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Tony shook his head as he watched Abby bounce around the office in her exceedingly festive outfit that made her look like a red and green candy cane. Abby’s goal around the end of the year holidays always seemed to be the jollification of the office. This year, she’d been placed in charge of the employee holiday party.
Tony was pretty sure she was going crazy in her planning and Vance was reeling her back in to something manageable. Or at least, he hoped that’s what was happening. He’d heard something about offering elephant rides and he really hoped that she wasn’t actually being allowed to do that.
The party was taking place in the auditorium at headquarters and he didn’t even want to think about what kind of mess an elephant would make in there. He’d already seen the karaoke equipment get put in that room and that would be bad enough. He just hoped that he was drunk before the really bad singers started in on it.
Abby had already made the entire team promise to do at least one song, including Gibbs. Tony was especially looking forward to seeing what Gibbs sang. Abby had insisted on picking out the songs for everyone, so he knew that it would be a good one.
She’d already told Tony what song he’d be singing. Apparently, she’d decided that a rendition of Killing Me Softly was needed and that he’d be the best suited to sing it. She’d had a smirk on her face the entire time she told him this, so he was positive that she was up to something, but he had no idea what it could be.
He couldn’t help feeling a sense of dread as the Christmas party drew near. Abby had been acting more and more suspicious and he knew she had some plan of action that she was excited about. These things rarely turned out as good as Abby expected them to and Tony just hoped that whatever it was didn’t backfire on him.
Really, Vance should have known better than to put her in charge. Though, it didn’t seem to matter. Even when Abby wasn’t in charge of the holiday party she always seemed to get her way about it.
Tony entered the auditorium with some trepidation. He half expected to find a man in a gorilla suit waiting for him or maybe some snakes shooting out of a can or something. To his surprise, there was nothing of the sort.
Just his co-workers standing around a buffet table or sitting at one of the small tables set up for intimate conversation. Fortunately, there was also no elephant ride. Karaoke was front and center and there was already a line of people queued up it appeared.
Tony nodded greetings in response to those who called out to him and made his way through the buffet. As he grabbed turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and some bread, he scoped the room to see who all was there. He, of course, knew most of the field agents and even a few people in the various other departments, but mostly he was curious about the MCRT.
Abby had demanded that they all show up, so he knew the rest of them would be along shortly if they weren’t already there. He first spotted Bishop who was already in the karaoke line. The next ones he saw were Ducky and Jimmy who had chosen a small table and were animatedly talking with each other.
That left McGee and Gibbs. He wondered where they were. Ah, there was McGee. He’d managed to sneak in Delilah and they too had a table to themselves.
Tony looked around, but there was still no sign of Gibbs. Had Abby managed to get Gibbs to play Santa or something? Shrugging, Tony took his food to a table that faced the stage.
Might as well get ready for karaoke and see what Bishop was singing courtesy of Abby today. A few other NCIS agents were up on karaoke first. They weren’t terrible, but not noteworthy either.
Tony heard the strumming guitar and started tapping his foot to the rhythm of the music. He watched Bishop walk onto the stage and grab the microphone. She pulled it to her mouth and her rich contralto spilled onto the stage.
Right now, he’s probably slow dancing with a bleached-blond tramp,
And she’s probably getting frisky…
Right now, he’s probably buying her some fruity little drink
‘Cause she can’t shoot whiskey…
Right now, he’s probably up behind her with a pool stick,
Showing her how to shoot a combo…
Tony winced and cheered at the same time as he realized what Abby had picked for Bishop to sing. It was fitting given the way things ended with Jake and he hoped that it would help Bishop get out some of her emotions related to the whole thing, but he still cringed as he thought about the damage done to the car. He hoped he never angered a woman enough to do that to any of his cars.
As Bishop was winding down, Gibbs slid into the seat next to him. He nodded to Gibbs and Gibbs nodded to Bishop, “She’s pretty good.”
“Yeah. That song was perfect for her.”
”You think she’s over Jake, yet?”
“Based on the way she sang that song, probably not.”
Gibbs nodded as they watched a few others before finally Gibbs made his way up to the stage. Tony sat up straighter in his chair as he turned his full attention to the stage. He couldn’t wait to find out what Abby was making Gibbs sing.
Tony was surprised to find Gibbs staring directly at him as he started to sing.
It feels like we've been friends forever, yeah
And we always see eye to eye
The more time we spend together
The more I wanna say what's on my mind.
Tony couldn’t believe that Gibbs was singing “More than Friends” by Jason Mraz. On top of that Gibbs was singing it to him? Gibbs continued to hold Tony’s gaze.
Tony really didn’t understand what was going on. Was Gibbs really saying what he thought he was? Abby picked the song, though, so did that mean it didn’t mean anything?
He now understood why she’d picked “Killing Me Softly” for him to sing. After this performance of Gibbs, every word in that song would ring true for him. He couldn’t help feeling like Abby had staged this all like a maestro does a symphony.
How was he to tell what was real and what wasn’t and, yet, after Gibbs finished singing he would have to go up there and sing, “Killing Me Softly.” Gibbs was showing no self consciousness as he sang. Tony didn’t know if that meant “More than Friends” meant nothing to Gibbs or if it meant everything to him.
He wished Abby was here. He’d dearly love to ask her some questions before he went up on stage, but she seemed to have vanished. As Gibbs ended with, “Either way I know we’ll make it,” Tony stood up and headed for the stage.
He had no idea how he’d follow that. Not that he had much choice, “Killing Me Softly,” was already queued up for him to sing. He just wished it wasn’t so true now.
Still he couldn’t help putting his whole being into the song. The performance seemed to affect everyone in the room, including Gibbs. Gibbs had returned to their table, looking a little worse for wear, but he’d perked up as Tony started singing.
By the time Tony ended, Gibbs had joined him, waiting by the stage for Tony to finish. “With me, DiNozzo.”
Tony gulped, but followed Gibbs. He led Tony out of the auditorium, undoubtedly leaving behind a lot of gossipers. Tony kind of wanted to know what this was about himself, but he was also worried about what Gibbs might say.
”What’s going on, Gibbs?”
“Was what you sang true? Did I sing your life with my words?”
Tony didn’t know what to say. He’d had a crush on Gibbs for so long that he didn’t remember when it started. He’d never given in because he hadn’t wanted to ruin what they had.
Should he admit to his feelings? Was it possible Gibbs returned his feelings? Or was it just a song?
Or worse was this just some scheme of Abby’s? Tony had no idea. He didn’t know what he should say.
Gibbs grew impatient. “Well?” he prompted.
Tony took a deep breath. To say what, he had no idea. Only that he needed to stall to buy himself some more time to think. He opened his mouth and closed it a couple of times, still trying to figure out what to say.
“Is it that hard of a question? Or is that you’re afraid of my response to your answer?”
Tony swallowed and finally gathered his courage to answer, “And what if you did?”
“Then that would mean Abby was right.”
“About what?”
“About your feelings being the same as mine.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“So what do you intend to do about it?”
“Take you home for steaks tomorrow.”
“Sounds good, but we better get back inside before the gossips’ imaginations start running wild.”
“Agreed.” Gibbs nodded and they headed back inside the auditorium to finish out the holiday party, both happier now that they’d reached an agreement.