A/N: Thank you for all your reviews! :) Sorry for the long wait - again.

Free Friends

Gibbs listened to Tony's phone call and wondered how he and his lawyer had ever gotten any work done. The two of them were joking like they were still twenty, talking about the latest basketball game and some random chick they had both known in college.

He watched Tony from where he was sitting in his kitchen, nursing a cup of coffee. The New Year had started off stressful with back to back cases and little time for himself. Through it all though, Tony had seemed to be content with just spending a couple of evenings and nights with him. Gibbs didn't know exactly why a world-famous celebrity would spend his time like that but he didn't ask, knowing that Tony really was happy – just as happy as Gibbs himself was. He couldn't remember a time when he simply wanted to get home as fast as humanly possible. But whenever five o'clock drew nearer, he found himself hoping that no dead sailor would show up until the next day and not for the obvious reasons. He simply wanted to get home and talk to Tony. They had talked a lot over Christmas, had even made plans for a weekend get-away some time in February and Gibbs had gotten more used to having Tony around than he had ever thought possible. He even felt comfortable talking about Shannon and Kelly with him even though it still pained him. But he didn't shut himself down whenever the topic came up and that certainly was a first. It was easy because Tony simply understood him on a deeper level and Gibbs didn't even try to analyze why that was. It simply didn't matter. He was just happy.

"Anyway," Tony brought him out of his thoughts as he talked to Ryan, his lawyer slash friend. "When you're here I'd love you to meet Jethro."

Tony casted a glance at Gibbs at that moment, grinning at him, and knowing very well that they hadn't talked about any of it. Gibbs knew that Ryan had always known that Tony was gay so that wouldn't be a surprise for him and Gibbs was fine with meeting him. He actually couldn't wait to meet him as he was dying to hear about College-Tony - the Tony he had been before he had become an actor. And yet, Tony hadn't proposed to meet any of Jethro's friends. He hadn't even mentioned it and he already had met Gibbs' team after all, but under complete different circumstances. It wasn't like Gibbs didn't want to tell them about how happy he was, it was just that he was still having trouble showing anyone that he cared, was still having trouble showing people his private life. He would soon have to, he knew that but he didn't want to rush it either. No better way to shock people.

"Awesome," Tony exclaimed into the phone and then spoke to Gibbs as he continued. "You free on Saturday?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "As long as…"

"He's in," Tony interrupted him. "As long as there's no new case."

Tony grinned at him and Gibbs couldn't help the twitching in the corners of his mouth either. Tony knew him too well by now and it was times like these that Gibbs actually hated having such an unpredictable job. He'd love to make plans with Tony for the weekends but he only could do so on those days that he wasn't on call and those had gotten rather rare lately. Maybe it was time to bring in another MCRT with the murders piling up like that.

Tony had ended the call now and sat down next to him, nonchalantly bringing his hand to Gibbs' hair, softly running his fingers through it.

"Hope that was alright?"

"Yeah," Gibbs nodded and then leaned back into the touch. "Does he know any good stories about you?"

"The best," Tony grinned. "Though I will have to tell him not to talk about Mindy Jackson."

"Mindy Jackson?"

"Yeah, she was reeeaally popular with the boys of my frat. But that's all I'm going to say about her."

"I'll just ask Ryan then."

"You do that," Tony said, leaning in to steal a quick kiss.

"Hey Tony," Gibbs started over afterwards. "You're not mad you haven't met my people yet, right?"

"But I already have?" Tony asked, furrowing his brow.

"No, I mean in terms of 'This is Tony, my boyfriend.'"

"I know," Tony nodded. "And no, I'm not mad. I'm willing to wait and all. I know that it takes some cojones to out yourself. Though, I thought that Abby knew?"

"She does but only because she sensed that something was going on. Plus, she kind of gave us the final love tap."

"She did," Tony grinned again. "Though it could have been much easier than that."

"Yeah," Gibbs replied, sighing. "You're right."

"Water under the bridge. We're here now. Nothing else matters."

Gibbs wanted to reply something but Tony's cell phone took that exact moment to chirp to life. Groaning and regretfully letting go of Gibbs, Tony went to pick it up. His irritation soon gave way to a broad smile though and from what Gibbs could gather, he'd just scored a movie role for himself. Gibbs raked his brain trying to think about a casting that Tony went to but came up empty. It must have been before they had gotten together. When Tony hung up though, he sat down next to him, grinning broadly.

"I got it!"

"Which one?" Gibbs almost laughed out loud at the sheer joy the other man was radiating.

"Finding Neverland!" Tony keened. "I actually got it."

"When did you audition for it?"

"I didn't," Tony smiled. "Sometimes the writers just write their screenplay thinking about a special actor and send it to them. Apparently this time it's been me."

"That's great," Gibbs replied, wondering just how much he didn't understand about the film business. "When do you start filming?"

"Three weeks from now," Tony let out a sigh. "In Vancouver."

"Vancouver?"

"Yeah, production is cheaper there sometimes."

They dwelled in silence for a while after that. Gibbs hated seeing him leave so soon but then again he was happy for Tony to have scored the movie. It seemed really important to him and Gibbs himself had loved it, too, when he had read the script.

"I really hope they're going to direct it the way I envisioned it because this could be great," Tony finally said. "This could be my break from all the action movies. Maybe this is what I need to become a serious actor."

"I hope it'll work out," Gibbs said, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek and sensing that this was for some reason really important to the other man. "You're going to do great."

"You think it'll work out?" Tony asked and he suddenly seemed so insecure that Gibbs briefly wondered how the guy had ever plucked up the courage to step in front of a camera.

"How am I supposed to know?" Gibbs grinned. "But people love you and you're a good actor. I'm sure you'll be great."

The smile that greeted his response was almost blinding and a real one and it actually made Gibbs warmer inside, too.

#

"So, Gibbs, tell me," Ryan said, nursing his beer.

The place was packed, so nobody was paying any attention to the guy in old jeans, a sweatshirt and a baseball hat. Nobody suspected that they were near a famous movie star.

"What did you think of Tony when you first met him?"

"He hated me," Tony cut in only to be cut off by Gibbs in return.

"I didn't hate you. I just thought you were an arrogant prick."

"But just because I stopped your criminal."

"Sure, sure," Gibbs laughed and took a sip from his bourbon. "You were arrogant right until I told you that I'd arrest you."

"You did?" Ryan laughed. "Damn, that would have been a hard one to bail you out of, Anthony."

"Yeah, yeah," Tony said, waving it off. "Not one of my brightest moments but look where it led me."

"In any case closer to me," Ryan said apparently unaware of the look Tony and Gibbs were sharing. "It's much easier to get from NYC to DD than to LA after all. So thanks for that, Gibbs."

"My pleasure," Gibbs quirked a lopsided grin and then Tony took his hand under the table.

They continued to chit chat for a while and Gibbs could see why Tony liked the guy that much. He was fun to be around, honest and didn't give a damn about Tony being famous. Gibbs had felt himself relax around the guy in the first five minutes after he had met him. He had initially been a bit careful, having met Tony's former manager, but Ryan did indeed seem more of a friend than a business acquaintance. Tony seemed to be himself around him, too, so Gibbs had pulled down his guard, too, knowing that Tony would call him out on it anyway.

Tony let his thumb run over the back of Gibbs' hand and with a start the older man realized that they were actually holding hands in public. They hadn't really done that before and it was weird that he hadn't even realized that before now. It felt natural and he realized that he didn't mind anyone knowing. He simply didn't care.

"So, tell me about Mindy Jackson," Gibbs said now, earning himself a nudge on the shoulder from Tony.

"Ah! Mindy," Ryan grinned. "Good old Mindy. I actually ran into her a couple of months back. She's married with, I believe, four kids. And she was wearing Mom-Jeans."

"Mom-Jeans?"

"Oh you know, starts right under the breasts and ends somewhere around the ankles."

"Ah," Gibbs just made, realizing that Stephanie had been wearing many of those.

"She would have killed us if we'd told her she'd end up like that," Tony grinned. "She used to tell us that she'd be married to Jon Bon Jovi and be his tour groupie or something."

"She was fun, though," Ryan laughed and then continued, but suddenly Gibbs didn't listen anymore.

He had let his glance wander around the bar while Tony had been talking and had then felt his heart sink. Abby had just entered the place. She was with a couple of weird looking friends who seemed out of place even in a bar like that.

"Earth to Gibbs?" Tony's voice brought him back to his table. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Gibbs said. "Abby's here."

"She is?" Tony said and then followed Gibbs' glance.

"Who's Abby?"

"She works with Gibbs," Tony explained.

"And she doesn't know about you two?"

"She knows but not officially, I think."

"Is that going to be a problem? Do you want to go someplace else?" Ryan asked, worry clearly visible on his face and Gibbs wondered why the guy was being so understanding.

"No, it's okay," he said, shrugging it off.

He felt a bit off, but in the end he didn't particularly mind. Abby knew about them after all and it wasn't like Gibbs hadn't just thought about how comfortable he was around Tony.

"You sure?" Tony checked back as he went to let go of Gibbs' hand, but the older man grabbed it only tighter.

"Yup, sure."

They continued to talk about Mindy and college for a while until Gibbs was able to hear a loud screech even over the commotion of the bar around them. Abby had finally spotted them as she waved at him and then made her way over to them, thankfully leaving her friends standing where they had been.

"Gibbs," she greeted him enthusiastically as she all but pulled him up from the chair he had been sitting on. "Fancy seeing you here."

Before he could even reply, her glance had settled on Tony and for an instance Gibbs had the fleeting sensation to put a hand to her mouth to make sure that she wouldn't shout out his name, but maybe he should have known better because a broad smile appeared on her face instead as she went to hug him, too.

"Wow, almost didn't recognize you," she said as she let go of him. "I'm so happy to see you again."

"Right back at you," Tony shot back, grinning at her. "And this," he pointed at Ryan who was watching Abby almost in fascination. "Is Ryan O'Malley, a friend of mine."

"Nice to meet you," Abby said and Gibbs almost laughed out loud at the flirty tone. "Really nice to meet you."

"You want to join us?" Ryan asked and with a start Gibbs realized that he wasn't totally against the idea that was Abby, either.

"I'd love to," Abby said, sighing. "But I can't. I'm meeting somebody."

"Who?" Tony asked with ease and Gibbs wondered how it was any of his business asking her.

Abby, however, didn't seem to mind as she answered as if it was no big deal. "Kate and McGee."

Oh.

Shit.