Work Text:
“Gibbs.”
“Go take your boy out. I’ve got the kid for the night.”
“What are you up to, Tobias?”
“Doing something nice for you, for once. Now, go on. Get DiNozzo out of my hair.”
Gibbs raised an eyebrow, “Tony been a bit much at work?”
“That’s an understatement. Now, go on. Ask him out. It’s not often you’re both free.”
Gibbs chuckled and hung up. He quickly called Tony to see if he would be interested in going out.
“Fornell got to you too, huh?”
“I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“True. We’ve been running ourselves ragged with the kid.”
“Yep. So let’s go do something adult and fun and try not to worry about the kid. Fornell may be a bastard, but he’s not a bad father.”
Tony agreed and they quickly set a time and place to meet. Of course, they both found they couldn’t stop thinking about their boy, Alfred Jackson DiNozzo. Gibbs was handling it better, being a lot more used to being apart from Alfred than Tony who kept glancing at his phone every few minutes as if afraid that he’d miss a call from Fornell.
You would think that Tony would be used to it as he was working again, but putting Alfred in daycare every day while he worked just wasn’t the same as leaving Alfred alone with someone else at night. Work was far more distracting than sitting across the table from the man who gave him his child, who he knew also worried about Alfred.
Gibbs reached out and grabbed Tony’s hand. “Hey. Fornell can handle it.”
“I know.”
“You just want to see for yourself.”
Tony shrugged. “That obvious?”
“Only to another father.”
Tony grinned. “What’s new with you?”
“Same old, same old at work. Been considering putting in an expansion on the house.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I’m hoping more space will entice you to move in with me.”
“Doesn’t it defeat the purpose to tell me that.”
Gibbs shrugged. “You know it’s what I want.”
“I do. It’s just with the kid. I want to be sure.” The truth was Tony had already been considering it, but they were finally getting to a good place in their relationship and he didn’t want to move too fast too soon and wreck that.
“Take your time, Tony. I’ll wait. We can go slow. Maybe some dates with the kid? Or a few sleep overs? Kid won’t even notice that way.”
Tony frowned in concentration as he thought about it. “I’ll think about it.”
Tony had to admit that things had been going a lot better after the birth than he’d expected. Gibbs still had cases that kept him out late at night, but he was always right there ready to pitch in whenever Tony needed a break or a helping hand. They didn’t get much of a chance to spend time together themselves, but the parenting was going a lot better than he’d expected.
There’d been less pushiness once they got through the initial disagreements on how they wanted to raise their child. They both understood the baby came first. They both had their own jobs and wanted to make it work.
Fornell seemed to take his role as godfather to the baby a little too seriously. That was the main reason they were out tonight. Fornell had demanded godfather time with the baby.
The first few times Tony had worried his head off whenever the baby was out of sight, but after seeing how Fornell and Gibbs were with Alfred, he was no longer worried. Or well he was, but it was different. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Fornell or Gibbs, more that he just wanted to see for himself that his son was ok.
So while the romantic relationship may not have progressed that much, Tony had to admit that he was finding out a lot more about Gibbs than he had ever expected to. He wasn’t afraid of moving in with Gibbs anymore like he had been at the start when they spent more time getting on each other’s nerves than not. In fact, he looked forward to the opportunity that staying in the same house would afford their relationship outside of the kid.
Of course, it would also mean that they’d both lose sleep when Alfred woke up crying in the middle of the night. That was happening less and less now, though, and if Gibbs was willing to chance it, so was he. He just wasn’t quite willing to tell Gibbs that. Maybe when the anniversary of their first date, not one night stand, rolled around he’d consider telling Gibbs, yes.
He didn’t want to give the one night stand anymore importance in their lives than it already had. He would rather celebrate the good times that Gibbs and him had had like the picnic date Gibbs took him on. They’d already passed the one year anniversary mark and Alfred was almost reaching toddler stage now.
Tony still worried about his kid, but they had a daycare they trusted and Tony was thriving at work again. The best part was that he was finally losing some of that baby weight. It had fallen off rather quickly and he was happy about that. He preferred the slimmer look for himself, if he did say so himself.
The slight beer belly, oh who was he kidding the man had a nice six pack, regardless Gibbs looked fine as he was, but Tony wanted to get back to the way he’d looked when Gibbs and he had first hooked up. He knew it shouldn’t bother him, but he couldn’t help feeling like he wasn’t really the guy Gibbs wanted when he had a rounder belly.
In reality, he knew that wasn’t the truth. Gibbs had spent so much attention on his stomach as he’d been pregnant that Tony doubted Gibbs cared one way or the other, but it mattered to Tony. They still had arguments, disagreements about how they wanted to raise the kid, but they’d learned how to talk things out and it wasn’t near as bad as the first few fights had been.
It was actually surprisingly domestic despite the fact that Gibbs still only came over 3 times a week or so as they’d originally agreed. Tony couldn’t help wondering if Gibbs wanted to come over more and was simply holding back to respect Tony’s wishes. He’d honestly expected the guy to invent more excuses to come over than he had and Tony was starting to wish Gibbs would.
He maybe missed Gibbs more than he was willing to admit. Still things were going well and he knew Gibbs felt the same way. Despite only being there 3 days a week, the man still left him plenty of surprises that often brought a smile to his face when he found them.
Though he drew the line at the lumberjack outfit Gibbs had gotten Alfred. No son of his was going to grow up in so much plaid. He didn’t care if it was in season.
The days turned into months and finally their anniversary had arrived. Gibbs had made sure that Abby had Alfred. Both Tony and Gibbs had been impressed with how responsible Abby was with him.
Gibbs was going all out this time. He booked a fancy restaurant, brought a single rose, and showed up in an honest to god full on suit.
Tony’s eyes sparkled as he greeted Gibbs. He couldn’t believe it had already been two years. Alfred had grown up so much.
He hadn’t told Gibbs, yet, but he’d already talked with Alfred, at least as much as one could with a toddler, and the boy was excited about moving into dada Gibbs’ home permanently. Apparently, Gibbs’ house had more fun toys than Tony’s or something. Before the night was over, Tony was sure Gibbs would ask him to move in again and this time he would say yes.
Of course, if Gibbs didn’t ask, Tony would make sure to let him know that Alfred and he were ready to move in. Tony needn’t have worried, though, as Tony ordered dessert, Gibbs asked again if he wanted to move in.
Tony smiled beatifically at him, “Yes.”
That was that. They made arrangements to move Tony in and soon Gibbs’ house was filled with the euphonious laughter of a happy child and his equally cheerful father. Neither Tony nor Gibbs were eager to trade it, despite their tendency to still get on each other’s nerves at times.