Chapter Forty-Five
“You’re sure you’re going to be okay here, along?” Gibbs asked Tony, giving his a kiss on his forehead as he got ready for work.
“I’ll be fine, I’ll probably stay in bed and watch some TV, maybe some movies,” Tony told him.
“You promise you won’t overdo it?”
“I swear. I barely have the energy to make it to the bathroom, I can’t see me moving for anything other than that.”
“And you’ll call me if you need me?”
“You’re only going in for a couple of hours to tie up the case and then you’re coming back, right?”
“Right, but I want you to promise that if you need me for anything and I mean anything you’ll call me.”
“I promise, boss.” Gibbs smiled at Tony who was only awake by sheer stubbornness. “Go on, you’ll be late and then people will think I kept you in bed till late,” Tony added, shooing Gibbs out of the door.
“I have a little time,” Gibbs said, his eyebrows raised. He sat back on the bed and leant forward to kiss Tony properly. He slipped his tongue into Tony’s mouth and their tongues fought, though it wasn’t for dominance, more for the chance to taste each other.
Gibbs’ erection poked up against the fly of his pants and he calculated that if they were quick, they could still do this and he wouldn’t be late for work. He reached down to Tony’s boxers to satisfy his partner, even if it would be a quick hand job when Tony froze. His body went rigid and he pulled back from Gibbs.
“What’s wrong, Tony?” Gibbs asked, on alert immediately.
“I…I…I can’t,” Tony stammered, “I know it’s you touching me, but my brain says it’s him and all I can think about is that night.”
Gibbs pulled Tony into a hug. “I’m so sorry, Tony, I didn’t think, I just got caught up in the moment.”
“It’s okay, it’s kinda stupid really.”
“It’s not stupid. Not at all. Might be something you’d want to talk to your psychiatrist about,” Gibbs said, running this thumb in circles over the back of Tony’s hands.
“I need to shower,” Tony said.
“Need any help?” Gibbs asked, for no other reason than the fact that Tony was still unsteady on his feet.
“No…I’ll…er…I’ll be fine.”
Gibbs watched his partner make his way to the bathroom, hobbling and holding onto things as he went and then continued to get dressed and ready to go to the office.
Once he was ready to leave, he called out to Tony that he was off, but he doubted the man heard him over the spray of the shower. He wondered how long Tony would stay in the shower - what they had done had brought back vivid memories of the rape and he guessed that Tony was in there trying to cleanse himself of them. He’d known it would be hard, he just hadn’t thought it would be this hard.
~*~
Ziva and McGee were already working hard when Gibbs arrived at NCIS, he was still technically on leave and so was only planning to spend a couple of hours in the office before returning to Tony at home.
“Where are we on closing Kamisnski’s case?” Gibbs asked them.
“I have all the evidence ready to present to the JAG lawyer,” McGee said. “Abby’s re-checking all the fingerprints and DNA samples before putting them into evidence.”
“Ziva?”
“I am just writing my report,” Ziva told him.
“Right, well I’m going to get coffee and have a word with the Director, if you need me you know where to find me,” Gibbs replied, grabbing his coat that he’d only just taken off and heading out towards the coffee stand he liked so much.
When he arrived back at NCIS, he saw the bullpen empty and figured that his team were either with Abby helping her get everything ready to send to the JAG lawyer in charge of the case or elsewhere - wherever they were, he was sure they were working on keeping Kamisnski behind bars where he belonged.
He headed up the stairs to the Director’s office and found Cynthia alone in the waiting area.
“Is she in?” he asked.
“She’s with someone, I was told not to let anyone interrupt her,” Cynthia replied, rolling her eyes when Gibbs ignored her and barged through the door.
“Cynthia is there for a reason, Jethro. As you can see I’m in the middle of a meeting here,” Director Shepherd said, sounding a tad pissed off.
“This is important,” Gibbs said, ignoring the look the Director was giving him. He’d taught her that look and if she wanted to have a competition about it, he’d win, hands down.
“I’m sure it can wait the five minutes it will take for me to finish here,” the Director said, ushering Gibbs out of the door and shutting it in his face. “Now…”
Gibbs paced up and down the small waiting area outside the Director’s office, Cynthia look smug that Gibbs had been thrown out by the Director and had to wait his turn like everyone else who wanted to see her. It was a simple kind of justice, she decided. He waited for about five minutes before the man that had been in Director Shepherd’s office came out and Jenny called Gibbs in.
“Now, what was so important that you felt you could interrupt my meeting, Jethro?” she asked him, beckoning him to take a seat on the other side of her desk as she sat down.
“It’s about DiNozzo,” Gibbs stated, simply.
“I hear he’s doing well and is out of the hospital.”
“He is, but it looks like he’ll be on sick leave for about three months, or at least until the trial is over and done with.”
“Your point, Jethro?”
“Well, Madame Director, I was wondering if you feel the need to get a temporary replacement or if we can cope being one man down for a while.”
“Wow, Jethro, you’re letting me make decisions about your team? That is impressive.”
“You are the Director, ma’am.”
“Let me think about it and I’ll get back to you,” she said, standing up and opening the door so that Gibbs could leave. “Thanks for keeping me informed.”
Gibbs headed downstairs to find the whole of his team, plus Abby waiting for him. “Have you guys finished?” he asked, grabbing the hot cup of coffee waiting for him on his desk. If he had to guess, it would be that McGee had been the one to buy it this time.
“Everything’s ready to send to the JAG lawyer prosecuting,” McGee told him.
“Good, everyone take an early day, see you all next week when I get back from personal leave. Thanks for all your hard work, I know that Tony really appreciates all you’ve done to catch the people behind his attack,” Gibbs said, taking his jacket and coffee and heading to the elevator. It had taken him less than the required two hours which meant he’d be able to surprise Tony and who knows; maybe they’d even get to spend some time in bed together.
He took the quick route home, wanting to spend as little time away from Tony as possible and was home in less than thirty minutes, which was good considering the midday traffic around DC and the Navy Yard. He pulled into his drive and got out of the car. He put his key in the lock, and heard a crash, so pulling out his weapon, he searched the area just inside his home and continued methodically throughout the whole house until he found a lump on the floor in the bedroom - it was Tony.
“What happened, Tony?” he asked, putting his gun away.
“I got scared when I heard the key in the lock since I didn’t think you’d be home this soon and I went to hide, but tripped over a wire. I think I broke your lamp,” Tony replied, feeling sheepish.
“I can replace the lamp, I’m sorry I scared you.”
“It’s stupid really, it’s just I thought you might be one of Kamisnski’s men come to finish me off and it was just pure instinct to hide somewhere.”
“I’m guessing you were going for under the bed, right?”
“Yep, was the place I always hid when I was a child and Dad had been drinking,” Tony admitted. He rarely spoke of his parents, but when he did there was something about them that didn’t sit right with Gibbs, maybe they’d been slightly abusive - nothing major or Tony would have said something, wouldn’t he?
“Come on, let’s get you back into bed,” Gibbs said, changing the subject and helping Tony up by putting his arms under his shoulders and lifting him to his feet.
Once Tony was back in bed and under the comforter, Gibbs laid next to him. Tony put his head on Gibbs’ chest and listening to his heart beat, for some unknown reason he started to cry. Maybe he was crying for the rape and all that had happened, maybe the scare he had were causing the tears, whatever it was, he wasn’t sure why. Gibbs just stoked his hair and said, “no matter what, Tony, we’ll get through this, I promise.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Who will catch DiNozzo when he falls?