Gibbs grimaced as he and Tony stepped under the hot spray of water. He felt physically ill at the sight of the blood still covering Tony's thighs and neck, an all too vivid reminder of what Emile had done.

"You need to go hit something?" Tony asked softly.

"What?" Gibbs asked grabbing the bar of soap sitting on the shelf. Tony had had a field day when he had learned that Gibbs had still used bars of soap as opposed to all the fancy crap they had now but Gibbs hadn't been swayed. Tony had shut up once Gibbs had started running the bar of soap over his body.

"You're angry. It might help," Tony said moving closer as Gibbs lathered his hands up with the soap and ran them down his back.

"I don't think it'll help," Gibbs said softly. Even ripping Emile's head off hadn't done all that much to alleviate the anger that had built up inside him. Right now, Gibbs wasn't sure what would.

"I don't want you to be angry. Or feel guilty," Tony added. "It wasn't your fault."

Gibbs sighed and knelt down, focusing on getting the blood off Tony's thighs before responding. He was pleased when Tony didn't tense at his touch or when he checked to make sure that Tony really had healed everything. "I was supposed to get there before either of them did anything," Gibbs said bitterly.

"Yeah, well if I had told you in the first place then it wouldn't have happened," Tony snapped.

"Tony," Gibbs said standing up. "You know it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have fought back without them hurting Abby."

"I know that, Jethro," Tony said quickly. "But if it's not my fault then it sure as hell isn't your fault. Let's just say it was Emile's fault and leave it there."

Gibbs turned Tony around and brought their heads together. "I'll try," he whispered. That was really all he could do. It was going to take an impossibly long time to forget the sight of Emile raping Tony, if he ever did. And Gibbs doubted he would ever not be able to feel guilty for it happening. Tony was *his* sub and he had let him get hurt. Christ, he could *feel* Tony's emotions, he should have been able to feel when Emile had contacted Tony but he hadn't. Logically he knew that he could only feel Tony like that when they were close but that didn't do much to alleviate the guilt. But he would try to move on, if only to prevent Tony feeling guilty himself.

Gibbs gently washed off the blood on Tony's neck before grabbing the shampoo, the fancy kind that Tony had eventually persuaded him to buy, and started washing his hair. He could feel Tony relax further under his ministrations and pressed a kiss to the back of his neck.

"Love you," he whispered against the damp skin.

"Love you too," Tony whispered back, turning his head and kissing Gibbs lightly.

This wasn't about sex. There was no way Gibbs could do that tonight, not with the images of Emile still burned into his brain. Or with the thoughts of what Nathaniel had done, which really, was almost as bad.

"Come on," Gibbs said rinsing Tony's hair off. "Let's go."

Tony didn't hesitate. He just let Gibbs lead him into the bedroom. Gibbs was touched by yet another display of Tony's unwavering trust in him, even after today.

"I need you to take me down, Jethro," Tony said softly. "We can deal with everything tomorrow, but I can't deal with it now."

Gibbs nodded. "Alright, but I won't hurt you."

"I know that," Tony said suspiciously. "I wouldn't ask you to hurt me."

"I know," Gibbs sighed. "I just needed to make sure. That was how you used to cope, through pain, and I don't want you to fall back to those habits."

"I don't need to now," Tony said. "I've got you, and even if I wanted to you wouldn't let me."

"Damn straight" Gibbs said fiercely. "But some of the stuff we do hurts you, in a pleasurable way but I don't want to do anything like that tonight. Or sex."

"No whips?" Tony asked with a grin. "Cause I like them, I like the way you make me feel with them."

"I know you do," Gibbs said softly. "But I can't take a whip to you tonight."

"So what are we gonna do?" Tony asked.

"You doubt my ability to bring you down?" Gibbs asked as he picked up a towel that had been tossed on the floor earlier and set about drying Tony off.

Tony swallowed. "No, not at all."

"Good," Gibbs said, his voice low and soothing. "Go lie on the bed. On your front. Please," he added quickly.

Tony rolled his eyes but did as he was asked.

Gibbs moved and grabbed the massage oil that was now residing in the top drawer of his bedside table. He popped the cap off and poured a small amount onto Tony's back, watching as the liquid traced a line down Tony's spine.

The smell of vanilla wafted up through the air causing Tony to turn and look at Gibbs incredulously. "Since when do you have vanilla massage oil?"

"Since Abby found out about us," Gibbs said running his hands over Tony's back. "I hadn't found a time to use it yet."

Tony lay his head back down on his arms and let out a low groan as Gibbs worked away at the tension that had built up in his back and shoulders. Gibbs kneaded away at the tense muscle, enjoying the way Tony's skin felt under his hands. Emile might have had his collar around Tony's neck but he would never have had this. Never have had Tony lying beneath him, submitting willingly to anything that he asked. That was for Gibbs and Gibbs alone.

Gibbs continued to work away at Tony's muscles moving down to his thighs, pushing and rubbing at the muscles until Tony was completely relaxed under his hands. He grinned at the low moan Tony gave when he started on his feet and spent a long time massaging them, getting Tony as relaxed as he could possibly be.

Eventually he moved back up and lay next to Tony and grinned at the content look on his subs face. "How're you feeling?" he asked.

"Good," Tony murmured his eyes closed.

Gibbs rolled off the bed and went to grab the small box that he had tucked away up the top of the closet about a month into the relationship. Gibbs had always known that he was going to collar Tony but he had wanted to wait until he was sure Tony was ready. However, when he had seen this he hadn't been able to stop himself buying it. The thin black leather was warm and supple and Gibbs knew it wouldn't chafe. It was thin and simple but had two small green stones embedded either side of the buckle which Gibbs knew would look amazing on Tony. Although, Tony would look amazing in any collar provided it was *his* collar.

Gibbs had thought about this earlier. At first he wasn't sure if he wanted to collar Tony tonight, wasn't sure if Tony would want it this soon after having Emile force his collar on him but decided if there was ever a night where Tony needed reassurance of his place in Gibbs' life then this was it.

He moved back onto the bed, and sat next to Tony. He tugged slightly at Tony, who opened his hazy eyes but complied and was soon sitting between Gibbs' legs, his back to Gibbs' chest. Gibbs kissed the nape of Tony's neck, pleased at the shiver that ran through his sub's body. He was inordinately grateful that he still got to hold Tony like this. Grateful that Emile hadn't left as soon as Tony had arrived. If Emile had taken Tony and Abby Gibbs wasn't sure if he would ever have been able to find them. Just the thought of that made Gibbs tighten his hold on Tony further.

"I've got something for you," Gibbs said, his lips brushing Tony's ear.

He reached around and placed the collar in Tony's lap. Tony picked up the collar and right then Gibbs wished he could see his face. He wanted to be able to see whether Tony wanted this as much as he did right now.

"You still want to collar me?" Tony asked, and then tensed.

Gibbs frowned and wrapped his hand around Tony's, squeezing his wrist gently.

"Of course I do," Gibbs said firmly. "Why the hell wouldn't I?"

"I just thought you might want to wait awhile after today," Tony said quietly.

"You thought that I wouldn't want to collar after seeing Emile touch you like that," Gibbs stated dangerously.

"No," Tony said quickly turning his head to look up at Gibbs. "I just thought you might want to wait until I was a little more...clean. When he still wasn't all over me."

"You're not dirty," Gibbs said fiercely. "And it's been my hands on you for the past hour, not his. He can't touch you now."

"I know," Tony said hoarsely. "But I don't feel very clean right now."

"You will," Gibbs murmured. "You just gotta let me take care of you. Just be mine."

Tony nodded. "I am yours. It's beautiful," he said roughly. "I want it; collar me."

Gibbs started into Tony's eyes and although he could see a world of hurt and pain in them he could also see love and trust. Tony wanted this. Tony trusted him to fix him, to make everything right in his world. And Gibbs planned on doing just that.

He slipped away from behind Tony and positioned his sub so that he was on his knees on the edge of the bed. Tony automatically lowered his head slightly and held the collar out to Gibbs. Once Gibbs took it he put his hands behind his back and clasped them together.

Gibbs unbuckled the collar before slowly wrapping it around Tony's neck and buckling it again. It was snug enough that Tony would know it was there but not too tight as too irritate him. Tony gasped slightly as the leather touched his neck and Gibbs could feel how much Tony wanted this, how much he wanted to belong to him.

"You're mine," he whispered.

"Yours," Tony said his hand moving to touch the collar. "I want to see it."

Gibbs nodded and Tony scrambled off the bed and over to the mirror. Gibbs moved in behind him and wrapped his arms around him.

"You look good like this."

Tony's head dropped back onto Gibbs' shoulder and Gibbs couldn't resist kissing him. It was a long slow kiss, that slowly built up into more and before long Tony was almost resting all his weight on Gibbs' body. He couldn't stop himself from reacting to having his sub pliant and *collared* in his arms but he was sticking to his earlier decision. Sex was not what Tony needed tonight, no matter how turned on his sub was.

Gibbs pulled away and went over to the closet and grabbed the well used cuffs and blind fold. He saw Tony's eyes darken in response and grinned.

"No sex tonight, Tony," he said.

"Why not?" Tony asked his eyes still fixed on the cuffs.

"Because I said," Gibbs replied fixing the blindfold over Tony's eyes. He positioned Tony's arms so that they were behind his back and then cuffed them together and stood back. Christ, Tony looked fucking amazing right now; cuffed and blindfolded with his collar around his neck.

Gibbs led Tony downstairs and pushed him gently to his knees in front of the couch before moving and sitting down. Tony rested his head on Gibbs' knee and Gibbs ran his fingers through Tony's hair.

"You gonna to fall for me, Tony?" Gibbs asked, his hand moving down to squeeze Tony's neck. He felt Tony shudder but resist slightly; the trauma of the day making it harder for him to let go straight away.

"Come on, let go. It's just me and you here, Tony. I'll take care of you, you've just got to let go," he coaxed.

It didn't take much longer; Tony was already relaxed from Gibbs earlier ministrations and having Gibbs' collar around his neck only made it easier to bring Tony down. Gibbs was sure that right now all Tony was thinking about was the feel of the leather wrapped around his wrists and neck and his hand in his hair but he wanted Tony to fall further.

"Just a little more," he whispered leaning down and kissing Tony firmly and squeezing his neck again, just the way Tony liked it. He felt when Tony finally let go and relaxed fully against his leg.

"That's it," he said pulling back and resumed stroking Tony's hair. They sat there for awhile, Tony leaning against his leg and Gibbs stroking his head. Eventually Gibbs reached over and grabbed the book he had been reading to Tony for the past few weeks. He had been surprised that Tony liked to be read to, though he had a suspicion that it had something to do with never being read to with a child, and Gibbs was happy to indulge him. It was an adventure novel that Shannon had loved and he wasn't surprised that Tony enjoyed it too. Tony probably wouldn't remember much of what Gibbs read to him but he always stayed in his subspace longer and was more comfortable when Gibbs spoke to him, and he really didn't have a problem with reading the chapter again for Tony later. So he leant back into the couch, his other hand still petting Tony's hair and began to read.