Kismet

Tony watched Gibbs storm out of NCIS headquarters with most of his memories missing and couldn't help thanking all the gods out there that he hadn't fallen in love with Gibbs. He knew it could have so easily happened with the way they met in Baltimore. In fact, it probably would have if he hadn't already met Ducky by then.

He'd felt the pull and he knew Gibbs did too. Plus Gibbs you don't waste good, referring to him, would have likely toppled him over into love if he was still the same person that Ducky had originally met. He'd met Ducky in Peoria at a conference that Tony had been sent to. Ostensibly, it was supposed to further his career, but Tony knew he’d only been sent there to get him out of the way temporarily.

At the time, Tony had been struggling with how to handle an entire police department that was corrupt. He didn't even remember what the conference was about anymore. Just that he'd been too lost in his thoughts to leave with everyone else and Ducky had approached him to offer help.

Ducky had been the one to put a good word in for him with Baltimore and they'd met up and supported each other on a regular basis after that initial conference. They'd spent more and more time together until they'd realized one Valentine's day as they exchanged gifts that they'd really been dating each other for the past few years and that they were both ready to move it to the next level.

By the time Tony met Gibbs, he'd already been in a committed relationship with Ducky for a year and a half. So despite feeling the attraction, he already knew that what he had with Ducky could last the test of time and wasn't tempted by what Gibbs could offer. Now, watching Gibbs leave, Tony was certain that meeting Ducky before Gibbs had been kismet for him.

He couldn't imagine how he'd have survived Gibbs leaving like he did if he'd actually been in love with Gibbs. As it was, he knew Ducky and he would struggle with this for a while as they'd both considered themselves Gibbs' friend and neither of them had known about his dead wife and child.

At least, they'd both be able to support each other through this trying time. Tony only hoped that Gibbs found whatever he was looking for. Tony had Ducky and for that he would always be grateful.

That night Tony held Ducky as he ranted and raved about Jethro having a daughter and a wife that he'd lost and Ducky never knew. Ducky was still kind of in shock. He'd known Jethro longer than most of his other friends including Tony. Finding this out had naturally put his world into a bit of spin.

Once Ducky had gotten out how hurt he was, he started to realize why Jethro hadn't shared this with anyone who hadn't already known about them. It was beyond obvious that he'd never gotten over losing them and that anyone bringing them up would have been like pouring salt on a wound.

With Ducky starting to understand and returning to his normal calm, Tony finally let out his frustrations of the day. How Tim and Ziva were ignoring him and not doing any of their work and that it was all because of the way Gibbs had left it. That they didn't see Tony as Gibbs successor.

Tony didn't mention Abby's behavior as that was still a major sore point with him. He had thought Abby and him were friends before co-workers instead of the other way around. He couldn't mention the undercover mission Madame director had him on, but even being able to share some of his frustrations greatly helped Tony.

Of course, it all came to a head when Ziva killed a possible informant and went into hiding. At the same time the undercover mission was heating up. Tony had managed to avoid leading Jeanne on due to divulging his relationship with Ducky to director Shepard, however, the OP was still not going well.

Instead of going in as a love interest, Tony had had to get himself added to her regular patient list. With the director's approval, he'd brought Ducky into the OP to help him make sure the injuries (mental or physical) that he saw Jeanne about were real enough to be believable.

The OP had not progressed as fast as director Shepard wanted, but Tony had established a friendship with Jeanne and was slowly being introduced to her family. Of course, with Trent Kort on the other side he'd still been made and lost his precious car.

With the fallout between Gibbs, Director Shepard, Jeanne, and Rene, Tony was glad he hadn't tried to make Jeanne fall in love with him. He just knew that would have ended badly. Still by the time Vance had been brought in, Tony was exhausted and beyond ready for the whole mess to be done with.

Things still weren't right between Gibbs and Ducky or Gibbs and him, but Tony could only handle one crisis at a time. Before he met Ducky, his coping method would have been to go have rough anonymous sex with a stranger. Now, he could go home and Ducky would gently take him apart until the only thing he could feel was pleasure.

It was a much preferable way to cope and also had the added benefit of letting Ducky confirm for himself that Tony was fine. Of course, the problems themselves still had to be resolved or they'd just keep coming back. For now though, he gathered Ducky close, content to just rest and be with the one he loved for now.