Shattered
Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything
Summary: Twilight left them shattered. When Ari is killed 6 months later, the team learns surprising news, but will those news come soon enough to keep one of them from breaking?
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7- A Story Told
Tony stared at Gibbs, unable to speak. He had expected almost any reaction, but certainly not this. Those blue eyes that had seemed dull and sad for many weeks suddenly sparkled again. It was a sight Tony had almost lost hope to see ever again. He bit his lip to keep his emotions at bay. Everyone knew him as a womanizer, always a megawatt smile on his face, but only few knew how much he valued his friends and colleagues.
Ducky felt his eyes widening and a wide grin spread over his face. "Jethro! How dare you make us worry so much about you!" He exclaimed and seemed very relieved. His eyes darkened a bit again when he noted the sorrow in his friend´s eyes. "You do miss Caitlin, don´t you, Jethro?" He asked and saw even more pain creep back into those ice blue eyes. For a moment he was scared that he could fall back into that passive behavior he had shown for the last months.
Gibbs sighed andput his head into his hands. He knew that he could not fool them anymore. The trip to his house, Kate´s picture and the sound of her namehad broken down the wall he had put up to protect him from his feelings."Of course I miss her." He admitted and felt a single tear rolling down his face. He fought to keep the remaining walls up around his heart, but it was getting harder every second. He didn´t notice how Tony slipped out of the door a moment later. "You know how I felt about Kate, Duck. You know I never dared to tell her. You have no idea how I felt when she died in my arms." Gibbs said, his voice soft. That was something nobody had ever heard from him before. "I thought being at 7 West would help to forget all of that, but everyone still tried to remind me of those things."
Ducky smiled a bit, but he also started to understand. "Jethro, you have friends who care about you deeply. Anthony and Timothy have been troubled since you were brought to Bethesda and Abby has been devastated. I know how you felt for Caitlin –and I know that you always will. Will you listen to me when I tell you a story?" He then asked and saw Gibbs looking up, frowning slightly.
"Duck, not another one of your stories..." He tried, but somehow the look in Mallard´s eyes made him wonder what it would be about. "All right, go ahead." He finally said and waited for the things to come. He slowly managed to get his emotions back under control and maybe listening to one of Ducky´s stories would give him enough time to figure out what to do next.
"Ari has been set up several times before they finally got him recently. Most set ups have been so good that even people from the agencies had no idea what was going on." Ducky started and paced the room a bit. He knew exactly what Tony was going to do, but he had to buy some time for him. "We were told about some of the things they tried to catch him now that it´s finally over. Commander Witten didn´t want us to address this topic in front of you yet, you surely played your role well there."
Gibbs smirked a bit. "He might have a degree in psychology, but he has no idea what makes people tick." He said and brushed his hand through his hair. "Where did Tony go? Is he having a date again? Believe me, it´s not easy to keep a straight face when he keeps bragging about women all the time. I think I know more about his private life than I like."
Ducky chuckled. "Yes, I do believe you there." He replied and walked to the door, trying to listen for steps in the hallway without Gibbs noticing too much. "Director Morrow called Tony on Sunday, telling him that Ari has been killed. He told him about people being brought back from protective custody now." He stopped as he heard steps approaching the door. "I shall go and get us some coffee."
Ducky walked to the door and left the room. Gibbs got up and put his head against the cool glass of the window. On one hand he felt much better now after talking about some of the things that had really haunted him for the last months, on the other hand he knew that he would not be able to hide here any longer. From outside the door he heard voices and someone mentioning his name. Curious, he approached the door, but then saw it moving. He stepped back and waited.
The bright lights from the hallway blinded him for a few seconds and he just saw a shadow in the doorframe. He blinked and noticed how familiar this shadow looked, but he knew that his mind was surely playing him a trick. "Gibbs?" A soft voice asked carefully and he felt his heart skip several beats.