AN: Thank you to everyone who has followed the story so far. I've very much enjoyed writing these installments of the "Step Up" series and watching Tony & Ziva grow. Thank you for all the reviews and feedback - it has made me a happy gal. And thanks very much to my great friends & betas Jen & Jaimee. They're awesome & no others can compare- nuff said.
I'd love to hear what you all think about this latest installment in the series and hope you'll take a few moments to review.
Granted, Gibbs never locked his door, so that certainly wasn't a tip off.
It was just the small things that gave it away. Nothing the average person would ever notice, but enough to make Gibbs pause and take stock of his senses before smirking and moving deeper into his house.
The papers on the hall table had been moved slightly. When he reached for a beer in the fridge, he noticed there was one less than before.
A year ago, he would have thought Jen was there. He'd come back from long investigations and find her cooking dinner as if letting herself into his house was nothing to raise an eyebrow at. Some nights she'd be on the couch watching a movie. Others, curled up in the study with a book.
Once he found her in the basement trying to replace his nasty coffee mug with a clean one. The nerve of some people.
No matter where she was, the house smelled of Oscar De La Renta. He bought her the perfume in Paris for her birthday. She had worn it ever since – her signature fragrance, he had teased her.
One whiff of Oscar and Gibbs knew his house had someone in it that made it feel like family was there- - as if he had the wife of his dreams to come home to.
But now, a year later, he knew it was still family that chose to invade his home after work- now a 'son' instead of a 'wife.'
There was no scent of Oscar permeating the house. There was the faint lingering aftershave in the air. And the very lightest hint of lavender laying over it. Both scents that he had grown to identify with the office, with cases, with family.
He knew better than to head to the library. The kitchen was obviously empty, as was the couch.
But the biggest clue was the light he saw coming from under the basement door. Really, his investigative skills weren't required for this one.
He headed down the stairs, taking stock of the young man seated on an over turned crate, beer in hand, and head tilted back and braced against the wall. Tony's eyes regarded the ceiling and didn't even look towards Gibbs when the elder investigator's footfalls echoed on the wooden treads of the stairs.
Gibbs knew. Without asking a single question, he knew. Years of working with his team had made words an option instead of a requirement.
That didn't mean he would let Tony out of this conversation so easily.
"Did we have a meeting that I forgot about, DiNozzo?" he asked, taking a pull from his beer bottle and noticing how the bottle in Tony's hand had stopped sweating- obviously the younger man had been there for long enough for the bottle to warm to the room.
"Not really, Boss, no," Tony replied.
"You wanna tell me why you're in my house, then?" Gibbs asked, smothering a grin as he turned his back to Tony, picked up his chisel and hammer and began slowly working a ridge on his newest hull.
"I thought I should tell you," DiNozzo started. "You'll be getting some paperwork on your desk tomorrow. And it may lead you to think that I violated one of your rules."
"Oh?"
"Yeah," Tony said, swallowing. "And there's the possibility that I did, in fact, break a rule. And, boss, there's the possibility that I ..." he paused and shifted, now looking down at his hands, unable to meet Gibbs' gaze. "That I don't care about the rules."
"They're there for a reason, DiNozzo," Gibbs growled, still refusing to turn his eyes to Tony, knowing he wouldn't be able to stop the fatherly grin from taking over his features if he did so.
"I know, Boss. And I agree with all of them. Just not this one," Tony said, standing and setting the beer on the work-bench. "I can't risk it, Boss. I can't risk losing her."
Gibbs shook his head. "What paperwork will I be getting, exactly?"
"Change of address forms," Tony replied. "I, um, bought a house."
"And Ziva's moving in."
Tony's eyes flicked to Gibbs in surprise. He wasn't shocked, really- more surprised that Gibb's admitted to knowing.
"Yeah, boss"
Gibbs set his tools down and turned to the younger agent. He stepped closer, noticing how Tony squared his shoulders as if preparing to be hit.
Tony reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out an envelope, handing it to Gibbs.
"What's this?"
"Letter of resignation," Tony said simply, his voice wavering a bit as he said the words. He tried a small laugh to break the tension, but was unable to muster one up and his half-hearted grin fell off his face.
He loves this job, Gibbs thought, taking the envelope from Tony's hands. But he finally found something he loves more. Damned if I'm gonna stop him from growing up.
He reached up and liberally whacked DiNozzo on the back of the head. "That's for waiting this long to tell me."
Tony managed to keep himself from rubbing the stinging skin on his head. He shifted but didn't say anything.
Gibbs flicked the envelope out and whacked Tony on the forehead with it. "And that's for thinking you're resigning."
"I'd prefer resigning to being fired, boss," Tony said in a voice hardly above a whisper.
"Yeah. Too bad neither one is going to happen," Gibbs said, tossing the letter onto the work bench. He turned back towards boat and began to slowly chisel the wood to the correct shape, leaving a confused Tony staring at his back. "Go home and start packing," he said. "You've gotta move all of those damned DVD's into your new house. That'll take a week in itself."
"Yes, boss," Tony said turning and heading towards the stairs.
He was stopped mid-way up the stairs by Gibb's voice; "DiNozzo?"
"Yeah boss?"
"Does Ziva know about that letter?" he jerked his head at the workbench and Tony's letter of resignation.
"No," was Tony's reply, a wry grin on his face. "I'm way more scared of her than you, boss."
As it should be, Gibbs thought, shaking his head. "She won't be hearing about it from me, DiNozzo, – and my failed marriages tell me you shouldn't mention it either."
"I owe ya, boss."
Gibbs snickered and called after his senior agent as Tony headed up the stairs. "Don't name any babies after me and we'll call it square."
The smell of Tony's aftershave drifted out of the basement. The lavender that had come in with Tony, left as well and after a second, Gibbs identified it as the Eu du Toilette that Ziva had worn since returning from Israel.
Gibbs paused, pulled a swig from his beer and let his eyes drift shut.
He was sure his senses were deceiving him. He was a man of fact & logic- not one of whimsy and ghost stories.
But he still would have sworn on his life that he caught the gentle smell of Oscar de la Renta in the air.
