Phoenix

Summary: Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Tony always comes out on top. This time Gibbs wasn't sure he would emerge from the flames.

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to either Highlander or NCIS. Just playing with them in a somewhat one sided crossover!

Warning! Spoilers: 5X01 Tony's car was bombed. There it's been spoiled. This is a complete AU of that incident so you don't have to worry about me spoiling anything really just needed you to know when this story took place.

Can be seen as a little Tony/Gibbs-ish at the end. No pairings

X

Gibbs rushed down to autopsy when news reached him of the body that had come in. "Ducky," the moment he saw his old friend wrist deep in the chest of the burned remains there was a panicked tone to his voice. "Close him up."

"Jethro… I know you are upset but I must verify whether or not this is Tony," Ducky had that soothing doctor's tone but Gibbs wouldn't have it.

"I said 'Close him up!' and give me a few minutes."

His old friend seemed startled but set the detached breast plate back in the body and folded the y incision shut, the blanket pulled up to cover the corpse before he and Palmer decided they needed some fresh air. Gibbs was alone, with what he could only assume to be Anthony DiNozzo's remains.

"Tony… I know you said you could survive anything as long as you kept your head… but I think this might be the exception." Gibbs sat back on a chair he pulled up beside the charred body, forcing himself to keep it covered so he would not have to see Tony like that, if it was him.

Gibbs sat for a little minute, fingers threaded as he rested his elbows on his knees. "I still can't wrap my mind around this, you know? After Kate… you got so careless, so angry. I guess I can see why now. Why you threw yourself in harm's way so many weeks after her death. Remember the first time I saw you die? You threw yourself in the way to protect some civilian. The poor guy probably still doesn't even know the sacrifice you made for him. He was just some junky looking to score in the alley you happened to chase the suspect down."

Gibbs' voice cracked and he smiled and shook his head, "You took three rounds to the chest and got up like it was nothing… I thought you had a vest on and took off after you when you started the chase again. Bastard kept staring at you like you were a ghost or something. I didn't even realize you'd been killed until I saw your shirt bloody and torn to hell from that damn hand cannon he shot you with."

Gibb chuckled and wiped his eyes, "The look on my face had to be priceless. If I were McGee or Ziva I know you would have teased me even to this day. I guess being your boss has more perks than I thought.

"Even after helping you dig out the rounds… Seeing them heal and hearing your explanation, I couldn't comprehend it. But then," Gibbs laughed and pressed his still laced hands to his chin, "I still can't believe you killed yourself… Just to prove your point. Scared the hell outa me when you flipped open your knife and stuck it through your chest. You stopped breathing… I've killed enough men to know the look, to be able to tell when the live leaves their eyes. You were gone. Still can't believe you started breathing the moment I pulled it out. It was like a switch being flipped back to on and the life returned to your body."

Gibbs sighed, bowing his head, "I still don't know why you blamed yourself for her death… Even if you could have gotten in the way, taken the bullet, it would have killed you both. If you had gotten her out of the way, he would have just kept trying until he succeeded… It wasn't your fault DiNozzo. It was his. You told me there were good and bad Immortals just as there were good and bad people. He was just one of the bad ones."

Gibbs let out a shaking breath and shook his head, "God, how long is it supposed to take before I find out if you'll revive or not? I'm rambling…" He checked his watch, more on habit, and began worrying when he realized it'd been half an hour at least since they'd gotten word that Tony's car had been bombed and the body brought back. "I guess it's not you…" he prayed it wasn't his Senor Field Agent lying beneath the blanket, charred and lifeless. Truly dead. "I'm sorry."

When Gibbs stood and turned to leave, his wrist was grabbed. "Don't 'pologize. Sign 'a weakness…" Tears nearly spilled over as Tony's flawless face was revealed when the blanket was pulled down. "Hell of a bedtime story, Gibbs."

"DiNozzo," the grip on his wrist loosened when he clenched his fist.

"Yeah Boss?"

"Don't ever do that to me again," Tony's eyes widened insanely when the old Marine hugged him to his chest and started crying.

"Don't worry… I don't plan to get blown up again anytime soon," Tony couldn't stop himself from hugging back.