I have a vague idea of where this is going, but updates may be a sporadic.

Oh, and kudos to you if you remember which of Gibbs' rules the end line is a reference to.

Thank you all for your follows, faves and especially for taking the time to review - it's very muchly appreciated. And I don't own these guys - but you already knew that.


Tony's POV

Tony knew he looked like an idiot, sitting there holding Gibbs' hands tight as he grinned so wide he could've given the Cheshire Cat a run for its money; but he just couldn't help himself.

He had known that Gibbs was proud of him - no, the older man had never stated it as such before, but it had always been evident in the rare praise and the occasional look in those piercing blue eyes.

The desire to hear it being said had always been there, though he had all but refused to acknowledge it, even in the privacy of his own mind - he hated to feel needy, or dependent - even upon Gibbs, who he thought of as a father figure.

But those reservations seemed inconsequential in comparison to the feeling that had enveloped him upon hearing those precious few words, and Tony wished with all his heart that he could cling onto this contentment forever.

After several moments, Gibbs tightened the pressure of his hands in Tony's, and then let go, pulling back to rest them on his knees.

The younger man ducked his head a little, rubbing the back of his neck before clasping his own hands together and placing them in his lap. He itched to fill the silence, and opened his mouth to say something but Gibbs, who was surprising him at every turn tonight, beat him to it.

"Up you get."

Tony tilted his head quizzically at his boss as he stood, trying to figure out what exactly Gibbs was up to now.

In reply, the former marine jerked his head in the direction of the bedroom. "Go get some sleep - you've still got enough time to catch forty winks before we get back to solving those cold cases."

Tony pulled a face but made to go, before stopping to inquire hesitantly, "What about you Boss?"

Gibbs stood and moved towards the kitchenette, throwing over his shoulder with his usual half-smirk, "I'm gonna see if there's any decent coffee in this place."

An indignant Tony began to retort, but instead fell prey to an almighty yawn, earning himself a pointed look and a "Go on, get DiNozzo!" from Gibbs, who was currently rummaging the cupboards.

With a long-suffering sigh, Tony did as he was told and went to bed, though he left his door carefully ajar so he could still hear Gibbs' tuneless humming as he fixed himself a cup of coffee.

One hand tucked beneath his head, with his eyes closed as his chest rose and fell steadily, Tony was treading the fine line between sleeping and wakefulness, when he registered soft footsteps and the noise of wood against flooring as Gibbs drew up a chair.

The wordless reassurance of his presence promised to keep the nightmares away, and was enough to tip the balance in sleep's favour.


The former Marine sat a still and silent vigil for the rest of the night, to the extent that an onlooker could be forgiven for mistaking him for a non-sentient object.

In reality however, the stillness of his body was no indication of his state of mind. Gibbs had an inkling that they had only touched the tip of the iceberg last night, the bags beneath Tony's eyes indicated that this had been more than a one-off occurrence, in which case tonight's nightmare must have been especially horrible for Tony to lose himself enough to call, seen as though he hadn't before.

These suspicions were only confirmed by the fact that Tony was waking at least once every hour, soundlessly, which made Gibbs glad he had sat by him. The younger man settled back down to sleep again fairly quickly upon seeing him - but this was not right - there was something else he was missing here. Gibbs had half a mind to ask Tony, but then he reconsidered - some rest was better than none at all - and anyway, the agent had a suspicion this wouldn't be the last night he would be spending over here. There was no way he was going to make the mistake of letting Tony 'deal' with this by himself - suppression was not the answer.

At around seven o'clock Gibbs stirred from his ruminations, and padded his way into the small kitchen. A poke of his head into the fridge and the cupboards revealed that there were only the bare necessities, in other words all the ingredients necessary to making pancakes - something he had not done in a long time; for as with almost everything in his life, the memories that it prompted were almost too much to bear.

Today however, Gibbs acknowledged those memories of his girls with a small smile that flitted over his face as he mixed the batter - he still missed them, but he was so grateful for every moment, every memory that he had shared with them, and everything they had taught him - today, Gibbs tried to focus instead upon those feelings, and he knew that was what they would have wanted.

So when Tony's alarm went off and he stumbled out of the bedroom on the way to the bathroom, still half-asleep, he was met by the sight of Gibbs - Gibbs! - casually flipping pancakes.

The lead agent was fairly surprised when not a single comment slipped past the younger man's lips - Tony wasn't generally the type to hesitate to speak his mind.

When he returned from the bathroom, Tony perched on the edge of the couch, watching the pancake flipping with something that Gibbs thought may have been envy.

"You ever made pancakes before DiNozzo?" he inquired casually; DiNozzo Sr didn't strike him as the pancake flipping type, and Gibbs didn't know how much Tony remembered about his mother, even if she had been.

"Nope," Tony replied off-handedly, even as his eyes tracked Gibbs' every move.

Of course, the investigator wasn't fooled by that, but felt there had been more than enough soul-searching for both of them last night and played along - for now. "Well, I hope you learn fast then," he said, tone just as unconcerned as Tony's, "Come take over - I've got coffee to brew."

Tony went over and watched as Gibbs demonstrated a perfect pancake from start to finish, before he relinquished the pan and batter to Tony.

The senior field agent was quiet as he began, a sure sign that the task was taking all his concentration. Gibbs watched from the corner of his eye as he made the coffee; Tony was doing well, to say it was his first attempt - until it came to flipping.

At first he was too tentative, and the pancake barely lifted from the pan. Once, twice, it flopped over onto itself and frustrated, Tony over-compensated and sent the pancake ceiling-ward, where it stuck briefly before dropping back into the pan in a limp, crumpled pile.

Gibbs snorted in a half-hearted attempt to contain his laughter and Tony pouted, before dumping the failed attempt in the trash and determinedly starting again.

Twice more the same thing happened but Tony, typically, refused to give in. When it got to the flipping stage for the fourth time though, Gibbs took mercy on him, and put his hand over Tony's on the handle, and flicking his wrist just so, sending the pancake into the air and catching it as it came down on the opposite side. "Ya see DiNozzo? It's all in the wrist."

Tony nodded. "I've got it Boss. No pancake is going to beat this Very Special Agent."

Gibbs peered into the bowl containing the batter. "Well, you've only got one chance DiNozzo," he informed him.

"No problemo," the younger man said glibly, and proceeded to flip it perfectly the first time with a beatific smile, before he glanced briefly at Gibbs who looked up at the ceiling in mock-confusion. "You mean you weren't aiming up there DiNozzo?" he smirked, and reached for a pancake.

Tony promptly whisked the plate away with a cheeky grin, and took it over to the table. Gibbs raised an eyebrow and settled for delivering a head slap as he sat, before both men tucked in.

Gibbs looked askance at Tony's plate, that held pancakes smothered in honey - apparently, Tony had never needed syrup before - but refrained from commenting as the younger man ate as though he'd survived through a seven-season famine.

But Tony caught the dubious look and sprung to his pancake topping's defense. "It's good Boss, try it!" Unperturbed by the glare, he sing-songed, "Can't like if if you haven't tried it," and squeezed the tiniest amount of honey onto the half-eaten pancake on Gibbs's plate.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked.

Tony started and pulled his hands back as if burned.

The blue glare did not soften, and eyes wide, Tony gingerly removed the honeyed pancake from Gibbs's plate to his own, and replaced it with a fresh one.

At that, Gibbs stopped trying to bore a hole in his agent's head by willpower alone, and carried on with his breakfast.

Tony exhaled silently. Note to self: Rule #23 can also extend to pancakes.


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~ Qalam