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For Gibbs, it all started when his wife witnessed a drug dealer murder someone. Of course, she had to come forward and agree to testify against the drug dealer, so that he could be put behind bars and not harm anyone else. She’d always been a pure soul in that manner and Gibbs knew he could never stop her.
Instead, he made sure he stayed with her as protection. He’d been debating whether he should re-up with the Marines or not and in his mind, this had clearly answered that question. It was more important for him to be at home, right now, then off fighting for his country.
As the case came closer and closer to going to trial, Gibbs felt a strange sense of foreboding. His instincts were on high alert and he inspected every shadow thoroughly. So when the drug dealer’s men came for Shannon, he was right there.
The first round, he quickly fought off with no problem, but that didn’t stop Hernandez. No, he sent more men with even more skill this time. Gibbs continued to do his best to keep his wife and daughter safe, but even he couldn’t protect them from an entire army.
He did the only thing he could when it became obvious that there were too many for him to defeat and escape alive. He sacrificed himself to protect them. Of course, that only meant that they were vulnerable to more attacks.
When he appeared at the pearly gates to heaven, he demanded that he be sent back to Earth to protect them. The advisors tried to convince him that he had more than earned a relaxing stay in heaven, but he wasn’t having any of it. Finally, one of the advisors murmured, “There is one way that you can return, you can become an angel.”
“I’ll do it.”
“You have to go through angel training, though.”
Gibbs waved his hand dismissively. “Just point me to it.”
The attendants shook their head at the strange man. Neither of them mentioned that the normal time to get through angel training was a year by which point in time the person you wanted to save would probably be dead. Of course, Gibbs being a Marine breezed through the training with ease.
In a mere 10 days he had completed it, a record for all time. Alas, it was not soon enough to save his wife and daughter. His sacrifice had succeeded in preventing Hernandez from killing them before his wife could testify, which did mean that when Gibbs returned to Earth, Hernandez was rotting in a jail cell.
Jail wasn’t enough to keep Hernandez’ men from killing Shannon and Kelly after he was put away, however. So Gibbs returned to an empty home. Well actually, it wasn’t empty anymore a young NCIS agent had bought the house as soon as it went on the market and moved in.
He had startling green eyes and something about them drew Gibbs to him, which was just as well for this agent, Anthony DiNozzo, was Gibbs' new charge. He hadn’t been able to save his wife, but perhaps he would be able to save Tony. Gibbs had only been on the job for a few days when the guy managed to get himself chained in a sewer and left to rot.
That’s when Gibbs shared rule #9 with Tony. Never go anywhere without a knife. It was only while Tony was delirious that he could see Gibbs.
Gibbs released him and Tony put it off as a fever dream after he escaped and healed. Gibbs could only shake his head at the scrapes that Tony would get into. Each and every time Gibbs would use his angel powers to save him, but really who contracted the plague in this day and age?
The more he learned about Tony’s life the more impressed he became and the further in love he fell. He denied it. After all, he had sacrificed himself for Shannon; there could be no love greater than that, right?
When Tony almost drowned trying to save Maddie, Gibbs realized that he was more invested in this man than he’d thought.
“Why do you keep saving me?” Tony asked.
Gibbs hadn’t had an answer for him. He managed to rescue Maddie and Tony, but everything changed after that moment. This time Tony hadn’t been delirious and he was convinced that Gibbs was real even though he couldn’t see the guy most of the time.
Tony had no idea why this guy kept showing up to save him. The only thing he could think was that the guy must be an angel with a strong panacea. After all, Tony had faced a number of different deaths and somehow he was still alive.
He could only imagine that he had Gibbs to thank for that. Of course, it was hard to thank a guy that you couldn’t see. Tony took to talking to Gibbs when he was home alone.
Mostly Gibbs just listened as Tony chattered on, but occasionally he would respond. Tony would get wide eyed when that happened, but he would practically glow with the knowledge that Gibbs really was there. Then there was the case with Kort.
Both Kort and Tony almost died and Gibbs ran smack dab into another angel. Kort had always known about his guardian angel. The guy tended to hover and he made himself visible while doing so, so that everyone else could see him.
It was annoying, but at the same time Kort knew the guy wouldn’t let him die. When they both survived, Kort couldn’t help asking, “You have a guardian angel too?”
Tony had just shrugged, but that had been all the answer Kort needed.
“Why doesn’t he show himself?”
Tony shrugged again. Gibbs, however, asked, “Show myself?”
Kort’s angel smiled and proceeded to explain how he could show himself. Of course, the caveat was given that an angel only had the ability to appear when they were saving someone or when they had strong feelings for someone. Kort’s angel had looked a bit wistful and offered a warning that if the feelings were returned and grew strong enough that you would have to work to turn off the visibility rather than the other way around.
Tony and Kort exchanged glances, knowing that there was another person who truly understood what they were going through, but they went their separate ways. After that, though, it wasn’t long before Gibbs understood what the angel meant. Now, practically everyone could see him.
Tony didn’t seem to care, though. In fact, he was happier than Gibbs had ever seen him. In this case, it seemed that an angel’s love more than made up for the trouble that seemed to follow him wherever he went.