Epilogue:

True to the doctor's words, Tony'd regained his eyesight after three days.

The good thing was that he'd spent the first few days in the hospital, so he didn't have much trouble doing things without his sight and when one day he woke up and the light coming from the window greeted him instead of the usual darkness, he couldn't help but turn his head towards the light and stare out the window with amazement. Fortunately a nurse had been there with him and saw his reaction to the light. She'd quickly closed the blinds so the light wouldn't hurt his eyes.

The doctor had stopped by shortly after that to check his eyes and congratulated him for regaining his sight; he'd told him that he would get out of there soon, but what Tony couldn't wait for was seeing his friends and watch them for a reaction to the news.

Gibbs' reaction was a sight for sore eyes. Literally!

Gibbs was looking terrible and that was the first thing that Tony mentioned when his boss walked into his room with a cup of coffee.

It was only a few minutes after he'd woken up with his eyesight back and it hurt to keep his eyes open but the pain was worth it when Tony looked at his boss and saw his eyes widened with realization and a wide smile spread across his face. The older man just stood there for a couple of minutes and looked Tony in the eyes; showing him how happy he was to see those green eyes looking back at him.

The team had been thrilled when they found out that Tony could actually see them again, and even though things were too blurry and it was giving him the mother of all headaches, Tony would keep his eyes open as long as he could.

Now, it'd been two weeks since Tony'd woken up the second time in the hospital and he was finally back to his apartment. His vision was becoming less and less blurry every day and it was almost back to normal now.

His only problem was with his hands and although he could use his right one fairly well to meet his needs, it was still hard to hold a fork or knife; let alone chopsticks. So he kept eating either pizza or soup which was getting old too fast.

Everyone knew that he wouldn't accept help eating, so they respected his wish and didn't even try to spoon feed him.

Gibbs had once, very briefly, thought about cooking Tony a steak and cutting it into small pieces so the younger man could eat it easily. But the memory of burned flesh had stopped him immediately. He had inhaled deeply a few times just to get rid of the too vivid smell that was etched like a tattoo into his brain and gulped forcefully to push the bile down that had risen in his throat. He really doubted he could ever eat steak again.

Eating was the least of Tony's problems, though.

Taking a shower was a nightmare for him. He wasn't allowed to unwrap the bandages and bathing with both his hands covered to elbow was annoying and unnerving, and that was why he had just taken quick showers since he'd left the hospital and hadn't shaved more than once.

He'd refused everyone's help, even Abby's; deciding that waiting to be able to shave his own face himself was way better than sitting there letting someone else do it for him. The only time that he'd allowed someone to help him with that was when he was still staying at Gibbs' place after getting out of the hospital and his boss just wouldn't take 'No' for an answer. The whole thing had been so awkward that he threatened Gibbs with going back to his own place if he didn't leave him alone.

So, with Gibbs accepting his conditions, he'd no choice but to stay with the older man for a whole week.

Not that he was up to doing things all by his own and both he and Gibbs knew that very well; so even when he was finally given the permission to go back to his own apartment, Gibbs had gone with him. The ex-marine wouldn't stay with him every night, but he was there more often than not.

Tony'd been told that things were slow at the Yard, but later Abby told him that Vance was punishing Gibbs and wouldn't give them anything but cold cases to review; or at least it meant to be a punishment, because everybody could see that Gibbs was grateful instead of annoyed. The only things that Gibbs didn't like at all, was the fact that Vance had forced him to attend an Anger Management class and had told him he'd need a psych evaluation before getting back to the field.

Tony found it quite funny, but necessary nevertheless. He gave Vance an imaginary thumbs up for his courage; because it was clear that Gibbs was having a hard time keeping his anger at check recently and it was past the time that someone did something about it; and since his last effort had almost cost him his eyesight, he wasn't too eager to try it again any time soon. So, Vance was the only other option, and unlike him, Vance had the power and apparently the latest incident had opened his eyes, making him force the Lead Agent to do something about his anger or leave the Navy Yard for good.

All in all, it was a good thing that the team was off-rotation; it was giving both Tony and Gibbs some much needed time; one needed it to recover, the other to regain his equilibrium

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That day, Tony was sitting on his couch, watching the news on TV and cherishing every moment of being able to see the events when he heard a knock on the door. Rising to his feet, he was about to greet his boss when he pulled the door open, but found Abby, Ziva and Tim on the other side of the door. With two large Pizzas for dinner.

"We brought Pizza." Abby announced excitedly as Tony moved aside to let them in.

"It's not that exciting, Abby." McGee rolled his eyes.

"Tony loves Pizza." She argued.

"Tony has been eating Pizza for three weeks now. Even he must get tired. Is that not true, Tony?" Ziva looked at Tony who had once again sat on the couch, eyeing them with amusement.

"I admit, I'd kill for something different, but nobody's allowed to get tired of Pizza, Ziva." He rebuked. "Never. It's a rule."

Rolling her eyes, she sat on the smaller couch and opened a Pizza box, while Abby opened a soda for Tony and beers for themselves.

"I'm not taking any pain meds, Abs." Tony grabbed her beer from her hand and took a sip.

"What?" She frowned. "But you should. Gibbs will kill you if-"

"Gibbs knows and I'm not five; I make decisions for myself." He sounded a bit annoyed, but pushed it down.

The other three exchanged meaningful looks with each other, but said nothing in return.

"I'm not blind anymore, either, you know." Tony said nonchalantly, his eyes still on the TV screen.

"And we're so happy for that." Abby who was sitting right beside Tony gave him a semi-hug. "It's just that... Well-"

Tony finally grabbed the remote control and turned the TV off. "Abs?" He looked at her, waiting for more than a broken sentence.

"We need to talk about something." Ziva jumped in.

"Actually, there's something we need to tell you."

Tony leaned back; Pizza forgotten for the moment. "Let me guess, you're getting married and Ziva is your best man?" He addressed Tim and Abby. "You've got my blessings."

"I am not a man, why would I want to be anyone's best man?"

"Hey! I was Jimmy's best-man." Abby complained.

"Guys." McGee stopped them.

"Right." Abby looked sheepish. "Umm... Look, we wanted to apologize, Tony."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Ookay..." He narrowed his eyes. "Now, what did you do and what's the damage?"

"The damage to what?" Ziva asked, frustrated that Tony wouldn't let them just talk. "We did not do anything to your possessions. You are not having any sense."

Tony was about to correct Ziva, but decided against it when McGee murmured the word 'make' and Ziva glared at him. "Then what the hell are you apologizing for?" He asked instead.

"For the way we acted." Tim fidgeted in his seat.

"When?" The older man look genuinely confused as he looked between the three of them.

"Before,... You know... This." Tim waved his hands, and when the look of confusion didn't disappear from Tony's face, he sighed. "Gibbs was unbearable and always angry and it was mostly towards you; we shouldn't have made it harder. We were just tired."

"And we shouldn't have accused you. Never meant it that way." Abby continued. "It's just that you can always fix things and deflate Gibbs' anger and he never stays mad for so long and when you didn't or couldn't do anything this time... We just... Well, no, there are no excuses for what we did. I'm sorry." Abby looked Tony in the eyes.

Tony for his part was back to looking amused. "Right. That." He shook his head and grabbed his slice of pizza. "No worries. It's nothing new."

Ziva frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?" ... "And that's supposed to make us feel better?" Tim asked at the same time.

Tony grinned widely at that. "Guys, it's OK. I know you were tired, I was too. I just want you to know that I'm not immune to Gibbs' moods. At least not as much as I used to be. I get frustrated too and as long as we don't hurt each other with our words, we can bounce back and sort things out."

"But we did hurt you." Abby sighed.

Tony shrugged. "Well, that's in the past. A lot has happened since then."

Abby wasn't convinced yet. "I love you, Tony. You're my best friend. I never meant to imply that you-"

Tony put his left arm around her, hiding the wince of pain when his fingers curled around her shoulder. "Thanks, Abs, but we gotta move on. Thank you for understanding me and explaining things."

Tim smiled gratefully and nodded his own thanks, knowing that Tony could read his eyes.

Ziva looked a bit skeptical, but finally nodded and said. "We are sorry."

"Apology accepted." Tony smiled.

Abby opened her mouth to say something when a key turned in the lock and Gibbs walked in with a pocket in his hand.

He studied his team for a second before turning his gaze to Tony. "Having a party, DiNozzo?" The concern was clear in his eyes. He'd felt the tension in the room the second he'd walked in and could say that something had been going on between his people.

Tony smiled and shook his head slightly, conveying that things were alright; glad that he was once again able to read the older man's expression and see what was happening in his head just by looking him in the eyes. "Not without you, Boss."

"Soup." Gibbs announced curtly as he put the pocket in front of Tony and grabbed a slice of Pizza for himself before walking to the kitchen for a beer.

"Should we call Ducky and Palmer, too?" Abby bounced in her place. "We could call for more Pizzas if it's not enough. We have so many reasons to celebrate."

Ziva and McGee looked a little uncomfortable at hearing that idea; they were clearly still fazed by whatever had happened between them before Gibbs' arrival, and Tony looked spent and even in pain; so Gibbs decided to talk Abby out of it. "Another night, Abby." He said as he sat on the couch next to Tony.

"But-"

"I think the boss is right." McGee chimed in, "I mean, look at Tony, he looks dead on his feet."

"He is not on his feet." Ziva asserted Tony carefully, "But if that means he is very tired, then I agree with you; he looks dead on his feet."

"He is in the room and very well-rested and content; thank you very much." Tony protested loudly.

Gibbs snorted at that.

"That's rude, Boss."

Instinctively, Gibbs raised his hand to slap Tony over the head, but stopped mid-action when Tony ducked and everyone else yelled in unison. "NO."

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... The END ...

A/N: Thank you for all your support, alerts and favorites. Special thanks to those who left me reviews or PMs and encouraged me with their words.

Thanks to my anonymous reviewers; wish I could thank them one by one, but well, it's not possible since apparently they don't have an account!

Tell me what you think of this last chapter?! :)

All mistakes are mine.

Thank you so much, XX-Samantha-XX; you're a great friend and BR. :)

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