No, he'd never wish for Tony to trade his place with Kelly or Shannon or anyone else; he wished he'd take their places; heck, he'd wholeheartedly trade his place with Tony now; because the world would, no doubt, be a better place with him in it; a much better place.

"You never learn, do you?"

Gibbs' head snapped up from the crook of his arm to find Kab-something sitting on the chair opposite him.

"Kabshiel!" The angel growled, as he'd clearly read his mind. "How hard is that to remember?"

"You!"

"Anyway, as I was saying, apparently you never learn!"

"What?"

"Do we have to spell everything out for you mortals?" He rolled his eyes. "I'm talking about you wishing to change your place with someone else! Wishing for the dead to be alive and the living to be dead instead! You obviously won't learn that there's a reason for everything!"

"This isn't real!" Gibbs almost shouted and then looked around to see how the few people in the library had reacted. Nobody seemed to have noticed.

"Don't worry about them; they won't notice. You're in a... Limbo, let's say!"

"Limbo?" His eyes widened; that meant he must be dying or something!

"Not that kind of limbo!" Kabshiel shook his head with frustration. "I just used the word for the lack of a better one in your earthly language."

"My earthly-" Gibbs growled. "Cut the crap. Who the hell are you? What the hell is this?"

"I've answered this question before; that you stubbornly refuse to believe me is not my fault and I can't change it. I'm an angel; and I'm here to teach you a lesson. And before you start, this is real; this is the reality that would've happened, had your girls survived that accident. Of course, since you humans have free will and everything, there sure could have been other possibilities; thousands of them even; but this one was the most probable and considering your personality and the way you make your decisions, I have to say you would've gone down this path, one way or another." The angel explained in a serious, yet bored tone.

"No!" Gibbs was again shaking his head in denial; "My girls would never end up like this. Yes, if DiNozzo died, everything related to him could end up exactly like this; but my girls, my Shannon and Kelly wouldn't take this path."

Kabshiel remained silent.

"This is a nightmare."

"Then maybe I should leave and you can wish you'd wake up every single minute while living the rest of your life like this. Enjoy your life!"

Before he knew what he was doing, Gibbs jumped forward and grabbed the other man's wrist.

Rolling his eyes, the angel said, "didn't I tell you that your clutch is not enough to keep things here? Didn't I also prove it when I took your friend's body away?"

"Tony." Gibbs moaned as he was reminded of the younger man's dead body in his arms. "Where's he?" When he got no answer, his shoulders dropped. "Please!"

"Please? Please what?"

"Take me instead of him? If someone has to-"

"Shut up!" The angel growled angrily. "No wonder we're not allowed to contact you humans. We don't have the patience for this much stupidity! Now I realize the Big Guy is way more patient than we give him credit for!" Taking a few seconds, he finally calmed down. "You think the world would be a better place if you had died instead of your friend? What about the people you saved? Although, I can assure you that with Anthony DiNozzo Jr. dead, some of the people that you've saved are dead, too; after all, in this reality you didn't become a cop; you didn't choose a job to save people and catch criminals once you left the Marine. Maybe it's not a bad choice to take you away, too if you still wanna choose to keep your daughter alive and live this reality."

So, this was his only choice? He had to choose between the life and death of his daughter? A sound like a whimper left his throat. "I can't-"

Taking pity on the old man, the angel said, "It's really not your choice if that makes you feel better; your girls must've died that day; it was a tragedy; but there's no way around it. You're not the one choosing her death, really. You're just choosing to accept it or live in a world where she's alive but has been pushed down another tragic road."

"Things wouldn't end like this!" Gibbs denied again. "Kelly wouldn't become so bitter and spiteful."

"Maybe; maybe not!" The angel shrugged. "If Shannon hadn't witnessed that murder; if Hernandez hadn't become a killer; if if if... Then you all would've lived happily ever after." He titled his head. "Or something else could've taken them from you. Or you from them. Or many many other possibilities. But then again, if Hitler hadn't been so ambitious; if Man hadn't built the nuclear bomb; if Adam and Eve hadn't committed the first sin! You see where I'm going with this? You've got free will; yes; but things still happen for a reason and then one thing leads to another; you can't change other people's paths by your wishes; sometimes no matter what you choose, someone else's choice affects you and those who you care about; just as your choices have affected many people. Just as your friend's choice affected many lives and with his death many things changed; he saved that boy in that fire and that boy grew up to save more people and the chain goes on."

"So, there's nothing I can do to have them and my current life?"

"Your current life is this." He said, waving his hand around to show the library and everything else. "I understand you still can't believe it; you think it's just a dream; but it's not. One wish has been granted; the universe has shifted because of it and now this is it."

Gibbs' breath got caught in his throat. No! No! This couldn't be it! It was way worse than what he had before. The anguish reflected on his face. "I can't live like this."

"No. No you can't." Kabshiel nodded sagely. "The way I see it, you'll probably end your life soon; because you feel responsible for Anthony's death; and Shannon's death and Kelly's bitterness and so many other things. And at this point, the world wouldn't change much after your death, because here you aren't the Federal Agent who saves people and catches the bad guys; of course some people would miss you and your demise would affect some, but not as bad as it has with you choosing this world over the other one."

Gibbs stared at him brokenly. He had to wake up from this nightmare; he just had to!

"If this was a nightmare;" He held up a hand to silence Gibbs as he opened his mouth. "IF. Because it's not and I'm not joking around; this is now your reality and you have the memories of the past years to prove it; you're just not accepting it yet. Imagine that parallel worlds existed; then if you haven't gone that way and become a Federal Agent, who lost his family in a tragic event; this one, this world, would be the most highlighted one for you and you would've chosen this way, based on your personality. There's a chance Shannon would've forgiven you for your crime and accepted you; then Kelly wouldn't have gone this way, either; but like I said, you've got memories that shows you how things have gone south and how this isn't a mind game or a nightmare; so if this was a nightmare, then would it change anything when you woke up from it?"

Gibbs swallowed and after only a second of hesitation, he nodded his head. "I don't want this." This time, his voice didn't tremble. "I believe in my girls and I refuse to believe this'd be the definite outcome; but I know I don't want this. I can't stand the pain in my girl's eyes and I know the world needs DiNozzo in it. I'll take my old life over this anytime."

"And if you had the chance of experiencing another outcome; another parallel world; one that you still don't know how would turn out, would you want it at the cost of someone else's life?"

Gibbs gulped and closed his eyes. After some seconds, he finally shook his head.

"What's dead should stay dead, Gibbs."

He nodded, his fists clenching and pulling at his hair.

"We're not gonna grant any other wishes like this. We won't change the course of action so big that shifts the universe again."

With that, Gibbs' shoulder dropped and he sighed, feeling utterly broken. So, this was it? He'd brought down death on Tony by his words and he'd fallen into a frightening reality that apparently was the most probable had he not lost Shan and Kelly that day?

"You'll be given another chance."

His head snapped up with hope.

"No near impossible wishes will be granted. I say near impossible because nothing is impossible for us; but what would you learn if we interfered all the time? And imagine when everyone's wishes were to come true! It'd create a chaos; no doubt! What would happen when your wishes clashed with someone else's? The world would be an even huger mess! Even God wouldn't be patient enough for that." He chuckled at his own joke. "And besides, that'd mean saying goodbye to free will! So, all I can do now; all I'm allowed to do, is take you back to the other world and not grant Anthony's wish to change his place with your girls. The rest is up to you."

Gibbs sighed with relief but remembering his words, he suddenly grimaced. "I really said those things to him?"

"Oh, you did and it was your choice; something that you gotta fix."

"Damn!"

"Not yet."

Gibbs tried to glare, but the angel -wait, when had he started to believe that theory, instead of a mind game or a nightmare?-; snapped his fingers and then Gibbs found himself standing behind the door of Tony's apartment.

The door was slightly ajar again; so he let himself in and he actually sighed in relief when he saw all of Tony's furniture and stuff there and found the place neat and well-ordered, just the way Tony kept it.

The question now was what would he find if he looked for the younger man or how could he make up for what he'd said?!

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TBC ...

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A/N: Share your thoughts with me?

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I don't own the show and its characters and all mistakes are mine.