with Tony DiNozzo. He was finally willing to admit to himself the reason behind the feelings he’d had for Tony. All that longing, wishing and hoping came down to one irrevocable truth - he was in love with Tony, and had been for a very long time. Sure, it had started as physical attraction and, later, desire, but then it blossomed into something else entirely. Something wonderful.
Gibbs sucked in a breath all too quickly as the realization hit him. He stood there, unnoticed by Tony, and slowly exhaled the breath he found himself holding as he slowly processed the new information.
There Tony was, sitting in his backyard, playing with the dog like he belonged there, in his house and in his life, and there was nothing more Gibbs wanted.
But he had no idea if Tony wanted the same thing. They’d always shared a connection, even when they first met in Baltimore, but he’d put it off as something that was natural and shared between partners and teammates. There had been a lot of teasing and flirting and innuendos, but then Tony did that with everybody. Did any of that mean anything? Gibbs had never been so unsure of anything in his life, and he didn’t want to make the wrong move and scare the younger man away.
He quietly walked towards the younger man, having made up his mind to not think about it while he enjoyed spending the day with Tony.
“Hey,” Tony looked back as Probie barked once at Gibbs’ approach. “So, what’s the plan?”
Gibbs set the tools down and sat next to Tony on the steps. Probie came up to him and began sniffing his hands. Gibbs opened and flattened the folded sheet he’d drawn the designs on. “What do you think?”
“Pretty classic,” Tony nodded. “What’s that?”
“That’s for attaching some fences that we could install later, in case we have the need to lock Probie in for a short period of time,” Gibbs pointed towards a spot next to the deck on the grass. “Was thinking about putting the kennel right there.”
“Looks good,” Tony smiled at Gibbs.
The two men spent the afternoon cutting and assembling the pieces together to form the base and walls of the kennel. Tony helped Gibbs move a few sawhorses out from the basement and set up on the patio so they could work outside.
After showing Tony how to mark and cut the planks, Gibbs set Tony to work while he took the pieces Tony sawed off and pieced them together.
“I’m gonna go grab a beer,” Gibbs said, straightening his back as he stood. He decided that it was time to take a break after finishing the base and three sides of the kennel. His stiff spine complained with a series of audible cracks. “You want one?”
“Sure, I could use one,” Tony stood up as well, stretching his legs and back. Gibbs couldn’t help ogling Tony’s trimmed, hard abs when Tony pulled up his t-shirt to wipe away the sweat on his forehead. Gibbs turned, swallowing hard and face flushing slightly, mumbled something about being right back and stalked into the kitchen.
Probie had wandered off chasing his invisible squirrels after the men had started working, and had his back on the grass, wiggling around. He poked his head up, watching Gibbs’ retreating back, and got up to give himself a good shake off before running right back to the deck. He sat in front of Tony and looked at him, his paw patting Tony’s shin.
“Hey Probster!” Tony bent down to wrapped his hands around Probie’s head, scratching him fondly. “Wanna go run around?”
Tony jogged out onto the grass, where Probie immediately tackled him to the ground. Tony laughed wholeheartedly as he play-fought with Probie, trying to wrestle out of Probie’s weight on him.
When he finally escaped from under Probie, Tony was panting and a bit out of breath, so he contented himself with just lying there on the grass. He watched as Probie went running around again, nose sniffing and paws digging at odd spots of the yard, before he turned to look to the sky at the fluffy cotton candy clouds. He closed his eyes, breathed in deep and sighed. The fresh smell of cut grass permeated his senses, and the sun was warm on his face.
Tony reopened his eyes when a shadow blocked the sun he was enjoying to see Gibbs standing over him, a couple of beers in one hand.
“Enjoying yourself there?” Gibbs chuckled.
“Oh yeah,” Tony grinned. “It’s comfy here. You should try it some times.”
Gibbs raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk hanging on the corner of his lips.
“Really! Come lie down,” Tony sat up briefly to grab the beers off of Gibbs’ hand, and pulled the older man down to sitting before lying back down, arms crossed behind his head. Gibbs had no choice but to do as he’s told and lay down next to Tony, his hands resting on his stomach.
For a while they laid, there in the sun, just enjoying each other’s company.
“See that one?” Tony pointed up at some cloud formation just above the top of the house after a long moment of silence. “Doesn’t that look like T-Rex? If you squint a bit.”
Gibbs moved his head closer to Tony’s shoulder so he could look along the out-stretched arm. “I don’t see it.”
“Geez, Jethro, you’ve got no imagination at all,” Tony rolled his eyes and teased.
“Kelly used to say that too,” Gibbs sighed, rotating his head slightly so he could look up at Tony’s face in profile, seeing and noting the shock, surprise, sadness and uncertainty in Tony’s expression.
“Jethro,” Tony paused briefly, as he strained to find the right words in his head, before looking towards Gibbs. “You don’t have to…”
“I want to,” Gibbs smiled, finding it surprisingly easy to open up to Tony. He found himself not minding, for the first time in his life, to talk about the memories of his dead wife and child. “It’s time. I shouldn’t have bottled their memories up like some scary secret for all those years. They deserve to be remembered and my memories of them deserve to be shared.”
Gibbs rolled over to his side, resting his head on his open palm, and looked at Tony. The mixture of shock and sadness had melted into a goofy shy smile, mingling with the surprise, uncertainty, and the slightest hint of happy.
“They’ll always be in my heart, but I think it’s time to let other things in there too,” Gibbs said quietly. “I’ve been wasting far too much time being miserable and feeling sorry for myself.”
“Like what?” Tony asked in a hopeful but somewhat dejected voice, uncertainty in his eyes mounting. Or who?
Gibbs just shook his head, smiling, but not answering the question. He fished the bottles of beer and opened both before shoving one into Tony’s hand. “C’mon, drink up and let’s go get the walls done.”
It was another couple of hours before they had the basic structure of the kennel completed. Gibbs called it a day, saying they’d finish the roof and install the fence the next day.
After a satisfying cowboy steak dinner, Tony found himself by the door, getting ready to head home as he shrugged on his jacket. Gibbs was putting on his jacket as well so he could take Probie for a walk before turning in.
“I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon?” Gibbs asked, which Tony confirmed with a quick nod.
“Thanks,” Tony said as he got to his car. He paused, and turned around to face Gibbs. “For everything.”
“You’re welcome,” Gibbs replied with a small smile, and then gave Tony a pat on the cheek. “Drive safe,” Gibbs added as he began walking down his driveway towards the street.
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TBC
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony helps Gibbs build a kennel, and Gibbs makes a startling realization.
Chapter End Notes:
This is written in response to rose_malmaison’s ‘If a dog was the teacher’ fic challenge :)
Thanks to silvertales for the speedy beta!
Was reading the TVGuide article on MW, MH and ‘Baltimore’ before the airing. I totally had a giggly Probie moment when I read that MW’s dog Quantum jumped MH mid-thought. Aww… *g*
Thanks to silvertales for the speedy beta!
Was reading the TVGuide article on MW, MH and ‘Baltimore’ before the airing. I totally had a giggly Probie moment when I read that MW’s dog Quantum jumped MH mid-thought. Aww… *g*