Tony's Salvation—Chapter 19
As Tony enters the room, he notices once again the connecting door between his suite and Laurie's. He places the pizza and beer into the small refrigerator in his room then cautiously opens the door separating him from the woman in his dreams. He crosses over to her bed and gently traces her face with a finger before heading back to his own room.
Ignoring the pizza and beers, Tony heads into his bathroom and turns the shower on. Stepping into the warm sheet of water, he briefly wonders why she didn't say anything to him before he gives himself a head slap. "Get a grip, DiNozzo, the woman is suffering from jetlag. Consider yourself lucky that she managed to stay awake long enough to cook your favorite meal."
And she had known what his favorite meal was before she knew of his arrival. She'd been making it just as they drove up. Tony shuts off the water and towels himself dry; grateful for the sweats that Tim had made sure he packed. For some reason the room he's in has a bit of a chill. Tony thinks nothing more about it as he grabs the remote and lying on the bed, turns on the television. He keeps the volume on low; the connecting door is still open and he doesn't want to wake her up with the noise.
Two hours later, Tony wakes up from a light doze. The room is colder than it had been and he can't remember where the climate controls are. Deciding that fate knows where it wants him to be, Tony silently stands up and walks over to the connecting door. As he stands over her wondering if he'll be welcome, she rouses just enough to tell him that the bed is big enough for two and to come get warm. Tony slowly eases under the covers not wanting to wake her more than he already has. He shivers a few times before pulling her into his arms. Gradually the combined warmth of their bodies lulls him into sleep.
Around two a.m. Laurie wakes up, wondering what is different. The heavy weight of an arm around her waist and soft, slow breathing at the back of her neck tells her that she has an intruder and she knows instinctively that it's Tony. Deciding not to wake him, she attempts to go back to sleep savoring the feeling of a man's arms around her for the first time in almost 20 years.
Tony snuggles closer, murmuring her name. She realizes then that she hadn't been the only one affected by the dream. A callused hand reaches up and brings her face to his.
"You okay?" His voice is husky with sleep and she smiles against his fingers.
"I'm fine; I haven't had a bed partner for quite a few years."
"You don't mind my being here?"
"No, I don't mind. I kinda like it."
She rubs her cheek against his chest and he chuckles. "Your hair tickles. Have you always been this blonde?"
"They tell me it was darker, more of a gold hue when I was a child. It was white by the time I was fifteen."
"Are you really retiring from the Navy?"
"Mmm…both teams have had me for almost 30 years, it's time to let the younger pups play."
Her hand starts caressing his chest as he asks her what her plans are for the future.
"Well, I plan on cuddling with my friend Tony for a few days, then go to my cabin to get some sketching done."
"What about after the cabin?" He likes the fact that she wants to cuddle with him and is hoping that she means to include him when she heads for her cabin when she says:
"I was thinking about a trip to the east coast."
Tony says nothing for a few seconds as he plays with the hand that's been caressing his chest. "So, just cuddling huh? No scampering around the room half nude or chasing each other down the hallway naked?"
The gentle sexual teasing warms her more than he knows. She was right about this man. On the outside he might be the world's biggest flirt but on the inside there is a lot more to Anthony DiNozzo Jr. than meets the eye. She sighs in regret as she tells him,
"For tonight at least it's just cuddling. I'm too tired and sore for anything else right now."
"What happened? I know that you can't relate details but I take it that the mission was a success."
"Yes it was. We acquired our target with minor injuries and no casualties."
"How minor are your injuries?"
"You're reading me pretty good there Mr. DiNozzo."
"That's Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo and that dream was two days worth of information in a six hour time period." His hand brushes against her neck and he can almost feel the wince of pain. He reaches out for the table lamp, being careful not to jar the bed too much.
In the soft light he can see fading bruise marks around her neck extending down along the line of both shoulders. He gently traces her neck, wanting to ease her pain and not knowing how.
"You're doing fine Tony."
The statement brings him out of his reverie and he runs a hand through his hair. He looks at the shirt she's wearing as he tells her that if she wants cuddles then they need to get some healing applied to her bruises. "We don't need you crying all night because I end up hurting you more than you already are."
"You'd cry more than I would."
She's right about that. His worried green eyes stare into hers silently asking her to let him remove the polo shirt so that he can examine the bruises beneath. She nods and he helps her sit up. He looks at her, "I don't suppose this shirt just melts away with a touch does it?"
She shakes her head and eases the shirt off before he can stop her. He curses softly as he has her lie back down and gently starts healing her shoulders.
"Why?"
"It was necessary in order for the op to go down without any serious injury to him. I'm one of the few that can withstand his particular abilities."
"Is he the reason you're retiring?"
"Partly, the other is that I'm tired of all the politics and war games."
He says nothing and soon she tells him that she wants to visit her cabin the next day and he's welcome to come with her. When he agrees she thanks him then moans as he finds a particularly sore spot.
Tony adjusts the small lamp so that he can see more clearly. He tenses as he realizes just how severe some of the bruises are.
"Are you certain you'll be able to get out of bed tomorrow? You're a mass of bruises. I don't know how you're still coherent, let alone awake."
She can hear the worry in his voice and carefully turns to face him.
"Tony, I'm okay. Tony look at me." When he finally looks at her, she caresses his face and brings his lips down to hers. "I'm going to be fine. Come and lie down with me; I need your warmth."
Tony cradles her face in his hands as he leans in for another kiss. This time when he withdraws he stops to rub his nose against hers, making them both laugh at the sensation. Tony shuts the light off as he eases back under the covers, pulling her close to him.
"Just hold me Tony."
"Yes ma'am." His cheeky reply gets a soft head slap for response.
"Don't call me ma'am…I work for a living."
"Shhh…get some sleep."
Laurie lays her head on his chest. His hands are still lightly running over her shoulders and neck. With a sigh she slips back into sleep. Tony keeps his hands running over the bruises on her back, until he too falls asleep.
Mentally Tony is knocking on Laurie's walls. When she grants him entrance, he stops and realizes what he's done and what it could possibly mean.
"Who are you that I trust you this much?" His question reminds her of the night before, in the dream when they'd had almost the same conversation.
"You want full version or Reader's Digest?"
"I want to know why I just fell asleep, cuddling your half naked body. That's not a normal DiNozzo reaction; not where a good looking woman is concerned."
Laurie summons up two mental chairs and motions for him to sit down when she sits in the other one. Instead he kneels in front of her and takes her hands in his.
"Help me to understand. What is going on here Laurie?"
She sighs and looks at their joined hands.
"You had the same dream last night that I did? Where we meet at NCIS and things progress from there?" when he nods she continues, "The dream almost told us what you want to know."
"Regarding the recognition bond?" When she doesn't reply he looks up. She's closed her eyes, thinking about something that she's not sharing with him yet. Tony keeps a hand around both of hers as he reaches out to caress her face. Her eyes open and she keeps them lowered as he tells her
"I can wrap my mind around that idea; I'm not totally into it though because I honestly don't recall ever meeting you before today or even before the dream happened."
Both hands are now caressing hers, and she can tell that he's assessing the calluses and few scars that have occurred over the years. Before she can say or do anything he speaks.
"You know the martial arts and have some expertise with small fire arms. You know how to inflict pain, but it bothers you to do so. You're leaving the SEALs; you know how to kill and have done so even when it bothers your healer's soul to do so."
"The Hippocratic Oath means nothing on a battle field or warzone. I don't know how to answer your question Tony. I don't know when we could have met that our bond could have formed."
Tony keeps his hands on hers and asks her what she looks like in full combat gear. She shows him and he knows that he's seen her at least once…if he could just figure out from where.
He flips through his own memories and the first thing he comes up with is his time as agent afloat. If Tony ever had a time that he could compare to his worst nightmare, that was probably the time.
The next thing is the airport as he waited to come home from his stint on the Seahawk. A group of nine men carrying backpacks and duffle bags disembarked from a flight that arrived the same time his had. Two of the men were escorting a third who was mildly swearing in Gaelic.
"Duncan had twisted his ankle when we boarded. It was almost impossible to heal him on that flight with all the turbulence. We had a mere fifteen minutes between flights that day and no time to do any real good."
"I take it you eventually healed him then."
"Naturally."
"Did we ever meet at Bethesda?"
"No, not officially anyway."
Tony can remember one night, just before Gibbs came in and told him that he didn't have permission to die; a softly callused hand touching his forehead while another rested on his chest; Dr. Pitt standing beside the person quietly asking "Can you save him?" and the equally quiet yet reassuring response, "I can and so can he."
The next thing Tony knew: "Gibbs head slapped me and told me that I couldn't die, but I could almost swear that I heard another voice telling me that I wanted to live. That Richie was telling me to stay alive as he had someone he wanted me to meet."
During the course of the conversation, Laurie's mental figure has changed back into sweats and a t-shirt. Tony stands up and extends a hand to help her up. Then he sits down and pulls her onto his lap; she lays her head on his shoulder content to stay where she is.
"You know, I could get used to this," he muses softly, "coming home and holding you, cuddling with you on the couch or in front of the fireplace." He remembers holding hands with Jeanne; how she'd badgered him to tell her that he loved her. The come on she'd made when he hadn't had sex with her for the first few dates. How she'd almost forced him into buying a house with her.
"I'd like that too. Especially the cuddling part."
"What about the fireplace? Do you have one of those around here?" his tone is so sincere that she looks up at him; he's serious.
"Actually there's one in my office downstairs and another at my cabin." She thinks for a moment and their mental setting changes from bare walls and chairs to hardwood floor, a log cabin type wall with a fireplace that has three small logs crackling merrily away. Their chairs are exchanged for a soft couch and Tony stretches out on it, holding her close the entire time.
He sighs and continues telling her, "I want someone who will trust me with her secrets; little by little one by one." He'd waited for Jeanne to tell him about her father; for Jenny to tell Gibbs what she was having him do; for Ziva to tell him about Michael.
"Will you understand if I can't tell you everything, just due to the nature of what I am?"
"I can try providing you tell me what you can about yourself."
"I take it that you don't like little black marks or things that say Top Secret/Eyes Only."
"Depends on if that's what is in the file."
"It is. I'm black ops…or I was."
"So in fifty years you can tell me everything?"
"Maybe sooner if all goes well."
They lie on the mental couch not saying anything as their physical bodies sleep. Tony is amazed at how content he is; how relaxed he feels. Laurie's almost lulled into sleep when Tony asks her about soul-names.
"I honestly don't know much about them Tony. I vaguely recall reading the books and in them the woodland elves, the ones that had to hide during the day, trusting no one but themselves, and hunt at night all had a soul-name. When their home was destroyed, they journeyed to the land of the sunfolk. The sunfolk had no need for soul-names and therefore they had none. The chieftain of the wolf-riders, his name was Cutter, had a soul name but his recognized Leetah did not."
"With as much hiding as you and I have done, I wouldn't be surprised if we had soul-names."
Laurie nods at his statement, and watches with tired amusement as he starts searching her mind for clues as to what her soul name could be.
"We have several days to explore each other's minds Tony. Like I said, I'm retired; I have all kinds of time on my hands."
He perks up when she says that, "I have two whole weeks to do nothing but explore? When can I start?"
"After we wake up; I want to make sure that you don't get lost when you go back to your own mind."
Tony can see her mental exhaustion starting to creep up on her and contents himself with the knowledge that he's found her and she wants to get to know him. He pulls her closer, watches her sleep for several minutes before finally succumbing to sleep himself.
A/N: Once again as I borrow heavily from the graphic novel ElfQuest and its wonderful authors Wendy and Richard Pini for their explanation of recognition, I heartily claim nothing other than the love of a good book where that particular series of stories is concerned.