A/N: I'm not going to lie, this was SO hard to write; frankly, I'm still "bleh" about this chapter-my muse just didn't wanna' cooperate with me at all...You've no idea how many times I had like three pages of this chapter written, reread the whole thing, deleted everything, and started over -_-

But thanks to everyone who reviewed (they were all wonderful and made me go :D), keeps me going. :) Well, enjoy.

SIX.

"SHAWN, I LOVE YOU."

Stunned, Shawn turned away, speechless. "That's not funny." he muttered into his shirt sleeve.

Nero smiled at the younger man, "I love you, Shawn. I really do. Why is that so hard for you to believe?" without another word, he embraced the blonde, pulled him back for a second, and started to kiss him, first in a chaste manner, and then slowly building, more passionate.

Shawn melted into his lovers' kisses, his breath, his chest so close to his, he could hear his heart beating, and he loved every second of it. He loved him. And he wanted to tell him, even if it broke the heat of the moment-he had to.

Pulling away, breathing hard, heart beating a mile a minute, he opened his mouth, said the words, "I love you Gibbs..." What?

"Tony." That wasn't right. Nero. Not Gibbs. Shawn. Not Tony.

"C'mon Tony."

Tony woke with a start.

Gibbs was beside him on a chair and this room was very familiar, he thought, until he realized it was Gibbs' guestroom and he was in his house; now how the hell had that happened?

Reading his mind, Jethro handed him a glass of water before saying, "You passed out in the mens bathroom. McGee called us and Duck said it was due in part to a combination of stress, exhaustion, oh and, that huge bruise you might've forgotten to mention, DiNozzo-you've got two broken ribs, and according to Duck, you've also recently gotten a dislocated shoulder, which either you or someone manually set back in place." Gibbs got up, hovering over his agent, "So I'd like to know now where and how in the hell you got all these injuries."

Gibbs was mad...again, and Tony cringed. He had a right to, feeling so out of the loop with his own second in command and all, but if he told him yet another truth in one day, he was sure Gibbs would toss him out on the curb, fractured ribs or not, right then and there.

"Boss, can this all just wait? It's been a damn long day, everything's so complicated-"

"No, Tony, it's not! You hiding everything is making shit complicated!" Gibbs yelled.

"I had to, Gibbs, don't you fucking get that? I had to!" Tony retorted, throwing back the covers and sitting up now, so that he was at least semi-eye-to-eye with Jethro.

"But you don't anymore, Tony! And you're still keeping things from all of us! Those bruises didn't happen thirteen years ago, did it? It was recent, and I need to know!"

"You don't need to know anything, none of this, none of what happened thirteen years ago, none of what goes on in my life is any of your Goddamn business! Just leave me alone!" Tony exploded, chest heaving, face pained as his ribs protested.

Gibbs face went stoic, his voice soft, "That's where you're wrong, Tony. Every aspect of you, your life, your past, your present, what you plan to do in the future, all of that is important to me; not because you are my senior field agent and not because you are a part of my team, but because you are my friend, Tony. I care about you more than I would've ever dared to admit.

You come into all our lives, and you're obscure and you rarely show glimpses of your true self but you worm yourself into all our hearts anyway, and you make me wonder why that is, and I want to know more and more about you and as I wonder why, I find myself thinking more about you every day, and I think 'Why do I care?' And the reason is so simple it took me three years to figure it out.

I love you Tony. You made me fall in love with you and all I've ever wanted to do was just be there for you, I need you to know that no matter how bad anything is, you can tell me, spill your guts out to me, cry on my shoulder, rest in my arms when you're so tired and you've just had about enough of everything, trust me to be there, Tony. And that's the thing that got me.

After all this time, you still don't even trust me enough to tell me about a few broken ribs, DiNozzo. I understand about all the WitSec business; but, I thought you knew by now: I will always have your six, Tony. Always." with those parting words, Jethro left the room, closing the door with a ring of finality behind him.

Tony sat on the bed for a few minutes, Jethros' words replaying over and over in his mind. He hadn't thought it'd be possible to have one great love in your life, but to have found two? This was the same feeling he'd had with Nero all those years ago, but at the same time it was so different. Because Nero and Jethro-while both sporting eccentric names-were as opposite as day and night. The only thing they'd had in common was falling in love with someone like him.

Tony sprinted through the narrow hallway, past two doors, down the stairs, past the living room, the basement door, and down another flight of wooden stairs, only to realize once he was there, Gibbs back to him as he sanded his boat, that he wasn't sure of what to say or do or even if Gibbs would acknowlegde him.

"Boss-"

"You need to be in bed." he interrupted.

"I'm not that kind of girl Gibbs; we haven't even been on a date yet." Tony quipped, for lack of much to say at the moment.

"I normally don't do 'blind dates', like to know who I'm going out with." Jethro replied without missing a beat.

Alright, ouch, because that hurt. A lot more than Tony was willing to admit. It'd been a while since someone had had the ability to do so much with such little words to affect him.

"Gibbs, I'm in love with you, and you're in love with me. You can't fall in love with someone you don't know-" he paused, "I mean, you can, because statistacally 96.7% of the American population are obsessed with people they've never even met before-" he ammended, "But, you don't do that, you're Gibbs. And you know me, and...I want us to get to know each other better. I'll tell you whatever you want to know if you'll sit and listen. I'm still terrified Gibbs, but I would much rather try and lose you than not try at all. Please Gibbs."

He stopped sanding, turned around. "Go to bed, Tony."

"But Gibbs-"

Gibbs walked over to his senior field agent, put his hand on the small of his back and lead him up the stairs. "It's almost one in the morning, you look dead on your feet, Duck said you needed rest." he recited, leading him down the hall.

"Gibbs, please, I-" he was interrupted when Jethro planted a soft almost breath-taking kiss on his lips, put him to bed, and laid down next to him, putting one arm loosely and gently-aware of his broken ribs-around Tonys' waist, pulling him close to his own body, feeling his heat.

"Sleep DiNozzo, now." Gibbs kissed him again, this time on the forehead, and Tony easily complied, resting his head in the crook of Gibbs neck, feeling more safe than he had for the first time in a very long time.

"Love you Boss." he muttered as he was at the brink of sleep, hearing a vague 'I love you too, DiNozzo." as he finally fell into a deep sedated-like slumber.

A/N: -_- It's too short for my liking, but I've been so busy the last couple of days and yadayadayada; nonetheless, I hope you guys like and review? Would be really helpful to know what you guys think so far! Thanks.