Title: Snow Angels in the Sky
Author: DiNozzoitis aka Violetwarnercobalt
Author's Notes: Written for the Tibbs Yuletide advent calendar at livejournal. This wasn't actually the fic I was going to post today but the idea struck me and kinda took over my life lol. Also I was so worried this wasn't going to get posted in time, had a horrible dream that I was arrested and couldn't post. Then real life struck and we had a storm and the house got flooded but all's good now! This is un-beta'd but I did do my best at editing and getting out all the mistakes, any left are totally 100% my own.
Warnings: None that I can think of, sorry if I missed anything. Maybe some minor cuss words but nothing too bad.
Spoilers: Minor mentions of SWAK, things revealed in Hiatus and Requiem. Set sometime in season 8 but nothing really mentioned.
Characters/Pairings: Tony/Gibbs (obviously lol!)
Rating: G to PG
Genre/Category: Pre-slash, Family, Friendship, little bit of Angst,
Word Count: 1,563
Disclaimer: I do not own or am in any way affiliated with those that own NCIS, nor am I connected to the show's cast and crew. This is written out of pure enjoyment and absolutely no money is being made from it's creation. Please do not sue.
Summary: Tony and Gibbs spend some quality time in the snow together on Christmas morning. Written for day #2 of the Tibbs Yuletide advent calendar over at livejournal.
Snow Angels in the Sky
Gibbs was a little shocked the morning he found his senior field agent flat on his back, arms and legs splayed out either side of him, in the snow on his front lawn. Actually he was more than a little shocked, he was downright terrified and he was pretty damn sure his heart had stopped beating for a moment. It usually meant something bad had taken place when he saw someone in that position, eyes closed, a new layer of snow beginning to form on the rugged up body. It only made things worse that it was one of his agents, that it was his Tony. It also didn't help that it was 0600 on Christmas morning.
He wasn't entirely sure if he had screamed the younger man's name aloud, it definitely felt like he had, however, when there was no hint that the Italian had heard him Gibbs ran the few short steps between them and dropped to his knees, his already chilled fingers shaking not just from the cold, fumbling under the thick layers of woolen scarf and coat collar, desperately hoping to find the throbbing of a pulse.
"Morning boss."
Gibbs fell back on his ass at the unexpected voice, it seemed to come out of nowhere, or maybe he'd just been so focused on trying to find DiNozzo's pulse that he hadn't noticed the other man was not only alive and conscious, but that he was moving.
"Jesus Christ DiNozzo! You trying to give me a heart attack?"
The younger man smiled slightly, eyes remaining closed, as he dragged his limbs up and down through the snow leaving behind smoothed out troughs.
"Don't think you're allowed to use the Lord's name in vain on his birthday boss."
Pushing his now damp body up off the ground, Gibbs huffed out an unamused laugh. "What the hell are ya doing here DiNozzo?" The panic that had first struck him was beginning to fade, quickly being replaced by anger. The adrenaline induced rapid beating of his heart still lingered though.
"It's Christmas boss, I always stop by to give you your present, you know that."
The older man did know of their yearly tradition, and while he had been expecting Tony to show up at some point during the day, he hadn't banked on the fear inducing arrival.
"So what? You thought you'd just take a nap on my lawn and catch your death? Great Christmas present that would have been!"
Still not opening his eyes DiNozzo quirked an eyebrow, opting to stay silent as he continued the sweeping motions. Gibbs grunted, he was getting frustrated at Tony's blasé attitude, and his worry was returning, with his plague ravaged lungs, lying in the snow for any length of time couldn't be a good idea for him.
"Ya gonna be getting up any time soon or is that how ya plan on getting rid of all the snow in the yard?" he held out a hand, waiting to help the younger man up, but it went unnoticed.
Cracking open one eye DiNozzo looked at his boss "I'm making a snow angel." his tone was so matter of fact that it made ex-cop's actions seem like the most natural thing ever, like Gibbs often came outside to find his SIC making snow angels in below zero weather.
"Yeah, I can see that, DiNozzo..." he slowly bent down at the knees until he was squatting down next to one frozen wing, before he could continue though he was cut off.
"You know, when I was little my mother and I would make snow angels after each storm."
'Well that was unexpected' Gibbs thought.
As close as he and DiNozzo were; and how close exactly that was and what it was they truly felt for each other had never fully been defined, the younger man rarely brought up the topic of his mother who had died when he was still a child. It was one of those things that was left unspoken between the two, just like Shannon and Kelly were.
So far the day had been full of surprises though so he shouldn't be too shocked if there was more to come.
"Kelly used to do the same thing..." Gibbs voice was almost silent but so full of emotion. 'and there's the next shock' he added silently, not expecting to reveal anything about his girls.
He watched as Tony silently nodded, flakes of snow sticking to the brunette hair before melting with the heat of his skin.
"Did you ever make them with her?" It was a genuine question, normally he would have evaded it but he couldn't fault the younger man for asking, especially when it wasn't asked to be nosey but simply because the topic had gone that way.
"A few times I did, mostly out the back but there were a few made out here too. Shannon mostly made them with her, have a whole photo album full of them upstairs."
"That must have been nice for you all."
"Yeah, yeah it was..."
Seeing that Tony had no intentions of getting up any time soon Gibbs shimmied his butt away a bit and laid down beside his partner, wiping his limbs through the snow perfectly in time with the younger man's movements, creating a snow angel of his own.
Both men were silent for a moment, enjoying each other's company and the crunch of the moving snow beneath them, knowing that the conversation they were having was inevitably going to change things between them. Their loss' uniting them together in an unspeakable bond.
It was Tony that broke the silence first. "The Christmas after my mother died I snuck out of the house during the party my father was hosting for his business associates and made a snow angel near my mother's favorite rose bush, it wasn't the same without her there but in my mind I thought it would make me closer to her..."
Tony sighed sadly and Gibbs had to swallow the lump that had developed in his throat. "I thought that if I made a snow angel and fell asleep in the middle of it then it would take me up to heaven and I could see her again." Gibbs didn't need to look at the younger man to know that, despite the unwavering voice, there was at least on tear sliding down his flushed cheek. "All it got me though was a bad cold and a slap on the butt from my nanny."
"You know what Kelly told her mother and I once?" his voice wasn't as strong as Tony's was and he needed a second to get it under control. "She told us that angels in heaven didn't need to lay in the snow like people on earth did, that that was why there were clouds in the sky. That even when it was summer they could make their own little angels... neither Shannon nor I knew where she got that idea from."
Remaining in place Tony reached out a hand to clasp on of the older man's, neither man caring if anyone was to walk by and see two grown adults, in the middles of snow angels, holding hands.
If Tony had been looking down on the two of them he would have seen the similarities between that moment and the one between Gibbs and Maddie on the dock the day he had saved them three years earlier. Instead he just gave the hand he was holding a firm squeeze, rolling his head to the side and coming face to face with the older man.
"She must have been a very bright kid boss."
Smiling, Gibbs slowly and silently nodded as he began to get himself up off of the snow, trying his hardest not to do too much damage to his or Tony's angels.
Still holding the Italian's hand, Gibbs pulled Tony to his feet. Brushing the snow off of their clothes both men began to walk to the door, stopping only when Gibbs turned and placed a hand on his senior field agent's shoulder
"You never told me why you got down on the ground in the first place."
Tony shrugged and pointed over his shoulder with his head "Been a long, hard year Gibbs, thought you could do with an angel watching over ya."
Looking down at where they had previously been laying, Gibbs observed the two angels holding hands and smiled. Both men lost in memories from long ago and imagining three angels up in heaven making their own in fluffy white clouds.
Pulling out his cell phone Tony snapped off a photo of the two indentations "Merry Christmas Jethro."
Putting an arm around the younger Gibbs pulled Tony into an embrace and placed a soft kiss on his temple. "Merry Christmas Tony."
Tony's smile spread from ear to ear, a hopeful look twinkling in his green eyes. A corner of Gibbs' lip twitched upward and he offered a wink.
"Come on, let's get inside, my ass is freezing and I need coffee!"
Tony laughed heartily "We can't have that now, can we! And when don't you need coffee?"
Gibbs gave him a softer-than-usual head slap and playfully shoved him towards the door "Just shut up and get inside DiNozzo, before I decide to leave you out here with your two new friends."
Thoughts?
