Title: Misconceptions 22/?
Author: Ceindreadh
Email: Ceindreadh@eircom.net
Website: n/a
Permission to archive: Yes to WWOMB, anybody else, please ask first.
Fandom(s): NCIS
Genre (general, hetero or slash) : Slash, M-PREG, Angst/hurt-comfort
Pairing/Characters: Gibbs/DiNozzo, McGee/Jimmy
Rating: T
Warnings: THIS IS AN M-PREG FIC. If you don't like M-Preg then don't read it. If you read it anyway, then don't go complaining to me that you don't like it *because* it's M-Preg
Disclaimer. I don't own the NCIS characters, I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.
Notes: Thanks to FatCat for her Beta'ing
I was going to go into this whole pseudo-scientific explanation as to how M-Preg works in this universe, but then I thought, Feck it. It works, and that's it.
Previously on NCIS. Gibbs and McGee spent their sick leave at Ducky's house along with Tony and Jimmy. Gibbs and Tony moved back to Gibbs's house, where Gibbs proposed to Tony and Tony accepted. Meanwhile, Ducky invited McGee and Jimmy to stay with him as long as they wished.
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[22]
Looking back on the day, Tony had to admit that it was one of the more sedate and simple weddings he'd been at. The ceremonies he'd attended, as a kid had been family weddings where it seemed more important to show how much money had been spent on the occasion than anything else. Even as a grown up, many of his friends had seemed to view their weddings as a chance to have one final mega party before settling down to the humdrum routine of married life. Tony didn't think he'd been to a wedding with so few guests or so little dancing.
But then, considering that the wedding party had included two pregnant men, three agents in various stages of recovery from their injuries and a retired M.E., it was hardly surprising that there weren't that many hijinks. Abby was about the only member of their group not encumbered by pregnancy or injuries or age. For that reason, as well as the short notice, only a small dinner party afterwards had been planned. Just the immediate NCIS 'family' was there...a group that had been through so much in the last few months.
Tony still couldn't believe that it had all happened so quickly. Less than a week after Gibbs's proposal and here he was with a wedding band on his finger, waiting as his husband made his way across the room to join him at the window. His husband...he didn't think he'd ever get tired of those words.
Tony had teased Gibbs about how smoothly all the organizing had gone. "But then, I suppose it *does* help to have done this three times before."
"Not really," Gibbs had said with a wry smile, "My other fiancées did most of the organizing. Pretty much all *I* had to do was turn up."
Tony sipped his fruit juice and looked out the window. That was another difference between this and any other wedding Tony had been to. Apart from a single bottle of champagne, which had been used to toast the happy couple, it was a strictly non-alcoholic event. Ducky had confirmed that a single glass apiece was highly unlikely to have any adverse effects on Jimmy and Tony's pregnancies, but the rest of the toasts had been washed down with nothing stronger than lemonade.
Tony wouldn't have begrudged anybody a drink if they'd wanted it, but Gibbs had insisted. He'd sworn off alcohol a few months earlier, telling Tony gruffly one night that since *he* wasn't allowed alcohol for the duration, it wasn't exactly fair for Gibbs to be drinking in front of him. Tony being Tony, he of course had suggested to Gibbs that maybe he should give up coffee as well. He had expected Gibbs to turn him down flat, but to his surprise and delight, Gibbs had offered to do it. And Tony knew he was sincere. That one simple gesture had said more to Tony about the value Gibbs placed on their relationship than anything else.
He hadn't taken Gibbs up on the offer of course, because no matter how genuine it was, Tony knew that Gibbs without his coffee was not a pretty sight. "You'd be hell to deal with if you didn't have your coffee," Tony had teased him. "I don't want Junior to come out with an extreme vocabulary just because his Daddy's been decaffeinated!"
"Hey," said Gibbs, as he approached Tony. "You shouldn't be over here, you'll catch a chill." He nodded towards the window.
"Just admiring the view," said Tony. "And it's just gotten even better."
Gibbs gently caressed Tony's cheek before pulling him in for a kiss.
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Later that evening, both men relaxed in their 'honeymoon' suite. Their original plan had been for them to return to Tony's apartment after the party ended, but Ducky had called in a few favors and organized a room in the hotel where they'd dined. "Call it my wedding gift to you," he had said.
Gibbs had tried to protest, but Ducky had ignored him, "Jethro, there are some traditions that should not be dispensed with, and while I know that of necessity it will only be a short break, you two deserve at least one night of a honeymoon away from all the stresses of ordinary life."
That hadn't been the only surprise of the day. During the toasts, Ducky had turned to McGee and teasingly asked him, "So when are you going to make an honest man out of Jimmy?"
"Next summer," McGee had answered, unhesitatingly. "We uh...decided it today."
The congratulations had flowed as freely as the fruit juice. Abby was the first one to ask, "But why are you waiting so long?" she'd pouted. "I want a party *before* then!"
Jimmy had grinned, "Have to wait for me to lose all my pregnancy weight first!"
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Tony sighed as he lay in Gibbs's arms. "Sometimes I feel like we're cursed...so much bad stuff has happened since I told you I was pregnant. Jimmy getting hurt...Mrs. Mallard dying...Paula. The explosion... Sometimes I'm scared that...that things are going to keep going wrong and..." Tony couldn't even put the thought into words, but the beauty of being with Gibbs was that he didn't always need to. He could feel his husband's hands move protectively down to the bump.
"Tony," said Gibbs, gently. "Jimmy getting hurt was an accident. It was down to my bad temper, and nothing else. Mrs. Mallard...we should all be so lucky to have as full a life and as peaceful a death as she had. Paula..." He sighed, "Yes, she was unlucky, but it goes with the job. Maybe there's a run of bad luck in there somewhere...and maybe we've just gotten all our bad luck out of the way now, so that things will go smoothly for us and the baby from here on in."
Tony twisted around so he could look at Gibbs, "Never really saw you as a glass half full type, Jethro."
"No...I'm more the 'who the hell drank half my glass' type,"
Tony laughed as Gibbs continued. "You may think we've been unlucky...but every time I look at you..." He cupped Tony's cheek in his hand, "Every time I see you, I can't believe how lucky I am. My glass isn't half full or half empty...it's full to the brim and running over."
"Oh Jethro," Tony scooched around until he was sitting astride Gibbs. Leaning forward he kissed him softly on the lips. "I'm the lucky one...I've got you...the baby...a job I love, working side by side with the man I love..." His voice trailed off as he registered a barely perceptible change in Gibbs. Only somebody who had lived and worked side by side with the man for so long would have picked up on it.
Tony sat back. "What is it, Jethro?" he asked softly. "What is it you're not telling me?"
Gibbs looked away and sighed before turning back to Tony. "I thought we could enjoy at least one night of married life before we had to come back to reality."
Tony slid off of Gibbs and stretched out beside him. Looking up at the ceiling, he said, "And I thought we were going to be honest with each other. You're hiding something...I can tell. "
Gibbs gently stroked Tony's belly. "I'm not hiding anything...I've just been thinking about a few things...decisions that need to be made."
Tony glanced over at him, "I'm your husband Gibbs. Decisions...*important* decisions...anything that affects you, affects me." He put his hand on top of Gibbs's, "Affects all three of us."
Gibbs leaned over and kissed him, "I know. And I wasn't going to decide anything without running it by you first. I just wanted to think things through a little before saying anything."
"And what have you thought?"
"We need to start making plans. What we're going to do once the baby comes. Hell, we still haven't figured out where we're gonna live, let alone who'll look after the baby when it's born."
"But we don't have to sort that out yet, right?" said Tony, hesitantly. "I'll be on leave for a few months...can't we deal with it when that time's up?"
"Tony, we've been putting this off for long enough. I know...I know it's partly my fault...I haven't exactly made it easy for you to talk to me. And I admit that I've been putting off the issue as well. But it's time we dealt with it. Some things can't be left until the last minute."
"So what...what do you have in mind?" Tony didn't really want to discuss this now...hell; he didn't want to discuss this anytime soon. At the back of his mind, he'd always known that they'd have to have this conversation sooner or later...but when Gibbs hadn't raised the issue, Tony had been just as happy to let it slide. It wasn't that he wasn't looking forward to the future...to the day he'd be able to hold his baby in his arms...but all this making plans and stuff...it reminded him every day that he was going to be responsible for this child...and he was scared as hell of screwing it up.
"That depends. You'll have your parental leave, that'll be a few months...but sooner or later, you'll be back at work. We both will."
"We could find a child minder...or get a nanny, I guess," said Tony, hesitantly. He knew all about nannies. Hell, he'd practically been raised by them.
"I don't really like the thought of somebody I don't know being the one to raise our kid," replied Gibbs.
"So what...you want me to give up work and stay at home all day? Jethro, I...I don't think I can do that...I mean, I don't think I could cope...what if I screwed up?"
"Shhh, Tony, you're not going to screw up. Sure you're inexperienced...but everybody has to start somewhere, and you'll learn. Hell, you learned to be a cop and a Detective, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but this is different..."
"Tony, I have the utmost faith in you...you know that. I believe in you, I believe that you will make an amazing father to our child, but that wasn't exactly what I had in mind." Gibbs hesitated a long time before continuing. "I know that I wasn't a great father to Kelly..." He put a finger to Tony's lips to stifle his protests, "I should been there a lot more. But I was still in the army when she was born. And then when I joined N.C.I.S., I felt I needed to work all the hours I could...I felt I needed to prove myself all over again. I put my work before my marriage...before my family...and...and I don't want to make the same mistake twice."
Tony pushed himself upright until he could look Gibbs in the face, "What are you saying?" he asked, even though in his heart he knew the answer.
"I'm saying that I'm going to retire."
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To be continued
Author's Chapter Notes:
"his husband" Tony didn't think he'd ever get tired of those words.
Chapter End Notes:
I wrote a fic called Reality Check, which featured an M-Preg dream. Feedback was so positive that I decided to do the real thing.