Tony flipped the open/closed sign on the door to closed. After a quick clean up and final inspection of the store and locking up. He climbed up the stairs to Gibbs's apartment. Gibbs had gotten home from the sheriff's office when Tony was first closing up the store. It had been just under two months since Gibbs had been elected sheriff of Stillwater. Tony was glad that his boss was doing better now and had been able to uphold the position. Not long after taking office Jack's death really hit Gibbs and he went into a deep depression. Almost costing him his new-found position. Finally Tony called the members back in DC and everybody came up. For a big cheer up Gibbs get together. With the exception of McGee and Delilah who had already moved to Dubai. It turned out the Delilah's job only lasted a year but McGee had excepted a cyber position with NCIS and would receive a huge promotion upon returning to the states. Jimmy's doctor had just cleared him for travel but Ducky and him still had to make the trip over two days because he couldn't sit for that long. At least he had improved significantly and was walking with the use of a cane now. The visit was just what Gibbs needed and he was able to pull himself out of his funk and he was back at work the next day. Tony still noticed some pain buried in his bosses eyes but he wasn't totally lost in his grief anymore. Tonight Gibbs was sitting on the couch looking through a worn out photo album.
"Evening Tony." Gibbs greeted.
"Evening Gibbs, How are you doing tonight?" Tony asked.
"I'm OK, you?" Gibbs asked.
"I am fine pretty worn out but fine." Tony replied.
"Good day at the store?" Gibbs asked.
"Yeah pretty good. How were things for you?" Tony asked.
"Boring but after that mess with Ray and almost losing you twice boring is OK." Gibbs replied.
"Agreed" Tony replied.
"You take your pills?" Gibbs asked.
"Yes dad" Tony sighed.
"Hey excuse me for not wanting to lose you." Gibbs replied.
"It's been almost six months since the transplant." Tony replied.
"You're still DiNozzo." Gibbs explained.
"What are you looking at?" Tony questioned changing the subject.
"Photo album." Gibbs replied.
"Baby Gibbs pictures?" Tony asked.
"Yeah there from my childhood." Gibbs replied.
"Can I see them?" Tony asked.
"Yeah but be careful these aren't in the best shape." Gibbs replied handing Tony the album.
"I used to look at my grandpa's photo albums when I was a kid." Tony replied.
"They were older than this?" Gibbs asked.
"Older than Jack back then." Tony replied carefully flipping another page.
"Want to see my favorite picture?" Gibbs asked.
"Sure" Tony replied.
"Here you go." Gibbs replied flipping the page to the second to last page and pointing to a picture of a young Gibbs in his Marine uniform holding a tiny baby. Shannon stood behind him in a yellow sun dress draping her arms around her husband.
"Was this?" Tony asked.
"The first time I met Kelly." Gibbs replied.
"How old was she?" Tony asked.
"Three weeks just a week earlier than Jack was when you first met him. The last time I saw her was three weeks before her eighth birthday." Gibbs replied.
"I have to get home to Emily and the kids." Tony replied voice cracking.
"OK" Gibbs replied.
"Hey are you alright?" Tony asked.
"Yeah I am fine." Gibbs replied.
Tony walked back to his place. He couldn't help but wonder what was going on with Gibbs, while he didn't seem depressed. There was definitely something up with him. Tony just hoped that it wasn't anything too serious he was not ready to lose his dad yet. Not with his life actually going well. Jack was about seven months old now. He had started crawling a few weeks before and Tony could see him starting to walk in the very near future. Emily was splitting her time between working at the store during the summer and helping to repaint the school. Dylan had joined the local boy scout troop and was taking swimming lessons at the community center. Carly had joined the brownies and was enrolled in the summer reading program. Both kids were making a few bucks a week sweeping up and helping stock the store in the afternoons. All and all the DiNozzo family was doing great.
"How was your day?" Emily asked when Tony walked inside.
"It was good. How was yours?" Tony asked.
"Really good." Emily replied.
"Where are the kids?" Tony asked.
"I just put Jack down and Dylan is upstairs playing video games. Carly is spending the night with one of the girls from her brownie troop." Emily explained.
"That's great." Tony replied.
"Have you heard from the team?" Emily asked.
"Yeah Jimmy is walking totally on his own now, Ducky is thinking about retiring, Abby just got back from New Orléans, and Bishop and her husband are having a baby." Tony explained.
"That's great" Emily replied.
"Oh and get this McGee and Delilah are engaged." Tony replied.
"That is wonderful!" Emily cried.
"You should see the ring." Tony commented.
"How can you see it?" Emily asked.
"McFiancee texted me a picture." Tony replied.
"Oh can I see it?" Emily asked.
"Hold on... Oh no I left my phone at the store." Tony gasped.
"Do you want me to go get it?" Emily asked.
"No I can do it." Tony replied turning to leave.
Tony shoved his hands in his jeans pockets as he headed back to the store. His mind was on Gibbs's strange behavior again. On the walk back to the store. His worst fear was that Gibbs was sick. He couldn't lose him. Not this soon. Not ever really but certainly not before he got married. His dad had to be there to on his big day. He had already promised to give Emily away. He had made a lot of promises that would take a while to fulfill. Remembering that he had left his phone charging in the back room. He turned to go in the back entrance. Much to his surprise he heard noises on the back porch. He rounded the corner and saw his boss in the arms of a beautiful redhead. It all made sense now. Leroy Jethro Gibbs was in love.
A/N: Looks like the NCIS family has a lot more changes coming their way. New chapter will be up soon. Please review and thanks for reading.