I'm working on Chapter 11 right now because I like to be ahead of the curve all the time. Um…any tips on child raising would be appreciated, such as at what ages different things happen, what goes on the first few weeks, how long babies stay in the hospital…
Other than that, enjoy this chapter (just not too much because it's sad ). It's a little shorter than usual, but it makes up for that in angst.
"Do you want to know why I stopped kissing you, Tony?"
Tony stood at the door still, his eyes sparkling in much confusion. This was not at all the conversation he had thought would eventually come up between them. "Yeah…um…shit. Want to come in and sit down?"
Gibbs followed Tony into the TV room, but whereas Gibbs sat on the couch, Tony sat in the chair facing the couch. I should have had a little more to drink, Gibbs thought before steeling himself to speak: "Don't say anything once I begin speaking; this will be hard enough on its own. I can't remember the last time I told this to anyone, if I ever did." Tony's head was cocked to one side.
"I got married in 1982 to Shannon." It was not a name Tony recognized in the list of ex-wives. "In '84 we had a daughter- Kelly." Gibbs dared not look at the shocked expression on the young face before him; he remained staring at a fixed spot on the wall. "She was beautiful- red hair and blue eyes and always happy. She always loved working on the boats with me. When she was about seven, I left for a tour in Kuwait. I can even remember kissing them good-bye," he said, in a wondering tone.
"While I was gone, Shannon witnessed the shooting of a Marine. She agreed to testify and her and our daughter were assigned an agent to watch out for them." Tony began to feel a little sick. "One day, a dirtbag shot the agent who was driving our car. Shannon and Kelly…." A long moment of silence ensued. "My wife and daughter died in the crash." A strangled gasp escaped Tony's mouth but no more. He had promised and the sweat and brightness of Gibbs' eyes told him that any distraction would surely screw this up. He hadn't even noticed Gibbs' hands shaking, though he knew his boss looked ten years older. There had been unguarded moments in which Tony felt Gibbs was open and vulnerable. Now he knew that those moments came nowhere near vulnerable. He stared at the carpet, pretending to not have noticed the tear streak growing down Gibbs' left cheek.
"Soon after, I got in the way of a bomb so I was an invalid for a few months. Never stopped thinking 'bout them. When I returned home, I joined NIS, who had been investigating the murders. Officially it is still a cold case." Tony knew his boss to well for that. There is no way that son of a bitch was still alive. "I couldn't get involved without you knowing, though none of my ex-wives know. Ducky and Jenny don't even know. But you are going to have a daughter. I couldn't honestly be around you two without you knowing. She was the joy of my life and every girl I see I measure up to her standards, subconsciously."
There had been several times in his life when Tony realized how important Gibbs was to him. When he realized that he would lay his life down in a heartbeat for him. The first time was in a sterilized room, pained and barely conscious when Gibbs ordered him, "You will not die." Even in a fever fog he felt the words caressing his ears, providing more comfort than any he had received through the whole ordeal. There were other times when he knew Gibbs to be important to him, but he knew he would lay down his life for the man in these two cases simply because Gibbs gave him a reason to live.
Tony stood from his chair and sat next to the man hunched over with his head in his hands. He placed a light hand on Gibbs' neck and felt the trembling beneath his fingers. The shoulders soon followed, shaking as the man his heart bled for cried at the retelling and reliving of the worst period of his life. Tony curled his arm the rest of the way around the heaving shoulders, drawing closer in the one action he never thought he's be doing—comforting Leroy Jethro Gibbs.