( Washington D.C)

Tony and Gibbs had truly spent the morning and afternoon being completely lazy. DiNozzo was completely surprised with Gibbs, He'd expected keeping the man rested would be like pulling teeth. Minus the incident in the basement and trips to the bathroom. He'd spent the time in bed and apparently so did Tony. If he had to admit it the bossman was comfortable. Although his sheets were cheap and probably from Sears maybe even Target. Tony on the other hand was familiar with the importance of thread count.

Tony could feel his stomach announcing it's need for food. It was getting pretty late and he'd basically spent the last few days munching on bagels, sandwiches or drinking soup. Pushing himself off the bed and stretching out his back. He let Gibbs know he was headed for the kitchen to put some fixings on dinner. Suddenly thankful for Fornell stocking up Gibbs' pantry.

" What ya making, DiNozzo?"

" Hows about Spaghetti?"

Gibbs normally didn't eat spaghetti often. But today he was really in the mood for it.

" Sounds good"

" I'll have to tone the sauce down, I doubt your stomach could tolerate my regular right now"

" Make the sauce however, I'll just put ketchup on mine"

Tony pulled a disgusted face at the mere thought of Ketchup and Spaghetti. He was convinced their was some form of culinary crime involved in that mixture.

" Ugh…you sure Boss?"

Smack

" Ketchup and Spaghetti it is"

" Wanna keep me company while I'm down their?"

Gibbs was almost out of the room by the end of Tony's question. He'd spent what seemed like a gazillion years in bed. It wasn't so bad but he was used to a more active form of living. Down in the kitchen Tony began pulling out the things he'd need. While Gibbs made himself comfortable at the kitchen table with a word find he'd started a few days earlier.

Not to long after Gibbs was handed a steaming bowl of noodles and the bottle of ketchup. Tony fetched his own bowl from the kitchen and watched with fascination as Gibbs added ketchup to his noodles. He took a bite and gave a content sigh at it's taste.

They ate their food in a comfortable silence until Tony just couldn't take it anymore.

" Gibbs how do you eat that? I mean it's ketchup and noodles. That's just not normal."

Jethro continued to work on his pasta and thinking of his answer. He'd always had his spaghetti made with ketchup as a child. The Gibbs family would eat it every Thursday night. It was probably one of his favourite dinners as a boy. Looking back on things, the ketchup probably meant they couldn't afford regular meat and spaghetti sauce..

" That's just how I grew up eating spaghetti Tony"

" Oh and here, Fornell said Emily sent this for you" and he gave the small child sized juice over to Gibbs.

Gibbs and Tony were comfortably lounging on the couch not to long after. Tony resumed reading the book he'd started while Gibbs' nursed his box of juice and continued with his word find. Each man spent some time in their own little worlds oblivious to the next man. Until Tony started to talk, the senior field agent wanted to see if he could find out some more about little Gibbs.

" Hey Jet"

" Tony"

" What cartoons did you watch"

" I didn't, we didn't have TV"

Looking at Tony, Gibbs was sure the younger man would probably die from some form of shock. He'd even got that in the Corps. Was it really that unnatural growing up sans television?

" Then what did you do on rainy days and stuff"

" Played with the buildings logs Uncle L.J built for me. They were like Lincoln logs but better. Nobody with real log homes had green roofs!"

" I used to listen to the Penguins games on the radio."

" Lincoln Logs, Boss…you were a hick child!"

" Tony I lived in the sticks, what'd you expect?"

" Nothing Gibbs, Nothing"

" Hockey?"

" Yeah, always enjoyed hockey, even played in the adult league a few years. Dad liked the Penguins. I'm a Flyers man myself"

Tony filed that little tidbit of information about the Flyers away. DiNozzo could see Gibbs and Booth getting along being " Flyers Men". Gibbs just might be his ticket out that annual trip to see the Flyers play on home ice with Booth.

" I'd ask you what cartoons you watched, DiNozzo but I wouldn't have a damn clue what they were."

Tony had a good laugh because Jethro couldn't be more right. The man wouldn't have a clue. In fact the guy hardly knew current TV shows and if he grew up with out a TV then past shows were a lost cause. The night was drawing to a close and both men headed for the bedroom.

Gibbs flopped into the bed like an exhausted teenage kid much to DiNozzo's amusement. While Tony made a detour for a quick shower. He checked his reflection on his way out and ignored his unshaved face and left it for another time. The covers on his side of the bed had been turned down for him by the other man. Since when had it become his side of the bed. He'd have to look into that another time. However Gibbs wasn't in the room. Which wasn't all that surprising maybe Gibbs just needed the head.

A few moments later Tony couldn't help the smile when one Leroy Jethro Gibbs came into the room with a cup of a warm milk and four Oreo cookies. He looked every bit the five year old. Gibbs sat his cup on the end table to get in bed. Once he was comfortable he gave Tony half the Oreo cookies then grabbed his milk off the table and dunked one of his cookies in and offered Tony a dunk.

Gibbs hadn't shared his Oreos since Shannon. He hadn't shared cookies in bed with anyone other then his girls. He'd never shared cookies with his three exes nor his flings with Jenny or Hollis. Kelly thought Oreos were yucky, so instead his little girl would share her Chips Ahoy chocolate ship cookies with him before bed. But here he was in bed with his senior field agent sharing his Oreos and it just felt comfortable.

When they were both done their cookies Jet downed the last of the milk and slid the cup under his bed. He'd knocked plenty mugs off his end table during rushes to work. Putting them out of the way had become habit. He found his way over to his new body pillow named Tony and made himself comfortable. Gave him a loud kiss on the ear and gave him a cheeky grin before snuggling into the crook of his neck. Tony just rolled his eyes and kissed the silky silver strands on Jet's head and settled in to sleep. It felt like a good night to Jet and maybe the dreams would stay away and he soon found himself sleeping away.

(New York)

It was 3:30 AM and Stella found herself roused from her rather peaceful sleep by Mac's incoherent mumbling. She tried elbowing him to get her point across and came up with nothing. She whispered his name rather loudly and still his non stop mumbling continued on.

Stella turned on the light and looked over at Mac. She couldn't make sense of his mumbles but his body language spoke volumes. His fists were clenching and unclenching while his face wasn't at all peaceful. He just looked tortured , she called his name louder and shook him a few times. It didn't seem to be working because he just continued to mumble. Finally she resorted to parenting 101 for getting attention..the use of ones full name.

" McKenna Boyd Taylor"

That seemed to do the trick when mac sat up in bed. He began gulping for air in a bit of a panicked rush. He was jerkily feeling around for the top drawer for his inhaler. Stella jumped into action and was thrusting the item into his hands. Inhaler in hand auto function took over to get his breathing under control. Seeing Mac fight for just that bit, to feed his oxygen starved lungs brought tears to her eyes. She started to rub his upper back in soothing circles.

A few minuets later Mac became aware of the gentle massaging hands on his back. Once his breathing was normal he turned around on the bed to face Stella. She really looked shaken by what just happened and he took her into his arms and brushed a few stray curls from her face and kissed her fore head.

" Thanks Stella"

" Honey, are you sure your alright"

" Yeah, can't run a marathon just yet but I'm good"

He received a small smile for his efforts.

" Your not coming down with something are you?"

" I'm fine Stell, just some memories from my days in the Corps deciding to pay a visit"

" Want to talk about?"

" Not right now, Right now there is a certain long legged, Greek women with curly hair. If I recalled this correctly I was snuggled up to. I'd like her back right about now."

" Alright Taylor "

" Thank you Miss. Bonasera"

Stella settled herself comfortably, throwing a leg over her hips Mac got himself comfortable and snuggled up. Then reached down under the covers and jammed his hand between his legs and fiddle around before brining it back up. Stella a cocked her head at that and had to ask.

" What was that all about?"

" BSTL"

" I beg your pardon"

" Balls Stuck To Leg. It's really annoying and I had to get them unstuck"

Stella just chuckled until Mac told her to grow a pair for a day and she'd see just how annoying it could be. Then she just started to laugh, living with Mac would definitely be interesting. She reached over and turned the lamp off. They were both asleep once more a few moments later.