Vengeful Connection
By Gunnery Sergeant
Usual Disclaimer – I do not own NCIS, I only wish I did.
A/N: Sixth story in my Vampire! Gibbs/Tony series. The correct reading order can be found in my profile.
This story is set a few months after "Unexpected Connection", an AU season 7 beginning.
Thanks to Finlaure for the beta reading!
-x-
Tony closed the door of Gibbs' house and jogged down the porch steps, looking around himself with a pleased smile.
It was Saturday morning, there was almost no traffic, the sun shone and the mid autumn air while cold, was also energizing. It was the perfect time for a long run.
Tony set a steady pace as he proceeded along the orderly row of well-kept houses toward Forest Park. As he ran by he greeted a few of Gibbs' neighbors, people who had known Jethro since he had come to live there with Shannon and Kelly, and who had taken it well that he now had a male lover.
Tony smiled as he thought of his lover, no, partner. He had had many lovers during his life. Women and men who had come and gone in a few weeks, while he and Gibbs had just celebrated their second anniversary. Yes, partner – life partner – was much better, since he couldn't bring himself to use the same word Jethro used to define him, mate. It sounded nice and true and so fucking possessive on Gibbs' lips, and Tony liked when other vampires called him 'Jethro's Mate' or 'Leroy's mate', but just couldn't think of the older man as his mate.
Tony shook his head, amused by how tortuous his musings about a simple word were becoming. Did it really matter the word they used to define what they were for and to each other? Of course not. They loved each other and that was the only thing that mattered.
So Tony just thought about the man he had left asleep in bed, sprawled in the middle of the mattress and hogging almost all the blankets, and grinned. No one in the office would ever believe him if he told them the big, bad, always-up-at-dawn Special Agent Gibbs liked to sleep in when he wasn't on call. And no one in DC would believe that even a mug of fresh coffee straight under his nose wasn't enough to rouse him until he decided he was time to wake up.
'I wonder if there is a way to pass this bit of information to Abby without revealing how I'm aware of it…'
Tony never completed the thought as a blinding pain exploded in the back of his head. The last thing he saw before everything went black was the ground getting closer as he fell down.
-x-
When he regained his senses he was dizzy and cold. Tony found himself tightly bound in what looked like a cave or cavern.
"No, not a cavern," he said to himself, noticing the wooden girders in the ceiling and the lit lamp hanging from one of the walls, "A mine."
Not that it explained what he was doing here—wherever 'here' was. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, nor did he have a clue about whom had taken him or why.
Tony pulled at the ropes imprisoning him, but only managed to make them tighter. His wrists were bound behind his back while his ankles were tied so close he would never be able to stand up. He felt like a calf ready to be branded and he didn't like that at all.
He needed help to get away from there—and luckily he had a way to ask for it: his mental bond with Jethro.
Despite his current predicament, Tony smiled as he remembered how they had discovered the bond.
It had been four months before, while he was in Somalia with Ziva, carrying out the mission Eli David had given them, track down and kill a terrorist named Saleem. It had been night and, unable to sleep, Tony had been staring at the current campfire, thinking about the time he and Gibbs had camped in the Arizona desert. He had been remembering how they had managed to share a couple of kisses even with the local sheriff sleeping so close, and how much his partner had liked to sleep under the stars. And then, suddenly, Tony had found himself talking with Gibbs, the older man's voice echoing in his mind as if he was standing close to him, and not thousands of miles away.
Tony had told Gibbs about his current location and his concerns about the mission, amused by the many questions the voice in his mind, which he thought to be just a figment of his overactive imagination, was asking. When the 'conversation' had ended with Gibbs' promise look for a way to help them, Tony had shook his head, thinking it was just an attempt of his subconscious to tranquilize him and allow him to finally fall asleep.
He hadn't thought of the conversation the next day, not even when he and Ziva had been contacted by squad of Ethiopian soldiers who were tracking Saleem too, and agreed to join their forces.
It was only when Major Selassie, the Ethiopian guy in charge, had taken him aside and advised him to be careful because vampires didn't like when other vampires gave blood to their mates, that he had realized two things. One, Selassie was a vampire. Two, he was there to help Tony, and thus it meant his conversation with Gibbs had been real.
The discovery of his mental connection with Jethro had been mind-blowing for Tony. Not just because it was so sci-fi like or a very useful ability in their line of work, but because it was a tangible, irrefutable proof of how deep their love and commitment was to each other.
Tony had always been insecure of his place in the life and of the people he loved. His mother had died when he was a child, and his father had sent him to a boarding school just after that, seldom finding time to spare for him. His relationships had always been fleeting and he had ended up being dumped far more times than the other way around. He had tried to shake this sense of insecurity since he had been involved with Gibbs, but they still assaulted him now and then and he found himself terrified by the idea of Jethro ending things between them. But his insecurity had been greatly reduced since the mental connection between them had been established. He had read in the book about vampires Gibbs kept in his closet that connections between vampires and humans were very rare…a true proof of commitment, because while words can lie, there was no deception in thoughts and feelings, and he had felt more than once how much Jethro loved him.
Tony returned to the present, mentally head-slapping himself, because this wasn't the time to get all maudlin and sappy.
He closed his eyes to concentrate and open the link with Jethro, but the sound of approaching steps distracted him. He opened his eyes just in time to see a man dressed in white and wearing a Panama style hat stop at few feet from him.
Tony's mouth opened in stunned surprise when he recognized him. Eli David.
While it was true he did not have the foggiest idea of who would have wanted to take him, Ziva's father would have never crossed his mind.
"Director David." Tony greeted him when he regained his composure, "Forgive me if I don't shake your hand, but as you can see, there isn't much I can do—except kiss you, if you kneel…but that would mean dirtying you very nice suit. Is that the same one you wore in Tel Aviv when we first met? Or do you have a wardrobe full of them?"
David smirked and replied, "Agent DiNozzo, I see you have not learned yet that there are times when your deplorable sense of humor is more likely to put you in more trouble than to take you out of it."
"I don't know…If I remember correctly, my technique worked pretty well the first time we met."
David's eyes flashed with a dangerous glint as he stepped closer. "It won't work this time, DiNozzo. There are no witnesses to this conversation. No one able to help you... This abandoned mine is miles away from a town or a trekking path, and no one ever comes because it's crumbling and it dangerous to enter it. No one will ever hear your calls for help."
Tony nodded. "Yeah, well, I had already figured you hadn't taken me here to enjoy the landscape. What I don't get is why I'm here. Are you still holding a grudge because I killed your golden boy, Rivkin?"
David shook his head. "Rivkin was an incompetent drunkard; otherwise you wouldn't be here now. No, I've nothing against you. You're just a pawn in my plan to get revenge of Agent Gibbs."
Tony frowned, taken aback. "Why?" he blurted, unable to hide his surprise.
"Because he stole my daughter! He took Ziva away from me!" David exclaimed, balling his fists.
"Gibbs didn't steal her from you," Tony replied, hard eyes fixed on this abductor. "You lost Ziva the moment you ordered us to proceed and track Saleem fully knowing you were sending us – sending your daughter – on a suicide mission. Or do you think Ziva didn't realize how our little trip in the desert would have ended hadn't we met that squad of Ethiopian soldiers? There were thirty-six men in Saleem's camp and we were just two!"
David gestured with his hand, as if he was brushing away Tony's words as unimportant.
"Gibbs had started poisoning her against me long before that! Turned her against me! He made her question me about how I handled Ari, about why Tali was at the market the day she was killed instead of being at school… He made my daughter stop trusting me, her father! He made her forget her country to become an American. And this is why Gibbs will pay the price of his crimes!"
"And you plan to make Gibbs pay by kidnapping me?" Tony said incredulous. "You would get a better result if you blew up his boat or stole all of his bourbon! But kidnapping the agent he regularly head-slaps in order to instill some common sense in him? Nah, I don't think Gibbs will be that touched by this."
"Are you so sure, Agent DiNozzo? Because, you see, I know head-slapping is not the only thing Agent Gibbs does regularly to you, both at his place and yours…"
Tony felt blood leave his face at the implications of those words and David snorted, amused.
"Don't be so surprised, DiNozzo. I didn't pick you because you were an easy target. I know you and Gibbs are lovers, have been for a couple of years. As a matter of fact, I knew it almost from the start." David paced the small confines of the tunnel, as Tony watched him warily. "I've often thought to let Leon know about your tryst, but I then decided to keep the information for myself. I thought I could find another use for it—and I did." The older man's eyes flashed again. "Agent Gibbs will soon know what it means to lose someone he loves."
"You bastard!" Tony snarled, struggling to free himself, rage blinding him for a moment. "He already knows what a nightmare it is! He lost his wife and daughter!"
David laughed, maliciously. "Then he will live it again. No one messes with me and stays unpunished. Farewell, Agent DiNozzo, I'll leave now. If I were you, I would start preparing to meet God, because you'll never leave here alive."
I
Poor Tony! What will happen next? Let me know...and remember, reviews make me update faster. :)