D is for Ducky's Dogs
“Jethro, may I have a word with you?”
Glancing up from his computer at the sound of the Medical Examiner’s voice, Gibbs offered Ducky a curt nod and pushed himself to his feet. “What’s goin’ on, Duck?”
“Well, as you know, you and I have that conference to attend this weekend in New York, and Mother has been feeling a little under the weather the past few days.”
Gibbs looked at the older man curiously. “You’re not thinking about ditchin’ me on this trip, are you?”
“Oh Heaven’s no. Not at all, Jethro. Well, not if I can avoid it, though I am hesitant to leave Mother alone in her current condition.”
Glancing up from the file that she was reading, Kate offered the Medical Examiner a bright smile. “I’d be happy to stay with her, Ducky.”
“Oh, that would be wonderful! Thank you for offering, Caitlin,” Ducky said, smiling at the younger woman.
“No problem,” she responded, glaring at Tony when she caught him wiping at the tip of his nose.
“What?” He laughed, shrugging his shoulders.
“DiNozzo, you go too.”
“But, boss…!”
“Nope,” Gibbs said, sitting back down and reopening the file he’d been working on. “Don’t wanna risk Mrs. Mallard fallin’ down while Kate’s there alone with her.”
Slumping into his seat, Tony couldn’t help but offer Kate a glare, barely resisting the urge to stick his tongue out. He’d already been dreading the upcoming weekend, knowing that Gibbs would be gone from Friday evening until Monday morning. Forcing him to spend time with Kate and Mrs. Mallard was just adding insult to injury and he wasn’t going to pretend to be happy about it.
From the corner of his eye, Gibbs didn’t miss the looks that Tony and Kate kept shooting one another across the bullpen and it was all he could do to keep from laughing at his younger lover. He knew that Tony had been unhappy to find out about the New York conference and he knew that the younger man had been even more pissed off when he found out that he couldn’t tag along. He couldn’t imagine how irritated the Italian was now that he’d been volunteered to spend the weekend babysitting Ducky’s mother alongside Kate. In fact, he was positive that it was Tony’s worst nightmare come true.
“This is just perfect,” Ducky said, smiling brightly at the two young agents as he made his way over to the elevator. “I’ll prepare a list for the both of you and then perhaps this evening, you can come by and get acquainted with Mother?” He suggested, missing the almost pained look on Tony’s face at the thought of it. “And the dogs. Oh yes. You’ll need to come by so I can introduce you before this weekend. They don’t take too kindly to strangers.”
“Dogs?” Tony asked, his frown darkening at the thought.
“Mmhmm… Four of ‘em, isn’t it, Duck?”
“Yes. They’re very well behaved. For the most part.”
Gibbs nearly laughed out loud when he saw his lover swallow hard, knowing that he wasn’t a fan of animals.
“Oh, what kind, Ducky? I had a Golden Retriever when I was a kid,” Kate said, smiling at the thought of playing with the dogs.
“Corgis,” the older man replied, offering the agent a bright smile. “This evening, then. Perhaps around six? You and Timothy are, of course, welcome as well, Jethro. We’ll do dinner.”
“Sounds good,” Gibbs responded, offering Tony an amused smirk.
Glaring at his lover, Tony turned back to his computer screen, wondering how in the hell he was going to manage to get out of this one.
::::::
Sunday Morning…
Kate made her way down the stairs and stretched her arms above her head, yawning as she walked into the kitchen. “G’mornin’, Tony,” she grinned, seeing him slumped over at the kitchen table. “Sleep well?”
“You know I didn’t, Kate,” he snapped, taking a sip of his coffee. “Stupid couch killed my back.”
“Aww,” she teased, ruffling his hair. She chuckled when he growled at her, pulling away from her touch. “No need to be grumpy, now. Gibbs and Ducky will be back tomorrow.”
“Only three days too late,” he grumbled. “I’m goin’ for a run.”
Kate nodded, pulling a pan out of the cabinet before she turned on the stove. “Want some breakfast? I can make you some eggs.”
“Aww, my work-wife wants to make me breakfast! How sweet!”
Turning back to him, she threw a dish towel at him, rolling her eyes. “Get out of here before I swap the towel for a knife, DiNozzo,” she responded with a roll of her eyes.
Unable to keep from laughing, he shook his head and pulled his tennis shoes on before he pushed himself to his feet. “I won’t be gone long. Try not to burn the kitchen down, huh?”
“Only you would do that, Tony,” she responded as he made his way to the front door.
He took a deep breath as he stepped out onto the porch, planning on taking advantage of the time he was getting to himself. The past two days had been less than relaxing, having to babysit Ducky’s demanding mother and their four corgis.
He headed down the driveway and around the corner, pacing himself in hopes that he’d be able to drag his exercise out as long as possible. He arrived back at the house a half an hour later, sighing heavily when he heard Kate yelling at the dogs.
Pushing the front door open, he cringed at the loud screeching noise that assaulted his ears as he made his way into the kitchen.
“What the hell’s goin’ on?” He asked, loud enough to be heard over the audible alarm and the barking dogs.
“They’re freaking out! I accidentally set off the smoke detector!” She screeched, her hands pressed over her ears as she attempted to quiet the animals.
He rolled his eyes as he glanced around the kitchen for the smoke detector. Spotting it just above the doorway, he grabbed a chair from the kitchen table and pulled it across the floor. Climbing onto it, he felt around for a way to turn it off before he finally growled in frustration and ripped the cover from the wall, pulling the batteries out.
“There,” he muttered, climbing down from the chair before he turned back to his irritated partner. “Shut the dogs up.”
“I’ve been trying, Tony!” She snapped, turning her attention back to the dogs. “Shit.”
“What now?”
“Where the hell did the fourth one go?” Kate asked, pushing past him as she made her way into the hallway. “Tony!”
“What?!” He grumbled, following her out into the hall and seeing the front door wide open. “Well, shit.”
“You get to go find him. It’s your fault he ran out,” she accused.
“Technically, if you hadn’t made an attempt to burn the house down, the dog wouldn’t have run out the door.”
Kate put her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes at him. “It is not my fault the smoke detector went off! Mrs. Mallard came into the kitchen and pulled every knife out of the drawer and was threatening me with them! By the time I got back to the stove, the eggs were burning!”
“Whatever you say, Katie,” Tony chuckled, heading out the door. He spotted the dog almost immediately next to the garage, running in circles as if he was lost.
“C’mere, Tyson,” he called, crouching down about ten feet away from the dog and patting his leg. “C’mon, boy.”
The dog stared at him, tilting his head curiously.
Tony sighed and stood up, taking a few steps toward the dog. “I knew there was a reason my mom always had cats,” he muttered, watching as the dog back himself into a corner.
“Gotcha now,” he said triumphantly before he leaned down, reaching for Tyson’s collar.
The dog’s head snapped around and before the Italian knew what happened, his hand was throbbing in pain and the dog was running back toward the house.
“Son of a bitch!” He cried, holding his hand close to his chest. Once the initial shock subsided, he pulled his hand away so he could get a look at it, cringing at the amount of blood he saw.
Wiping the blood off on his t-shirt, he looked at it again and saw the two puncture wounds on the top of his hand, and the gash that had torn across the base of his palm.
“Fuck.” Turning back to the house, he broke into a jog, glad that McGee hadn’t been volunteered for the babysitting duty as well. The Probie probably would have fainted at the sight of all the blood. Swallowing hard, he hurried up the steps to the front porch and inside the house, kicking the door closed behind him. “Kate?”
“Did you fi… Oh my God! Tony!”
“I’m okay. It looks worse than it really is,” he said, though he couldn’t help but clench his teeth in pain when she grabbed his wrist, pulling his hand away from his chest to inspect it.
“You need to go have this looked at.”
“I’m. Fine,” he managed through gritted teeth, wincing again when she pressed the dishtowel in her hand against the wounds.
“Fine,” she huffed, moving his hand back against his chest. “But we’re cleaning this up. Go sit down while I find something to wrap your hand with.”
“Kate"“
“This isn’t a discussion, Tony!”
He narrowed his eyes at her momentarily before he released a sigh and headed into the kitchen, still cradling his injured hand against his chest. Sinking down in the chair, he dropped his head back, glaring up at the ceiling.
A moment later, he heard Kate’s footsteps as she returned to the kitchen. “I found Tyson on the front porch,” she said, dropping the supplies onto the kitchen table. “I’ve put him and the others in the study for now. Annoying little beasts.”
“Thought you were a fan of dogs.”
“Of dogs, yes. Of those annoying little ankle biters? Not so much,” she smiled. “C’mon. Let’s take a look at your hand.”
Holding his hand out to her, he eyed her suspiciously as she took it gently, inspecting the wounds carefully.
“The bleeding has stopped on these two. They don’t look too bad, but I’m a little concerned about the gash. You’re not having any trouble moving your fingers, are you? Any numbness or tingling?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Well, that remains to be seen,” she teased. “C’mon. Over to the sink. We need to flush it out.”
“For what?”
“Because, bone head, we need to make sure that it’s clean before we bandage it. This is pretty much dog bite 101.”
He rolled his eyes, but allowed her to pull him over to the sink. He couldn’t help but smirk as she cleaned his hand carefully.
“What, DiNozzo?” She asked, feeling his eyes on her.
“I’m touched, Katie. Never thought you cared so much about my well-being.”
“I don’t,” she snorted, turning his hand over to allow the warm water to run over the gash on the palm of his hand. “However, I’m concerned with Gibbs murdering me if I give you back to him all broken and mangled.”
Kate could feel him tense under her fingers, and it was all she could do to keep her face neutral, as if she hadn’t noticed.
“Gibbs…? Why would he care?”
“Please, Tony. It’s pretty obvious to anyone with eyes.”
“I don’t… I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”
“Please,” she said again, barely stifling a snort. “You don’t have to admit it if you don’t want, but I’m happy for you two. You deserve to be happy.”
He said nothing as she finished washing his hand out, and then he allowed her to lead him back to the table.
“We’ll get it all bandaged up and you should be fine,” she said. “But I’m serious, Tony. If you start to feel any numbness or tingling, you need to see a doctor. That damn dog could have torn something in your hand.”
“I said I’m fine,” he sighed, cringing as she started to wrap the sterile bandage around his injured hand. It took almost no time at all before she was finished.
“There. All done. Now go… do whatever it is you do that doesn’t require you to… do much at all,” she said, cocking an eyebrow at him.
“Yes, mother,” he teased. “Man… wait til McGee hears about this. I don’t think he’ll even believe me!”
“DiNozzo, if you tell anyone that I was actually nice to you, I will shoot you.”
He laughed quietly as he pushed himself out of the chair. “Thanks for takin’ care of me, Katie. I knew there was an actual human being under that frigid exterior,” he teased, allowing her to shoo him into the living room.
She rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t help the slight smile already tugging against the corners of her lips. She took her time cleaning up the medical supplies she’d used and the burnt pan from breakfast before she made her way into the living room, not surprised to find Tony slumped down on the couch, his eyes fixed to the TV.
“You’re gonna rot what little brain you have left.”
He glanced up at her with a cocked eyebrow, but said nothing.
She hesitated for a fraction of a second before she made her way over to the couch, dropping down onto the cushion beside him. It wasn’t often that she got to see Tony being quiet, and while she was enjoying the fact that he wasn’t teasing her or talking about movies, she couldn’t help but feel a little bad for him, knowing that he was missing his lover.
“What are you watching?” She asked, trying to start a friendly conversation that would hopefully take his mind off things.
“Die Hard.” His voice was quiet when he spoke, making it clear to Kate that he didn’t want to talk.
“Oh.” She watched with him for a minutes before she spoke again, trying to engage him. “What’s he doing? I missed the beginning.”
He glanced over at her and cocked his eyebrow again, chucking quietly and returning his gaze to the screen. “You don’t have to play small talk with me, Kate.”
“I’m not. I just wanna know what’s happening in the movie.”
“It’s an action movie. If you’d just watch it, you’ll figure it out. Don’t have to be a rocket scientist.”
She nudged him with her shoulder and he looked down at her again. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Katie.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “He’ll be back tomorrow morning, you know.”
Tony paused, a look of defeat crossing his face before he schooled it back to his usual carefree grin. “I’m fine. It’s not like I’m some little kid who misses his daddy.”
“Didn’t say you were. Just… it’s normal, you know. Not something you have to hide.”
Tony was quiet, as if processing her words. After a few minutes, he nudged her with his shoulder the same way she had, smiling but not taking his eyes off the screen. “Thanks.”
::::::
Later That Evening…
“Home sweet home,” Ducky announced as Gibbs pulled the sedan into the long driveway.
“Tell me about it,” the silver-haired man agreed, shifting the car into park. “Ten bucks says they’ve killed each other.”
“Make it twenty and you’re on,” the medical examiner responded, the faintest hint of a smile tugging at his lips. “I just hope there was no bloodshed on the carpet in the study. It’s a hassle to clean.”
“DiNozzo? In the study? Yeah, it’s a safe bet that your carpet is clean, Duck,” Gibbs snorted as he climbed out of the driver’s seat, stretching with a groan as his back cracked loudly. He ignored the look his friend threw him before he rounded the car, anxious to see his lover. “C’mon, Duck. It’s cold out here.”
“Coming, Jethro.”
The two men entered the house, not too surprised by the silence that greeted them considering the late hour. Gibbs dropped Ducky’s bags near the stairs and stepped into the living room, drawn by the pale light from the television.
He chuckled when he saw his lover and Kate on the couch, their heads resting on each other’s shoulders. He made his way around to the other side and watched his lover sleeping for a moment, glad to be seeing him after the long weekend.
He was just about to turn around to find Ducky when Tony moved his injured hand, the white bandage catching Gibbs’ eye.
“DiNozzo,” he growled, leaning down to pick his hand up, inspecting it more closely.
He frowned when the younger man groaned and attempted to pull his hand away. Standing upright, Gibbs watched as Tony stretched, his green eyes fluttering open slowly.
It took the Italian a moment for his vision to clear and he couldn’t stop the goofy smile that formed on his face at the sight of the older man.
“Boss?”
“What the hell have you done to yourself this time, Tony?” He asked, a hint of amusement evident in his voice.
“Huh?”
“Your hand?”
“He became dog chow for Tyson,” Kate responded, barely stifling a yawn. “Good trip?”
“No,” Gibbs responded curtly. “The damn dog bit you?”
“It was Kate’s fault.”
“My fault? You’re the idiot who backed the dog into a corner!”
“Because you made me go chase him!”
“Because you left the door open!”
“Because you were running around like a chicken with its head cut off over burnt eggs!”
“Because"“
“"Enough,” Gibbs interrupted, cocking an eyebrow at his two agents before he bent down, unwrapping Tony’s injured hand carefully. “Burnt eggs, Kate?”
“It was a mistake, Gibbs. I was making breakfast and Mrs. Mallard came in and started pulling knives out. I turned my back for a second and the smoke alarm started going off.”
“Where were you, Tony?”
“He went out for a run,” the woman explained, looking over the couple as Gibbs examined the Italian’s hand. “I cleaned it out and bandaged it. The bite wasn’t that bad.”
Gibbs nodded, looking over the two puncture wounds before turning his lover’s hand over, cringing at the large gash across his palm. “Not a bad job, Kate,” the older man said quietly. “Still wanna have Ducky take a look at it and then we’ll head home.”
It didn’t take long for the Medical Examiner to re-check Tony’s wounds before he wrapped his hand up again and sent the agents on their way. Though the weekend hadn’t been as excruciating as he’d expected, Tony had never been so glad to see Gibbs’ house as he was when the older man pulled into the driveway.
Grabbing his bags out of the trunk, Gibbs followed Tony up the front porch, slipping his key into the lock before he pushed the front door open.
“Gonna go work on the boat?” Tony asked, not bothering to hide the disappointment in his voice at the thought of going to bed alone.
“Nope. Gonna lock up down here, then we’re goin’ to bed.”
“Really?”
Gibbs didn’t respond as he turned back to the door, shutting it tightly before he turned back to the younger man. Closing the space between them, he backed Tony against the wall before he claimed his lips with his own, savoring the feeling.
Pulling away, he swallowed hard in an attempt to catch his breath before he offered Tony a smirk.
“What?” The younger man asked, eyeing his lover warily.
“Just thinkin’ about givin’ ya a couple more bites tonight. Not opposed to that, are ya, DiNozzo?”
“From you? Not at all. Lead the way, boss,” he grinned, allowing his lover to take his uninjured hand before he led them both up the stairs.
Chapter End Notes:
A/N: We're back! We hope that everyone had a happy holiday season and thanks so much for all the love you guys showed after the last chapter! A quick note, something we forgot to mention in the first chapter: These snippets are not necessarily in chronological order. Right now, we're working in the Season 1-Season 2 area, but this chapter actually should come before "A", chronologically speaking. That being said, enjoy and don't forget to tell us what you think! Reviews help us write faster! -ShadowKitten701 & LizzieDiNozzo