The long awaited sequel to 'Haunted Eyes'. I advise you read that one first, otherwise certain aspects of this fic will make no sense. Rated M for subject matter.
Disclaimer: No, I don't own NCIS.
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Gibbs had slept fitfully that night, and both he and Tony were looking worse for wear the following morning. Sitting at the kitchen table, Gibbs picked at his food, obviously distracted.
"What's on your mind?" Tony asked him. Gibbs looked up sharply, and shook his head.
"Nothing."
"Jeth..."
Gibbs sighed. "I... I was just wondering what happened to them."
There was no need to ask who 'them' was. "Two dead, one's in a coma, two spent last night in the ER, they'll be moved to NCIS today."
Gibbs nodded. "The other two, did you arrest them? I didn't hurt them, did I?"
Tony looked confused. "Other two? No... there was only five people there with you..." He took a breath. "Jeth... are you telling me that seven men attacked you, not five?"
Gibbs nodded. Tony rested his head in his hands for a moment, sighing angrily. "I gotta make a call. Wait there a minute, okay?" He stood up, patting his pockets in the search for his cell phone. Not finding it, he left the room, running his hand across Gibbs' shoulders as he went.
Gibbs shoved his food around his plate some more as he waited. He could hear Tony talking on the phone upstairs, but couldn't make out what was being said. Tony came down a few minutes later, two coats in his arms.
"Come on, we've gotta go in to work." He came into the kitchen, leaning against the table next to Gibbs. "You're... you're going to have to make a statement about what happened. Everything, not just what you told them yesterday." Gibbs opened his mouth, but Tony cut him off. "I know what you're going to say Jeth, but no-ones going to think any less of you for what happened, okay? I want the bastards caught who did this to you, and I want them to pay for what they did. Don't say that you don't care about that, because if it'd happened to me you'd be saying the exact same thing and you know it."
Gibbs opened his mouth to argue, but he knew Tony was right. Only if it'd happened to Tony, he didn't think that he'd be quite so calm right now. Tony always could keep his temper in check when he needed to, something else he loved about the younger man. He always knew the right things to say, especially to him.
"I'll stay with you all the way, if that's what you want." Tony added softly. Gibbs looked up and met the emerald green eyes of his lover.
"Okay."
Tony wrapped an arm around him, pulling him to his chest and dropped a kiss into Gibbs' hair.
"Let's go. Sooner we get this done, the better, yeah?"
Gibbs nodded. "Yeah."
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They were in the elevator, on their way up to the squadroom before Gibbs realised something. He reached out, flipping the emergency stop switch.
"Does Vance know? Did you tell him?" Did you tell him, without asking me first?
"No, of course I didn't. He's waiting in his office though. I told him that there were two more guys that we didn't know about before, and that we needed to see him about something else, but he doesn't know what about."
"Right." Gibbs nodded to himself. "Okay." He set the elevator in motion again.
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Vance had sat behind his desk, swearing angrily when Gibbs had quietly, with much prodding from Tony, told him the true events of the day before. He'd then left the room, returning several minutes later with news that the guy Gibbs had put in a coma had died during the night. The other two had been patched up in the ER and were currently residing in NCIS holding cells several floors below.
"I took the liberty of arranging for an agent to take another statement from you, Gibbs. I presume that by telling me, you want to make it official?"
Gibbs didn't reply, so Tony did for him. "Yeah. He erm, wants me in the room with him, I told him it would be okay?"
Vance nodded. "That's fine. You know the rules though, stay silent, no leading him or prodding for answers. I want this to be all above board, no loopholes for lawyers to exploit."
Tony nodded. "I know. I don't want them to get off on a technicality either. Is the agent ready for the statement now?"
"She's in the first interrogation room, ready and waiting for you. Both conference rooms are in use and will be for the next few hours, so that was our only other option. Go straight down, I'll give the rest of your team an update, they should be in any time now."
Tony glanced at Gibbs, who still hadn't said anything. "Do you want to tell them, or would you rather me, or Director Vance even, did?"
Gibbs shook his head. "I'll tell them. Can I do it after the statement though?"
"Sure, whatever you want."
Gibbs growled lowly. "Tony, stop being so agreeable, dammit. I'm not gonna break if you disagree with me." He snapped, storming out of Vance's office and slamming the door behind him. Tony turned to Vance, about to apologise but the Director shook his head. Tony shrugged, turning and following Gibbs.
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Gibbs was waiting outside the interrogation room when Tony caught him up.
"Look, I-"
"Gibbs, I-"
They started together, stopped and chuckled.
"You first." Tony prompted.
"I shouldn't have snapped like that. I'm sorry." When Tony raised an eyebrow, he glared. "I know, I'm breaking my own rules, but you're just trying to help and I'm being a stubborn bastard, like usual."
Tony grinned. "Eh, it's understandable. You know that I wouldn't have you any other way, right?" He grinned, wider when Gibbs head-slapped him. "See, there's the Gibbs I know and love." Gibbs smiled softly in response. "Right. You ready to do this?" Tony asked.
Gibbs nodded, and Tony opened the door to the interrogation room before backing away, gesturing for Gibbs to go first. They sat down next to each other on one side of the table, opposite a blonde middle-aged female agent neither of them recognised who introduced herself as Agent Joanna Matthews.
Gibbs explained that he'd already given a statement the day before, but had 'left a few things out', so was giving a new statement.
"This is going to be hard enough without someone asking questions in the middle, so could you just let me..." He trailed off. She smiled at him and nodded.
"Sure. You just tell me what happened, at your own pace. If I need to know anything else I'll ask when you're done, okay? Now, I know what happened up to when you were grabbed from the house that you and your team believed the suspects were staying in, so if you could just tell me what happened after that, please?" Her voice was kind, calm and level, but her eyes betrayed her pity, which disgusted Gibbs. He didn't want her pity, so he tried not to look at her, searching for Tony's hand under the table instead, locating it and holding on tight.
"Okay." He tipped his head back, blowing out a breath before looking at Agent Matthews, not quite meeting her eyes.
"They knocked me out at the house, so I don't know where I was or how I got there. I woke up... I was lying on the floor, face down with my hands tied behind my back. I could hear them laughing, joking about something. I don't think they realised I was awake at first, they didn't come over for a while, I'm not sure how long." He paused, and Tony squeezed his hand under the table. "They came over, and one of them lifted my head up and looked at me. Said I was pretty. He turned to the rest of them, there was only six of them total at that point, and said 'maybe we should have some fun with him while we wait for Rob'. I think he said Rob, might have been Bob... I can't remember. The rest of them, they agreed, so they kicked me around a bit. Then they must have got bored with that, because..." he trailed off, reaching for the glass of water that Tony poured for him.
He took a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing, his voice becoming detached as he reached the most difficult point. "They... they grabbed me, pulled me upright. Pulled my jeans down, and then they..." Tony stroked his fingers over the back of Gibbs' hand under the table. "They raped me. All of them, one after the other. I don't... I don't know how long it took, felt like forever. Then they left me there, lying on the floor where I'd landed. They went to the other end of the room and back to their conversation, like... like I wasn't even there. I think I must have blacked out, cause next thing I knew there was seven of them, and they were standing all around me. My hands were untied then, I don't know when that had happened. They got me standing up, and the new guy, Rob or Bob or whatever he was called, he said that it was time for round two." He took another gulp of water, his voice regaining some emotion when he spoke again.
"I don't remember what happened after that. I heard those words, and I remember thinking that there was no way they were going to do that again. I saw red, and after that... it's a blur. Next thing I knew Tony was standing in front of me and I was covered in blood, asking him what took him so long."
He stopped and looked at Agent Matthews expectantly.
"So, you don't remember attacking your captors?" She asked.
"No."
She nodded. "Okay, I think that's everything. I'll get this written up and you can sign it. You can wait here if you wish, or..."
"It'll take you a while to write that up, we'll be in the building. Try the squadroom, if we aren't there, call my cell." Tony interrupted her, speaking for the first time since they'd entered the room. He handed her his card and stood up, leading Gibbs from the room. The older man then lead him towards the elevator, pressing the button for Abby's lab. They stood for a few seconds as the elevator began to move, then Tony flipped the switch.
The lights flickered and darkened as Tony turned to Gibbs.
"You okay?"
Gibbs looked over. "I was... then you asked me. Now... I'm not so sure."
The rare admission from the older man was enough of an excuse for Tony to pull Gibbs into a hug. Gibbs rested his head on Tony's shoulder, wrapping his arms around his lover. They stood silently in the darkened elevator for several minutes before Tony's cell phone rang, shattering the moment. He pulled it out of his pocket, raising it to his ear.
"Yeah Abbs?"
Gibbs couldn't hear her side of the conversation, so pressed his head closer into Tony's shoulder.
"Yeah, he's with me. Yeah, I know, we're on our way down now, got something to tell you all. McGee and Ziva are there already? Looking for us were they? Right. Ducky too? Okay. We'll be there in a few, okay? Yeah, okay. Bye Abby." He hung up. "Abby's waiting for us."
Gibbs nodded, raising his head from Tony's shoulder. If his eyes were a little red then Tony didn't mention it, instead silently handing him a handkerchief from his pocket before taking his suit jacket off to hide the damp patch on the left shoulder, leaving him in a shirt and jeans.
"You good?"
Gibbs nodded. "Let's do this."
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Telling the team was easy compared to telling Agent Matthews, but Gibbs still flinched and stepped back when Abby ran at him without thinking, looking for a hug. Tony was right behind him so Gibbs' back ended up pressed into Tony's chest, and while he hadn't realised that Tony was there he found that he wasn't worried. He trusted Tony implicitly, had done for years now and he knew deep down in his heart and soul that Tony would never, ever hurt him. He knew that of the rest of his team too of course, but still he couldn't stop himself flinching.
He let Abby have her hug on the second, slower attempt, but his skin crawled wherever she touched him, something that hadn't happened with Tony. He was used to hiding his emotions however, so Abby didn't even notice that he was uncomfortable. He suspected that Ducky knew something was wrong, but he had known the Doctor for over fifteen years, so that didn't surprise him.
Abby finally pulled away and moved back to her computers, Gibbs looking over to McGee and Ziva who nodded at him. Ziva looked like she always did, but McGee had sympathy in his eyes, much like Agent Matthews. Gibbs looked away.
"We have identified the other two men, Gibbs. A Marcus Simons and Robert James, DC Metro have located them and are chasing them down in their car as we speak." Ziva informed them. Tony nodded.
"What happened to the others, have you got names for any of them yet?"
"The two in custody downstairs are not talking and they are not in any databases so no. As for the three who are dead, we have identified one of them as a Tom Lawson, that was the one who was left almost unrecognisable. The other two remain anonymous." She reported.
"My babies are still running Gibbs, no matches so far on the fingerprints to any of our remaining dead guys, everything has come back to Simons, James or Lawson, nothing else has had a match. I'm sorry Gibbs."
"Not your fault Abby, two of them are dead and the other two can't stay silent forever, can they?" Gibbs pointed out.
"No, I guess not." She smiled, happier now that Gibbs was acting a little more like himself, even if he was still standing very close to Tony.
Tony could tell that Gibbs was getting a little uncomfortable with the silence.
"Hey Boss, why don't we go and see if we can find Agent Matthews? She needs you to sign that statement doesn't she?" Both men knew that there was no way the agent could have got it typed up yet, but Gibbs was thankful for the excuse nevertheless. They left, and went back to the elevator.
Once again, Tony hit the stop switch.
"You sure you're okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I will be." Gibbs smiled tightly. "Couldn't stand it in there though. McGee looking at me with pity, Ducky looking at me like a specimen in a jar, Abby trying not to jump on me and Ziva trying not to show any emotion at all." He sighed angrily. Tony rubbed his shoulder.
"It won't last forever, you know?"
"I know, I know. It shouldn't have happened in the first place, that's what the problem is."
Tony didn't get the chance to answer that one, being interrupted once again by his cell phone.
"Yeah, Ziva?" He paused, listening. A smile appeared on his face, growing bigger by the minute. Gibbs looked at him in confusion. "That's great Zee, I'll tell him. Thanks." The phone was flipped shut and Tony's grin grew impossibly wider as he turned to Gibbs.
"What?" The older man demanded.
"Simons and James, they're dead."
"How?"
"They crashed their car in the police chase, got out and pointed guns at the cops. Shot dead. Apparently um..." Tony chuckled. "Apparently Marcus Simons had another injury when they went to confirm that he was dead. He um... well. A piece of metal had struck him when the car crashed. It er... it struck him in the groin area."
Gibbs snorted. "Good."
Tony started grinning again. "They're both dead Gibbs. Five of them are dead and two in custody. You don't have to worry anymore."
"Eh, wasn't really that worried in the first place. Knew you'd never let anything else happen to me."
Tony pulled him in for a sideways hug. "Yeah, you got that right. You good now?"
Gibbs smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."
-Finis-
