The pulse chapter 4 - Reunion
******
As the two men entered the Washington Navy Yard, home of NCIS, they could see that there had been problems since the day of the Pulse. The Navy? Well who knows what they were doing? And the other Federal agencies like JAG. But there was evidence that at least someone was thinking sensibly round here. The Marines had set up an exclusion zone around the Yard and had brought all of their dependants into the safe zone they had established. They had chosen a site that could be resupplied by sea if necessary, with port facilities, rather than the marine base deeper in the city. And there was a wealth of supplies in warehouses on the base - everything needed to resupply dozens of naval vessels. Even portable generators to supply power, now that the power grid was a twisted ruin.
Unfortunately, the wealth of resources attracted more than one set of predators.
There were signs around the base that more than one firefight had taken place recently. Gibbs didn't have to be psychic to see that the place had been under attack. The large craters and blackened buildings were a dead give-away. More unusual were the large numbers of windows and tarmac that had apparently just melted and formed into huge, glassy pools, now solidified and cool. Or the vehicles that had sunk halfway into the ground, as if the ground beneath them had turned to quicksand then solidified again. Or weirdest of all, the bushes and trees that had been twisted round and round like a corkscrew. Still, given the fact that they were still here, apparently their defences had worked.
Gibbs quirked an eyebrow at their marine escort and the gunny shrugged.
"Mutant attacks!" he said. "A lot of people want the food and gas we have on base. Not surprising really; FEMA fucked up just like it did in New Orleans. There were riots a few days after the blast, when supplies started to get short and most of us were sick. People were beginning to die then and a lot of civilians started to panic. Most of the survivors have been evacuated now, but there are still plenty of mutants. We have emergency evacuation plans in place, if necessary.
The NCIS building had changed almost beyond recognition. With the limited power available from several generators and an uncertain water supply to serve hundreds of NCIS employees and their dependants, dormitory living ruled. Every room was being used to the max.
And maybe people just didn't want to be alone. There was something oppressive about the city now, that had never been there before.
In the squadroom, from a warehouse on base, large numbers of bunks had been found and assembled to house the multitudes. Areas of each room had been curtained off to give some attempt at privacy, but kids were running around, babies were crying, and there was the constant hum of conversation. Wires looped along the ceiling, channelling electricity from somewhere, so that dim emergency lighting could be delivered.
Though there were at least a hundred people camped out, just in that area, Gibbs noted that there were noticeably fewer people than there should be in the older population groupings.
As the two agents stared around, disbelieving, there was a squeal from across the room.
"Gibbs! Tony! You're here!" A wildly excited Abby ran towards them and flung her arms around the two men, dragging them into a group hug. When she finally let go of them, a dozen other friends and co-workers were there to greet them with hugs, handshakes and the rest of it. Tony hadn't known they were so popular! Their reunion was like coming back to a caring family after years away, Tony decided, not that he had much experience of that. It was obvious though, how much Abby and Ducky cared for them. And even McGee had welcomed them with a hug. The probie had looked tired and Tony had the distinct impression that he was glad to cede responsibility for their team's safety to Gibbs.
The new director, Jenny Sheppard, greeted Gibbs with a smile. Tony had known that they were old partners, but he didn't expect the surge of strong emotion, quickly suppressed, that he felt from Gibbs' mind. Eyes wide, Tony stared at his boss, only to meet Gibbs' cryptic, apparently dispassionate blue eyes. Yeah right. Like Tony believed that for an instant. He wouldn't have believed Gibbs and the Director were only co-workers before he could sense his thoughts, but telepathy confirmed their relationship absolutely. Tony let his doubt show in his eyes, but Gibbs didn't take the bait.
What the hell had that surge of emotion been about? Gibbs had worked hard on developing the barrier between them, so that their thoughts weren't leaking into each other's heads all the time. Feelings were harder to surpress. Generally, it worked well, except when Tony dreamed... Gibbs wasn't usually the one who let things leak through. And the strong feelings Tony sensed were complex - a mixture of regret, a hot flare of remembered desire, and anger at some kind of betrayal.
Tony strengthened his own barriers hurriedly, prudence taking over from his growing curiosity. Whatever Gibbs was angry at, he knew his boss well enough not to get in the middle of it. Especially not Gibbs’ sex life! It seemed as though Gibbs and the Director had some history - and some issues to work through. Still, she seemed glad that they were okay, and surprised at their unexpected arrival.
Yeah well, they had been missing, presumed dead for nearly three weeks. Abby had tried to tell everyone that Gibbs and Tony were alive, but there seemed to be a distinct mistrust of psi round here. It was only later that he had a few moments of quiet to talk to Abby.
"So..." He grinned. "Mutant superpowers..?"
"Tony!" She reprimanded him. "It isn't like that!"
* But you can hear me!* Tony couldn't stop smiling, like a kid trying out a new toy. Her fingers closed around his arm.
*Only just* She sent. *It's easier when I touch people. I can sense all sorts of things that way.*
He felt her mind brush against his, with that strange otherworld perception. She pushed against his barriers, trying to sink deeper into his mind, and he shivered. Some paranoid part of him was abruptly terrified that she wanted to learn his more closely guarded secrets, even things so deeply suppressed he wasn't sure of them, himself.
Though he cared deeply for her, the sudden, unexpected intimacy of the contact, far more than simple telepathy, was just too much. Not when he was already tangled up with Gibbs. He couldn't bear the thought of someone else in his head. Someone too intimate, as close as a lover...
Someone who wasn't Gibbs. When he realised the way his thoughts were heading, Tony raised the barriers around his mind. Some things were just too personal to share.
She yelped when her mind crashed into the shield around his mind. Weeks of practice, keeping himself separate and apart from Gibbs, for his own sanity and to maintain the illusion of privacy, had made his barriers strong. Gibbs, of course, could have brushed them aside as if they weren't there. He was incredibly powerful, not that Tony tried too hard to stop his boss. Why that was, he refused to consider, yet his mind kept returning to the issue.
Tony realised then, that nobody else was welcome inside his mind right now - not even Abby, whom he trusted more than anyone except Gibbs. Not just because there were things he wanted to keep secret, but also because some of the things he and Gibbs had shared together were intensely personal. Yeah, and intimate, with all that the word implied. He blushed. That was the thing he didn't want anyone to see. That new, small kernel of longing that wanted something more from Gibbs.
Instinctively he pushed her away, breaking the contact, and she gasped as she felt herself gently but firmly propelled across the room by an invisible force, his telekinesis instinctive, protecting him from the horror of spilling all of his secrets to the world.
"Don't..." he said softly. "I don't want anyone else in my head. Not right now." She stared at him, in awe.
"Wow, Tony. That's more than just telepathy! How did you do that?"
Tony just shook his head.
"I don't know. I don't want everyone to know I'm a freak, Abby" Perhaps she heard something of his desperation and loneliness in his voice, or maybe something did leak from his mind. There was sympathy in her eyes as she watched him.
"I wouldn't tell everyone your secrets, Tony," she said softly. "I was just curious."
Tony shivered. "I'm full of secrets, these days," he said quietly.
*****
The two men sat in autopsy, which had changed almost beyond recognition. The need for medical facilities had forced Ducky and Palmer to turn their area into a makeshift hospital. There had been so many casualties after the Pulse. Ducky, of course had insisted on checking their health as soon as the inevitable welcome celebrations were over. He wanted to know all about their experiences after the Pulse.
The two men exchanged glances, then Tony gave a shrug.
"The boss wasn't affected the same way that I was. It hit me straight away, and I was ill for about 24 hours. But the boss - it came on him more gradually, then he was out of it for about a week. Delirious with fever. I had to hold him down." Tony smirked.
"You saved my life!" Gibbs said softly. "I don't remember much about it." He sighed. "Tony was hit hard by the Pulse when it first struck us. At first, I thought he had hit his head when our car crashed. He was bleeding from his nose... But then I realised it was something else a lot worse. He nearly died...
His hand reached out almost automatically towards Tony, who found himself stretching out his fingers in response. Their fingertips briefly touched and Tony felt the echo of Gibbs' concern echoing in his mind as they linked. Momentarily, light glimmered where their hands touched, outlining their fingers with a ghostly white light. Ducky's eyes widened.
"We've been linked ever since," Gibbs said. "Inside each other's heads. I don't know how it happened, or why. But we gave each other strength when we were sick." A pause. " I think we would have died without it." Tony felt a brief burst of warmth along their shared link and pulled his fingers away from Gibbs before he could blush in embarrassment. That intimacy thing again.
"Remarkable!" Ducky sighed. "I wish there was enough power to run a scan on your brains. The way you reacted to the Pulse may be highly significant; I've heard rumours of something similar, but as far as I know, no case has been properly investigated."
"To be honest, I'd rather it was kept quiet!" Gibbs said. "Mutants don't seem to be very popular around here."
"We have a few," Ducky said. "About a dozen NCIS personnel who show some significant mutant abilities, many more with just a trace of psi. We're grading the strength of mutant abilities on a five-point scale, Category 1 being the strongest, followed by 2 to 5. The majority of our mutants are in the lowest two categories, and we have about half a dozen level 3's. Right now, Abby is our most powerful mutant, the only one at level 2. He sighed. "Unfortunately for us, there appear to be a number of hostile level 1 mutants at large in the city." He hesitated. "Would I be right in thinking that your abilities are exceptionally strong? We've noticed that people who were outside, unprotected, when the Pulse hit were much more strongly affected by it. Much more likely to get sick, but also more likely to develop abilities.
"Yeah." Gibbs acknowledged the older man's query without going into detail. His eyes met Tony's and the younger man nodded. He didn't need to be psychic to understand Gibbs' message. Better to keep their abilities concealed for the moment. Especially if they were both as powerful as he suspected.
******
Evening....
The sleeping arrangements were basic, to say the least. Some areas of the building had been screened off into cubicles to give the illusion of privacy, each with a standard issue bunk from the navy stores. Apparently, FEMA or more likely, some efficient NCO around here had organised things well for a change. Staying on base beat the alternative - risking the dangers of the lawless city streets.
Gibbs found that he and DiNozzo had been assigned neighbouring bunks in a small storage room in the basement, distant from the more sought-after space in the NCIS gym, which was most popular because it had basic shower facilities. Again, with admirable efficiency, in the weeks since the Pulse, water and power supplies had been secured for the highest priority buildings on base, although most of the base was still deprived of power. Though with fuel reserves for at least 50 ships stored at the Navy Yard, the base was well supplied for the moment.
Water too was carefully rationed. With the power grid fried, clean water couldn't be pumped from the reservoirs to the city. It was going to be a long time before things got back to normal. Tony wondered what "normal" was, now that the world had mutants.
He stared at the bunks in the quiet, dimly lit room, then at Gibbs with a carefully neutral expression, which was probably wise of him. Gibbs pretended not to notice the poorly suppressed longing he could feel leaking from his young subordinate's mind.
"All the comforts of home!" Gibbs said, looking around him with a scowl. "Wasn't this the store cupboard for copier supplies?" He sat experimentally on his bunk and frowned. Tony was sitting opposite him, and the space was so small that his knees brushed up against Tony's. He wasn't sure bunking with Tony was a good idea, but he would just have to make the best of it.
"Yeah," Tony said softly. "A room of our own. Rank has its privileges!" He glanced guiltily at the door, then at the beds.
Gibbs sighed. Sometimes DiNozzo was so very transparent, even if he hadn't been aware of his subordinate's poorly suppressed feelings of longing.
"Tony..." he said warningly. "This has to stop. We can't go on like this..."
The young agent sighed. "Yeah. But I guess I was hoping it would last a bit longer. I liked what we had. I like being close to you." He prudently decided to change the subject and his voice softened a little. "I can feel that your knee hurts tonight, boss. Hardly surprising after all the walking we've done over the past few days. You want me to take care of it?"
It wasn't the first time he had sensed the older man's aching knee. Shortly after their first telepathic joining, he had begun to feel Gibbs' occasional moments of physical discomfort, if he had a tough day and pushed himself physically. The dull ache that spread up his thigh. Tony had never noticed, before the disaster, how much that knee affected Gibbs' temper. He knew now though, and he tapped into years of college Phys ed experience to help his boss.
Gibbs nodded; it hadn't taken him long to realise that Tony's talented fingers could work miracles on sore muscles, especially when his telepathy allowed him to literally feel the effects of his touch on Gibbs, and exactly where his fingers were most effective. Last week, when the headaches had nearly driven him mad, one of the few things that had helped was Tony's touch â€" his fingers gently soothing away the pain. Whether it was the younger man's experience or something linked to their new-found abilities, he didn't know. And though neither of them mentioned it, it was a more acceptable way for the young agent to express his growing feelings of attachment. The young agent knelt in front of him and began to massage the calf muscle below his knee.
Gibbs sighed with relief as Tony's touch had its customary, soothing effect. He leaned back on his bed and relaxed, letting his mind drift. He could hear the contented hum of Tony's mind as he worked. Long fingers skimming along the muscles of Gibbs' thigh.
At some point, he realised how close he was to arousal. Just a little higher and DiNozzo's fingers would be having entirely the opposite effect - stimulating rather than soothing. He wondered once again how he had got himself into this crazy situation. Yet even now, knowing how stupid he was being, he couldn't force himself to pull away.
Tony's eyes met his and he saw the flash of humour in their green depths. The younger man blushed slightly.
"Not what I was aiming for," Tony said softly. His fingers carefully moved away from dangerous territory and the older man finally let himself relax as the soreness was worked out of his knee.
"I know," Gibbs said, not immune to the absurdity of the situation. "These things just seem to happen to us."
Tony sighed. He leaned his head against Gibbs' leg, just above the good knee, his eyes half closed, and he too let his mind drift. It had been a tough day and he was so tired, and he felt comfortable and safe, close to the one person on earth that he trusted absolutely. There was no rational explanation for his increasingly obsessive need to touch Gibbs, but it felt undeniably good.
"S'okay," Gibbs said drowsily. "We'll work it out somehow." His fingers threaded through Tony's hair and the movement somehow turned into a gentle stroking motion. Tony let himself drift off into sleep.
He had done it to Gibbs again. The older man frowned sleepily as he contemplated the sight of DiNozzo curled up next to him on the floor, his head resting on Gibbs' bunk. Despite his determination to distance himself from his young subordinate, in this at least, he had ended up sleeping with Tony again. It had just sort of happened. He had let it, unaccountably relaxed by the younger man's close proximity.
He didn't know whether he ought to be annoyed or resigned to the inevitable. He and Tony just seemed to connect with each other, even without the psi. A mutual need for physical contact that went deeper than he cared to contemplate. He let his fingers thread through the young man's irresistible, dark hair again, enjoying the silky feel of it. Well, half an hour longer wouldn't hurt...
*****
Tony woke a short time later, and reluctantly dragged his ass away from the sleeping Gibbs, to his own cold and lonely bed. At least in their private corner of the building, nobody had been around to see his retreat, like a dog slinking away with its tail between its legs. Still, Gibbs was only a few feet away from him. In the event, he fell asleep almost immediately. But it wasn't the peaceful experience he craved.
He moaned as he entered the familiar realm of nightmare. He knew she would be waiting for him, and as always, he wasn't disappointed. Every night, Kate looked worse - the processes of decay were well advanced by now, months after her death.
He whimpered, trying to back away from her, hoping that those yellowed, oozing eyes wouldn't see him, but as always, she sought him out, coming towards him with a whiff of corruption. As always, he backed away, but there was always some obstacle to halt his retreat. Tonight it was an impenetrable hedge and he appeared to be in an old fashioned maze.
"Please," Tony begged her. "Leave me alone!"
"Really Tony, that's so unfriendly." Kate pouted. "Don't you want to talk to me." Tony shook his head. "Too bad! You're stuck with me. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have anyone to talk to..." She edged closer. Tony tried to push her away, but then his hands were wrist-deep in something decaying and rotten and he scrabbled desperately to get away. Nothing helped. He was stuck. So finally, he did the only thing he hadn't yet tried. With his mind he pushed with all his strength.
She laughed. As he opened his mouth to scream, a hand touched his shoulder, shaking him. He saw Kate glare at the newcomer, her face twisted with hate, then the gentle shaking woke him up.
"Tony!" Gibbs' voice, low but urgent. "It's just a dream!"
Tony stared around him. Blankets, his clothes - everything nearby - was swirling in the air around him, like planets round the sun. Even as he became aware of what his mind was doing, all of his junk fell to the floor. He whimpered and clutched at his boss, shaking uncontrollably and Gibbs realised that Tony was crying, silently, mourning the loss of his friend and so many others.
The older man enfolded Tony in his arms and held him close, letting the sense of protection he felt for the young agent come to the fore. Eventually, Tony stopped shaking and Gibbs sensed him pull himself back together again. The young agent leaned against him, his mind relaxed now, comforted by Gibbs' closeness. Half-awake, the young agent instinctively pressed closer to the man who made him feel so much better. So good...
Gibbs felt the last of Tony's distress fade, and after a moment, he released Tony. The young man stared at him, green eyes filled with embarrassment and just a hint of need…
"Sorry, boss."
Gibbs found it an effort to restrain himself from ruffling Tony's hair.
"Tomorrow, you see Ducky!" The urge to touch Tony was still strong. He satisfied it by tapping Tony beneath his chin in a classic "Keep your chin up" gesture. "I mean it! Even if you have to take sleeping pills to get a good night's rest."
He extended his mind, letting the edge of his thoughts brush against Tony's in what was meant to be reassurance, and he felt the predominant emotion within the young agent's mind. Need. For him or the security of his arms, he wasn't sure. But definitely with a sexual element to it. Somewhere along the way, Gibbs' touch had begin to waken arousal in the young agent.
Perhaps Tony didn't even realise what he was broadcasting, his mind still sleep-hazed. Then Tony's green eyes widened further as he realised that Gibbs could feel him so clearly. In the aftermath of his nightmare, he had clung to the certain security of Gibbs' arms with his barriers down; too open...
As if Gibbs hadn't guessed the developing attraction between them before now, Tony's present emotional state concealed nothing.
To cover his own embarrassment, Gibbs smiled at Tony, making a joke of it.
"Go on then. If you really think kissing me will improve your life, go ahead. I won't get angry."
Tony blushed and shook his head, a hint of annoyance in his eyes. There may even have been the suggestion of a pout, which Gibbs pretended not to notice.
"Yeah. I didn't think so."
Tony glared at Gibbs. Green eyes stared into blue. Gibbs was so close to him, sitting next to him on the bed. And before he could rationalise what he was doing... Before he could talk himself out of it... Tony leaned forward and kissed Gibbs.
He felt the older man's surprise, as his lips brushed against the older man's own. Gibbs had plainly been bluffing. He had never expected Tony to take him up on his offer. Gibbs' lips were warm, and parted beneath Tony's as he instinctively pulled the other man close, his hands tangling in Gibbs' hair, wanting, needing to be near him. He wanted to sink into their link, to become even more intimate... His mind reached out...
...and skidded across Gibbs' barriers that had slammed shut. And the other man had not responded to his kiss at all. Tony pulled apart, blushing, horribly embarrassed. What the hell had possessed him? It was just that Gibbs had practically dared him, and Tony had never lacked courage. Then again, kissing his boss was probably a step too far.
It was just that when Gibbs had suggested it, he had wanted to
connect with him on some deeper level.
Oh hell, he didn't know exactly why he had done it!
Gibbs still looked astonished. Then with a rueful shake of his head, he rose to his feet and headed for his own bunk. Then he looked back and gave the tiniest of smiles.
"Idiot!" he said. "Get some rest,"
Tony reflected that at least his stupidity took his mind off his nightmares.
*****
End of chapter 4
Chapter End Notes:
Sorry to be so long in posting - due to long term personal illness.