Author's notes: Hey everyone, I am sorry I didn't post in the last two weeks, but I was watching the Olympic games and that pretty much took up all my free time besides writing my bachelor thesis. This chapter is a bit longer than the others, so I hope you can forgive me.
Please enjoy and let me know what you think :D
Chapter eleven
When Gibbs arrived at work the next morning, he hadn't been able to shake off the happy feeling inside of him. He found himself smiling at random times throughout the day and he knew that his team was freaked out by this.
He had arrived at his normal hour, with his coffee in hand but the smile gracing his lips must have been a giveaway that something out of the ordinary had happened over the weekend and that made people curious, especially if you worked for an agency like NCIS. The people there truly were gossiper and Gibbs often wondered when they had the time to gossip about everything and everyone. But then even his team found the time and he always made sure they had at least something to work on.
Every now and then someone sent him a curious glance or people walked by to get a glimpse of the unusual sight of Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs smiling.
Normally Jethro would have been annoyed by that but today was not normal and he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed or angry because he felt happy. He felt good and light and as if he had to share this feeling with the whole world.
When Kate and McGee arrived an hour later it was already all around the office that Jethro Gibbs seemed to be in a good mood today and that everyone hoped that whatever or whoever put him in that mood would be there a long time, because maybe Gibbs would be easier to work with then. Kate and McGee didn't believe the security guard when he told them that their Boss came in smiling today and that they should make the most of that.
When they arrived at their part of the bullpen they were greeted by Gibbs, he was not smiling right now but there was something different about him, they just couldn't exactly pin it down.
Jethro greeted his two agents and asked how their weekend was and he could see that they were baffled by his unusual behavior. Kate looked at him as if he had grown a second head and McGee couldn't stop staring at him with an open mouth. Gibbs just looked at both of them, suppressing a chuckle but at the same time taking note that he couldn't send the two of them undercover if that was how they behaved when just one little thing changed and didn't go according to how they expected it to go.
He looked at McGee, who was still staring at him with an open mouth and asked him if he had something on his face.
It didn't snap McGee out of his trance but helped to get Kate to realize that she was staring. Kate blushed a bit and answered his previously asked question.
"Yes, Gibbs, as a matter of fact, I had a very relaxing weekend. It was very nice of the director to give us two more days off."
Gibbs nodded at that and looked at McGee to see if the kid had recovered yet. McGee had closed his mouth when Kate started speaking but it seemed as if he still wasn't fully able to comprehend the fact that his normally strict boss was smiling and asking them how their weekend was. He just mumbled something about having played video games and reading a book and went to sit down behind his desk.
Jethro had to hide his smirk. He loved messing with his team and seeing as his good mood didn't seem to disappear anytime soon, he could as well use it to keep his team and the office in general on their toes. It seemed as if everyone was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for him to become a bastard again. The fact that no one had yet to question where his good mood came from, again showed him that neither of his two agents was ready to be his senior field agent. He was snapped out of his thought by the ringing of his cell phone.
"Yes, Gibbs.", he listened to the speaker on the other end and then snapped his phone shut.
"Grab your gear, we got a dead body. McGee gas the truck, Kate get Ducky."
His team scrambled to do as he ordered and satisfied Gibbs went in the direction of the elevator.
While they were driving to the crime scene it suddenly started raining. Gibbs was driving, much to the dismay of Kate and McGee, and he put his foot down and drove just a little faster. They had to work quickly now to save as much evidence as they could. The rain could easily wash away some important evidence, like a shoe print or similar things that would help them to solve this case. Jethro just hoped they'd get there before everything was gone or destroyed. It was always more difficult when the crime scene wasn't in its original state.
When they arrived at the scene Gibbs ordered Kate and McGee to bag and tag everything that seemed important, every single item that could help them solve the case. He took the camera and sketch book to make sure they captured the state of the crime scene and the body.
It turned out the rain wasn't the only problem they would have with this case. When Gibbs went up to Ducky to take some pictures of the body and ask Ducky about the time and cause of death, he noticed that Ducky was not with the body but seemed to be talking to one of the local LEOs angrily.
"What's the matter, Duck?", Gibbs asked.
"Ah, Jethro, would you mind telling this incompetent fool how to deal with a body and a crime scene in general, because it seemed as if he forgot all his basic training!", Ducky stated angrily and then turned back to the young man standing in front of him, looking confused but also angry to be called an idiot, "You see this young man has decided that it was his job to decide when it was okay to move the body and who was allowed to touch it!" 'Oh boy, that was never good. Everyone should know that you weren't supposed to move a body without the permission of the medical examiner.', Gibbs thought to himself and stared at the young LEO. He seemed fresh out of the academy and by the slightly green color his face had taken wasn't used to seeing bodies, especially not one as bad as this one. The body looked as if it had been in the water of the lake behind Ducky for quite some time and that was never a nice sight.
"What's the damage Duck?", Gibbs asked, "How much did he move the body?"
"Well, as you can see, this man had unfortunately been in the lake for quite some time.", he gestured to the lake behind him, "why he came to the surface and why he ended up here, I cannot say. But I don't know where exactly he ended up and in what condition because this idiot moved the body instead of waiting for me to release it. But no, this young man has decided to take matters into his own hands and proceeded to carry him onto dry land."
Gibbs sighed and then wondered what they were teaching the cops at the academy these days.
"I guess you didn't think to take some pictures of the body the way he was found right? How did you know to call NCIS?", he asked the LEO, he couldn't see any sign that the dead guy was navy.
The kid looked at him a bit scared but also very confused as if he didn't know why the doctor made such a big deal out of nothing and why everyone was thinking he couldn't do his job.
"Well, no Sir I didn't take any pictures of the body in the water, I only wanted to get him to dry land so that he wouldn't get any wetter, seeing as evidence shouldn't be in water that long, right? And well he had these around his neck, so we knew we had to call you."
Gibbs stared at the kid. He then turned to look at Ducky and they exchanged a look of disbelief.
"So let me get this straight, young man, not only did you move the body, didn't take any pictures from the way he was originally found and then you searched him, without permission I might add, found dog tags around his neck and then just stuffed them in your jeans pockets?", Gibbs had never heard Ducky speak this calmly and silently and he was very glad that it wasn't him that Ducky was this angry with. He couldn't believe it. Seriously where the fuck had this guy learned how to process a crime scene. The only good thing Gibbs could make out in this whole mess was that at least the kid was wearing gloves.
"Kate!", Gibbs shouted and waited till Kate was in front of him. "Bag and tag these dog tags and make sure that you have all the contact information from the LEO. And make sure that he knows that this will have consequences!"
Kate nodded and took the cop by his arm to get him away from an angry Ducky and her boss, who suddenly didn't look so happy and friendly anymore. 'Well, there goes the new happy Gibbs', she thought sadly and mourned the fact that it hadn't taken a little while longer to get bastard-Gibbs back.
Gibbs looked at Ducky and when he was sure that he was a bit calmer he asked him about the body.
"So, Duck, is there anything you can tell me?" Ducky just shook his head and told him that it was possible that the man had drowned but he wouldn't know for sure till after the autopsy and that they would need to make a DNA-comparison to make sure that the guy was indeed a marine.
When they finally were back at headquarters Gibbs good mood had vanished. They were soaking wet because it hadn't stopped raining and Kate and McGee hadn't found any evidence that looked helpful to their case.
Gibbs just hoped that Abby would be able to find anything, and that Ducky could at least identify the body.
He would be disappointed though. Abby couldn't tell him anything because she had to wait till all the evidence McGee and Kate had brought back was dry before she could start her examination.
Same with Ducky but he had been able to make a dental impression for the comparison to Petty Officer Allens, who the dog tags belonged to.
"Abigail is doing that right now and we soon will know who the poor man here really is. But before I can start with the autopsy, I have to wait till the body is dry and that might take a while. You have to be patient my dear Jethro."
Gibbs hated waiting and so he went up to Abby's lab again and see if she had news yet. She did. As soon as he was in her lab, she told him that Petty Officer Allens dental records didn't match the ones from the body lying in autopsy. So now they had a bunch of wet evidence, a body who had been in the water far too long to make it possible to really say how long he had been dead and no name to the dead man. Gibbs groaned this was bad, he hated cases like that.
He was just on his way out of the lab to see what his team had been able to get together when Abby's voice stopped him.
"So, mister, do you want to tell me what made you so happy this morning? I heard you were smiling when you came in and even asked Kate and McGee how their weekend was! That's very unusual and though you are always smiling at me and asking me how I am, you never do that with Kate or McGee. So, tell me did you meet someone over the weekend? You did, didn't you? You got laid, didn't you Gibbs? Way to go Bossman!", all these questions came out of her without her needing to take a single breath and Gibbs wondered how she was able to talk this much, this fast. She didn't give him an opportunity to get a word in though, when she started again.
"So, Gibbs, tell me about her, please! Where did you two meet? What is she like? Is she a red head? Of course, she is, silly me. What does she like? Is this like a serious thing or just casual hook-up? How long have you known her? Tell me Gibbs, please, PLEASE!"
At that point Gibbs couldn't decide if he should be angry or amused by her line of questioning. He couldn't believe that the only thing that she could come up with that would put him into a good mood was that he had had sex over the weekend or the fact that it had to be a red headed woman. On the other hand, he could see how she would think that and the fact that she had it so completely wrong just made him want to laugh.
"Abby…ABBY! Calm down. I didn't meet a woman over the weekend and if I did it isn't your concern, alright?", he wouldn't answer the question about getting laid because that made him think about Tony and how he looked on that yacht without any shirt on. He could still see the golden skin before his eyes, and he longed to touch and taste. That made him think that he had to find Tony again and maybe treat him to a cup of coffee and see if they were compatible.
Abby's voice brought him out of his thoughts.
"But Gibbs.", she whined, "Everyone was talking about how happy you seemed, and I just want to know what it was that made you this happy. Because you were grumpy all day and I just want you to know that you deserve to be happy and I want you to keep doing whatever you did to make you happy, even if it isn't a red head!", she rambled on and smirked at him at the last bit, and Jethro softened a bit at that and rolled his eyes.
"I understand Abby, but it isn't really in my power right now, but I can tell you that I feel pretty good right now, but I would feel even better if you could give me something on our new case."
Abby had to smile at that, that was Gibbs through and through, the case always came first.
"I got it Gibbs, no more talking about that mystery that made you so happy! And you'll be the first to know when I find something, I promise!"
Gibbs finally left the lab and went upstairs to see what his team had been able to dig up. It turned out they didn't find anything useful. McGee had contacted the CO of Petty Officer Allens who told him the petty officer was on leave till Wednesday. McGee had made an appointment to speak to the CO and Allens' shipmates tomorrow to see if anyone knew how his dog tags ended up on a dead man and if any of them had an idea where Allens was because it seemed as if he had gone completely off the grid.
Kate had called the security firm that was responsible for the security in the area where the body was found but was told that the only way she would be able to get the security feed was to either come in person to get a copy of the feed or get a warrant to get them to send them over per email. Kate knew that no judge would sign off on the warrant and so she had agreed to come there tomorrow first thing in the morning.
Gibbs was not particularly pleased with that, but he also knew there was nothing either of his agents could do. That left them with nothing but time though. Time, they didn't have, at least in Gibbs' opinion because every second a murderer was walking around free was a second too much.
But even he could see that there was nothing to be done about all that. He really hated to waste time but even he couldn't speed up the time it took Abby and Ducky to get results.
So, he told his team to go over everything they knew so far again to see if they could find anything new or come up with any theories what could have happened. When that didn't really help their case, Gibbs send them home to start the next day bright and early.
Jethro was in his car, driving home, when he realized that he was quite hungry and decided to stop at the diner to have dinner. He went into the diner and just as he was about to sit down, Elaine came up to him and told him he should go sit down in one of the booths in the back. Jethro was curious about her reason, she had never told him where to sit before, and so he agreed to do as she said. When he was near enough, he realized why Elaine had wanted him to sit here. The booth was already occupied by none other than Tony. Jethro looked at him a moment and took notice that he looked even better up-close. He decided that this was his chance to get to know the guy and he would take it, he had been thinking about such an opportunity nearly all day yesterday and today, after all.
"Excuse me, is this seat taken?", he asked and was pleased when Tony nearly jumped out of his seat at the sound of his voice. He had a love for sneaking up on people and liked to see that it worked on different people outside of his team as well. Tony had been in deep thought it seemed and had been startled quite badly. Although Jethro noticed that the slightly confused expression on Tony's face changed into one of intrigue. He wondered about that for a moment but pushed the thought back for later examination.
"Eh… no, no this is free, ehm… feel free to sit down here.", Tony answered, and blushed, which Jethro found adorable.
He briefly considered sitting down besides the other man but quickly dismissed that thought. He didn't want to frighten the guy after all and he had a feeling that if he pushed too hard too fast, Tony would run and that definitely wasn't what Gibbs wanted.
Elaine came over and asked what she could bring the two of them and Jethro ordered a burger and French fries, and Tony ordered the same.
While they waited Jethro looked at Tony and took in his beautiful green eyes and the small mouth and the way his cheeks had blushed. He wouldn't mind kissing those lips and caressing Tony's face. His hair looked so soft, and Gibbs yearned to touch it and go through it with his fingers. 'No', he chided himself, 'he should stop thinking these thoughts while near Tony, he didn't know the guy yet and he was here to see if there could be something between the two of them.' With that in mind he focused on Tony again and vowed to get to know him today, when life handed him such an opportunity, he should take it after all.
And he realized that Tony was still too shocked by his sudden appearance that he had to start the conversation himself if he wanted to get to know the man.
"I noticed you were here last week too, are you new in town?", he asked to break the silence that had settled between them.
"Oh yes, I just moved here last week, and I found this little place to be quite enjoyable, it's just the right amount of quiet and the opportunity to meet people, you know?", Tony answered, and it seemed as if he had been able to get over whatever had shocked him when Gibbs had first spoken to him. Jethro of course hoped that Tony felt the attraction between them too and that was why he had been blushing and stumbling over words.
"Yeah, that is mostly why I come here as well, of course the food is great too, and that's gotta count for something.", he spoke with a slight wink at Tony as Elaine walked by.
That got a laugh out of Tony, and he wholeheartedly agreed with Gibbs on that.
"So, what are you doing here, why did you move to D.C.?", Gibbs wanted to know.
"Ah, I got accepted into the police academy and I just had my first day today. I always wanted to become a cop, you know, and today I got a little bit closer to that dream.", Tony told him and from the way he talked enthusiastically about the academy, Jethro sensed that Tony had been dreaming of becoming a cop for quite some time.
"Oh, I do some police work as well, it's always good to have a young man like you taking an interest into law enforcement. I'm Jethro by the way."
Gibbs noticed the way Tony's eyes opened in surprise; he just wasn't sure why. He had deliberately been very vague in his job description because he wanted Tony to be open to him and not be intimidated by the fact that he was a federal agent.
"Jethro? That's an interesting name! I am Tony. But how cool is it that you are a cop too. That's awesome. I just had my first day and it was amazing. So interesting, I honestly can't wait to do all the courses we are require to do. I think there are so many interesting things that they are gonna teach us, you know? I really hope it's not boring. College was boring sometimes, even if it sounded interesting, the professors always managed to make it less interesting by those boring lectures. Not all of them of course but well. most of them. I really look forward to the investigative procedures. I want to become a detective one day. The fastest the better. I want to solve crimes and help the people get closure, that's what I really want to do."
Gibbs listened to Tony rambling on about how he looked forward to all his classes and how he wanted to do the best he could do and be the best graduate there had been and how he was so looking forward to being an officer of the law.
He thought back to the LEO they had met at the crime scene and wondered why that guy had become an officer. He clearly didn't take his job seriously and Jethro couldn't help but think that Tony would do an amazing job even if he hadn't been trained yet.
"I think you will make a fine detective from the way you talk about it. I know a few people in law enforcement and well maybe if your grades are good, I could speak to some of them and recommend you.", Jethro told Tony and was pleased when he noticed that Tony's eyes got big again. Jethro fully planned on taking advantage of Tony if he was good in the academy because he could tell that he had a brilliant mind and he could be a valuable asset to his team, maybe even his senior field agent. He was going to keep taps on Tony and then recommend him to Tom Morrow to make sure that NCIS got the young man and not any other agency or police department. He smiled at Tony when Tony promised him, he would do everything to the best of his abilities and that he wouldn't disappoint him.
Tony's rambling was interrupted by Elaine brining their food. She was smiling at the both of them with that annoying knowing look in her eyes and when she sat Gibbs' food on the table, she winked at him. Jethro just rolled his eyes and decided to ignore her again.
When Tony didn't start to talk again, Jethro looked at him and noticed the way he was devouring his food. He chuckled which earned him a curious eyebrow from Tony.
"I just thought you must have been really hungry if you can't even stop to chew your food. You know it actually tastes better when you don't just chuck it down your throat?", he answered the unasked question with a smile.
Tony let out a chuckle at that but took his advice and ate a bit slower, even if barely.
During dinner they didn't talk much, both of them too hungry to really talk. After they had finished and decided to pay, Gibbs beat Tony to it as Elaine asked them if they were going to pay separately or together. Gibbs could see that Tony was not pleased with him paying for his dinner too, but he just looked him in the eye that he had greatly enjoyed the dinner and he would like to do that again, if Tony wanted to as well of course. Tony had smiled at him and agreed. He had given Gibbs his cell phone number and when Gibbs had programmed it into his flip phone, laughed again, and told him that he liked his style. He then blushed a bit again, which was very hard for Gibbs to ignore and not to just kiss Tony and see how the deep the blush would go.
Gibbs offered Tony a ride, but Tony refused, stating that he would walk home, seeing as he had taken a cap to the diner. He enjoyed the evening walks and used them to clear his head. Jethro understood and bade Tony good night and told him that he would call him when he was free the next time.
Tony had smiled at him again at that and told him that he was very much looking forward to it, because he too had enjoyed their dinner immensely.
When Gibbs arrived back home, he felt very good again and the stress of the day was nearly forgotten. He thought back on yesterday evening when he had felt happy as well and thought about the vow he had made to himself.
He realized that he was ready to get the old piano out and see if he could still play.
With that thought he went inside and when he stood in front of Kelly's bedroom door, he hesitated for just a brief moment before he went inside.
He hadn't been in here in quite some time now and he realized he should probably dust everything off sometimes. While he looked around the room, the memories were still painful, but Jethro also felt the happiness of his little girl and the many happy moments he had had with his daughter. He felt a warm wind blowing across his body and realized that it was Kelly who was happy and warm and approved of him being here and the changes he felt were about to come.
He went over to the piano and dusted it off a bit and then was very glad that he had installed wheels under it, so that it was possible for him to push it out of the room and then in the living room.
He sat down in front of the piano, and it took a few tries before he was confident enough to start playing a piece he had played with Kelly all the time. It was burned into his memory like none other and he would probably never forget it. He couldn't remember what it was called but he could still play it.
He soon realized how much he had actually missed playing the piano and relaxed into the music.
He didn't realize when it got dark outside, didn't notice that his neighbor didn't play today and only stopped playing when he was tired and decided that it was time to go to bed.
He didn't even notice the man who had left a small note on his front door and would only discover it the next morning.