March 1946
United States
Gibbs jumped at the knock on the door. He had only put his head down for a few minutes but he had been asleep for almost two hours. He knew before he opened the door to the apartment who would be standing there.
Cali looked as tired as Gibbs felt. He knew the girl had probably spent a restless night worried about the young soldier. He also knew she had sense enough to do exactly what her father told her and not come back and get in the way.
"Is he okay?" She asked, coming into the room and closing the door.
Gibbs smiled and shook his head, "He's better than he was when you saw him last night."
"Can I talk to him?"
"No, sweet girl, you can't. He's sound asleep."
"Can I at least look in on him?"
Jethro rolled his eyes – young love! "Yes, you can look in on him but don't bother him."
Jethro pointed toward the semi closed door. Cali walked over and quietly peeked in. Satisfied that he was better, she pulled the door back to and turned and ran to her father. She threw her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder, "I knew you'd take care of him, papa. Thank you."
All Jethro could think of was poor Lyle Copeland. If this was what he went through with Angela, where he was concerned, it was a wonder the man hadn't killed him. He hugged Cali back and then pulled her away.
"I do need you to do something for me."
"Anything."
"Go find Tim McGee and ask him to come over here. I've got to get some rest and I don't want Tony left alone."
"But I could stay," Cali volunteered.
"You have a restaurant to run. Besides, there are few things I need to talk to Tim about." He could see she wanted to debate the issue but he gave her what she called 'the look' and Cali quickly agreed. She kissed her dad on the cheek and with one last look towards Tony's closed door, she left the apartment.
Jethro warmed up his cold coffee from the pot he made earlier and waited for the next knock to come. It took only about thirty minutes.
Gibbs knew that Tim had seen everything that Tony had but he seemed more well adjusted than the older DiNozzo. Tim had always been a level-headed, affectionate young man. His parents had supported him and he'd had good self-esteem growing up. It was amazing how the differences in upbringing had manifested themselves.
"Is he okay?" The concern in Tim's voice was evident as he took a chair at the table.
"He will be," was Gibbs reply. "He's still got a long way to go to being his old irascible self, though."
Tim nodded. "I knew he was bad, Sheriff Gibbs. I just didn't realize how bad."
"Yeah, he kept it hidden pretty well but, I think, his dad's death hit him harder than he realized it would. That added to all the other emotions he was keeping bottled up, well, they had to boil over sometime."
Tim nodded as Gibbs continued, "I have a couple of things still bothering me and I thought you might help."
"Yes, sir?"
"Tony didn't have any serious girlfriends before he left did he?"
"No, sir. Most of the girls wouldn't date him because he was Italian. And those that would, their parents wouldn't allow it."
"Ziva was his first serious entanglement."
Tim smiled, "Yes, sir, but, it was the real thing."
"What do you mean?"
"She felt about Tony like he did about her. You could tell it any time they were together. Another place, another time, it would have been Tony and Ziva, together forever."
Jethro nodded. He had hoped Tony's devotion had not been misplaced. He was glad to hear it wasn't.
"Look, Tim, I'm exhausted. He's probably going to sleep for another few hours and I could use some sack time myself. Can you stay with him? I don't want him to wake up and be alone."
"Sure, Sheriff Gibbs. Whatever you need. Whatever he needs. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. I owe Anthony my life."
Jethro stood and patted Tim on the shoulder, "I'll be back after one and I'll take him to eat. Until then, keep him here in the apartment if you can. There's still a few more things he and I need to finish."
Tim nodded and watched the older man leave. He pulled the deck of cards from his pocket and Tim played solitaire while he waited for his friend to wake up.
It was almost noon when Tony ventured out of the bedroom. He opened the door, expecting to see the Sheriff. He was surprised to be greeted by his friend.
Tim looked up expecting to see the serious, quiet Tony that came home on the train. The man standing in the doorway looked like the Antonio that had left for the war, full of mischief and good times. Tony watched the expressions play out on McGee's face before speaking, "Is it good or bad?"
"It's good. Very good." Tim answered and he stood and hugged his friend.
They both laughed and sat back down at the table.
"I was that bad, huh?" Tony asked.
"Yeah. Unfortunately, I didn't realize just how bad. Thank goodness for Sheriff Gibbs."
Tony ducked his head and answered, "Yeah. So, how much did he tell you?"
Tim knew Tony valued his privacy. "He only said you had a rough night but that you were on the right track. That's all."
Tony silently thanked the Sheriff for his discretion and then turned back to his friend, "Thank you. I know you and Kort covered my ass a ton of times. A lot of it came back last night when I was talking to Gibbs. I'm sorry I put you through it."
"It's okay, Tony. You saved my life. I can forgive you almost anything because of that."
He laughed. "By the way, where is Gibbs?"
"He went home to catch a few winks but he said he'd be back for lunch. Wanted you to stick around here until then."
"No problem. I feel like I reek so a bath sounds good. I'm okay, if you need to leave." Tony pointedly looked downstairs toward the restaurant.
Tim smiled, "Okay, but I need to ask you something first."
"Shoot!"
"I asked Abby to marry me."
"And?" Tony replied.
"She said yes."
Tony stood, slapping Tim on the back, "Timothy, congratulations! When's the big day?"
Tim swallowed, standing, he answered, "A week from Saturday. All our family is here so there's no need to wait, really."
"That's great. So what do you want to ask me?"
"Will you be my best man?"
Tony was awed, "I'm honored, man. Of course! And you'll have the reception in the restaurant. I'll close it up and I'll cook everything!"
"No, Tony, you don't have to…"
"I want to, Tim. Please? I still remember a thing or two. It'll be my gift to you and your beautiful bride!"
"Okay, yes."
"Great!" Tony caught a whiff of himself, "Wow! Need that bath now, Tim. Go ahead and let yourself out. We'll talk later."
They shook hands and Tony headed for the bathroom as Tim left, smiling. This was the Anthony DiNozzo they all knew and loved.
