Tony smiled as he put the last of the groceries away in the cupboard; he'd just spent the last three hours at the base PX, gathering necessities that he and Gibbs would need throughout their stay in Pendleton. Tony sighed as he looked around the living room, mental checklist running through his mind – He'd started dinner, emailed Abby, he went grocery shopping, made up the bed for himself, since Gibbs said he would take the couch, now he honestly had nothing to do.

Tony glanced out the sliding glass door that led to the backyard, noticing the bright clear blue sky and the warm bright sunshine beaming out onto the lush green grass "A walk around the base… That would definitely get people interested…" Tony mused out loud, he did hate that Gibbs was able to go to work while he sat at home and practically did nothing all day, and knew that boredom would likely eat at him if he didn't get out and do something.

So, ten minutes later, donning a pair of abnormally short shorts and a too-tight tank top, Tony began walking down his pathway and then the sidewalk itself, glancing around the beautifully manicured neighborhood that he and Gibbs were living in "Hey!" a woman's voice called from the house next door.

Tony smiled warmly as he walked the few short steps to the next driveway "Hey, how're you doing?" Tony asked in a chipper tone, continuing to move his feet to give the illusion that he was walking for exercise and not just out of sheer boredom.

The woman smiled back at Tony "I'm fine, thanks! You're the new guy in town huh?" she asked, holding her hand out to Tony "I'm Stephanie, my husband is Captain Derrick Welch with the 1st Tank Battalion." Stephanie said by way of introduction.

Tony shook Stephanie's hand and looked around briefly "Steven Gray. My… husband is Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Walker, with the Recon division." Tony said as he finally stopped moving his feet, glancing around the street one more time before refocusing on Stephanie, "And yeah, we're new in town – just got PCS'd here from Quantico." Tony said softly, it wasn't too far from the truth at least, they were only a short distance from Quantico in the grand scheme of things.

Stephanie nodded as she turned back towards her house where two children were coming outside, a little girl around the age of five or six and a boy around the age of seven or eight "Well, I have to get going – Maybe we can get together later and talk some more?" Stephanie suggested as she grabbed the mail from her mailbox quickly.

Tony nodded his head "Sure, sounds like fun!" Tony said in a chipper tone, waiting until Stephanie had gotten into her car before he continued walking down the sidewalk, his eyes constantly scanning the area, he placed his earbuds in his ear to avoid talking to further nosy neighbors, not that he wouldn't mind getting to know the rest of the neighbors, he just honestly wanted to get a feel for his surroundings before getting cozy with the rest of the people living here.

A few hours later, Tony finally stopped walking, having come upon one of the many training grounds for the marines, he'd read the small posting that said this specific training ground was 'home to the recons' and Tony had actually hoped he would see Gibbs here, but the field was particularly barren except for the crows that were pecking at the ground off in the distance. Tony sighed as he sat on one of the benches, stretching out his stiff knee as he continued looking out at the field, a loud pounding of feet began rolling over the hill and Tony could see the start of bobbing heads coming over the hill as well.

Gibbs was off to the side of a group of twenty or more men, screaming his lungs out like a drill sergeant would as he ran with the group of men. Tony grinned widely as he watched Gibbs in his true element – The rarity of this was astounding, Gibbs was wearing a pair of desert camo cargo pants, an olive drab t-shirt and his entire chest was drenched in sweat and mud, but the older man didn't look even a bit winded as he continued screaming and running simultaneously, and if he could get a closer look at the older man, he would swear on everything that Gibbs had a look of pure enjoyment and perhaps a bit of saddened nostalgia over missed opportunities from his military career ending far before the older man had hoped for.

When Gibbs' eyes connected with Tony on the far end of the field, the older man turned to his second in command, saying something to the slightly younger recon marine who nodded his head. Gibbs darted across the field and stood in front of Tony, and now that they were face-to-face Tony could see that Gibbs was quite literally covered in head-to-toe in mud "Jesus Christ Dan… You're soaking wet!" Tony complained, using Gibbs' UC name since they were out in public, even if nobody was around them at the moment.

Gibbs shrugged, shaking his mud-covered head and letting droplets of muddy water fly all over "Yeah, I know! It's such an amazing feeling! We were running down a hill, and we all ended up sliding down the hill in the mud!" Gibbs said, grinning enthusiastically – Tony blinked a couple of times as he stared at his boss, he'd never seen the man so happy before and it actually sent a pang of guilt through Tony's stomach that Gibbs had never looked so relaxed before when they were at NCIS.

"That… Sounds exciting…" Tony offered lamely as he drew his legs up onto the table, rubbing at his knee as he looked up into Gibbs' brilliant blue eyes, and Tony could honestly say that he saw nothing but elation in the powder blue eyes of his… husband, Tony thought internally "You look so happy here." Tony whispered, reaching a hand forward and grasping lightly onto Gibbs' hand now that they had people staring at them as they ran past the duo to head towards the showers.

Gibbs leaned in, careful not to touch Tony's body with his own as to keep the mud off Tony's white tank top "So, what are you doing here? Isn't it safer if you stayed at the house while I'm here?" Gibbs whispered, and the usual brash tone that Tony expected was severely lacking as the warmth of Gibbs' words caressed the shell of his ear.

Tony had to suppress the shudder that clenched his internal organs as he nodded "Yes… It's safer, but I was absolutely bored after I finished all the things that I needed to do today." Tony said just as quietly, but not nearly as confident as he'd hoped, since even through the sweat and mud, Gibbs' natural scent permeated from the older man's body and assaulted Tony's senses – Bourbon, Coffee and Sawdust, permanently engrained on Gibbs' skin.

Gibbs grinned as he felt the slight tremor of Tony's entire body – He'd been right about Tony being attracted to him, but he knew he wouldn't say anything, not until Tony said something first. "I guess I could understand that, I know I'd be bored if all I had to do was sit around and enjoy not having to chase bad guys around the continent." Gibbs said quietly as he sat down beside Tony, noticing the younger man was still massaging his knee, "Is your knee bothering you again?" Gibbs asked, concern lacing his voice as his fingers twitched slightly, he seriously just wanted to grab Tony's knee and massage it again, to feel the firm warmth of Tony's exposed flesh, since he was wearing obscenely short shorts.

Tony nodded "Yeah, I walked all the way over here since I don't have the car… Never realized how large the base was until I started walking." Tony said quietly, wincing as he pressed into a particularly tense spot on his knee.

"Well, I could drive you back to the house – We're on break for two hours while we shower and get some chow…" Gibbs suggested, glancing over his shoulder towards where the parked vehicles were across the field.

Tony nodded again as he slid off the bench slowly, biting back his bottom lip as he put pressure down against his leg "Sounds good – But you are not getting in the car with all that mud on you." Tony said firmly as he started towards the black SUV, only a slight limp to his walk.

Gibbs caught up to Tony, smiling as he wrapped his arms around Tony's thighs and lifted the younger man up. Tony shrieked, looking down at Gibbs with widened eyes "What the hell are you doing?!" Tony questioned loudly, squirming slightly in the older man's grasp even as he was carried over to the SUV.

"You're in pain and I'm not letting my husband walk the long distance to the car." Gibbs said plainly as he continued walking unaffectedly as Tony continued squirming in his arms, a bright white grin shining through the dried and caked on mud on his face as he looked up at Tony.

Tony rolled his eyes as he stopped fighting Gibbs' hold on his body "Fine, but you and I need to seriously discuss boundaries." Tony grumped as he let Gibbs carry him the remaining distance to the car, then with a gentleness he hadn't even known Gibbs possessed, he was set back onto his feet and Gibbs smiled up at Tony from his crouched position.

"Do we have too? I mean… We're supposed to be madly in love with each other, and I would be a terrible husband if I didn't help you when you needed it." Gibbs said quietly, fiddling with the string of his boots, illusion of tying a loose lace.

Tony snorted as he reached forward, lightly ruffling Gibbs' muddy silver hair "Perhaps we won't… I'm not entirely sure yet. Now come on, we don't have a whole lot of time to get some lunch in you." Tony quipped as he opened his door and climbed into the passenger seat.

Gibbs chuckled as he stood up, rounding the front of the SUV and getting in behind the wheel "Thought you didn't want my mud covered body in the vehicle?" Gibbs asked, starting the engine and pulling out of the parking space.

Tony shrugged "Leather seats are relatively easy to clean, and these floor mats are surprisingly good at collecting the mud and rocks and what not, and easier to clean than the seats." Tony said as he leaned back as far as his seat would go, his fingers ceaselessly moving across his knee.

After Gibbs returned back to work, Tony collected his laptop and went to sit outside on the front porch on the padded bench seat. Keeping his attentions divided between his laptop and his surroundings, he opened the email application and sighed as he scrolled through the several messages that had filled up his inbox already – Seems Abby had given out his email address to everyone on the team already.

Hey Stevie,

I gave Timmy, Ziva, and Ducky and Jimmy your email so that they could talk to you and keep you from completely losing your mind! How are you holding up? Is it really boring there? Are you ready to kill Danny yet? Or is he ready to kill you yet? Has he already killed you? Gosh I hope not… I really miss you here, it's so quiet and Tim is trying to be like you with witty comments and stuff, but it's just so weird hearing him making jokes about Heather in HR, they aren't that funny either – But don't tell him I said that, I wouldn't want to ruin his ego! Okay, I have to go now, but message me back as soon as possible.

Love, Abbs.

Tony shook his head as he poised his fingers on the keyboard, glancing around his surroundings several times before replying to the email;

Hey Abbs,

I see that you've given everyone my email – I appreciate the sentiment. I'm holding up pretty good so far, and yes, it is extremely boring here but I'm sure I'll find something to do while I'm here. No, I'm not ready to kill Danny, nor is he ready to or has he killed me… It's really kind of weird actually, he's been acting so out of character from the man we know, it's like Pendleton has opened up a side to him that he wasn't able to express at Quantico, and it's really baffling – We'll have to talk about that later when I can call you though… Tell Tim to leave the jokes to someone who knows how to handle them, he's not gotten to that level just yet! Talk to you later Abbs.

Love, Stevie.

Tony sighed as he pressed the send button, sometimes he really hated being undercover and having to 'lie' about what was going on in his life, but they didn't know who they were dealing with in regards to their serial killer so it was better to be safe than sorry in the end if the suspect was tech savvy and knew how to hack into emails.

Tony glanced through the other emails sent from the rest of the team, noting they were all relatively the same, wishing him luck at the new post and generally complaining about what one or the other of the team were doing that was beyond annoying to them, he closed his laptop and laid his head back against the padded arm of the bench, staring up at the awning of the front porch as he thought about how he would endure the remaining time here, even though nobody knew how long he and Gibbs would be on this case.

Gibbs shook his head as he parked the SUV in the driveway, it was close to seven at night now and Tony was still out on the porch, fast asleep with the laptop hugged tightly to his chest. Gibbs hopped out of the SUV and bounded up the steps, hovering over Tony's body "Steve…" Gibbs said quietly, shaking the younger man's shoulder.

Tony jolted awake, quickly grabbing Gibbs' wrist in a painful vice grip, he blinked a few times in confusion, clearing the sleep from his eyes as he looked up at Gibbs "Oh… Sorry Dan…" Tony said sheepishly as he released Gibbs' wrist and stood up, tucking the laptop against his side, adverting his eyes from the gaze he was sure to be firing daggers at him from the older man.

Gibbs sighed as he set his hand on Tony's shoulder and squeezed lightly "Hey… Its okay – What are you doing sleeping outside? Come on, let's go in." Gibbs said reassuringly as he guided the younger man into the house and shut the door behind them.

Tony flinched slightly as he expected a shouting match to start, but when Gibbs only looked at him expectantly, seemingly waiting for an answer to his earlier question, Tony visibly relaxed "I honestly didn't mean to fall asleep outside… I was just so bored, and I guess I just dozed off after emailing Abby." Tony said as he set the laptop down on the table next to the front door.

Gibbs nodded as he glanced around the room, sniffing the air slightly "Something smells good – Did you cook?" Gibbs asked as he headed towards the kitchen, Tony trailing behind him.

"Yeah, I made a slow cooker lasagna that I learned when I was younger…" Tony said, rubbing the back of his neck as he watched Gibbs lift the lid off the crock pot and inhale the scent that wafted out of the pot, an appreciative moan escaping the older man's mouth.

"Wow that smells absolutely incredible Tony." Gibbs praised as he rummaged through the cabinets for plates and utensils "Are you hungry?" Gibbs asked, glancing over his shoulder at Tony before he began spooning a heaping mound of lasagna onto his own plate, Tony nodded as he went to the fridge, grabbing two bottles of beer. Gibbs spooned an equal heaping mound of lasagna onto the second plate, and then he and Tony sat side-by-side on the bar stools that were in front of the island.

Tony twisted the caps off the beers and handed Gibbs one of them "To surviving our first day at Camp Pendleton." Tony toasted, grinning slightly at the irony of his words – he'd known that Gibbs was stationed here in Pendleton for four years when he was fresh out of boot camp, but that was also over thirty years ago, and was a whole new experience for the both of them since they were taking on new roles.

Gibbs chuckled as he clinked the neck of his bottle against Tony's and smiled at the younger man "So, did you manage to make any friends today?" Gibbs asked conversationally as he shoveled a bite of the lasagna into his mouth, and as Tony opened his mouth to respond, Gibbs groaned in pleasure "Oh my god DiNozzo… This is fucking incredible!" Gibbs raved as he turned his head to look at Tony with wide eyes.

Tony blushed furiously as he looked down at his plate "Th…thanks." Tony croaked out, idly plucking at the label on his beer bottle, "I uh… I met the lady next door – Stephanie Welch – her husband is in the 1st Tank Battalion." Tony said, quickly changing the topic and shoving a mouthful of lasagna into his mouth.

Gibbs nodded, raising an eyebrow as he turned back to his own plate – he'd always hated whenever Tony would avoid well-deserved praise, and wished to whatever deity that he could somehow change that over the course of the next few days, weeks, or even months, while they were on this case. "Tank Bat is good, they're also deployed right now – She mention anything about what has been going on around here?" Gibbs asked as he continued to eat his meal.

Tony shook his head, still keeping his eyes downward "No… She didn't have much time, her kids were late for school." Tony said quietly as he finally shoved his half-eaten meal away from him and stood up "I'm going to go upstairs and take a shower." Tony said as he quickly escaped from the kitchen, practically tripping on his own feet as he bolted up the stairs.

Gibbs sighed as he finished off his plate and beer, grabbing a second one from the fridge as he headed into the living room, he stared at the blank screen of the television and listened to the muffled words coming from upstairs – He could hear that Tony was nervously rambling to himself, but couldn't make out the words since the younger man seemed to be speaking Italian. Gibbs shook his head and relaxed into the embrace of the leather sectional sofa and grabbed the remote off the arm of the couch – he had reserves about trying to mess with what looked like a highly technical contraption, but when he looked the remote over, it was rather basic; Power button, channel and volume button and the numbers. Gibbs shrugged and could have whooped in joy when the TV actually turned on and didn't explode.

At around two in the morning, Gibbs woke up to hear long stepped strides coming from upstairs, Gibbs shook his head and – although he knew it was probably just Tony – grabbed his service weapon from underneath the pillow as he stealthily began walking up the stairs. He peaked around each corner of the stairwell, noticing the door to Tony's bedroom was slightly ajar, he slunk down the hall and stood just outside of the door.

"I know Abs, but I can't just blurt out that I love him and expect the man to just accept my words… Can I?" Tony questioned – Gibbs smiled slightly as he leaned back against the wall, he knew eaves dropping was wrong, but this is how he always got his information and why stop now when things needed to be heard at the moment.

"Abby, seriously if he ever found out – he would probably kill me… No, it doesn't matter that he's been sweet and caring to me ever since we left DC – we're playing a role here and he's supposed to be my husband and best friend… Of course I do, I always have loved him Abs, but… I don't know… there's just something… so different about him now that we're here… He's more energetic and enthusiastic… It's really just kind of mind-blowing to have seen this transformation take place in only twenty-four hours." Tony continued, finally ceasing his pacing as he sat down on the bed.

"Definitely don't miss the way he is at the office – This… nice Gibbs… is well… nice… if we could stay here in Pendleton forever, even if our names and marriage is fake… I would do it in a heartbeat Abby…" Tony said, sighing as he curled up at the foot of the bed.

Gibbs glanced through the crack in the door, frowning slightly at the younger man who was laid out on the mattress – He had to do something about this, if Tony liked having this happy-spirited side of him showing, then that was what he'd have to do in order to get the younger man to confess his attraction to him, face-to-face. What did strike him as odd though was the shift in his enthusiasm, he hadn't felt this alive and invigorated since he'd left the Marine Corps after Shannon and Kelly died, and it could be that perhaps he was playing a role he'd once saw himself as thirty some odd years ago, or perhaps it was a mixture of being here with Tony and doing the Recon thing… One thing he did know was, it had absolutely nothing to do with the case that they were working on.

"Yeah Abby, I'll call you tomorrow – But not this early in the morning… You shouldn't even be awake this early! Oh… Sorry about that… Yeah, I'll tell him that you miss him… NO! I will not say that to him… Because… I'm… I'm just not comfortable saying the L word in front of him… No… Maybe someday, but today is not that day… Goodnight Abby." Tony said and abruptly hung up the phone, tossing it onto the mattress behind him and huffing out a breath of air as he wrapped his arms around his legs and curled even further in on himself.

Gibbs stayed in the doorway long after Tony had finally moved to the top of the bed and fell asleep, just staring at the younger man as his chest slowly rose and fell with his steady breathing, the slight snore that echoed out into the hall made Gibbs smile – He'd heard several times over the years from Kate and Ziva that Tony snored obscenely loud, but any time he'd been in the same sleeping quarters with the younger man, he always snored quietly and it was barely audible if you weren't exactly trying to listen to the breathy noises that Tony made.

Gibbs quietly headed back down the stairs after just staring at Tony for ten minutes, he tucked away his service weapon and stared across the room and into the empty fireplace as he thought about how he would have to somehow get Tony to open up to him and finally express the feelings that the younger man had towards him. Even he knew it could very well be impossible, and perhaps he was even slightly afraid of how it might turn out, but Tony did say that maybe someday he'd be able to say that he loved him, so that did give Gibbs all the encouragement he needed to start setting his wooing tactics into motion while they worked this case – Who would doubt a husband showering the love of their life with the things that his partner loved anyway? Nobody, that's who – and it would only aid in moving their case along, both personal and professional.

I'd like to know what everyone thinks about the story, so leave a review for me! Thanks in advance!