A/N: Thanks for the reviews!
Chapter Twelve
Tony trailed off for a moment and realized that Tali hadn't interrupted him this time. Her thoughts were apparently far away. She only looked up from her feet when Tony remained silent for a few more moments. It was only then that he realized that he hadn't shared that particular piece of information with Tali before. How Ziva had hurt him by leaving him in the dark for so long, by hiding Tali away from him for such a long time.
"You know I love your Ima, right?" he softly asked, eliciting a soft sigh from Tali.
"Yeah, Abba, I know," she said with a small smile. "And the way you've been talking about her ever since I can remember tells me that, too. Don't worry. I know."
"Good," Tony pressed a soft kiss against her temple as he hugged her closer for a moment.
"Ziva's death all hit us really hard," Gibbs jumped in. "It wasn't easy starting over."
"Yeah," Tali nodded and sighed exasperated. "I know."
"Oh, I think we're starting to annoy her," Tony quipped, effectively earning himself a head slap from Jethro and a laugh from Tali.
"Not yet," Tali grinned. "But soon if you're not going to continue your story."
"We're almost at the end anyway," Tony shrugged as if it didn't matter. "The rest is pretty much history."
"Daaaad," Tali groaned causing Jethro to laugh.
"Okay, I'll continue," the older man saved Tony from another poke on the shoulder as he started talking again.
*JT*
"It's nice here," Tony said off-handedly causing Gibbs to give him a soft smile.
He had spent what seemed like hours on the internet to find something decent enough to go to dinner to. He didn't want to take Tony to some Italian restaurant as he was sure that the man knew every single one in the tristate area anyway. He had first toyed with the idea of just cooking him steaks at his house but it somehow didn't seem right. This had to be something special. It was a first date after all. He hadn't let anything on and had pretended that he hadn't searched for this particular spot. But Tony was right. It was nice.
"You been here before?" Tony asked, nervousness getting the better of him again as he began to talk abruptly again.
"Nope," Gibbs answered. "Heard it's good though. Glad you like it."
Tony nodded as he perused the menu for much longer than Gibbs would have thought. After they had finally ordered, they stayed silent again and Gibbs could see that Tony was searching for a topic to start on but couldn't decide on which one. It was kind of cute to watch him struggle for words for once. But Jethro was the reason the other man was so uncomfortable, so he helped him out this one time.
"I've looked into pre-schools for Tali this week. There are a few that are only on two days."
"I'm not sure yet if I should let her go already," Tony sighed, looking a bit torn.
"It's still pretty early," Gibbs acknowledged. "But it's never too soon to look. Besides, I'm pretty sure it'll be good for her to find some new friends."
"Yeah, I know," Tony gave a soft smile. "A boy might be nice for a change. I think she's turning into a princess because of Victoria."
"She's always been your princess," Gibbs laughed and Tony joined in.
"Yours, too, in case you were wondering."
"Wasn't," Gibbs grinned.
"Is it okay to talk about her?" Tony finally asked after his grin had vanished.
"Why not?"
"We're on a date."
"I am aware of that," Gibbs nodded. "But this is us. This is our life and she's the biggest part of that. We can skip the getting to know each other phase because we pretty much know everything about each other."
"It's like we're starting this thing about 10 years into our marriage."
"Maybe," Gibbs shrugged again. "We just skipped all the sex."
That got him a strangled laugh from Tony who looked an odd mixture of amused and terrified.
"I'm joking, Tony."
"I know," Tony shook his head. "I just think I've never heard you say sex so bluntly."
Gibbs just shook his head, glad that Tony hadn't freaked out at the thought of them getting more intimate with each other.
*JT*
"Papa!" Tali interrupted him. "I really didn't need to hear about that."
"Sorry," Gibbs laughed out loud. "I won't do it again."
"Good."
"What do we tell you then?" Tony chimed in.
"Just tell me how you got together, Dad. I mean… what did you talk about on that date?"
"Everything. Once we had settled that nothing was off limits, it was a pretty normal every day conversation. It was comfy."
"And afterwards?"
"What do you mean afterwards?"
"Like when you were dropping Dad off."
"You sure you're ready to hear that?"
"Yeah."
"Okay," Tony said, holding up his hands in surrender. "Since you've asked."
*JT*
While the conversation had flowed easily all the way back towards his apartment, they had fallen silent when Gibbs parked his car in front of Tony's home. Tony quickly got out of the car, not exactly knowing whether or not he should ask Gibbs to come up with him. He wanted to offer him a cup of coffee but at the same time he knew that Abby was still up there, so it wouldn't exactly feel like the end of a date. On the other hand he didn't know if he did want to have it feel like the end of a date. He had enjoyed it immensely and he was sure that Gibbs had too, at least judging by the quantity of smiles he had directed towards him all evening.
Gibbs helped him out of his predicament when he came to a stop right next to him, hesitantly reaching out his left hand for Tony's. The younger man looked into his eyes for a second before he took Gibbs' outreached hand. They were standing there for a moment, facing each other and Tony suddenly felt his heart pick up pace. He felt heat rush to his cheeks and he realized that he was actually nervous about getting kissed for the first time since high school. It wasn't even the fact that it was Jethro or the fact that he was a guy. It was simply that Tony wanted the kiss to be great, wanted it to be the best one he would ever give. Suddenly it was so important to him that he nearly missed the moment when Gibbs leaned into him the tiniest of fractions.
When their lips met, it was like Tony had been completely unprepared. After all the hours he had thought about kissing the other man, had watched him talk and laugh, he had thought that he would know all there was about Jethro's lips. But he hadn't imagined how warm they would feel pressed up against his own. The caress of his lips was softer than Tony could have imagined and he opened his mouth with a low moan. It was when Tony finally kissed him back that the world fell away. It was slow and soft and comforting in ways that he hadn't thought possible. This was the cure to all his doubts about this, this was all he had needed to be convinced that this could work. Jethro's hand rested below his ear, his thumb caressing his cheek as their breaths mingled. Tony ran his fingers down Gibbs' spine, pulling him closer until there was no space left between them and he could feel Jethro's own rapid beating of his heart against his chest.
It was Jethro who pulled away first, resting his forehead against Tony's.
"This was good," was all that Tony could say, still breathing heavily.
"Yeah," Gibbs agreed as he finally let go of Tony completely. "I should go home."
"You could come up," Tony gestured towards the apartment complex behind them.
"Not in the mood for Abby, I'm afraid."
"Yeah," Tony nodded again, taking a deep breath to get himself together. "I hear you. Good night then."
"Good night," Gibbs grinned, pulling him closer and giving him a chaste kiss. "See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow," Tony echoed, then added, "this has been an awesome first date."
"Only took us fifteen years to get here."
*JT*
"Too gross?" Tony asked when Tali shook herself.
"No, but close," she smiled awkwardly.
"And that's really the story how we got together," Gibbs replied. "We went out on a lot of dates after that and half a year later the two of you moved in here."
"And now it's time for bed, Princess," Tony added. "It's already after ten."
"But I've got so many questions," Tali protested. "And you promised to watch your wedding video together."
"Tomorrow."
"Okay," Tali agreed grudgingly, gave both her dads a kiss on the cheek and then went to the bathroom.
"How come you told her the story anyway?" Gibbs asked as he snuggled into Tony.
"She asked," Tony gave him a smile.
"Huh," Gibbs just made. "Surprised that you stopped where you did."
"Well, she didn't want to hear the gory details, did she?"
"Yup," Gibbs laughed.
