It felt like he had been driving for hours- in reality, it had only been a few minutes. He was so oblivious to anything but the swirling thoughts in his head, he barely realized where he was when the car stopped. He descended the steps into the dim basement as if drawn by an unseen force.
"DiNozzo."
It was more of a statement than a question, as though Gibbs was not at all surprised to see his senior field agent letting himself into his house at this late hour.
"Boss, I didn't know where else to go."
Gibbs put down the sandpaper in his hand and motioned for Tony to come down.
"Only 2 things can make a man look as bad as you do right now, DiNozzo- work or women."
Tony looked sheepish and broken at the same time. Without another word, Gibbs grabbed a Mason jar from his workbench, unceremoniously dumped out the ten-penny nails it contained, and filled it with bourbon. He passed it to Tony, who knocked it back in one gulp.
"Hey, easy there" cautioned Gibbs, "I'm not driving you home."
"I'm in trouble, Gibbs. I'm in so deep, I think I'm gonna drown.". He looked forlornly at the kind eyes of his mentor. "I never expected this to happen, and now, I'm going crazy because I don't know what to do about it."
"What happened?" asked Gibbs.
Tony didn't know where to start. "What is the one thing in the world you would never expect me to do, boss?"
"Shut up?" growled Gibbs affectionately.
Tony poured himself another drink and thought carefully about how to reply. "Do you think I'm a good agent, boss?"
"If you weren't, you wouldn't be on my team."
Tony began again, "Boss, I...you know I would never intentionally let you down, right?"
"DiNozzo, get to the point."
"I...I broke one of your rules."
Gibbs didn't miss a stroke with his sandpaper. In fact, he didn't even look up.
Almost inaudibly, Tony whispered, "I broke rule #1."
At this admission, Gibbs whirled around in anger. "Never screw over your partner?"
Tony cowered pitifully. "Um, yeah...". He didn't even know how to continue.
"DiNozzo, are you gonna tell me what the hell is going on, or am I gonna have to slap it out of you?" Gibbs growled.
Tony took a deep breath. "I didn't mean to hurt her, Boss. I really was trying to do the right thing. Because after everything she's been through, God knows she didn't need any more hurt. But I blew it. And now, things will never be the same."
Gibbs slowly emptied another jar and poured himself a drink as Tony continued. "Tonight, we had a confrontation in the elevator. She blamed me for encouraging her to trust Ray. Boss, I didn't trust him myself, but I don't exactly have a great track record when it comes to Ziva's boyfriends." Just the speaking aloud of her name made his eyes turn sad. " I just wanted her to be happy."
"Tony, she's an adult, and can make her own decisions."
"I know, but when I was standing there in that elevator, I realized something else, and I broke another of your rules."
Gibbs raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.
"Rule #8- never take anything for granted. And I have. All these years, I've taken for granted that she would always be there. Even when she was in Somalia, I had a feeling in my gut that she was out there, somewhere, alive, coming back to me. But this time, I don't think she will. I should have protected her, and I know it, and she knows it. I can take her being mad at me, but I can't take losing her trust."
He appeared to be carefully studying the label of the nearly empty bottle when he murmured, "I love her, Boss."
His tone became much softer, as the truth of what he had just revealed settled over both of them. "I mean, what's not to love, right? She's gorgeous, smart, tough, and most importantly she puts up with me." Suddenly, he jerked his head up. "Do you believe in soulmates?" When Gibbs didn't respond, he continued, "because she asked me once if I did. And being the idiot I am, I made some smart aleck remark, and totally shut her down. But I realized tonight that she IS my soulmate. When I look across the bullpen, she can read my mind without my even saying a word. She brings me back to reality when I need a good kick in the butt. She's always knows what I need. Except that what I really need is her."
The older man's eyes softened. "So, what are you gonna do about it?"
Tony looked up in anguish. "What CAN I do about it? First of all, there's the small issue of her hating my guts right now. After all we've survived- Jeanne, Rivkin, Saleem, EJ, now CI-Ray...It's too much. I don't think we can recover from this. Then, there's the pesky little issue of your stupid rule #12," he spat sarcastically in Gibbs' direction.
The team leader's expression was unreadable, as usual, but if Tony had been paying much attention, he would have noticed the slightest upturn to the corners of Gibbs' mouth. He quietly rose and went to a drawer in his work bench. He pulled out a small container, and from the container, he withdrew a small slip of paper.
"First off, Tony, that 'stupid rule' is in place for a reason.". He turned to face the younger man. "And second..."He handed Tony the paper. Tony unfolded it. There, in Gibbs' own handwriting, was a new rule. One Tony was unfamiliar with. Rule 51: Sometimes, you're wrong.
Tony looked up, not quite comprehending.
"DiNozzo, what IS rule 12?"
"Never date a co-worker, Boss, " Tony replies quizzically.
"Does the rule say anything about falling in love with a co-worker?"
Tony tries to grasp the weight of this.
Gibbs puts a hand on his shoulder. "Look, Tony, I know. I've been watching you two, and.."
Tony interrupts, "You know? How do you..right...you're Gibbs, of COURSE you know. So, why the hell didn't you tell ME?".
Gibbs ignores him, and continues, "Tony, that's the real deal you have there. That doesn't happen every day." Gibbs stares into the distance for a moment, lost in his own thoughts. "Don't blow it."
Tony is still having trouble wrapping his head around the fact that he loves his partner, his boss knows, and now, he's giving them his blessing?
When he finally recovers, he asks the obvious question: "So, how do I tell her? How do I tell the woman I just hurt, the woman whose trust I just broke, that I love her? That I really can't live without her? That she is everything to me?"
Gibbs smiles for real this time. "I think you just did."
For the first time since he arrived in Gibbs' basement, Tony is suddenly aware of a small, dark figure in the corner. As he moves to close the space between them, Gibbs leans in and whispers, "If you ever hurt her again, I'll kill you myself.". He smiles again, and turns to go upstairs. As an afterthought, he turns back to Tony and smacks him on the head.
"OW! What was that for?"
"For calling my rules stupid!" Gibbs grins as he climbs the stairs.
For the first time in his life, Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo is nervous around a woman. For the first time, he doesn't use his mega- watt smile to disarm her, because he knows it won't work. He doesn't make a joke, because it's her, and this matters, this means everything.
"So...guess you heard.."
But before he can finish, she interrupts. "Did you mean all those things you told Gibbs?"
He starts to make a joke about the dangers of lying to Gibbs, but when he searches her face and finds no hint of emotion, he stops himself. It is only then that he notices the tears running down her cheeks. He is suddenly overcome with how beautiful she is, and just how fragile she looks at that moment – not a word he would have ever associated with this crazy ninja chick that he adores. And it's all his fault.
He summons every ounce of strength he has, keeps his eyes locked on hers, and replies softly, "Every word of it."
An eternity passes, or maybe it was just a second, before she sighs deeply.
"Good. Because I love you, too, Tony."
He releases the breath he didn't even realize he had been holding, and reaches up to wipe a tear from her now-splotchy cheeks. His touch is so tender that she leans into him, and their lips softly meet in a kiss that has been a long time coming, and seems like the most natural thing in the world.
And somewhere in the distance, they hear a voice chuckle, then faintly murmur, "Sometimes, you're wrong."