Episode tag for "The Bone Yard."

"Student and Teacher"

Tony was relieved to find the gym empty, save for himself and one other soon-to-arrive. Truth be told, he was now questioning the wisdom of an idea he'd had a few days prior, but it was too late to back out now he supposed. Still, Gibbs would be here any minute and he really didn't want an audience for what he was about to do.

It had started about a week ago when the Lead Agent had announced to his team that they would be practicing their hand-to-hand combat skills in the gym the next morning. Tony had actually been taking some boxing classes and felt eager to show off his new skills in front of the boss. Much to his delight, Gibbs had paired McGee with Kate so that Tony would have the opportunity to square off with the older man one-on-one.

The younger agent had been pleased with his own performance in the beginning. He'd managed to block several of Gibbs' blows, even earning a rare "not bad" from the other man. His confidence, however, had soon been replaced by humiliation as he'd unexpectedly found himself lying flat on his back, and somewhat painfully at that. Once again, Gibbs had made it all look so easy.

It could have been worse. At least he didn't do what Kate did to poor McGee. Tony shuddered at memory of the younger man writhing in pain after their female partner had delivered a surprise blow to his crotch. And people thought he was vicious in his teasing of the Probie agent.

His thoughts turning back to that morning, he settled on another memory. He'd kept telling himself it was no big deal. It didn't actually mean anything. It's just that Gibbs had done that thing again. Right after he'd explained that the Marines teach fighting, not boxing, with Tony still flat on the ground in pain, Gibbs had taken off his glove and made that one tiny little gesture. Again. The one that brought back words like "You don't waste good" and "You're irreplaceable." One teeny tiny pat on the cheek, and Tony couldn't get it out of his mind for days. But, man, if it didn't make Tony wonder if maybe, just maybe, the older man actually cared about him. Or at least something close to it.

Gibbs' work had been particularly impressive that week. When Tony had discovered that Agent Fornell's "suicide" had been a ruse cooked up by his boss all along, part of his big master plan to clear the other man's name, he had been blown away. I want to be that good someday, he'd thought. If I can get him to teach it to me, I want to learn everything Gibbs knows.

That was when the idea had come to him which had led him to his current predicament, standing in the gym by the boxing ring once again waiting for Gibbs. After the shock of Fornell's very-much-alive state of being had worn off, Tony had found an opportunity to approach Gibbs privately.

Three days prior:

"Hey, Boss? You got a minute?" Tony had run over to catch the elevator and Gibbs had managed to stop the doors from closing just in time.

"What's going on, Tony?"

"Well, Boss, you know that move you did in the gym the other day?"

Gibbs smiled slightly in amusement as he remembered the stunned expression on Tony's face right after he'd gotten the upper hand on the younger man. "You mean the one where I laid you out flat on your back?"

"Yeah, that one, Boss," Tony said rather sheepishly.

"Mmm-hmm. Takin' one for the team?"

Now DiNozzo was thoroughly embarrassed. He'd tried to claim to his teammates that he'd let Gibbs win on purpose, but of course his boss had walked in at just the right time and he'd earned quite a headslap for it. "Uh, yeah, about that. I was just – "

"Trying to save face in front of your teammates? Yeah, I know, DiNozzo. What about it?"

"Well, the thing is, Boss…I was actually wondering if maybe sometime…if you wouldn't mind or anything…if you'd maybe….show me how you did that?"

However awkwardly the question had been posed, Gibbs felt a surge of pride, not just in Tony, but in the fact that Tony wanted to learn something from him. nodded. "Pick a day, after work. We'll go down to the gym and do some training."

"Thanks, Boss. Can we just keep this between us, though?"

Gibbs simply nodded in acknowledgment, much to Tony's relief.

If Kate or McGee found out, they'd never let me hear the end of it.

Present time…

Tony was brought back to the moment by the closing of the door and the entrance of his boss. He wasn't certain why, but he was feeling incredibly nervous all of a sudden.

"You ready, DiNozzo?"

"Sure, Boss," he said with about as much uncertainly as he felt.

"Tony?"

"Yeah?"

Gibbs walked up and put his hands on the younger man's shoulders, squeezing just slightly. "Relax. I'm not actually planning on killing you."

Tony laughed nervously, but felt some of the tension drain out of his body at the gesture and the words of assurance. "I know, Boss."

With a satisfied nod, Gibbs put on the boxing gloves and entered the ring with Tony following closely behind. "Ok, Tony, I want you to do exactly what you were doing the other day. Start swinging."

Tony began attempting blows in the direction of his boss' face. Right. Left. Right. Right, again. All of them expertly blocked by the other man. But in return, Gibbs attempted a few hits of his own, also skillfully blocked by his agent. "Nice, Tony. Now try that right hook again."

Tony's right arm shot out but Gibbs smoothly sidestepped the blow and suddenly Tony's right arm was locked under Gibbs' own right arm, just like the other day. Bracing himself, the younger man mentally prepared his body to hit the mat beneath him, but Gibbs stopped and transitioned from fighting mode to instructor mode. "You have to anticipate the shot, DiNozzo, and not only step out of the way, but lift your arm and trap your opponent's arm beneath yours like this."

Gibbs held back a chuckle as he realized his agent had closed his eyes, expecting to hit the ground at any moment. When he'd begun talking, Tony had finally opened his eyes, at first gazing at him in confusion, but now staring in intent concentration. Confident he had the younger man's attention, he continued.

"Keep a firm grip on his arm and take a swing with the other arm to stun him if you need to." Tony felt Gibbs' left fist strike him, more gently than the last time. Gibbs then brought up his leg slightly and hooked it behind Tony's right knee, pushing him backwards at the same time with his right arm. I'm going down for sure this time. But unlike before, Gibbs kept a firm grip on his arm all the way down, so he fell to the mat with much less force than the first time.

Next thing he knew, he was looking up towards the ceiling with his boss standing over him. "Got it, DiNozzo?"

"I think so, Boss." I hope.

"Good. So, that means you're ready to try it on me." Still holding on to Tony's arm, Gibbs helped him stand back up.

Tony's eyes went wide. Maybe he hadn't thought this all the way through.

"It's ok, DiNozzo. You have my permission. And don't hold back. Let's see if you've really got this."

Gibbs started swinging at Tony, his agent once again expertly blocking the blows. Tony finally anticipated one of his shots in time to step out of the way and grab his right arm underneath his own, but he paused for just a second before delivering a blow or forcing his boss to the ground. Barely long enough for Gibbs to yank his arm and twist it rather painfully behind his back. "Owww," Tony barely squeaked out.

Still holding onto his arm but easing up just slightly, his boss was directly behind his right ear. Softly but dangerously, Gibbs ordered, "Do not hesitate next time."

Tony nodded his understanding and the older man finally let go completely. "Now, let's try that again," Gibbs commanded.

Shaking his arms to work out the kinks, Tony resumed his boxing stance. Once again, he was finally able to anticipate one of Gibbs' punches and trap his arm, but this time there was no hesitation. With his left arm, he struck out at his boss, accidentally striking him in the back of the head, but then immediately followed up by hooking his boss' leg behind the knee and pushing him down towards the mat with as much force as possible. Gibbs landed with a "thud," Tony triumphantly trapping his boss by the neck underneath his right arm, with a right knee to the chest for good measure.

Ouch. I'm definitely not getting any younger. "That was good work, DiNozzo," Gibbs said just above a whisper. Noticing his opponent had not moved, he added with just a bit more force, "You can let go now."

Tony had been grinning from ear to ear, but soon realized he'd held his boss down just a few moments longer than necessary in his enthusiasm. "Oh, sorry, Boss! Here, let me help you up." As Tony stood up and offered his hand, Gibbs met him with a glare. "Or not. Cause, of course, you don't need any help. Cause you're Leroy Jethro Gibbs!"

Gibbs managed to stand up without the offered assistance and even threw in an eye roll at DiNozzo's last statement.

Feeling almost giddy at his success, Tony excitedly asked, "Wanna do it again, Boss?"

"Oh, we're gonna do it again, DiNozzo. Just not tonight. We're gonna train twice a month 'til I make a fighter out of you."

Tony wasn't sure if he was excited or scared by the prospect. But he did want to learn as much as possible under Gibbs' tutelage. Even if it meant some extra bruises. Which it most certainly would. "Really? Twice a month, huh?"

Gibbs gave him the look that said, "Are you hard of hearing, DiNozzo? That's what I just said."

Reading the expression without missing a beat, Tony condeded, "Right. Twice a month it is."

As the two men removed their gloves and headed towards the showers, Tony rather impulsively extended an invitation. "Hey, Boss, you hungry? We could stop for pizza. I'll buy."

For a brief moment, he thought his boss looked puzzled, but then he responded with, "Sure, Tony. Pizza sounds good."

As he and Tony sat waiting on their pizza to arrive, Gibbs couldn't help thinking that DiNozzo had been full of surprises these past few days. The request for training had been an unexpected, but welcome, surprise. The invitation to dinner, even more so.

The last time they'd been out for a meal together had been at his prodding, the day after Tony had last stayed at his house. It had been after the incident where Tony had been abducted and then rescued from the sewers, and the meal had practically been a bribe to make sure the younger man ate something before Gibbs let him out of his sight. In spite of the fact that Tony had finally opened up to him for once the night before, the rest of Tony's stay along with their lunch the next day could have only been described as awkward and uncomfortable.

In contrast to tonight. They were at the same pizza place, obviously one of Tony's favorite hangouts, but the atmosphere was completely different this time. The younger man was much more at ease, laughing and joking, and Gibbs found himself especially thankful for whatever events had transpired in the past six months to bring about such a change. Nevertheless, the thought occurred to him that Tony had completely avoided being anywhere near his house – or his basement – since those couple of days, and had also mostly avoided sharing anything personal that was not in some way work-related or at least tangentially related to a case.

"Boss, are you gonna let McGee grapple with Kate next time?" Tony asked abruptly, his thoughts still on the gym. "Cause that was kind of painful to watch. Did you hear what she did to him?"

"Yeah, I know what she did, Tony." He hadn't really liked it either, but he understood what Kate was doing. And it was more than just pent-up sibling rivalry.

"It was a low blow. Even I wouldn't have done that to the Probie."

"No, you wouldn't, Tony. But a criminal would. You rather he get shot out in the field cause he was taken by surprise?"

"Course not, Boss."

"McGee's gotta learn not to hesitate. The other guy won't. Or girl. And that's what Kate was trying to teach him. You can't worry about being a gentleman in a life-or-death situation."

"Guess I assumed she was just being spiteful." Like she always is with me.

Gibbs chuckled. "Well, probably a little of that, too. But she was right. Even if the tactics were questionable."

"I have trouble picturing the Probie fighting with a girl, Boss. Actually, I kind of have a hard time picturing the Probie fighting, period," he added with a slight frown.

"He's gonna have to learn eventually. Like you did."

"I'm guessing I had a little more practice at it growing up than he did."

Gibbs supposed that was true. He knew Tony had been kicked out of at least one boarding school. And with all the different schools he'd gone to, the older man could imagine he'd also seen his fair share of fights. Still…

"Nothing quite prepares you for having people trying to kill you." Of all his agents, Gibbs worried the most for Tony's safety. For one thing, the young man simply attracted trouble. His boss had lost count of how many trips to the E/R he'd made since DiNozzo had started, and that was aside from all the trips they should have made but didn't. But also, because of his background as a cop, level of experience, size, and physical strength, it was usually Tony that ended up making the arrests and confronting suspects when a physical confrontation was necessary. That was one reason he'd made a spur-of-the-moment decision earlier this evening to make combat training a regular event between the two of them.

"When you get through with me, I should be pretty much indestructible," Tony joked.

But Gibbs was not amused. "Don't ever think that. You get overconfident, you end up dead. Don't ever let your guard down. And don't hesitate like you did tonight."

Tony's smile immediately faded. "I won't, Boss. And I am taking this seriously, just so you know."

"It's not a bad thing that you're taking boxing lessons. But boxers have rules and criminals don't. You ever end up in a fight with a murderer, you remember that. You use anything at your disposal, got it?"

"Got it, Boss. No rules and no hesitation."

"And if you believe your life is in danger, you shoot to kill."

"I've been a cop for ten years. I know this stuff."

"Well, it doesn't hurt to hear it again, Tony." Maybe it was knowing that Kate had hesitated to go after Ari Haswari, or perhaps the way Tony had recently been relating himself to their suspects. Or Tony's moment of hesitation earlier in the evening. Whatever had prompted it, Gibbs had felt compelled to remind the younger man of the dangers they dealt with every day. None of his other agents had ever had quite the propensity for scaring him half to death that DiNozzo did.

Tired of the serious, and slightly uncomfortable, turn the conversation had taken, Tony decided to change the subject. "So, that was quite a trick you pulled, making everybody think Agent Fornell was dead and all. How'd you pull that off, anyway?"

Grinning, the older man replied, "If I told you that, I'd have to kill ya."

This got a genuine laugh in response from Tony. "Someday, Boss, I'm gonna learn all your little secrets. I think I'll make it my mission. To one day be as good an agent as Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

Gibbs was touched, but thought something about the statement was just a little bit off.

No, Tony, someday you will be better than Leroy Jethro Gibbs. And that…is MY mission.