Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. Wish it did, things could be better.
This will be a fic on the shorter side, maybe three of four chapters.
Tibbs as usual, no surprise there.
Have fun ;-)


Shadow of the Day

Tony wiped away the sweat from his forehead. He was slowly getting uncomfortable in the late August heat and he had long realized that wearing jeans hadn't been the best idea he ever had. He stood up from where he was sitting on Gibbs' patio which led into the garden behind the house and got himself another beer, hoping that it would cool him down somewhat. He watched McGee talk to Breena, while Jimmy was goofing off with his two year old daughter. To his left, Ellie was sitting on a wooden bench that for some reason stood in the middle of the garden, next to Jake and Ducky, talking animatedly with her hands while the two men smiled broadly at her.

It was weird. It was like the last year hadn't happened. It was as if Dorney hadn't died, Ducky hadn't suffered another mild heart attack or as if Gibbs hadn't quit his job over a year ago and hadn't spent the last 12 months onboard one of his homemade boats. It just seemed so normal – and still it was everything but.

Almost involuntarily Tony's glance went to his former boss who was standing by the barbecue, watching the meat for their burgers as if his life depended on it. He had thinned a bit, but his shoulders were as broad as ever and while his limp had worsened ever since Luke had shot him that fateful day in May, he didn't seem too affected by it. It was Gibbs after all. Bad guys – even kids – could bend him, but he wouldn't break – not that easily at least.

Part of Tony knew though that Gibbs had always been broken, probably even before Shannon and Kelly had been killed, but Luke had been the final straw and everybody knew it. They had chased the bosses of 'The Calling' until they had found everyone and everything that was even remotely connected to the case and cause and while it had seemed like Gibbs had long been back to normal when they had finished, he hadn't been. Tony had watched him getting paler almost daily, had seen the struggle in his eyes and had seen the lines on the older man's face getting deeper almost by the hour.

It had still surprised him when Gibbs had come to him after packing up one day at the office, asking, actually asking, him if he'd be alright with the team lead. Tony had just nodded, so Gibbs had done the same and had then left the office as if nothing monumental had just happened.

Tony let out a sigh and then took a big gulp from his beer, still watching Gibbs. So much had changed over the last year, but he still felt so much respect and care for the other man that it almost hurt to even think about it sometimes.

Tony shook his head and then was about to return to his seat on the patio as Gibbs turned around to look at him. Their glances met and Tony felt an almost forgotten pang somewhere in his stomach. While he had been at Gibbs' place for almost two hours, he hadn't been alone with the man for a second, in fact they had barely said two words to each other and while Tony knew that he'd stay longer than the others – he always had after all – it still felt good to know that Gibbs was just… there.

The older man was now walking towards him, forgetting about the burgers for a moment.

"You okay?" he asked when he sat down next to Tony on one of the chairs.

"Yeah, why shouldn't I be?" Tony checked back, furrowing a brow.

Gibbs just shrugged, fixing his glance at little Victoria who was currently begging Ducky to let her sit in his lap. "You look uncomfortable."

"Just hot," replied Tony, wiping at his forehead again as if to prove his point.

"You wanna change? Got some shorts upstairs."

With that and a quick squeeze of his shoulder, Gibbs made his way back to the barbecue, leaving Tony sitting there staring after him. He could still feel the older man's hand on his shoulder and while he shouldn't feel like that at all, Tony couldn't help but realize that he had missed it – had missed Gibbs even after everything that had happened: Luke, 'The Calling' and that night after the older man had quit NCIS.

Sighing once more, Tony got up again, placed his beer on the table next to him and then slowly made his way up towards the older man's bedroom. He hadn't been in the house in over a year. Hell, Gibbs hadn't been in there in just as long, except for last night and this morning before Tony and the others had shown up, but it still smelled like him, still smelled like Tony remembered it, still held the faint scent of sawdust and coffee. He jogged up the last of the stairs and then turned right, internally bracing himself to enter the bedroom. He opened the door and if he had expected something special to happen, he was disappointed.

There it still was – the stoic bedroom only consisting of a wooden bed and wardrobe. Gibbs had obviously slept in here tonight, at least judging from the still unmade bed. Tony subtly shook his head. Maybe things really had changed. Didn't Gibbs use to sleep downstairs on his couch?

Turning around, Tony single-mindedly walked over to the wardrobe, opened it and then picked the first shorts that came into his view. He quickly changed out of his jeans and into Gibbs' pants, slightly startled when he realized that they fit him like a glove. It seemed like a lot of things that had to do with Gibbs just seemed to fit, but still they weren't Tony's to take. Gulping, Tony threw his jeans over a chair that stood in the corner of the room and was about to go back outside when his glance reached the nightstand.

Still staring at it and not believing his eyes, he walked over towards it, picking up the wrapper that lay there behind the alarm clock. Tony felt his heart sink. He had seen this particular kind of wrapper a couple of times too many, but he hadn't expected to see it in Gibbs' bedroom, especially when he had only come home the night before. Almost disgusted, Tony picked it up and turned it around in his hand, looking at the name of Gibbs' preferred condom brand.

Had all of it really meant nothing?