3rd Person POV:
Claire rolls over onto her back panting heavily. Sweat rolls down her forehead as she closes her eyes with a soft smile, gaining back her breath. Tony lies next to her breathing just as heavily. He groans and wipes the sweat off of his own brow. She glanced over at him and giggles at his winded expression.
"You alright over there Tony?" she asks him. Tony take a minute to compose himself before looking over at her.
"Oh yea, I'm fine." he assures with a nod. She laughed at his attempt to act calm and collected.
"You really need to work out more often Tony." Claire teased, knowing it would get him riled up. Tony glared.
"I work out plenty, thank you very much." He defended. Claire raised an eyebrow and looks back over at him.
"Oh yea? So you ready for another round?" She asked him challengingly. He chuckled at her tone.
"Oh yea, just give me a minute." He told her and sucked in another breath.
"Just give up already Tony. She's kicked your ass 3 times in a row now." Kate jeered. She and McGee were watching them from the benches near the wrestling mat. Since they didn't have an assignment the team went down to the NCIS gym to get a workout in. Tony, being his arrogant self, decided that a 'friendly spar' would be a good idea. He wasn't aware that Claire had recently been doing some kickboxing, adding it to her repertoire of hand to hand combat training. Tony had gotten himself into a heap of trouble and his pride was slowly being chipped away. Claire was never going to let him live this down. Tony growled at Kate's comment.
"I'm warming up Kate. I have to let her build up a little pride before I tear her down." Tony explained as he slowly stood up with a wince. He held his hand out and Claire gladly took it. They stood up and Claire grinned when Tony didn't look her in the eye. She held her fists up and bounced on her feet, ready for another round.
"You ready Tony?" she asked with a smirk. Tony sputtered trying to stall.
"Why don't we get some water first? I know you're tired." He suggested and walked over to his gym bag by the rest of his team. Claire smirked in triumph and walked behind him. She and Kate chatted about technique on one end of the bench. Tony sat down beside McGee who was trying hard not to snicker at Tony's defeat. However Tony noticed and glowered at him.
"Got something you wanna say Probie?" he snipped. McGee shook his head with an amused expression.
"No Tony…..I'm sure you tried your best." He added with a quivering voice, holding in his laugh.
"Why don't you take her on then huh? See how long you last." Tony told him.
"No thanks, I think I'm going to keep my dignity for now." Tim told him. Tony took another gulp of his water and wiped his face down with a towel. Claire looked down at her phone and quickly started packing up. Tony noticed.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked suspiciously. Claire pulled her bag over her shoulder and grinned at him.
"Devon is coming home today. He's living with me until his next deployment so I'm picking him up at the port. Gibbs gave me the day off." She explained. She took a few steps forward to leave but paused and turned back to her team.
"Oh by the way I'm having a welcome home gathering at my house afterwards and you all are invited if you want to stop by." Claire told them with a smile. She turned to leave again and forgot something else.
"Oh Tony, if you want you can join us at the port. I know Devon would like to see you." She added. Tony smiled at the thought.
"Yea I'll be there. Just text me when you're leaving and I'll ride over with you." Tony told her. Claire nodded and raced off with a broad smile. Tony laughed at her excitement.
"So how long has her brother been gone?" Kate asked Tony once Claire had left. Tony stood up to stretch and thought for a moment.
"Almost two years I think." Tony told her. He and Claire had talked about it when they first caught back up months ago.
"Seems like she's pretty excited." McGee commented from beside the two of them. Tony nodded with a fond smile, thinking back to how close Claire and her brother were in college.
"Yea, they're really close. Since their dad was always off training cadets around the country or other Marine stuff, and mom out of the picture, they only had each other. So they got real close. He was always visiting and calling while we were at college." Tony informed them. They nodded in understanding.
"Well I can't wait to meet him." Kate informed them and went back to the gym equipment.
Tony's POV:
After a few hours at the gym Claire had texted me the time she would be leaving so I headed back to my apartment to change and shower. I took an Advil to ease the slight pain I had from Claire's beating. I drove over to her building. I sent her another text when I got there and waited for her to come down. She made her way over to the car and hopped into the passenger seat. I put the car in drive and glanced over at her. She was practically bouncing in her seat. I shook my head with a smile. Even though she was usually the mature one, sometimes she acted like a 5 year old. After driving to an hour or so we finally made it to our destination. We parked the car and Claire grabbed my hand excitedly before dragging me off towards the mass of people waiting for the ship to dock.
"Claire hold up a second! I've got to lock the door." I told her with a chuckle. She groaned and waited for me to push the button on my keys, hearing the horn signaling that it was locked. Once I was satisfied she grabbed my hand again and bolted, nearly jerking my arm out of socket. We weaved our way through the crowd, Claire flashing her badge every now and then, barreling through the other families. I kept apologizing for her hasty actions. Soon enough we made it to a more spacious place near the front and waited as the sailors got off the ship. I looked down at her as she kept standing on her tiptoes, looking for the head of her giant of a brother. I was always shocked by her family's height. Her dad is tall and both of his kids got the genes. Claire was tall for a girl at 5'8", not that I minded at all, and her brother was about 6'4".
"Do you see him?" she asked me after a few minutes of searching. I snapped out of a daze, apparently I was staring at her. I started looking around for Devon. I wasn't even sure how I would identify him, I mean I haven't seen the guy for years. Suddenly she grabbed my arm and jerked on it harshly.
"Ow! What?" I asked from her sudden giddiness.
"I see him! Tony, he's right there!" she told me while bouncing on her toes, beaming up at me. I glanced around trying to spot him but she took off before I could.
"Devon!" I heard her screaming. I followed her as best I could before I stopped a little ways behind the two of them. I stood with my arms crossed as I watched their happy reunion. Devon found her and dropped his bag onto the ground before holding his arms out. She jumped into them and wrapped her legs around his waist, causing him to nearly topple over but he still let out a deep laugh at her enthusiasm. I couldn't help but smile at how happy she was right now. That's when she gave the best smiles. The ones that made my heart jolt in my chest. After a couple minutes Devon looked up and noticed me standing behind her.
"Tony! What are you doing here?" he asked letting her go and bringing me into a bro hug. I patted his back and looked over at Claire who was standing beside the two of us.
"Well Claire invited me over. Plus someone has to keep an eye on her." I joked and sent her a look. She shook her head and punched me in the shoulder. I let out a little whine of protest.
"As I recalled, I looked after myself just fine this morning." She told me with a playful sneer. Devon looked between the two of us in confusion.
"What happened this morning?" he asked warily. Claire was about to tell him about kicking my ass at the gym. Devon was NOT to know about that! So I intervened.
"Well, I'm sure you are tired and want to be getting home. After all you are the guest of honor tonight." I told Devon while giving Claire a 'shut up' look. She rolled her eyes and picked up Devon's bag as we walked back over to my car. The two siblings talked excitedly with each other as we walked. Once his bags were in the trunk of my car I got into the front seat, Devon in the passenger and Claire got stuck in the back. After about 15 minutes Claire dozed off. I guess she was still tired from this morning's workout. I kept glancing back at her, making sure she wasn't going to mess up her neck from sleeping in a weird position or anything. I guess Devon noticed or something cause he had a smug look on his face.
"So…..you two dating yet?" he casually asked. My eyes widened and I looked over to see if he was joking.
"What? No. She has a boyfriend." I reminded him. I kept staring at the road in ahead hoping he'll drop the subject. Unfortunately he kept going.
"Yea, I know. But she honestly talks about you more than she does Stephen. I figured that you would have started dating by now, since everyone expected it back in college." He told me in all seriousness. Really?...everyone expected it?...Sure I had a crush on her back then but I'm pretty sure I grew out of it. I furrowed my eyebrows thinking all of this over.
"And even though I know about your track record….You would be the one that I would approve of to be with my big sister." He added with a smile.
"Really?" I asked out loud this time. I knew Devon was cool with me being his sister's friend but this was something else. He was just as protective of her as I was.
"Yeah, you make her happy and that's kinda hard to do on a consistent basis nowadays." He answered. Before I could respond Claire started so shift around and I clammed up. She didn't need to hear any of this. Thankfully Devon picked up on that too and we continued in silence for a little while until we reached Claire's apartment. When we got there Claire immediately sprinted up so she could get things ready before other guest started arriving. Devon and I followed after her just as everyone started showing up and the party started.
About 3 hours into the gathering I was leaning against the wall beside Kate with a drink in my hand, just observing. Claire was walking around talking animatedly with everyone she passed. Stephen was with her right now. He showed up a couple hours ago and I felt weird about it. Again I had nothing against him but I still felt uneasy and somewhat mad whenever he showed up with her. But he treated her good as far as I knew so I couldn't complain. Kate glanced over at me and followed my line of sight.
"So alright there Tony." She asked watching me carefully. I gave her a glance and then looked back to Claire.
"I'm fine. Just enjoying the party Kate. So no need to do your profiling on me." I told her cutting off her thoughts before she got started.
"You know that you should probably tell her how you feel…..You know if you hypothetically had feelings for her. Which I'm sure you'll say you don't….. In this business, you never know what will happen." She told me. I turned my head towards her. Sometimes she was annoying, but she was like a sister to me. Sometimes sisters had good advice.
"I don't have 'feelings' for her Kate." I dismissed. Did I?...
"Then why do you hate Stephen so much?" She asked. Here we go with the mind tricks again.
"I don't hate him. He's a great guy and he really cares for her. I just feel weird about them being together." I told her honestly.
"But why?" she prodded.
"Because…..I mean he's…well…." I stuttered, trying to come up with a real reason. I didn't have one.
"Because he's not you?" she finished. I paused. Was that the real reason? Nah, it couldn't be.
"You should tell her." She told me seriously.
"I can't. Not unless I have an actual reason for her not dating him. Which I don't." I insisted.
"And if you ever mention this conversation to anyone I will personally make your life miserable." I added with a pointed look. These personal moments were never to be brought out into the open.
"I thought you do that already." She mumbled. I glared and she laughed at my expression.
"I won't Tony. But I still think you should tell her. I can tell that she's different to you. You might regret it someday if you don't." she concluded before walking away and joining other guests. I thought about what she said for a few moments. Did I feel something? Obviously other people think we have some sort of intimate connection but I don't know. Nah, she's dating somebody else. It wouldn't be right if I started hitting on her for real anytime soon. I'm not even sure I like her like that anyway. She's just my best friend and that's why I get a warm feeling around her, I'm sure of it. No need to tell her anything. If she's happy then I'm happy.