"Told you," said Gibbs, pointing a thumb at DiNozzo following behind him as he strode by Kate's desk, leaving Tony to bask.
Still, he couldn't help keep one ear turned toward the pair. The normal sibling rivalry between the two agents had mellowed over the past weeks – a victim of Tony's weariness and Todd's otherwise well-hidden mothering instincts.
But the day of rest had left DiNozzo feeling, he'd said, 'almost normal'.
To which Gibbs had cheekily replied, "How would you know?" and was immediately rewarded with a smile – a real one. Not Tony's soft, almost shy, private smile, he'd seen that one quite a bit over the past two days; but the cocky smile he'd so often bestowed on a grumbling Kate or Abby.
"Heard you cared, Kate," Tony had the smirk down to perfection.
Gibbs felt his breath catch. He prayed Kate would know that now was not the time to do anything but adopt the same smug pose.
Kate wisely didn't look up from her case file. "Can't believe everything you hear, DiNozzo."
"Can't hide the truth, Todd," shot back Tony, smirking triumphantly.
Kate rolled her eyes. "You live in that delusion?"
The act earned a pleased chuckle from DiNozzo. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."
He limped off toward his own desk, not catching the small, tightlipped smile Gibbs graced on Todd and the nod of understanding she sent back.
"You said if you didn't get a break in the case I could—"
"I know what I said," huffed Gibbs.
"Boss-" began Tony, hesitating uncharacteristically.
"Say it," ordered Gibbs.
'Okay. Is this a MS-thing or a ..." Tony wished he could trust that the vague, blurry hulking shapes he could see were truly empty desks and that an unseen observer didn't lurk within hearing distance. That odd feeling of being watched still plagued him from time to time, although he put it down to the frustration of his ever-blurring vision.
"An ... us thing," finished Gibbs, knowing what caused the prolonged squinting in the direction of McGee and Todd's desks.
"I –"Tony reached down and tussled with the rope tug a temporarily off- duty Rufus was happily worrying. "I need to do this."
He looked back up at Gibbs, regaining confidence. "I can do this," he restated. "In fact you need me to do this 'cause you've got bupkis."
"Bupkis?" repeated Gibbs.
"Yiddish for 'nothing', though the spelling can vary. The literal meaning is 'goat droppings'."
Both men started as the medical examiner and his erudite explanation appeared seemingly from out of nowhere.
"One day you're going to give me a heart attack, Ducky," groused Gibbs, rubbing the left side of his chest pointedly.
"Yes, well, then you'll be lucky there's a physician nearby."
"Uh uh, I agreed you could go and you agreed that we're wiring you. So sit," directed Gibbs, not releasing the hold on Tony's arm until he was settled on the rolling chair. "I'll be in the back booth and McGee will be in the van."
"Okay. Fine. Just watch where you put the wire Abs, last time they had their hands all over me." Tony's voice trailed off. "Are you sure you want McGee in the van, Gibbs? I mean I'd hate to teach him things his mother never warned him about."
"He's not as innocent as you'd think," retorted Abby, clinically popping the buttons of Tony's shirt.
Gibbs leaned down to ear level and murmured, "He's slept in the coffin."
"Really?" Tony winced as Abby's cool fingers fitted the delicate wire so it ran just below the jut of his collarbone. "The coffin, Abs? This must be serious."
"Don't know," the lab tech muttered. "He still won't drink out of the thod- pa."
Gibbs frowned warily. "Thod-pa?"
"Skull cup," translated DiNozzo. "It's a contemplation on impermanence thing."
"Yeah," agreed Abby, snapping the tape with her teeth. "He just doesn't get the whole momento mori shtick."
Pale fingers affixed the electronics and patted the tape down firmly. "Wear a t-shirt," she advised. Then she smiled, rather predatorily, Gibbs thought. "Something tight."
"Come on, DiNozzo," Gibbs hauled up on his right arm and Tony, after a second to get his bearings, followed. "Let's get out of here before you're sleeping in the coffin, okay?"
"Don't worry, Gibbs. He's not my type."
Gibbs did a double take, but Abby had turned back to whatever graph she'd been staring at when they'd invaded her domain.
That left him only DiNozzo to question. "A contemplation on impermanence thing?"
The shoulder he was holding onto pulled in a shrug.
"There was one in 'Eight Legs to Love You.'" In the resounding silence that followed this pronouncement Tony continued. "Scull-cup potion? Thirty-five breasts? Two dead bodies? One giant tarantula attack? One shower scene? Insect moaning? Multiple topless writhing, with fright wig? Oh, come on, you've had to see it, boss."
"Somehow I must have missed that one." He tugged DiNozzo not quite so gently into the elevator. "Thirty-five breasts?"
Tony heard the back door of the van bang shut and tried unsuccessfully to make out Gibbs' approach in the amber glow of the streetlight. His fingers sought out the plain-banded Seiko Ducky had pressed in his hand weeks before and he deftly popped the crystal, oriented the tip of his index finger on the 'six', and read the time tactilely.
Ten o'clock on the dot. Gibbs was nothing if not punctual.
"You ready to play the jealous lover?" he murmured when Gibbs drew close enough.
Abby had daubed the older man in the new Hugo Boss from the stash of fragrances she'd ended up accumulating for testing purposes and Tony breathed in deeply, bringing in the scent of cardamon, lemon and wild mint. Then the heart notes of nutmeg and sage. At the bottom was a hint of sandalwood and vanilla-infused bourbon, and then the delicious warm and slightly spiced scent of coffee and fresh wood that was just ... Gibbs.
"I am the jealous lover," replied Gibbs succinctly, pressing DiNozzo up against the side of the van, keeping his voice low even though the steel body of the vehicle separated them from a jittery McGee.
Tony smiled. "Yeah, hey, that's true. So, do I get a kiss for the road?"
Gibbs brushed his lips briefly then moved quickly to the throat DiNozzo happily exposed, the crown of Tony's head brushing against the cool metal before Gibbs put teeth and tongue to work and Tony groaned.
Satisfied with his effort, Gibbs pulled back.
"Did you just?" Tony rubbed a hand over the circle of reddened skin. "Did you just give me a hickey?"
Unable to fix either on his own reflection in the van's passenger mirror or the expression on Gibbs' face he mutely ran his fingertips up and down his throat.
"You did," he accused.
"You're on the clock, DiNozzo." Gibbs rapped his palm against the van - the signal to McGee to go live on the wire. Then snagged a hand around Tony's waist and, as they had left both Rufus and his collar at home, he buttressed his hip against Tony's, providing stability. "Let's go see if you can do a little investigating."
"You gave me a hickey," muttered Tony again. "I can't believe you did that."
"Rule thirteen of undercover work," Gibbs reminded, holding the door to the bar open with his right hand and keeping his left firmly locked above Tony's hipbone.
He smiled minutely when Tony joined in the unison. "Always dress the part."
"But a hickey, boss?"
And then they were through the door and Tony could feel the eyes on him, could feel Gibbs stiffen convincingly against him.
A very jealous lover indeed.
Thanks as always to the tenth muse for the beta and apologies to Joe Bob Briggs for theft.