December 18th
Tony stood on top of a balcony with view into the main factory where he could see Abby, McGee and Nick work on some toys.
"You really want to go home that desperately?"
Tony barely turned his head when Gibbs stepped up beside him. He looked back down and didn't know the correct answer. He shrugged.
"She seems to be happy."
"She is..."
Tony fell silent again.
"C'mon, Tony. Talk to me."
"Why?"
Tony said and shrugged.
"It's not as if you could change anything...why don't you tell me something? You seem to be the one with the big secrets."
Gibbs sighed and looked down.
"I became Santa Clause twelve years ago. I was working for NCIS about three and... Mike wanted to quit."
"Woah...Mike Franks was Santa Clause?"
Gibbs laughed.
"Yeah...he was. You were lucky that I left over summer or you would be the new one."
He turned his back to the factory and leant against the railing.
"Mike made me Santa. He knew all about me and he knew what it meant to be Santa...he thought it would be perfect for me. You know, I would never see my own child grow up but now I see many children grow up and although nothing can take away the pain of losing Kelly and Shannon, this helped. To be selfless is a great..."
Suddenly he started to cough as if he choked on something. Tony clapped him on the back and after a minute or so Gibbs caught himself. He took some deep breaths.
"Are you ok?"
"Fine."
His voice was hoarse. Tony knew the feeling from when he had the plaque and he knew a coughing fit was never pleasant. Slowly he noticed that he was unconciously rubbing circles over Gibbs' back. Quickly he pulled back and watched out over the factory again.
"Tell me about Rachel."
Gibbs said his voice still low.
"I meet her when I was still at the Police Academy. We were dating for a while and...well...I guess it was a bad condom...I don't regret it. I love Nick... Rachel didn't want to marry me and it probably was for the best.... there really isn't much to tell you."
He looked at Gibbs and saw the older man wasn't really listening. He was taking deliberate slow breaths trying desperately not to cough.
"You sure you're ok?"
"Yeah...yeah, just a small cold..."
Author's Chapter Notes:
Something's wrong, Tony knows.
Chapter End Notes:
Short...