Filler and tag for "Hometown Hero."

This one is a bit shorter and lighter intentionally. As I'm sure you've figured out, there is a long stretch of heavy angst to come after this.

"1966 Mustang"

He and Tony had been in the car for about 10 minutes so far, on their way to Webb's Nursery to pick up their suspect, Bruce Webb. So far, Tony had been his usual chattering self, but something was definitely off and his boss was relatively certain that he knew what that something was.

To this point, they'd discussed the weather, the NBA playoffs, and the new "Star Wars" movie, which he'd unwittingly learned was coming out in a couple of weeks. "Discussed" may have been a rather strong term. Tony discussed. Gibbs tried to concentrate on the road and fight down an ever-increasing itch to head slap his companion.

It wasn't that he minded Tony's chatter necessarily. He often enjoyed talking and/or listening to Tony, but that was when the conversation actually meant something to both of them. Not so much when the younger man was talking out of either sheer nervousness or an attempt to hide his real mood. Gibbs strongly suspected that the current string of almost stream-of-consciousness ramblings from his agent stemmed from the latter circumstance.

Tony was miffed. Not full-blown anger, mind you. Anger resulted in silence. Gibbs almost muttered a whispered "thank you" that he at least wasn't having to deal with a truly ticked-off DiNozzo. After being forced to work the entire weekend on this case, the Lead Agent was not certain he could've handled that with his usual grace. Which was admittedly minimal to begin with.

But there was no doubt that Tony was just the tiniest bit annoyed with him, and yet trying rather valiantly to hide it. There was probably also just a smidgen of hurt feelings mixed in there. In fact, the irritation with him probably stemmed from the perceived affront to his feelings. Sighing inwardly, the older man decided it was time to confront the issue head-on.

He cut off one of Tony's ramblings with, "You know, I do understand Tony."

The younger man had assumed he was doing a rather effective job of hiding his feelings, so he didn't immediately perceive the real meaning behind his boss' words. "You do? Never took you for a 'Star Wars' fan, Boss."

Gibbs couldn't hold back the eye roll or the exasperated huff of breath that accompanied it. "Do I strike you as a 'Star Wars' fan, DiNozzo? I was talking about your car."

There he was. The real Anthony DiNozzo decided to finally make his appearance. In a quick flash his face held a momentary anger, then disappointment. His posture stiffened, and in a soft, controlled tone he almost whispered, "I really don't want to talk about my car right now."

"That so? Cause you've spent most of the last few days talking about it."

"And you've spent most of the past few days dismissing me. I'm surprised you even remember my car was stolen." Tony regretted the heat behind the words almost immediately. He knew he was being just a little bit childish, but the combination of the loss of his car and the complete lack of sympathy from Gibbs had put him in a very bad mood.

Gibbs softened his tone. He'd suspected Tony's current state of mind had less to do with the car and more to do with his false perception that Gibbs didn't care. "Like I said, I do understand. I know you think I don't, but I like cars, too. Not just boats." A wave of nostalgia swept over him as he remembered the Dodge Challenger he'd once bought, but had never had the chance to restore, leaving it and his childhood behind to join the Marines.

"Could've fooled me," Tony grumbled.

Choosing to ignore his Senior Field Agent's under-the-breath remark, Gibbs continued. "I also understand that there's a time to take care of personal business, and it's not when we're in the middle of a case with such a tight deadline. Petty Officer Dobbs gave his life for his country and we owe it to him to find out the truth. And Nora Webb, Emmy Poole – they were too young to die. We owe them justice. That's more important than a car, DiNozzo."

Now Gibbs was adding insult to injury by making Tony feel about 3-inches tall. "I never said the car was more important. But when I work all week and then I end up working all weekend, too, and my only means of transportation gets stolen….you know I have to take care of this stuff sometime, Boss. If I hadn't talked to my insurance agent, I wouldn't have gotten a rental car. And then I couldn't get to work at all. And there's not a whole lot I can do for Petty Officer Dobbs sitting on my butt at home, can I?"

Well, crap. Somewhere in that tirade, DiNozzo had brought up a good point. Gibbs realized he probably had been a little bit harsh about Tony talking to the insurance agent. "Guess I can't argue with that. But it's over and there's nothing you can do about your car now. When the case is wrapped up, you're gonna have to just put it behind you and get another car. Until then, I need your head in this case 100%. You just became Senior Field Agent."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Tony asked, still obviously annoyed.

"Because people are watching you. The team, other agents. The Director. They wanna see how you're gonna handle this. And you're supposed to set an example. And they're watching me, too. The last thing I need to do is start treating you differently because we're…." That problem again. They were what? Friends? "Look, sometimes we spend time together outside of work and if I let you get away with stuff it could be taken the wrong way."

"Is that gonna be a problem now? Hanging out after work sometimes?" Tony asked nervously, his insecurity getting the better of him.

"No, Tony. My door's always open," his boss reassured. "But I can't play favorites on the clock. You knew the expectations were gonna be high when you became the Senior Field Agent. When we're working a case, I need your full concentration. No distractions."

They didn't have time to finish the conversation because they'd arrived at Webb's Nursery, leaving Gibbs to wonder if he'd gotten through to his agent, or if the younger man's lack of response meant that he was still upset with him.

They laughed at me. Knowing how much that car meant to him, they had all watched it be completely demolished before their eyes, and Kate's and Gibbs' reactions had been to laugh at him.

Kate wasn't a surprise. But Gibbs. That had really hurt.

Abby had at least pretended to feel sorry for him, even though he knew she didn't really get it either. But Abby had such a sweet nature that she couldn't stand to see anyone hurting, even when she didn't fully understand. So, she'd put her arms around him in a quick hug, before heading out of the office to try to enjoy what little was left of their weekend.

Left with only McGee as he sat in a sort of stunned stupor at his desk trying to process the fact that he would never, ever see his beloved Corvette again, he suddenly noticed the Probie was standing sort of hesitantly next to his desk.

Tim cleared his throat and nervously offered, "I really am sorry, Tony."

Remembering the younger agent's story from the previous day about the Camaro he'd crashed into a bus as a teenager, Tony responded, "I know you are, Probie. Thanks."

Not used to having a conversation with Agent DiNozzo that didn't involve himself being teased, hazed, or humiliated, McGee felt like he should say something else, but nothing appropriate was coming to mind. All he could come up with was a lame, "Guess we should go home. Tomorrow's Monday already."

Only half paying attention, Tony responded with a distracted, "Yeah."

But when Tim started to walk away, Tony asked almost without even thinking about it, "Hey, Probie, you wanna grab a quick drink on the way home?"

McGee was tired and dreading the prospect of beginning another full workweek the next day after having not had a break. About to decline, he remembered the look on Tony's face when he'd seen his car totaled on live television and something like sympathy took over. Besides, Tony had been there for him after Erin Kendall had been murdered. A quick beer wouldn't kill him.

"Sure, Tony."

Somewhere over that beer, Tim and Tony toasted to the two best classic cars any guy had ever had.

Once again, I did exactly the wrong thing.

Gibbs winced again after he remembered Tony's face after losing his car once and for all.

He didn't mean to make light of Tony's disappointment. He'd simply hoped the younger man had gotten over it and was ready to let it go. The chances of him ever getting that car back, particularly after it had been stolen and used to commit a crime, had always been slim-to-none. And why he would even want it back now was something he really didn't understand.

But laughing about it had most likely only reinforced Tony's belief that he didn't understand and didn't really care to.

Checking the time, he decided it wasn't too late just yet to make a phone call.

"Don't tell me I woke you up, Tobias."

"Hey, I'm not gettin' any younger, Jethro. And I don't have a boat in my basement to work on until the wee hours of the morning."

"Need a favor."

"I thought we decided we were even."

Gibbs grinned. "Not a work-related favor. A personal one."

"Well now you're really pushing it. You know, I said you were the closest thing to a friend I had. I didn't actually say you were one."

"But think about how mad it would make Diane to know we were buddies."

There was an amused pause. "What can I do for you, Jethro?"

"I've got this friend who's into classic cars. His last car just got totaled…"

There was a sharp whistle on the other line. "Well that sucks. Hope your friend's ok at least."

"He wasn't actually in the car. It was stolen."

"Even worse. But I'm not sure why you're calling me. You know as much about classic cars as I do."

"Yeah, but I'm not that good with internet stuff, and it's not something I want to ask anyone on my team to do."

"So you want me to check the internet for ads? Can't your friend do that himself?"

"Yeah. But I don't know if his heart's gonna be in it for a while and I kind of owe him."

"I guess you must if you're calling me for help. I'll see what I can do. You know, I'm surprised, Jethro."

"Why is that?"

"I always assumed you didn't have any friends either."

A few days later, Gibbs discreetly slipped a piece of paper under Tony's nose as his agent was sitting at his desk catching up on some paperwork.

"What's this, Boss?"

"It's an ad, DiNozzo. What does it look like?" the older man asked impatiently.

Taking a closer look, Tony replied in a slightly awed tone, "It's an ad for a 1966 Mustang. Sweeeet. But you don't exactly surf the internet. Where did you get this?"

"I had help. Does it matter?"

The younger man frowned in confusion. "You asked someone to help you look for cars on the internet for me?"

Slightly embarrassed, the Lead Agent quickly said, "Yeah, DiNozzo. But if you want it, you better call about it soon."

"But, Boss, this is work time," Tony challenged.

"Well, we're not in the middle of a case. Just…go to the break room or something. Don't let anybody catch you," Gibbs said in a hushed tone.

A broad smile crept across his Senior Field Agent's face as he abruptly snatched up the piece of paper and hurried towards the employee break room, already taking out his phone to dial.

And it wasn't long before Tony DiNozzo had found the new love of his life.

I don't usually make notes at the end, but wanted to explain my plan for the next few episodes. I think I am going to combine "SWAK" and "Twilight" into a single multi-chaptered story instead of separating them because to me the two episodes are very much connected. It will begin just before "SWAK" and end with the moments immediately following the last scene of "Twilight." Then, that will be the end of "Season 2," but I will begin a brand new story for "Season 3," while will likely start with another multi-chaptered story encompassing "Kill Ari, Parts I & II."

It may be a few days before I have the first part up – definitely don't want to rush through the next few, as they are so very important.