A/N: First of all, I’m soooo so sorry that it took so long to update! Real life hasn’t been kind to me, to say the least.. But I’m all yours again! A big thanks to all the reviewers who encouraged me to write this chapter!
Chapter four
“Crap.” Tony runs his fingers through his hair and glances at the door, as if to make sure that Gibbs has really left. The excessive adrenalin from the hostage situation has left his body and he suddenly feels exhausted, like he could sleep for days.
He’s not sure whether he should move. Maybe if he stays here, on the exact same spot, he’ll wake up in a minute and none of this will have happened. Gibbs will have gone back to being oblivious as to Tony’s feelings and they’ll just go on solving murders, happily evading the bigger problem.
But then DiNozzo looks around, takes in the room and realizes that the damage has been done. He might as well go home since he’ll probably get fired anyway. The cool air hits him like a slap in the face as he closes the door of the safe house behind him.
His mind is clouded and his feet seem to move without a conscious effort, until he finds himself in front of his car.
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Tony tosses the cap of his second beer away and slumps on his couch, absentmindedly flicking channels and then deciding on a Magnum PI-marathon. Tom Sellick always manages to make a smile appear on Tony’s face. He’s almost forgotten all about NCIS when his phone rings.
His eyes trained on the screen, he picks up without taking so much as a glance at the caller’s ID. “Yeah, DiNozzo?” he says, cracking a smile at the sight of Magnum picking up a stunning woman in his Ferrari.
When the caller answers, he almost drops the phone.
“DiNozzo!”
“G-Gibbs!” " ‘Oh my god, I sound like McGee’, Tony winces as he hears himself reply to his Boss " former Boss?
“Are you gonna show up here soon or taking a vacation?” the gruff voice replies.
“Wh- do I still have a job?” the words leave Tony’s mouth before he can swallow them. He slaps the back of his head.
Gibbs seems to have heard, as he answers without so much as a hesitation in that husky voice. “Do you have anywhere else to be, DiNozzo? By the way, slapping you is my job.” And with that, Tony hears the ‘click’ indicating that Gibbs has ended the call. That man should really work on his phone manners.
Tony replays the conversation in his mind as he walks to the bathroom to check if he’s decent enough to come into work. He can’t keep a shiver from running down his spine as he thinks about Gibbs, slapping him somewhere else, anywhere else than on the back of his head.
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Crossing the parking lot toward the entrance of the Navy Yard, he winces at the bright sunlight. His head is throbbing slightly and he’s feeling lightheaded " although that could be caused by both the beer and Gibbs. He flashes his signature DiNozzo-smile at the security guards and when they don’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, he lets out a breath that had been caught in his chest for far too long.
Tony rides the elevator with Brenda, a cute girl from Human Resources. She’s talking to him, standing closer than appropriate and practically throwing herself at him, but he can hardly hear her over the sound of the blood rushing through his ears. He looks at her, sees her pupils dilate and her breath hitch and he smiles. It’d be so easy to force her against the wall, his knee between her legs and just kiss her senseless until her knees give way. Sometimes he misses his playboy persona. He mostly keeps it up for the team but he has stopped believing it himself a long time ago. He remembers the exact moment he had realized his feelings for Gibbs were more than friendly…
He knows he doesn’t have to knock but still hesitates a moment, his hand on the doorknob, before pushing through and opening the door. The house seems to have taken over the no-bullshit-attitude his Boss carries with pride. Tony feels ridiculous for being impressed by something as ordinary as a door and yet, he wouldn’t be surprised if Gibbs could see right through it. His Boss is like a force of nature, he never backs down for anyone and his fierce blue eyes always carry the same intensity.
But they have caught a case and since they’re a two-man team, he’ll have to wake the beast. Normally the roles would be reversed and Gibbs " who practically lives at the office " would come and pick him up. But last night, he had stayed late to finish a report and Gibbs had gone home at a decent hour. Another reason why he was so reluctant to wake his Boss; maybe this was the first night in weeks he could get some sleep and instead of that much-needed rest, Tony was here to bug him some more.
The wooden floor in the living room creaks softly and Tony wants so badly to turn around and walk away. At times, Gibbs can be almost impossible to live with, and that’s just in daytime and with coffee. Tony doesn’t want to imagine what he’ll be like now.
He’s been here before but obviously the master bedroom isn’t one of the rooms that Gibbs showed him. He guesses it’s upstairs and he takes the steps two at a time, as quietly as possible. When he notices the first door on the left standing ajar, he carefully sneaks a peek inside. Yeah, this is the bedroom alright. Gibbs is sprawled out on the bed, his naked body only half covered by a thin sheet. The moonlight coming through the curtains offers Tony a glance at his Boss’ defined abs and muscular arms. He looks peaceful like this, the otherwise hard lines around his eyes and lips have softened a bit and Tony can’t keep his eyes from roaming across Gibbs’ toned body.
When Tony’s eyes travel over the older man’s chest and lower, his breath catches in his throat. Gibbs’ cock is clearly visible under the sheet and Tony licks his lips without a second thought. Wait " what? He takes a step back, eager to get out of there. What the hell just happened? The floor creaks again, this time harder and then everything sort of happens in a blur. Gibbs jolts awake, his right arm moves under his pillow at the speed of light and he trains his Sig at Tony. “Whoa, easy Boss!” Tony yelps.
“Jeez, DiNozzo. Do you get a kick out of watching people sleep?” he appears to expect an answer to that, as his blue eyes settle on his Senior Agent’s. Tony is doing his best impression of a deer caught in the headlights and opens his mouth a few times before he finds himself able to answer, never breaking eye contact with that intense blue gaze.
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Tony gets off the elevator and strolls into the bullpen, carefree smile plastered on his face. He walks straight to his desk and smiles at McGee’s questioning look. “Where is our fearless assassin chick?” he wonders, only now realizing that she hadn’t been at work in the morning.
“How sweet to worry about me, hairy butt!” Ziva teases as she descends the stairs and walks up to the team. She reads the question in Tony’s eyes and shrugs. “Vance needed me in MTAC this morning, Special Agent Balboa caught a case that required help from Mossad.” And then she walks toward her desk, effectively fencing any other questions her two colleagues might have had on the matter.
And then it doesn’t matter anymore, as Gibbs comes down the stairs in a hurry. “McGee, what have you got?” he asks, making his way to the big screen. McGee grabs the remote. “Daniel Anderson, key witness in the Jenning-case. He was attacked this morning in the safe house near North-Capitol street. Anderson was upstairs when the intruder made his way into the house and was able to contact NCIS.” Gibbs took over. “When I arrived at the safe house, Anderson was being held at gunpoint by a guy, he wasn’t part of the original investigation ‘cause I hadn’t seen him before. I announced myself as a Federal Agent and ordered him to put down the gun, but the guy wouldn’t budge. That kind of dedication probably indicates that he didn’t have much to lose so I think he has ties to the original drug cartel that murdered Jennings. To keep Anderson from testifying against them, it’s very likely that they would send a hit man. But DiNozzo shot him before I could get him to answer any questions " Gibbs looks at Tony sharply - so we’ll have to rely on Abby’s DNA-match, as soon as Ducky is done with him.”
Tony huffs indignantly. So now it’s his fault that he saved the lives from both a valuable witness and the team leader of the MCRT? He opens his mouth to protest and then remembers what happened this morning, when he tried to convince Gibbs of the value of his life. He takes a deep breath and decides to let it go, but he can’t keep the edge of annoyance from his voice as he speaks. “I’ll go down to see what Abby has found so far.” “I’ll check the neighborhood around North Capitol street, maybe there are witnesses from this morning, or the days prior to the attack.” Ziva offers. Gibbs nods. “I’m coming with ya”, he states and grabs his gear. Ziva moves to do the same and McGee sits down at his computer. “Jennings’ murderer, Juan Cortez, is still in locked up and waiting for the trial to start but I’ll check his financial records, maybe he paid someone to organize a hit on Anderson.” Gibbs nods approvingly and they make their way to the elevator.
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“Abby? Abs! ABBY!” Tony screams from the top of his lungs to the unsuspecting forensic scientist. “TONY!” she screams back with the same amount of enthusiasm, as she lunges herself in his arms. She squeezes him until she’s satisfied with Tony’s squeaky pleas for air and then moves to turn down the volume of the noise she calls music.
“What can I do for ya, hot stuff?” she asks, as she ruffles his hair affectionately. “You never visit me anymore! Most of the time, Gibbs comes down. Don’t get me wrong, I love our fearless leader but I love my Italian stud too!” she grins as she wraps her arms around his strong chest and sighs happily. Tony smiles. That’s typical Abby, she has probably already forgotten that he came down here with a purpose. He pokes her softly in the side and gently tugs a pigtail when she disentangles herself from him.
“You’re here for the Jennings-case, right?” she punches a few keys on her keyboard but her usual thrive and blur of pigtails dancing around seem to be missing. “I got nothing”, she pouts. The DNA we have doesn’t match anyone in the database, but I’ll keep trying. Ducky finished the autopsy but obviously the cause of death was a no-brainer. That must have been badass Tony-boy! You swoopin’ in and saving the day!” “Yeah, glad you appreciate it. Gibbs...not so much.” Tony murmurs as he leans against her desk.
“Awww, don’t worry sweety, he’ll come around. He’s just pissed ‘cause we have nothing to go on " for now.” She pats his shoulder encouragingly. Tony smiles sadly. Abby’s right, Gibbs will probably come around once they have a lead they can go on. But he knows there’s more to it than that. He wonders how Abby would react if she knew how he feels about their silver haired fox. If she knew that he didn’t race to the safe house to protect their witness but to make sure Gibbs was safe. Of course, they all look out for each other but Tony would be lying if he said that’s all he was doing. He wasn’t there to protect their team leader. He pulled the trigger to protect the man he loves.
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“Goddamnit I want a name! NOW!” Gibbs rages as he downs his tenth cup of coffee and punches his computer. McGee is smart enough to let that one pass for now, and concentrates on his own screen. Juan Cortez’s financial records are clean, suspiciously clean. But then again, that probably would have been too easy. Ziva and McGee found a few neighbors who’d seen the shooter break into the safe house that morning but they hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary in the past few days, so that doesn’t bring the team any further.
It’s eight o’clock and they’ve gone over all the angles at least twice and still come up with nothing. Gibbs sighs. He doesn’t look up from his paperwork but he knows they are waiting for a sign, his blessing, before they go home. He’s being hard on them but throwing himself on this case is the only thing that keeps him from replaying Tony’s words in his mind, over and over. The day’s events catch up on him and he decides to put his Agents out of their misery. “Go home, sleep. I don’t want to see any of you before 8 AM tomorrow.”
McGee and Ziva scramble to pack their stuff and go home. Tony is more hesitant. He checks if his teammates have left and then he slowly walks up to Gibbs, seemingly trying to gather his courage in the few steps it takes him to reach his Boss. Gibbs doesn’t acknowledge Tony’s presence in any way but that doesn’t surprise the younger Agent. Being able to handle his Boss’ moodswings is a big part of his job as Second in Command. He clears his throat. “Look, Boss… About this morning…” Gibbs interrupts him before he can say anything else. “Nothing to talk about, DiNozzo. Get out of here.”
Tony’s heart sinks in his chest and he fights the urge to grab the arrogant man by the collar and shake him up, just to get a reaction out of him. Anything other than his usual indifference. He keeps his gaze trained at the older man, but it doesn’t bring him any further. He sighs and without saying anything else, he grabs his gear and walks toward the elevator. A few minutes later, he’s standing on the parking lot outside of the Navy Yard, and takes a deep breath. At least the day is over and he gets twelve blissful hours without his grumpy boss.
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The blissful hours without his grumpy boss aren’t so blissful after all. Tony revels in the slight burn the gulp of whisky leaves in his throat. Tonight, he just wants to forget about the whole day. There’s a game on but he’s not really paying attention, just waiting for the alcohol to kick in and leave him in a haze of ignorance and happiness that only fools accomplish.
He’s halfway to sleep on the couch when he hears distant knocking on his front door. Slowly sitting upwards and coming out of his alcohol-induced slumber, he realizes the knocking is not so distant. It’s harsh, persistent, working on his nerves already. He knows that second who’s on the other side of the door. For a second, he considers ignoring him. He actually laughs at that thought. Gibbs is the one with his one schedule, trying to force his own timing on his Boss would probably only get him as far as more head slaps.
He gets up from the couch, screwing his eyes shut tight to let the sudden headache subside and then moves to open the door, though Gibbs is one step ahead of him. Just as he reaches the door, his lock gives way and his Boss simply makes his way into his home.
“Oh, by all means, come in!” Tony blurts out. Gibbs simply shrugs. “Should have been faster, DiNozzo.” He answers dryly and settles on the couch. Tony waits for the fog in his mind to go away and he stares at his Boss, obviously trying to place him here, in his apartment.
Gibbs decides that the younger man has been taunted enough for one day. “I just came over to discuss something about the case.”
Tony stares at him. The fog is gone alright, but it’s been replaced by a blazing fire within him. The anger from this morning has returned with full force and it takes all his willpower to keep from manhandling Gibbs out of his home. He looked at the clock. “I still have nine hours in which I don’t have to deal with you. I’ll see you tomorrow at eight.” As soon as the words leave his mouth, Tony mirrors the surprised expression that Gibbs is now showing. Liquid courage sucks when it’s directed at your Boss. Stupid whisky. In a matter of seconds, Tony promises himself he’ll never drink again. But the words are already out in the open so he might as well stand up for himself and face the consequences. He straightens his back, tilts his chin a little and undergoes the fierce blue gaze his Boss settles on him. The intensity weakens his knees and he leans against the door in an effort to hide it from him. Tony knows those eyes see everything, but he’ll be damned if he just hands his thoughts on a silver platter.
He bites his bottom lip to keep from blurting out an apology. The last thing he needs right now is to be seen as weak. Gibbs gets up from the sofa, never breaking Tony’s gaze, and walks up to him until they’re standing so close that Tony feels his body heat. He can’t help it, and his eyes flutter shut for a moment.
“Tony…” Gibbs whispers as he reaches out to touch his Agent’s arm, but Tony takes a step back, effectively dodging his Boss’ touch.
“Don’t say it” he pleads. Gibbs sighs. “Look, I never talk about anything. But I can’t ignore what happened this morning. You know you’re a valuable asset to the team, and I respect you. But I’m not gay Tony, I just don’t feel the same way.”
“Don’t you think I know that? The whole Marine-attitude and three divorces gave me a few clues. Thanks a lot for the pep talk but can you please leave now?” Tony forces the words out of his throat, his voice strangled. He looks away from Gibbs, showing a great interest in his floor when he opens the door and waits for Gibbs to get out.
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A/N: Again, sorry for the long wait. The next chapter will probably have less angst in it, but I felt it was necessary for the story to go down this road first. Let me know what you think!
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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.