Chapter 8
Be loyal. Never pretend to be something you're not. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
It took Tony a while to fall asleep, trying not to think about Gibbs’ sweatshirt. And when he woke to his phone’s alarm from a very graphic dream, it felt like he had only slept for a few hours.
He blamed Gibbs, because that man had invaded his dream, with that sexy voice and intoxicating scent. Tony didn’t have to look to know that he was harder than he normally was in the morning. He threw on his t-shirt and sweats before getting out of bed for the bathroom, yawning and stretching as he stumbled towards the end of the hallway.
“Gibbs, you in there?” Tony knocked on the locked door, yawning again, rubbing his eyes at the same time.
“I’m done. Ya need the bathroom?” Gibbs said as he yanked the door open.
“Yeah, I need to…” Tony’s voice trailed off as the steam from the bathroom cleared somewhat and he could see Gibbs clearly. The man was wearing nothing but a towel around his hips, and Tony could feel heat rising in his face and towards another part of his anatomy.
“Tony?” Gibbs moved closer, concern clear in his eyes. “You okay?”
Tony couldn’t respond; he just stared at Gibbs, his eyes darting between the muscular chest, toned abs and Gibbs’ face.
After his dream from the night before, and the secret fantasies he’d always had about Gibbs, this was simply too much, seeing Gibbs in his almost naked glory. Gibbs’ hair was sleeked back, darkened by wetness. Tony should be used to seeing half naked men coming out of showers, after all those years of playing varsity, but he couldn’t help following, with his eyes, the drop of water that fell from Gibbs’ hair onto his shoulder then slid down his arm.
He didn’t realize he’d moved until he felt Gibbs’ body pressing against his, the moisture still evaporating from Gibbs’ body soaking through his shirt. His hands were on Gibbs, cupping his face and their lips were barely touching.
Oh. God.
What had he done?
Tony pushed away from him, and was down the stairs and out the door before Gibbs could say or do anything.
“Ah hell!” Gibbs swore under his breath as he watched Tony flee, but it was too late to keep Tony from leaving. He couldn’t help touching his own lips, on the spot Tony’s lips had touched his. Tony had surprised him, kissing him like that. It was too brief, ended too soon before Gibbs had a chance to savor the sensation of being kissed by the man that he’d wanted more than anyone.
He needed to get Tony back, in his life, in his bed, under his body and kissing him back, for all of the foreseeable future. He was sick and tired of waiting for the right moment, now that he knew Tony wanted him just as much as he’d wanted Tony.
Gibbs got dressed, put Probie into the kennel before calling a neighbor to keep an eye on the dog. Then he was on the road heading to Tony’s place.
“Tony?” Gibbs asked, a bit loudly as he banged on the door, hoping that Tony would open the door, but he didn’t. “C’mon, open up.”
Tony could hear the loud banging and Gibbs calling his name as he slumped on his couch with his head buried in his palms. He’d fucked it up. He’d let his brain listen to his heart and had gone and done something stupid.
“Tony, are you all right?” Gibbs’ voice sounded worried, but Tony simply didn’t have the courage to open the door and face the music. Tony didn’t trust himself enough to not simply pin Gibbs to a wall and kiss him to within an inch of his life. “Tony, open up. Please!”
Gibbs had said “please.” Gibbs never said please. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as he’d thought? Tony shook his head. Yeah, right. He’d screwed it up, big time.
Receiving no response whatsoever, Gibbs rested his forehead on Tony’s door, the hand banging on the door unfurled, lying flat against the door next to his face. He didn’t know what to do, how to reach Tony. He had a backup key to Tony’s place, but he didn’t want to invade the younger man’s privacy.
Gibbs sighed. “Tony? Listen to me. I’m not angry, but we need to talk. When you feel calm enough, you come to me, and we talk. Okay? Nobody is in trouble here.”
Deciding that he should give it a rest for the day, Gibbs forced himself to turn around. He wanted to stay right there until Tony was ready to talk to him, but he knew it wouldn’t be now. He just had to be patient. He was determined to get through to Tony, however long it would take.
He just needed to find a good time to get Tony alone and show Tony just how much he would have enjoyed that kiss if Tony had stayed.
And more.
---
Ducky frowned as he looked towards Gibbs, who strode into Autopsy quickly. His old friend was looking more…grumpy than normal, Ducky decided.
“Got something for me, Duck?” Gibbs demanded. Palmer was nowhere to be seen, and Gibbs assumed that Ducky had sent him to run errands.
“Not quite yet,” the doctor replied, turning his attention back to the corpse he was cutting into. “I’ve only begun my preliminary assessment, so I don’t know more than what I’ve told you already.”
“Then what did you call me down here for?” Gibbs couldn’t help glaring at the old doctor.
“You know, Jethro, nothing would be helped by you snapping at everyone and everything,” Ducky stole a quick look at Gibbs. “And that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Is there something bothering you?”
“I don’t have time for this.” Gibbs sighed, rather exasperatedly, turning on his heels to leave.
“I’ve been watching you. I’ve seen the way you look at young Anthony for the past little while,” Ducky began, waving his scalpel around as he spoke, stopping Gibbs dead in his track. “And don’t bother telling me you weren’t looking at him. I’ve known you too long and far too well. You’ve got that fool’s smile plastered on your face when you’re looking at him.”
Gibbs glared back at the old doctor, who went about peeling back the flesh after the Y-incision.
“It’s the same damn smile you had when you met Diane, and Stephanie, and what’s her name, the first one,” Ducky continued, his eyes left the corpse briefly to glance at Gibbs over his magnifying glasses while pointing a bloody blade at Gibbs. “But I saw something… more. Jethro, I know it’s none of my business, and certainly not my place to say so, but I care about Tony as well and I really rather not see him hurt.
“Are you sure about this? Absolutely sure? I can’t stop you from falling in love with him, or him with you, but if you hurt him…” the doctor threatened.
“I won’t, Duck.” Gibbs sighed. He knew Ducky meant well, but he didn’t want to force the issue with Tony.
They’d been called out later that night to a dead Marine just outside of Quantico, after Gibbs left Tony’s apartment. Part of Gibbs was glad for the call, knowing that Tony would never abandon his post and would at least be around so Gibbs could see for himself whether Tony was okay. And maybe find a good time to have that talk with Tony.
But that hadn’t been the case. Gibbs could tell Tony had a lot on his mind by the way Tony had been avoiding him the entire time they were out at the crime scene. They barely spoke a dozen words, and when the evidence had been collected, Tony had elected to drive them back with McGee, leaving Gibbs with Ziva.
He knew that the younger man would need time to work through whatever was freaking him out, but Gibbs wasn’t sure he had the patience to wait.
Rubbing a hand over his face, Gibbs decided that if he was going to tell anyone, it might as well be Ducky. At least the old doctor would understand, and would keep it quiet. Ducky didn’t get to be his oldest friend for nothing.
“It’s…complicated,” Gibbs began, shaking his head, not sure how to continue. “We started to hang out, after we got Probie, and things were going well-at least I thought so. He seemed happy at the barbeque, didn’t he?” Gibbs looked over to Ducky for confirmation, getting a nod from the doctor.
“He kissed me, Duck,” Gibbs spoke, his gaze settled on some sheets of paper with Ducky’s elegant handwriting on it. “Yesterday morning. I was getting out of the shower, and he kissed me.”
Breathing in deep then letting it out, Gibbs continued. “I’d felt something from him, but I could never put my finger on it. I thought maybe, just maybe, he wanted more too. The kiss told me he wanted me like I wanted him, but then he ran.” Gibbs looked over to Ducky. “He ran, Duck. I went over to his place to try and talk to him but he wouldn’t open the door.”
“Hmm,” Ducky mused with a chuckle. “I would’ve thought he’d do that sooner.”
Gibbs arched a brow, waiting for Ducky to explain himself.
“Oh, come on, Jethro. Anyone could see Tony has feelings for you. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.” Ducky rolled his eyes in defeat. “I can’t tell you for certain how long, but he’s been in love with you for a long time. It was rather obvious, the way he looked at you with longing whenever he thought you weren’t looking.”
Ducky pulled out his face shield, making his final comment. “Just tell him how you feel. Trust your gut. Now if you’ll excuse me, my patient requires my full and undivided attention.”
---
Gibbs felt frustrated.
They’d been on the case of the dead marine for the past two days, making no headway whatsoever. And to make matters worse, Tony had decided avoidance was the best strategy. He hadn’t made an appearance at Gibbs’ house since that morning, and had made sure to have no unnecessary contact with Gibbs outside of required, work-related conversation.
He missed Tony’s presence. He could tell that Probie missed Tony too, by the way the dog looked to the door and whined when it didn’t open at the usual time Tony would normally come waltzing in.
Gibbs couldn’t find a single opportunity to get Tony alone with him so they could have that talk, and it was making him snappy and edgy.
“What do ya have for me, Abs?” Gibbs asked tersely, and Abby’s head snapped up.
“Gibbs!” Abby’s lips had begun to curl into a smile, but it froze when she saw the tension and frown on Gibbs’ face. “You okay?”
“Do you have anything for me or not?” Gibbs was slowly losing his patience. This was unlike him, and he knew it. He had a short fuse but he wouldn’t snap at Abby for no reason.
“Our victim the marine had been shot three times point blank in his back by a nine millimeter bullet, which pierced his heart and he bled out. One of those bullets became lodged in a rib. It was still intact so Ducky was able to retrieve it.” Abby typed on her keyboard, bringing up a comparative microscopy image before handing a file folder to Gibbs. “I’ve traced the bullet to a similar unsolved homicide of a civilian in DC a year ago.”
“Send the complete case file to McGee,” Gibbs ordered as he skimmed through the case file Abby just gave him.
“You sure you’re okay? You’ve been very snappy the last couple of days.” Abby crossed her arms in front of her chest, pouting. “Tony is acting strange too, like he was troubled about something.”
“We’re fine.” Gibbs refused to comment further as he strode out of Abby’s lab, afraid of what he might say. The entire way up to the bullpen from the elevator, all he could think about was how to get Tony alone so they could talk.
“McGee?” Gibbs barked as soon as he exited the elevator.
“Yeah, Boss?”
“Abby just sent you a Metro PD case file. Pull the evidence and go through it with Ziva. Cross-reference any connection between that case and our dead marine. Abby found a match for the gun that killed our vic.”
“On it, Boss,” McGee answered quickly, hands flying over his keyboard.
“With me, DiNozzo,” Gibbs barked, with more force than intended. He winced internally when he saw the slightly dreading look on Tony’s face as the younger man followed him into the elevator.
Tony was uncharacteristically silent on their way to the car, not even bothering to ask where they were going. Gibbs handed Tony the case folder after they were seated. “We’re gonna re-interview the witnesses from the Metro case, see if any of them know our dead Marine.”
After pulling out of the Yard, Gibbs began. “Tony, about the other day-”
“Boss, can we not talk about this right now and focus on the case?” Tony almost begged.
Gibbs sighed, giving Tony a brief but serious look. “Fine, but we will talk after.”
It wasn’t a question, wasn’t a request. It was a statement, and all Tony could do was to nod his agreement. He knew Gibbs wasn’t going to let it go.
The first witness they interviewed had been a bust. It was an elderly woman who had lived close to the crime scene at the time and had recently passed away. According to her granddaughter, who’d been taking care of her for the past two years, the old woman was diagnosed with dementia and had steadily gotten worse in the past six months, so she wouldn’t have been able to remember much of anything even if she was still alive. Tony politely thanked the young woman, and followed Gibbs out the door.
Their second witness was a bystander who’d seen the perp flee the scene. Gibbs knocked on the door of the small second floor apartment in Arlington, and they both presented their credentials when the door opened a slit, still chained to the frame and a woman’s face appeared.
“Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo, NCIS,” Tony identified themselves, slipping his foot in the door. “We’re here to talk to a Douglas Burman.”
“He’s not here,” the woman said nervously with a tremor in her voice as she tried to close the door on them. The shifty eyes told the two men that she was high-strung on something. Behind her, a loud crash sounded before the window screeched and the sound of feet meeting metal was heard.
“Got a runner!” Tony shouted, and Gibbs was down the stairs, running after Burman before Tony had even finished the sentence.
“I’ll cut him off in the alley!” Gibbs shouted from the landing.
Tony kicked in the door and went out the fire escape after Burman, catching up with him after jumping off the fire escape. He could see Gibbs running towards them.
“Freeze! Burman! You’ve got nowhere to go!” Tony yelled and gave chase with his gun drawn, until Burman skidded to a stop and turned towards Tony.
Gibbs was running from the other side of the alley towards Burman, who was reaching behind his back.
Gun! Burman had a gun!
Gibbs ran, faster than he should while ignoring the complaint from his knee, and tackled Burman as he pulled out his weapon.
“Tony!”
---
TBC
Author's Chapter Notes:
Awkward mornings, frustrating cases...it's not easy being Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Chapter End Notes:
This is written in response to rose_malmaison’s ‘If a dog was the teacher’ fic challenge :)
Thanks to gibbsgirlabby for the beta!
Thanks to gibbsgirlabby for the beta!