Well I can't make it easy for them, can I? That would be silly.


Gibbs lifted his head to press a tender kiss to the top of Abby's head and then looked at Tony. "You'll need to help me move her so she doesn't wake up."

"Spend the night, Jack will be fine. You can tell him you crashed at the office."

Gibbs shook his head. "No, I should go." He started to work his way out from under Abby, so Tony had no choice but to pull her into his arms, soothing her quietly to keep her asleep.

"Boss…"

Gibbs grabbed his clothes and carried them to the bathroom to redress. He came out a few minutes later and leaned in to kiss Tony one last time and then Abby's cheek. "Get some sleep. I'll see you at work."

Tony frowned. "Night." He listened to Gibbs as he headed down the hall and let himself out. He debated getting up to flip the deadbolt, but was too tired to move.

"Gibbs in the bathroom?" Abby mumbled against his chest.

"No, he headed home," Tony kissed her forehead and rubbed a hand down her back. "We'll see him tomorrow at work."


In the weeks that followed, both Tony and Abby assumed that Gibbs would come visit them more often. The following day he'd stuck close to either Tony or Abby - making excuses to visit her, keeping Tony close. It was like he craved that contact that they'd had the night before.

The day after, he started pushing them away.

Abby was the first to noticeand despite Tony reassuring her that he was just busy with a case, she could see it in his eyes that he was going back to keeping them at a distance.

Every time Jack invited them over, Gibbs had an excuse for why he wouldn't be home. At first they both put up a fight, waiting for him at his house, even after Jack had gone to bed. But they could see the stress it caused, so they backed off.


Tony managed to stay focused on the case, rather than dwell on the fact that Gibbs was pushing them away again. He knew the older man felt responsible for Abby being lured to Mexico and it was clear that nothing would get him to relax until the case was closed.

He looked up to see Vance and Alejandro headed down toward the squad room, an annoying smile on Alejandro's face.

The whole team stopped what they were doing as he approached with confidence, greeting them all. Just then Abby rounded the corner. "You know, I came to see you. I never received a copy of your report."

"I… I sent it. Ms. Hart said she confirmed with you that it was in her possession."

Alejandro shook his head. "But it never made it to my hands and now she's… out of the country. But I'm sure you have a second copy."

Abby shrugged. "That was the only one."

"You know, I'm terribly disappointed with how things turned out. But look at me rambling. It's late, and you should get home. Be careful, the roads can get dangerous at night."

"What did you just say?" Gibbs stepped forward, putting himself between Alejandro and Abby. "You want to threaten someone? You can threaten me. But not the people I work with."

"Your team can be a little… hot-headed," Alejandro turned to Vance, "reactionary."

"You know, I'm going to do you a favor by having someone escort you out before you get hurt."

"By who?"

"By me."

Alejandro held his hands up in surrender. "I hope I haven't said anything inappropriate." He backed toward the elevator. "Have a good night."


Despite trying to distance himself, Gibbs decided to walk with Abby and her guard and Ducky out to their cars. The few minutes he had her arm looped with his as they walked through the lot was just enough to warm him in a way he'd almost forgotten.

Abby stopped in her tracks, "look." She pointed to a 'Day of the Dead' doll on her windshield. "She's been here."

Gibbs tensed. He wanted to bring Abby to his place, but when his phone rang and it was Paloma, he was quickly reminded that the closer Abby was to him, the more danger she was in. As soon as Paloma hung up, Gibbs called McGee to have him trace the phone call. When McGee traced the call to outside his house, he directed Abby and Darrin to go with Ducky to a hotel and had McGee send Ziva and Tony to his house. Jumping in his car, he raced away.

Gibbs let out a sigh of relief to find his father okay, but with a dead agent and another one in the hospital, it was time to end this game that Paloma was playing.


Vance pulled the Hernandez case file from his desk and carried it to the evidence lock up. Everyone else in the building thought Ms. Hart had disappeared with it, but he'd cornered her after overhearing part of her conversation with Abby. He'd read through what Abby had written and knew she had forged it, but there was no point in bringing it up now. He put it in the bottom of the box, locked it and left. Hopefully closing it for the last time.


"Abby know you're up here?" Jack asked as Gibbs pulled a board off the window in preparation of a new window being installed.

"She knows."

Jack nodded. "Good. She's been real worried about you, you know. But you could see her trying not to question you. She knows you pretty well, knows when you need space."

Gibbs kept working. Abby might know when he needed space, but his father sure hadn't figured it out.

"She's a special lady," Jack rattled on. "Fun to have around. I'm going to miss her cooking for us. I wasn't kidding when I said that I could see why you kept her around. But son, she's not going to wait forever. You need to make it clear how you feel about her."

"Excuse me?"

Jack shrugged. "It's obvious that you care about her, and looking at her…" Jack sighed. "She's so in love with you, son."

Gibbs glared at his father, but said nothing.

Jack ignored the look he received and kept talking. "Why do you think she came to visit so much? As much as I could hope, I know it wasn't to see me. And DiNozzo always tagging along. Not sure if he was to make sure she didn't say anything to give herself away, or…? Though, if I didn't know him to be such a ladies man, I'd say he had a thing for you too."

"Dad!"

"Just give her a call, she's been through a lot lately and even with the rest of the team lookin' out for her, she needs that comfort, reassurance from you."

"She's fine."

"Bullshit." Jack wasn't above playing dirty. "You know, Mike seemed interested." He'd seen Mike flirting with her a few times and Abby seemed to enjoy the extra attention.

Gibbs froze. He knew Mike would never move in on Abby in any serious way. He'd flirt with her, but he knew she was off limits and respected that. Not to mention that Abby wasn't interested in him – she still had Tony. But the mental image of Mike crowding his girl back again the work bench and her arms going around his neck… Gibbs took a deep breath. "I came up here to help you fix up the store. Do you want my help, or not?"

Jack smirked at seeing his son so flustered. "Course I want your help. And I want you to make up your mind about Abby. The woman is in love with you and I think you might feel the same. If so, tell her. Take her to dinner and take her to bed. If not… let her down gently and stop hovering over everything that she does and let someone else step up to be her protector. It's not fair to lead her on."


"It's over!" Abby happily threw herself at Gibbs when he opened the door, ignoring the surprised look on his face. He had left NCIS without telling anyone, hoping that Abby and Tony would get the hint that they shouldn't come over.

"Abby, you guys should leave. This isn't your home anymore. It hasn't been for a while." He peeled her off and pushed her back toward Tony.

Abby frowned and glanced back at Tony. "What do you mean? I mean, I know we had to cool things off while Jack was with you, but nothing has changed and now that he's back in Stillwater and Paloma is dead-"

"No!" Gibbs shouted at them both, and was secretly pleased when Tony instinctively wrapped an arm around Abby. His voice almost cracked as he verbally shoved them away, but he managed to keep himself together. "Don't you get it? I bring danger to everyone that I love. I can't do that to you, to either of you. Go. Go away."

Abby's jaw dropped open and Gibbs was certain she was about to cry and he hated himself for it. Tony held his mask tightly in place, showing no emotion on his face, only the tightening of his hand over Abby's shoulder gave anything away.

"Fuck you." Abby pulled out of Tony's grasp and ducked under Gibbs' arm and entered the house. She kicked off her shoes, leaving them in the middle of the living room and went to the couch. "You can be angry, hell I'm angry, but fuck you for thinking that you can just push us away like that."

Gibbs turned away from Tony and the door and followed her in. "I lied to you, Abby. I've been lying to you. It took a goddamn drug dealer to tell you the truth."

"You didn't lie to me, Gibbs" Abby picked up the remote and flipped on the TV, making it clear she wasn't going anywhere. "I never asked you what happened after they died. But you don't think I knew, deep down, that you would have gotten revenge for their death? I might not be an agent, but I'm smarter than your average person. Can you honestly tell me that if I had asked you flat out if you had killed the man that killed your girls, you would've denied it?" When Gibbs didn't answer, Abby knew she was right.

"It doesn't matter, you aren't safe with me. You need to leave."

"It's not you, Gibbs. It's the job. It's a risk we live with every day when you step out of the office. If you think all this danger magically follows you around like you're so goddamn special or whatever it is you think…? Get over yourself."

The situation wasn't funny, but Tony had to hold in a laugh. He couldn't ever remember Gibbs' having his ass handed to him in an argument, and the fact that it was coming from Abby made it all the more fascinating.

"Get out of here, DiNozzo. Take her with you. You aren't welcome here anymore. You can get your stuff tomorrow, I'll be out most of the day."

"Boss…" He hadn't thought Gibbs was serious. Not that serious anyway.

"No!" Gibbs shouted at him.

"This isn't you, Gibbs." Abby stood and walked up to him. "You occasionally push us away for time alone in the basement, which I can respect, but to push us away completely? I don't think so. You're scared, and emotionally, you're exhausted. I get that. But you and I are on two different levels if you think I'm going to walk away when I know you still love us. When I know that you need us."

Gibbs ran his fingers through his hair. There was only so many time's he could tell them to leave before he broke. "Go."

"No." Abby stood toe-to-toe with him and glared at him, the tears welling up in the corner of her eyes, the only thing giving away how she really felt. "You promised me… you promised that you wouldn't leave me again. You promised-"

"Abby, maybe if we just give him some space tonight…" The situation was about to explode and giving Gibbs some time was the only way he could think to diffuse the situation. If Gibbs exploded, they might lose him for good and that wasn't something Tony wanted to risk. But then again, if Gibbs pushed her away any harder, Abby was going to break into a million pieces. Pieces he wasn't sure he could put back together.

"You can leave if you want, Tony, but I'm not going anywhere. Not when I know he needs us. I'll be in the basement." Abby stared at Gibbs a moment longer, and then grabbed her shoes and headed the basement. Despite keeping quiet about their relationship, she had spent some time with Jack and he had built small toys for her to paint. She found everything she needed and switched on the radio she had installed over a year ago and got to work. She wasn't expecting to see Gibbs, maybe not until the next day, but as long as she was there, she knew she had some hold over him. Taking over the basement hadn't been her plan – she figured he would hide in the basement for a few hours, and then come up when his mind was clear. But taking over his space would force him to deal with the situation between them before he could deal with his personal demons. She hoped it would work.


"She's not going to leave; she's not going to let you push her away like that. Push us away."

"Why are you still here, Tony?" Gibbs looked at him sadly, the fight slowly draining from his body.

"Because I love you and I love her and I'm not walking away from the best thing that has ever happened to me. Why are you pushing us away like this?"

"Tony, she could have been killed. He took her to Mexico and no one batted an eye. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to her or you because of something I did."

"Abby was right. You would never put her in danger purposely. You can't-"

"How can you still trust me, DiNozzo? After all that I've lied about. My wife and daughter, my father being alive, about the fact that I killed Hernandez… how can you still trust me?"

"We all have secrets, and those had nothing to do with us, with our relationship. Have you ever lied about us, and what you feel? Were you lying every time you told me you loved me? Every time you've told Abby you loved her?"

He could never tell someone he loved them if it wasn't true and it had been why his first wife had left him, he just couldn't say it anymore. Gibbs shook his head and then looked up. "But how do you know I'm not lying now?"

"Because I trust you." Tony shrugged. "Because I trust that you trust me enough to tell me what I need to know. This… Hernandez wasn't about us. We get that, and it sucks that we got caught up in it all, but we get it."

"I can't…" In a rare show of emotion, Gibbs let out a shuddering sigh and scrubbed his hands over his face. He couldn't let them see how weak he truly was, not like this.

"I know," Tony stepped forward slowly so as not to scare Gibbs away, and then wrapped his arms around the older man in a tight hug. He wasn't going to go for anything other than a hug, but when Gibbs' sought a kiss, Tony didn't deny him.

"I trust you, Tony. I trust you both, I just… I don't know how to show it." And it scares me that one day you'll leave. So I'd rather push you away, he wanted to add.

"We know. It's okay." Tony peppered Gibbs' face with soft kisses. "We know."

Without warning Gibbs' face clouded again and he grabbed Tony's hand and pulled him up the stairs to the bedroom. Tony stood at the foot of the bed when Gibbs dropped his hand. He watched the older man go to the bedside table and grab the lube while at the same time working his belt buckle.

Soon Gibbs was out of his pants and frantically working at Tony's belt.

Tony wanted to say something, that they should get Abby or something, but suddenly he found himself with the lube pressed into his hand and Gibbs with his hands braced against the tall armoire.

"I want you to fuck me, DiNozzo."

"Whaa-what?" The words went right to his dick, making it stand up and take notice.

"You heard me; I want you to fuck me. It's the only thing I have left that I haven't trusted you with. Please, Tony."

Tony looked down at the lube in his hands and then back at Gibbs. He stepped up behind him and set the bottle of lube on top of the armoire. He wrapped his arms around the older man and kissed the back of his neck and nosed behind his ear. "I love you. Don't you ever fucking forget that, okay?"

"Just fuck me, Tony."

"Not until you understand that I love you. I won't have me fucking you be a punishment for you."

Gibbs pressed his hips back against Tony's growing erection. "I love you too," he ground out.

"Good." Tony's hands found their way under the shirt that Gibbs was still wearing and he stroked back and forth across his chest and stomach, down his sides and back to his ass. He grabbed the lube and squirted a bit on his fingers before working them between Gibbs firm cheeks.

He was gentle as his finger swirled around the tense opening, easing a finger in when Gibbs let out a shuddering sigh. He slipped a second finger in as he reached around to grasp his dick, stroking it until Gibbs was just as hard as he was. He tried to remember every little thing that Gibbs had done to prep him the first time, taking his time and being as gentle as possible. Eventually he was ready. "Should I grab a condom, boss?" Gibbs always used a condom if he was going to fuck Abby afterward, but otherwise he went bareback.

"What do you think?" Gibbs all but growled.

Tony took that as a no and spread the lube over his dick. Gibbs leaned forward a bit more and braced himself as Tony pressed himself against his tight hole. "This hurts, you say stop, you got it?"

"Tony…"

Tony dropped his head forward, resting his forehead against Gibbs' shoulder as he slowly slid into Gibbs, the vice-like glove almost making him come by the time he was fully in. Gibbs said nothing but allowed his head to drop forward.

He pulled out slowly and then pressed back in and he knew he hit that sweet spot when Gibbs jerked and let out a ragged moan. He reached around and grasped Gibbs' dick once again and matched his slow and steady rhythm of thrusts. He knew he was close so he pressed himself close and nuzzled Gibbs ear. "So close, jerk yourself off, boss."

Gibbs only grunted a response as Tony wrapped both arms around Gibbs, hugging him close as he thrust into his body. With a hoarse cry Tony pushed up on his toes and lost himself in the pleasure of an orgasm, painting Gibbs' insides with his seed. Judging by the sticky mess on Gibbs' hands, Gibbs hadn't been far behind.

They were quiet as they cleaned up, but finally Tony opened his mouth to speak, his voice low and dark. "Don't ever ask me to do that again."

"Tony, you didn't..?"

"Didn't enjoy it? Oh, of course I did. I'm talking about use me to punish yourself. You've never wanted to be on the receiving end, and I'm okay with that. I love it when you fuck me. But this? Tonight? This wasn't about you wanting to be fucked, this was about you trying to punish yourself for trying to chase Abby and I away. If you ever do it again, I'm taking Abby and I won't look back."

"I-"

"No. The only reason I said yes was because if I didn't, Abby would have. You would've found some way to use her to punish yourself, and she would have agreed because you're Gibbs and she would do anything for you, including making herself miserable. But instead of her getting over it and moving on like I will, she would beat herself up inside and neither of us would know until it was too late."

"Tony," Gibbs sighed.

"No, I'm not done yet. She already put her career on the line to save you. Let her in, let her love you and forfucksake, just accept it."

"Tony I love you. And I'm sorry." Gibbs sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at the younger man.

"I know. Just try not to be such an asshole when you're scared, okay?" Tony sat beside him nudged him with his shoulder. "Why don't you lie down and relax. I'll send Abby up, you owe her the biggest of apologies for your little display downstairs, which I'm sure she'll accept, but fuck I hope she makes you work for it."


TBC…