"You want to take this?"
From his seat in the obligatory wheelchair, Tony grimaced at the cello-wrapped basket. "Leave it at the nurses' station?"
Picking it up, Gibbs was nearly hidden behind the tower's plaid bow. "Will get no argument from me."
They were halfway out the door to safety when they were met by an obsequiously smiling Douglas Majors who offered his hand with an equally sycophantic, "Mr. DiNozzo, I do so hope your stay was satisfactory."
Handing over the brimming basket with a brief, "Give this to somebody," Gibbs took control of the handles of the wheelchair, leaving the now-burdened administrator and the displaced orderly rapidly behind.
Tony looked back over his shoulder. "Nice move."
"The second wife had a Chihuahua that grinned just like that," said Gibbs, stabbing at the down button of the elevator. "Damn dog hated me. She used to put little sweaters with pompoms on it." Gibbs shook himself slightly causing Tony to grin a much more natural smile than the one the hospital executive could ever bestow.
"Rufus wears a vest," put in Tony.
The chair was pushed into the confines of the elevator.
"And I see a pompom on it, DiNozzo, and you're both out of here."
He was rewarded by a laugh and he moved his hands from the chair and rested them on Tony's shoulders, feeling the tension there. He stroked a hand through the crown of short hair as Tony leaned back against him.
Rufus was bouncing, his head appearing momentarily over the fence as he barked with joy at the sight of the agency car pulling into the driveway, looking far more like an overgrown puppy than a highly trained, professional service dog. As Gibbs went to release him, Tony struggled out of the car, finally coming to stand at the bottom of the front steps. He stared at the stoop, which at this moment might be the summit of Machu Picchu for all the energy he felt he could muster.
A wet nose slithered up the side of his free hand and he reached down and gave a pat to the Great Dane's flank.
Knowing he was being watched, he gave Gibbs a weak grin, "Sure you didn't add extra steps while I was gone?"
Gibbs tried to hide his concern, but Tony could see the wheels turning behind the blue-eyed gaze. "Nope," he replied casually, putting an arm around Tony's waist.
He levered them both up the first riser.
"Put some bars in the bathroom, though," Gibbs quietly admitted.
Tony's head dropped forward and he closed his eyes momentarily. "Okay," he finally conceded, "guess if I complain about the stairs, a few ... modifications aren't unexpected."
Gibbs smiled thinly and heaved them up a few more steps.
From the vantage point of the open stairs, Gibbs could watch unobserved as Kate eyed Tony worriedly, could see her return her attention to her work only to look toward his desk again. When she began to get that determined look in her eye and Gibbs was sure she was just about to rise and go see about him, he drew her attention away from the far cubicle.
"Kate, may I talk to you a moment?"
Kate snapped her gaze from Tony upward to Gibbs and she rose stiffly from her desk with a small sigh under the weight of the scrutiny. "Sure, Gibbs." But her gaze strayed back to a pale and clearly dispirited DiNozzo.
"In the conference room," Gibbs instructed, pointing toward the back wall.
The walk to the empty room was a silent one, Gibbs falling in at her shoulder.
"I need you to stop doing that," said Gibbs as he closed the door.
Kate frowned. "Stop doing what?"
"Sympathy is the worst thing you can do to Tony at the moment."
"He's not you, Gibbs." Kate crossed her arms and took a few pacing steps before turning back to face him.
"No," agreed Gibbs, "and thank God for that, but he doesn't need your pity. He needs to—"
"If you're going to say 'get back on the horse'," declared Kate flatly, "I might have to shoot you."
Gibbs managed a brief, tightlipped smile. "Abby tell you what she's working on?"
Kate finally conceded this with a nod. "You're looking for something on Tony's family." She fixed him with her best interrogative stare --- the one she'd learned from him. "You ever thought of just talking to them, Gibbs?"
"Tony doesn't want to."
"So you're just going to – what?—settle this in court, because in court this could get ugly. Your job could be in jeopardy.Worse, his job could be in jeopardy. No job and there's no health insurance."
"It won't get to court," said Gibbs firmly.
"You're going to blackmail them to leave him alone? I watch you play fast and loose with the rules on investigations - your small lies in pursuit of larger evils. And I've even come to accept that it's necessary ... sometimes. But this isn't a case, Gibbs. It's Tony's family."
"I do what I do, Kate."
"You're a protector." She looked him up and down appraisingly. "You're pretty easy to profile actually. You probably have something in your past where you think you failed to live up to your duties and you've been subconsciously making up for it ever since. So you feel it's appropriate to break the rules when you need to: when it's for you and yours."
"Yes, I do," he acknowledged.
"And you're sure this is the only way."
"If he doesn't want to see them," Gibbs stated decisively, "I'm not going to force him."
"What about Sam?"
"We're seeing Gretchen tomorrow."
"She knows about Tony's family," deduced Kate.
Gibbs nodded. "She knows. She wants to know why Tony didn't tell her that Sam was an heir to possible millions."
"It could get ugly, Gibbs."
"Yeah," he concurred. "It could."
There was no doubt Gibbs was good. Very good. And, on a case, she had no doubts he would succeed come hell and high water. But this was personal. And she saw in his eyes the complete conviction that this was a cause more than worth fighting for -- this was Tony. And, for a brief second, she let herself fear for both of them.
Gibbs rolled over and leaned into Tony's bare back, his hand snaking to palm against Tony's breastbone and feel the rise and fall of the sleeping breaths. He placed a dry kiss on the back of Tony's neck just under the fringe of brown hair and, murmuring sleepily, Tony turned in his grasp, offering him more enticing places to kiss. The murmurs turned to a wistful moan when he traced his finger around one hard-nubbed nipple.
"Thought I might get some of those kinks out," offered Gibbs softly.
In two hours they'd need to leave for the meeting at the lawyer's office. And apart from his own pleasure and obvious desire, a rush of endorphins would ease Tony's usual morning aches, diminish the cramps and tremors.
"You haven't even found all my kinks," replied Tony, arching a little as Gibbs applied more than just a fingertip touch.
"Don't move," whispered Gibbs. "Let me do all the work."
"You okay?"
Tony stretched against the car's seat as he released the seat belt. "Definitely de-kinked."
"You ready for this?" Gibbs took the hand that met his, the cold fingers giving away the nervousness Tony hid behind the smile.
"Yeah," decided Tony, giving Gibbs' fingers a squeeze before he released them. "I am."
Opening the door, he levered his awkward body upright, balancing against the cool metal until Rufus pressed with stable warmth against his legs. One hand on the frame of the door, he reached down and identified the harness by touch, grasping the leather-wrapped handle.
It was dim in the parking garage and, after glancing up at the bare flickers of the fluorescents above them, Gibbs moved back to put a guiding hand on Tony's elbow. A grip he didn't release until they reached the door to Candy Frere's inner sanctum and it swung open, both Candy and Gretchen's attorney rising in greeting. Gibbs found himself giving the unfamiliar attorney his own profiler's glance. He might not, as Tony teased, know any designers but Eddie Bauer and L.L. Bean, but even he recognized the cut of an expensive suit, knew the price of the heavy gold links on the French cuffs. And he doubted this was a lawyer who normally saw service at the hourly wage that a Baltimore cop could afford.
Thanks to C for fic and other OT advice. Appreciate the feedback, guys. Thank you.