Just found this story today...I really love the interaction between Gibbs & Tony. A great read! Thanks!

Just came across this story and found it very enjoyable.

Nope, Gibbs isn't going to like this, but he asked and he needs to hear it if he wants to keep Tony on his team.

Well, it's a start on Gibbs' part, but I'm not totally sure that pointing out Tony's own comments towards McGee and Palmer is quite the right thing to do in this situation. Certainly it won't hurt for Tony to be aware of how some of his comments sting a bit, but while he's feeling so out of sorts and off balance is maybe not the right time, especially as Gibbs has taken all the attention off of his own comment and deflected it onto Tony. I get the message he was sending, but I guess we'll see whether Gibbs has made it better or worse in the next chapter. At least he can see that he's not miraculously fixed things with that one conversation.

"Oh dear" indeed :(. Poor Tony. Even knowing the words were meant in jest, his insecurities would make him dwell on it and pick it apart until he got himself into a worse state. And, of course, Gibbs' unwillingness to just set Tony straight and deal with it all would make it worse.

I guess we'll see Gibbs' thoughts next... Does he realise he's made a mess of things? Will seeing the awards on his desk clue him in?

awesome story that didn't get all soppy at the end

thanks for sharing :)

This was a great character study. Tony really does take some unnecessary flack from the team. Yes, he can be all the things they accuse him of being- juvenile, arrogant, boastful. Sometimes his teasing skates close to the line. Yet, the team aften allow that to cloud their view- they fail to notice the hard work, the investigative skill, the way he can get people to talk to him, witness and suspect alike, the way he runs interference between angry!Gibbs and his teammates.

They don't have Tony's skill with teasing, especially McGee, Ziva and Kate. Where Tony steps close to the line between teasing and cruel, they often step over it in their quest to one-up him. Where he teases to help shape them into better, more resilient agents, they often tease him just to get a rise, to hurt him in revenge for percieved slights.

I liked how Tony reacted in this story to all of these things; finally making the others see that he could be pushed so far, further than any of them would manage, but even Tony's cheerful outlook will eventually crumble. I particularly liked his conversation with Gibbs. I'm glad they really talked about stuff and that they both revealed things about their feelings, things that the other had misread or taken for granted. I'm sure it will allow them a better relationship.

On a more technical matter, I'd like to offer some mild con-crit, if you will accept it. I don't know whether you have a beta reader, but I would suggest you get one if not. While there was nothing by any means bad enough to make me stop reading, I did notice multiple times when you jumped between past and present tense and some instances where you had the wrong word. One example that springs to mind is when you meant 'seeing', but said 'see'. Nothing terrible, nothing even really wrong, but something a beta reader could catch for you. All writers have these little slips, myself included, so it's always wise to have a second pair of eyes to check it over, because the spellchecker won't pick up that type of mistake, as the wrong word is spelled correctly. I hope you will take this in the spirit in which it was meant- namely trying to be helpful.

aww poor Tony

This story is so dense with good moments, and insightful and mature dialogue. When he Tony said that Gibbs saw the best of him, and still thought he was a narcisist... that was just so sad. How I would love to see Tony take it up to Gibbs like this sometimes! Maybe Gibbs should appreciate that if someone did a psychological autopsy on him, it might not be too pretty either! A great story.

That was fabulous!

That was a great story!

One really great story...Two thumps up...

Why don't youe-mail this story to the NCIS writers. It wouldn't hurt if they read it.

Wow, this is very well written. Tony and Gibbs were not only in character but it was great to see the serious side of Tony in your story.

I think the writers of NCIS should allow Tony to pull Gibbs up more often on the way he is treated at times.

Wow, I am so so happy I found your work. You are fabulous! I loved this story from start to finish. *Kudos to you*