A/N: Sorry for the long wait on this one. Thanks again for all your reviews and favorites :) Hope you like this chapter and keep on reading :) x

Chapter Four: 18

God, he hated Mondays. Tony walked out the elevator, glumly looking out the windows, where the sun was shining brightly. He would have loved to just walk outside, have a cup of coffee and just enjoy life, but of course he had to work. Mondays.
And yet, it didn't feel all that bad in comparison to any other Monday. He was actually keen on going to work and see his people. That per se wasn't unusual, but the sudden jittery feeling he had in his stomach when he sat down at his desk and saw Gibbs and the others was. It was weird. He felt downright joyful.

Subtly shaking his head, he booted up his computer, meaning to cast a quick glance at Gibbs, but stopped dead then. Gibbs was openly staring at him, his eyes set on Tony's own ones. He stared right back at him for a moment, raising an eyebrow.

"You okay?" he finally asked when the look became too intense for his liking, causing both McGee and Bishop to look up at him.

"Yeah, DiNozzo," Gibbs replied briskly, shaking his head as if he hadn't even been aware that he'd done something out of the ordinary. "Did you finish your report on Friday?"

"Yeah, should be in your inbox somewhere," Tony answered, subtly shaking his head, too.

He was still slightly taken aback but decided to ignore it for the moment, knowing that Gibbs would most likely be irritated if he continued to watch him more closely than usual.
And sure enough, he didn't have much time to think about it anyway because Gibbs' cell rang a few minutes later, finally bringing them the long awaited case.

##

By the end of the day, Tony could almost feel Bishop and McGee's irritability. Whatever they had tried to find out, Tony had just been a step ahead of them, already presenting his findings to their boss. He didn't know why, he was just on a roll today. He'd think of things before Gibbs even told them what to do. It was a great feeling as he wasn't used to it anymore. Back then when it had only been Gibbs and him, he'd get the occasional praise, spurring him on. He was still getting them now, too, but he always had to share them with the other two, so this was really good.
He grinned at Ellie as he shut off his computer for the day, feeling certain that they would crack the case the next day. Gut feeling told him he was right about that and while it wasn't anywhere Gibbs' accuracy, he'd take it for tonight.
Bishop grinned back at him ever so slightly, even though she looked tired and Tony was just about to comment on it when he felt a sudden tug in his stomach. Feeling slightly nervous, he brought a hand to it as he watched McGee and Bishop walking to the elevator and disappearing inside of it.

"DiNozzo?"

"Yeah, boss?" Tony answered, turning around to face Gibbs.

"You okay?" he echoed Tony's question from that very morning. "Look pale."

"No, I'm fine. I'm just…" Tony stopped, pondering if he should tell Gibbs about that odd feeling when he realized that they had already talked about it after all. "I feel nervous, but I got no clue why, you know?"

"Huh," Gibbs just answered, furrowing a brow.

"I forgot to ask," Tony continued as he looked around the bullpen and realized it was empty. "Did, uh,… Shannon ever tell you if she… felt you, too?"

"No, she didn't. Had no clue what I was talking about."

"Ever wondered why that was?"

"Yeah," Gibbs replied as they made their way to exit the bullpen. "But there's nothing anyone can do about it."

"Does that bother you?" Tony couldn't help but quip and he suddenly felt amused as the previous nervous feeling vanished.

"What do you think?" Gibbs replied dryly as he pressed the button to the garage. "You got any plans tonight?"

Tony chanced a sideways glance at him, but Gibbs just seemed to be genuinely curious, so he answered. "No, not really. Drink a glass of wine or two. Celebrate a day you haven't head slapped me at all."

The slap on the head that followed was no surprise the question that followed was though.

"You care for a steak? My place?"

"Sure," Tony answered, finally turning to look at his boss more closely. "What brought this up?"

"Nothing," Gibbs replied, obviously a bit bashful and annoyed at the same time.

"Yeah, because you just hand out invitations every second."

"Ok, forget it," Gibbs replied as he stalked out the elevator, obviously amused now.

"No, I'm coming, Gibbs," Tony hurried to catch up with him. He might be confused, but he would never turn down one of Gibbs' cowboy style steaks. "Follow you home?"

"Yup," was all the older man replied before he climbed into his truck and drove away, leaving Tony standing there, feeling giddy and nervous all at once.

##

Tony leaned back against the back of the couch, sighing loudly.

"This was really good. Thanks, Gibbs."

The other man just grunted in reply, his eyes never leaving the television in front of them, where a baseball game was playing.

"You did good today."

"Yeah," Tony replied, scratching the back of his head. "Don't know why. Just had a… gut feeling maybe?"

"That or you're just a good investigator."

Slightly taken aback as he hadn't expected two compliments in a row from Gibbs off all people, Tony sat up straighter, eyeing his boss carefully.

"You sure everything's alright, boss? You're not dying, are you?"

Gibbs let out a snort and whacked him upside the head again as he shook his own.

"Nah, no such luck, DiNozzo. Just might be the last chance to… you know… tell you."

"Am I dying?" Tony asked, openly staring at Gibbs until the older man finally turned to look at him.

Tony had no idea what was going on. He knew that Gibbs knew he was good at his job and he also knew that Gibbs was not a man of many words, so he had no idea what had brought this up. The older man had a slightly vulnerable expression on his face, but he covered it pretty quickly, replacing it with an unreadable neutral mask, which only served to make Tony even more nervous.

"No, just thinking about the future. You might not be here anymore in a few months or so."

"Director say anything to you?" Tony checked back, not understanding what the hell Gibbs was talking about.

"No," Gibbs said, obviously annoyed by now. "But you might move, might decide to find another job, that kind of stuff."

"Have you been drinking, boss?" Tony replied, shaking his head vigorously. "There's no way I'm leaving this team. You guys are all I have. You know that."

"You won't be thinking like that once you've met her."

"You talking about the soul mate?" At Gibbs' nod, Tony continued. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not giving up on the one good thing that has ever happened to me. I might not be as smart as McGee is, but I'm not entirely dumb, you know?"

Gibbs remained silent for a moment and Tony took that chance to study the older man. He was looking rather sad and Tony felt that weird nervous something tug at his insides again. He still felt like he was in an episode of the Twilight Zone due to Gibbs acting so weird, but at the same time he realized with a jolt that he was sitting next to the real Gibbs, the one who was entirely honest and open. He had seen that version of Gibbs a few times and he could count them with the fingers on one hand. Still, he had no idea what had brought this up.
Almost unconsciously, Tony brought his hand to his right forearm and traced the numbers there. Why did they have to screw everything up?

"Okay," Gibbs finally said, a look of determination suddenly on his face. "I'll take you up on it."

"No, I will take you up on it, boss."

Gibbs nodded again, turning back to the game that was still on. Tony stared at his boss for a moment longer before he did the same, though he wasn't really watching the game at all. A few moments passed before he bumped his shoulder against Gibbs', unable to think of a better way to end that awkward situation.

"You won't get rid of me that easily."

"Good," Gibbs replied and Tony felt a wave of relief wash over him as he realized that the seriousness was gone from the older man's voice.

Gibbs leaned into their touch for a second before he stood up to get another beer for both of them. And just like that, Tony was feeling better again, even though he had no idea when he had started to feel… well, bad… before.