The Confession
Faith is confirmed by the heart, confessed by the tongue, and acted upon by the body.
~ Proverb
Chapter 1
It just had to happen on a Friday night, at 1900 hours, right when he was on his way out. The elevator groaned, shuddered and ground to a halt. The lights flickered and went out. On the count of five the emergency lights kicked in and illuminated the six-by-nine-foot compartment and its two occupants with a pale blue light.
Tony didn't turn to Gibbs until he heard the man swearing under his breath, and then it was with a sympathetic smile. "Great start to the weekend, huh, Boss?" The resulting glare prompted Tony to try another tactic. He assured his boss, and himself, that an alarm would go off down at the security desk and a mechanic would be en route in no time. "You'll be out in time to catch a late dinner and the ten o'clock news."
Gibbs fixed his blue eyes, made dark and brilliant by the emergency lights, on Tony. He asked scornfully, "What's the matter, DiNozzo? You in a big rush for a hot date or something?"
Taken a little aback by Gibbs' snide tone, Tony shrugged and launched into a comparison of elevator-themed films. "There was a Romanian movie called Elevator - I know, totally unimaginative title - where a teenage couple who just want some alone-time get stuck in a freight elevator. They have to deal with the fact their entire universe is reduced to a really small area in a suspended box. Then there's Elevator Movie, shot in 16mm, which is much more surreal, where a couple gets stuck in the elevator for years--" There was a slap to the back of Tony's head which effectively shut him up.
Gibbs opened the emergency panel and picked up the phone. After a few seconds he got through to the security officer and ordered, "Get us the hell out." He listened, his jaw tensing, and barked, "Then call him again!" Gibbs swore and hung up the phone. He stood there staring at the wall for a long moment and then took a deep breath.
"You okay, Boss?" Tony didn't like being stuck in an elevator for an indeterminate period of time either, but if he could choose one person to be with it would be Gibbs. "They are coming, right?"
Gibbs removed his overcoat, folded it into a cushion and sank to the floor with a sigh, facing the closed doors. "Yeah. Might take awhile."
Afraid of what 'awhile' might mean, Tony dropped his backpack to the ground, took off his coat and his suit jacket and carefully placed them aside. He then sat across from his boss. "If you get thirsty I have some supplies." Tony indicated his pack. "Water and power bars. Maybe even some chocolate in there somewhere. No coffee though." He shrugged in apology.
Gibbs appeared to be taken off guard by Tony's offer, and by way of a truce he reached into his sports jacket pocket and pulled out a pack of gum. It was his usual brand, which everyone who had the misfortune to try agreed it tasted like bird poop. Nobody who had sampled Gibbs' gum ever took a second piece. Seeing Tony's hesitation, Gibbs gave a quirk of a smile and said, "I'll save this as a last resort."
*
Tony occupied his time the best way he knew how: he talked. He ran through every film he could think of that featured an elevator scene. He described the scenes in Die Hard, the ultimate film for elevator stunts according to Tony's Guide to Film. He ran a commentary on Marx Brothers films, as well as The Blues Brothers, The Shining, The Departed, various Bond and sci-fi films, and every girl-being-stalked-by-psycho movie ever made.
He talked and he talked.
Gibbs stared at the elevator's metal wall and tuned him out, apparently, which didn't bother Tony in the least.
Twenty minutes later Gibbs turned to look Tony straight in the eye for the first time, his stare causing the monologue to falter and stop. Slightly abashed, Tony asked, "You don't really want to hear about elevator movies, do you, Boss?"
Instead of replying to the question, Gibbs asked, almost kindly, "Were you on your way to a date, Tony?"
Gibbs was concerned? Interested in his dating habits? Or perhaps he was just curious. Tony had no clue where this was coming from and, for once, was unsure of what to say. "Uh, a date? Sure, I was going out on a date." Tony made sure he smiled smoothly and wiggled his eyebrows to suggest lewd thoughts. "Big date. Hot date. Really hot." Hell, he was overdoing it and at these close quarters Gibbs was going to see right through him in two seconds flat.
Gibbs raised one eyebrow slightly, just enough to indicate just how skeptical he was.
Relenting under the all-seeing Gibbs look, Tony admitted, "I was going to catch up with Abby and go for drinks."
"She's your hot date? Since when do you date co-workers?"
Backpedaling, Tony said, "It's not a date exactly. It's friends. Friends going out together." Gibbs didn't appear to be convinced so Tony explained, "Look, we've done dinner and clubbing and movie nights, and sure that's led to some other things that might be considered beyond the realm of just friendship…" Gibbs' gaze darkened so Tony hastened to add, "We're close, but like siblings, except if you count the tongue thing when we kiss it might seem sort of incestuous. We're just good friends…who kiss." This was only getting worse. "I know, rule number twelve, but that's your rule, Gibbs. DiNozzos play by their own set of rules and my rules say it's okay to date a co-worker if it's good for both parties and Abby is very good…okay, shutting up now."
Tony averted his eyes. He couldn’t take the frown, the glare, those daggers Gibbs was sending his way. "Geez, when is this elevator ever gonna get fixed? It's starting to get hot in here, isn't it? Don’t you feel hot?" He rolled up his sleeves but it did little good.
As if on demand, the phone in the emergency panel gave a shrill ring. Gibbs got up and answered it. He grunted and gave an order but Tony really wasn't paying attention. Gibbs was going to kill him for dating Abby, even if they'd never done more than fool around a bit. It was no more than cuddling and kissing for the most part. Lots of talking, too.
Gibbs was off the phone and seated again, hands resting on his drawn-up knees. After a very long silence he asked, his voice low and dangerous, "Since when don't you don't follow my rules, DiNozzo?"
"I follow them, Boss. Okay, most of them…"
The blue eyes bored holes into Tony's brain and forced him to spill. Being on the receiving end of an intense Gibbs-glare was like some being dosed with an alien truth serum sent telepathically. That was the excuse he gave himself later on when he had time to think about it. He caved and told the truth, with no thought about the impact of his disclosure. "I adhere to the rules except for the dating the co-workers one," Tony confessed.
"Which co-workers?" Gibbs' tone indicated he wasn't going to put up with anything less than the truth.
Tony risked a glance sideways and met his boss's eyes. "You want me to…tell you everything? What is this, an interrogation?" Well, lesser men had fallen when confronted by Gibbs in a small room. And this room was mighty small and Gibbs was very close. Too close, Tony thought. He loosened his tie and adjusted his shoulder holster in an attempt to get more comfortable, which was really an impossible task considering Gibbs' proximity.
Gibbs waited, never taking his eyes off Tony's face. "Everything."
Tony inhaled deeply and began. "I never slept with Abby, if that's what you're asking. I'm not so much into women…" Shit, you might as well just let it all hang out, DiNozzo, because Gibbs wasn't going to let you get off this particular hook now. "It sort of started with Stan Burley. On the Enterprise. It wasn't any more than some humping in the radio room." Tony squirmed where he sat and revealed, "I was trying to see what it was about him that you found so interesting. But before we'd even finished he started complaining about his stomach aching, 'cause he was afraid you'd figure out what we'd been up to as soon as you looked him in the eye. What a wuss." Tony risked a glance at Gibbs and was surprised to see the shock in his eyes. Was that because he'd just admitted he was into men or because he'd had a quickie with Gibbs' golden boy agent?
"I didn't think…I never left the two of you alone long enough for…"
"Didn't take long," Tony said. "Wasn't exactly what I'd call a high point in my sex life." He looked in his knapsack and pulled out a chocolate bar and a bottle of water. Offering half of the chocolate to Gibbs, Tony said, "Here. Water? I've got a couple of bottles."
Gibbs shook his head but accepted the chocolate. His features evened out as he managed to hide whatever it was he was thinking. "Continue. There is more, isn't there?"
"Oh yeah, there's more. I think next was…uh, let me just say it was really not my fault, boss. I was sniffing after that Swedish chick, Marta…Ari's killer girlfriend…and it turned out she was hosting a little threesome back at her place. In my defense it was really dark in there, and it wasn't until later that I found out the other girl was Kate, but Kate never talked about it so it doesn't count, right?" Tony cowered and waited for a reaction but when he peeped at Gibbs there was nothing about him to suggest he was mad. Unless you counted the muscle that was twitching in his clenched jaw. Tony idly wondered if Gibbs ground his teeth at night.
Gibbs shifted but remained seated. He ran his tongue over his teeth, looked up at the ceiling lights, took a series of deep breaths and then asked, "Is this chronological?"
"I guess so." Tony was still waiting for his boss to spring into some kind of action. This couldn’t be easy to hear, especially when you considered how straight an arrow Gibbs was. And Gibbs had never given any indication he knew that Tony's extracurricular activities extended to both sexes. It wasn't common knowledge but Tony had always assumed that Gibbs just knew these things.
Whenever Tony boasted about his hot dates at work, it was an unspoken rule that one of his co-workers would ridicule him and shoot him down. Kate had been particularly good at slinging barbed remarks his way. It was all a game and Tony didn't mind. Not much, anyway. He really missed Kate.
Gibbs indicated with his hand that Tony should continue. "Might as well give it all up now. You know I'll find out anyway," he said wearily.
Okay, Gibbs wanted the truth, the whole enchilada. You can do this, DiNozzo. Deep breaths, deep breaths. "After I posed as an escaped convict, after I…I killed J…J…Jeffery…" Shit, speaking that man's name still caused him to stutter. "I was in this really bad place." And Gibbs had been no fucking help. Tony brought his knees up to his chest and picked at nonexistent lint on his pants leg. "McGee came to check up on me…found me in the shower scrubbing the blood off, as well as a few layers of my skin. I must have been in there for an hour 'cause I remember the water turned cold but I couldn’t get all his blood off me." He took time out to uncap a bottle of water and took a long drink. "Tim got me out of the shower and dried me off. Got me warmed up. I couldn't stop shivering."
Tony wrapped his arms around himself. "I'm not sure how…One thing led to another and we…um…I really needed some company that night, Boss." Tony raised his eyes to see Gibbs' reaction and was surprised to see a pained look cross his features. Tony managed a dismissive shrug. "Yeah, well, nothing came of it. McComfort and I didn't mention it the next day. We sorta danced around it for a while, looking at each other and wondering if there'd ever be a repeat performance. Which there wasn't unless you count when I went to his apartment late at night and gave him a blowjob." Hurriedly Tony elaborated, saying, "That was only because he was really messed up, thinking he'd shot that undercover Metro detective, and what with Jenny being such a bitch and you handing him over to Metro...." Tony's voice trailed off. Gibbs was looking stunned, or that's how Tony interpreted it. "Chalk one up for our little Timmy for breaking rule #12 as well. Put it down to stress relief."
After rubbing his hand across his face, Gibbs asked, "You two make a habit of…?"
"Oh no. No, we're friends. That's all. We have to work together. I mean it's okay once in a while, when someone really needs to be held, or maybe one of us needs something more. It was never intended to be more than that. We've moved on, a long time ago," Tony said honestly.
"Just friends? Like with Ziva, when you were under cover?"
***end chapter 1***
Story Notes:
I appreciate feedback, comments and critiques. Thanks to Annie, Lacy, Lady Peridot for betaing and advice. Yes, I reworked it a lot since then.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs and Tony are stuck in the NCIS elevator and Tony can't stop talking about his sexual exploits.
Chapter End Notes:
I appreciate feedback, comments and critiques. Thanks to Annie, Lacy, Lady Peridot for betaing and advice. Yes, I reworked it a lot since then.