TITLE: Boss, I don't think we're in Kansas Anymore

FANDOM: N.C.I.S. but within the Yahoo group "universe" of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roleplayhaven
RATING: FRAO

PAIRING: Gibbs/DiNozzo

WARNING/SUMMARY: Dark stuff, de-humanization. In the universe of our roleplay-writing group where this is being played out, SOME humans treat fandom characters brought to life (called clones) not very nicely, as second class citizens or worse, as animals/pets. Most do not. Gibbs and Tony, two men who think they're straight, suddenly wake up in this world, truly alive now and no longer just characters on a television show, and are forced to learn their way as clones in order to survive. They're also forced to face something the writers of the show had not allowed them to consider. Maybe they're not so straight after all.

AUTHORS: Max (writing in red) and TaylorGibbs (writing in black). If any of the regular fan fic lists it's now being posted on don't allow colored text so the colors don't show up, Bree writes for Gibbs and Max writes for Tony and the others. Max has only just started this season in watching the show so asks for a bit of leniency in her portrayal of Tony as she learns the character.

DISCLAIMER: We don't own them. We're not trying to make any profit, etc, etc.

FEEDBACK: Very much appreciated. Flames ignored.


Tony DiNozzo was having a lovely dream. He was all curled up on the runner-up of the Miss America contest, having used his charm in comforting her over her loss of the crown to get her into bed on the first date. His face was on her chest, his right arm wrapped tightly around her, his right leg bent and tucked neatly up between her thighs. It was the perfect cuddling position, and though Tony wasn't really big on cuddling, it sure seemed to come natural to him now in this bed.

His erection was strong and urgent, rubbing into her thigh as he slept, and he groaned here and there in pleasure, lips kissing gently over hairy flesh until they found her nipple and began to suckle.

Hairy flesh?

HAIRY FLESH?

Lips attached to that nipple, Tony DiNozzo suddenly woke up.

A dark corner of Gibbs' mind was trying to figure this out. He wasn't dating anyone, didn't even have a woman he could call on for a casual fling, so who was this snuggling against him? His instincts were screaming that it was all right, that he was fine, so he allowed himself to drift deeper into a nearly dreamless sleep. As awareness started to come to him, he drowsily took stock of things. A toned thigh rested between his, exerting just enough pressure on his balls to drive him wild and a mouth was roaming over his chest, just the way he liked it.

Gibbs buried a hand in the too short hair, groaning his approval, bucking upward slightly.

Something felt not quite right though...that thigh was too muscular, the body too firm and...was that the rasp of stubble on his chest.

His eyes blinked open, looked down at the mussed brown hair of DiNozzo and froze, breathing shallowly, hoping like hell Tony was still asleep.

With eyes opening into the chest of a man, Tony had no idea who was holding him, who had a lovers grip on the back of his head with a hand that was much too large to be female. He very slowly removed his lips from that nipple, hoping not to wake the person as he tried to untangle himself from him. His knee carefully lifted away from what he now knew was a heavy scrotal sack .... YUCK! ..... his right arm just as carefully moving back to his own side. They were under only one light blanket, the room warm enough not to need more with their combined body heat, and Tony was thankful for that. The less moving of the covers, he hoped the less likely the other man would ever know Tony had left.

The why and how of the situation hadn't full hit him yet. All he knew was that he had to get out. He had to run like hell .... before Gibbs somehow found out!

Gibbs had held men before but never--NEVER--in a sexual manner and he silently cursed his body for getting so hard. He tried to ram down his panic, to figure this out. Had they drink too much? Been drugged? He couldn't figure it out and like it or not, he needed DiNozzo's input. He knew his agent well enough to know the changes in his body and breathing.

He laid perfectly still, moderating his breathing, his gut screaming for him to get away, every instinct begging to withdraw and get away from the naked man on top of him. But an even stronger instinct was urging him to see what was going on.

Then DiNozzo started withdrawing. Gibbs let him get as far as moving his arm away, and then in one motion, he rolled to his side and grabbed Tony's wrist. "What the hell, DiNozzo?" he growled.

"BOSS!" Tony shrieked in pure unadulterated shock, so pure that it actually sounded high pitched like a girl. Shoving away from him with his free hand, he tumbled off the side of the bed, landing on his ass, only his right arm still trapped on the bed in Gibbs' steel-like grip. "Jesus Christ, it isn't what you think! I swear!"

Tony had a huge reputation as a ladies man, and the last thing he wanted was Gibbs of all people, the one man he truly looked up to, to think he was gay. That it takes two to tango, that Gibbs was just as naked as him and had been holding him just as tightly in that slumbering embrace, didn't yet occur to Tony in his shock and fear. He was, naturally, taking all the blame on himself. Jethro Gibbs was not gay. Jethro Gibbs was SO not gay. Tony just had to make sure Jethro Gibbs didn't believe Tony was gay!

Gibbs kept a tight grip on Tony's wrist. He wasn't gonna pull away. Gibbs didn't know what he thought,. had no idea what to say and the circumstance pissed him off. He hated being at a disadvantage and the way DiNozzo was talking, he knew more than Gibbs did. He glanced around the room, looking for their clothes, getting pissed when he didn't see then lying on his bureau or the chair sitting in the corner of the room. Then it hit him with brilliant clarity, almost too much for his comprehension. DiNozzo was in HIS bedroom. He must have invited Tony here.

But why...? How?

He gave Tony a challenging look that he knew had to be brimming with fury. "What the hell, DiNozzo?" he repeated, growling the words.

"I dunno!" the man shouted, still quite panicked at being sure now that at any moment big ex-Marine Gibbs was going to kick his ass all the way to hell and back. "I don't remember anything 'cept I was dreaming, I thought you were a girl." He glanced down at himself and went white with even more terror. His damn cock was still hard! Why the fuck was his damn cock still hard?! "I swear to God, Boss, I thought you were a girl!"

Gibbs followed Tony's gaze, staring a moment longer than he should and feeling a little tingle run up his spine. Even though the blankets were hiding his reaction, he knew he was still hard too. "Yeah, 'cause I make a good woman," Gibbs growled, for something to say. He jerked his head toward Tony's hips, licking his lips reflexively. "Find your damn clothes and get dressed. Then explain."

"Y..Yes Boss!" It took a few minutes, but eventually they were found in the far corner of the room, as if thrown impatiently in a passionate undressing. Gibbs' clothes were there too. As Tony started to dress, he wasn't sure which way to turn. Frontways? Backside? Sideways? He tried several positions, becoming more and more frustrated and embarrassed until he finally went out the bedroom door and finished on the other side of it. Then he knocked on the closed door. His voice was hesitant, wary. "Ya decent yet?"

Gibbs grabbed his own clothes as soon as Tony was outside and dressed, trying to ignore the discomfort of his still-hard cock. He dressed and adjusted, tucking in both shirts when Tony knocked. Gibbs let out a slight sardonic laugh. Nothing about this was decent.

"Yeah." He growled, pulling the door open and pointing to the chair, an overstuffed recliner. "You. Sit. Explain."

Tony's normally immaculate suit was quite rumpled looking, and for once he didn't even try to smooth out a single wrinkle. He sat quickly and he sat stiffly, in more ways than one. One leg crossed over his knee and he tried leaning forward on his forearms to hide the problem. When that didn't work he tried the opposite knee, and when that didn't work he folded both arms low over his abdomen, pulling the sides of his suit jacket around as much as he could for camouflage.

Then he coughed, three times in clearing his throat, and tried to explain. "Uhhh well like I said, I was having this incredible dream about Miss Wyoming ..... and don't get me started on what that girl can do with a lasso," he tried to jest in typical Tony style, "and I thought I was waking up in bed with her. You gotta believe me, Gibbs, I never would have .... " His eyes lowered to the man's chest, and for a moment his heart strangely skipped a beat as he remembered the feel of that nipple in his mouth. "It was a mistake. Honest. That's all I know."

Gibbs knew all the moves, all the adjustments men made to hide their arousal. Hell, he'd done it many times, just never around a guy. He didn't even bother hiding it. A constant hard-on was the least of it right now. DiNozzo'd been in his bed and had been pressing against his leg, knee exerting the perfect pressure on Gibbs' balls, mouth roaming over his chest like...

Fuck, he was so goddamn hard. And when Tony's eyes flicked to his chest, Gibbs knew what the other man was thinking. He had to fight instincts he didn't understand that were screaming at him to grab a handful of Tony's hair and start biting and nibbling at his neck, to run his hand over Tony's...

"Stop!"

In a split second he'd considered and discarded a bunch of interrogation techniques, settling finally on intimidation. He walked up to DiNozzo, looming over the younger man before moving closer, squeezing the other man's legs closed with his lower thighs, his hands clamping the arms of the chair just outside Tony's. "You're telling me about your dream," he began in a low, gentle tone. "But you haven't told me how you got here and in my bed in the first place. Explain that. NOW!" He roared the last word, hoping to tip Tony completely off balance.

Tony tipped. He tipped right off the cliff as his face went ashen, a cold sweat breaking out on him at having his trapped balls crushed between his own legs in a move he couldn't even begin to break. It hurt like hell, but what was even more shocking were just two words that Gibbs said to him. My bed.

"Your b...bed?" he croaked. Oh God, why would I be in the man's bed? Oh God, is he trying to castrate me? Oh God, it's making me even harder!!

Gibbs leaned in close, nose to nose with Tony now, leaning over his body almost touching Tony's from nose to...God. Bad idea. His groin brushed over Tony's and he fought the urge to press down and rub.

"You were in my bed, DiNozzo. Why?" He didn't know why he said the words he did. "Why didn't you tell me you wanted me?" His voice had gotten softly seductive. "Wasted too much time..."

What the hell was he saying???

What the hell was he doing???

He couldn't stop himself as his hand lowered between their bodies, resting on Tony's chest, stroking over muscles.

He HAD to be drugged....but he couldn't stop himself.

"GIBBS?!" Tony tipped all the way over the back of the chair and came up, wild eyed with a mixture of mostly astonishment and loathing but also, perhaps just under it, a touch of lust on his face as he kept the chair between them now. "I don't want you! Jesus fucking Christ! Where's the fucking pod?!" His head started whipping around, even going so far as to look under the bed. "There's gotta be a pod! Jethro Gibbs isn't gay! Who the hell snatched your real body?! They're not getting mine! I'm never fucking sleeping again so stay away from me you ... you podmonster you!" he cried, pointing his finger at Gibbs.

He should have been mortified. He should have been furious. Instead he was just determined. He lunged at Tony, grabbing him in a bear hug and pinning his arms at his side. "Settle down, DiNozzo. SETTLE DOWN!"

Gibbs tried to breathe evenly, hoping to impart calmness to his second in command. "Don't know what the hell is going on here Tony but it's me." He swallowed hard. "It's me, DiNozzo."

Any arousal that had started to abate in his terror of body snatchers in real life came rushing back with a vengeance when the man bear-hugged him.

Tony's eyes were still wild, but after only an initial brief struggle to get loose, he moaned as he stared deeply into the other man's eyes, that calmness from his superior finally doing the trick and cutting through his panic. "It's you," he whimpered. "And I'm me ... at least I think I'm me .... so why would we be in bed together?" And why is my cock rock hard again?! "We've been in some pretty tight situations before, Boss, but never THIS tight." ... as in naked in YOUR bed!

"Breathe for me, Tony," he said in a tone of command, keeping his calm by sheer force of will. He could tell Tony was hard. Hell, he was every bit as hard, his hips fighting the urge to rub and grind against the other man. "You're telling me you don't know how you ended up in my bed, dry humping me?" He arched an eyebrow, giving Tony a perfectly serious look that wasn't in the least sarcastic. It was plausible. Gibbs didn't remember anything, why should Tony?

"Settle down," Gibbs whispered. "Gonna figure this out."

The man's commanding tone definitely helped too. Tony DiNozzo had a problem with authority figures, but for some reason he didn't chafe under Gibbs. In fact, he often acted like an over-eager puppy trying to get the man's approval. Jethro Gibbs was the only authority figure he truly respected.

"Honest to God." The wildness in those big hazel eyes dimmed even further. "I don't know how I ended up in your bed ...." He swallowed hard, the reminder of it both loathsome and strangely intoxicating too, "dry humping you. Mind letting me go now, Boss?" he asked, plastering a tiny hopeful smile on his face. "I'm okay, really. No more freak-out. Sorry Boss."

The image wasn't just intoxicating, the scent of Gibbs swimming over him was too. Dear God, he'd smelled the man a million times in the past, his deodorant, his aftershave, his natural body odor of sweat and man's musk .... so why was this time, number one-million and one, so much more vivid to his senses ... so much more ..... real?

He chuckled a little self consciously and released Tony. As long as they kept it strictly investigative they'd be okay. "What do you remember, Tony. Before you...we.." He gestured toward the bed, sighing. He really needed some damn coffee. "What did you do last night?"

Gibbs thought back. He hadn't done anything out of his normal routine, had gotten home at twenty-two hundred, warmed up some Chinese, caught the end of a ball game on the TV in the basement and had done a couple hours of work on the boat. He hadn't even had much to drink, no more than a belt or two of bourbon.

"Last thing you remember, DiNozzo?"

"Well it wasn't Miss Wyoming," the man grumbled and stepped back, being sure to put plenty of space between them despite the oddest urges he kept getting to be closer. "But she was blonde, cute ... " as if that mattered ...... "we've dated off and on here and there, we were at her place ..... a few glasses of wine, good conversation, and then .... ya know. I fell asleep after .... and when I woke up ... " Flushing slightly, he looked at the bed. "She's a good friend of an old buddy of mine, and it wasn't our first time .... ya know." He looked at the bed again. "There's no way she would've drugged me, and for what motive? And to what .... carry me all the way over here to your place just to scare the piss out of me?"

"Ya think, DiNozzo?" Gibbs shot back, reaching out and headslapping him. "Call her, DiNozzo." He could tell where Tony's mind was going but his was in a much more grave place. What if something had happened to her. "She bring the wine or you?"

Gibbs sighed. He couldn't think without his coffee. He jerked his head toward the door. "Coffee," he said by way of an explanation. He didn't have any of that hazelnut stuff DiNozzo liked but there was some milk and he had to have some sugar around. He had to figure this out and get his mind away from...well, what he was thinking. DiNozzo in bed with a blonde--anyone--that pissed him off.

"Yeoch," Tony grunted reflexively at the headslap as he quickly moved to the door to find the man coffee. He didn't know where Gibbs kept the stuff in his kitchen, but he'd do his best to avoid another smack. Or maybe not. Sometimes it made him secretly smile, willing to take any kind of attention from Gibbs, even negative attention like a child craved from a parent.

As he rushed into the kitchen he pulled out his phone and stabbed through the directory until he found her name and rang it. Then he stopped in midstep. "Uhhhhh Boss? Phone company says there's no such number. I'll try my buddy Hansen." Tony almost dropped the phone a few moments later. "Number belongs to a Dominoes Pizza. But that's been his for years, at least ten years. What the hell is going on?"

The house was the same, everything in Gibbs' memory having been used to create it just right for them. But that wouldn't extend to anything outside of it. It wouldn't be long before they realized they'd landed somewhere over the rainbow.

Gibbs padded down the stairs and got his coffee started while Tony was dialing. The aroma of coffee was just filling the air when Tony spoke and he turned around, mind assimilating all of this. "Call Abbs, Mcgee." He dialed Ducky and instead got some restaurant he'd never heard of in Reston Towne Center. Hanging up, he poured his coffee and drank a scalding hot sip before dialing NCIS. "Wrong number? What the hell ya mean, wrong number?" he yelled into the phone.

This was the reason he hated technology. He dialed old fashioned directory assistance and asked to be connected to Director Vance, Doctor Mallard in Autopsy, Abby's forensics lab. He rattled off the names of a half dozen agents who worked Intel and cold cases and then hung up slowly, downing the rest of his coffee before he spoke.

"They said Vance...Duck, all of 'em are characters in a television show."

"I can't reach anyone, not a single person I know. It's like a conspiracy, Boss ... or maybe ..... maybe we're being Punked!" Tony actually grinned then as he sipped his own coffee. "Oh I hope so. I'd love to put my fist into Kutcher's face for this. Maybe we can even arrest him for messing with NCIS agents." He rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. "I wasn't drugged. Wine I grabbed on the way to her place and I never left her alone with my glass, there's no way she could've slipped anything in it."

But if he hadn't been drugged, how had he ended up naked with Gibbs?

Gibbs cocked his head, looking at Tony. He hated it when they said things he didn't understand. "What the hell does that..." He cut himself off with a slashing motion. "With me, DiNozzo. Not figuring it out in here."

He grabbed his shield and NCIS issued weapon, eyeing Tony and then handing him his backup in an ankle holster. "Take 'em. Stay alert. One car. Mine." As he headed for the door, he detoured, grabbing a throwing knife Ziva had given him one Christmas and strapping the ankle sheath on. This might be nothing, but his gut was screaming. Gibbs looked up, hoping Tony was gonna hit the door before he did, hoping Tony still carried a knife.

They might not need 'em but Gibbs wasn't gonna be at a disadvantage if he could help it.

The knife actually came out from under Tony's clothes in an automatic defensive maneuver when the door opened from the outside just as he reached for it.

The man standing there was about five foot six, dark haired, brown eyed, basically nondescript in physical appearance except for his clothing. They were even more expensive looking than Tony's. He had a key in his hand, but when he saw that knife he dropped it with a big O of surprise on his face. Outside across the street was a black limo. He was slightly out of breath because he'd ran, hoping to catch them before they got out the door.

Gibbs had aimed his weapon and stood in readiness. He had no idea who this guy was or why he had a key to Gibbs' house. Anyone who knew him knew the place was unlocked. Gibbs took in the appearance, the shock, the expensive close. "Talk," he growled, angling himself just to the right of Tony, flanking his senior agent.

"Well you're probably wondering .... " The man slowly bent at the knees and retrieved the key. "But I just didn't think it would be safe to leave you two like that in an unlocked home. I was trying to think of your safety .... and my investment, of course," he said with a nervous smile because of those weapons trained on him.

"What the hell is he saying? It's like English but something's lost in the translation."

As he bent, Gibbs flicked a gaze to Tony, but the other man was just as confused as he was. "You locked us in my house?" Well, they had an answer. Trusting Tony to be his backup, Gibbs very deliberately closed Tony's right hand over his gun. Once he was sure Tony had the weapon in a sure grip, Gibbs stepped forward, grabbing the man by his shirt and driving him against the wall. "Drugged us. Locked us in. Why?" he finished in a dangerously calm tone.

(TBC if any interest)

*NOTE* This story is being co-written in roleplay back and forth format, not written for regular fan fic format, so if it reads a little odd in places, the authors really don't mind and hope any readers they may have don't much either. Thanks!

~~~~

The man almost had an orgasm on the spot. He smiled again with a lick of his lips. Gibbs, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, was actually trying to bully him, and he loved it!

"Because you're mine. If you'd care to step outside, I think you might have a better chance of believing me." Because the house wasn't on the same street as it should have been. The house wasn't even in the same state it should have been. Everything but the yard around it was different. "And then we can come back in here and watch a nice show on the television. It's called NCIS ... and you two are the stars."

Tony blinked, his hand unwavering but his naturally cocky attitude when under stress coming out at hearing that. "I bet I got top billing."

That made the man laugh. "Sorry DiNozzo, but when it comes to you and Gibbs, there's nothing top about you."

He winked at him, and Tony started to gasp. "Wh...Wh.... What?"

There was some Tv show crap again. He was sick of all the confusion. He wanted answers. Now.

That smile and that damn smirk and innuendo...Gibbs shoved his fury down by sheer Marine self control and will. "I'm nobody's and him? He belongs to me." Knowing Tony had this little weasel covered, Gibbs let him go after driving his knee against what he felt hardening against him.

"Cover him. He moves, ya shoot." Gibbs lowered his voice to an almost whisper, the malice evident in his tone. "To kill."

With that threat/promise delivered, Gibbs strode outside but his steps faltered before be was off his porch. He glanced back but he knew this was his house. He knew every nuance of it. But the rest was foreign to him.

He rushed around, looking at the back yard, the hedges, even the front yard where he'd reburied Kelly's lunchbox again last year...

All of it was as he knew it, but everything else? He'd never seen this before...

"DINOZZO!" he called out, trying like hell to keep the control and command in his voice. He had to keep Tony calm while he figured this out. "Come look. Gotta see this..."

"Let's go, PeeWee," Tony grunted, grabbing the gasping man by the arm and yanking him outside to where Gibbs was. The little smirks and sexual innuendo had definitely gotten to him. He felt gross just touching the intruder and was more pleased than he should have been to have seen Gibbs knee him so ruthlessly in the crotch. "Oh ... Oh .... " Tony's hand fell away, his other hand holding the gun almost dropping it, only years of law enforcement training keeping it tenuously there in his shocked fingers. "Jesus Christ .... I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Boss."

"Ya think, DiNozzo?" Gibbs replied, finally letting a little unsteadiness into his tone. He moved close, taking the gun from Tony though he holstered instead of aiming in. "Breathe evenly," he said in an undertone to Tony. It always worried him when DiNozzo breathed shallowly, remembering him struggling for air and fighting for his life.

Gibbs turned his attention back to the other man. "Start talking." It didn't matter if the explanation didn't make sense. There had to be something they could hold on to.

"I'd be delighted to." The man swept his arm out at the strange neighborhood around them and said with a grin, "It's not Oz, it's Havensport, and neither of you have ever been here before because in your reality it didn't exist. And I use that term lightly," he chuckled. "Reality. Here is where it is, where you were wasn't true .... not one bit." He put his hand out to them. "I'm Thomas Hilton .... yes, related to THOSE Hiltons." Meaning, he had a lot of money and time on his hands. "And I can't tell you how pleased I am that my little experiment is showing signs of promise. I knew you two were being held back by those chickenshit writers afraid to buck the system and show the world what was hiding in your eyes. I knew it!"

"Experiment?" Tony was definitely breathing shallow. "I don't feel so good, Boss," he mumbled, finding it even difficult to swallow now as he started to become light headed, swaying slightly on his feet.

It still didn't make any sense and he was disgusted by the grins and smirks. "Explain," he growled again. What was all this bull about TV and writers and DVDs. He didn't care who the guy was related to.

Gibbs saw that Tony was starting to lose it, whether it was whatever drugs he'd been given or what, Gibbs wasn't sure. He glared at the man, slinging Ton's arm over his shoulder. "Easy. Gonna go inside...easy." He had bottled water in there at least. His own cast iron stomach didn't feel so good and panic was threatening to rear up if he let it have its head.

"If you hurt him I will kill you. Slowly," he said to the stranger.

"I don't doubt that for a minute," Thomas said, sighing with pleasure to see Tony immediately fall into Gibbs, throwing his arms around the man and hanging on as if for dear life. Superior, best friend, father figure, Tony felt it all as he softly moaned in anguish, letting Gibbs bring him back into the home and take care of him.

Tony was essentially a deadweight that Gibbs hauled into his rarely used den and placed on the couch. "Gonna get ya some water. Bottled," he said, crouching down and trying to look into Tony's eyes. "Tell yourself you're gonna be fine, DiNozzo."

Gibbs went into the kitchen, grabbing two fridged bottled waters and a large saucepan. He filled the saucepan with water and dropped the bottles in, squeezing gently to see if any bubbles appeared. When none did, he pulled the bottles out, doing a quick visual exam before wiping them down. Didn't look like they'd been tampered with.

He slipped back silently into the den, cracking the one bottle and handing it to Tony before sitting on the arm of the couch in a casually relaxed but still ready position, making in clear any advances or aggression from the weasel would be dealt with. His own bottle sat beside him, ready to either be drunk or used as a weapon.

"Didn't I tell ya to explain? I have to do it for ya?"

"I'm gonna be fine," Tony muttered to himself, rocking back and forth on the couch as he held that bottle of water in two hands almost as tightly as he'd held Gibbs. "I'm gonna be fine." It hadn't been easy for Gibbs to get a clinging Tony off him, and now that he was, now that Tony wasn't holding onto the one constant in his life he trusted more than anything, he was falling deeper into that anguish, not quite able to pull himself together yet in this unbelievable situation he'd woken into.

Because it was very unbelievable; the more the man spoke, the more agitated Tony became.

"Clones. Everything you know of your lives, your friends, families, all of it .... never really happened. They don't exist. They never existed, and neither did either of you, until I paid to have you cloned. Which means," he added with a snicker, "you may very easily run into another Gibbs and DiNozzo out on the streets some day. In fact, I know of at least one other pair of you in Havensport." He opened his suit jacket and threw down a stack of DVDs. "Watch them. Your whole lives are on there, things no one should know ...... but they do know ... because you were nothing more than characters on a show until I chose to bring you to life .... as my clones."

"Oh God I'm not gonna be fine," Tony whimpered, the rocking gaining speed as his knuckles on the bottled water turned white and the plastic held on his clenched thighs exploded water all over him under that pressure.

As he spoke, Gibbs moved forward, lost in his own rage and fury. Control was a thing of the past and he growled low, grabbing the man by the throat. "My family is real," he said in a near whisper. "They. Are. Real."

It had been so long since he'd been in hand to hand combat and even then he had never laid his hands on anyone with this depth of anger. He was gonna kill this weasel. But something came through to him, a whimper? And that broke his fury just enough. He needed this bastard. He hated it, but they needed him.

Instead, he knocked the man out by working the pressure point at his neck, letting the little weasel fall to the ground. "Pissed yourself, figures." Gibbs crossed the room and back to Tony, glancing down at the DVD packaging, knowing that could be faked.

"DiNozzo," he said quietly. "Stay with me here. This is bull. Has to be bull." Tony was rocking, covered in water, and it aroused every protective instinct in Gibbs. He sat on the arm of the couch again, turning to face Tony and pulled him close. "C'mere, DiNozzo.C'mere." His hand went into Tony's hair as he pressed the shaking man against him. "C'mere. I'm here..."

Shaking visibly and near tears. Tony's face fell right into Gibb's chest as he clung to the man again, his mouth opening to draw in huge gasping breaths, close to hyperventilating and only the scent of the man filling his lungs keeping him from screaming. "It's not fine, Boss, it's not fine. It can't be fine. It'll never be fine."

Tony didn't care that his crotch was soaking wet and he was trying to climb into Gibbs, desperate for body contact. This wasn't sexual. This was a frightened young man dropping his guard completely and utterly in the arms of an older man.

"I know," Gibbs whispered into Tony's hair. "I know." He was shaken to the core as well as he was used to shoving his emotions away. But the thought that they hadn't existed that he didn't have a wife and daughter, hadn't experienced that pain...

And Abby...Duck...Jenny, who he'd cared about once, McGee, Ziva. KATE.

He tightened his arms around Tony, sliding down the arm of the couch and pulling Tony almost onto his lap. He was desperate to hang onto someone, some thing. And it seemed fitting that his second in command was the one he needed to hang onto.

"We're real. I'm here. I'm here, Tony. Hang on..."

Moving on instinct only, not at all thinking rationally, Tony did go into that lap. He sat in it like a child and buried his face in the man's neck, squeezing his eyes tightly shut as if he were in a nightmare and at any moment he could open them and he'd be back in bed with the blonde.

"Don't leave me, please don't leave me too," he begged, terrified that somehow, some way, Gibbs would be taken from him as Abby and Ziva had. "I need ya, Boss, I really need ya, please don't go too."

It was the thought of being alone, truly and completely alone if Gibbs was taken away too, that finally pushed Tony DiNozzo over the edge. He started to cry.

Gibbs blinked a few times in shock when he could almost feel Tony crack and then the tears start. This position should have been ridiculous, should have been almost comical, but their emotions were so raw that he didn't care if their audience woke up and mocked them. "I'm not leaving, Tony. Not going anywhere." He knew they had to look at those damn DVDS. They had to get clearheaded, but he was falling apart, Tony was even worse.

"It's no less real because some dirtbag tells us it is. We went through hell together. Wasn't imagination." Gibbs spoke in bursts of sound, trying to do anything to help. "Got the scars, Tony." He shifted DiNozzo to the side and looked at his left shoulder and then his right upper arm. The left one had taken a through and through from Ari, the right had been injured in Colombia. Tony had been there for both.

"Scars. Tony...I have scars. Bet you do too. Look at me...we're real." He forced Tony's chin up. "We're real."

Those strong arms around him sure felt real. That hard body against him, that hot breath on him, all felt very real.

"Yes Papa Geppetto," he quipped weakly and quickly wiped at his wet cheeks with one hand. "Sorry Boss. Lost it for a moment there. I'm okay now ..... I am ..... yeah ..... I can handle the truth," he said in a bad Nicholson imitation.

But still he sat on Gibb's lap, still his arms stayed wrapped around the other man as he stared into those blue eyes, trusting that other man to make everything better.

"It's okay, DiNozzo," Gibbs assured in a gentle voice. "Pretty shook up too." He didn't know if he should admit that to Tony but he felt he owed his agent honesty. He couldn't help comparing Tony sitting on his lap to Kelly curling up. And to Shannon snuggling. They were real. He remembered them. Just as real as Tony was pressing against him, chest to chest, ass to harden-- He blinked a few times, unable to believe he was starting to react to Tony's closeness. He hadn't been with anyone but his hand since he and Mann had split... but this was DINOZZO. He could have understood if it was Abbs...it would have been a more normal male reaction. But DiNozzo??

He shifted minutely, rubbing Tony's back, trying to take a little of the pressure off himself. "We really have to watch those DVDs," he said quietly. Tony's eyes bored into his, pleading with him, and that vulnerability was working on him almost as much as the closeness was. "Told ya I'm not going anywhere and I meant it."

"I know. Thanks." Gratitude not just for the reassurance from his superior but for the honesty too. It actually helped to know that Gibbs was just as upset as Tony, but as usual he was better at hiding it. "Before he wakes up, yeah, should watch'em now."

He slowly disentangled himself from that lap and those arms, doing it slowly and calmly as if it were no big deal, just something natural between two close men dealing with panic and nothing to dwell upon. Not even the reaction he was feeling under his ass made him move any faster. Being utterly convinced that Gibbs was straight, Tony told himself it was only because of warmth and pressure, that even Vance could have been sitting there and it would have happened, a natural bodily reaction and nothing more, nothing to freak out about since Tony was convinced he was straight too.

But as he extricated himself, there was a moment when he actually pressed harder into that lap, rubbing the curve of his flank across it in a seemingly innocent move, but perhaps not so innocent when he flushed and quickly turned his eyes away from Gibbs just before landing on the other side of the couch.

Gibbs swallowed hard and subvocalized a little sound when he felt the drag and press against his hard cock. And he knew Tony knew exactly what he was doing. He stood, fumbling with the DVD case and clumsily putting the disk in. Abbs had bought him a TV with a DVD player and had given him the card to a place that could take home movies and make them into DVDS. He'd done that and now had the memories preserved digitally. She'd also made a couple of NCIS home movies she'd given him last year, taking moments from the feeds.

He thought about putting either of those in before settling instead on the packaged DVD, season 1. He shoved the remote into Tony's hand and sat close, maybe even too close, instinctively knowing that they would both need each other to get through this.

The DVD started. There was the president...KATE. KATE was on the DVD. Gibbs blinked rapidly as the opening credits started and he saw names with their faces. Mark...and Michael. Not Gibbs and DiNozzo. Then they were on screen. Their faces, their voices. The office...the basement of HIS HOUSE. And yet they'd LIVED this!

"Still with me, Tony?" he asked, knowing his voice was unsteady.

"Used to think fainting was for pussies ...... but I'm getting dangerously close to one, I think," the man whispered, squirming very uncomfortably at seeing details of his relationships with women, especially Ziva, on that screen for Gibbs to see too. His crotch was still wet, but nothing was done to dry it yet. Tony muttered, swore, hissed and groaned at various scenes they watched, all the time pressing the line of his body to Gibbs' for grounding.

Gibbs flicked the DVD off. He'd seen enough and he knew Tony had as well. He stood in front of Tony now, forcing his chin up. "You're not gonna faint on me," he ordered in a soft voice. He glanced down, a darker stain drawing his eyes. Had Tony pissed himself, was he that far gone?

"DiNozzo, you gotta hold it together, for me. Because I need you just as much as you need me." He'd never been this honest and vulnerable with Tony before but if ever there was the time...

"You .... You need me?" Lower than a whisper, it was throaty, tremulous. He looked up at the man and slowly nodded. "For you, Boss. For you." Tony threw his arms around the man's middle, pressing his face into Gibbs' abdomen. "What are we gonna do? I'm not Michael, you're not Mark ...... We don't have jobs, we don't have friends ..... "

"Yeah, I do." Gibbs silently begged Tony never to use that voice on him again. It screamed sex and his cock was still hard. "We're Gibbs and DiNozzo," he said firmly, trying to ignore the feel of Tony wrapped around his waist. "we never forget who we are. And long as I'm alive ya got me." He pulled back, jerking his head toward the guy still laid out on the floor. "He said we belong to him. Don't know what that means. But I'll figure it out, DiNozzo. Let me deal with this for now."

He was just as at sea as Tony was, but he couldn't let on, couldn't ruin Tony's faith in him. "We have each other and you're a damned talented investigator and ya think on your feet. So do I. We'll get out of this, ya understand me?"

The man on the floor began to groan, waking, and Tony quickly jumped back, releasing Gibbs completely. "PeeWee's gonna want his Playhouse back," he sneered.

"You didn't have to .... " Thomas sat up slowly, rubbing his neck. "I'm not your enemy, and hurting my property is the last thing on my mind, but if you persist you'll force my hand and it'll be the pound for both of you."

"Oh I had to," Gibbs assured, sending him a brittle smirk. "What the hell do you mean, your property. And the pound? We're human, not dogs, though DiNozzo here sometimes acts like an eager puppy." Gibbs knew he was bluff and bluster now, but it pissed him off that the other man could see it so easily. "Explain. In a way we understand." He gave Tony a 'stick close' look

"You're human-based clone, not fully human," Thomas said as he climbed to his feet and brushed off his suit, wincing to see that he needed new pants now. "And perhaps showing you would be better than trying to explain it. We could go on a little field trip." He smiled patiently and then pointed to Tony's middle. "Just as soon as you find a dry pair of pants too. Check the master bedroom closet. I made sure half the wardrobe was yours, half was his. Toiletries in the bathroom too for both of you. Unless you two prefer to live apart?"

Tony hated himself. He honestly hated himself for the flash of panic he knew showed in his eyes before he could stop it. If Gibbs kicked him out to live alone, he didn't know what he'd do.

"Live...what?" Gibbs asked in a low voice. Wasn't Tony even given a choice. "DiNozzo, upstairs...with me." Master bedroom closet. Live together. Were they gonna be puppets? He looked at the man before they turned away. "Do we have any free will left or are we supposed to do what you want?" How could they know what was real, if that was the case?

Easy," he whispered to Tony, feeling like he was calming a skittish animal. "Easy, Tony. Focus on me."

"Oh there's free will .... sometimes," Thomas assured them, following behind but staying in the hallway. "I built this house for you, Gibbs. I made it all exactly as you'd remember it, but if Tony doesn't want to live here, or you don't want him to live here, I'll rent him an apartment on the other side of town. I just thought .... " Thomas shrugged, though he was smirking again. "Well, it IS a house big enough for the two of you .... and you certainly don't have to share a bedroom."

"Focusing, Boss," Tony whimpered as he kept his eyes locked right on Gibbs'. With every word Thomas said, and now the thought of sharing a bedroom with another man, with Leroy Jethro Gibbs of all people, Tony felt like he was losing himself bit by bit, all the color draining from his face again. "Focusing."

"I bought this house with my wife," Gibbs replied, emotion roughening his tone. "Leave us alone." He walked into the bedroom, pulling Tony in beside him, then closed the door and braced the dresser against it. "Ball is in your court, DiNozzo. Rather have you here, Spare bedroom. Den. Wherever. Don't like the idea of you being so place with...him." He tried to breathe deeply.

"We don't have to do what he says, Tony. If there's punishment I'll take it." Gibbs had to look at this as an enemy action, Pee Wee, as Tony called him, an enemy combatant. "We'll comply until we have more intel. Then we're outta here. Together. Means I need you here. Tony...I need you here..."

He reached over, a finger under Tony's chin. "You gotta focus here. Talk to me. Let me help."
There was a huge lump in his throat, and for a moment Tony wasn't sure if he was going to be able to swallow it or not. He started to gag, making a sort of wheezing noise, and then he was suddenly back together again, putting on a grin and rolling his shoulders as if he were preparing to battle.

"Spare bedroom, eh? Well it's not the Ritz, but since I'm tapped out unless PeeWee's set us up with bank accounts, I'll take it. I'm not letting that little fucker rent me anything. I'd sleep on your front lawn before that." He moved over to the closet and found himself a new set of clothes, more casual since he could see no reason to dress up again as there was no date to impress or work to go to that day. "Think he's got my size shorts in the dresser with yours?" he asked Gibbs as he started to strip.

Nothing weird about undressing in front of Gibbs, he told himself. Tony was proud of his body and had certainly been in many situations with men where this was perfectly normal.

But it was Gibbs ....

(TBC)

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