Love, Hard Drives and Basements

What we have is more than enough...

-Ordinary World, Green Day

I know the scene with Gibbs may be a bit OOC, but I really wanted to explore different relationships between the characters in this story so that's why! I hope you enjoy!

I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It's fun to work on Tony and McGee's relationship.

It was a Monday morning in the office and paperwork was the main task of the day. Due to Gibbs giving them the Friday off, none of the paperwork had been done, which left today for it to be completed. The bullpen was in a comfortable silence; the low hum of monitors and mumbles of other agents in the rest of the office. It had just turned 12:30 which meant it was lunchtime. Ziva had joined Abby in her lab, leaving Tony and McGee together.

"Wanna grab lunch, McGoo?" Tony swivelled in his chair to face Tim.

"Sure." McGee turned his computer off and headed to the lift with DiNozzo.

They'd decided to go a café close to the Navy Yard which was a regular for most of the NCIS workers. It was called 'The Anchor' and was dominated by Federal Agents, with only a few non-agency people who went there.

"I'll pay for lunch, what do you want?" McGee offered.

"I invited you out for lunch, I'll get it." DiNozzo started to grab his wallet from his pocket, until McGee stopped him.

"I insist." McGee smiled.

"Thanks, McGee. I'll just have a grilled cheese please."

"What drink?" McGee enquired. DiNozzo patted his stomach.

"Coke, and make it diet!" He grinned as McGee went and ordered and he found a table, stopping to greet a lot of the agents he knew here. McGee did the same as he made his way over to Tony. He placed the drinks down on the table and put the order number in its stand.

"Remember that night you came round to my apartment when the whole argument thing was happening?" McGee remembered very fondly, because it was the night that Tony had opened up to him and he'd felt honoured by it.

"Yeah, of course."

"You know how I said I thought I loved Ziva..." Tony trailed off, waiting for McGee to prompt him to continue.

"How could I forget that?" McGee chuckled.

"Well, now I know that I love her." DiNozzo decided it felt strange but good to say that out loud.

"That's great!" McGee's heart warmed at the fact Tony was opening up like this to him again.

"Yeah, but I don't know how to tell her. What if she doesn't feel the same? What if she gets scared? Oh my god, what if she breaks up with me?" McGee saw Tony's eyes turn to panic as he tried to register all the questions that he'd just asked.

"Tony! Calm down. You're thinking way too much into this." McGee attempted to be the voice of reason.

"How can I not think about it? It's a BIG deal, McGee!" Tony placed a hand on his chest as his breathing started to speed up.

"Look, you need to relax. Right now." McGee placed his hand on Tony's shoulder. "Look at me." Tony ignored him and carried on freaking out. "Tony! I said look at me!" He finally looked up to McGee.

"You need to listen to me right now. Take a few breaths, and relax! You can do this! You've got this far with Ziva, and look back to everything that's happened up until now. This is nothing compared to all the barriers you've faced so far. They're three little words, and I understand they hold a lot of meaning and seriousness but you can do it. I'm sure she feels the same, and she might not but it doesn't mean that she won't ever feel that way. " McGee noticed Tony's breathing had calmed down.

"You're right. Thanks, McGee. I don't know what I'd do without your help." He nodded and smiled at Tim. Their food arrived shortly after and they spent the rest of their dinner talking about Ziva and Abby.

Once again, the rest of the day was spent doing paperwork. To everyone's surprise, Tony had stayed despite Gibbs saying they could all go home. Ziva and Abby had made plans to hang out at McGee's while he did some computer related stuff.

About half and hour after everyone had left, Tony filed his last report and headed to Best Buy to get McGee a present to thank him for all his help recently. Tony had overheard a conversation Tim had been having with Abby about a new hard drive he'd wanted, so he decided he'd treat him.

A twenty minute drive later, and Tony had arrived at Best Buy and was greeted by an employee.

"Good evening, Sir. Can I help you at all?" The worker smiled eagerly.

"Yeah, you can actually. I need a hard drive, but a specific make." DiNozzo praised himself for actually listening to all the details about the hard drive McGee wanted, even if it made no sense and bored him.

"What would that make be, Sir?" They started walking further into the store.

"If I was listening properly, I think the brand was Seagate? Is that a real thing?" DiNozzo chuckled, feeling stupid.

"Yes, Sir." The employee chuckled too. "They're just over here." He gestured over to the accessories aisle. "Do you know what size?"

"Now, that's one part I can remember." DiNozzo laughed again. "5 terabytes." The worker walked over to the section full of different types of hard drives and picked up the one Tony wanted.

"Here you go." He handed it to Tony, who sighed in relief.

"Thanks for the help!" Tony headed over to the checkouts and paid for the item.

"Yeah, I think you should definitely make him start running with you." Abby agreed with Ziva.

"He's not going to like that..." McGee chipped in from at his desk.

"I thought you were supposed to be upgrading your firewall, not listening to our conversation?!" Abby teased. McGee stopped typing and raised his hand in surrender. Ziva and Abby continued with their conversation when the door bell rang.

"I'll get it." McGee left his desk and went to answer the door, leaving them to their conversation.

"Hey Tony, come in." McGee moved to the side so DiNozzo could come in, shutting the door behind him. Tony raised his eyebrows to Ziva and Abby as a hello.

"Hey Tony." Abby grinned and took a sip of her wine.

"Hey Abs." He smiled and walked over to Ziva, kissing her on the cheek.

"What brings you here?" Ziva asked the question everybody was wondering.

"I came to see McGee." Tim was stood by his desk and was surprised to hear that.

"Well, we shall leave you to it." McGee walked over to the kitchen and Tony followed. Tim grabbed two beers from the fridge and handed one to Tony.

"Thanks." Tony took a sip. "Oh yeah, I got you something." He grabbed the hard drive from his suit pocket and handed it to McGee.

"How did you know I wanted this?" McGee smiled in confusion but happiness.

"I heard you talking to Abby." Tony drank some beer and smiled at the fact McGee was happy about his present.

"Wow, thanks so much! How come you got me this?"

"I just wanted to say thanks for having my back a lot recently and all the advice."

"You didn't have to get me anything." McGee smiled as he studied the present. "But I really appreciate it." McGee leaned in a hugged Tony, patting him on the back.

"Anyway, I just thought I'd drop by and give you that. I've got to go." DiNozzo headed for the door, leaving McGee wondering. Abby and Ziva spoke quieter so they could hear what was going on as they peered over.

"How come you're leaving so soon?" McGee walked over to DiNozzo.

"I said I'd meet my friend from college for a quick drink." Tony felt bad for lying, but he didn't want them to know where he was going or he'd be getting lots of questions.

"Oh, alright. See you at work tomorrow." McGee opened the door for Tony and he walked out.

"Bye Tony!" Abby yelled out the door to him.

"Seeya Abs. Ziva, I'll be back around 10." He peered over McGee's shoulders to the girls.

"Alright, see you in a bit." Ziva and Abby went back to chatting.

"Glad you like your present, McComputer." Tony grinned as he started to walk down the hallway. Tim poked his head round the door-frame.

"Thanks again for the present." McGee said, waving it around in the air.

"Hey, Boss. I bought your favourite bourbon." DiNozzo walked over to Gibbs' workbench and emptied the jars full of screws, proceeding to pour the alcohol. Gibbs put down his sanding block and took the drink. He raised his glass and they both took a sip.

"There a reason you're here, DiNozzo?" Gibbs leaned against the workbench.

"I just wanted to talk to you." Tony didn't know how to approach the whole asking-Gibbs-if-he's-ok thing.

"Well, that's what you're doing." So, he decided to just come right out with it.

"Are you alright, Boss?" Tony asked, shocked at himself that he'd actually managed to voice the question.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Gibbs put his glass down, and started sanding some woodwork – surprisingly not a boat! Tony realised, from this action, that there was definitely something wrong.

"Boss, don't lie to me. We've known each other too long for this nonsense." Tony continued to surprise himself by actually saying all of these things. Gibbs knew Tony was right, so he decided to open up slightly.

"It's Kelly's birthday this month." Gibbs managed to say.

"Oh..." DiNozzo trailed off. He didn't know exactly what to say. "That majorly sucks. I can't begin to imagine how you're feeling." Tony felt like he was walking on egg shells right now.

"You just become numb to it after a while, but it still hurts at the same time." Tony was impressed with how much Gibbs was opening up, it was unlike him at all.

"Well, if you ever need some company, then you know where I am. You know where we all are." Gibbs stopped sanding for a moment.

"Appreciate it." He patted Tony on the arm. They both sat in a comfortable silence and finished their drinks.

"Hang in there, Boss." Tony said as he walked up the stairs. Gibbs' smiled slightly at his agent.

DiNozzo walked into his apartment, took off his suit jacket and walked to the kitchen to get a beer.

"Have fun with your friend?" Ziva asked as she closed her book.

"I went to see Gibbs." DiNozzo stayed in the kitchen, drinking his beer.

"How come you said you were seeing your friend then?" Ziva felt slightly hurt that he'd lied to them. To her.

"When do I go and see Gibbs usually? I'd get just get loads of questions fired at me. It was easier to just say something else."

"Oh, I see." Tony could hear the slight hurt in her voice, but didn't address it.

"It's Kelly's birthday this month." DiNozzo shared.

"Oh." Ziva thought to how Gibbs had been acting like Tony had said, and now it made sense. "Is he ok?"

"Can he be ok after what happened?" DiNozzo's tone came out harsher than he meant. He walked over and sat next to Ziva.

"I'm sorry." He held her hands in his. "I should've told you where I was going and I didn't mean to snap at you just." He leaned in and kissed her slowly.

"No need to worry about it." She kissed him again.

"I'm going to bed, are you going to join me?" Ziva smiled sleepily.

"Yeah." He followed her to the bedroom, the conversation he'd had with Gibbs playing on his mind.

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