A/N: Thanks again for reading, reviewing, alerting and favoriting xD
Chapter Nine: Once And For All
Tony was sifting through the dead marine's belongings down in Abby's lab, hoping to finally find something that would be useful for the case. They had chased down dead end after dead end that day and Tony was slowly getting restless. He knew he had to present at least something to Gibbs later or the guy would get even grumpier than he had been the whole day.
And McGee was to blame for his mood this time, Tony was sure about that. Granted, Tiny Tim's question whether their boss was alright was a reasonable one because Gibbs was clearly suffering from the flu, his eyes glassy, his cheeks flushed, alternately sneezing or coughing. But of course, because he was the infallible Agent Gibbs, he wasn't really sick and he had told McGee that with a head slap. Ever since, whenever he had been talking, it was more of a bark than anything else which made Tony all itchy inside because he usually was only like that when something bad - really bad - had happened or was about to happen.
All the more reason to find some evidence, something weird about the dead sailor. So, Tony had buried himself in work, preferably far away from Gibbs the whole day and that was why he was down in Abby's lab after all. It had been mostly silent down since he had arrived, as Abby was working hard, too, and Tony had asked (or begged actually) to turn down her music because his headache had yet to vanish.
Tony sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, wondering what they all had been missing. There had to be something, there just had to be.
"What do you got, Abs?"
Gibbs' voice came from somewhere behind him and Tony sighed inwardly as he had hoped that Gibbs wouldn't show up for at least another blissful hour. His boss, however, didn't spare a glance at Tony but walked right up to Abby.
"Uh, Gibbs. I don't have anything, yet. That's odd as you usually only come here when Major Mass Spec is dinging or is about to. You sure, your timing's right? Or is your cold affecting your…"
"I don't have a cold, Abby," Gibbs interrupted her sharply, raising his voice.
It was when Tony had had enough. It was one thing when to be disgruntled and bark orders at McGee, Ziva or him but it was a completely different thing to be rude to Abby. He never was anything but nice to Abby and just because Gibbs was too stubborn to admit that he had a freaking cold, he didn't have to be that way.
"Sure, you don't," Tony chimed in, his voice surprisingly steady.
Even as Gibbs turned around to glare at him, Tony didn't back away, instead he stared right back at him, suddenly angry without a reasonable cause.
"I'm sure your mood doesn't have anything to do with the coughing, the sneezing or the headache you're having. And don't shake your head now. I've seen you taking a few aspirins an hour ago when you thought no one was watching."
Tony shortly glanced at Abby who was standing there, her mouth slightly hanging open, for once totally quiet before he returned to look at Gibbs who was trying to give him his trademark scary glare but failed miserably. As his boss still remained silent, Tony took a step forward, feeling his temper rise even more now. He really didn't know why he was angry actually. Sure, Gibbs had been a perfect example of a bastard all day long but somewhere deep inside of him, Tony knew that it had nothing to with that at all. As Gibbs had left his apartment after their kiss, Tony had been devastated but now despair was slowly giving way to resentment and frankly he didn't care that Abby was there at the moment.
Tony came to a halt directly in front of Gibbs now, raised his hand and then touched it to Gibbs' forehead for a fraction of a second before Gibbs grabbed his wrist and pushed it away.
"You're hot, too," Tony blurted out causing Gibbs' eyes to widen for a moment.
Out of the corners of his eyes, Tony was suddenly able to see a smirk building on Abby's lips before he realized what he had just said.
"Oh, he's always hot… and cute," Abby giggled, finally finding her voice before she became all serious again, ignoring Gibbs' stare as she turned to look at him.
"Tony's right though, Gibbs. You are sick. You should probably go home, you know."
"We're in the middle of a case, Abby. I can't just go home," Gibbs finally started to talk again, though his voice was calmer now, more composed.
"Sure you can. Right, Tony?" Abby replied.
"She's right, Boss. It's almost 2100 anyway. We won't find anything tonight. Maybe we should all go home, rest and then start fresh tomorrow morning."
Gibbs glared at him for a moment but then, to Tony's complete surprise, he nodded once, turned around to Abby as if to give her a kiss on her cheek but then he apparently decided against it after all. As he was halfway out the lab, he turned around again.
"Tell McGee and Ziva to go home and it's your responsibility if we don't find anything tomorrow, DiNozzo."
"You got it, Boss."
-x-
Gibbs was just about to start his truck as he noticed DiNozzo standing right in front of his car, motioning him to stop. Sighing, he rolled down the window.
"What is it?"
"You sure you're good to drive, Boss?"
DiNozzo's voice was smooth but still, Gibbs realized that it was slightly off, as if he was nervous. And Gibbs thought that DiNozzo had probably all the right in the world to feel that way. Never before had he talked to him like that or at least not in front of the others, especially not Abby. Gibbs knew that he had been a bastard all day but well, he had hoped to be able to keep it in check but Tony, of course, had seen right through him once again.
Gibbs sighed again before he answered.
"It's just a cold, DiNozzo. I think I'm good to drive."
Tony scrutinized him for a moment, his eyes trailing along his face. Just as Gibbs started to think that he'd let it go, his agent shook his head.
"No, let me drive you home. It's my fault that you're sick anyway, so…"
Gibbs stared up at him, his stomach suddenly all fuzzy as he remembered sitting close to a sick Tony on his couch, kissing him. He sighed again, running his hand over his face, feeling a headache building up right behind his eyes.
"I promise, I won't talk on the way," Tony prodded now, his eyes never once leaving his face.
"Tony," Gibbs started, surprised by Tony's apparent change in mood. Hadn't he been angry with him only minutes before? Where did the sudden worry come from now?
"You don't have to do this, I'm fine."
"You have a fever, Boss, and you know it. And remember when I said that I wanted things to go back to normal?" Tony said now, his voice suddenly quiet, his expression serious. "And I normally wouldn't let you drive like that."
Gibbs looked at him for a moment, realizing that he was probably right, so he raised his hands in surrender and scooted over onto the passenger seat, handing the keys to Tony who had taken seat next to him.
-x-
Just as promised, Tony had kept quiet on the way home, keeping his eyes firmly on the road even though he knew that Gibbs had been staring at him all the way. He still hadn't said anything when he had walked into Gibbs' house and kitchen and had heated up some water.
"What are you doing?" Gibbs asked, leaning against the doorframe, looking at him.
"I'm making you tea," Tony replied, already opening up drawers in search for teabags of some sort.
"On your right, top shelf."
Tony nodded and reached out for what seemed to black tea.
"What, no coffee flavor?"
He joked causing Gibbs to actually chuckle right next to him. When had he come so close all of a sudden? He was leaning against the kitchen unit now only inches away from him, a strange expression on his face. Once again, Tony was able to take in the glassy blue eyes that suddenly seemed to bore into his, leaving him unable to think straight, let alone string together a coherent sentence. So, he just kept on staring at Gibbs, wondering what in the world was happening right now that made him all tingly inside.
As he was still thinking about what had happened to bring on that sudden change of mood, that sudden change of expression on Gibbs's face, the older man had leaned into him. And Tony had still not registered what exactly was going on when Gibbs' nose grazed his and those damned lips had brushed against his own. It was only when Tony felt himself kissing him back that his mind finally caught up with what was happening and he quickly pulled away, stepping away from Gibbs.
He stared at him for a moment, his heart pounding, his pulse loud in his ears. Tony knew this wasn't right and yet his body was screaming at him to just step forward again. But his common sense luckily seemed to prevail this time.
"Don't do this to me," he finally said only above a whisper but he could still hear that his voice was shaking.
"Do what?" Gibbs replied, furrowing a brow and stepping towards him again but Tony held up his hands causing him to stop dead in his tracks.
"Don't kiss me now and then tell me that you can't do this. It's not fair and you know it."
"Tony," Gibbs said now, his voice equally quiet.
"No, Gibbs, don't tony me now. You know that you don't want this, that you don't want me. I tried to normalize things between us but I cannot do it, if you're acting like you want me all of a sudden."
"Tony," Gibbs started again but he held up his hand once more and shook his head, feeling tears already sting his eyes.
He blinked rapidly for a few moments, refusing to let them fall.
"I don't want to hear it," he finally continued. "Just… make up your mind, once and for all."
With that and one last stare at a troubled looking Gibbs, Tony left the house.
A/N: Let me know what you think :)
