CHARACTER CONNECTIONS

• Fornell and Gibbs have worked a lot of cases together and are considered at least friends... maybe best friends. But it's in a rivalry, gonna-get-ya style. Outdoing each other and needling each other is one of their joys in life.
• "I know how sad this sounds, but you're the closest thing I have to a friend, Gibbs."
• Gibbs after Kate's death with Fornell by his side. They maintain an outward appearance of hostility which they discard when in private:usually in the NCIS HQ lift which they stop between floors to have no chance of being overheard. They ride shotgun for each other against the idiots higher up in the command chain and feed each other's hard man image with their subordinates, to create a greater mystique than they deserve. They are both proud of being considered bastards by their underlings, such that they have instant authority over them and get the work out of them that they want.
• Each has a feel for what is needed in a situation, each is willing to bend the rules as far as possible to give the other the break needed to get the job done (for example, holding Tony in custody but not charging him in Frame Up, or Fornell advising Jethro to "go watch a movie" so that he twigs to the key issue that Fornell is not allowed to disclose. Fornell advises which movie to watch.)