A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! :-)

Chapter Thirteen.

"Abby called. Get down there and see what she wants," Gibbs all but barked at Tony who sat across from him.

"Alone?" the younger man asked, wincing ever so slightly.

Gibbs fixed him with his patented Gibbs glare, but Tony just looked back at him steadily, so Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"You've been working here for almost a month, DiNozzo," he finally said. "Don't you think it's time to stop being afraid of her?"

Tony just raised an eyebrow at him, but Gibbs knew that the younger agent had his reservations when it came to Abby. He didn't know what it was exactly, but Tony would always stand behind Gibbs whenever they were down in the lab, making sure that there was as much space between him and Abby as possible. Abby, in return, seemed to only just tolerate him and Gibbs was even more confused about that because she basically liked everybody and he had never seen her behave like that towards anybody before. Gibbs had briefly entertained the idea that she might have been romantically interested in Tony, but he had discarded that particular idea pretty quickly. He wasn't her type at all. Besides, it wasn't like Tony wasn't taken anyway. He redirected his thoughts from Wendy to the present quickly, not wanting to be caught daydreaming in the office and least of all by Tony. He had promised not to ask about Tony's private life, so he wouldn't. He was a man of his word after all.

"Please, I'm not afraid of her," Tony answered indignantly now. "I just don't like the way she's looking at me. Like I'm the most disgusting thing on earth."

"Don't be ridiculous," Gibbs replied gruffly, all the time knowing that Tony was probably right. "Get down there, now."

"On it, boss," the young man said defeated and finally stood up, slowly walking towards the elevator.

Gibbs watched him go, vowing to himself that he'd stop by at Abby's before he went home that night, making sure that she would treat the kid better.
Despite the Goth's obvious dislike for Tony, the first month had gone by well. Tony had passed the FLETC with flying colors and had settled at NCIS pretty quickly. He was professional when it came to the cases and annoying when it came to his movie references that Gibbs rarely ever understood. Ducky, however, had pointed out that it certainly didn't hurt having someone to distract Gibbs from the sometimes horrifying cases and Gibbs couldn't help but to agree. He found himself being more satisfied at work, found himself more balanced somehow and he had come to realize that hiring Tony had been a good idea, despite their complicated history. He didn't regret it, that was for sure, even if he sometimes wished they could be more than just boss and junior agent.

He sighed and then went back to their suspect's bank accounts to look for anything suspicious. A couple of minutes later, he finally found what he had been looking for and made his way down to Abby's lab to ask her for help as she was better than him with all the new computer stuff. He was just about to enter her lab when Tony's voice traveled towards his ears and caught his attention, so that he stopped, careful not to trigger the doors to open up and reveal his whereabouts.

"Can I ask," Tony said calmly to Abby who had her back to him. "What your problem is with me? I mean, I wouldn't care much, but Gibbs wouldn't let it rest, so…"

Abby slowly turned around now, her hands on her hips.

"You don't care if I like you?"

"No," Tony sighed, his shoulders visibly slumping. "That's not what I said, Abby. I do care, but I get that some people just don't like others. That's okay, but I really would like to know what's wrong with me because you seem to like everyone else here."

Abby remained silent and Gibbs winced ever so slightly as he saw the look on her face now. He had never seen her like that, but while he was still thinking about it, her features softened ever so slightly. Tony seemed to realize that, too, because his shoulders started to relax.

"It's not like I don't like you," she finally answered. "It's just… I don't know anything about you. You talk so much, but never say anything about yourself. All I know is that Gibbs picked you up at Baltimore and that you like movies. That's about it. How can I possibly trust you to have Gibbs' back when I know nothing about you? I know he likes you otherwise he wouldn't have picked you over all the others, but what I don't know is why. Gibbs is special and he usually doesn't like anybody at all. But ever since you've gotten here, he's in such a good mood. I don't say that it's obvious, but he actually smiles like twice a week now. You might not realize it, but that's huge for the bossman."

"So you don't like me because Gibbs likes me - which by the way is totally ridiculous because he's being a bastard with me all the time?" Tony asked, his tone of voice impatient, but Gibbs hadn't missed the slight edge to it.

He couldn't blame him, either. Did Gibbs really smile more often ever since Tony had started to work for him? He had tried to act like he always did, he had been gruff to the kid, had ordered him around and had even head slapped him a couple of times. So when had Abby caught up on the fact that he was indeed glad to have him around?

"No," Abby's voice roused him from his thoughts. "That's just how Gibbs' shows his love," Abby chuckled before she turned serious again. "I just don't know what to do with you, yet."

"And I can change that how?"

"Tell me about yourself. Like, for instance… do you have a girlfriend, fiancée, wife? Why did you join the force? Where do you live?"

Tony snorted and for a moment Gibbs was sure that it had been the wrong thing to do, but then Abby smiled at him and he knew that she might get over her dislike for Tony pretty soon as long as the young man wouldn't lie to her.

"I once saved a kid from a fire and it felt good to be able to help people, you know. And as I'm not likely to be bitten by a radioactive spider and turn into some kind of superhero that basically just left being a cop. That's why I joined the force. For the other questions," Gibbs could almost hear the grin fade from Tony's face now and he inched closer in hopes to actually see his face, but it was to no avail. "No, I don't have a girlfriend. We broke up about a month ago. She was supposed to move here with me, but well… didn't work out. So I have this huge apartment that desperately needs some paint all for myself over in Alexandria."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Abby replied quietly now as she tilted her head to look more closely at the young man.

"Yeah, well," Tony dismissed it. "Things happen. It's okay."

"It will be," Abby said and then all but jumped forwards and enveloped him in a tight hug.

Tony stumbled backwards in surprise before he pulled his arms around her. Gibbs could see his shoulders shaking and could hear him laugh softly. He stepped away from the door and leaned against the closed metallic doors of the elevator. Had Tony really ended his relationship with Wendy? And what did that mean for him? He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He had sworn to himself that he wouldn't entertain thoughts about himself and Tony ever again, would let them rot in hell for all times to come. But that had always included the fact that Tony was still with Wendy, which had apparently changed now. And what was that about having moved to Alexandria? Gibbs realized that it was probably in the kid's file now, but he hadn't bothered to read it over since he had started working for him. Was he living really that close to him and had never told him?

Gibbs shook his head and then finally got going again, knowing that it would be no use thinking about stuff like that at work. He walked through the doors into Abby's lab now and then stopped short as he saw Abby and Tony still hugging tightly.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked briskly as they let go of each other.

"This is not what it looks like, boss," Tony hurried to explain, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks which caused Gibbs to smirk ever so slightly.

"Looks like you two finally sorted things out."

"Yes, we did," Abby answered, smiling at him broadly. "And in order to celebrate that, I decided to help Tony paint his new apartment."

"You did?" Tony asked slightly surprised, causing Gibbs to chuckle again.

"Yup. You in, too, bossman?"

Gibbs stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to say. He had promised not to barge into Tony's life. Would helping him paint his apartment violate the newly drawn boundaries between them? Gibbs turned to look at the younger man who was still a bit pink in the face and at his shrug, he did the same.

"Sure," he finally answered.

"Awesome," Abby cheered before she hugged him tightly. "It will be so much fun, I love painting."

"Right," Gibbs just said and then cleared his throat. "Back to work people. Abby, I got Robinson's bank account here…"

.

Gibbs watched Abby and Tony joke around two days later. It was a Saturday and for once they weren't on call. They had painted most of Tony's new apartment in the last couple of hours and while Gibbs was slowly but steadily getting tired of it, the other two had become sillier with every hour that had passed. Right now they were involved in a serious paint war and Gibbs had no idea how they would ever get the paint out of their hair again. Tony's face was almost completely white by now and just when Gibbs was about to bark at them to get back to work again, the young man turned and fixed him with a mischievous look.

"Oh, no," Gibbs said hastily, trying to get his heartbeat under control like every time Tony actually made eye contact with him these days. "Don't you dare."

"Yeah, Tony," Abby said giggling. "Trust me, Gibbs has quick reflexes. One drop of color on his face and he'll have you pinned to the ground with no way for you to escape."

Tony just snorted, not the least intimidated. If anything, his grin had just gotten wider.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs growled, trying to hide his own grin and to get rid of the sudden images that formed in his head about the time when Tony had him pinned down on the bed in that hotel room over ten years ago.

"Fine," Tony replied, holding up his hands in surrender, his eyes still locked on Gibbs'. "I'll behave, but just because…"

"Because what?" Abby chuckled, dumping her brush into the paint bucket.

"I'm in a forgiving mood today," Tony answered distractedly, still staring at Gibbs with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Well, you should be. We've helped you paint. But I'm done now," Abby declared, apparently oblivious to the sudden tension in the air. "And I'll get going, have a date tonight."

"Okay," Tony answered, finally turning towards her. "Thanks for helping. I owe you a drink or two."

"I'll take you up on that, Mister," she said, smiling and pointing a finger at him.

She hugged them both goodbye, managing to get paint all over Gibbs' sweatshirt which had been stainless before. He didn't complain though, he never did with Abby after all. He watched Tony accompany her to the door to see her out as he washed out the brushes. His pulse had suddenly quickened as he realized that it would be the first time he was alone with Tony outside of work. He had no clue what to talk about or what to say to him. Should he just leave, making sure not to overstep any invisible line between them? And what had that look between them meant?

"Thanks for helping me out," Tony's voiced interrupted his train of thought.

Gibbs looked up from where he was kneeling in front of the bucket to see Tony casually leaning against the doorframe.

"No problem."

"Isn't it?" Tony challenged as Gibbs stood up, drying his hands on his already ruined sweater.

"Should it be?"

"No," Tony replied, smiling at him ever so slightly. "Was just surprised you agreed so easily."

Gibbs remained silent, watching the other man carefully. He wanted to tell him that he loved spending time with him and that he would do just about anything to see him, but he bit his tongue and stayed silent until Tony finally let out a sigh and started to talk again.

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"I don't know. This thing you do. At work you're that bastard of a boss who's rude to everyone and everything around him and I think I get it. It keeps us on our toes and gets the job done. But every time you're around Abby or off work, I suppose, you're a completely different man. Why do you do that?"

Gibbs let out a sigh and almost imperceptibly shook his head. He hadn't realized he had been doing it, but now that he thought about it, he knew Tony's words to be true. He had been so busy with not showing any signs that he did in fact like Tony that he had unintentionally shown him the cold shoulder, making it clear not to approach him on a more personal level.

"Didn't mean to," he finally replied, once again feeling unable to lie to the kid. "Was just trying to stay away from… your life."

"Why?" Tony asked quietly now.

"Promised, didn't I?"

"Guess so," Tony replied thoughtfully. "But when I asked for no strings attached I didn't meant that you were supposed to be a bastard to me all the time."

"What did you mean, then?" Gibbs asked, growing more confused by the second.

"I don't know," Tony shrugged, his cheeks once again reddening ever so slightly. "I thought that maybe we could be… friends, I guess."

"Friends, huh? That's all you want?" Gibbs checked back before he could stop himself, feeling slightly light-headed by now. Must be the fumes of the paint…

"Yeah," Tony replied distractedly as he stared out the window behind Gibbs. "Friends."

"Then why did you break up with Wendy?" Gibbs inquired, knowing that he was treading into uncharted waters now.

Tony stared at him with an unreadable expression on his face before he shook his head and walked over towards the other paint bucket and all but threw his brush into it. He still wasn't looking at Gibbs when he finally answered.

"I… realized she probably wasn't the one."

"How come?" Gibbs asked softly, knowing that one wrong word would revert them back into boss and junior agent mode.

"You know the saying… something like… if you want two people at the same time, you're definitely not in love with the first because otherwise you wouldn't have fallen for the second one?"

"Yeah," Gibbs answered slowly, his heart picking up pace again.

Was Tony really telling him what he thought he was?

"So, yeah, that's basically it. Don't think I broke up with her just because of the possibility of…" he broke off for a moment, running a hand through his hair and messing it up even more. "There was other stuff, too. Like she didn't get why I didn't snitch Danny to the captain or why I wanted to start working for NCIS."

"I'm sorry."

"No," Tony answered decisively as he finally turned around to look at him. "It had nothing to do with you."

"But you said…" Gibbs started, but was interrupted.

"I know what I said. And I meant it, too. But I know it's not going to happen right now. Listen… So much is changing right now. New job, new apartment, new friends and everything. It's too much right now."

Gibbs stared at him, feeling like he had been dipped into ice-cold water. He had no idea what Tony was zeroing in right now, but he knew that it wasn't likely to be anything good for him.

"I have to adapt, okay?" Tony continued after a while when Gibbs remained silent. "I didn't break things up with Wendy because of you. Granted, you got me off track for a while there, but then I realized that I really, really wanted this job and when Wendy didn't understand, I figured I had to do what was best for me. I don't know if that makes me an ass or not and I don't care. Most of my life I did what everybody else told me to do, but I'm done with that now. I wanted this job with you, so I took it despite our… whatever this is. But that doesn't mean I'm over everything. I thought I loved Wendy. Hell, I would've married her if you hadn't come along. I'm not blaming you or anything, though, and I'd lie to you if I said there's nothing between us. But I'm not ready to face it just yet, okay? I'll need some time… that is if you actually want..."

Gibbs blinked twice and then straightened himself, trying to get rid of an odd mixture of feelings. He was sad for the kid, was excited about the prospect of actual feelings on Tony's side and the dread that he might never be ready.

"I don't know, Tony," he answered, trying to get eye contact and finally getting it when Tony looked up. "Like you said, it's complicated. But if it means anything to you, I'll be… you know, there. For whatever. As a friend or your boss. Whatever you need."

"Appreciate it," Tony answered, beaming at him happily.

"Maybe I'm not that much of a bastard after all, huh?" Gibbs attempted to joke, trying to get rid of the lump in his throat.

"Oh, you are," Tony gave back, smiling openly at him. "And don't ever change that."

.

Later that night as Gibbs was lying on his couch, trying to fall asleep, he still wasn't quite sure if he was supposed to be happy or devastated by the turn of events. He usually wasn't one to brood over things like that, as he normally just took action to avoid any deeper thinking, but he couldn't do that this time. He would have to wait and see what Tony wanted – if he even wanted anything.

But Gibbs knew one thing for sure: he would wait – no matter what.