A/N: Aaah, sorry guys for the long wait on this one. Kid got sick and all that fuss, stopped me from actually having time for anything. Hopefully won't happen again. Thanks for reading and commenting! :) Hope you like this one!

Chapter Six: 15

Tony sat down on Gibbs' old childhood room bed and let out a sigh. The night and day had been stressful and sad and devastating all at once. While Gibbs seemed to be able to hold it together pretty well, Tony felt as if he had just lost his own father and not just, well, his boss' dad. They had arranged everything they could have, had closed down the store for the time being, had talked to funeral homes and all the other stuff that needed to be taken care of. Now, he felt exhausted and it was barely even eight o'clock at night.

He looked around Gibbs' old room and couldn't help but chuckle. He hadn't been in here before and yet he would have picked this room for young Gibbs over any other place. Posters of sailboats and the Marines were pinned to the walls, a few football trophies from high school were collecting dust and old school books were crammed into a few shelves. Looked like Jackson had never cleaned this room out and safe for a picture of Gibbs, Shannon and Kelly that stood next to an old radio, it was still 1976 in here. Tony stood up now and walked over to where a couple of old pictures frames were standing. He looked at them for a few moments, realizing that Gibbs actually looked a lot like his mother, as he felt sadness sweeping over him again. He had only realized now that despite Gibbs' gruff exterior, he truly was alone now. There were no more parents, no wives, no daughter. He was the only Gibbs left. Tony swallowed hard. He didn't want Gibbs to be alone like that. He knew that he still had him, Abby and Ducky, Leyla and Amira, but it suddenly made him sadder than ever before.

Before he could dwell on it for too long, though, the door opened up and Gibbs walked in, looking just as exhausted as Tony felt.

"Hey," the younger man greeted him.

Gibbs just nodded and then sank down on his old bed just like Tony had done a couple of minutes earlier. He looked around for a moment before his glance reached his agent and he let out another sigh.

"Think we're done for today," he finally said, running a hand over his face.

"Yeah," Tony replied, sitting down next to him. "Want me to find a hotel for the night?"

"No, I'm just going to stay here. You can, too. Couch's pretty comfortable downstairs."

"Okay," he agreed. "He never changed anything around here, did he?" he added after a little while, letting his glance wander again.

"Not a damn thing," Gibbs chuckled sadly.

"I think it's nice," Tony went on without thinking. "I got nothing left of my childhood. One of the ex-wives threw it out while I was in my first year of college. Not that I would have wanted all the stuff conserved like it's here, but a few pictures of Mom and me would have been nice, you know?"

"Yeah," Gibbs replied thoughtfully before he stood up again, opening one of the drawers and pulling out a photo album.

He handed it to Tony, who took it with more than just a little surprise.

"You sure?" he checked back, but Gibbs just nodded at him, so Tony opened it up and was greeted by an old photograph of a baby Gibbs.

"Cute," he couldn't help but let out a laugh as he turned one page after another.

There weren't many shots, but there were pictures of the most memorable moments of Gibbs' childhood and while Tony was looking at them, he could almost feel Gibbs' composure fall. When he finally turned to look at him after seeing a picture of him and Shannon at their wedding, Gibbs was wearing an oddly torn expression on his face.

"You okay?" Tony asked quietly, knowing that this wasn't like Gibbs to look like that, not even when his dad had just died.

"Yeah," he shrugged in response. "Just… long day."

"You're right," Tony stood up, having gotten the clue. "I'll go downstairs then. I'm just going to call McGee to check in for a sec and all."

"'kay," Gibbs replied and Tony was just about to walk out the room when he realized that he still had the album in his hands. "Sorry," he apologized and wanted to give it back, but Gibbs just shook his head.

"Take it, I'm sure you want to send Abby some pictures."

Tony, despite himself, let out a laugh and was somewhat relieved when Gibbs smiled back at him for a second or two. He watched Gibbs get up from the bed and then finally got moving again. It had been a long day after all.

#

A little while later Tony tried to get comfortable on the old couch in Jackson's living room. He was tired like hell, but yet his mind wouldn't shut up long enough to let him sleep. His own memories were mixing up with the photos he had looked at for the last half an hour. He pictured young Gibbs fighting with Jackson, the two of them going fishing together or simply having a nice dinner with Gibbs' mom. He had no idea why his mind was cooking up stories like that, but he was too tired to question it for too long. It was clearly just his over-imaginative brain that kept on throwing pseudo memories at him. Little did that knowledge help him, though, to find some sleep. He wished he could help Gibbs in some way, help him more than he had already done, but he knew there was nothing to be done for the time being. He was there with him and he knew that if Gibbs needed anything he would just tell him. Yet, Tony couldn't help but feel slightly useless. He wanted to do … more. It was as simple as that.

He was just about to turn around for the 100th time when he heard quiet footsteps coming down the stairs, so he sat up and switched on the light, watching Gibbs walk down.

"Didn't mean to wake you up," the older man said and it almost sounded like an apology.

"Haven't slept yet."

"Yeah," Gibbs just replied, walking into the kitchen. "Care for some bourbon?"

"Sure," Tony replied, pulling on a t-shirt that he had grabbed from where he had discarded it earlier.

Gibbs sat down next to him after a few moments, handing him the promised drink. They sat in silence for a while, each of them sipping the liquor and hanging in thoughts. Only when Gibbs started to fidget ever so slightly, which was so out of character for him, that Tony immediately started to feel nervous because of it, too, did the younger man turn to look at him again. He didn't know what to say though, so he just stared at him, sending his boss his own patented Gibbs-glare. After a little while it worked as Gibbs suddenly looked him in the eyes.

"Know what the worst thing about this is?" he then asked so quietly, that Tony wasn't entirely sure he had spoken at all.

"No," he prompted when Gibbs instead of talking gulped down the rest of his drink.

"Dad called me up just a few days ago. He was so excited he could barely get the words out."

"What was it about?" Tony asked, sensing that this was important to the older man. Otherwise he wouldn't tell him about it in the middle of the night.

"He said his clock," Gibbs replied almost hesitantly as he chanced a glance at Tony. "Had started counting again."

"What?"

"It had started again. My mom… well, after she died, his clock had always been at zero. But he said it had begun ticking again two weeks ago. It was really close, too. Only a couple of days."

"How… I mean… why?" Tony all but stuttered, gaping at the older man next to him who just shrugged.

"The hell if I know," he just replied, refilling his drink.

"Never heard of anything like it. Have you?" Tony said, running a hand through his hair, but only got a shrug in response. "I hate these clock things," he continued, gesturing towards his own that had just switched to a little under fifteen days. "They mess with your head. Would be so much easier without them. No worry about never meeting the one because you simply wouldn't know."

"You say that now," Gibbs replied quietly, downing his second drink in one gulp.

"No, Gibbs. If I could stop these clock things, I would. They're doing no good. You obsess over them, you despair because of them and they make you want to lose your mind when they're turning to zero."

"And they give you hope," the older man said so quietly that Tony moved closer towards him. "Don't tell me you're not getting exciting about the day you'll meet them. Worked for me, too. When I met Shannon and then…," he trailed off, apparently realizing that he was sharing rather intimate thoughts by now.

Tony stared at him for a few moments before he nodded once. He knew that Gibbs was probably right, but it just felt so unfair at times, especially tonight when one woman's dream of meeting a potential other had just literally died.

"Sorry," he started, but Gibbs stopped him with a wave of his hand.

"Don't," he just said and stood up. "Gonna head up again. Try to get some sleep."

"Yeah," Tony answered slowly, not knowing what had suddenly brought up the slight tension between the two of them, but decided to blame it on recent events. "Night."

"Night," Gibbs replied as he walked up the stairs again, leaving Tony sitting there for a long time after he had disappeared.

He knew that he had done nothing wrong and that Gibbs wasn't mad at him or anything, but yet he couldn't help but feel slightly guilty inside of him. He knew that he shouldn't feel that way, but something was nagging at him nonetheless. He didn't know what exactly it was, but the thought about the clocks starting to tick again suddenly had him nervous. He knew that it should have been a comforting thought, but there was something inside of him that made him more than just a bit uncomfortable. Nothing could ever be easy, could it?

Sighing, he lay down again, suddenly feeling particularly lonely. He would have to stop thinking about the clocks, there were more pressing matters on his hands right now and yet his thoughts were always coming back to his arm and its engraved clock. And if that didn't suck, nothing ever would.