His arm wrapped tighter around her limp frame, for it was only his arm that kept her upright at all. The stench of mourning hung in the air like a low lying smog. The small congregation that gathered around the awaiting black hole was small when contrasted against the impact it's soon to be occupant had made on the world. Tony swallowed the burning lump in his throat as he battled ferociously to keep it together, his only comfort being that in death, Gibbs would be with the wife and daughter he so desperately yearned for in life. Abby wobbled on the balls of his feet in spite of his supporting grasp and he clutched her protectively to him. On his other side, Tim held Bishop close. As the three-volley salute rang out into the crisp air, two or three birds took sudden and frantic flight from their tree-top perches.

Tony watched them go and felt an impossible sadness washed over him.

Gibbs…he would have preferred the birds to have stayed.

The low murmurings of a priest that had never once met their fallen leader washed blandly over the four as they stood rigidly at the graveside. Ducky however found a certain solace in the teachings, and as he grasped Jimmy's shoulder tightly, he rather thought his assistant did too. Save for the presence of the team, there were precious few mourners who could say they had really known the enigma that had been Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Director Vance was adorned in black as he bowed his head against the priest's ministrations. Regret was his predominant emotion. He had battled with Gibbs since the day they first laid eyes on each other. He felt a certain emptiness at the idea he would never go toe to toe with his most prominent thorn. Beside him, Tobias Fornell had his eyes rooted to the spot that would soon swallow up the last of his old friend and foe.

The rest of the grouping consisted of a few former colleagues and a smattering of well intentioned, but superfluous individuals. As the sharply dressed soldiers stepped forward to remove and fold the ceremonial flag that had adorned Gibbs' coffin, Tony's focus zeroed back in on the proceedings. He felt his pulse quicken uncomfortably. He hadn't foreseen this complication, too deep was his grief. There was no wife; there was no son or daughter, sister or brother. There was no one at the graveside with Gibbs' blood in their veins for the flag to be passed to. As the soldiers pivoted to their right, Tony looked desperately across at Ducky. He was the most logical choice in lieu of a more conventional recipient. He was Gibbs' oldest and most trusted friend. Was…his oldest and most trusted friend.

There was definitely a watery quality to the doctor's eyes when he shook his head in emotional refusal.

"It ought to be you, dear Anthony. He would have wanted it to be you."

His voice was low but in the balmy cemetery, but it was easily heard. Before Tony could refute that claim, Abby straightened up with a strangled sob and clutched him feebly. She had none of her usual strength and as Tony looked at her he felt another stab of worry enter his gut. He knew Abby could survive pretty much anything, but this…this might be the one thing she couldn't. "Ducky's right," she croaked in a dry sob, simply having no more tears left to shed. "He would have wanted you to have it. You were everything to him."

Tony shook his head slowly as the soldiers turned to stone and waited respectfully.

"Abby…you were like a daughter to him," he rejected throatily, fighting the sobbing that yearned to tear from his throat. He would not let her see him upset. Gibbs wouldn't have wanted that. If it had been anyone else heading into the ground for forever more, he would have remained strong for Abby. Now that he was gone, Tony felt a burning duty to take over that role. "You should be the one to take it," he continued, managing the smallest but more sincere smile to ever cross his face. "You were his favourite, we all know it. And we all love you for it. You take it; it's yours, as he would have wanted."

She shook her head slowly; the skin under her eyes a red raw from her heartrending sorrow.

"He already had a daughter, Tony. Kelly was his daughter and he loved her more than life itself but…didn't Gibbs strike you as a man who always wanted a son as well?"

She clutched his arm tighter and leaned into him, speaking to him and him alone.

"You were that for him, Tony. You were always that for him. Take the flag. Please."

Tony felt the tears he had been battling for so long seep into his eyes as he felt his stomach drop. To his side, he felt the arm move before it landed softly on his shoulder. Turning and looking at his probie turned professional, the tears in Tony's eyes were edging closer and closer to freedom. "You drove him insane on a daily basis; but you protected him with your life. You were the one he had on his six during some of the toughest times of his life, and you were the one who reminded him how to smile." He squeezed Tony's shoulder tight, his voice low but infused with sincerity. "Take the flag, Tony. If it wasn't for you, we would have dragged his body out of a river and buried him years ago. We had these extra years with him, because you were there for him."

He cleared his throat as tears began to shine in his eyes.

"Take the flag."

Bishop smiled through her own tears as she nodded her agreement. "I didn't know Gibbs as long as you all did, but I do know what you meant to him Tony." She glanced over at the coffin, patiently awaiting its descent into oblivion. "He wasn't a man of many words but the way he looked at you was words enough." She let the tears flow down her cheeks as Tim pulled her into his chest, planting a gentle kiss on her hair. "Take the flag. You know he'll only come back and slap you round the head with it if you don't."

Jimmy cleared his throat and looked over at the man he had grown close to.

"You know I always found him to be a rather terrifying man," he admitted, causing Tony to snort with a beautifully cathartic bout of laughter as he nodded his head ruefully. Beside him, Abby giggled tearfully as the many sagas of Gibbs and Jimmy played through her mind. Grinning slightly, Palmer shrugged. "I always that he was at his most terrifying when something or someone threatened you or your well being. He cared about us all, in different ways. But you…you were with him from the start. You stood by him through thick and thin no matter what and when many would have walked away." His glasses fogged with tear based condensation as he spoke over the lump in his throat.

"Take the flag."

Director Vance, to Jimmy's extreme right, gave an approving nod. "The man drove me mad over the years. But he was always at his most irritating when he felt I was encroaching upon his ability to lead his people." He glanced around the congregation. "Gibbs would have laid down his life a thousand times over for any one of you. That, I would put my own life on." His dark eyes found Tony's light counterparts and he gazed thoughtfully. "But you…Tony, you were the one he would have killed a thousand times over for." He scrubbed a hand over his eyes as if attempting to scrub away the regret that played there, but it was a fool's errand and he quickly dropped his hand to his side.

"Take the flag."

Tobias stared upon the scene thoughtfully. He never truly thought he'd outlive his old friend. He never thought he'd stand upon the dewy graveside of the man many thought to be invincible. Yet, stood he did and weep internally he would, for a very long time. "Did you know he never forgave me for that murder inquiry into you, Tony?" he asked quietly, causing surprise to beam through the grieving man at the correct use of his name. "Because he didn't," Fornell continued, "Gibbs wasn't a begrudging or vindictive man, and I hesitate to say I was as close to him as any outsider to his team could be. But…that stayed between us. That attempt on your career. He never forgave me."

He glanced over at Tony who stared back steadily, the tears brimming at the very edge of their bright green cage. "He forgave me many a wrong I did unto him, Tony. But never the one wrong I did unto you. That, to me, speaks volumes." He glanced at the stock still soldiers, apparently oblivious to the goings on around them. The pristine flag seemed to anchor them to their position and in an odd way; he prayed it would provide similar grounding to Tony, moving forwards into the irrevocably Gibbs free world he had never navigated.

"Take the flag."

A supreme and almost slumbering silence overtook the burial site then, as all eyes were downcast, allowing Tony the time to process the enormity of the situation he found himself in. Their words swarmed his mind, infiltrating every minute corner. He felt the lump in his throat expand uncomfortably, emitting an almost acidic aftertaste. The flag seemed to grow bigger and bigger in his mind's eye the longer the silence stretched on.

Before, all of a sudden, his mind snapped to a decision that perhaps had been made many years ago.

Kissing Abby gently on the forehead, he shifted his supporting arm until Tim wrapped his around the scientist instead. Stopping short in front of the man who was many things to him, Tony stared at McGee for a moment before nodding at him in a manner that said a thousand words. Moving past Bishop, he ducked down and planted a kiss on her hair before turning to face the stationary soldiers. He could feel Ducky's glowing look of approval seep through him and it provided him with a searing warmth. Jimmy smiled through watery tears as Tobias and Vance nodded in tandem.

He straightened himself up as he grit his teeth.

He could and would do this.

For Gibbs.

His hands were steady and sure as he held them out and his eye contact never wavered. He was a little surprised by his lack of observational skills. The soldier holding the flag had been young the first time he'd looked, no more than thirty. But the soldier holding it as he stood before him was not a day less than seventy. He had a wizened quality about him that was offset by a youthful twinkle in his eye. As he stood there, Tony was hit with a bolt of partial recognition. He felt as though he knew this man. But he was quite sure, logically speaking, that he did not. Stepping forward smartly, the soldier extended the flag with extreme courtesy, setting it softly into Tony's hands.

As his fingers furled around the fabric he would cherish until his dying day, the tears finally fell from Tony's eyes, and they fell with a fury.

"He would have been proud of you today, that old goat. He's probably drinking some damned bourbon out of an angel's chalice as we speak. Probably stole the damned thing to boot." With extreme shock, Tony stared at the man as the tears continued to splinter down his cheeks with a burning speed. "I take it Jethro never mentioned me?" Without waiting for an answer, the soldier chuckled very quietly. His accompanying men had absolutely no idea of the cryptic conversation taking place. "Well, he never quit yakking about you DiNozzo. Used to drive me spare, but now…now I can see why." Winking, the man stepped back into smart formation once more, but not before murmuring the words Tony would never hear in the same manner, ever again.

"Semper Fi."

….

A/N: Not my usual style, just fancied doing something different! Hope you enjoyed. It is more than possible that the flag passing can only be conducted with a blood/marital family member. Forgive me if that is the case, I'm not American and may not know the nuances!

_Inks

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