A/N: Thanks for your kind words! Made my day :) Hope you like the next chapter, too. :)

Chapter Nine

Baltimore, 2001.

Gibbs was already more or less comfortably seated in the squad room the next morning, only half listening to Danny Price's remarks about their case. It was old news and all Gibbs really wanted was to look at Tony again and he hoped that the kid would actually make the effort to be civil with him. Forcefully trying to pry away his thoughts from the younger man, Gibbs finally drew his attention back to Danny who seemed rather nervous this morning if Gibbs' limited contact with the guy was anything to go by. But just as he wanted to ask him what was up, Danny grinned at something behind Gibbs and he followed his glance, only to see Tony walk in, a backpack slung over his shoulder, a rather vulnerable expression on his face. He straightened up though as he noticed their eyes on him and gave them one of those broad, yet fake, smiles.

"Hi guys," he greeted them, throwing his bag carelessly into a corner. "Are we ready to grill Mr. Peanuts?"

"Not so fast," Danny replied, scrutinizing the younger man. "How did it go last night?"

"How did what go?" Tony asked distractedly, busying himself with looking at everything but Danny and Gibbs.

"Don't think I'm stupid," Danny replied and Gibbs felt his heart sink as he realized that the detective must have picked up on the vibes that Tony and he had been sending off the day before, but before he could say anything, Price had already continued, paying Gibbs no attention whatsoever. "I found the ring in your jacket two days ago and you said that last night was supposed to be special. So, what did Wendy say?"

Gibbs stared at Price for a moment, feeling his heart sink even more. Tony was engaged. There went his chances – if he ever even had them.

Wait. What?

When had he started to think about that? He had merely wanted to apologize and be friends with the younger man. He had never meant let something else develop between them. Hell, Gibbs was straight. He had never done anything with a man before or after Tony. It had only ever been him. So where the hell had that come from now? Subtly shaking his head, he turned to look at Tony now and saw that the younger man's cheeks had turned slightly pink as he busied himself with making a fresh pot of coffee.

"Yeah, didn't get around that."

"You didn't get around to asking her if she wanted to marry you?" Danny checked back incredulously, while Gibbs let out a breath he hadn't been aware he had been holding.

"Yeah, pretty much."

Price remained silent for a moment or two as he looked at Tony more closely and Gibbs found himself doing the same. He had noticed that the usual, or what had been usual ten years previously, energetic bundle that was Tony seemed a bit subdued this morning and Gibbs realized that it had probably not even anything to do with that Wendy girl. And why did the name sound so familiar when it came to Tony? Before Gibbs could think it through, though, Price had gotten up from his chair and approached the younger man, leaning into him a bit as if to exclude Gibbs, and then whispered, but not quietly enough because Gibbs was still able to get the gist of it.

"Did she say no?"

"No!" Tony cried out, startling some of the other detectives around them. A bit quieter, he continued after a moment. "I didn't ask her, okay?"

"Why not?"

"Something came up, okay? Let it rest."

Danny held his hands up in surrender now as he backed away and sat back down, but Gibbs didn't pay much attention to him as his eyes were still glued to Tony, who finally looked right back at him. Gibbs knew that it hadn't been something that came up, but someone and that someone had been him. Trying to get rid of the slightly fluttery in his stomach that made him think he had been reason that Tony hadn't asked his girlfriend to marry him, he cleared his throat.

"You done chitchatting now?" he asked gruffly, raising the other two men and himself from their thoughts. "I want to get moving with this peanuts character."

"On it," Tony replied just as gruffly, but with the slightest of smiles on his face, so small in fact that Gibbs almost missed it.

.

Gibbs had hoped that he could talk to the kid at some point during the day, but he found himself disappointed. Tony refused to be alone with him and whenever they had to talk to each other, he made sure to put as much distance between them as possible. Gibbs had even tried to initiate at least some kind of conversation, but Tony never responded, though that might have been due to Gibbs' almost non-existent social skills. Throughout the day, the younger man never even looked at him, never said something to him, directing his findings at Price instead. Gibbs briefly wondered if Danny was a good detective after all since he apparently failed to pick up on the tension in the air that was almost tangible.

He, himself, was getting more and more irritated as the day dwindled to a close and even though he knew that he had no right to be, he simply couldn't help it. His stomach was still running amok with him, feeling queasy whenever Tony just as much as glanced at him and his temper got shorter with every minute that passed with the younger man not acknowledging the elephant in the room. Or maybe he did and that was the reason why he kept his distance. Gibbs simply didn't know what to do and he wasn't used to that feeling. He liked control and Tony – not for the first time either, he realized – seemed to take it away from him.

.

"Don't take it personally," Danny Price said as they made their way back from a quick trip to get some coffee. "I don't know what's wrong with him today."

"Tony?" Gibbs replied, looking at the detective for a moment, trying to sound only vaguely interested.

"Yeah. He's usually Mr. Sunshine. The thing with Wendy has him off track, I guess."

Gibbs just grunted in reply and sipped from his coffee. He was pretty sure that Wendy was only part of Tony's mood, if at all, but he wouldn't confide that to Danny Price. But he was still curious about that girlfriend of Tony's, so he finally asked, still trying to mask his curiosity as small talk.

"How did they meet?"

"Tony tells me he's had a crush on her in high school," Danny laughed and shook his head. "And one time during summer break, she had asked him for dinner, but something came up, I think, and they never made it. Turns out she's living only a block away from him now and they ran into each other two years ago."

"Since high school, huh?" Gibbs asked, feeling an unknown anxiety bubble up inside of him as he finally connected the dots in his mind.

"Yeah, she was his…"

"Music teacher," Gibbs completed his sentence, suddenly remembering a conversation with Tony on their drive over to his friend's house back in the day when Jethro had asked him if he only went for guys.

"How do you know that?"

"He told me," Gibbs answered slowly. "Earlier, I mean."

He hadn't realized that she had been the one Tony had canceled on to spend more time with him all those years ago. To spend time with a mostly drunk bastard instead with the, what seemed to be, love of his life. Unconsciously, Gibbs had stopped walking now as he realized what a bastard he really was. Price had stopped, too, now and eyed him curiously.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Gibbs answered distractedly. "I just need to make a call. You go ahead. I'll catch up with you."

Gibbs watched the detective disappear around the next corner before he walked over to a nearby bench and sank down onto it. Apparently, he had been fooling himself late last night as he had promised himself to make it up to Tony. He had wanted to apologize and prove to him that he wasn't the bastard he had been ten years ago. It hadn't been until the relieved feeling had settled in after he had heard that Tony hadn't proposed that Gibbs had realized that he probably wanted more than mere friendship. What Gibbs hadn't realized before, though, was the fact that the girlfriend Tony had been talking about yesterday had been the exact same woman from all those years ago. And that was the crux of the matter. He simply couldn't do that. He couldn't get between Tony and Wendy again. He hadn't intended to, but their talk yesterday had apparently been enough for Tony to act all weird and blow off their big evening. Gibbs didn't want to come between them, not like this. The thought of backing away now almost hurt him physically, but it was the right thing to do. He had messed up enough of his own relationships to risk destroying another one he wasn't even part of. He shook his head and then got up. He would go to the station, tell Price and Tony that something had come up back at NCIS and that another agent, probably Pacci, would take over for him. It was the most prudent thing to do, even if it broke his own heart.

.

"Price, DiNozzo," he barked as soon as he entered the squad room.

The two detectives turned to look at him, in Tony's case rather fixing his glance at a point right above his head and Price raising an eyebrow in question.

"Just called my HQ, something came up. I'll be heading home to DC. Don't think we're giving up this case. Another agent will cover it for me. Don't know who that will be yet, but I'll make sure that he's read in properly."

"Okay," Price answered slowly, reaching out his hand to shake Gibbs'. "That's sudden, but it was nice to meet you."

"You, too," Gibbs answered as he fixed his glance on Tony, who had suddenly become rather pale, but was at least looking at him again.

"Nice to meet you, too, DiNozzo," Gibbs said and offered Tony his hand.

After a moment of hesitation, the younger man took the proffered hand and shook it, never uttering a single word.

"Okay, then," Gibbs finally snapped out of his headspace. "I'll get going then."

"Bye," he heard Price say, but he didn't turn around as he tried to leave the station as fast as possible.

He wished Tony would have said something, would have told him to stop or… whatever. Gibbs suddenly felt empty as he stepped out and zipped up his coat to shield himself from the cold. He had just rounded the first corner towards his hotel, feeling his eyes sting and wondering why Tony always had him off kilter like that, when he heard footsteps behind him and then felt a hand on his shoulder. He knew without turning around that it was Tony. Taking a deep breath, he slowly turned and was faced with a rather angry looking young man.

"Why are you leaving?" he asked, slightly out of breath.

"To make it easier," Gibbs just shrugged.

"For you or for me?" Tony spat out, though some of his momentum seemed to have disappeared from one moment to the next.

"For you, Tony," Gibbs replied sincerely and quietly which caused Tony's features to soften a bit.

"You think it's that easy?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Because," Tony breathed out. "I needed all my courage to come to work today and not just call in sick until you're gone. And then you just decide to walk away from this, when only yesterday you told me that there was no way in hell you'd step down from the case? What changed?"

Gibbs sighed and rubbed a cold hand over his face. Couldn't the kid just let it go? It would have been so much easier.

"I don't know," Gibbs said and meant it. "Listen, it's not like I suddenly don't want to see you anymore because," he paused for a moment and then thought what the hell, it couldn't get any worse anyway. "Because I do. But it's not worth it. You clearly don't want to see me and I get that. But that's not it."

"What is it, then?" Tony asked, looking oddly defeated all of a sudden. "Just tell me."

"Price told me about Wendy. She's the one you talked about back then, isn't she?"

Tony stared at him with wide eyes for a moment before he nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm not that stupid not to know that I threw you off course last night. You deserve to be happy, Tony and Wendy's the girl you want. So forget about what happened ten years ago and forget I've been here now. That's why I'm going. Don't want to be the reason why you are tense and acting strange."

Tony stared at him for a long time, his mouth moving but no sound coming out. Only when Gibbs had already nodded at him and had started to walk away, did Tony clear his throat.

"Wait."

"What is it?" Gibbs asked without turning around as he felt his heart pick up pace for reasons unknown.

"You don't have to do that."

"No, I do," He replied and finally faced him again. "I'm clearly doing no good here."

Tony looked at him with sad eyes and it almost made Gibbs change his mind. The younger man had the same vulnerable look on his face than ten years previously right after Jethro had hit him. Gibbs wanted to reach out, apologize and bury his face in the younger man's strong shoulder, but that would be highly inappropriate now.

"I'm sorry," Tony finally said.

"You're sorry?" Gibbs replied and shook his head. "What are you sorry for, kid? I'm the fucked-up mess, remember? I'm sorry for insisting to work with you last night. Shouldn't have done that. You just go back to Price and Wendy and forget about it all."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," Gibbs replied and looked straight into Tony's green eyes again that were somehow much brighter than before.

Acting without thinking, he reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his wallet. Without looking at the folded photo, he handed it to Tony who took it with a frown on his face.

"I want you to have it. Do whatever you want with it."

He watched Tony unfold it and then stare at it with wide eyes. He remained silent though, so Gibbs took a deep breath and then turned around again, walking away from the younger man for good.

A/N: A review on your way out would be really awesome xD