When Gibbs finally made his way down to the basement twenty minutes later, Tony had just started on his third glass of Bourbon. He hadn't meant to drink that much, but after slamming down the first glass of alcohol his inhibitions had lessened. Gibbs immediately noticed the alcohol, but decided he should wait before discussing the situation with his slightly inebriated senior field agent.

He found his sander and began working on the boat. It didn't take long for Tony to get impatient with Gibbs' silence.

"Want a piece of pizza, Boss?" Tony asked with a touch of attitude.

Gibbs sighed at the turn of events. He slowly set the sander down and turned to face Tony.

"What's your problem DiNozzo?"

"Nothing, I'm peachy." He replied in a sassy voice.

"I can tell." Gibbs said as he headed for the food. "Is that why you're a quarter through a bottle of my Bourbon, because you're peachy?"

"Nah, I got bored, waiting. I had nothing better to do down here than drink."

Gibbs could see the jealousy coming of Tony in waves.

"Green is not a good color on you DiNozzo." Gibbs replied as he leisurely ate his pizza. His calm voice was in stark contrast to Tony's

.

"Well I told you I have laundry to do, but you made me stay." Tony replied smartly. "Speaking of which I think I'll be going now. "

"Sit." Gibbs ordered no longer using a calm voice. The disrespect was getting out of hand.

Tony considered disobeying the order. Gibbs could see indecision on his face. Momentarily, Tony mulled over his options but decided that there was no way he could make it out of the basement if Gibbs tried to stop him. Just by looking at Gibbs, he knew his boss would take him down if he attempted. Besides, he had been drinking and he knew driving was out of the question. He sat on the bench.

Gibbs continued with a commanding voice. "McGee came to me with a dilemma and I helped him solve it. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No Sir" Tony responded automatically, but again with a disrespectful tone.

"Really, because it certainly seems like you do." Gibbs snarked back.

"No Sir, no problem." He answered snidely. The answer made Gibbs angry. Tony was being disrespectful and he was lying.

"Don't," Gibbs demanded "lie to me!"

Tony's reaction was despondent. All of a sudden Gibbs knew he had taken a wrong turn. His senior field agent stared into the corner completely avoiding eye contact with him. Anger radiated off Tony, but his mouth was clamped shut. A silent DiNozzo was never a good thing.

Yelling at Tony was usually successful. But this was not an NCIS matter, this was personal. And Tony wasn't jealous because of what had happened at work, but what had happened in his home. Realizing his mistake, Gibbs frowned. He approached Tony and reached his had towards Tony's shoulder. Tony flinched at the movement and Gibbs slowed.

Tony was shaken as Gibbs approached him, unsure about what was going to happen. He was more surprised when his boss began gently patting his shoulder. He looked up slowly into his boss's eyes.

"Go up stairs and get ready for bed. I'll be up in a minute." Gibbs instructed gently.

The change in the atmosphere of the room had confused Tony and he responded with his normal defense mechanism, humor. "Going to tuck me in?" he cracked.

"Do you want me to?" Gibbs teased back.

"You sure you have the time?" Tony responded dejectedly but with a bit of bite.

"I do. Go on." Gibbs directed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Gibbs had sent Tony upstairs so they could both cool down. Ducky had told him previously that Tony took after him in more than one way. A bad temper was defiantly something they both had in common. Sometimes their tempers worked against them.

He breathed slowly and sanded, as pondered what he should say to Tony. He knew at least part of what was going on in Tony's head. DiNozzo had never had the attention of a father, and now that Gibbs had volunteered to fill that role, Tony wanted all of his attention. He didn't know how to share. He was also probably afraid to lose Gibbs to someone else. The fear was irrational, but feelings often are.

Truth is, in the last couple weeks Gibbs had begun to realize how much Tony meant to him. Tony had grown on him and Gibbs was attached now too. He wanted to be a father for Tony. Unfortunately, being a father often meant correcting and redirecting your children. He had corrected Tony before as his boss, but it had been many years since he had had to correct anyone as a father.

He also did not blame Tony for his reaction. No one had ever explained to Tony that he was special, that he was important. Therefore, Tony couldn't understand that no one was going to steal Gibbs away from him.

Gibbs glanced at the clock and realize it was time to face the music. He headed for the stairs still unsure of how to handle the touchy situation.

---------

When Gibbs got upstairs he found Tony in a t-shit and boxers wrapped in a blanket sitting in the living room. The anger seemed to have dissipated. Now DiNozzo look a little nervous. Gibbs was pretty sure the entire situation had confused Tony. It was a little confusing for Gibbs as well. Relationships were neither of their strong points.

"Do you want to explain what happened?" Gibbs asked, sitting next to Tony.

"McGee had a problem and you helped him." Tony answered succinctly.

"And that made you upset?"

Tony shrugged in answer. Gibbs briefly wondered if the alcohol had inhibited his language skills.

"Any idea why you got upset?"

He replied with another shrug. Gibbs smiled a little for the moment realizing they had switched. He was the one talking and Tony was being silent.

"Are you going to get jealous and drink every time I help McGee?" Gibbs preferred being direct.

"No, I mean maybe. I don't know." Tony replied befuddled. Gibbs reached over and gentle tapped Tony on the knee.

"You don't need to be jealous, Tony."

Gibbs' kindness bewildered Tony. Thirty minutes ago, Tony had been drinking, and swearing and giving his boss attitude. Now, Gibbs was being calm and gentle with him. The kindness scared him more than yelling ever could. He wanted to ask why he didn't need to be jealous but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Gibbs could see the wobbling of Tony's mind and could tell he had not absorbed the lesson.

"What was McGee's problem anyway?" Tony asked, intentionally changing the topic.

"He asked me to keep it confidential." Suddenly Gibbs was struck with inspiration and continued, "But hypothetically…"

Tony smiled. He loved secrets. "Hypothetically…"

"He introduced Abby to his parents and things didn't go so well."

"Really! Man I would have loved to be there." Tony exclaimed. "His parents are soooo conservative. They make McGee look like Mr. McLiberal. I bet Abby scared them to death. She probably told them all about when she tricked McGee into sleeping in her coffin and the pet rat she had as a kid. So what happened?"

"His parents told him he can't be friends with her anymore."

"They can't do that." Tony replied indignantly. "He's not eight. He can be friends with Abby if he wants. Besides, Abby is awesome. There is no way Probie would stop being friends with her."

"They said they would disown him if he didn't."

"Ohh." Tony replied. Gibbs knew it was a low blow. Tony had been disowned as a child. He would never wish that on anyone. "He can't give up his family, but he can't stop being friends with Abby either. What is he going to do?" Tony asked slightly frustrated.

"What do you think he should do?" Gibbs questioned.

"I don't know. It's not fair; McGee shouldn't have to give up his family for his friends or his friends for his family." Suddenly the light bulb went off in Tony's head. He realized that his boss had said "hypothetically" and that Gibbs never would have shared something that McGee had asked him not to.

"That wasn't McGee's problem was it?"

"I made you my senior field agent for a reason." Gibbs replied, proud that Tony had figured out the analogy.

"I didn't mean to make you choose between McGee and me, Boss." Tony replied dejectedly.

"You didn't make me choose. I won't choose." Gibbs paused a moment before continuing. He needed to explain the situation to Tony. "I know you never had siblings so I'm going to explain this once. I care about you. Just because I care about other people doesn't mean I don't care about you. Got it?"

"Got it, Boss." Tony said as he smiled at the reassuring comment.

"What's with you calling me boss again?" Gibbs asked noticing Tony's continued distance.

"Uh… yeah," He looked shyly at his boss again. "I've been reconsidering this whole calling you Dad idea."

"You were okay with it before McGee came over."

"Yeah," Tony paused. "I'm not anymore."

---------

Don't worry everybody. Gibbs will fix it. He always does. Thanks again to Kejfe Blintz for the beta.