Author's Note:
PLEASE READ IT!
Because I've the feeling people don't read what I write and I'm getting tired to repeat myself.
I would like to remind to everyone Gibbs' rule #8: Never take anything for granted.
A lot of people are assuming where this story is leading or what will happen etc. I got people telling me "this is taking it too far for me". Which is fine, but based on the WRONG assumption they know where this story is leading- BUT THEY MOST CERTAINLY DON'T KNOW WHERE IT'S LEADING.
I've told you not to jump to conclusions, but it seems a lot of people are doing just that.
I love this Gibbs/Tony AU...do you really think I would jeopardize it?
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Now, back to our regular schedule, thank you to tinkerbellblu83 and Rachel for the reviews
X
The following days were pretty quiet for Gibbs, both on the job and in his life.
The day after Tony had caught him almost kissing Hart, he had gone to work not knowing what he would find when he arrived. While Tony's last lines and his kiss had somehow reassured him, the vampire hadn't been able to sleep, and had been afraid he would see the signs of an equally restless night on his mate's face.
However, he couldn't find any. Also his mate had looked completely normal with none of the exaggerated humor or forced cheerfulness he used to cover his real feelings when he was hurt or worried. Tony instead had been quiet and thoughtful, and Gibbs considered it as positive signs.
As for himself, during his long hours alone, and especially during the nights, when he couldn't sleep well with Tony curled against him, the vampire decided to keep a strong hold over himself and not try to pressure the younger man to talk until his mate felt like doing it. Gibbs was also dead set on not letting M. Allison Hart affect him so much when they met again, and not to react to any of her advances – either to accept or reject them – until he knew what his mate thought about it.
He would also refrain from inquiring with Bill to know if Tony had gone to visit him. This was gonna be only his mate's decision and Gibbs didn't want to influence it in the least.
He just hoped that whatever Tony would decide, he would make his mind soon, because Gibbs missed him, and not just in his bed. He missed the young man in the kitchen, in the living room, in the basement, in the backyard…and he wanted, no, needed Tony back.
XXX
Annandale, Brook Street 170. A simple house with a well cared for garden in front, a large backyard and two cars parked in the driveway.
It looked no different from all the other houses in the street, but it was special because it was Bill Hendricks' residence and he was a very special guy indeed.
Georgetown University history professor, well-respected writer, vampire dean for DC, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey—and the only man beside Jackson Gibbs allowed to call Tony's partner and boss by his first name, Leroy.
Leroy…Jethro…Boss. Tony was there, in front of Bill's house, because he wanted to understand what was going on in Gibbs' mind, heart and body.
Catching his partner almost kissing M. Allison Hart had been like a stab to the heart for Tony.
In the brief seconds that had taken them to separate and he had seen the guilt on Gibbs' face, Tony had seen his worst nightmare become reality: the man he loved above and beyond anything in his life was going to leave him for a woman…a vampire woman. Of all the scenarios Tony had ever imagined, this one had never crossed his mind.
And then Gibbs had started talking, all the while keeping his end of their mental connection open. As his partner talked, as he tried to explain, Tony had slowly calmed down, as guilt, remorse, sincerity, confusion but above all love washed over him. He had calmed down and listened as Gibbs told him with words and thoughts he had no intention to leave him for Hart, and how Tony would always come first in his heart…but also how strong was the need to have Hart in his life…in his 'clan'. He wanted her as his mate too.
Tony shivered. To him love equaled fidelity and his Boss was the most loyal man he had ever know…It wasn't like him to cheat. But could what Gibbs wanted to do qualify as 'cheating'? As betrayal?
Gibbs didn't want to go behind Tony's back. He didn't want secrets, lies or excuses. He wanted to do it with the younger man's permission and approval.
Tony's first reaction upon hearing it had been to tell Gibbs that he could forget about ever getting his permission or approval. That he didn't want to share the older man with anyone and that Gibbs could stick his vampire nature where the sun didn't shine, because he was Tony's—and only Tony's.
However, the younger man had refrained from doing it, because he had remembered that the vampire nature that was now causing him such grief was also the same vampire nature that had allowed Gibbs to save Tony's life when the NCIS garage had collapsed or, more recently, when he had been in Somalia with Ziva.
Hadn't Gibbs been a vampire, Tony would have died in that garage, bleeding out long before the rescue squads could freed them. Ducky had told him so during the one and only conversation he and Tony had about that incident, before Gibbs had been forced to erase those events from the ME's memory.
As for Somalia, it didn't take a genius to guess what would have happened had he and Ziva assaulted Saleem's compound without the help of Major Selassie and his men.
So Tony had held his tongue and decided to think – really think – before talking. Today visit was to help him to do just that. He needed to understand what was going on with Jethro and he hoped Bill would help him to do that.
Straightening his shoulders, Tony took a moment to collect his self, and then rang the bell.
The door opened almost immediately and by the look on Bill's face, the vampire dean wasn't surprised at all to see Tony there.
After all, Gibbs had been talking with Bill about his 'problem' and maybe the dean, used to dealing with vampires and their human mates had been somehow expecting Tony's visit.
"Bill," he said, reaching out with his hand.
"Tony. It's a pleasure to see you here. Please come in." The vampire gestured him inside and Tony found himself following the other man across a house that reminded him of Ducky's, but in a smaller scale.
"Can I offer you something to drink?" Bill asked as they stepped in what looked to be a library.
"No, thank you. I- uh, well my stomach is too knotted to accept something to drink or eat," Tony answered with a little, nervous laugh as he sat down on a leather couch.
Bill nodded in understanding, as he sat down on a nearby armchair. "Let's see if I'm able to help you to unknot it," he said kindly.
Tony smiled, grateful. "I guess you know why I'm here."
"Given the topic of my recent talk with Leroy, yes, I've a good idea of what you wish to discuss."
"Yeah…I bet it was quite a talk," Tony began.
"Indeed. It wasn't easy for Leroy to talk about his feelings, and he was really taken aback by my answers."
Tony tilted his head, curious. "How so?"
"He wasn't expecting them. Tony, Leroy may be in his fifties, but as a vampire, he is still, well, like an adolescent. There are still many things he doesn't know about being a vampire. I told him things that only managed to confuse him, because he doesn't know how to react to them."
"Is his reaction to M. Allison Hart one of them?"
Bill smirked, "I gather you met her too."
"Yep. Very interesting lady. Very intriguing, even before I knew she is a vampire too."
"Well, as I said, Leroy is bit like a teenager at this moment, as far as Allison is concerned. He's like a shy boy who had just met his dream girl and that girl has told him she is willing to go out with him. Vampire females do that effect on the males of our species. I'm 410 year old and, as dean, I've met some of them, so you could say I'm used to them. Yet, every time I see an unmated one, I've a bit of trouble in controlling myself."
"Are they really so rare? So…precious, as Gibbs said? Because Miss Hart mentioned having a sister…"
"Allison's sister is really her half-sister, born from her human mother's first marriage. She's not a vampire. As for your question, yes, they are so rare. We don't know exactly why the male/female ratio is so unbalanced, but I guess it could be because of biology laws."
"Uh?" Tony uttered. "I don't think I understand…ahem…biology was never my forte at high school."
Bill smiled. "Then I'll give you a crash course in Vampire Biology 101. Well, it's not really vampire biology, more like animal biology, and vampire are affected by its laws as much as the humans are, despite all of our species' evolution. Because of these laws, it has always been seen as normal that young women paired off with older men. In nature females are attracted to those males who have survived and won many fights against other males or enemies, and thus are more likely to produce strong progeny. In the same way, males are attracted to younger females because they are more fertile. This is also why, upon very recent times, it wasn't common to see a man paired off with an older woman-"
"Tell it to Ashton Kutcher…Uh, sorry. Please go on," Tony apologized with a smile when Bill threw him a glare from behind his round, metal-rimmed glasses.
"-because, biologically speaking, it makes no sense for a young male to mate with a female already past her more fertile age."
"Okay, I understand that, but what it has to do with vampire females?"
"It serves to explain you that vampire females, as the females of most species, tend to be monogamous and this is probably the reason they are so rare. When our species' characteristics were so fixed and dominant that the mating of a vampire with a human gave birth to a full vampire, vampire females became rarer and rarer, because our kin started to produce more males. Males are genetically polygamous - if they are allowed to pursue that inclination, that is- and their clans offered them more chances to produce offspring and perpetuate our species."
Tony frowned and asked, "Are telling me these 'clans' are like a herd? You know, with a stallion and his mares?"
"Yes and no," Bill answered and Tony all but rolled his eyes.
"Please, don't give me cryptic answers."
"I will…but it involves more vampire biology. Are you ready for it?"
"Fire away…I'm ready."
"Very well." Bill paused a moment, as if he was collecting his thoughts, then he continued, "At the start of our history, vampires lived only sucking human blood. Yes, Tony, they hunted and killed humans for their blood as the humans hunted and killed the animals for their meat. But, luckily for everyone involved, vampires soon realized that killing humans wasn't practical, because it resulted in the humans hunting them down as retaliation and, given the vampires low numbers, it was very dangerous for the survival of the species. So the male vampires changed technique. Instead of hunting humans, they began to gather willing ones around them and to form clans. The clans were composed by several humans and the vampire sucked a bit of blood from each of his clan members. In this way he got the nourishment he needed without killing anyone. That was the origin of the clans—and this is the reason because vampire females became rarer. Because it wasn't in their nature to form clans, and thus it was more difficult for them to find enough food to survive…back then vampires did die without proper nourishment."
"So it's just a matter of food?" Tony asked, almost unbelievably.
"No, of course not. Otherwise, the clans would have disappeared when vampires started eating like humans and the need of blood became less strong. The clans, which were composed mostly by human females and the occasional vampire female, started to became more than a source of food for the male. They offered companionship, comfort, love and, of course, many chances to produce children. In exchange, the clan members received love, care, protection."
Tony shook his head, "It sounds so weird."
"Maybe, but polygamy has existed in some form or the other in many ancient societies and, while it's true it no longer exist in the Western world, it's still a common practice in some African or Asian countries. However, in these societies the women seldom have any choice about who they are married off to, while in the clans they always have the freedom to leave and they are equal partners. Clans have become smaller and less frequent as the human societies evolved and mostly ruled out polygamy, but the need to form them is still very strong in male vampires. It's especially strong in dominant males and I think you'll agree with me if I say Leroy is very dominant."
Tony snorted, amused; it was like Bill had just asked him if he agreed the sky was blue or the grass green.
"He told me you too have gone through…this," the young man asked, gesturing with his hand to indicate what the vampire had just said.
"Yes, that's true. I was born in a clan, and along the centuries I've spent my life mostly in monogamous relationship…but now and then I've been lucky enough to find mates able to understand my needs to allow me to appease them, and so I have had clans of my own," Bill explained in a gentle tone, his gaze seeming so far away Tony wondered what he was remembering.
"Have you… Do you have one? Now? A clan, I mean?" Tony asked as silence fell over them.
Bill nodded, "Yes, I've. A small one, because I could never ask to Lynn and Marie to share me with another woman. It would be too much."
"Lynn and Marie?" Tony repeated. "You have two wives?"
"Two mates. According to the law, I've a wife, Lynn, and a lover, Marie."
"And they know each other?"
"Of course. We all live here, together."
"Oh." Tony stared at the man in front of him. Bill reminded him of a young Ducky, with his gold-rimmed glasses, classical haircut, elegant features and refined manners. If was difficult to imagine him doing something as immoral as living with two women…he looked so proper. Of course, no one would imagine he was a vampire either, so he was a demonstration looks can be deceiving.
"Does this notion bother you, Tony?" Bill asked after a while.
"Well...uh…" Tony blushed. "You don't look like a guy involved in a threesome…"
"Because I'm not. I'm not intimate with my two mates at the same time, nor is there a sexual relationship between them. I dedicate equal time, attention and care to each of my girls. We take important decisions all together and spend time all together, but the love relationship I have with each of my mates is something private, just between me and her," the vampire explained.
"I see…Well, no, I don't really see it." Frustrated, Tony ran a hand in his hair, making it stand at end. "I don't think it's easy for them to accept such situation—especially for Lynn, your wife."
"You're right, it wasn't. Humans have evolved, women are far more emancipated than in the past, and only a small number of them would accept willingly, knowingly and without resentment to share their husbands. As I said before, I'm very lucky to have found one of them. But when I first knew Marie, it wasn't easy to convince Lynn to accept her. She saw my interest as a betrayal of our marriage vows."
"Then what made her change her mind?" Tony, asking leaning forward to listen more intently, but the voice that answered his question didn't come from the man sitting in front of him, but from behind his back.
"I realized his love for me was as strong and sincere as ever."
Tony's head whipped around and saw a beautiful young woman with short blond hair and dark eyes standing on the threshold. He stood up and she stepped into the room and offered her hand.
"Lynn Hendricks," she introduced herself with a smile.
"Anthony DiNozzo, Tony for short," he replied. Then sat up again and watched as Lynn perched herself on Bill's armchair.
Husband and wife exchanged a look and Bill nodded. Lynn returned to look at Tony and said, "It took me time, but I finally understood that Bill loving Marie didn't make him love me less, nor it meant he found me lacking in something. And since I loved him as deeply, and I was aware that while I don't know what being a vampire means, I know what being a vampire's means, I did what I felt I had to do." Lynn was still smiling, but her eyes were completely serious.
Tony took a deep breath before saying, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to do the same. The idea of sharing Jethro with M. Allison Hart scares me. She's beautiful, intelligent and she's a female vampire. She can understand his nature and give him children, something I'll never be able to do. What if he, by being with her, discovers he doesn't want me anymore?"
Lynn shook her head. "Tony, Leroy…or Jethro, as you call him, loves you. I've seen the way his eyes shine when he talk about you and when a vampire loves like that, is really until 'death do part us'. There is no divorce between a vampire and his or her mate, unless the other party does want it. Didn't Leroy tell you what?"
"Lynn is right, Bill interjected. "Allison isn't a threat to you, in the same way you aren't threat for the love Leroy feels and will always feel for Shannon. Nor is her memory a threat to you."
"She's dead; there isn't much she could do to threaten me…" Tony commented.
The vampire dean frowned. "You and I know it's not true, not with a man like Leroy. The love he still feels for Shannon, the love I'm sure you must have felt thanks to your mental connection, would make a lot of people feel unsecure of his feelings for them. His first ex-wife was like that. Leroy told her about his late family when she asked him why she couldn't go inside those two rooms he always keeps locked and their marriage went downhill from the moment the 'you love a dead woman more than me' line was uttered."
"I didn't know about it," Tony murmured.
Bill snorted, "Not surprising, given how private Leroy is. But you know there are no deception or half-truths in a mental connection such as the one you share, which, incidentally is the greatest proof of Leroy's commitment to you and vice versa. Only a few vampires are lucky enough to experience something like that. I, for one, have never had one with any of my mates. As for Allison, she's a female vampire and, as such, it's already in her forma mentis to be one mate, not the mate. She won't make trouble because she knows there is nothing she can do to separate a vampire from his mate-"
"What do you mean, aside from killing me or making me go to prison?" Tony interjected.
Bill laughed. "I see you share Leroy's opinion about lawyers, but I know her since she was a child, and she is an honest person. She won't hurt you."
"I'll trust you on this," Tony replied with a smile, as glanced at his watch. He was surprised by how quickly time had passed. "I must go now. It is getting late, and I need to think about what you said me."
He stood up, quickly imitated by Bill and Lynn. The couple walked him to the door in silence, but once there, the vampire dean said, "I want you to know this conversation will stay between us. I won't say anything to Leroy about it, at the same way I didn't tell you anything detailed about what he said me. However, this I can tell you: Leroy is dead set to let her go and suffocate his instinct if you ask him to do so."
Tony nodded and murmured, "I know, he told me. But he will suffer because of it, won't he?" It was more of an affirmation
than a question.
"Yes," Bill and Lynn replied softly in unison, "he will."
Tony just nodded and after thanking and shaking hands with the couple, he raised the collar of his jacket to stave off the cold of the late afternoon and walked to his car, lost in thought. He had much to ponder on his way back to DC.
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OK, I hope Bill's explanation was clear. It was much for Tony to take in, because vampire think so differently from humans. In a way, this is what happens every time two people belonging to different cultures meet and fall in love. A lot of these marriages fail because one or both partner(s) is/are unwilling to compromise and accept the other's different views.
What I'm trying to do is to show that both Tony and Gibbs are trying to compromise or at least to understand each other's needs…Please let me know what you think, and remember reviews make me update faster!
PS: Remember Rule # 8!