Chapter Ten: Sparks
Josh Brooks came up behind Jethro before he boarded the chopper and clasped a hand on the man's back. "Can I have a word?" he asked, motioning for Jethro to step away from the group.
Jethro looked hesitantly at the group and reluctantly nodded, worrying he was being pulled from the op at the last minute. It'd be easy to say he was far too close to the situation or too emotionally tied up in it and force him to stay behind and that was the last thing he wanted.
"How ya doing with all this? I know this is personal for you."
"I'm fine, Sir," Jethro answered, anxiously glancing over his shoulder to make sure the others weren't boarding without him.
Brooks smiled patiently. "You don't have to bullshit me. You lost your family, Jethro, and even though it might not feel that way, it wasn't your fault. It doesn't make you any less of a man or Marine. Don't let fear paralyze you out there. You know what you need to do and you've been trained to do it. Let's get Tony back."
Jethro let himself relax and breathe again. Despite having every reason to, he wasn't being pulled from the mission after all. Brooks was proving over and over that he was a godsend after all the damage Hammond and Biggs had done. Every branch of the military needed men like Josh Brooks. He stood tall and saluted, lowering his hand with a sharply chanted, "Hoo-rah."
An hour later, two choppers hovered thirty feet over the dark desert while the Marines inside fast roped to the ground. There had been a lot of discussion over whether to land the choppers right outside the homes or drop the team off and let them trek to the homes, a quick assault or a stealthy approach. Because they weren't one hundred percent confident which of the two homes Tony was being held in, they'd decided on the more stealthy approach in case they needed time to change to their contingency plan. They could end up in a situation where every second mattered and going in silently would offer a few more seconds.
After they'd cleared the house and rescued Tony, the choppers would pick them up in the backyard, away from the direct line of view of the other homes nearby. As long as everything went according to plan, they'd be in and out of the house in under ten minutes and back in the air in thirty, after trekking through the desert.
In thirty minutes, Jethro would have Tony back, one way or another.
Tony was hungry, so hungry. He was dehydrated and there wasn't a part of his body that didn't ache. On top of that, depressed didn't even scratch the surface of how he felt emotionally. He'd long ago given up hope of ever being rescued. He doubted anyone who cared even knew he was missing. The corpsmen on his team hated him and he wouldn't have been surprised if Hammond had put them up to leaving him on the ground. He was guessing they'd all worked out a story to explain away his absence, a story that almost definitely made him out to be the bad guy and put a screeching halt on any sort of rescue mission. Now it was just a waiting game. He'd already come to terms with it and accepted it. He was going to die.
He made himself as comfortable as he possibly could and after another coughing bout passed, he closed his eyes, hoping to slip off into a troubled sleep. With any luck, he would die soon and be put out of his misery.
Just as Tony was beginning to drift off to sleep, he was startled awake by the sound of fighting above him. He had no idea what was going on but within seconds of the yelling and fighting, gunshots rang out. Tony curled himself into the fetal position. He could hear Jessica crying on the other side of the room and wanted to comfort her but he was so tired and so weak he couldn't even bring himself to speak.
On the first floor of the house, the team of Marines who'd breached after finding the pale yellow car under the tarp in the yard checked the pulses of the dead kidnappers and confiscated their weapons. With only five kidnappers dead and seven confirmed heat signatures when flying over the house on the way to the drop location, the Marines were still on high alert. They quickly and methodically cleared the upstairs before searching for the hatch that led to the downstairs bunker.
Furniture was moved and floor rugs were kicked aside until one of the Marines uncovered the entrance.
"Back here, guys," he reported.
Half the team stayed upstairs to stand guard while the other half opened the hatch and stormed the basement, night vision goggles on and weapons drawn. As they cleared the basement, they realized the sixth and seventh heat signatures were Tony and another hostage, not another kidnapper.
"We're all clear down here," one of the Marines reported into the microphone at his wrist, notifying the other team of what they'd found. "No more kidnappers. We've got two hostages down here."
Part of the group made a beeline for the girl while Jethro and the rest of the group headed towards Tony. Still unsure what was going on, Tony summoned what little strength he had left to fight against the hands that were all of a sudden on him. He could hear voices all around him but he was too busy trying to protect himself to expend the energy it took to try to understand what they were saying.
His struggling ended abruptly when arms much stronger than he could fight wrapped around him and held on tightly. Tony didn't stop trying to break free until he inhaled deeply and his senses were filled with the smell of Old Spice and coffee in a heady blend that told the corpsman exactly who was holding onto him. He stopped trying to break free and focused on the voice in his ear.
"It's me, Tony, Jethro. I've got you. You're safe now."
All Tony could do was cry silently as his lover held onto him for dear life. He wanted to shout for joy and hug the man back, tell him a million things and run out of the prison he'd been held in for so long but he was too weak to even stand on his own two feet for very long. All he could manage was a few whispered words. "Jethro, help me, please."
"I've got you," Jethro repeated.
"Let's get you out of here, DiNozzo," one of the other Marines said.
The other group had just taken Jessica up the rickety, narrow staircase after recognizing her as the humanitarian aid worker who'd gone missing the week prior. It took Jethro and one of the other Marines doing a fireman's carry to get Tony up the stairs and out of the house. The group upstairs keeping watch had already summoned the choppers back, telling them the area was clear and it was safe to land.
Minutes after pulling Tony out of the basement, he was safe on the chopper, being tended to by the corpsman who'd been waiting on the chopper just in case his services were needed. He was safe, he'd made it through. Someone had been looking for him after all and the only person in the world he really wanted to see was sitting next to him holding his hand.
Tony's eyes were just barely open but Jethro was positive they were focused on him as he laid in his hospital bed in the combat hospital at Kandahar Airfield. "You with me?" he asked softly.
Tony smiled in response. "'m here," he replied weakly. As he looked up at Jethro, partially in shock at the outcome of his ordeal and partially ecstatic at being reunited with the man who'd been on his mind ever since they'd met, his smile turned from adoring to devious.
"What?" Jethro asked, combing his fingers through Tony's short hair. "What's going on in that head of yours?"
"You missed me, huh?" Tony asked. He struggled to get the words out but the spark that Jethro had fallen in love with was evident in the man's voice.
An amused grin found its way onto Jethro's face. Tony had only arrived in the hospital hours earlier. They'd been pumping him full of pain meds, fluids and IV antibiotics and as he started feeling better little by little, Jethro was seeing him come more and more alive and return to the Tony he'd left weeks ago. "I don't know what you're talking about," the investigator teased. "I'm just the NCIS agent sent to debrief you after your rescue."
"You love me," Tony countered. "Don't even try to deny it." He never would've said such a thing before he'd met Jethro but being held hostage and his experiences over the last several days had given him a remarkable bravery and desire to say everything he needed to say.
Jethro smiled almost shyly as he leaned down and rubbed noses with the man before pressing a sweet kiss to his lips. "You're right," he admitted. "I do."
"Good. Now that that's settled," Tony said as he reached up and wrapped his hand around Jethro's, moving it down to his chest and abdomen. "Give me a hand job," he said with a quiet determination that Jethro knew the man wouldn't let go of.
"No," Jethro replied with a gentle smile.
Tony's movements were slow and pained but he managed to push his hospital gown to one side, revealing his bruised and broken body. "Touch me, please?"
The devious smirk disappeared and a look that Jethro couldn't quite describe appeared. As Tony moved Jethro's hand all over his body, rubbing the man's fingers across his chest and nipples, torso and groin and back again, Jethro realized it was his lover's way of reconnecting; not sexual but by far one of the most intimate experiences Jethro had ever had.
He patiently let Tony use his hand for a moment before he took over, enjoying the physical connection after so much time apart and so much fear that they'd never be reunited. His fingers found Tony's face and neck as his lips connected with his lover's. He brushed his hands across the man's strong, broad shoulders and down his arms before slipping into bed next to him, tucking one arm behind Tony to hold him close and resting the other directly over the man's heart.
"I can't believe I'm about to say this," Tony said tiredly, "but I think this might be better than a hand job."
Jethro grinned and brushed his nose against Tony's cheek before pressing a long, loving kiss to it. "I couldn't agree more."
Two days after he'd been brought in to the hospital, Tony was really starting to get antsy. He was eating solid foods and moving around on his own. His pain was manageable with over the counter anti-inflammatories and he didn't see any reason he needed to continue occupying valuable space in one of the few hospitals in the areas.
After using his persuasive powers on the doctor, the man had finally agreed, despite being reluctant.
"Come on, doc," he'd pleaded, "I'm pretty much a doctor too. I know what I'm getting myself into."
"You're not helping your case any," the doctor had replied. "Doctors are the worst patients."
Tony sat across the picnic table from Jethro, sharing a tray of French fries while they waited for the discharge to be finalized and the chopper that would take them back to Camp Phoenix.
"You know you can talk to me, right, Tony?" Jethro said. Despite his best efforts to put up a normal front, the investigator knew he was sitting across from a very different Tony than he'd left weeks earlier.
"I know," Tony replied. He quietly snacked on the fries for a while longer before speaking again. "What's today's date, Jethro?"
"July 22," Jethro answered. "Why?"
"Just wondering how long till my deployment's up," Tony said solemnly. "Guess I missed it."
Jethro had never seen the man so quiet and unsure of himself. His confidence had been shaken in a big way. "We'll head home as soon as we can get a flight outta here," he replied, hurting for Tony.
"Where're the guys?"
"Let's not worry about them right now."
"I have to," Tony said, beginning to get agitated. "They're my brothers and I know what you're thinking but families stick together through thick and thin."
"They didn't stick by you, Tony," Jethro reasoned gently. "They left you for dead."
Tony went from agitated to pleading, his eyes welling up with tears. "Please, I have to know. Where are they?"
"They're back with their families," Jethro answered reluctantly. "Dishonorable discharge."
"No," Tony pleaded, shaking his head. "No, they didn't know. Corruption starts at the top. Soldiers are trained to follow orders. That's all the guys were doing. I know it. Hammond brainwashed them."
"And that's why JAG is thinking real hard about whether or not to court martial them, Tony, but they can't go unpunished and they certainly can't be sent back out in the field after what they did."
"I did this," Tony whispered sadly.
"No, Tony," Jethro replied, watching helplessly as Tony experienced a slew of emotions in a matter of minutes. "They did this."
"Well it feels like my fault."
"I'm gonna help you with that."