Title: House to Home
Summery: His house slowly becomes their home. He doesn't say anything.
Rating: K+
Warnings: None
Spoilers: End of Season 10, beginning of Season 11.
Pairings: None, Gabby if you read it that way, but can also be Father/Daughter.
A/N: This idea hit me, and I couldn't put it out of my mind. The idea of all of them living together seems so plausible, especially with recent events.
Disclaimer: If I owned it, Ziva wouldn't be gone. Actually, a lot of things would be different: Kate, Jen, even Kelly.
It starts with Abby.
It's the first time Gibbs goes home after he's back from Iran, and Abby paces around her bedroom for nearly an hour before giving in.
If he's surprised to see her, he doesn't say anything.
She grabs onto him, holding on for dear life, afraid that if she lets go-even for a second-he'll disappear.
He gently leads her to the couch, and leans back, pulling her with him.
When she wakes in the morning, she's alone, but covered with a blanket, and she can hear him in the kitchen, cooking. She feels safe.
The pancakes are nice, but the company's nicer.
Neither are surprised when she doesn't go home.
She starts adding her own touches: A tablecloth that resembles a spider web, a ceramic bat in the living room, and her black velvet blanket on the couch.
He doesn't say anything.
Tony's next. He's finally home from chasing Ziva, and his disappointment is clear.
He asks Gibbs to pick him up at the airport.
Abby comes along.
There isn't even a discussion.
Tony's surprised to see her.
He wonders if he shouldn't be.
The old Tony would have teased them both relentlessly when he found out she was staying with him.
All the new Tony can manage is "Sounds nice."
They agree.
He sleeps on Gibbs' bed the first night. He offers to sleep on the floor, but Gibbs says he wouldn't be sleeping anyway.
Tony hears a lie, but he's too tired to argue.
And the next morning, when he finds Gibbs asleep on the couch, and Abby in the kitchen, making breakfast, humming cheerfully, he realizes.
He doesn't say anything.
"It's temporary," They both promise Gibbs.
He doesn't say anything.
He comes home a week later to find his guest room cleaned out, and both Abby's and Tony's stuff outside of it.
They don't notice him.
"I was here first! I get first pick!"
"But I'm a Senior Field Agent. You are a lowly lab technician."
Their bantering is comforting.
He's finally seeing signs of healing.
An idea strikes him.
He likes it.
He waits in the next room until they're done arguing.
Tony groans in surrender. "Fine, you can sleep in here! I'll just sleep in the attic!"
He walks in. "Nope, Tony, you're sleeping in here."
"Gibbs!" Abby protests. He holds up his hand, cutting her off.
"You're sleeping next door."
Her eyes widen in understanding. Kelly's room.
"Are you sure?"
He nods. "I cleaned it while you guys were… Busy."
Her smile is worth any struggle to convince himself to do it.
Tony's movies slowly make their way to Gibbs' house, along with the rest of Abby's ceramic bats.
Gibbs doesn't say anything.
McGee walks into work, complaining about his new neighbors.
They fight every night, he says, and he hasn't gotten any sleep in over a week.
"Why don't you stay with us for a while?" Abby offers.
"Us?" Truthfully, thought, he's not surprised.
He moves his stuff in a week later.
The attic is much nicer than expected.
If Abby is to blame, she doesn't say anything.
Neither does anyone else.
Gibbs likes having them around.
They've started movie nights.
Every Friday night, except during a case.
His first impulse is to go down to the basement when they put the movie in.
He's seen all of these movies.
Doesn't need to see them again.
But Abby catches him at the basement entrance, and he knows immediately that he's lost.
She wordlessly brings him back to the couch, and when he sits, she sits next to him, and rests her head on his shoulder.
His arms goes around her, and he knows.
He knows that, no matter his reservations, next Friday night, he'll be right back in the same place.
Because she wants him there.
They all do.
And he's never liked disappointing them.
They know it.
He finds that, surprisingly, he doesn't mind.
It isn't always easy.
There are arguments about everything from dinner to emotional states, and one heated discussion about whose fault it is that Ziva left.
They always solve them.
What they have is too valuable.
Abby has a nightmare. She wakes the whole house up, screaming and shrieking.
She wakes to find Gibbs holding her to him, and Tony and McGee each resting their hands on her back.
She can't stop crying.
"He killed you… All of you."
So they continue to hold her.
She wakes in the morning to find all three of them still in her room, leaning against her coffin, asleep.
She's laying across their legs, a pillow under her head.
More comfortable than Gibbs' legs.
She makes breakfast for everyone.
No one says anything about her nightmare.
And when, nearly a year later, a special Israeli shows up at their door, soaking wet, tears streaming down her face, holding only a backpack and a sleeping bag, no one says anything.
They don't question her loyalty, or if she's finally here to stay.
They just clear a space in the basement, which she accepts gratefully.
They know she's here to stay, because, just like the rest of them, she's finally found her home.
A/N: Too cheesy? I hope not. I liked writing it, so I hope you enjoyed reading it! Feel free to review and let me know what you think! God Bless!