Title: Misconceptions 06/?
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
Later chapters *will* feature minor character death, just so you know.
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.
Jimmy was pregnant with McGee's baby. Tony was pregnant by Gibbs, but scared to tell him because he knew that Gibbs had had a vasectomy. Tony finally plucked up the courage to tell Gibbs, but to his shock, Gibbs didn't believe that *he* was the father and reacted angrily in his belief that Tony had been cheating on him. Jimmy heard the fight and tried to intervene but Gibbs pushed him away and he hit a wall and needed to be rushed to hospital.
McGee reacted angrily to the news that Jimmy had been injured because of Gibbs.
>
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[6]
McGee found himself on his feet and moving towards Ducky. "I...is he...where's Jimmy?"
Ducky smiled gently, "Doctor Oliver will take you to see him, Timothy." He squeezed McGee's hand as he hurried past him, and then stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him.
Ziva was the first one to speak, "Ducky, how is Jimmy?"
"He has a mild concussion, some bruising, but as near as they can tell without x-ray's, there doesn't seem to be anything broken. Naturally he's fairly shaken, and Doctor Oliver is keeping him overnight for observation, but it's purely a precautionary measure."
"And the baby?"
"All seems well," replied Ducky.
Gibbs heaved a huge sigh of relief, "That's great news, Ducky." The thought that he could have seriously injured Palmer...maybe even caused him to lose the baby, had been weighing heavily on Gibbs's mind even before McGee's outburst. Gibbs knew that if anybody had laid a hand on Shannon when she'd been carrying Kelly, he'd have been just as angry.
"Yes, yes it is," replied Ducky. "Jethro, a moment outside, if you wouldn't mind."
He waited until the door was closed behind them before looking Gibbs in the eye and saying, "Now, do you mind telling me exactly what the hell happened between you and *my* assistant?"
"It was an accident, Ducky. I didn't know he was pregnant," said Gibbs, defensively.
"Is that supposed to make it any better? Dammit Jethro, I don't like it when my people end up in hospital, no matter *who* is responsible."
"I'm sorry Ducky," said Gibbs, "Believe me, I really am."
"I'm not the person you need to be apologizing to."
"I know, and as soon as Palmer's up to it, I'll apologize to him and McGee as well."
"Yes, yes you certainly will...but that wasn't who I was referring to." Ducky gestured towards the door. "There's a young man in there who's pregnant and scared and right now he needs you Gibbs."
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"Ziva my dear," said Ducky, as he returned to the waiting room. "I wonder if I could trouble you for a ride back to N.C.I.S."
"Of course, Ducky," said Ziva; aware that there were things going on which she was not privy to. Something was - to use Abby's favorite phrase - 'a little hinky'. Ziva wished that Abby was around to help get to the bottom of it, but she'd left a few days earlier on a long planned vacation, and wasn't due back for a few more weeks.
Ziva stood and turned to Tony, "Tony, do you require a lift also?"
Tony shook his head, not taking his eyes off Gibbs who had followed Ducky back into the room. "I...no. No, Ziva, thanks. I...I'll wait for Gibbs..."
"Okay," said Ziva. She eyed Gibbs carefully as she followed Ducky out of the room. "Ducky," she asked, once they were well out of earshot of Gibbs. "What the hell is going on?"
Ducky sighed as he took Ziva's arm. "An all too familiar tale."
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McGee hesitated at the door to Jimmy's room, his hand on the doorframe. "I...he...he *is* going to be all right?" he asked Doctor Oliver again.
"His vital signs are all normal," replied Oliver reassuringly. "It's purely as a precautionary measure that we've admitted him. "I know it's difficult, but try not to worry."
"And the baby, the baby's going to be all right as well?"
"There was no abdominal trauma. The ultrasound showed no discernable problems. I'd like to keep Jimmy on bed rest for the next day or two." Oliver saw the look of panic that flashed across McGee's face and added quickly, "Again, it's just as a precaution. He's going to be a little shaky for a few days, so the rest will do him good."
"I...I...thank you," said McGee. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door.
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Jimmy heard the door open and squinted at the figure that entered. His glasses had been broken in the fall, and their absence, combined with the bruising on his face and the hospital gown, conspired to give him a very vulnerable appearance, as he lay huddled on the bed.
"Oh Jimmy," was all that McGee could say as he hurried towards the bed.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," said Jimmy, as McGee sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around him. "I should have been more careful..."
"This wasn't your fault, Jimmy," said McGee. "Look at me." He pulled back just enough so he could look Jimmy in the eye. "You have done *nothing* wrong, do you hear me?"
But Jimmy wasn't listening, "I just saw Gibbs...he looked like he was going to hurt Tony, and Tony's pregnant...he's having a baby, and I thought Gibbs was going to hit him...and I couldn't let him...and I just didn't stop to think and I'm so sorry Tim..."
"You did what you thought was right," said McGee, firmly. "Gibbs had no right to raise a hand to you...or Tony. He had no right," McGee held Jimmy closely. "No right," he muttered angrily under his breath. "Wait a minute," he said a few seconds later, "Tony's pregnant?"
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There was silence in the waiting room for a few minutes after Ducky and Ziva had left. Finally Tony spoke up. "So what do we do now, Jethro?"
Gibbs sat down on the opposite side of the room to Tony. "You tell me." There was no trace of the anger that had been there a few hours earlier, but there was no warmth either.
"I wasn't lying to you, Jethro...I...I haven't been with anybody since you and I got together. I swear it."
"Dammit Tony," groaned Gibbs, "I can *not* have children...you know that. I've had a vasectomy."
Tony buried his head in his hands. "And I haven't cheated on you." He looked up at Gibbs and took a deep breath. "You want to know what we do now? Well I'm going back to Doctor Wu, I'm gonna get her to do a DNA test...you'll see it in black and white, Jethro. Will that be enough to prove to you I'm not lying."
Gibbs sighed heavily. "No..."
Tony looked at him in shock as Gibbs continued. "This isn't about the paternity of your baby...this is about me and being able to trust you. I...I shouldn't have to rely on a piece of paper to tell me whether I can trust you or not...either I trust you or I don't...and a DNA test isn't gonna tell me that."
"I'm not one of your ex-wives, Jethro. I...I don't know what kind of fucked up relationships you've had in the past..." Tony moved out of his chair and crouched down in front of Gibbs. "I know that I've always behaved like a horndog...I know that I've changed my sexual partners more often than my underwear sometimes." He clasped Gibbs's hands in his. "But I have *never*...*ever*...cheated on my partners. Yes, I've had bucketloads of short lived relationships...but I always split from one partner before hooking up with another...I've been cheated on myself, I know what it's like...and I swore I'd never do that to anybody I loved..." Tony raised his hands to clasp Gibbs's face, "And I love you, Jethro..."
"Even after what I did today?" asked Gibbs, hoarsely. "You saw how out of control I was...do you really want to put yourself through that?"
"You didn't mean it...you were angry...and...and I don't blame you. It was my fault, I shouldn't have got you mad like that."
Gibbs carefully removed Tony's hands from his face and stood up. "Can't you hear yourself Tony? You sound like every abused wife I've ever interviewed trying to get them to press charges against their partner's. I...I am no good for you...I raised a hand to you today..."
"But you wouldn't have hit me," interrupted Tony, standing to look Gibbs in the eye.
"Not this time, no...but what happens the next time? Dammit Tony, I'm a jealous bastard...I see you chatting with somebody nearer your own age and it just burns me up inside to think that you might one day decide to hook up with somebody who's not almost old enough to be your father. It's better if we just end it right here and now."
"You...you're breaking up with me?" Tony's voice was full of pain. "Gibbs, I'm pregnant...I'm having your baby and you're breaking up with me? God dammit, who the hell gave you the right to decide when to call it quits?" He pushed Gibbs backwards until he was forced up against the wall. "What the hell sort of marine quits just because things get a little rocky?"
"Dammit Tony, I don't want to hurt you..."
"Then don't break my heart...I love you Gibbs, I *need* you..." Tony reached out and grabbed Gibbs hand, placing it on his belly. "*We* need you...please Jethro...what we've got...just because it isn't easy, doesn't mean it isn't right...we can do this...together..."
"You really think I'm worth it?"
"Yes," said Tony simply. "Even if I wasn't pregnant...I'd still be saying this. I love you Jethro...I...I know you don't *want* kids, but..."
Gibbs interrupted, "I never said I didn't *want*..." He broke off and sighed heavily, "Tony...I...the reason I had a vasectomy..." He hesitated before continuing, "A long time ago...my first wife, Shannon. She had health problems, a bad heart. Her doctor said that if she had anoth...if she had a baby, it could kill her. So we were careful. But one month we had a scare, and...and it freaked both of us out. So we figured we'd make sure it didn't happen again. Shannon's heart wouldn't have stood the strain of a general anesthetic for a sterilization, so I had the snip...only six months later our marriage was dead in the water." Gibbs rubbed his face with his hand. "My other wives, well kids were never on Diane's agenda, and I drove Ellen away before she started talking about them."
Gibbs hoped that for once Tony's 'Gibbs sense' wouldn't tell him that he was being lied to. He didn't think he could bear to tell him about Kelly, who had been the love of his life from the day she'd been born to the day he'd watched her die. How could he tell Tony that the reason he'd never even considered getting the vasectomy reversed was because he couldn't face becoming a father again...or rather, he couldn't face the pain that went with burying another child that he'd failed to protect. Tony would be better off without him...his child would be better off...would be *safer* if everybody believed it to be fathered by somebody other than Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
If I really loved Tony, thought Gibbs, then I should toss him aside, send him packing and deny the child in his belly...that way both it and Tony would be safe. But as he looked Tony in the eyes, Gibbs knew that he couldn't be the one to inflict such pain on him. Maybe someday he'd be able to tell him about Kelly and Shannon. Maybe Tony would prove to be a better father than he had been, better able to protect his child at any rate. But for now, all Gibbs could do was reach out to him.
Gibbs pulled Tony close into his arms. "I don't know why you want me. I'm mean and nasty and suspicious...and those are my better qualities..."
Tony put a finger on his lips to silence him, "I love you," he said simply.
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To be continued.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Will Jimmy and the baby be okay? Will Tony and Gibbs's relationship survive?
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.