50 Sentences Expanded

An NCIS Fanfic.

21. Fool – Tony raised the beer to take another sip and chided himself for ever believing that Gibbs would show.

Fool – Part 3

McGee had been the first to leave that Friday night. It was as if the tension that had pervaded the air for the entire day was tangible and he wanted out. Ziva had spent much of the past few hours glaring, snapping at everyone except Tony, and generally being unfriendly and moody. And Tony was numb. He did everything in his power to avoid Gibbs, and he was finding it rather difficult since he was his boss. And he could feel Gibbs' eyes upon him, but he never said a word.

Finally, once he had signed the last form and neatly stacked all his paperwork, Tony packed up.

"Hey Ziva?"

She looked up.

"We still on for dinner at my place tonight, right?"

She smiled. "You bet. Should I bring anything?"

"Just that smiling face." He gave her a big grin, and then ran to catch the elevator before it closed after some other coworkers headed home. Once safely inside, he dropped the mask, and allowed the despair to return to his eyes.

"Dinner?"

Immediately the smile faded from Ziva's face, and she wheeled around to face Gibbs, her glare back in place.

"Yes, Gibbs. Dinner. Tony is my friend. He offered to cook for me. I thought it would be interesting to see what he could actually cook." Then she tersely turned back to her computer screen, closing open pages and then shutting down.

She gathered her things quickly, but couldn't escape Gibbs fast enough.

"Ziva?"

"Yes, Gibbs?" She turned, a mere five steps away from the elevator. He was standing a foot away.

"I want to apologize to Tony."

She frowned. "I would say that it is about time."

"I finally thought of the best way to do it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But…I need some help to make this work. No way is he gonna listen to anything I say without a bit of persuasion."

Her eyes narrowed, and she gripped her bag tighter. But despite her anger, she was glad he was finally going to attempt to make amends. It was about time.

"What do you need me to do?"

.

"Fly me to the moon…"Tony sang quietly to himself. He was beginning to see all the flaws in the songs of the crooners. Love lasting forever. Flying amongst the stars. To a distraught person, the lyrics spilled like poison. He couldn't help but laugh. Even at his lowest, his flirty nature slipped through, thus the Sinatra.

He tried to focus back on the spaghetti, the only dish he felt confident enough to cook without destroying. The noodles were looking squishing, a good sign, and the sauce was simmering nicely. The salad was ready in the fridge. It wasn't half bad, if he didn't say so himself. Now if only he didn't burn the garlic bread.

He was glad Ziva had agreed to dinner. He didn't know if he could handle being completely alone. Who could he whine and complain to without a friend there to hear it? A friend who knew how big of an ass Gibbs could be?

The doorbell chimed, and terrified to step away from the stove for a second, especially since it was time to strain the noodles, he hollered "It's open."

He couldn't for the life of him get the strainer to cooperate, and so, naturally, the scalding water spilt onto his hand.

"Ah, shit!" He dropped the pot in the sink and ran cold water over his stinging fingers.

"Tony."

He turned.

"What are you doing here?"

Gibbs shifted slightly, uncomfortable. He held a bottle of wine in his left hand. "Ziva let me come in her place."

Tony's eyes lit up with anger, but Gibbs wasn't about to back down. He had majorly screwed up and he needed to fix it.

"Why would she do that?" Tony turned his back and turned off the stove. There was no use in dinner now.

"Because she knew I was trying to apologize."

"Ha! Apologize. The great Leroy Jethro Gibbs doesn't apologize. Everyone knows that!"

He used a knife and tried to scrape some noodles that were stuck on the bottom of the pot.

Gibbs set the wine on the counter and stepped toward Tony, gently taking his arm and propelling him around to face him. "I'm apologizing to you."

Tony refused to meet his eyes, but didn't pull away, which Gibbs viewed as a good sign.

"Tony, I really screwed up, okay. I…I didn't know how big of a deal this was to you. I should've. I should've seen the excitement you had the past weeks. I just…I didn't know this," he gestured at the pair of them, "meant so much to you. That this was different." He sighed heavily.

"God, Tony. I took one look at myself in the mirror last night and realized that I was the biggest bastard in the world for not telling you sooner. Not telling you how much I cared about you. I thought you just wanted a dinner to screw with my head or something, and that you didn't know how I felt."

"How you felt? How about how I felt? Huh?" Tony pushed against Gibbs' chest, but Gibbs held tight.

"I should have shown up, Tony. Then we'd both know. And you wouldn't be hurting right now. I'm sorry for not coming to dinner Tony. "

"So why didn't you? You still haven't really answered the question."

"I was… God, Tony I was scared, alright? I didn't think I could give you what I thought you deserved. You aren't like anyone I've ever dated. All three ex-wives don't come close to you. You are the first since…since Shannon that's really made me think…well, I don't know, that maybe we could work.

"You put up with all my flaws, Tony, and I know it ain't easy. I am a bastard."

And for the first time in two days, Gibbs saw a glimmer of hope. Tony smiled. It wasn't his usual all-out DiNozzo grin, but it was a simple smile, a start.

"Yes, you are a bastard. But you should know better than to worry about me wanting someone better, Gibbs. Jethro. Do you honestly think I would have asked you to dinner if I didn't want to be with you? I don't normally do the dinner thing, Gibbs. I mean, sometimes, yeah. But I wanted this to be special. I wanted it to be different because it was."

Gibbs chuckled. "It is. You're something different, Tony. I want you to know that. I was an idiot not to show up."

"Yes you were."

"But I would be extremely willing to show for this one." He waved his hand at the set table, and the sauce that was slowly cooling on the stove top.

"Well, good. Because if you miss another one I might have to kill you."

"Really? Get in line. Ziva has first dibs."

"Ziva?"

"She cornered me in the elevator and told me to make it right with you or she would, essentially hunt me down."

Tony laughed. "Oh, well, then we should definitely give her an excuse to let you live. I want to have a few more dinners with you before you die."

He reached to turn the sauce back on, and then began to try and salvage the noodles.

"Tony?"

He felt the arms wrap around his waist gently.

"I've been a fool."

He turned. "Yes you have. But you can make it up to me."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Glad to hear it."

A/N: I know it isn't the best ending in the world, but that's where I thought the best ending would be. I hope everyone likes it. I tried to keep Gibbs in character, but it really is difficult since we don't see him show that much emotion on the show, normally.

Please let me know what you think. Praise and positive criticism welcome. I don't know if I'm completely happy with this chapter so I may revise it sometime in the future; make it better (IMO).

Also, it's late and any grammar errors I'll have to fix at another time. If you see one, please let me know. There are always one or two.

And if there are any other sentences you would like to see expanded, let me know!

Disclaimer: NCIS is the property of Donald P. Bellisario and Don McGill.