Salad Days The Holiday Angst Version

Day 1: Hot chocolate

Something weird was going on and Gibbs didn't like it one bit. Of course, getting a call at midnight about a dead sailor hadn't made his starting mood pleasant to begin with. His mood grew increasingly worse with every cup of hot chocolate DiNozzo was handed, however.

It started shortly after they arrived at the crime scene with Kort bringing a 16 oz. hot chocolate. Tony gave Kort a short and perfunctory kiss before thanking him and sending him on his way. Gibbs, never overly fond of Kort, glared the whole time he was there and was glad when he was gone.

It didn’t stop there though. About 2 hours in, when they were getting close to wrapping up the crime scene, Fornell stopped by with hot chocolate for DiNozzo. As they were basically finished, Fornell waited until everyone was headed back to NCIS to give DiNozzo his hot chocolate. Tony waved the others to head over without him. “I’ll catch a ride with Fornell.”

Gibbs turned his glare from Fornell to DiNozzo at that statement. Tony just shrugged looking a bit sheepish and climbed into Fornell’s FBI van. Fornell smirked at Gibbs, getting into the van himself and driving off. Gibbs stormed over to the NCIS vehicles and growled at everyone to get in.

Jimmy and Ducky had already headed back, but McGee and Bishop climbed into the NCIS van and quickly strapped themselves in. They knew based on Gibbs' mood that they would be going from 0 to 60 mph in less than a second. Sure enough, before they were even strapped in, Gibbs had taken off after Fornell as quickly as he could.

Arriving at NCIS, Gibbs stormed into the bullpen to see Tony seated at his desk with his new hot chocolate and Fornell nowhere to be seen. “What the hell was that, DiNozzo?”

“Sorry, Boss. Fornell had something he needed to discuss with me.”

Gibbs growled, but left it alone for now.

When Balboa showed up a few hours later with more hot chocolate for DiNozzo. Gibbs knew something was going on for sure. This was not normal behavior. “DiNozzo, my office. Now!”

Tony scrambled out of his chair, giving Balboa a bemused look as he followed Gibbs to the elevator.

“What the hell is going on, DiNozzo?” Gibbs barked, after the elevator doors closed and he flipped the emergency stop switch.

“You’re going to have to be a little more specific than that, Boss.”

“With the hot chocolate. First Kort, then Fornell, and now even Balboa is getting in on it. Are you sleeping with all of them or something?” Gibbs growled.

Tony aimed his own glare at Gibbs. “You have no right to ask me that question. Though, for the record, I’m not sleeping with any of them. I’m insulted that you think I have to sleep with someone for them to do something nice for me.”

“Then why” Gibbs started.

Tony cut him off, giving Gibbs a menacing look. “I’d think very carefully, if I were you, before you finish that sentence.”

Gibbs closed his mouth, certain now that something more than what he saw was going on. It was true. He didn’t have the right to question Tony’s dalliances or partners anymore. He’d given up that right years ago when they’d split up and stopped having a relationship, shortly before Gibbs had gone off to Mexico.

That didn’t mean Gibbs was happy about not being in Tony’s life anymore. He missed the closeness they shared. He missed Tony showing up on his basement step and just prattling away about whatever came into his mind.

Still if he wanted to find out what was really going on, he’d have to tread very carefully. He’d already insulted Tony once. If he did it again, he knew Tony would clam up and refuse to tell him anything.

“Is there something I should be aware of, here, DiNozzo? Not as your boss, but as your friend?” Gibbs finally bit out, trying for civility, and coming off as constipated instead.

“Are you, my friend, Jethro?” Tony asked archly.

“Yes.” Gibbs spat out harshly. “Whatever else has gone on between us, I’m still your friend, Tony.”

“You might want to consider showing that instead of simply telling me that, Gibbs.” Tony muttered, mostly to himself, before continuing in a louder voice in answer to what Gibbs really wanted to know. “To answer your question, I’d been busy even before we got called in. They all asked me for favors which kept me up most of the night, so when they heard that we’d been called in, they apparently decided to take it upon themselves to make sure I was supplied in my drug of choice, hot chocolate.”

Gibbs grunted, not entirely happy with the explanation, but it would have to do for now. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, Gibbs.” Tony smiled softly, touched by the concern.

“In my salad days, no one would dare ask for help from someone outside of their team let alone outside of their agency unless they were already involved.” Gibbs frowned. “Don’t let them overwork you. We need you, too.”

“I know. I won’t.” Tony smiled at Gibbs again, recognizing that that was as close to admitting that Gibbs cared about Tony beyond just the job as he was going to get from Gibbs. This wall Gibbs kept between them was the main reason that Tony hadn’t tried for a relationship with Gibbs again even though Tony still loved him.

The jealousy Gibbs displayed was an indication that Gibbs wasn’t really over Tony either, but Tony needed more than that if he were to ever choose to enter into a relationship with Gibbs again. Though he couldn’t help wondering if this was a sign that Gibbs might be ready to make the needed changes. Tony could only watch and hope though. He couldn’t force Gibbs to change if he didn’t want to.