Title: Strange bedfellows
Author: Ceindreadh
Email: Ceindreadh@eircom.net
Genre (general, hetero or slash) Mixed
Characters: Fornell & Gibbs but NOT Fornell/Gibbs
Rating: NC-15
Summary: Fornell and Gibbs talk over drinks.
Warnings:
Disclaimer. I don't own the NCIS characters, I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.
Notes: This is all YumYumPM's fault. Read part 36 of her misadventures series to see what I mean
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"There you go, fellas," the bartender said as he set another two bottles of beer in front of them.
"Thanks Harvey," said Gibbs. He took a drink from one bottle and slid the other in front of Fornell who was staring morosely at the dish of peanuts in front of him.
"Drink," ordered Gibbs.
"You trying to make me drown my sorrows, Gibbs?" said Fornell. He knocked back half of the bottle in one swallow, before adding, "Because I don't think there's enough beer in Washington to do that."
Gibbs shrugged, "Just thought that it might help you numb the pain...I *would* worry about it killing your brain cells, but I'm not sure you've any left to bother about."
Fornell glared at him. "Some friend you are," he grumbled, "This whole mess is *your* fault."
Gibbs nearly spat out his mouthful of beer. "My fault? *My* fault? I didn't tell you to hook up with Director Shepherd...I certainly didn't tell you to propose to her!"
"No, but you didn't warn me off her either. Besides, *she* proposed to me." Fornell took another drink. "And in any case, I figured that if she was as bad as Diane, then you'd have warned me off. When you didn't say anything..."
"I didn't say anything because I figured you'd have enough sense to *not* go there. Honestly Tobias, what were you thinking?"
"I wasn't thinking, okay? We were both at this shindig, she asks me to dance. My boss is all big on inter-agency co-operation, so I figured it'd earn me some brownie points with him if I accepted. One thing led to another." Fornell took another swig of beer, "You know she insisted on leading. She ever try that with you?"
"Jen and I never danced...not vertically anyway." Gibbs grinned.
"Anyway, she's talking about improving inter agency relations...how the F.B.I. and N.C.I.S. shouldn't be rivals but more partners. Next thing I know she's 'consummating the partnership' in the back of my car. Honestly Jethro, she practically raped me!"
"Don't exaggerate, you know you were horny as hell that night. Hell, you'd have jumped DiNozzo if he'd been there."
Fornell shrugged, "Whatever. Anyway, yes, I know, I know I should have just told her no when she invited me out again, but what can I say, it'd been a while since I'd dated a woman. I figured a bit of female company would do me good. I certainly never expected her to take it *that* seriously...hell, when she said she had something important to tell me at her place that night, I figured she was gonna dump me!"
Gibbs just stared at him, "A woman invites you to her home on Valentines night...and you think she'll dump you?" He shook his head in disbelief. "And I thought *I* was bad at dealing with relationships."
"Yeah, well at least I've only got *one* ex-wife to show for it!"
"You'll have another one if you don't break off your engagement."
Fornell buried his head in his hands, "I don't even know why I said yes, but she'd had the whole candlelight dinner set up, and I hadn't had a home cooked meal in ages...and okay, there was plenty of wine. It must have gone to my head, I'd never have said yes if I'd been sober."
Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Look, just go back to Jen, tell her that you weren't thinking clearly. Tell her that you're shit at relationships and you'd end up hating each other. Tell her that her friendship is worth more to you than that and that you should just part company before you hurt each other."
"You mean lie?"
"Hell yes. If it gets her off your back."
"Can't I just fake my own death again?"
"No," said Gibbs, firmly. "Too much paperwork."
Fornell sighed, "Guess I'd better go and face the music." He pulled on his coat, "Now why didn't I hook up with you instead of your exes?"
"Same reason you're giving Jen for splitting with her," said Gibbs, knocking back the last of his beer. "You and me are better as friends."
"Plus DiNotzo got there first."
Gibbs smiled, "Yeah, Tony got there first, and he doesn't like to share."
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The End.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs and Fornell have a talk in a bar.