Chapter Three
“Bitter Truth”
“For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."
~ Rudyard Kipling
After parking the car, he carried Gibbs up to the door as he was still, thankfully, out cold. He paused at the door and sighed, for while he knew the door was unlocked, he would still have to use his magic to open the door in order to get inside without putting Gibbs down. Such magic was not easy to use with his wolf pacing and growling unhappily inside him. With another sigh the door handle turned and with a swoosh of air the door swung inward.
After kicking the door closed, he carried Gibbs up to his bedroom, and laid him down as gently as he could while hoping it would be awhile before he had to deal with an awake and, more than likely, extremely pissed off Gibbs. After a moment’s hesitation, he swiftly and carefully removed all of Gibbs’s clothing save for the man’s boxers.
Tenderly, he once again lifted a helpless Gibbs into his arms, and, using his magic, turned down the sheets, so he could lay him between the soft covers. With more care than was probably necessary, he sat softly down on the bed.
After watching him for several minutes, he gave into his urge, and reached over to brush the silver hair on Gibbs’s forehead. He let his fingertips drift, feather-light, over Gibb’s face, and was slightly surprised when Gibbs turned his still slumbering face towards the touch.
His insides clenched, and the wolf howled deep within him. Removing his hand, he clenched his fist in irritation. He was no longer sure he could keep his wolf under control, not with Gibbs in this state, and not while both he and his wolf longed to hunt down and destroy the one who had murdered Jackson Gibbs, the father of the man before him. However, he could also not willing die or leave until he had the murder in his claws and between his teeth.
Standing, he went to look blindly out the window in Gibbs’s bedroom. His soul was in conflict. His desires verses what he knew he had to do were ripping him to pieces from the inside out. He was only partly a man; a creature who could reason and if necessary, occasionally ignore what it wanted for what had to be done, but the wolf part was not so logical. It wanted what it wanted, and it would not be denied. Ever since he had joined NCIS, the wolf had raged against the man for what it desired. It was only the spell and his iron control that kept the beast from winning. He was several millennia old, and he felt like a teenager.
He didn’t know how long he had stood lost in thought, but when a groan from behind him brought him back to his senses, the sun was well over the horizon. He turned to see Gibbs pressing a hand to his head and heard his gruff slurred voice exclaim, “What the hell happened?...Ugh…I feel like crap.” Gibbs began to struggle to sit up. “Damn it. Why the hell can’t I remember last night? I didn’t drink that much.”
Suppressing a slight smile touched with sorrow, he went to Gibbs and placed his hands under his arms to help him sit up. It seemed to take Gibbs a second to register what was happening, but when he did, his blue eyes shot up and connected with forest green ones.
“Tony? What the hell are you doing in my room?” Growled an indigent Gibbs.
“You don’t remember?” He frowned with concern.
“Remember? Remember wha…” There was a moment when a look of horror flashed over Gibbs’s face only to be replaced with one of pure agony. “Shit…no, no, no, noooo…That…that wasn’t real. It had to be a dream.” Tears had once more begun to flow down his face.
“I’m so sorry, Gibbs.” He reached out to comfort him only to be roughly shoved away.
“No! Damn it. It’s a lie.” Gibbs glared up at him in furious defiance, fists clenched.
“Gibbs.” He said gently. “It’s not a lie. It happened, but I’m here for you, and so are the others. It’s going to be okay.”
He watched as Gibbs’s face faded from anger to shock to utter sorrow, and felt a bit of his own heart being torn. Gibbs buried his face in his hands as sobs racked his body. Tony reached over to once again offer Gibbs comfort, but was, once again, rejected when Gibbs recoiled from his touch.
“Leave…get out of here. Just leave me alone for awhile.” Gibbs growled out from the safety of his hands.
“I’m not leaving you alone. Not right now.”
“Tony, please…I need to be alone right now.” It didn’t sound right to hear Gibbs beg, but the oddity of it did not make him back down.
“No, you don’t.”
“Please! Tony! Can’t you understand I just don’t want you to see me like this?”
He sat back down on the bed causing Gibbs to gasp with surprise. Leaning forward, he took Gibbs into his arms despite his continued protests. “I understand, but do you understand that me seeing you like this won’t change anything? It’s okay to lean on me, you know? How many times do I have to tell you I’m here for you?”
His words took the fight right out of the other man, and Gibbs went slack against him before fisting his hands into his old friend’s shirt. “I feel lost, Tony. We were just starting to get to know each other again.” Gibbs sobbed out another breath before continuing, “It hurts, Tony…Shit…It really hurts.” Gibbs buried himself deeper into his friend’s shirt.
Gibbs’s words renewed the wolf’s hunger for the hunt, invoking another internal fight, which he quickly resolved. “I know, but it will ease. And you still have loved ones who are here for you. Lean on us. We will carry as much of the weight as we can.” He tightened his hold and said, “You are not alone.”
“I know…I know…” Gibbs sobbed into his shoulder.
For a long time, they sat that way. One man crying uncontrollably into the embrace of the other. Finally, he pushed Gibbs back and out of his hold. After carefully wiping the tears from Gibbs’s face and handing him several tissues from the side table, he grasped Gibbs’s shoulders and said, “You need to get some sleep. You’re exhausted.”
“I can’t, Tony.” Gibbs struggled to get free of his hold, so he could get out of bed. “I need to catch the bastard who did this and return the favor.”
He sighed inwardly at the stubbornness of the man before him even if he could understand it. Placing the wolf’s power, who was more than willing to help the hurting man before them, in his voice he spoke with the obsolete authority Gibbs hadn’t known he possessed, and the power made his voice grow thick and heavy, “You are going to sleep now. Sleep, Jethro…Sleep…”
Even as Gibbs’s eyes were closing, he protested, “No, I can’t…Have to…get…” And once more he found himself looking at vulnerable Gibbs, which could twist his heart and make his wolf growl with something other than aggression. Shoving the wolf back and out of the way, he gently pushed Gibbs back down under the covers.
He was watching Gibbs from his post by the window when he heard a car drive up, and, a moment later, a knock on the door. The car was not one he knew his team drove, so he went down swiftly and opened the door ready for an attack.
He paused and stared somewhat surprised, “Bran…You make good time, old friend.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Truth is unrelenting, merciless, and uncaring. Only those close to the heart can ease the pain of such a vicious beast.
Chapter End Notes:
Enjoy the story.