Okay, you know how I said chapter 3 was my fave? I think this one might now have moved into that slot. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Thank you once again for all your thoughts and comments!
18 weeks
Jethro was pouring over a seemingly endless pile of files when he noticed headlights pull up to the curb outside and assumed the identity of his unheralded visitor. Tony had been surprisingly good about allowing him space since their initial night together but that may have had something to do with the fact that they'd spent nearly every waking moment chasing down one alibi and false lead after another and conducting exhaustive interviews with friends and family of both victims with almost nothing to show for it. The most frustrating part was the fact that they were sitting on potential DNA evidence but with nothing to match it against, it was virtually useless unless they managed to get very very lucky. At the end of every day both he and DiNozzo had been too mentally and physically exhausted to think of much but heading home.
Gibbs had always been a bit of an insomniac, too high strung to relax unless his body and mind had been pushed to their limits, but with the extra strain of pregnancy, he'd crawled into bed every night this week –a real bed now- and drifted off to sleep almost immediately. The only things that woke him were the often urgent stress on his bladder and his inability to find a comfortable position for more than a few hours at a time. Even his basement had been woefully neglected while they worked this wearisome case.
He set the file he was currently re-reading on top of the others and pulled off his glasses, rubbing furiously at tired eyes. Jethro realized he had spent most of his Saturday planted here on his couch, trying to convince his gut that the two murders could, in fact, be nothing more than a strange and unfortunate coincidence. But with one shooter, two acquaintances, and no apparent motive, it just wasn't working and yet he still felt no closer to an answer than he had been over seven weeks ago.
The smooth click of the door latching was followed by muffled curses and the crinkling of what sounded like several paper bags.
Tony emerged around the corner awkwardly, balancing numerous items including his backpack which had slipped down his shoulder and was creating even more chaos.
Gibbs could have offered a hand but instead sat back hiding an amused grin as DiNozzo lurched toward him and finally dropped his burdens unceremoniously on the coffee table, sending his neatly stacked files sliding avalanche-style off the side.
"Sorry," he said guiltily, letting his pack fall from his shoulder to land leadenly on the hardwood as he bent to retrieve the errant paperwork.
"What in the hell is all this?" Jethro groused, both curious and irritated.
"I…uh…well, I sort of went shopping." Tony ran a hand through his hair and indicated the bags.
"I can see that, DiNozzo. What were you shopping for?" He pushed himself forward and winced at the twinge in his back from sitting unsupported in one position for too long.
"It started out as just books. You know, pregnancy books? I mean, we're both new at all of this so I thought it might be a good idea to find out what's in store." He looked at Jethro hopefully.
"Okay," Gibbs agreed. There was a tiny stab of guilt somewhere in his belly because, of course, he had been through this before, only not as the one carrying the child. Jethro had been absent for the largest part of Shannon's pregnancy with Kelly and overall it was a vague but pleasant memory. But he wasn't ready to give that piece of himself to Tony.
Not just yet.
Maybe not ever.
Actually, Tony's thought was a good one. He'd been meaning to do something similar himself now that his belly seemed to be making itself more and more known almost on a daily basis, but so far he had settled for a few handfuls of brochures at his last doctor's visit. "What about the rest of it?"
"Well, when I started reading a little in the store there were all these things they suggested having on hand so I…I just sort of bought all of them." He pushed one of the bags toward Jethro.
Gibbs raised an eyebrow uncertainly at Tony but dipped his hand into the bag and pulled out the first thing his fingers lit on. It was a long elastic strap of some kind. "What is this?"
"It's for under your…" Tony moved his hands low across his own flat stomach, "you know, to help your back when you get bigger."
Gibbs grunted in acknowledgement. He was sort of keeping his mind off the 'bigger' part. His back was already aching furiously by the end of most days spent on his feet. The next item he brought out immediately sent a wave of heat rushing up to his cheeks when his eyes focused on the discreet lettering. "Nipple cream?" he croaked.
"It's for later," Tony said sheepishly. "The book says that a lot of men experience chaffing and sensitivity as their nipples get..."
"DiNozzo, I'm only going to say this one time. My nipples are none of your god damn business." His jaw was tight but it was more from embarrassment than anger. There was no question that his whole chest was definitely more sensitive and tender now but it wasn't something he was in any way prepared to admit to.
"Got it." Tony tried to suppress his grin but the corners of his mouth still twitched.
Jethro withdrew several more items. Tony had picked out organic cleaning products, unscented shampoos and body washes, something called 'Belly Butter' which actually sounded pretty good given how itchy his stomach had become as it swelled, and several other tubes and contraptions he had no intention of discussing the uses for with the younger man. The fact that DiNozzo had thought about his need for all of these things was both touching and a little weird.
"Ginger chews?" he inquired. At least this was one of the less personal products.
"For nausea. I know you're a big fan of that disgusting gum but these are supposed to be really great."
"Kinda hoping I'm done with that for the moment." Certain smells still reliably brought on queasiness but he seemed to be feeling better and better as the weeks passed.
"Better safe than sorry, I guess." Tony shrugged. "Listen, I know this is a lot." He moved over and took a seat next to Gibbs on the couch. "I just…I needed to do something to feel like I'm a part of this too."
Jethro was moved by Tony's sincerity and the fact that his initial blush of interest in their child and his pregnancy did not seem to be fading. Feeling a little foolish, he reached down, took Tony's hand and placed it on his stomach. "You are a part of this."
DiNozzo's beaming grin lit up his entire face and Gibbs felt the crazy popcorn bounces in his stomach he'd been noticing at odd times over the last week pick up in intensity a little. Something finally dawned on him and he tried to focus in on the sensation.
"Are you okay?" Tony withdrew his hand at the strange look on Gibbs' face.
"Yeah." His voice sounded a little far away. "I think…" he began. The fluttering had diminished with the removal of the light pressure of DiNozzo's hand on his belly and he tugged it back and placed his own over the top of it. "I think I feel it moving," he said in awe.
Tony's brows knit together as he focused on the hard curve of Gibbs' bump beneath his palm. "I can't feel anything," he said in disappointment after a few minutes.
"I don't think you're supposed to yet." He shook his head. The bizarre sensation continued unabated right beneath the heat of Tony's hand. "It feels so weird. Not like I expected. It's like little bubbles or something."
The feel of DiNozzo's fingers against the back of his neck made him turn just in time to catch the younger man's lips as Tony kissed him gently. For the first time, the feeling of Tony's mouth on his didn't seem to have anything at all to do with carnal desires, merely the need for connection in a moment that was far more intimate than any of their sexual exploits thus far.
Jethro cleared his throat a bit awkwardly as they broke apart. There was a distant yet familiar feeling in his chest that made him unexplainably nervous. "So, what's in the other bag?" He needed a distraction from the delightful feeling of Tony's touch and he needed it quickly.
DiNozzo smiled broadly. "Dinner," he said with a wink.
"Pretty damn good." The comment was high praise by Gibbs' standards. He set his fork down on his plate, which had virtually been licked clean, spread his legs out under the table, and rested a hand on his belly in contentment.
"Thanks." Tony tried to hide the tiny thrill a compliment from Jethro gave him. "Told you I had a bit of a demanding stomach." Between them they had polished off half of the lasagna, almost all of the eggplant parmesan, and several slices of garlic bread. He was stuffed.
"Where'd you pick up the cooking skills?" Jethro was feeling very relaxed and his eyes felt as heavy as his stomach.
Tony shrugged. "Might just be in the genes."
Gibbs could tell there was something else he wanted to say and he remained silent. Either Tony would share or he wouldn't.
"My mom…" he finally began, haltingly, "I used to help her in the kitchen when I was little, I guess." He looked up at Gibbs. "She died when I was eight. But you probably know that from reading my files."
In fact he did, but hearing DiNozzo say it, hearing the pain that seemed to be still hovering just below the surface after so many years, felt different somehow. "I do." He confirmed. "You wanna tell me about her?" Jethro asked gently.
Tony thought about this for a minute and shook his head. "Not really. Been thinking about her a little these last couple of weeks though," he confessed. "Thinking I'd want to tell her about this if she was around." His eyes flickered down to Jethro's belly.
"Your Dad?" Gibbs questioned, even though he was pretty certain of what Tony's answer would be.
"Maybe," he shrugged. "Maybe after it's born. I don't know. I feel like he should know there's another generation of DiNozzo genes floating around out there even if he wants as little to do with a grandchild as he has his son for the last two decades." He contemplated Gibbs for a moment. "What about you?"
It was dangerous territory and he still wasn't sure how much he was ready to open up to Tony just yet. Maybe it was the younger man's naked sincerity about his own feelings or maybe it was just hormones but Jethro was feeling the need to reciprocate in some way. "Don't really talk to my Dad," he admitted quietly. "Haven't seen eye to eye about a lot of things in my life or his. Doubt we would on this." He stroked the curve of his stomach. "But like you said, maybe after it's born." It honestly wasn't something he had thought about until this moment but somehow he felt that Tony was right. Perhaps Jackson did deserve to know eventually.
Tony waited to see if Gibbs was going to be forthcoming with anything else but when the older man remained silent, he knew confession time was over, at least for the night. It wasn't a bad start, actually.
"So this was pretty good," he hazarded, "for a first date, I mean."
"This was a date?" Jethro raised an eyebrow.
"Well, it could be considered a date." He wiped his mouth and set his napkin on his empty plate. "I brought you gifts."
"You brought me nipple cream," Gibbs grunted.
"I cooked you a delicious dinner." He ignored Jethro's interruption. "Most people would consider that date-like."
Gibbs studied him thoughtfully. "Okay," he said finally. "It was a date."
Tony beamed.
"You know most people would also do the dishes after making a mess of someone else's kitchen," he said pointedly.
"Always part of my plan, Jethro." Tony pushed himself away from the table and began to clear the dishes with a flourish.
Gibbs got up and helped Tony by putting away the leftovers while the younger man filled the sink with soapy water. It was self-serving in several ways, actually. He was afraid that if he sat much longer he was going to fall asleep and the leftovers meant dinner without effort tomorrow night, and perhaps a few nights after. Moving also helped settle his food in his stomach and he felt a little less like he was going to explode. His belly looked bigger than ever with the combination of food and baby and it was currently itching like mad.
Tony was still humming away at the sink when he slipped into the living room and began pawing through the bag DiNozzo had brought. Eventually he extracted the jar of stuff that called itself 'Belly Butter' and screwed the lid off of it, sniffing the contents warily. To his surprise and relief, it wasn't a floral feminine scent, in fact it didn't have much smell at all, just a light fragrance that reminded him of the beach for some reason.
He pushed down his sweats, lifted his t-shirt to expose his bump and scooped up a finger full of the thick cream.
"Gibbs, where do you keep the extra…" Tony poked his head into the living room, wiping his hands on a dish towel.
Jethro watched the younger man's eyes instantly darken with a new hunger at the sight of his exposed skin. "It itches," he said lamely, still a little uncomfortable with Tony's undeniable interest in his expanding middle.
DiNozzo moved into the room, tossing the towel onto a chair. "Can I help with that?"
"If you really want to." He held out his hand as Tony moved in beside him and offered the cream he had been about to make use of.
Tony rubbed the thick lotion between his palms to warm and thin it and then placed them on either side of Jethro's belly. His small circles were hesitant at first but when Gibbs let slip a little moan of pleasure, he grew bolder. "Take your shirt off," it was more of a plea than a command.
Jethro did as he asked without even thinking about it. The hands on his flesh were so warm and tender, the thick lotion so soothing to his stretched skin and everything about it just felt so fucking good that he didn't hesitate.
Tony loved the feeling of the softly curved bump sliding firm and slick and slippery beneath his fingers. His hands never ceased their gentle caress while he slowly leaned forward, pressing Jethro into the couch as he lowered his mouth to the side of the older man's throat and traced a thick tendon downward with his lips. Gibbs' hands moved to his shoulders and Tony saw that he had closed his eyes. But the way his tongue darted out to moisten his lips said Jethro was anything but sleepy at the moment.
Kissing his way across warm skin, Tony tasted the hollow of Gibbs' throat, memorized the curve of his collar bone with his tongue, and nosed through thick curls of silver hair until his lips closed around a surprisingly peaked nipple.
"Oh fuck." His hands shot into Tony's hair, anchored the younger man to his chest as a thick bolt of electricity raced down his spine at the feel of moist heat tugging gently against overly sensitive erectile flesh. His body had never reacted like this before and it was both intense and a little terrifying. Each swipe of Tony's tongue sent a fresh surge of heat straight to his cock and he felt completely caught up in the unexpected power of it.
Encouraged, DiNozzo suckled greedily, pulling long and hard on the puckered nub and rolling it between his teeth only to gently lave the hurt with the flat of his tongue in an endless repetitive cycle.
"Fuck…oh shit…jesus…don't stop…oh please," Gibbs begged wantonly as the work of Tony's mouth made every nerve in his body sing. His dick was painfully hard against the soft inside of his sweats and he rolled his hips to thrust against the yielding fabric, desperate for any stimulation. Almost at once he felt DiNozzo's hand tugging at his waistband and he lifted up, both relieved and disappointed when his cock sprang free. He ached for some kind of deeper friction but he couldn't bring himself to free his own hands from the hair at Tony's nape, to let go of the only thing that seemed to be anchoring him to the world at the moment.
Tony was lost in Jethro's reaction to his touch, too caught up in the pleasure the older man was taking from him to spare more than a passing thought to his own swollen cock. His tongue and his teeth worked in torturous tandem, nipping and rasping simultaneously while his hands continued to move in sloppy circles against Gibbs' slickened belly. Finally, sensing desperation in the way Jethro's fingertips curled fitfully against his neck, he shifted his mouth to the other nipple and brought his fingers up to tweak and pinch at the one he had just abandoned. At the same time his other hand reached down to firmly grasp Jethro's cock and give him what he had now begun to quietly and repetitively beg for.
The feeling of Tony's fist finally closing around him brought his hips completely off the couch and he thrust brokenly into the slippery embrace. He couldn't ever remember feeling need so selfish, so intensely hot and demanding, but he was far beyond the point of caring. The only thing that existed was the sublime heat of Tony's mouth, the sweet embrace of the younger man's long fingers around his cock.
Jethro's entire body shook and stuttered as he found the precipice of release and let his orgasm take him. The choked roar at the initial convulsion of it left his throat raw and he felt thick and sticky trails of cum land high up on his belly as Tony's fist pumped him unrelentingly through the indescribably pleasant contractions that left him utterly drained and sated. Even as he continued to quake with gentle aftershocks, he felt Tony's mouth move down his chest and moaned his satisfaction softly when the younger man's greedy tongue flicked out to lick the still-warm cum from his belly.
"Delicious," DiNozzo murmured happily when he finally raised his head.
"Mmm…" Jethro wasn't even really sure what he was agreeing to. His whole body suddenly felt very heavy.
"Guess this stuff is good for more than just bellies." He reached over and put the lid back on the jar, making a mental note to buy stock in the stuff.
"Sorry you didn't…" Jethro's eyes fluttered open lazily and drifted down to his still-straining erection.
"It's okay. Never seen you so…" He wasn't sure he had words for just how erotic he found it when Jethro totally lost himself.
"Yeah," Gibbs scrubbed his hands over his face and took a deep, shaky breath, trying to rouse himself and hide his embarrassment at the same time.
"Anyway, it was worth it. But I think we need to get you upstairs before you fall asleep," Tony chucked lightly, pushing himself up and tugging gently at Jethro's arms. "Go ahead," he said when Gibbs was on his feet with his pants pulled up to a more decent position, "I'll turn everything off and meet you up there."
"Stay," Jethro said muzzily around a yawn, letting his fingers trace lightly across DiNozzo's shoulder.
"If you want," Tony agreed, secretly thrilled that Gibbs was asking this time.
"Think you need a new shirt," Jethro mumbled as he turned for the stairs.
He looked down at the one he was wearing which now had several suspicious stains across the front of it. "Yeah," he laughed, "I guess so."
Gibbs disappeared to the upper level and he checked the stove and flicked off all the lights, grabbing the last of the things he had purchased for Jethro from where he had dropped it at the front door on his way in. The body length pillow was awkward but not heavy and he took the stairs two at a time, not surprised to find Gibbs already spread out atop the covers when he made it to the bedroom they had shared the time before.
Tony laid the pillow on the bed next to Jethro before grabbing a blanket and tucking it in around him. There was a vulnerability about Gibbs when he slept, a peacefulness that was never present any other time and he marveled at the dichotomy that existed within the man who was now the father of his child.
When he made his way to the small bathroom, he smiled when he saw that a new, cellophane wrapped toothbrush was waiting for him near the sink. Before making use of it though, he stripped off his clothes and quickly attended to his still insistent erection, coming silently after an embarrassingly brief time to the memory of Jethro's pleading moans and the taste of the older man's cum lingering on his tongue.
Once he had cleaned up and brushed most of the garlic taste from his mouth, he climbed under the covers beside Jethro to find that Gibbs had embraced the new pillow like a long lost lover, wrapping his arms and legs around it, and was now snoring softly. Tony moved up against Jethro and slipped his arm around him, feeling a deeper sense of contentment with this particular moment in his life than he had imagined possible.
"Hell of a first date, Gibbs," he whispered as sleep took him.
More to come ;)
