It had been two days since the explosion. The lab was working as hard as they could, as did the field agents. Tony had doctor's order to away from work, preferably in bed. The young man hated it. He wanted to be out there, catching the bad guy. But they wouldn't let him.

It was getting dark and the Italian was laying on the grass of his backyard, watching the sunset. He was still aching, but refusing the meds. If he had to stay at home all day long, he was going to be fully lucid and not doped and loopy.

"You okay?" Tony almost jumped, when Gibbs asked that question. The older man had suddenly appeared beside him. Tony hadn't seen much of the ex-marine in the last two days. It had been a weird conversation.

"Uh... fine." Gibbs merely grunted his opinion to that, handing the younger man a bottle of water. "Thanks."

"You been sitting here long?"

"Nah... Got tired of being inside. There's only that much TV I can take."

Gibbs snorted. "Never thought I'd hear you say that."

Tony grinned as best as he could with that split lip he had. "Well, you try and find something you can watch all day here in Italy. I bet even you have more channels than they do here."

The ex-marine grinned back at him and Tony's heart fluttered. An involuntary shiver coursed through his body. "You cold?" Gibbs was already shrugging off his jacket and placing it around his shoulders, not even waiting for an answer.

The Italian blushed and adverted his gaze. But he couldn't help snuggling deeper into the jacket. Gibbs's scent helped him relax again. He felt the older man sitting down next to him. Not close enough to be touching, but still close enough to feel the heat radiating.

"Can we talk?" The silver-haired man asked after a while.

"Since when do you talk?" Tony replied sarcastically. He saw the look in Gibbs' eyes and regretted that immediately. "I'm sorry... Must be the painkillers."

"You don't take them."

Tony winced. "You got me... What did you want to talk about?" Though he knew what the topic would be.

"Tony..." Gibbs broke off again and sighed. "I'm sorry." That could mean a lot of things. Sorry for hurting him, sorry for sleeping with him, sorry for kissing him, sorry for ripping out his heart, sorry for being a bastard, sorry for meeting him in the first place... "Don't even go there." The older man told him sternly, after catching the look in his eyes. Gibbs always knew what he was thinking.

"Well, that leaves a hell of a space for assumption."

"Never assume."

That pissed Tony off. "Ah, to hell with that, Gibbs!" His nostrils were flaring. "If you were so keen on keeping true to your damn rules you wouldn't have used me as your damn fuck-buddy!"

The older man flinched visibly. "I never meant to do that."

"To do what? Fuck me?! Yeah, well I know that by now! Thanks for the heads-up." He said sarcastically. "You could have just fucking told me you didn't want me!"

That actually set Gibbs off. "Don't ever say that again! Don't ever say I don't want you! You have no clue how much I want you!" Their eyes locked, both blazing with fire.

The next moment Gibbs had his mouth pressed against Tony's, pressing them to the ground. Gibbs' chest was touching his, never pressing down though. The older man was holding himself on his forearms, not wanting to hurt the Italian. The young agent tangled his fingers in the silver hair, his other hand was clutching Gibbs' button-down.

The older man loving licked over the Italian's lips, electing a deep moan. Then Gibbs slowly pushed his tongue into Tony's mouth, sliding it against the younger man's. DiNozzo bucked up against him, grinding his hardened member into Gibbs', moaning.

The older man pulled back, taking in the look on the other man's face. His eyes were closed, his lips slightly parted and he was panting a little. Then he bucked up into the older man again, getting a groan out of him.

"Tony..." Gibbs started, but the young man pulled him down for another kiss, which soon turned passionate again. "Tony." He held the younger man's hips down, after he tried to grind them together.

"What?" He breathed.

"No."

"Then let's go inside."

Gibbs shook his head. "No."

Tony furrowed his brows. "I don't think I understand." He said and the ex-marine felt him tense.

"Hey." The older man leaned in and gave him a soft kiss. "Relax." He stroke his cheek. "It's too soon."

"What do you mean? It's not like we've never done it before."

Gibbs gave him another kiss. "But it shouldn't have happened the way it did. Not on the first time. Should've taken some time to get to know you better."

Tony had relaxed visible, his hands now wound around the older man's waist. "You already know me better than anyone, Boss." There was it again. Tony had already called him Boss after the explosion and it had given him hope, that he had not screwed things up beyond repair.

"Maybe you're right. But I never got to know you... intimately, before we slept together. And I should have. I'm sorry, Tony. I'm sorry for not taking this slow, for being a bastard, but mostly I'm sorry for hurting you the way I did. I hope you can forgive me one day."

He would probably never forget, but the feelings Tony had for the older man, made him forgive him. "I already have."

Gibbs gazed into his eyes for a long time, before a smile came to his face. He leaned down, brushing his lips against the younger man's.

"Boss..." He groaned.

The older man caressed his cheekbones with his thumb. "Tony... I want you to be able to trust me again, before we do this."

"I trust you." The Italian said without hesitation.

Gibbs gave him a lopsided grin. "That's lust. You're attracted to me. That's different. Can you tell me that you trust me fully. Like you've done before?"

Tony looked him deeply into his eyes. "I want to." He said truthfully.

The ex-marine nodded, glad that Tony had told him the truth. "And I'll do everything to earn that trust back."

"Okay." Tony agreed. "But I think you need to move, because I'm getting a little uncomfortable down there." He cleared his throat, his cheeks flushed.

Gibbs chuckled and carefully sat back up, before standing up. He held his hand out for Tony to take. "It's getting cold and I do remember Ducky telling you to get some sleep."

The younger man let himself be pulled up and into an embrace. He put his face into the crook of Gibbs' neck, inhaling deeply. He was getting lost in the sensation of being held so close. But the cold was getting to him and so he shivered again.

"Alright. Let's go before you turn into a block of ice." The ex-marine said and Tony let go reluctantly. The older man bent down and picked up his jacket. He pecked the younger man's lips once and placed his hand against the small of Tony's back, steering them towards the house.

Once inside, Gibbs started walking them towards Tony's bedroom. "Uh..." The younger man stopped just inside the door.

"You're gonna sleep in your bed, Tony. Not that damn couch." The older man told him.

"Hey! I like my couch! It's a nice couch!" Gibbs ignored him and shoved him towards the bed. "You gonna help me undress and tuck me in?" He asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

The ex-marine couldn't keep that smile from coming to his lips. "Change. Now." He said and threw him some clothes to sleep in.

"So you like to watch." The young agent started making a show of getting undressed. Gibbs turned and headed towards the door. "You're not staying?"

He was about to retort with a joke, but stopped himself when he saw the look the younger man wore. "You want me to stay?"

"Yeah." It came out as a mere whisper.

"Then I'll stay." Gibbs answered, starting to unbutton his shirt. He caught the younger man watching him, unconsciously licking his lips in anticipation. "You're pervert, DiNozzo. Get. Dressed. Don't make me tell you again." When he turned back around, Tony was clad in a t-shirt and boxers, just like he was, and standing beside the bed.

"You're gonna stay with me? In bed?"

"Well, yeah, DiNozzo. I sure as hell won't be sleeping in that chair." He walked to the other side of the mattress and got in. "You coming today?"

"Probably." Tony tried to cover the tented boxer shorts with his hands.

Gibbs chuckled. "You got an overexcited libido." He had to admit that it felt good, knowing that the younger man was attracted to him that much.

"Can't seem to do anything about it, since you don't want to take care of that." Tony huffed and settled down under the covers as well.

"Tony." The silver haired man rolled to his side and pressed a kiss against his lover's temple. "Not 'don't want', it's not the time."

"I know. Tell that to him." Tony said, frowning at his fabric-covered erection.

The older man smiled at him. "Come here." He said, pulling the warm body against his. He heard Tony sigh contently. "Comfortable?"

"Very." The younger man turned his head, burying his nose into the space where Gibbs' neck and shoulder met. "Is this okay?"

"Mh?"

"Do you want me to move?" The Italian asked.

He had never expected the young man to be such a... snuggle bug. He shouldn't be surprised though. His former agent was loving, a good person at heart. He wanted to give love, though he had never really learned how to do that.

"No. Stay. Just like that."

"You sure? You're not really the touchy feely kinda guy." Tony said, his body tensing.

Gibbs wouldn't let go. "Tony, would you relax? I'm not that much of a bastard, you know?"

The young Italian pushed himself up on his elbow. "I didn't mean to imply that! I - really - no!"

A chuckle came from deep inside the ex-marine. "Calm down. What's got you so wired?"

Tony sighed audibly. "I... I screw things up. I - I don't wanna screw this up." He said honestly.

The smile slipped from Gibbs' face. "You're not gonna screw this up, neither am I, okay?" The younger man didn't answer, so Gibbs lifted his chin. "Okay?"

Tony nodded. "Okay." The ex-marine raised an eyebrow at him and Tony had to laugh. "Alright! We're not screwing this up!" They shared a smile. "Can I kiss you?"

"You gotta ask?" Before the younger man could form a reply, the older man sealed his lips with a passionate kiss.