A/N: Wow... seriously wow. I'm still floored looking at all the reviews I got for the last chapter. I'm so psyched you liked it that much! Thanks so much, seriously!

So, here we go with Part III... it's extra long, too ;)

Part III Falling

Chapter One: Explanation

"Can you imagine McGee's face when I told him that it was all fake? I honestly think that he was internally deciding between killing both Ziva and me and dig himself a hole to disappear into it for all times to come. You really should have seen it," Tony chuckled as he told Gibbs about the latest prank he had pulled on the younger agent a few weeks later.

Gibbs in the meantime was just shaking his head, but couldn't quite suppress the slight smile on his lips. Tony knew that he found it amusing even without the smirk because his blue eyes always gave him away these days. The younger man loved that fact because it was so much easier for him to gauge the other guy's moods.

"He… always so…" Gibbs slowly said then, struggling for every single word like every time he spoke. "Suscessable?"

Tony tried to hold back the sigh at the mixed-up word. Sometimes, Gibbs was still having trouble to find the right word and it happened quite a lot that he got two words mixed up in his mind. It wasn't uncommon in cases such as his as Ducky had assured them but Tony didn't really mind all that much anyway. The important thing was that the other man was talking coherently again and more and more every day. So he just gave him a smile, trying to figure out what he had wanted to tell him this time.

"Susceptible, you mean?" As he saw Gibbs nod, he continued. "I thought it had gotten better by now, but sometimes he's just too easy, you know. But he knows by now that we're not trying to put him down, he knows his place and that we all care for him."

"That… is… good," Gibbs replied even slower than before and then yawned widely.

"You getting tired?" Tony asked, realizing that it was getting rather late. "Wanna go back inside?"

Gibbs once again nodded and Tony gently coaxed the older man to sit down in the wheel chair, so that they could get out of the backyard of the hospital as quickly as possible. By the time he had pushed him into his room, Gibbs was sound asleep and Tony winced sympathetically as he woke him up again, just to send him straight to bed. Grudgingly, Gibbs followed his orders and was out like a light about a minute later.

Tony settled down in his usual chair, his feet propped up on another one as he watched Jethro sleep. Today had been a good day. He had been off work, as it was Sunday, and had spent all day long with the other man. They had taken a stroll through the park, just talking about nothing in particular, generally just enjoying the fact that they could talk to each other again. Gibbs had been in a good mood which was not to take for granted these days and Tony had behaved accordingly, telling him about god knows what. Gibbs seemed to enjoy it and had actually held Tony's hand for a short moment while they had been sitting on a bench, sending an unexpected shiver down the younger man's spine at the touch. He hadn't commented on it, but he took it as a sign that maybe Gibbs wasn't all that reluctant of touching him anymore. Their relationship had changed ever so slightly ever since Gibbs had managed to talk again. There wasn't any big change or anything, but it seemed like Gibbs was more, well, Gibbs every time he opened his mouth and Tony would take it as long as it meant getting back the other guy for good.

So, things had gone really well that day and Tony was just about to lean back and maybe catch some sleep for himself, as a gentle knock on the door interrupted his plans. One of Jethro's doctors stuck his head in at the door.

"Mr. DiNozzo, can I talk to you for a second?"

Tony just nodded and quietly got up and followed the doctor into his office. He had been there quite a few times, especially at the beginning of Jethro's stay there, but his visits had gotten less frequent over the last couple of weeks as Gibbs' health had improved.

"Mr. DiNozzo," the doc started again, but was interrupted by the other man in an instant.

"Tony. My father's Mr. DiNozzo."

"Alright then, Tony, the reason I wanted to talk to you is a quite positive one, I suppose. I've talked to Dr. Martin over at Bethesda as well as to your friend Dr. Mallard over the last couple of days and we have come to the conclusion that Mr. Gibbs will be able to go home in two to three weeks. He still will have to come in for his therapies as an outpatient, but we are certain that he doesn't need to stay here for much longer."

"Wow," Tony pressed out, feeling slightly light-headed at the prospect of taking Jethro home. "That's… great. Will he… I mean, will he need someone to stay home with him?"

"I'm afraid I don't have an answer to that. You will have to see. However, Mr. Gibbs has managed to get around on his own during the days here pretty well. I suggest you to stay with him until he's settled, but after that I don't see a reason for him not to stay alone at home for a couple of hours. His progress has been remarkable these last couple of weeks."

"Okay," Tony smiled at him, feeling his pulse pick up pace as he stood up and shook the doctor's hand. "I'll see what I can do. Thanks."

"You're very welcome."

.

The next day around lunchtime, Tony called down into Autopsy to ask Ducky for lunch. He hadn't told anyone about the fact that Gibbs would soon be coming home, yet, as he hadn't actually grasped the news himself. He wanted to talk to Ducky first to be able to clear his head and then tackle any kind of problem that might come up in the course.

Ducky had opted to go to a Greek restaurant and Tony had agreed, as he wasn't sure whether he actually wanted to eat at all.

"So, what is on your mind, Anthony?" Ducky asked straight-forwardly as soon as they had placed their orders.

"Why didn't you tell me they were thinking about letting Gibbs go home?" Tony asked the first thing that came to his mind.

"Oh, are they? I was merely asked my opinion on Gibbs' health a week ago. I didn't know that they were thinking about it."

"Okay," Tony answered slowly, taking a sip from his coke. "But do you think it's the right thing to do?"

"I certainly believe so, my dear Anthony. I think it might be better for Jethro to be in a familiar environment and you never know, maybe it will spark one memory or another."

"Okay," Tony said slowly again, feeling a little bit better now that he had Ducky's confirmation. "Dr. Jenkins said that Gibbs could be home in two or three weeks. I guess I'll take a week or so off to help him get settled, right? I mean… I don't know."

"Are you alright?" Ducky inquired, his eyes piercing Tony's for a moment as the younger man nodded.

"Yeah, I am. I'm just a bit… overwhelmed, I guess," he confessed. "As much as I wanted him to come home, it's still kind of weird knowing that he actually will be there a few weeks from now, you know? I have no clue, what I'm supposed to do to be honest. What do I have to do, Ducky?"

"No worries," Ducky gave him a slight smile. "I'll make sure to help you as much as I can. First thing you have to do is to make sure that Jethro actually does want to go home. I'm sure he will, as he has never quite liked hospitals, but you have to give him the choice."

Tony nodded thoughtfully and then waited until the waiter disappeared again after bringing them their plates. He picked at his food, trying to imagine what he would do if Gibbs didn't want to come home to him. He knew that it was ridiculous, but what if he didn't? What if the not letting touch him thing came into this decision, too? Tony determinedly shook his head. He wouldn't let himself go crazy over a possibility just yet. He'd worry about it when the time came.

"Then," Ducky interrupted his thoughts. "I guess you'll have to change things in the house. Make everything accessible to Jethro. Your bedroom is on the second floor if I remember correctly?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, you might consider the possibility to move it downstairs. As you very well know, Jethro's left leg isn't exactly up for more than a few steps at a time. It might make things easier for him to move around the house."

"Yeah," Tony replied thoughtfully. "There's no room, though."

"I thought there was a spare room down there?"

"Well," Tony started, absent-mindedly drinking from his coke again, his heart suddenly aching ever so slightly. "That's Kelly's old room. Jethro has never used it again. All her stuff's still in there in boxes."

"Oh dear," Ducky put down his fork and knife and ran a hand over his mouth.

"Yeah," Tony just replied, feeling sad all of a sudden, very similar to the time when he had tried to put one of his own moving boxes in there.

He would never forget the look on Jethro's face at the suggestion, the sadness that had crossed his eyes as he had simply shook his head and had gone down into the basement. Tony had let him be for a while before he followed him, meaning to apologize, but was met with a tight hug instead, a whispered 'I love you' and a story about how Shannon and he had painted that room before Kelly was even born. They never talked about using the room ever again afterwards and Tony had accepted it without a second thought. This was Jethro's own little corner of the world and he wouldn't disturb it when Jethro so obviously didn't want him to. Now, though, it seemed as if he didn't have a choice.

"Anthony?" Ducky raised him from his memories, his voice soft. "Does Jethro know about his family?"

Tony stared at him for a moment before he subtly shook his head. "I couldn't tell him. I wanted to, but how do you tell a guy something like that?"

"I understand. But you will have to, I'm afraid, before he comes home."

"I know. God, I know."

"You want me to come with you?"

Tony looked at the old ME for a very long time as he tried to figure out whether or not he wanted him to be there before he finally shook his head.

"Appreciate the offer, but I think I'll have to do it alone."

"Very well, I'll be there if you need me, though."

"I know, Ducky, thanks."

.

Tony sighed as he stepped into Jethro's room a day later, seeing the other man sitting on the chair by the window, staring out into the rainy afternoon. The weather couldn't have been more similar to Tony's inner life at the moment. He still hadn't told his partner that he would be able to home and he hadn't dared to talk about Shannon or Kelly, either, but he knew that tonight was the night to do it. There was no other choice and while his heart threatened to stop due to exhaustion, as it had been beating much faster than usual all day long, he knew that he would have to tell him. He still had no idea how to approach the subject or how the older man would react to it. He had seen him once as he had woken up from the coma all those years ago and had remembered the pain of losing his girls too freshly. It had almost broken Tony's heart along with his own back then and Tony knew that it wasn't likely to go over better now. Steeling himself, he sat down opposite of Jethro, who had finally averted his glance from the trees outside to look at him curiously as to why he hadn't said anything just yet.

"How are you?" Tony finally started, realizing that his voice was very quiet and somewhat shaky.

"Fine," Jethro replied equally quiet but without his usual drawl. "You?"

"I'm okay," Tony lied easily as he tried to smile at the older man, who was still looking at him with faint curiosity on his face. "Listen, I've got some big news for you. I talked to Dr. Jenkins and he thinks that it's time for you to go home."

He watched Gibbs for a moment and felt his heart actually skip a beat as the older man's face split into a smile.

"Go home?" he said after a little while.

"Yeah, go home," Tony reassured him. "To our house. You'll still have to come here or have someone come over for therapy sessions and all, but they think you're ready to leave this place behind."

Gibbs remained silent at that, the smile still on his lips as he scrutinized Tony's face for a long time as if trying to figure out something.

"You," he slowly started after a few minutes. "Not… want me… go… home."

"What?" Tony all but cried out as he saw the misery in Gibbs' eyes all of a sudden. "No! What gives you that idea? I'm psyched that I get to take you with me."

"No," Gibbs shook his head, letting his left hand run through his hair rather shakily. "Look… sad."

The younger man stared at him frozen in terror as he saw the obvious hurt in the other man's expression. It broke his heart to see him like that. He felt tears threaten to escape his eyes as he leaned over the table to reach for Gibbs' hand and this time, almost miraculously, the older man let him take them.

"God no, Jethro. I can't even begin to tell you how glad I am that you're able to come home with me. Really, I haven't been that happy in a very, very long time. Do you believe me?"

Slowly, Gibbs nodded, his eyes locking into Tony's again. His brows were still furrowed, though, and Tony boldly let go of one of Jethro's hands to softly run his own over the older man's cheek for a moment. To his utter surprise, he actually leaned into his touch for the first time since he woke up and he felt a soft shiver run down his spine. Tony felt something inside him lock into place and something warm spread in his stomach as he savored in the touch for a moment, trying to transfer the soothing energy into his next move. Jethro, however, beat him to talking.

"Why sad?" he asked, his voice so quiet now that Tony involuntarily leaned a little closer towards him.

"You know I love you, right?" he started, letting out a sigh and continued as Gibbs gave half a nod and half a shrug at his question. "And trust me, I didn't mean to keep anything from you. I just… it's really hard, okay? But there's something I need to tell you. Something really important."

Tony stopped for a moment as he reached for his wallet and pulled out a picture to hand it over to his partner who took it with a frown on his face. It was the very same picture that was sitting on the mantelpiece in their living room with Jethro and Shannon in it, both having an arm around their daughter. Tony intently watched Gibbs' face for any kind of reaction, but was only met with a frown once again and obvious incomprehension. He had hoped that the picture would remind Gibbs of something, anything to make it easier to explain, but apparently he had no such luck. When Gibbs finally looked up at him again, his eyes brighter than usual, Tony sighed again and took one of his hands again.

"You don't remember them, do you?"

Gibbs just shook his head as he stared back at Tony, who gulped audibly before he continued.

"I should've told you about them before. I'm sorry I didn't, but like I've already said, this is… just hard. Before you met me, before you started to even work for NCIS, you were married. You've met Shannon in your hometown and fell in love with her," Tony stopped for a moment, wiping away the tears from his eyes before they could run down his cheeks before he quietly continued, never once averting his eyes from Jethro's. "You had a beautiful daughter, Kelly. But then… god, I'm so sorry… they got killed in a car accident. Or well, it wasn't an accident per se. They were under NIS detail because Shannon wanted to testify against someone and they wanted her dead. You were overseas in Kuwait with the Marines at the time. I'm so sorry, Jethro."

Gibbs nodded ever so slightly as he let go of Tony's hand to run a shaky thumb over the picture he was still clutching in his other hand. They remained silent for a very long time and Tony almost desperately tried to read the expression on the other man's face but wasn't able to. The guy's eyes never strayed away from the photograph in his hands and Tony couldn't bring himself to interrupt his thoughts. So he just sat there, waiting for the other man to finally talk to him again.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Jethro looked up at him, his eyes almost expressionless as he just continued to stare at him, never saying a single word.

"Is there anything I can do?" Tony asked in the end, unable to stand the poignant silence any longer. "I mean that – anything."

For a moment, Gibbs didn't speak and didn't move before he finally shook his head ever so slightly.

"Can I," he finally spoke up, slightly slurring as if he was tired all of a sudden. "Be alone… tonight?"

Tony stared at him, trying to swallow down his desperation and to keep his tears from falling at the request. He felt his heart break for the second time that day, but he wouldn't let it show. He would stay strong for the other guy, just this once. So he just nodded, trying not to let the hurt show.

"Of course."

.

When Tony walked into Jethro's room the next morning, he had no clue, how he had survived the night. He had gone home after Gibbs' request and had tried to sleep on the couch in their living room, but had soon given up on that as his thoughts wouldn't let him rest. He had finally gone down into the basement for the very first time in months, breaking out the bourbon and had taken a sip from the alcohol. He had hoped that it would help him forget, that it would help him connect better to the other man, but in the end he had had to realize that it had only made it worse. He hadn't even been sure why he was hurting the way he did. It had been Gibbs' right wanting to be alone after everything that Tony had told him and yet he felt like hadn't done enough to make him understand. What exactly, he wasn't entirely sure of. So he had just lain under the half-built boat on the floor of the basement, letting his tears fall freely as he wished that he could turn back time to when everything had still been alright.

As he closed the door behind him and chanced a glance at Jethro, he was surprised that the guy seemed oddly rested. He was still sitting in his bed, but he was looking at him with a weird kind of fondness which suddenly confused Tony to no end. He slowly sat down next to the other man's bed, realizing that the guy was once again clutching the picture of him, Shannon and Kelly in his hand. They remained silent for a little while, looking into each other's eyes before Gibbs finally started to talk.

"Why you tell me?"

"It's your family, you had a right to know," Tony replied with a shrug, feeling the uneasiness settle in again.

"No," Gibbs slowly shook his head. "Why… now?"

"Oh," Tony reluctantly replied, realizing what exactly the other guy was asking. "The thing is… when you come home in two weeks, well, I hope that you will come home with me?" At Gibbs' nod and feeling his heart skip a relieved beat, he continued more confident than before. "When you come home… we'll have to change some stuff around the house to make it easier for you to… you know live there. And we used to have our bedroom upstairs, but Ducky thought that it might be wiser if we moved it to ground-floor. Problem is… ah hell… there's only one room there we could use and that's your daughter's old room. And well, you never wanted to change it since she… died. Her stuff is still in there in boxes."

Gibbs' eyebrows rose at that before he looked down at the picture again and then subtly shook his head.

"I didn't want to make that kind of decision without you knowing. That's why I told you. And once again, I'm so sorry that I haven't told you before."

"'s okay," Gibbs mumbled, looking up at him again. "Understand."

Tony gave him a slight smile, but remained silent, waiting for the other man to start talking again.

"We need… room?" he finally did him the favor, raising an eyebrow at him again.

"I'm afraid we do. I don't want you to have to climb the stairs every time you need anything. I'd get it if you don't want to do it, it's your choice, but it'd be more prudent, I guess."

"Okay," Gibbs slowly answered. "Sleep there."

"You want me to change the rooms?" Tony asked, feeling his heart pick up pace once again.

"Yeah… no choice."

"Okay," Tony replied, giving him another smile. "If you think it's what you want."

Gibbs just shrugged, looking rather forlorn all of a sudden and Tony in a lack of other options, reached out to take his hand and was once again startled as the other man didn't flinch away.

"Do you remember them?" he finally asked slowly as the guy continued to transfix the picture in his hand.

"No," Gibbs answered after a long while, his eyes never leaving his girls smiling into the camera. "May… be… not… sure."

"What is it, Jethro?" Tony asked softly. "Maybe I can help you?"

"Toh-nee," Gibbs slowly started, finally looking at him again. "Drugs?"

Tony stared at him for a moment, not comprehending what he wanted to say and as he was just about to tell him so, the scales fell from his eyes.

"Yeah," he replied reluctantly. "They were killed by a drug dealer. Pedro Hernandez."

"I… I," Gibbs furrowed his brows in concentration and it almost broke Tony's resolve not to hug the guy as he saw the sadness on his face again. "I," he repeated, "killed Her…nan…dez?"

Tony stared at him as he sucked in a breath before he slowly nodded, desperately trying to hold the sick feeling inside of him. Why in the world had Jethro remember that of all things?

"Yeah, you did."

"No jail?"

Tony almost let out a laugh at the sheer incredulity on the other man's face, but he held himself back, knowing that it would hardly be appropriate.

"The investigators never found out who killed him."

Gibbs slowly nodded and then pointed at Tony, his eyebrows almost reaching his hairline.

"How I know? Well, I think I always kind of knew, you know, but you told me about two years ago. You wanted to come clean to me, so that I would have the chance to know who you really were. Didn't make me love you less."

"You… stupid," Gibbs replied, a smile tugging at the right corner of his mouth and Tony couldn't help but let out a laugh this time.

"Yeah, you know, I might be stupid, but it's just who you are and nobody ever blamed you for it."

"Abby?"

"Yeah, she knows," Tony slowly continued. "She wanted to keep it secret, though. For you."

"Why?" Jethro asked so quietly that Tony leaned closer ever so slightly.

"Because we love you, Jethro."

Gibbs blinked rapidly now as he stared right at Tony as if trying to figure out whether or not he was speaking the truth. Tony just looked right back at him, never averting his eyes, trying to make him understand that he wouldn't go anywhere and that he really did love him despite everything. He saw the other man's blue eyes shimmer for a moment before he noticed the first tear run down his cheek and it was when his resolve was finally broken.

"Can I hug you?" he asked and was relieved when Gibbs nodded almost instantly, so he just leaned closer to him, pulling his arms around him so tightly that he feared he might break his ribs, but the other man never flinched, never complained, so Tony just held on to him, while quiet sobs were escaping the other man's mouth and tears kept on streaming down his face.

It didn't matter because maybe, maybe Gibbs had finally realized that Tony did indeed love him. Loved him so much that it almost hurt.

A/N: Hope you liked it! ;)