A/N: Thanks again for your reviews! :)

Free Moments

You home?

If by home you mean your house, yes.

Gibbs felt the corners of his mouth twitch as he put his cellphone back into his pocket. The day had been slow so far, they had only caught up on some paper work and not without satisfaction had Gibbs realized that McGee had almost smiled when Gibbs had shouted at him earlier for being far too techie specific in his reports. It just meant that he was back, Gibbs knew and McGee knew apparently knew it, too. Sure, Probie would never say anything, but he didn't need to anyway. Kate had not only once thrown a glance at him, but like all the weeks before she hadn't commented and Gibbs wasn't entirely sure if he should feel grateful or fearful about it. It didn't matter much anyway. He was feeling much better. Hell, he barely even noticed the slight headache that he was still having from the bourbon the night before.

When five o'clock came around, he barely managed to stay behind until both Kate and McGee had left. He didn't want to seem too eager, but as soon as the elevator doors had closed behind them, he was out of his chair, had grabbed his badge and gun and had put on his coat. He sped home the way he usually did, regardless of the fact that it hadn't stopped snowing since last night. He just really wanted to get home.

For a moment he realized that he hadn't felt that way in years. He had always wanted to stay at work as long as possible, had never actually raced home. It was different now and he realized it was because someone was waiting for him there. With a sinking feeling he also realized that it wouldn't always be like that. Soon, Tony would be back in LA, but the thought didn't make him as gloomy as he had thought it would. He somehow felt like they could still make it work. He had no idea how exactly but he didn't care. He wouldn't let Tony go again. He'd be stuck with him for as long as Tony wanted him.

Why exactly that was, Gibbs didn't have any idea. What could he possibly offer the younger man? Tony could probably have any gay man on the planet, could probably get whoever the hell he wanted and yet he had chosen him. He felt something warm spread in his stomach, but didn't exactly know what it was. It just felt good, so Gibbs, for once, didn't try to analyze it, knowing that trouble would find him soon anyway, bursting his bubble.

He was slightly startled when he pulled into his driveway to find it freed of all the snow. As he got out of the car he saw Tony standing there, snow shovel still in his hands, grinning at him broadly.

"You didn't have to," Gibbs said in lieu of a greeting.

"I know but I wanted to. Needed something to occupy myself with."

"You got bored home alone?"

"Nah, you're lucky I didn't set a spider free in the house," Tony smiled, ignoring Gibbs' frown at the movie reference he didn't get, then casted a fugitive glance around before he pressed a soft kiss on Gibbs' lips.

"Then why…?" Gibbs started as he walked inside with Tony trailing behind, brushing off the snow from his coat and gloves.

"Needed a distraction from reading all the scripts," he gestured to a pile of papers on Gibbs' coffee table. "Never realized how much work it is. Plus, I had about half an hour before I have to get the lasagna out of the oven."

Gibbs turned around to look at him, raising an eyebrow, not quite believing what Tony had just said.

"Let me get this straight. You shoveled my driveway and cooked?"

"Don't get used to it," Tony laughed and Gibbs felt his stomach give a jolt at the happiness the younger man seemed to radiate. "It's the only thing I actually can cook."

"That's enough for me," Gibbs grinned and then gave him a quick peck on the lips.

Odd, how it had gotten so normal in not only a day. It was like the invisible wall that he had put up between them had suddenly just vanished. He wasn't quite sure he liked how easily Tony had gotten through to him, but he didn't know how to reverse the whole thing and he wasn't sure he even wanted to. And it was like now that Gibbs had revealed his secret to Tony, the younger man suddenly seemed more sincere than before. Gibbs had been sure that he had seen him smile a real smile but now that he was seeing Tony like this, he realized that Tony, himself, had held parts of him back, too. His expression was suddenly open and easy to read and it was strange, really, because it had taken Gibbs weeks to get a read on him but now it was just easy.

"Something on my face?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow and only now did Gibbs realize that he had been staring at him the whole time he had been thinking.

"No," he grinned, "just spaced out."

"I could see that."

The younger man subtly shook his head and then went around Gibbs to walk into the kitchen, opening the oven for a moment to check on the food.

"Five more minutes."

"Where did you learn how to cook lasagna?" Gibbs asked, only realizing now that he barely knew anything about Tony's life outside the whole fame bubble.

"One of our maids was Italian. I mean my dad's side of the family is Italian, too, but neither of us speaks much of it. Anyway, Rosalie worked for my dad for years. I guess she was easy on the eyes and well, she taught me Housekeeping 101."

"You still see her?" Gibbs asked as he sat down, sensing that Tony was more than fond of her.

"No," he shook his head, suddenly looking sad. "She died a couple of years ago. Breast cancer."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too. She was a great woman."

For a moment a shadow ghosted over Tony's expression but it was gone too quickly for Gibbs to fully recognize it. He let the topic drop as he sensed that Tony wasn't keen on talking about it for much longer.

"Come on, let me set the table," he said instead as he got up, giving Tony's shoulder a quick squeeze.

#

Gibbs groaned as he rubbed a hand over his belly. The lasagna had been delicious and he had eaten far too much even for his own standards.

"Thanks," he pressed out.

"You're welcome," Tony replied. "Hope you liked it."

"You couldn't tell?" Gibbs chuckled as he gestured towards the empty plates in front of them. "It was great."

"So what do you want to do now?" Tony asked, apparently fighting a yawn that wanted to escape.

"No idea. What about those scripts? You through with them?"

"No," Tony shook his head. "I can't believe how many I received since coming out."

"Good ones?"

"Not sure," Tony chuckled. "There's a lot of stereotypical gay roles."

"But you don't want to do those?"

"No, not really," he shook his head as he lead the way into the living room before dropping down on the couch and picking up a script. "I mean I'm not against playing a gay, but I don't want to be the best friend the girl calls to go shopping for a wedding dress."

"You got any girlfriends that would want to do that?" Gibbs replied and was then slightly startled when Tony gave him a slap upside the head. "Hey!"

"What?" Tony grinned. "You think you can hit me whenever you like but I'm not allowed to get you back for that?"

"Guess not," Gibbs just answered as he picked up a script, too, and thumbed through it. "You always get through a stack of these before you find something decent?"

"Andy used to screen them for me and then just gave me the best ones to read," Tony answered quietly, his expression clouding at the thought of his former manager.

"Have you hired someone to replace him already?"

"No," Tony shook his head, looking up from the papers. "I'm not sure I want to. I mean I've got my lawyer to take care of all the financial stuff and all. I think I can manage the rest on my own. Maybe it's time for me to step up my game, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"When I went through the scripts today I realized that I only ever got to read the action scripts. I mean it's like Andy never showed any of the others to me. The more serious ones, I mean."

"You want to do serious movies?" Gibbs asked, realizing that Tony had thought a lot about it.

"Remember when you asked me why I kept making those dumb action flicks?" At Gibbs' nod, Tony continued. "I mean I like doing them, but I want something with more substance. I want to evolve and if other people don't like it, they'll have to deal. I'm done doing what others want me to do."

"Good for you," Gibbs grinned. "Found something good yet?"

"No," Tony shook his head. "But I'm only halfway through. Want to help?"

"Sure," Gibbs shrugged. "Not sure how much help I can be though."

"Just give me everything that doesn't start with gunfire or a marriage proposal."

#

Two hours later, when Gibbs looked up from the script he had been reading for the last couple of minutes, he realized why Tony had been so quiet. He had fallen asleep. His head was knocked back, lying on the backrest of the couch, and his mouth was hanging open ever so slightly. The light of the fire that Gibbs had started an hour ago casted a slightly red glow over Tony's face and the older man couldn't help but stare at him. He was looking utterly at peace and handsome as hell. Gibbs continued to look at the younger man for a while, trying to memorize the expression on Tony's face because he was sure that he wasn't likely to catch him that unguarded many times. He raised his hand and then softly brushed his fingers through Tony's hair, which, and Gibbs suddenly wondered how he hadn't noticed it before, hadn't been equipped with lots of hair gel today. It looked better that way, more natural somehow. Gibbs stroked him for a couple of moments before Tony moved and then startled out of his sleep.

"Wha' time is it?" he asked sleepily.

"A little after ten. Want to turn in?"

"I'm getting old," Tony mumbled, sitting up and rubbing a tired hand over his face. "Going to bed at ten o'clock on a Friday night."

"I could use the sleep, too," Gibbs shrugged and then pulled Tony up from the couch with him. "I might have found a film for you."

"Oh yeah?"

Gibbs nodded and pointed at the script he had been reading. "It's a film about J.M. Barrie and the family who inspired Peter Pan."

Tony went to pick it up but was interrupted by a yawn, so he straightened again and then took Gibbs' hand.

"Guess I'll read it tomorrow then."

"Might be best," Gibbs said as they walked up the stairs.

"What's it called?"

"The movie? Finding Neverland."

"God, I was so scared of Peter Pan as a kid," Tony said, shaking his head.

"How's that?" Gibbs replied somewhat confused. Kelly had loved the book.

"Don't you realize who Peter Pan actually is? It's like he's death and taking all the kids. Ever thought of the reason why the kids never grow up? They're dead."

Gibbs remained silent as he stripped down to his boxers and got into bed. It was only when Tony looked at him, tilting his head thoughtfully.

"Sorry," he then pressed out. "Didn't mean to…"

"No worries," Gibbs gave him a smile for the benefit of the doubt, knowing that Tony had just connected his silence to Kelly's death. "I just haven't thought about it that way before. But it makes complete sense."

"Yeah, my father pointed it out to me when I was like seven years old. Gave me years of nightmares."

Gibbs furrowed his brow wondering what kind of father would tell his kid stuff like that but Tony had by now crawled into bed next to him, laying his head on Gibbs' chest, so he discarded the thought for the time being. Gibbs picked up his earlier action of combing a hand through Tony's hair and after a while he felt the younger man's breathing even out and he knew that he had fallen asleep again. He kept on stroking him until he had almost lulled himself to sleep, too.

It was only then that he realized that it had been the first day in what seemed like months that he hadn't had a single drop of alcohol.