A/N: Hey guys, thank you once again for your awesome reviews! This chapter is slightly shorter than usual, but the flu caught up with me this week and this is the best I could do for now ;) Hope you like it!

Chapter Six: Progression

Tony managed to stay in that touch-induced happy bubble for a few more days. He slept better than in months even when he stayed at Jethro's side through the night. There hadn't been much progress since the CafPow! incident but Gibbs was allowing him to touch him again and that was all Tony needed for the time being to get going and be able to believe that things would turn out quite well after all. He kept on telling the older man about everything that would come to his mind and even though Gibbs seemed to enjoy the tidbits of their life together, Tony could also sense the underlying frustration radiating from him. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it had to feel like not remembering anything, not being able to talk or walk. He didn't know how he was supposed to help the other man, though. And while Gibbs had gotten over his fear of touching Tony, he wasn't as interested in being touched by him. Tony could still see the trepidation in his eyes every time he reached out to touch his hand or to ruffle his hair. Gibbs always let him though but he never seemed quite comfortable with it, causing Tony to feel uncomfortable, too, to a degree that he sometimes even refrained from doing so altogether. He told himself repeatedly that it didn't have to mean anything, that it was just a side-effect of Gibbs' own frustration and that it wasn't about him particularly. He never talked to him about it, either. Maybe he should have, but he wasn't willing to leave his happy bubble completely just yet.

.

As Tony strolled into the hospital one Tuesday evening, he was stopped by a nurse who had been in charge of Gibbs a couple of times before. Curious as to why she would want to talk to Tony alone, he followed her down the hallway into a deserted room.

"I'm sure you have noticed," she started bluntly and straight-forwardly, "that Agent Gibbs seems to have gotten a little impatient regarding his recovery. Don't worry, his progress is as fast as can be expected, but Agent Gibbs doesn't quite seem to agree."

"Yeah," Tony let out a laugh. "I'd take it as a good sign, though. He's the most impatient person you'll ever meet, trust me."

"That's good to know," Nurse Robyn answered, a slight smile on her face. "The reason I wanted to talk to you is the following: I imagine that part of his frustration stems from the fact that he has seen nothing but his room for weeks now. Do you think you could take him out for a walk? We offered before but he refuses to get into a wheelchair and we thought that maybe someone he knows would have more success in persuading him."

"I can try," Tony answered slowly. "But he is pretty set in his ways. He has never done things he didn't want to."

"Yeah, I get that about him even if he doesn't talk," Robyn laughed good-heartedly. "But you'll try, right?"

"Definitely."

.

A couple of minutes later, Tony stepped into the room to see Jethro sit on his bed, glaring at this own legs. Barely holding himself back in order not to touch him, Tony sat down on the edge of the mattress and just watched the guy for a moment. After a minute or two, Gibbs finally looked away from his legs to stare at Tony instead. He wasn't smiling for once, as he had a deep frown on his face and looked rather miserable.

"Hey," Tony finally said, "you okay?"

Gibbs just shrugged, looking oddly lost and Tony felt his own heart breaking over the other man's apparent sadness and frustration.

"Hey," Tony repeated himself. "Everything will be okay. Look at how far you've already come. Just have a little patience."

Gibbs snorted indignantly as he raised an eyebrow at Tony and for a moment the younger man was almost sure that nothing had indeed changed. This was the old Gibbs all right, this was exactly what he loved about the other man. But there was also another thing that had made him fall in love with him all those years ago.

"Listen, Jethro. Don't let your frustration get into your way, okay? Or your pride. You need help, so let me and the others help you. And you need to get out of here, sooner or later, you'll need to. And you were never one to wait, trust me. If you are one thing, it's a fighter. Don't let it get you down."

Gibbs was still glaring at Tony, but it had subsided a tiny little bit, so the younger man swallowed once before he continued with his little pep talk.

"The nurse told me you didn't want to go outside. Why's that?"

Impassively, Gibbs looked at Tony for a long moment before he averted his glance and Tony didn't even need to follow it to know that he was glaring at his own legs again.

"So what you can't walk just yet? What does it matter?"

Again, Gibbs snorted, but Tony wouldn't be knocked off course this time. He had, after all, sensed that something was gnawing away at his partner for quite some time now.

"Stop with the false sense of pride, Jethro. Nobody cares that you can't walk just yet. You hear me? Nobody. And come on, it's just one bout around the park out front. No one except for me will even see you. So what do you say? One try?"

He continued to stare at Gibbs until he finally looked up again and then nodded ever so slightly. Tony gave him a broad smile and then jumped up and all but ran out the room to see where he'd get the wheelchair.

.

Half an hour later, with a lot of grumbling from Gibbs and a lot of encouraging words from Tony, they finally were outside. Gibbs had allowed Tony to push his chair after a few half-hearted attempts to push it himself. He was still getting tired easily these days, so he had relented after all. The younger man remained quiet for the most part as he watched Gibbs look at his surroundings. First he had seemed rather wary, but that had changed slowly but steadily. He was now looking around animatedly, taking in as much as he could and Tony realized with quite some satisfaction that there was little to see of his earlier frustration with himself anymore.

"See this isn't so bad, is it now, Boss?" Tony said a little while later as they had just turned around to get back inside as it was slowly getting a little cold outside as the day got older.

Gibbs just shook his head and shrugged once, but there was a slight smile playing on his lips and that was really enough for Tony to know that he had been right in trying to persuade him to go outside. If anything, it would just show him that there were other things in this world than the four walls of his room. Just as they were just about to go back inside, Gibbs held up a hand, signaling him to stop for a moment, so Tony did exactly that.

"What's up?" he asked quietly as he squatted down next to him to see what he was looking at.

Once again, Gibbs just shrugged as he gestured around aimlessly for a moment before he locked eyes with the younger man.

"You're welcome," he whispered as he stared back at him for what seemed to be a very long time.

Then, just as his feet were starting to feel numb, Gibbs reached out his left hand and brought it to Tony's cheek. He felt his heartbeat pick up pace and his cheeks starting to flush ever so slightly, but he didn't avert his glance once. He leaned into the touch, however, feeling the warmth the other man was providing and for a moment it seemed like nothing had ever happened. It was like there was only the two of them on the planet and Tony wouldn't have minded if they'd stayed like that forever. He didn't know what exactly was happening, but for the first time since Gibbs had woken up from his coma, it was like this was really Gibbs looking at him. So he just stared back at him, hoping that Jethro would find whatever he was searching for in his eyes.

They finally broke their eye contact when Jethro started to shiver ever so slightly in the cold fall air, so Tony hurried to get them back inside, the butterflies still fluttering in his stomach.

.

Whatever might have happened during that walk outside that day, it did help Jethro in the days and weeks that followed. Whenever Tony visited him after work, he was greeted with a soft smile again and while it was oddly un-Gibbs of him, Tony accepted it without a second thought. Jethro might not remember loving him, might not remember much of anything, but he did know that Tony was there for him no matter what, he had proved that over the last couple of months. And as if that walk and Tony's insistence had been a boost of moral, Jethro had started to work even harder. Sometimes Tony was reminded of a much younger version of Gibbs. He was suddenly obsessed to get better, was so obsessed with the one thing that it had striking similarities to the time he had hunted down Ari. Tony wasn't quite sure whether it was a good thing to be that focused on one thing, but Gibbs did indeed seem happier than before, so he let him be, knowing that he'd be there if it came to a fallout of some sort and catch him – just like he had always done.

.

A couple of weeks later, Tony dragged himself down the hallway towards Jethro's room. It was already after nine o'clock at night and they had just closed their recent cold case that had turned hot. He was proud of his team that they had caught the bastard that had killed his own wife and two kids over six years ago. The adrenaline was still pumping through his veins from the chase and he suddenly realized that he did miss stuff like that at work. Maybe it was time to get off the cold cases after all. Remorse had already made itself perceivable more than once that he was holding back both Ziva and McGee, but they had assured him that they didn't mind at all as long as it helped Tony take care of Gibbs.

But maybe it was time to go back into their normal working routing after all.

Slightly shaking his head, Tony let himself in quietly in case the older man was already asleep and then let out a yelp as he turned around to see Jethro sitting on his bed, his feet dangling down from it.

"God, you scared the hell out of me," he finally pressed out, trying to get his heartbeat under control as he watched Gibbs just grin at him.

"Don't be that smug, you hear me?" he joked as he dropped his bag onto the ground. "I'll get you back for that someday."

Again, Gibbs just smirked, causing Tony's stomach to give a jolt because this, like so many things over the last couple of weeks, just seemed so like Gibbs that it almost hurt.

"What are you doing up anyway?" he finally asked.

The older man just continued to look at him for a moment before he made a few gestures with his hands. Tony had taken lessons in sign language from Abby over the last couple of weeks and had gotten pretty good at it, but he still had troubles following Jethro from time to time because his hands were still rather shaky and uncoordinated, making it hard to read sometimes. This time, however, his message was pretty clear.

"You wanted to surprise me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "With what?"

Gibbs held up one finger, indicating him to wait for a moment, so Tony did, watching the other guy intently. He was smiling broadly at him and his eyes were slightly brighter than usual, too. Tony was still looking at his face as Gibbs moved again, the palms of his hands pressing into the mattress under him as he pushed himself up so that he was standing up on rather shaky legs. And Tony still hadn't moved, too stunned to do anything but stare at the older man, when Gibbs had pushed himself away from the bed and had grabbed a cane with his left hand.

"Gibbs!" Tony finally exclaimed, blinking furiously. "When did this happen all of a sudden?"

The older man shrugged and was holding on to the cane so tightly that his knuckles were already turning white, but he didn't seem to care as he carefully made a step forwards.

"When did you… how did you…" Tony stammered, still frozen on his spot. "That's awesome, Jethro."

His partner just nodded almost feverishly as he took another shaky step forwards. Tony noticed his left foot dragging a bit, but little did it matter at the moment. Jethro was walking, was standing up without help and the bastard hadn't even bothered to tell him about his progress. This was just so… well, Gibbs.

"I'm so happy for you," Tony finally blurted out as he stepped forward.

Jethro, in the meantime, had walked backwards again, shakier than before as he eased himself back onto the bed, but not without a radiant smile on his face. 'Surprise' he signed again and Tony couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"You bastard," he chuckled as he sat down next to him and without thinking took the other guy's hand. "You almost gave me a heart attack here."

Gibbs remained unmoving and just continued to stare at Tony, his blue eyes impossibly bright before he shortly squeezed Tony's hand and then let it go. But it hardly mattered at that moment. In fact, Tony didn't think that anything did really matter right then.

Because for once, Jethro seemed happy and for Tony that was enough.