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Tony was somber the next time he entered the basement. There had been a sharp change in his demeanor since Gibbs had released them from his charge several hours ago. It was nearing midnight, and though there were many pleasant developments Tony had been planning on telling Gibbs, there were more pressing matters to be attended to.

Tony slowly walked down the stairs, clad in jeans and an NCIS hoodie. Gibbs could tell by his posture that he was conflicted, almost beaten down. His shoulders were hunched, his head hanging down, as though he were disappointed or ashamed of himself. Gibbs ceased his work immediately, knowing that this talk would be a serious one.

He looked up as Tony poured himself a glass of bourbon and sat down on the stool, utterly defeated.

"Tony," he prodded gently, "What the hell happened?"

"Well," he began, "We, Ziva and I, were starting to pack up some of her stuff, because, I forgot to tell you, we decided last weekend that we should move in together" Gibbs' heart warmed at the thought of the two truly figuring out their relationship, but quickly realized that if everything had gone to plan, Tony would not be sitting in front of him.

"So we're packing up a whole bunch of her things, and I open up this cabinet cabinet...wardrobe thing, and inside the doors, she has this world map with all kinds of pins on it with little dates written next to them, and on the other door, a list of names. When I asked her about it, she said it was nothing, but I knew it was more than that. Turns out, she's been looking for Bodnar by herself. Tracking his movements for months."

Gibbs let his chin fall to his chest, ashamed at how long she had been investigating under his nose.

"Yeah. So then she asked me not to tell you. To let her handle it on her own. That's when the yelling started."

Gibbs raised his head once more to look at Tony, who was now sitting with his head hanging down, looking at the glass of bourbon he was worrying in his hand.

"I started with the standards, trying to convince her that she wasn't alone, that she didn't have to go at him by herself. I told her that she should let us help her, that we're better as a team...but she said she could handle it. That it was her responsibility to uphold her father's honor and no one else's. Then I tried to tell her that she needed to approach it with a little more caution, that she couldn't bring a knife to a gun fight. That brought up some interesting misunderstandings that needed to be cleared up, but it didn't work either. Finally I went with trying to convince her that I couldn't live without her, and that she should at least let me in, because I couldn't stand to see her hurt...and that I knew I wouldn't be able to handle her death a second time," his voice softened considerably at the end of his tirade. He looked up, "I don't know how at this point she still has no idea how far I would go to keep her safe."

"No, no, I think she knows too well how far you'd go. And that's why she hid it from you."

"I hope so."

"You're not sure?" Gibbs asked, concerned.

"It took way more convincing than I thought it would to get her to let me help her."

"She did agree, though." Not a question.

"Yeah, eventually. She made me promise that only she and I would know what was really going on. That we wouldn't drag the rest of the team into it."

"And you agreed?"

"Yeah. Obviously I broke the rules though, because I'm telling you, and I know that when the time comes, you'll tell Abs and McGee too. I just...didn't think I really had another choice. She's already in way too deep, and I couldn't see this having a happy ending with just the two of us taking Bodnar on."

Gibbs gave no response.

"I really need you to have our six on this one, Boss."

"I'll have it. And so will McGee."

"Thanks. Just...please don't tell her that I told you. I can't lose her trust on this. I know I'm breaking rule number 4..."

"Doesn't count. You broke it to keep her safe."

"I don't think there's a rule I wouldn't break to keep her safe."

"I know."

Tony nodded, remaining silent, still worrying the glass in his hand.

"Something else bothering you, DiNozzo?"

Tony rolled his head back, shaking his head looking exasperated, "I just thought we were past the distrust stage, you know? I thought we were in a better place."

"You feel betrayed."

"Oh yeah." he said, bitterly. "That's one way to put it." Tony reached down to pull something out of his pocket. A small, blue velvet box. He tossed it to Gibbs, who caught it easily. Gibbs opened the box gently and sighed when he found an engagement ring nestled inside. A white gold band held a modestly sized emerald at the center with two smaller diamonds flanking each side.

"I was going to ask her to marry me. Not like, this weekend or anything, but sometime soon. Now...I don't know."

"It's beautiful," Gibbs said, handing the box back.

"Thanks."

"Are you really gonna draw back from the life you built together because she made one bad decision?"

"It's not about the fact that she's looking for Bodnar. I half expected her to. I'm actually kind of relieved that she knows where he is, so we know when we need to be on the offensive...but she kept it from me all this time. I thought that we were past the point of secrets and lies. I thought we'd finally learned to trust each other, but now I'm not so sure," he said, playing with the ring box.

He chuckled self-deprecatingly, "She probably won't even want to marry me now, she'll be so pissed that I told you."

"That's not true. You'll forgive each other. You always do."

"I don't know this time. Not about the forgiveness, I know that we'll be able to work it out. It's that she's got a bloodlust for this guy, boss. She's not gonna be satisfied until he's dead. But she's not that person anymore. I don't think killing him is really going to solve anything for her. Her father will still be dead, and she'll still be left with no biological relatives, and then I'll be left with her broken into a million pieces again," he said, sadness and frustration creeping into his tone.

"So what are you gonna do?"

"I'm going to be there for her the best way I can. And I'm gonna have her six," he said definitively.

"That's all you ever need to do. Remember that."

"I will."

"Wish you'd have come earlier, I've been craving steaks lately."

"Sorry, boss. When this whole mess is sorted out, we'll have steak night, guaranteed."

"I'll hold you to that," Gibbs smirked.

"I'd better get going. I should get back in bed before Ziva notices I'm gone," he said, getting up from his seat at the workbench.

"I didn't need to hear that," Gibbs said, shaking his head.

"Won't happen again."

"I don't believe that for a second."

"You know us too well," Tony said heading up the stairs.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs called, "You really getting a dog?"

Tony smiled broadly, "Yeah, I think we are." He quickly ascended the rest of the stairs and out of the house.

Gibbs, alone once again, could only laugh. There may be hell ahead, but they'd be just fine.