Not A Lonely Place
Summary: AJ Chegwidden and Gibbs are at the cabin.
Rating: K
Warning: Spoiler for season 10 final episode "Damned If You Do."
Disclaimer: Somebody else owns everything NCIS and JAG. I'm just borrowing some characters for a minute.
And finally, all mistakes are mine.
AJ Chegwidden watched Gibbs as he threw another log into the fireplace. The others had left a few minutes before following Tim McGee's announcement that they had a case. Now it was just the two of them and while Gibbs wasn't ready to talk about the charges yet, AJ did want to know about something else. After Gibbs got seated and looked comfortable, AJ broached the subject.
"Your team didn't know about this cabin."
It was a statement, not a question because he'd been there and seen and heard Agents David and DiNozzo express their surprise. Gibbs didn't nod his head, not exactly, but AJ knew the slight tilt indicated that the statement was correct and accepted as correct. It had been a long time since he'd seen Gunny Gibbs, but the short conversation with Director Vance had prepared him for the man's quiet, somber demeanor. Vance told him to be patient because in his experience Gibbs would eventually open up... a little. Maybe not about the charges, but general conversation. AJ knew he could wait.
A few minutes later Gibbs turned to look at him. His blue eyes, always so expressive, matched his small, sad smile. And again AJ waited.
Finally Gibbs was ready. "At first... I needed a project."
It was said with conviction mixed with a certain amount of reverence for something that he required to continue living.
"I'm usually content to build... whatever... in my basement, but I needed another place... somewhere for just... me."
He didn't sound selfish at all and everybody needs their space and privacy.
"I don't mind the team or any of them coming over. I invite them with my open door policy."
AJ nodded in understanding. "But?"
Gibbs' eyes said it all. "All of them have gotten used to being able to show up whenever they feel like it."
Gibbs hadn't mentioned ex-wives and others, but AJ had read up on the man and some of the cases over the past few years and could imagine the foot traffic from the front door to the basement. As closed off in solitude as Gibbs tried to make himself, people gravitated to him. They trusted him and confided in him.
For just a moment AJ was reminded of the times Mac, Harm and others had shown up at his place without so much as a phone call. Those two plus Bud, Harriet, Coates and even Turner had trusted and confided in him. He could sympathize with Gibbs. "How long?"
"A while," he admitted with a soft sigh.
It didn't really matter if he'd kept the secret for a month or for five years. Many people thought solitude meant lonely, but AJ knew that was a falsehood. People like Gibbs craved their solitude. It helped them think and cope and survive. DiNozzo had likened the cabin to Abe Lincoln's, but AJ rather liked it and wondered if Gibbs would indulge him. Now that the cabin wasn't a secret any longer, would he be willing?
"If I give you enough notice, would you let me come up here for a couple days of solitude?"
Gibbs' blue eyes twinkled as his face lit up and AJ knew they understood each other.
The End
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