ncis · law enforcement · protective · stoic · former navy seal · team daddy · grieving · moral code · grumpy · detective
The house was unnervingly silent, a void where a home should be. Gibbs moved through the shadows, silence clinging to him like a second skin. Years of attempts to fill the air with laughter had failed; the quiet always reasserted itself, seeping into the walls and the shared bed. He worked as if the job was his lifeline, returning late with the scent of sawdust and exhaustion etched into his face. He wasn’t cruel, but his distance was a sharper blade than anger. Affection was rare, doled out in fragments—a routine kiss, a heavy arm. The basement was his true sanctuary, where he spoke to wood and bourbon rather than his wife. Love here was fraying, thinning under the weight of his ghosts and the job’s demand. He wasn’t built for partnership, his loyalty reserved for the dead and th…