RERUN
Rerun {NCIS Fanfic}
Tagged to episode 8x23 "Swan Song." There are some things you only notice the second time you see them.
He's annoyed when he and Mike step into the bullpen and find Abby there. Not now, Abs. He tries to steer Mike past her towards Vance's office, but Abby turns when she hears the elevator ding, and as soon as she sees Mike, her face lights up.
"Mike!" she says, stretching out her arms to hug him. "I didn't know you were in town!"
And his gruff old mentor actually hugs her back, his stubbly cheek against her hair, and says he had some frequent flier miles about to expire. Which Gibbs knows is a load of crap, of course. But hey, they're happy to see each other, and once Mike has gotten the mandatory Abby-hug out of the way, Gibbs tries again to steer him towards the stairs.
But, no. Because after Abby has hugged Mike, she has to take his arm and guide him around the bullpen and recap the serial killer case they've been working on for the last few weeks. "We've been calling him P2P," she explains, and Gibbs sighs impatiently. Guess Vance'll have to wait.
So he goes to his desk to find out if his agents have gotten anything done while he was bringing in Mike. McGee says he's trying to backtrace the e-mails, but that's all the information Gibbs gets before the rest of his team sees Mike. Which is when Gibbs realizes...
God, look at that. They're really happy to see him, aren't they?
"Hey, Mike, how are you?" Tony asks warmly, and he stands up to shake Mike's hand, the one with the missing thumb. Ziva and McGee don't get out of their chairs, but McGee waves at Mike with his free hand, and Ziva blows him a kiss. Abby is still holding his arm, like she never wants to let him go.
Gibbs sits down behind his desk, taking in the scene. He's touched to see how his team has adopted Mike. It makes him smile, his blue eyes softening, but only for a second, because then Mike's voice -- his conscious, his personified gut -- is in his head, telling him there's something wrong with this picture.
Think, Probie, where have you seen it before?
The smell of blackberry cobbler is what comes back to him first. Shannon was taking a pan of it from the oven when his father arrived from Stillwater for a visit. Then he remembers how Kelly had stretched out her arms to hug Jackson as soon as she saw him, her face lighting up. Just like Abby.
"Grandpa Jack! I didn't know you coming!"
Shannon had blown him a kiss, just like Ziva, and it had made Gibbs smile, touched, as that exact same thought occured to him. Look how happy they are to see him.
Gibbs can push the memory away, turn it off just like pressing a button on a remote, but he can't stop the worry that's churning in his gut. It's so similar -- too similar -- and Mike's voice in his head tells him there's another similarity, one he doesn't see yet. The churning in his gut settles into a cold, dead weight, and he's not sure why.
He can't help thinking... that was the last time his family ever saw his dad.
FIN
[FF.net link here.]
As always, thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it!
P.S. God loves Ducky!