This is an experiment: I usually write longer chapters than I intend so I thought I'd try and write ten inter-related 100 word drabbles to keep myself brief. Basically Gibbs and Tony in the basement.
Some are tags for episodes. Some not. Some more angsty than others. And I don't think there's anything later than season 9. As always, the characters don't belong to me.
1.
"That's a boat!"
"Good to know those FLETC classes are working out," said Gibbs drily.
"No, but Boss, that's a boat. And this is a basement!" said DiNozzo, still trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
Gibbs didn't say anything. He was used to this reaction.
Tony touched the wood in disbelief. He left soon after with a smile on his face. He had wondered if he and Gibbs would be a good fit but this evidence of a quirky side to the former marine reassured him. There was more to Gibbs than met the eye.
Oorah!
2. Tag for 'Left for Dead'.
"Thanks for letting me stay, Boss."
"Hmmm."
"Means a lot. You know. I was beginning to think nobody 'loved' me."
"Hmmph."
"You think Kate'll be OK?"
"Give her time. Give her space."
"That your remedy for everything, Boss?"
Gibbs shrugged, "Works for me."
Tony stared at Gibbs, he could take a hint. The Boss obviously wanted alone time with his boat. Time and space wasn't DiNozzo's cure of choice but he'd take what he could get.
"See you in the morning, Boss," he said resignedly.
"Cap'n Crunch cereal's in the kitchen," said Gibbs casually.
Tony's smile lit up the basement.
3. Tag for 'Kill Ari'
"That where it happened, Boss?"
"Bloodstain's bit of a clue, DiNozzo."
"What happened?"
"You read the report, didn't you?"
Tony stared at the mark on the floor with reluctant fascination.
"Isn't it … well … a bit creepy to carry on working down here? I mean, after killing someone here?"
Gibbs looked at Tony blankly, "Killed a cockroach down here Tuesday. Doesn't mean I can't use my basement, does it?"
"But this is different. This was a person," said Tony.
"No different to me," said Gibbs, "Ari killed Kate. Just another cockroach."
Gibbs' eyes were cold. Tony suppressed a shiver.
4.
Tony took a cautious sip of his bourbon-enriched coffee.
"What was your first boss at NCIS like?" he asked.
Gibbs was in an unusually mellow mood. He had outfoxed Fornell, wrong stepped the Director and caught a child molester.
"Mike Franks," he mused as he ran an assessing hand down a rib on his latest boat. "One of a kind. Taught me everything I know. Made me an NCIS agent."
"Is he still around? We ever likely to meet him? Find out about Probie Gibbs?"
"He quit, he's pickling his liver in Mexico." The disapproval was clear. Gibbs didn't quit.
5. Tag for 'Faking It'
The headache was gone but DiNozzo was aware of another ache.
"Mike Franks gone back to Mexico?" he asked as he descended the stairs.
"Yep," said Gibbs.
"What happened in that bar?"
"You read the reports," said Gibbs.
"Yeah, I did."
"So?"
"So, I remember you saying Franks taught you everything about being an agent."
"That's right. He's a great man."
The tilt of Gibbs' chin dared Tony to deny it.
Tony shook his head slightly. How could he tell Gibbs that he'd recognised the cold look in Franks' eyes? It was the expression now so familiar on Gibbs' face.
6.
"It's beautiful."
"She," corrected Gibbs, "boats are she, not it."
"D'you think you'd know how to build boats even if your memory went AWOL?"
Gibbs stared. It was unlike DiNozzo to ask such a direct question.
"Don't know. Muscle memory might kick in. Might not even remember I wanted to build one. Why?"
"No reason." Tony picked at the label on the beer bottle. He wondered if Gibbs kept him on from 'muscle memory'. Assuming he'd made the right choice once. Too proud to admit he'd made a mistake. Worrying there was nothing behind Tony's smile, nothing good to waste.
7. Tag for 'Requiem'
"How you doing, Boss?"
Gibbs looked up from the bench where the photos of Maddie and Kelly lay.
"What you need, DiNozzo?"
Tony paused to think. Not want, need. A thank you? No, seeing Gibbs alive – breathing – was thanks enough.
A Boss who would once more see past the mask? Yes.
A Boss who would see him once more? Oh, yes.
What was he going to get? None of that, he suspected.
"Need?" he replied. "Nothing, Boss. Just wanted to make sure you're OK."
"You OK?" asked Gibbs, sensing something was off.
"Me? I'm always OK. Nothing gets to me."
8. Tag to 'Baltimore'
"All those years," said Tony, as he sat watching Gibbs sanding a piece of wood.
"All those years what?" asked Gibbs.
"I kept the secret about Danny being dirty. Didn't turn him in. Wondered if I should have."
"Doesn't matter now," observed Gibbs.
"Secrets eat away at you," said Tony, "or they do at me."
"You just do what you think is right," said Gibbs.
"And if it's not? What then?"
"I wouldn't change much that I've done. Sure, I regret things that have happened. But I know why I did what I did."
"Is that enough?"
"Is for me."
9. Tag for 'Nature of the Beast'
"That was good, the other night."
"What?" asked Gibbs, "when?"
"When EJ was here. We cooked, we talked. It was nice. Like old times," said Tony.
"What old times?"
"The old times when you used to remember you're a human being. Sometimes. Not often, but sometimes."
"I know I'm human, DiNozzo. I bleed like anyone else."
"More than one way of bleeding, Boss."
"What does that mean?"
"Means … oh, I don't know. Doesn't matter. I guess things change."
"I don't," said Gibbs.
"No, you're the rock we smash ourselves against," agreed Tony.
"KInda gloomy."
"What it feels like, Boss."
10.
"Have I lost you, DiNozzo?"
"Boss?"
"Feels like you're second guessing me all the time."
"You don't want a yes-man, do you?"
"No."
"So?"
"So, what's eating you?"
"Trying to see if the guy who hired me from Baltimore is still in there somewhere. "
"He is."
"And he's his own man. Not some Mike Franks clone."
"I owe Franks a lot. But I owe you too. I need to remember that."
"What does that mean?
"Well, I bought some more Cap'n Crunch cereal. It's in the kitchen."
DiNozzo's smile didn't light up the basement, but it was a start.