Title: Open Doors – Part 6 - Watchers
Author: Xanfan
Fandom: Buffy/NCIS crossover
Rating: Potentially R/Mature
Pairing: eventually Tony/Xander
Summary: SLASH - When some doors slam shut, others open. Two men with a history of being pushed aside learn that it's the small moments that can change everything.
Spoilers: up to Boxed In, season 3 of NCIS, All of Buffy, post Chosen
Warnings: Slash M/M
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
_____________________________________
"I wasn't expecting that. I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't that," McGee said for about the hundredth time as he lifted his head, took a gulp of beer, then let his head drop back down onto the table with a thunk.
Abby just rolled her eyes and Gibbs merely raised a brow. Neither would admit that they were almost as surprised by the outcome of their snooping as Tim.
"Maybe we're wrong? It's not what it looks like?" McGee's question was muffled by the arm he had brought up to rest his head on.
"I don't think we're wrong, McGee," Abby said quietly.
When they had arrived at the bar an hour earlier, they had taken a corner table in hopes of avoiding DiNozzo's notice. The sports bar was packed and noisy, so it wasn't too hard to blend into the scenery. They had observed Tony sitting at the bar instead of a table. They were out of his line of sight, but they could see his face, mostly in profile, fairly clearly. They hadn't been surprised to see a huge grin cross his face when he gave his order, figuring he was mostly just happy to be there and served so promptly. It hadn't taken them more than fifteen minutes to realize that McGee had been right; Tony was there to flirt, albeit way more subtly then they'd ever seen before, with the staff.
Mostly right, anyway. It's just that it wasn't a buxom waitress who was the object of DiNozzo's technique… instead, it was a dark-haired man with a patch covering one eye and bright grin of his own. It took them the rest of the hour to realize that it was something more than flirting.
Abby was struck by how relaxed and happy her friend looked. She was saddened to realize that the cheerful man they saw at work was nothing compared to the genuinely happy version she saw here. She'd known that Tony was a little more… bent than he let on, so she wasn't really shocked by the fact that a guy was the focus of his attention. It was more the fact that this wasn't mere flirting. This was getting to know someone in hopes of something deeper. Her friend was capable of losing his heart to somebody, this somebody, and it hurt Abby to think that she hadn't really known what was going on in his life.
Gibbs felt a twinge near his heart that he chose not to identify at the sight of his senior field agent laughing and joking and … peaceful. He knows he's never seen that look on his face before. He won't acknowledge why or how disappointed in himself he is by the fact that he didn't know Tony as well as he thought he did. Gibbs had prided himself on seeing past Tony's womanizer persona, but he realized he hadn't looked deep enough.
McGee took another drink of his beer and let his head fall back down onto the table. His mind was so blown by this revelation that he couldn't focus on anything else.
So they watched as Tony had what was apparently a real conversation full of laughter and warmth with the dark-haired bartender. They observed the manager, that everyone called Mike, tease the two with obvious affectionate amusement. Abby and Gibbs realized that meant this was not a new occurrence; Tony and this man had obviously been doing this… whatever it was… for awhile now.
After they had been there for about an hour and a half, the young man hung up his apron and went in the back to, presumably, clock out. He came back out and he and Tony went to sit at a large booth that the NCIS spies could see clearly from their table without being obvious. A few minutes later, several people came in the front door and made a beeline for the booth, joining the duo.
There were some introductions made, but it looked like that the bartender knew all of them and Tony had met a few before. They settled down for drinks and conversation. Gibbs could tell from the body language that some of the conversation drifted along the lines of interrogation instead of casual banter and he looked at Abby in question.
Both of the lab tech's eyebrows raised in amazement. "Oh my God. He's being vetted!"
"Huh?" McGee asked from his semi-prone position.
"Tony's being introduced to the friends-slash-family. He's being vetted to see if he's good enough to let date their boy," Abby explained.
Gibbs showed no outward reaction to that, but he was inwardly amazed that things had gone that far for Tony and his… friend. Even he knew that meeting the friends was a big step.
After several minutes of conversation, the lone female of the group, a beautiful young black woman with long braids, raised her drink and tilted it at Tony. This seemed to give her approval, which was seconded by most of the others and broke the tension at the table. The conversation turned from the slight tenseness of familial grilling to a friendlier air, at least from what the NCIS team could tell.
Half an hour later, Tony's bartender stood up and good naturedly weathered the teasing comments from his tablemates as he headed towards the restroom. He passed by Abby, Gibbs and McGee on his way, and on his way back to the table he paused next to them for a moment. In a voice deliberately pitched not to carry beyond their table, he said, "Do you honestly think he doesn't know you're here? He's an investigator, guys, he made you the moment you entered the bar. Hell, I made you the moment you sat down. You look exactly like he described you." And he continued walking back to his table.
Abby looked at Gibbs in amazement. And he responded the only way he could, "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting that."
Abby nodded dumbly. McGee just groaned.
Open Doors by xanfan
Author's Chapter Notes:
The bar scene.