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"This is going to be complicated." Jethro contemplated Tony's open palm as his fingers lightly traced its lined surface.
"I know," Tony agreed. He made no move to grasp the hand that was gently exploring his own.
"I don't like complicated," Gibbs warned. For some reason he was unable to pull his hand back. What Tony was suggesting, offering, went so deeply against who he was, how he behaved both personally and professionally and yet he felt a distinctly pleasant warmth spreading in his gut at the mere thought of it.
Tony watched the older man thoughtfully for a moment. Gibbs' mouth said one thing but the touch of his hands, the way his body had inclined forward said something else entirely. "What do you like, Jethro?"
If DiNozzo hadn't sounded genuinely interested the line might have come off as cheesy. As it was, the heat of it, the way Tony said his name so familiarly, had the fire in his belly trying to spread around his hips. With tremendous restraint, he slowly withdrew the palm that had spanned out to kiss Tony's on the flat of the table and pushed himself back, holding DiNozzo's eyes. "Slow," he said steadily. "I like slow."
Tony followed Jethro's retreating back as he headed for the stairs. "I can do slow."
Gibbs turned to study him carefully from the bottom step, weighing the sincerity of his words and then began to silently ascend.
Tony thought he was being dismissed until Jethro's t-shirt landed in a small beckoning heap on the floor.
"You coming?" The disembodied voice called.
"Oh yeah." Tony smiled and took the stairs two at a time.
The water on his shoulders was just short of scalding and steam filled his lungs with each sharp intake of breath as he fucked Gibbs in long rolling thrusts against the smooth tile of the shower.
"This your idea…of slow?" he panted, muscles burning with the effort of restraint as he tried to focus on anything but the tight grip of Gibbs' body around him and the delicious softly straining grunts that echoed in the space of the stall.
Jethro responded with a low moan and leaned forward, changing the angle of Tony's entry just slightly as he began to tug frantically at his dick.
Tony grabbed the older man's hips, slipped his hands around to his curved belly and cradled it in his palms as he curled in, sank his teeth into Gibbs' shoulder. His orgasm took him tight and hard, an echo of the heat that pulsed and tightened and rippled around his cock as Jethro painted the tiled wall with thick spurts that were quickly washed away.
When the aftershocks began to fade he pulled out carefully and let the water flowing down his body cleanse him.
Gibbs turned and Tony pinned him to the wall, carefully angling his lower body away from his bump. Jethro's mouth was soft and yielding as he flicked his tongue against parted lips, nibbled and sucked and teased until the water began to go tepid. "I think I like slow," he murmured, nipping at Gibbs' bottom lip before reaching behind him to turn off the faucet.
The buzz of Gibbs' cell phone startled them from where they had collapsed, wet and tangled atop the sheets, in a post coital haze.
Jethro reached behind him to the night stand. "Gibbs," he answered gruffly, fingers continuing to card idly through Tony's hair.
DiNozzo lay with his head resting against Gibbs' chest. His hand traced a lazy circle around the older man's belly and the soothing caress had had Jethro nearly purring in contentment a moment ago.
"Yeah," Gibbs said into the receiver, "on my way." He snapped the phone shut.
"I'm guessing that wasn't someone calling to offer you a great deal on a cruise?"
"Nope. Time to get dressed. We've got work to do. Got another dumpster toss. Looks like a similar MO to Jake Barnes, our dumped lieutenant. This one's a former Ensign."
Tony leaned down and kissed Jethro's belly fleetingly. "Gotta go to work, kid," he said as he pushed himself up. Gibbs' eyes were soft, speculative as he retreated. "What?" he smiled down at him sheepishly.
"Nothin', DiNozzo. Nothin' at all," he said thickly, an amused grin turning up the corners of his mouth.
They dressed quickly, Tony in the same clothes he'd worn yesterday. It wouldn't be a first for him and he doubted anyone would even notice. He could toss on a fresh shirt from the small stock he'd already begun to accumulate once he arrived at his desk. When he emerged from the bathroom after searching in vain for a spare toothbrush he stopped for a moment and leaned against the doorframe, watching as Jethro finished getting dressed.
Rather than the barely concealing blazers that had comprised his wardrobe over the last several weeks, Gibbs had donned a dark burgundy button down that hugged his expanding middle and was tucked into cargo pants belted below the curve of his belly. "I like it," Tony grinned appreciatively. "You look hot."
"I look fat," Jethro disagreed, though not unhappily.
"You look pregnant, Gibbs. There's a difference. It's subtle but it's there." He wasn't lying. Even passing Jethro as a stranger on the street Tony didn't think he would have mistaken the small though distinct baby bump for something else.
Crossing to the bed, Tony sat down to put on his socks as Gibbs went to the dusty dresser in the corner and retrieved what looked like a photograph from its surface.
"Thought you might want this. It's okay if you don't but I have another one if you do," he offered somewhat awkwardly.
Tony looked down at the black and white image and felt his breath catch. "Oh my God," he breathed, his finger moving immediately to trace the curved outline of his child's body as his vision went blurry. "It looks like a baby already." He looked up at Jethro. "Kinda thought it would just look like a crazy alien or something at this point but it's really a baby." His eyes were drawn back to the ultrasound photo.
"It's quite a bit bigger by now, I guess." His hand went to his stomach, unable to explain the nervous butterflies that were currently dancing inside.
Tony looked up at Gibbs in awe and swiped in embarrassment at the tear that managed to escape down his cheek. "It's amazing. Thank you."
Jethro nodded mutely and turned away, unwilling to let Tony see that his moist eyes were contagious. He cursed his burgeoning hormones and grabbed his wallet from the nightstand. "Let's go to work."
If Gibbs thought people would speculate given his sudden and more revealing choice of wardrobe, he put all conjecture aside when he stalked off the elevator, pulled his copy of the ultrasound from his pocket and pinned it nonchalantly to the center of his cubicle wall.
Tony had to bite his cheeks hard to keep the grin from his face.
"What do we have, DiNozzo?"
Tony pushed himself back and crossed to the center of the bullpen. "Russell Jackson, age 36. Former US Navy Ensign was found dead in an alley off 30th and Q Street near Georgetown. Kinda fancy part of town, Boss." He raised an eyebrow at Gibbs. "Couple of the DC Metro cops that responded happened to be at our scene a few weeks back and thought it looked too similar to be coincidence. Ran the guy's prints and called us when he turned up former Navy."
"Anything at the scene?" Gibbs marveled at the way they could slip so easily into these roles after what had transpired over the last 24 hours. The niggling voice at the back of his head that kept telling him he was making a mistake was suddenly shouting a little more quietly.
"Balboa and his team took the call. Evidence is being logged in and the body is on its way to Ducky. Preliminary ballistics shows a similar caliber weapon but there was no gun found nearby. Still doing interviews at the bar the guy was at last night but so far nothing unusual."
"Any connection to our dead lieutenant?" Jethro put a hand to his stomach. He had to admit, there was something compelling about the way DiNozzo gave a run down but the little butterfly feeling from earlier had returned while the younger man spoke and it was making him uncomfortable.
Tony flashed a self-satisfied grin. "You're gonna love this, Boss. Jackson and Barnes went to OCS together and served on the George Washington in the same Helo squadron. Jackson resigned when it came time to re-up two years ago, just before Barnes was promoted to Lieutenant."
"Start with everyone else in that squadron and track down alibis for both our murders. Then get me a list of everyone in that OCS graduating class." He was elated to have a new set of leads in a case he had been about ready to send to the stacks but another victim wasn't exactly his choice of opening.
"On it, Boss." Tony's fingers began tapping rapidly against his keyboard.
"I'll be with Abby." He pushed back from his desk and headed for the elevator, head coming up as he felt eyes on him. Morrow was watching from the second story, his face unreadable. As he watched, the Director's eyes shifted purposefully to DiNozzo and Gibbs knew that Morrow, never to be underestimated, had begun to gather his thoughts on the paternity of Jethro's child. Perhaps they would have to put Tony's idea into play a bit sooner than he had hoped.
"Finally coming out of the closet, Gibbs?" Abby asked excitedly as she took in his more form-fitting attire.
"Excuse me?"
"Don't get me wrong, your collection of boring sport coats is legendary but something about this look suits you." Her fingers glanced fleetingly off the curve of his belly as she deliberately reached out, the first time in the last three weeks that she had dared to do so. Her eyes widened when she realized what she had done, as if the gesture had been unconscious. "I am SO sorry, Gibbs. I should ask, I know, it's just…"
"Guess I should get used to it," he interrupted her. "This thing seems to be a magnet already and I'm guessing it will only get worse. Just try not to do it in front of anyone?" he pleaded.
"I promise. Does that mean I can..?" she asked hopefully.
"Get it out of your system. You have exactly 30 seconds and then I want everything you have so far."
Abby squealed and planted her hands on his bump in a gesture similar to Tony's the previous night. He was thankful that his dick had enough restraint not to have the same reaction.
"God, pregnant men are so sexy. All that hard muscle and baby belly. Super hot."
"Abby…" he warned, suddenly feeling more than a little awkward.
"Couple more weeks and you're really gonna start popping out all over the place, Gibbs. It's just so exciting!" she purred.
"Okay, enough." He stepped back out of her reach and gently swept her hands away. "Ballistics?"
"I'll need to run it to be sure but first glance says we're looking at the same weapon." She held up the bullet in its glass jar.
"Great, now what I need is the gun that fired it."
"Can't help you there but I may have something as good. They pulled a clothing scrap off the worn metal around the edge of the dumpster and it does NOT match our victim's. Also looks fresh, not exposed to the elements for very long. There's some discoloration on the outside edge that looks like it might be blood. Running it through mass spec right now. If it is, I should be able to pull DNA. If I can, it would help to have something to match it against," she looked up at him hopefully.
"DiNozzo's narrowing down a list as we speak."
She raised an eyebrow at the mention of Tony's name. "So can I assume this belly reveal means dad #2 is in the know? How did he take it? I mean, he's still here and not dead so I assume it went well?" Her eyes danced and she was practically standing on her tip toes in giddy anticipation.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Even as the words were out of his mouth he knew they were pointless.
"Tony, of course. I mean, I didn't exactly peg him as the paternal type when I first realized, but I have to admit, he's growing on me. And I really can't blame you. Tight jeans and a leather jacket and I would totally hit that. If he wasn't a co-worker. Oh, and your baby daddy, of course." She grinned wickedly.
"What in the hell would make you think DiNozzo was the father?" He tried to sound incredulous but he knew that he was had and there was no power in it.
Abby sighed. "All this time and you still underestimate me, Gibbs?" She shook her head. "Okay, start with the fact that from the minute you brought him into my lab I could tell you guys had done it. It was the subtle things, personal space, the way his eyes followed your ass around the room, those little head slaps you give him? And sometimes when he's not watching I see you thinking about it. Your face gets a little flushed and your pulse picks up. It's not noticeable unless you're really looking for it but I'm always looking. Can't help it, it's just what I do." She smiled. "Sometimes, when you stand really close to him? I can actually feel the little pheromones and chemicals zipping around in the space between you."
"Then, add the fact that you're a little over 17 weeks given when you suddenly became MUCH less caffeinated and I don't need a DNA test to tell me Tony' s 99.999% likely to be the father." She crossed her arms as if daring Gibbs to defy her logic. "Oh. And you had sex last night. Maybe this morning." She leaned forward and sniffed at his collar accusingly.
He looked at her steadily. "This isn't a game we're playing Abby. There will be real consequences for Tony it somehow gets out before we have a plan to deal with it, maybe for me too."
Her eyes went wide at the grave tone in his voice. "Gibbs, I would never. Never ever, you know that."
"I know Abbs." He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "But just remember there's more at stake than just our jobs, okay?"
Abby nodded, knowing that words were of little use at this point.
"Let DiNozzo know when you get a positive ballistics match. I'll be in the morgue."
Once out in the hall he paused to take a deep breath. How could keeping one secret possibly be this hard already?
More to come soon!
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