Partners
******
World Health Organisation
Genetic mutations caused by viral infection:-
The Partner virus is certainly not the first infection in history to cause large scale genetic mutation. The influenza pandemic of 1918 has left sequences in our DNA that can still be detected today. But nothing could have prepared us for the consequences of a terrorist virus deliberately targeted at the Human Genome.
Those victims of the Partner virus display genetically programmed behaviour similar to that of certain animals, specifically a "defence reaction." There is an instinctive and uncontrollable urge for one bonded partner to defend the other when threatened, physically or otherwise. An involuntary reaction, it frequently results in the homicide or severe injury of the threatening party. This behaviour change appears to be irreversible and permanent in infected individuals.
******
Their hotel was at the junction of 22nd and M Streets, a considerable distance from the Navy Yard through streets blocked by abandoned cars. The two NCIS agents knew immediately that they would have to walk if they wanted to cover any distance. Fortunately their first priority, the epicentre of the explosion, was only a few blocks away.
Tony fell easily into an easy jogging pace and headed downtown, Gibbs comfortably keeping pace with him. Everywhere he looked, he could see evidence of the event. Whatever it was... Maybe group madness? There were few people on the streets now, giving the city an eerie feel, too quiet now, as if to compensate for its earlier madness.
What the hell had happened to them all? Tony could barely take in what had happened in his own life and it was likely that there was a whole city filled with people as confused as he was. There was no sign of the emergency services or the FBI this close to the epicentre and Tony knew why. He shivered. The virus, or whatever it was, had caught them unawares and they were probably in the streets somewhere, fucking their brains out.
Been there, done that.
CNN had already tried to offer some explanations on tv, alleging that a viral infection of some sort was to blame, and a quarantine had been imposed on the city. It was just another episode of strangeness in what had prove to be a surreal couple of days. It didn't help that there was a strong wind blowing which had spread the virus particles for miles downwind of the explosion site.
If everyone had been having sex for many hours, then the consequences were frightening to contemplate. Washington was the capital of one of the world's most important and influential countries, so what must America and the rest of the world think? And what about all the "unfortunate" liaisons, like his, that must have taken place?
Tony blushed as his eyes flickered towards Gibbs, noting the slightly too tight sweats his boss was wearing. As they had dressed, Gibbs had found to his embarrassment that many of the clothes he had been wearing before the "madness" were literally torn to shreds and unwearable. As far as Tony could judge, he or Gibbs must have ripped them off in the rush to have sex. Gibbs had scowled as he held up his shredded shirt, and in the end, they had shared out the spare set of clothes Tony kept in the car for messy crime scenes.
Tony knew he wasn't gay. He had never wanted or been attracted to men. Not ever. Yet they had unhesitatingly fallen into bed together and it had been incredibly good. Not just in that first wild need, but later, when they had both supposedly been in their right minds. Tony now considered his actions to have been totally crazy, even terrifying, and yet there had been that brief moment when they had seemed to connect with each other on some more intimate level...
He couldn't help smiling. This was so crazy. Sleeping with Gibbs! He couldn't explain why his cranky, difficult boss had made him feel so good, but it was true - though it wasn't something he was ever going to admit to anyone. Not exactly the picture he wanted to present to the world - his big, gay adventure!
How he was going to explain away the last couple of days was something he dreaded. He worked in a building with some of the finest investigative minds in the world, for whom curiosity was a natural trait. The gossip was intense and often vicious. In a few days time, everyone would be taking bets on who had "accidentally" slept with whom. The speculation about who he and Gibbs had slept with would be intense.
Whatever it was that had caused this - nerve gas? Bioweapon? Disease? - Tony suspected that it was still working in his system. Despite the fact that he had been intensely sexually active over he past few hours, he still could feel something stir within him when he thought about his boss. Something that sent a shiver down his spine and made his cock twitch.
Damn. Whatever the hell that stuff was, it was frigging potent.
It didn't occur to him until much later, that the recurring sight of pretty women half-naked in the streets didn't arouse him at all. That Gibbs was the only one, man or woman, who made him feel that way.
They were approaching the seat of the explosion. White dust swirled around, blown by the wind, the funnel effect caused by the surrounding tall buildings, making the air swirl into small dust devils. The remains of a black van, its roof and sides blasted open by a huge explosion, was in the middle of the street. Even now, fine white powder rose into the air from shattered canisters in the rear of the vehicle.
"Shit!" Gibbs scowled at the van. "We need a containment team asap. That crap is still being discharged into the air."
"You think it's still dangerous? To us I mean?" Tony was suddenly in receipt of Gibbs' fierce glare.
"How the hell would I know?" he snarled, then his voice took on a guilty edge. "But I'm certainly in no danger of screwing you, if that's what you're worried about. I doubt if I'll be able to get it up again for a month!"
Well, that went well.
******
NCIS Emergency Bulletin:
All essential services are hampered by the infection of key personnel. It is estimated that there is an infection rate in the DC area of over 90 percent. The so called Partner virus has a level four biohazard rating due to its highly infectious nature, the aggression it causes in exposed persons under certain circumstances, and the fact that it has no known cure. It should be treated accordingly.
*******
"It's a very interesting setup!" The FBI bomb expert studied the remains of the explosive device with fascination. He might have impressed Gibbs more if he had been wearing a shirt under his FBI jacket. And one of his three colleagues was minus his pants, which pretty much said it all. None of them were looking at each other and they were being exquisitely formal when they spoke to each other.
It didn't help that DiNozzo, master of the inappropriate comment, kept looking at them and sniggering.
"The way the explosives were set was designed to take the top of the van off and cause maximum damage to the canisters. We're looking for an ordinance expert. However, they weren't state of the art when it comes to the delivery system. Using explosives to disperse a powder agent? Crude and inefficient in my opinion. Their grasp of chemical engineering was just bad."
"I disagree!" The Homeland Security geek said. "The fact that the white powder containing the agent has been dispersed over half the city argues that they knew how to get the job done. Half the problem with biologicals is finding a powder dispersal agent that is light enough to be spread easily without clumping..."
"Those geeks have anything useful to say?" Gibbs gave a start. Tony had sidled up to him unnoticed in this damn federal agency circus, and his voice sounded unexpectedly in Gibbs' ear. Damn. The fact that the younger man had managed to sneak up on him told him how shot to hell his senses were, at the moment. But now that he was so close, Gibbs was only too aware of the enticing smell of the young agent - something masculine and expensively scented, with a hint of musk, that threatened to short circuit his brain. He remembered Tony's scent somewhere soul-deep that had to do with sex and heat and possession.
With a huge effort, he took a step away from DiNozzo and focussed on his notebook, trying desperately not to think about sex.
"The bomb sniffer detected cyclinide, one of the main chemical components of terrorist grade semtex!" He took refuge in the same cautious formality he had just seen in the FBI agents.
"Professionals, boss. I saw the remains of some very sophisticated looking components. And I managed to get some camera footage from a store down the street that shows it parked up, well before sunrise, so there must have been a timer or a remote detonator." DiNozzo was just as careful.
"Any footage of the terrorists?"
"Maybe boss, but only if Abby can clean up the pictures."
"You only found one camera with footage?" Gibbs snapped irritably. He realised almost immediately that he was using his anger as a shield to push DiNozzo away, and he made an effort to control his temper.
"Er... No boss, but the FBI agents got most of it." The young agent was far more hesitant than usual, unsure of Gibbs' reaction, tiptoeing around him like he was walking on eggshells.
Gibbs swore softly, and felt a momentary twinge of regret as the young agent flinched.
"There's only two of us boss." Tony said. "There must be fifty FBI agents and god knows how many other feds out there. There must be some really pissed off people on Capitol Hill this morning."
"Oh yeah! I'm one of them!"
******
Later...
Going into the NCIS building with Gibbs, both of them looking thoroughly debauched had been a strange experience. Tony caught more than one speculative glance as he hurried along at Gibbs side, and an awful lot of open curiosity. Gibbs was the leader of the major case squad and high up in the NCIS hierarchy. Plus, his abrasive personality made him somewhat infamous.
Yeah, and Gibbs looked like he had spent a wild night somewhere. Tony felt his face heat up at the thought. He had done that to Gibbs. His boss looked wrecked because of the things he and Tony had done together...
Only years of practice at undercover work helped Tony to keep his expression neutral, despite the rather obvious fact that his sore ass made him move more cautiously than normal. Unfortunately, what their colleagues were probably thinking was true.
He hadn't decided what he was supposed to feel about it yet. The sex had been spectacular; it was the fact that it was Gibbs. His boss. No one could accuse him of choosing the easy option - not that choice had come into it.
He felt his stomach do a little flip. He hadn't just slept with Gibbs, he had actually fucked him. And let Gibbs take him in turn. The enormity of that still stunned him. Jethro Gibbs moaning beneath him, arching up against him, pleading for Tony to do it harder... Then later, the long, slow glide of his hardness into Tony's body...
Oh god, even the thought of that made him half-hard, which was frankly all he could manage, at the moment. How was he going to work with Gibbs after this, because despite everything, he still wanted to. He loved his job and he respected his boss - even after the hot sex thing. Would things change now? The young agent sighed, hating the confusion he felt, not sure what he was hoping for. The best plan seemed to be to take it slow, a day at a time, and see what developed. It was all they could do, at the moment, to look each other in the eyes.
With a nod to Gibbs, Tony headed straight for Abby's lab, feeling his mood lift at the approval he saw in the older man's gaze. One thing that could be said about Gibbs - he cared about his team. And Tony felt proud that Gibbs trusted him enough to let him check on Abby and McGee.
McGee was leaning over Abby as she looked at something in her microscope. The way his hand lingered on her shoulder: the way she turned to smile at him told Tony everything he needed to know. The two of them had been together when the virus had entered the air conditioning system of the NCIS building. Despite all of the security protocols, enough of the virus had entered the building to affect everyone. Already in a sometime relationship, the two of them were in the happy situation of not having an embarrassing little secret to hide.
He, on the other hand, had a big problem, in the shape of a cranky and disagreeable ex-marine. With a sore ass.
"Oh my god, Tony!" Abby had noticed him lurking at the door. She came running over to him and hugged him. Then she put her hands on either side of his face. "You look like you've had a rough couple of days. Was it really bad out there? Or did you meet up with some gorgeous stranger?"
Tony felt his face go red.
"Let's just say I had a good time with someone, no strings attached, and leave it at that," he said evasively. Her eyes narrowed and Tony knew that she would worry away at his secret like a crime that needed to be solved, simply because that was the way her mind worked. She could sense his guile.
"Did you hear about Ziva?" she asked. He shook his head. "She was recalled to the Israeli Embassy as soon as the authorities realised what had happened to us. But not before she had paired off with a certain redhead of our acquaintance."
"Ziva and Sheppard? No way!"
"Way, Tony! Which is why our esteemed director is in a hell of a temper this morning. Ducky and Palmer are an item too!" Tony shook his head in disbelief. Maybe his indiscretion wasn't so strange after all.
"Is Gibbs pissed about... everything that happened yesterday?" McGee was trying to be discrete, but it was obvious that he desperately wanted to know what had happened to Gibbs when the madness hit?
"Let's just say, he's had better days!" Tony said. "I don't think he's decided whether he ought to be shocked or as mad as hell. It was true. Gibbs seemed to alternate between snapping irritably at him and trying to be nice to him while looking extremely guilty, which was so totally out of character for the man that it had Tony totally off balance. Tony preferred the temper. At least it was honest, and not so far off Gibbs normal behaviour.
McGee predictably made the assumption that Gibbs had met some strange woman. "I can see why he might be upset - sleeping with a stranger after having three ex-wives and all."
"Um." Tony quailed, and finally chose discretion over honesty. He couldn't even admit the truth to some of his closest friends. What a mess.
*******
As Gibbs strode out of the elevator, into the bullpen, he could see obvious signs of chaos. Papers littered the floors and there were still remnants of clothing scattered around and fortunately unidentifiable stains on floors and furniture. A few agents were already present and Gibbs was paradoxically relieved to see that all of them looked as if they'd had a rough couple of days. He didn't particularly want to stand out in the crowd.
It was easy to tell who had been affected by the virus. Everybody. People had the same slightly stunned appearance, and many still showed the bruises of their passion on exposed parts of their body. Gibbs knew he and DiNozzo both looked as if they had spent all night at an orgy - not far from the truth - so he wouldn't look too out of place.
His first stop was the director's office. Jenny Sheppard was there, along with - Gibbs winced - Fornell from the FBI. The agent nodded in greeting to Gibbs.
"Ah, Jethro. Well done on this morning's crime scene analysis. You probably wont be surprised to hear that the NCIS team has been asked to join a joint terrorist task force, led by Special Agent Fornell." She both looked and sounded cool and professional, with not a hair out of place. Why was he not surprised? Fornell looked a little rough round the edges, but from his sly smirk, Gibbs knew exactly what he was thinking.
They discussed the proposed task force for a while, then Fornell headed back to his office, again with a swift grin at Gibbs. Damn. That bad?
Jenny rounded on him, as soon as the door closed behind Fornell.
"Do you know what you look like?" she snapped. He flushed slightly. "You look as though you've been at an orgy, Jethro," she said bluntly. "Your mouth is all bruised and you have bite marks on your neck! And as for that bedroom hair..."
"I've had better days," Gibbs said icily. Who the hell cared what he looked like? He had terrorists to catch! Besides, he was definitely not discussing his indiscretions with her, though he could tell how curious she was. He received a glare in return, but ignored it. With their history together, she had no right to criticise his love life. Jenny had other things on her mind, however. She called all of the NCIS agents together for the big speech.
"You're all aware by now of the seriousness of the situation we face. We now believe a terrorist released an airborne virus in the city, with the consequences you all witnessed. We need to catch these bastards, but in the meantime, our first priority has to be the safety of our citizens. Agent Gibbs, your team will liase with the FBI, looking for evidence of these terrorists. My door is always open if you have any problems."
Discuss his indiscretions? With his ex-lover? Not in this lifetime.
*****
Later still...
This was shaping up to be the weirdest week Jethro Gibbs had ever lived through, and it was far from over. At the moment, he was sifting his way through a pile of crap, trying to find clues about the mysterious terrorist group. They knew few facts for sure. The black van had been rented by two men with military haircuts and the FBI was trying to track them down, and source the origin of the ruined canisters. Dozens of different manufacturers to contact.
Other agents were checking rogue scientists and Homeland Security was chasing foreign nationals as usual, which left Jethro's team working on the video footage Tony had seized. Once the footage was cleaned up, they could run the faces of the two terrorists through the Armed Forces database using face recognition software. And Tony could make a list of likely suspects who were on leave, at the moment.
Gibbs scowled. Multi-agency task forces were a recipe for disaster, in his opinion, but a lot of federal agencies were under pressure from the very top. Gibbs felt his lips twitch - if he was the male Secretary of Defence and he had woken up, as the scuttlebutt alleged, with his head between the thighs of a certain right wing senator, also of the male persuasion, he supposed he would be pretty pissed too. Which led his thoughts round to Tony.
He didn't know how he was supposed to treat the young agent. How the hell was he supposed to work with Tony after sleeping with him? After taking him again and again. When he closed his eyes, he could still see the younger man on his knees, those full lips wrapped round Gibbs' hard shaft. Then later, Tony on top of him, riding him, frantic in his need.
Other memories of their encounter rose unbidden into his mind, and he shivered slightly, disturbed by the intensity of the images he saw. He had just used the younger man. Exploited him. The worst thing, he thought guiltily, was that he remembered how good it had felt to touch Tony. How much he wanted to do it again. With a huge effort, he forced himself to concentrate on the job at hand.
A few minutes later, Gibbs looked up, surprised, as Tony placed the cup of coffee on his desk. At least the younger man wasn't avoiding him. If anything, he was even more eager for Gibbs' approval than before. Gibbs tried not to think about why.
"Thanks," he said softly. Then, feeling something more was needed, because something in DiNozzo's dark eyes begged for more;- "You all right? You need to see Ducky? Did I hurt you... earlier?" He found himself floundering, embarrassed, desperate to say the right thing. Needing to connect with DiNozzo, for reasons he couldn't have named.
"I'm a little uncomfortable, but it's no big deal." A flush. "What about you? I guess you're feeling the same..."
"You think?" Gibbs shifted uncomfortably. He certainly felt well used. The unaccustomed sensitivity in some delicate parts of his body proved that. Then hesitantly he offered, " Not a problem, Tony." The younger man nodded and Gibbs caught a flash of something unfathomable in those green eyes.
"I'd better get on with my data check." Tony had been told to examine the records of all sailors currently on leave in Washington which was a slow and tedious job. There was a slightly awkward silence. Gibbs scowled. Normally he would have snapped something derogatory about Tony needing his hand held, to encourage the young agent to get on with his work. Somehow, the words wouldn't come. It seemed unnecessarily harsh on Tony after the hellish day he must have had. Waking up beside his boss after Gibbs had practically fucked him through the floor.
Damn it, he shouldn't need to have feelings conversations with his agents! Or feelings for his agents...
"Let me know if you find anything," he finally said, knowing it sounded lame, but not knowing what else to say. And that was the end of *that* conversation
*****
Tony was tired. He had spent hours running through the database and he felt like sleeping for a week. With a yawn, he leaned back in his chair and stretched, trying to ease the unaccustomed tension in certain parts of his body. His thigh muscles in particular had seen an unaccustomed workout recently. And his rear, but he was trying not to think about that.
"Miss me?"
Tony yelped in shock at the voice that sounded unexpectedly in his ear. He swung round and stared accusingly at Ziva, who lounged on the edge of the desk, next to him. She studied his face and smirked.
"You look like you've been having fun, Tony." He frowned, knowing that his lips looked bruised and swollen, and that he had more than one visible hickey. And his wrists, where Gibbs had held him down during one particularly passionate encounter...
"Maybe. I could say the same thing about you, from what I've heard." Tony could match her in bitchiness if he had to.
Ziva smiled coolly. "Sex between friends happens all the time Tony. But you're trying to change the subject I think. So what was the sex like with your mystery partner, Tony?" She leered. The younger man's eyes flickered unnoticed towards Gibbs, but the older man was apparently deeply involved in paperwork.
"Incredible!" he said softly. "But excuse me if I have a problem with the whole consent issue. I like to pick my partners for myself."
"Oh!" Ziva purred. She was sharp. "So you wouldn't have slept with this person if you had a choice?" Her voice turned low, encouraging. "So she was ugly?"
"That's none of your business!" Tony snapped. He didn't want to go there, right now or possibly, ever.
"So she was really ugly? A hag? Or hairy? I know how much you hate hairy women..." Tony glared at her and stayed silent. However Ziva hadn't finished her Tony-baiting quite yet.
"Maybe it was a man... Maybe you woke up with a big, hairy sailor..." She plainly expected to provoke Tony with the comment; to outrage him so much that he would give her details on his new girlfriend. McGee was listening just as avidly to see what his response would be. The old Tony would have leapt in at that point, spluttering in outrage and defensiveness, eager to assert his masculinity and prove he was 100 percent heterosexual. None of them expected Tony to blush furiously, stand up and hightail it out of the bullpen as if his ass was on fire.
Ziva turned to McGee who was sitting with his mouth open.
"You don't really think..?"
"Have you ever seen Tony blush before?" McGee said. "I haven't."
*****
Gibbs wasn't doing well; he had worked fruitlessly for hours, before finally heading home, well after dark. He had been there less than an hour when Ducky called on his cellphone.
"We're waiting for an analysis of the biological agent we were exposed to. The CDC has sent a troubleshooter from Atlanta - a world renowned scientist called Sandstrom. He seems to think its a very potent virus which could still be active in our bodies - dumping weird combinations of chemicals into the bloodstream."
"So?" Gibbs said. "What exactly does that mean?" He heard Ducky mutter something uncomplimentary about him always asking the unwelcome questions.
"Oh get over it! I know you. I know when you sound worried. What is it you're not saying?" The medical examiner hesitated.
"The virus may have altered our DNA. Sandstrom looked really grim when he went in to talk to the Joint Chiefs - apparently he's seen something like this before, but on a much smaller scale. Cutting edge stuff, building on the work of some guys at Berkeley. There are only a handful of people in the world who could do work this sophisticated - the work of a mad genius, Sandstrom called it! I've got a bad feeling about this, Jethro."
"I don't think I could face any more shocks at the moment, after this morning," Gibbs said tiredly. He could almost sense Ducky's curiosity, but his friend didn't take the lure. Ducky would respect his privacy unless Gibbs chose to enlighten him. "Call me if you get anything useful."
He was tempted to throw the phone at the wall. Maybe the virus was pumping all sorts of shit into his body. Would that explain the feelings that were beginning to haunt him. He had to fight against this slow, consuming madness that seemed to be taking over his life. He had managed to spend the day away from Tony, now he had to find the strength to spend the night alone. For already, he could feel his body betraying him, aching for the younger man's touch. He couldn't seem to stop thinking about that warm body wrapped around him. This was so crazy.
He had heard what the young agent had told Ziva. He had thought sex with Gibbs was incredible, but not something he would have chosen. The older man closed his eyes briefly, trying to ignore the way heat seemed to wake inside him at the realisation that Tony had enjoyed their encounter as much as he had. That thought in itself was frightening. That the thought of sex with another man could still arouse him.
Yes, his addiction to DiNozzo was an illness. An after-effect of the virus. He would get over it! Eventually... But there was something worse lurking in his psyche. Something not really sexual; more a need for... Oh god. To be close to Tony.
He felt a strange longing, to pull DiNozzo close to him and hold him tightly, close enough for the younger man to rest his head against Gibbs' chest. He had the oddest desire to feel the brush of the younger man's tousled hair against his cheek and breathe in the scent of him. To taste those full lips again. But he was alone and the night seemed colder and darker than it ever had before. When had the world become so bleak? He sighed and started flicking through the cable channels, desperately trying to distract himself from the sudden desolate loneliness that filled him.
*****
Memo to all Federal employees
As you probably realise, the recent virus outbreak has had unfortunate consequences for all of us. Some employees will have unfortunately had inappropriate liaisons with felons. New medical information also suggests that these liaisons may be of a more permanent nature than was first supposed. Even twenty four hours without contact with the "partner" will cause emotional distress and possible psychotic episodes.
All employees are asked to provide details of their partners if they wish to maintain their security clearance.
*****
End of part 2/4
Author's Chapter Notes:
In which I try to wind up the tension.
Chapter End Notes:
Lots of lovely angst