"Do whatever you want, Tony. Told you what I thought." Gibbs stalked down the basement steps leaving Tony alone in the living room.
Tony sighed and picked up the bowl of candy and headed out the front porch. He changed the regular porch light to an eerie green bulb that cast a sickly glow.
Tony put on his rubber skeleton mask with the thatch of unruly gray hair along with the matching glow-in-the-dark skeleton hand gloves and waited unmoving in the green glow of the porch light. Scary music emanated from the house, "Tubular Bells" rang clearly throughout the immediate neighborhood from the Bose stereo he insisted upon getting. Jethro didn't put up much of a fight as he really didn't care one way or the other about stereos or music except what was on the cassette he kept in a drawer in the basement. He only voluntarily listened to Kelly's piano recital recordings.
A group of children with their parents started to walk up to the house, the parents tried to encourage their children to be brave. Tony looked at the group and with the oldest child looking to be age 7, he raised his mask and smiled. "Come on! Don't be afraid. I'm not gonna scare you." The kids just looked at his hands and back to his face while they kept approaching him slowly. "These are just gloves – see?" He rested the candy bowl on his lap and took one of the gloves off. "Here." He held out the bowl. "Grab a handful."
The parents smiled gratefully. One father stepped forward. "Hey. I'm Jared. The princess is my girl, Tricia. We live about 5 houses down on the left."
"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Tony. Just moved in about 5 months ago but work has kept me so busy, I haven't had time to introduce myself."
"So, did you buy the place? Never saw a "For Sale" sign on the property."
"No, Jethro still owns the house. I moved in with him." Tony leveled his stare waiting for backlash.
"That's great! Jethro is such a good man. He's helped us all out in one way or another over the years. Glad to see he has found someone to share his life with. Where is he tonight?"
Tony flashed the brilliant DiNozzo smile and silently let out the breath he was holding. "He's inside working on a project in the basement."
"Ah! Probably getting ready for the holidays. We've heard about the toys he makes for the children at the hospital. Probably a busy time for him; trying to fit it in with the long hours he works."
"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Tony." Jared stuck out his hand and Tony grasped it, shaking it in camaraderie. Jared pointed to the other parents, "From left to right there is Lori, she is just caddy-corner to your right – her boy James is Superman; Will, lives directly behind you, Janice is his girl, the "Cereal Killer" and Brian lives three houses down to your left, his Carson is Batman. Welcome to the neighborhood!"
The parents waved to him from the sidewalk.
The screen door opened, "Oh, Hi, Jethro! We were just introducing ourselves to Tony. Good to see you, man! Happy Halloween!"
Jared ushered the children off the porch and they all waved their goodbyes as they continued down the street.
Tony stood and looked at Jethro who was taking him in with his mask tilted up over his head and one skeleton glove off. "So, hey. Did you want to come sit a while?"
"Heard voices – thought I'd see what was going on."
Tony grabbed his hand and pulled Jethro next to him. "Just meeting the neighbors. They seem really nice."
Jethro raised his eyebrow in question. "It's been a while since you've connected with them, hasn't it? They thought you had sold the house and moved."
A little ninja and a zombie approached them. "Trick or treat!"
"Well, hello!" Tony smiled and held out the candy bowl. "Treats for sure!" The children each took a small handful and put it in their bags. "Thank you!" They shouted as they raced down the steps. "You're welcome and Happy Halloween!" Tony called after them.
"Stay, for just a few minutes. Please?"
"Tony, I can't…" Jethro turned away towards the door.
"If you had been killed in action, would you have wanted Kelly to stay home during Halloween? Not to celebrate the holidays because you weren't there?"
"No! But it's not the same!"
"Yes, it kind of is, Jethro."
"She was just a child!"
"And you are her father. And you were once a child too. You can't hide every time something reminds you of her or Shannon. I will never let you forget them, I want to know more about them, but when you are ready to tell me. Until then, don't let our memories be lost. I want to make memories with you. I want them to live side by side with those you have of Shannon and Kelly. Live with me, Jethro. Not for me or because of me, WITH me."
"Trick or treat!" Another princess, Dracula and a Hobo stood in front of him with their bags open. Tony dropped treats in each of them exclaiming how great they looked in their costumes.
When Tony turned around, Jethro was gone. He sighed and sat back on the porch, pulled on his mask and reaffixed his skeletal glove.
~~~~~~~~~~NCIS~~~~~~~~~~
About an hour and just a few unnerved middle school children later, Tony called it quits on Halloween. He changed the porch light bulb back to its normal glow and shut it off as he walked into the house. All in all, it was a successful night – neighbors had been met and children had been feted with candy; only a scant portion remained at the bottom of the bowl
When he turned the music off, the house was eerily silent. All lights were shut off except for the one that lit the stairway. Tony peered in the basement and found it dark as well.
He really didn't know what to think after his last words and having found Jethro gone from the porch. Tony knew they'd get past it but the act of getting past their personal hurdles was difficult. Still he knew he had to go through it, not skirt around it in order to make it work for them both.
He slowly climbed the stairs and walked down the hallway. The night stand light was on in their bedroom but Tony knew Jethro wasn't there when he saw the glow from underneath the spare room door.
He cracked the door open and peered in. Jethro was sitting in the chair beside the twin bed looking at a photo album. He left out a small sigh and made to close the door silently, leaving Jethro to his memories.
"Don't go. Come in, please?" Jethro's voice was so quiet Tony barely heard him.
"Are you sure? Tony opened the door once more stepping in the room. "It's ok, really."
"No, come here. I want to show you something." Tony walked across the room and knelt beside him.
"Her first Halloween." Jethro pointed at a faded picture of a little girl of about three dressed as Little Red Riding Hood. "Shan and I wanted to wait to take her out until she could steadily walk on her own. Didn't want to be the kind of parents who push their sleeping babies to houses for candy she wasn't going to be able to eat."
"She was such a ham. When she was dressed and realized we were going to take her picture, she ran to her room and dragged her chair to the hallway so she could prop her leg on it in a pose. I think we laughed until we cried, she was so funny! My bell of the ball."
"What a cutie!" Tony smiled imagining the scenario. "She has your smile."
"Had, Tony. She had my smile."
"Jethro…" Tony looked up at him and in his eyes, Jethro saw the confusion, worry, and apprehension that he had taken a moment given him and thrown it away.
"It's ok. I know this is hard on you too. I guess I have been making you feel like you are walking in a mine field and I'm sorry."
"No, I've pushed too much."
"You haven't. And I guess that's something I need to reconcile. Probably why the marriages never lasted. They gave up after too many mines detonated but you are like the Black Knight. Keep coming back for more. You haven't given up on me yet."
"It's just a flesh wound." They both smiled at that. "Never gonna give up, Jethro unless you give me a reason to and even then I'll fight for us. I love you."
"I love you too." Jethro cupped Tony's face and Tony rose up on his knees. Sliding his hand to Tony's neck, Jethro pulled him closer, capturing his lips in a kiss that spoke volumes. He poured the emotions he couldn't vocalize in that kiss. His sorrow, the apology for not joining in the holiday, the love he had for him and hope that Tony understood it all.
They pulled away from each other, breathless. Tony rested his forehead against Jethro's and smiled. "Show me more?"
Jethro grinned and pecked him on the lips. "Yeah."
Tony turned and settled next to him lacing his fingers in Jethro's open hand as he turned the page.