mrwubbles | FIC: Sunday Dinners (NCIS, Gen, PG-13, 8/8)

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FIC: Sunday Dinners (NCIS, Gen, PG-13, 8/8)

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8. The coffee still tasted like mud.

Spoilers: 8X22 "Baltimore"

The coffee still tasted like mud.

Jethro took one more bite of his eggs, mopping up the yolk with the last of his toast. Chewing slowly, he looked up when he heard the bell on top of the entrance ring. He took a long draught from a chipped mug as he watched his probie enter the diner. He didn't call him over, content to observe as he had for weeks after the young agent passed FLETC training with flying colors.

Hair slicked back, grinning and winking at every waitress who paused to give him a second look, Anthony DiNozzo looked every bit as cocky as when he had sauntered into the Navy Yard three months ago. Still as cocky, Jethro amended, his eyes narrowing as he remembered the fiasco last week. While he appreciated and encouraged initiative, chasing off after a possible murderer on his own was not one of his rules. His gut was telling him though his list of twenty was about to get longer.

Jethro nodded towards the waitress—he didn't remember their names, but they remember him or at least his need for perpetual refills—and slid his cup to the side so it could be topped up.

From the way DiNozzo straightened, his hands coming out of his pockets, Jethro knew he's been sighted. DiNozzo gave the rest of the diner another glance. Jethro noted with a small smile; he could see him mentally checking off who in the diner looked like a threat. Good.

"Didn't think anyone outside the force had heard about this place. A lot of beat cops told me it’s a good place to grab a cheap lunch." DiNozzo shrugged out of his leather jacket and slid into the booth across from him. "How did you know about this place?"

Jethro lifted a shoulder. DiNozzo rolled his eyes.

"Let me guess. Your gut? You should market that. It's better than MapQuest." DiNozzo plucked out at the laminated menu tucked between the ketchup bottle and the napkin dispenser. He glanced at it, his green eyes flicking across the page with manufactured interest, then gave up the pretense. He sighed and lowered the menu.

"All right, what did I screw up?"

Jethro raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think you screwed up?"

"You've been more silent and brooding since the Abbot case. You make Charlie Chaplin look like a chatterbox." DiNozzo snapped the menu shut and set it down between them. He met Jethro's gaze squarely. "So what is it? Are we going to lose the Abbot case?"

Jethro leaned into the bench and stared at DiNozzo. "We're not going to lose the Abbot case," he said finally. "The evidence you got when you were undercover was solid."

DiNozzo beamed at the waitress who set down a glass of ice water. He took a gulp of water and ice cubes. Wet crunching garbled his words briefly as he chewed on the ice.

"So what's the problem?"

"You."

The crunching stopped. "But you just said—"

"Going after Abbot on your own was stupid, DiNozzo," Jethro growled. He shoved his plate aside to jab a finger on the table between them. "I said to wait for me."

"Abbot was getting ready to run," DiNozzo echoed what he told Gibbs before. This time though, there was no abrupt snap of his cell phone hanging up on him.

"Petty officer Abbot was three seconds from putting a bullet in your head when I finally figured out where you two were." Jethro could feel the muscle in his jaw jump. "You're damn lucky Abby's GPS is good."

"See?" DiNozzo grinned toothily at him. "No harm, no foul."

"This time." Jethro glared at him. "You don't leave your partners behind."

The smile faded. "Is that one of those Marine rules, Gibbs?" DiNozzo asked archly. "Like always have a knife?"

"This shouldn't have to be a rule," Jethro snapped. Frustration roiled in his chest. DiNozzo didn't seem as stupid back in Baltimore. Hell, he and Price…

Jethro paused. He tamped down on his irritation and narrowed his eyes. Jethro saw the shadows brewing in his eyes, the strain at the corners of his smirk. He frowned into his coffee.

"What?" DiNozzo asked warily.

"If this is going to work," Jethro said slowly, "You're going to have to trust me to watch your six."

"I do," DiNozzo insisted.

"Do you?" Leaning forward, Jethro studied DiNozzo. "It didn't look like it with Abbot. I told you to wait. You didn't. And it's not the first time. Carver? Backings?" At his probie's scowl, Jethro shook his head.

"Damn it, DiNozzo. I can't keep turning around to find out you'd have gone off on your own."

"I closed the case," DiNozzo replied, low. "I got the job done."

"Great, but the cases should be closed together," Jethro snapped. "This isn't Baltimore!"

DiNozzo froze. A red flush rose from his neck.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

Jethro simply stared at him.

Slumping back, DiNozzo tipped his glass back and crunched on some more ice. Loudly. After a beat, he stopped.

"Am I being fired?"

"Like I said before, I don't waste good."

"Ah yes, the rule book." Smirking faintly, DiNozzo rubbed a hand to the back of his neck. "Look, I know you're all about Semper Fi and everything hammered into you from Parris Island. I appreciate that. I just…" DiNozzo shrugged. "Maybe it's better if I just…move on."

Jethro pressed his mouth together—although whether it was for the words or the sound of the damn ice cubes DiNozzo was eating as if they were bones, he hadn’t decided.

"Peoria, Philly, Baltimore now DC. Where next? You call that moving on?" Jethro didn't know about the first two. DiNozzo never offered; Jethro never asked. He saw it in everything his probie does; DiNozzo licked his wounds from miles away.

"I was thinking of Miami," DiNozzo quipped. "Sun, surf, string bikinis…"

Jethro said nothing. He looked at DiNozzo, waiting.

The smirk flipped and the rest of DiNozzo’s body finally looked as tired as his eyes.

"What do you want, Gibbs?"

"What I want," Jethro said quietly, "is someone who'll watch my six and trust me to do the same, Tony."

Something flitted in DiNozzo's eyes at his name.

"I can do the first," DiNozzo said solemnly. He took a deep breath. "Can I get back to you on the second?"

Jethro nodded. "Fair enough."

"Might take a while." An overly bright smile flashed. "I'm a sensitive kind of guy."

Jethro didn't smile back. He gazed back, mouth unsmiling. "I can wait."

DiNozzo's smile flickered, faded but the hopeful gleam in his eyes remained. He averted his gaze and cleared his throat.

"So what's edible here?" DiNozzo said in a long suffering voice. "Anything worth me driving around forty minutes to find this place?"

"Coffee's decent," Jethro remarked as he drained his mug.

"Coming from you, that's not really a ringing endorsement." DiNozzo frowned as he flipped through the menu. He pulled a hand away and squinted at his fingers. He made a face and set down the menu.

"I'll get something from the vending machines later."

Ignoring him, Jethro pointed the menu with his empty mug. "Orange juice's like battery acid. The pancakes are good." Jethro pushed the menu closer to DiNozzo. "Get the pancakes."

DiNozzo ordered the steak and eggs.

Yeah, he'd work out just fine.

The End

Author's Note: Despite threats of harm,

penfold_x whipped out her red pen and despite the hour, got this betaed, polished and done. (I now owe her a gazillion karma points though). Much love, cookies and hugs to you!

I must also tip my hat to

brate7 who saw its conception and, like

penfold_x, patiently (I hope), weathered all my questions, my 'tweaking' and my general fic posting panic.

I would say "Never again" but alas, you know me better.

To

mella68, I am still stunned and grateful for the gorgeous cover art for the fic. It was a tough topic to find the right images for yet

mella68 has composed one here with enviable ease.

A hello to

wwanda whose infinite patience must be gratefully acknowledged. If you're wondering what happened to Toby, his vignette just begged to be part of a bigger fic and that, my generous dear friend, is for you.

And always, to the mods of

ncis_bigbang, mucxh love and squishy hugs to you for this wonderful playground. See you next year!

Pssst: Feedback is like cookies. I like cookies. -lol-

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Perfect. Just... absolutely perfect! I loved the style of different snapshots in time and all the different POVs. This made me smile and want to hug Tony and go 'awwwww' is so very many places.. thank you muchly for sharing this :)

Thank you for reading and reviewing and for the pretty! (points to

cyndrarae's icon)

Oh, yay, you posted! Now I get to actually read the entire thing (instead of you leaving me hanging, you meanie).

Dude, you had WC to beta. EG.

This was so well-written, creative, and amazing. I'm addicted to your talents. Please write more NCIS fic!

Please write more NCIS fic!

On it! :)

Just perfect, hon. ;)

Thank you! :)

I truly enjoyed reading this and I thank you for sharing it with the rest of us. :)

Thank you! I had fun writing Big Bang again!

Oh man, all of these were so beautifully written. Very evenly balanced between characters and emotionally realistic and just wonderful. And loved how you brought it back to the diner at the end. I might just have teared up a eentsy weentsy bit when Gibbs repeats Mike's words and Tony orders just what Gibbs did.... Thanks for contributing such a delicious dish to the NCIS fanfic feast!

I might just have teared up a eentsy weentsy bit when Gibbs repeats Mike's words and Tony orders just what Gibbs did....

-hands hanky- I love the dynamics on the show between Gibbs-Franks and DiNozzo-Gibbs. I'm glad it worked out on the fic. I always thought both dynamics were great parallel in the show!

Wow, that was a wonderful fic. I liked the round circle effect of starting with Mike and Gibbs starting in the dinner and then Tony and Gibbs at the same dinner. Very nice.

Well done.

Thank you for reviewing each part, sharing with me your thoughts! I'm happy you liked how it ended, the partnership Gibbs shared with Franks and then DiNozzo really parallel for me. I had to try and mimic it on paper-er-screen. LOL!

This was a lot of fun, and a good introspection.

One nit though -- I dunno what it is with NCIS fic authors and Fornell & "DiNutso." Fornell is not saying that, he is saying "DiNozzo" with the Italian pronunciation.

Just think of how you pronounce "pizza". Get it? :)

One nit though -- I dunno what it is with NCIS fic authors and Fornell & "DiNutso." Fornell is not saying that, he is saying "DiNozzo" with the Italian pronunciation.

Agreed.

Fornell usually goes for the more Italia pronunciation and gets the emphasis on the 'No' part right. Sadly, it's a horror to convey that visually onto text without resorting to the inane cheat 'he said with an Italian accent'.

To be fair to others though, I think some do get its done with its proper enunciation, but the dilemma of representing it holds. It's a shame we can't have accents on points (my aunt says that name wouldn't have one though). I think 'DiNutso became 'fanon' and I know I've been guilty of consorting with fanon instead. Back in Pisa though, my aunto would beat me with a wet noodle for it. LOL.

I do get what you mean though. :)

PS: Good grief, that was a longer email than necessary! Thank you for reading and reviewing and for sharing your honest POV about the fic. :)

No offense, but I honestly do not understand the need to show pronunciation to words. It goes way back to old-skool Star Trek where people would mangle the English language to try to show how Scotty spoke, as if fans had no idea he spoke with a Scots accent.

I know how Fornell pronounces Tony's name, I suspect most fans do, too. Why is there this burning need to show it?

I don't get it.

No offense taken. :) You pulled an interesting example with classic Star Trek. It's true, there's a pretty common lexicon used in regards to Scotty (I use cannae, etc). You brought up an interesting point that people know he speaks with a Scottish accent, similar to people know Chekov speaks with a Russian accent or the 'W' replaced with a 'V'.

What I suspect might be happening (at least for me) is we're writing without the assumption the reader would know 'X' or 'Y'. It's like describing what a Klingon looks like despite the fact we all know (then again, depends on which Trek, ROTFL).

I wonder if that influences writing in any way? Because then the visual cues are needed (at least to the writer). There's an apprehension the reader might not know Neal's hair is black, Scotty is a Scot, Fornell pronounces Tony's name, the people of Firefly speaks a dialect of Chinese (that is not Mandarin!!!! LOL), Ezra speaks with a Southern accent and so forth.

It can get irritating, I'm sure, to read what the writer is desperately trying to convey what he/she/it sees onto paper-er-screen.

Hope you all don't mind I jump in here. I was finding this topic interesting.

Wouldn't you consider Torchwood fic to be like that? I sometimes see a lot of Brit sayings.

(squee, been wanting a chance to use my TW icon!)

I think IMHO, TW fic is a different situation.

Keep in mind, this is a British show so it's understanding writers may want to stay faithful to at least the British characters by keeping their inflections.

Keep in mind too, British English is a completely legitimate language and word usage, etc. So it's not as erroneous or visual-cringy as saying "Mah goodness" or "DiNutso" or "Keptain." People do speak that way in Brit (IE Sherlock BBC) unlike Chekov and his amazing wandering Vs. LOL

Okay, I lied. This is my favorite part. *hearts it*

Baltimore is my all-time fave ep, and this is a perfect tie in to the episode.

Then there's the fact, of course, that ending your story where it began. Full circle, in a way.

And what made this part my favorite is the fact that Tony reacted the exact same way Gibbs did "way back when". Ducky did say once that Gibbs was a lot like Tony when he was younger, after all. Defiant little bastards, both of them. *g* Which is why we love them both so much. :)

This was a truly wonderful story, for the simple fact that it captured and highlighted why I love the show so much. Thank you so much for writing it and sharing it with us. *bookmarks as favorite*

I need a big squishy Abby icon here. I have to dash out to PT right now, but had to drop a quickie note first. I woke up this morning pretty much in a grumpy mood about hobbling to PT, but then I read your comments on every part.

Needless to say, my morning is looking brighter!

Big squishy Abby hug. Need such an icon for this! :)

Aww! :) I can offer you an Abby tacklehug. How's that? :)

Glad to hear I could make your morning a bit brighter! Hope you're feeling better soon! *sends healing vibes*

I love this fic, thank you so much for sharing.

What I love about NCIS in general is that Gibbs and his team aren't just people who work together, they're a family, and this story captured that perfectly!

I love that you came full circle in with it too, it's a really nice touch.

Thanks again :)

That's what I love about the cast in the showL a lovable, dyfunctional family! LOL. Thank you for reviewing!!!

This is really good! I liked the moments into their lives here and there. Yay! Good work!

Thank you! :0)

Great story.

Thank you!

I just found this (and the NCIS big bang site - awesome!) and wanted to say that I enjoyed it very much. I'm off to read your other fics.

Oh awesome! The Big Bang site so much fun with so many great long reads! Thank you for giving this fic a chance!

I've often found that one of the most elusive things, in NCIS fanfics, is a proper characterization of Tony, that is both subtle and complex, and looks behind the mask, as well as showing his intelligence. Because it's not for nothing that he was senior agent for all those years, not to mention his time as a homicide detective.

Which is why I really appreciate your depiction of Tony, and his relationships with his team. As I was reading along, I thought to myself that I actually recognize this Tony. He's a genuine character, with all of the aforementioned complexity.

He's not overcome with buckets of tears, or a completely non-existent ego or sense of self. He's got his issues, naturally, but he's solid, and together, and he wants to look after his loved ones.

So what I found, in reading your story, is the feeling that we are peeking in on actual moments in our characters' lives. Which is what you want in a story, and a proper take on world-building.

So thanks very much for caring so much, and for sharing the fruits of your imagination. It's much appreciated. :)

(sniffle) I want to reach over and hug you for this. Thank you for giving this fic a chance!

throughly enjoyed reading through these, a series of treats with different flavours to be savoured, thank you

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FIC: Sunday Dinners (NCIS, Gen, PG-13, 8/8)

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Great story. Loved everyone of the chapters.

Re: Great story. Loved everyone of the chapters.

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