CHAPTER 8 - Boating

Tony arrived at Jethro's house just as the steaks were starting to sizzle. He knew he had to tell Jethro about his lunch with Joanna Teague and her offer sometime, but he held off, afraid it would ruin their evening together. It could wait, he thought.

As they sat beside each other on the couch, eating their cowboy-style steak and potato dinner, just as they had a dozen times before, Tony asked Jethro, "Is this a date?"

After some thought, Jethro said, "That's good for me. Depends on you."

"I'm good…for now. But if we're going to keep doing this…"

"This? Sitting on my couch, eating steak?"

Tony gave Jethro a sideways glance. Was he being dense on purpose? "Is this how our Friday night date is going to look from now on? Eating in, and watching TV as foreplay, before going upstairs for some hot gay sex?"

Jethro made a small choking noise. Once he'd recovered he said, "Sounds like a good date to me."

Tony elbowed him. "That all you have to say?"

After taking a swig of his beer, Jethro wiped his mouth and scratched his jaw. "You need something more?"

"Well, yeah. That would be nice. I mean, what're we doing? Am I only a fuck-buddy to you? Someone whose picture you hang in the basement so you can jerk off to it? What's going on with us? The sex… it's hot… like really hot, and it's with you… but… Is there an end game here?"

Jethro looked a bit hurt. "You really think I only see you as a sex object?"

Tony shrugged and felt his face flush. "No, I guess not. See, the thing is, I need to know where we stand, what to expect. I need to know what you expect from me."

Jethro took both of their plates and set them on the coffee table. He cleared his throat before looking into Tony's eyes and saying, "You are the man I love. I'm not into making speeches, but you have to know this is big for me. I never thought you'd be with me, like this. It's hard to believe, even now. And even though it isn't easy for you to say the words – yeah, I can see you struggling with it – I know you have feelings for me."

Tony started to make an excuse for not responding in kind when Jethro said he loved him, but the words wouldn't come.

Jethro shushed him. "You don't have to say it."

He felt guilty not saying those three important words. He did have feelings for Jethro, but he didn't know how to express them. In the end, Tony said, with a tentative smile, "I… enjoy being with you. I really like the physical stuff, the sex. You know I've been with a lot of people, like, a lot, but I've never felt anything like the way I feel when I'm with you… And I don't even know how to explain it, but sometimes when you're holding me, or you're fucking me, my heart is beating so hard I can't hear anything else, and it sort of hurts inside, in my chest, and I think I'm gonna have a fucking heart attack. It's kind of scary." Jethro nodded seriously, apparently understanding, so Tony continued, "Can we just keep doing what we're doing? For now?"

Jethro nodded and kissed Tony on the forehead, and then they were kissing for real, and Tony's heart did that thing when it pounded out of his chest, and he wondered, just for a moment, if maybe that pain he felt could possibly be love.

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Even though he could have happily stayed in bed all day – after all, it was Saturday – Jethro was up, dressed, and making pancakes before 0800. Tony was lying on top of the sheets, sleepily playing with his half-hard cock when Jethro flung the bedroom door open, saying, "If you want pancakes, how about you help–"

Tony laughed at Jethro's surprised expression when he saw him jacking himself, but two seconds later, Jethro grabbed his ankles and pulled him swiftly to the end of the bed. Tony shouted, "Hey!" but that's about all he got out before Jethro parted his legs, leaned over and swallowed half the length of his suddenly hard cock. Tony gasped, "Fuck!"

Somehow, Jethro knew exactly what to do, how much pressure to apply and when to suck. And that thing he did with his tongue just behind the head of Tony's cock made his toes curl. By the time Jethro had finished with him, Tony barely had the energy to lift his head, and he could smell burning pancakes, but nothing could wipe the big grin off his face.

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After they'd cleaned the breakfast dishes, Jethro asked, "You want to go boating?"

"Can we swim?" Tony asked hopefully.

"Sure."

"I don't have any trunks with me," Tony said, thinking they'd have to go by his condo to pick up some stuff.

"Borrow mine."

"Oooh, sexy, I can get in your pants," Tony said with a purring sound. He kissed an amused Jethro on the corner of his mouth and ran upstairs to find swim trunks and towels.

Jethro drove them to a local marina, where he borrowed a friend's boat. It was an 18-foot fiberglass bay boat with a canopy, and came equipped with fishing gear. They headed south on the Potomac and took a tributary where there were marshes and abundant wildlife. It was quite beautiful, with all the colorful autumn leaves, and a brilliant blue sky overhead.

Still, every now and then, Tony would remember he had to come clean with Jethro, and tell him about Joanna Teague's offer. He was torn as to whether or not to take her up on the proposition she had put forward. He was intrigued by it, really wanted to accept her offer, but this thing he had with Jethro, this incredibly sexy affair, was fresh and new, and he didn't want to lose their momentum. Their romance felt fragile, and he did not want to be the one who rocked the boat, much less sink it, before their relationship had a chance to find its feet.

Shaking off his preoccupation with his 'should I or shouldn't I?' thoughts, Tony made a point to enjoy the day, and to be present. It could wait, he told himself. 'Love the one you're with' came to mind, and that made him smile. Jethro caught him smiling, and smiled back, a big, beautiful smile that was directed at him, and man, did that ever make his heart ache with happiness.

Although it was the beginning of October, it was quite warm, so Jethro guided the boat over to a clear, shady bit of shoreline. They swam in the cold water, and then ate the simple picnic Jethro had packed: rolls, corned beef, cheese, pickles, and bottled lemonade.

Afterwards, when they were relaxing on the large towels Tony had brought along, Jethro looked at him sideways and said, "You look good. Better than any pin-up. Just saying."

"Must be the fashionable shorts," Tony said, stroking the swim trunks made of a retro fabric.

"Quite the thing when I bought them," Jethro said, indicating the similar pair he wore.

"Pre-war?"

"You'd better not be thinking of any world war," Jethro replied with an exaggerated frown.

Tony had done some subtle ogling of his partner, as well, ever since he'd taken off his shirt. There were plenty of scars, on his chest and one knee in particular, but being able to look freely at his lover's body in the light of day was a novel experience. "You're not so bad yourself," Tony said while sending an appreciative look at Jethro's chest and shoulders. The guy was lean, but he sure had nice shoulders and muscular arms, and his abdomen was well-toned. "Who needs a gym when you've got a boat to build in the basement?"

With a scoff, Jethro mumbled something about being held together with staples and rods. Tony's response was a shrug. "It's what's inside that counts, but I gotta say the outside sure turns me on, too."

After Jethro's embarrassed flush had died down, he suggested, "Let's walk." There was a rough path along the river, just wide enough for the two of them. After they'd gone a little way, Jethro said, "You know you can talk to me."

"You have something specific in mind?"

"You had a meeting with Teague."

"How did you know…?"

"She called Vance to ask if she could borrow you," Jethro said, sounding suspicious.

"Damn it, he shouldn't have said anything. It's nobody's business but my own."

Jethro raised an eyebrow. "It's my business if my second-in-command takes off to work with the CIA! You had a meeting with her?"

"She gave me some of Ned's things, for me and McGee, and some other people he'd worked with," Tony replied, annoyed at the inference they'd been up to something underhanded. "She's a really nice lady… when she isn't interrogating a suspect in the back of an unmarked van."

"You want to tell me what she really wanted?"

Tony sighed and said, "Jethro, please. We're having a nice afternoon. Let's not ruin it, okay?"

"She hired you, is that it? Were you gonna tell me, or sneak out in the night?"

"That's not fair," Tony protested. "I wouldn't do that to you. And I was going to talk to you about it tonight."

"Your plans to go off on some covert CIA op? Or is she looking to make you her partner?" Jethro retorted, sounding more than a bit annoyed.

Tony wasn't sure whether or not to laugh, as Jethro was way off base. "What exactly did Vance tell you?"

"That Officer Teague wanted you to work with her on a special assignment for a few weeks."

"Okay, first of all, that's not entirely accurate," Tony said. Jethro watched him intently as he waited for an explanation. "Fine. While you were away, I had lunch with Joanna. We went to that neat James Bond restaurant…"

Jethro's eyes narrowed slightly. "You sleeping with her?"

"God, no!" Although he'd slept with her son, that one time.

"You're heading back to Hong Kong?"

Tony held up his hands. "Stop! This is getting bent out of shape." He inhaled deeply and explained, "Teague put my name forward for a position. Homeland and several agencies in the intelligence community feel there's a need to have easy access to trained undercover agents. They want to develop small units of agents who can jump into any undercover situation at a moment's notice. You know, a corrupt agency office, a homegrown terrorist outfit, that kind of thing. Smaller agencies either don't have the manpower or ability to focus or train such a specialized force. So that's where we come in."

"We?" Jethro asked.

"Uh, yeah. I've been chosen to head the four-person committee that's going to design the whole thing: the training, choosing the agents, how to coordinate the requests for the units, and so on."

Jethro appeared impressed, but Tony caught a flicker of something in his eyes – disappointment? – before his expression became neutral. "So you've decided."

"Look, I wanted to discuss it with you, but I wasn't sure how you'd take it. And I don't like leaving right now. We've just started…" Tony made a motion with his hand, from Jethro to himself, indicating they were tied to each other.

Gibbs sighed. "How long is this gonna take?"

"Six weeks?" Tony said, then kicked himself for making it sound like a question. He wasn't asking for Gibbs' permission, but he did work for him, and he'd be an agent down. "I'll be back in mid-November, around the 14th. McGee and Bishop can step up, and you've got Dale Carney as backup." It was at that moment that he realized he had already made a decision. He wanted this job, badly, but he still needed to get Jethro's acceptance, if not his approval.

"Six weeks?"

Jethro was struggling with this news. Tony took his hand and said lightly, "Time will fly."

Jethro slowly shook his head. "I doubt it."

"It's not the other side of the world. Maybe we can swing a visit or weekend or something." Tony moved closer. He wasn't accustomed to being public with affection, but there was nobody around, and besides, he really needed to be close Jethro right now. "If you don't want me to go… I can tell them no."

"I wouldn't ask that of you," Jethro said gruffly.

"I don't want to leave you."

Jethro's hold on his hand tightened. "No, you need to do this, Tony."

"You know you mean more to me than any job."

Jethro shook his head, denying it. "I don't want you to regret it if you miss this opportunity, and I know you would."

"Just… tell me this isn't going to change what we have going here. I know we're not committed or even in a relationship, but I feel close to you and…"

"It may not have been long, but we are definitely in a relationship," Jethro said with certainty. He smiled crookedly and pulled Tony into a kiss, a move so unexpected that Tony fell against him, and they ended up sinking into the tall grass, still locked in an embrace.

When they finally got up, Tony took a moment to brush bits of vegetation off himself and then off Jethro, making sure to fondle his ass while he was at it. Jethro grabbed him in a bear hug, and they laughed and kissed. This was so good, standing in the sunshine, being loved by Jethro, Tony didn't want to go home.

All of a sudden they heard the sound of someone laughing, and Tony quickly looked around. They spotted two young women in kayaks passing by on the far side of the river. It was obvious they'd seen them kissing, and had enjoyed the sight. He waved to them and they waved back, still giggling as they paddled away.

Jethro smirked and said, "Guess that's our first public outing."

Reaching for a bit of grass stuck in Jethro's hair, Tony said, "If only everyone was that accepting." He smiled at Jethro. "You want to fish for a while? Or, I can watch while you fish for our dinner."

"So, you think you're gonna laze around while I do all the hard work?"

Tony made a show out of mulling it over and finally nodded. "Yup."

Jethro stood there with a funny expression on his face, and when Tony asked, "What?" Jethro shook his head and took hold of Tony's hand. He never let it go for the entire walk back to the spot where they'd left their things and the boat.

"You want to tell me what's on your mind?" Tony prodded.

"Just… I love you," Jethro said softly.

Although Tony couldn't reply with the same words, he said, "Boy, am I ever gonna miss you while I'm away. But I'll always remember this day, so thank you for it."

Jethro's response was to break out into a grin.

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That night, after returning home – to Jethro's home – a bit sunburned and tired, but happy, they put together a meal of the freshly caught fish they'd brought home, seasoned rice, and slices of an apple pie they'd purchased at a roadside farm stand just outside Alexandria. They'd bought bread, honey and eggs from the stand, as well as a couple of cuts of homegrown beef. At the last minute, Jethro had grabbed a bottle of shagbark hickory syrup, saying, "For pancakes. Breakfast."

After clearing up the remains of their dinner, the two men headed to bed, and made love. Jethro undressed Tony, and Tony returned the favor. They showered together, washing each other's body with care. Once in bed, Jethro was sweet, kissing Tony slowly, tenderly, caressing his chest, his thighs, his balls, stroking his hair and sucking wetly on his nipples and murmuring things like, "Jesus, I love your skin, so fucking soft, tastes so good," and "I'm never gonna let you go," and even, "Love you so much, more every day," until Tony was a pile of mush.

In return, he sucked on Jethro's nipples and rubbed that spot behind his balls, loving to hear him moan, to see him quiver with need. Tony said in a rough voice, "I'm so fucking hard because of you," and "I want you to come inside me," and, "I'm scared."

Jethro, who was occupied with sucking on Tony's balls at the time, paused long enough to ask, "Of what?"

"That this won't be enough," Tony whispered. To which Jethro kissed him, deeply, with such passion Tony was left shaking like a leaf.

And when Jethro pulled Tony's legs up over his shoulders and slid into him, hot and strong, and fucked him for what felt like forever, Tony breathed, "Fuck, I'm yours," and came with a long, drawn-out moan.

Sunday morning, Jethro brought up two cups of coffee, and they remained in bed, simply enjoying being close to each other. Tony sighed with happiness.

"When do you leave?" Jethro asked.

Reality hit him with a resounding thud. "I didn't say I was going," Tony reminded him.

Jethro snorted. "You'll take the damned job if I have to drag you all the way to whatever secret CIA facility this thing is being held at."

Tony laughed. "It's at an old state police training camp in New York State."

"Now owned by the CIA," Jethro said, with a nod.

"Jesus, it's not CIA, Jethro! Monday. I need to give them an answer Monday morning. They're sending a helicopter to pick me up, if I agree, that afternoon."

"A helicopter?"

"Yeah. Did I ever tell you about this cartoon where these owls–"

Jethro interrupted. "Like I said, CIA. Where, exactly is this secret camp?"

Tony glared at Jethro. "It isn't secret. Just… not well known. We're going to be working out of an old police barracks at Hope Lake, in New York. It isn't far from the city, according to Teague."

"Never heard of it," Jethro said curtly.

Tony shrugged. Neither had he, and the barracks wasn't on any map he could find.

"Tell me more about it. This unit you're overseeing."

"Okay. This is for all the smaller agencies, so they can have access to undercover units. Any agency that needs them can apply," Tony said. "The agents will be trained and ready for insertion, and that will allow each agency to concentrate on the logistics of their operation. And the CIA is not funding it. Funds were put aside after 9/11 and a framework was developed, but it never took off because all efforts were being put into anti-terrorist measures. The financials are overseen by a cross-agency committee, separate from us."

"What's this undercover group called?" Jethro asked.

"The Special Mission Undercover Team," Tony replied.

It took a moment, but Gibbs slowly turned his head and the moment he caught Tony's gaze, he started laughing. "Special Mission Undercover…?"

"Team," Tony supplied, joining in the laughter.

"What'd they call you in college? Sex Machine? So they're putting Sex Machine in charge of a special unit with the acronym SMUT?"

Laughing, Tony agreed, "I know, made just for me, or what?" It appeared the decision had been made, and Jethro had accepted his going, so he felt good about it.

After their laughter had abated, they made out for a while, and then parted with a sigh. Jethro held Tony in his arms, occasionally stroking his arm. "So, if tomorrow's your last day at home, how about we have a barbecue? Just a few steaks, some burgers out back. Invite the team over. A little party for you."

How casually Jethro had spoken, making out this was his home, too. "You'd do that for me?"

"It's for all of us." Jethro smiled a wicked little smile. "And you can tell them all about SMUT."

"Don't get me started again. My sides are still aching." Tony loved seeing Jethro's playful side, but he smiled ruefully. "Only… we're not telling anyone about us, right? 'Cause I don't want that. I'm not ready to come out, not to them," he said firmly.

"I'm on the same page." Jethro kissed Tony one more time and said, "This is our time. I get that. Maybe you can give me some SMUT pointers? 'Cause I think my undercover abilities are a little rusty."

Tony groped at Jethro under the sheets, and gave his balls a light squeeze. "Oh, I think you're doing just fine under the covers, my man."

Jethro groaned over Tony's feeble joke, and then he groaned louder when Tony stuck a finger in his butt and wiggled it around.

"You making fun of me, old man?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who falls asleep every time after we fuck," Jethro teased.

Assisted by a dollop of lube, Tony inserted a second finger, and then a third, and started finger-fucking Jethro while jacking him off, loving the way the older man closed his eyes and started to pant. "First rule… of undercover work… is to take on the role… make it yours, draw on your feelings," Tony said, speaking in time to each thrust of his fingers. Jethro pulled his head down for a sloppy kiss, and Tony made sure to keep up the slow, driving motion with his fingers, even while adding a fourth.

Jethro grabbed his shoulders and shuddered. "I'm gonna cum…"

"Oh, no you don't. Because I'm gonna fuck you for real. . . I'm so fucking hard. . . you don't get to cum until I do… got that?" Jethro barely had time to nod before Tony penetrated him. Jethro rose to meet him, crying out his name, and saying, "Please, Tony… please…" and he shot his load just as Tony shuddered and came in hot pulses deep inside him.

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