Sweet Gestures

Chapter 8

Tony whimpered, "Disobedient? You gonna punish me, Boss?"

The thought of punishing the man lying underneath him caused Jethro's cock to throb in response. All signs of resistance melted away from Tony's body. Jethro stroked the younger amn's hair and smiled at the his acquiescence. "Damn right I am," Jethro said too softly to be convincing. "That's good. Now we're gonna roll onto our sides, me behind you." Tony started to roll to his left and Jethro corrected him. "The other way." He gritted his teeth when the movement caused a twinge in his bruised thigh muscle but decided that fucking Tony senseless was worth any amount of pain.

His hands wandered from Tony's hip to his ass. "Nice." He slapped the firm rear end and when Tony moaned with pleasure at his touch Jethro made an appreciative noise. "God, you're beautiful," he said, stroking between Tony's ass cheeks, his fingers lightly pressing against his puckered hole. Knowing he'd need lube Jethro reached around blindly on the bed until he located it and squeezed a generous amount onto his hand as well as on his hardening dick.

Tony was pushing his ass back, begging for more with little noises of encouragement, but Jethro wasn't about to be rushed. "You're gonna have to be patient, Tony. I've been waiting all day to give this to you and I want to take my time." He ran his slicked-up thumb around Tony's hole, rubbing around the entrance until the younger man squirmed and panted. Jethro penetrated him with his thumb and wiggled it back and forth. "You want something bigger than my thumb in your tight asshole, don't you, boy?"

"God, yes, please Jethro."

"You want my cock or maybe all you can take is a couple of fingers? Because I think maybe I'm too big for you, boy," he teased, sucking on Tony's earlobe and biting down on it just as hard as Tony had bitten him earlier. There was a small cry of pain so Jethro kissed Tony under his jaw then said, "Maybe I shouldn't even try." He drove his thumb in deeper and crooked it, making Tony gasp.

"No, I can take it. I can. Big is good! I love big! Please, Jethro!" Tony lifted his leg to give Jethro better access, and he was rewarded with a kiss to the back of his neck. The thumb withdrew and something far bigger nudged at his entrance.

Tony was moaning with every breath. "That's it, take me…"

"Yeah, you're just begging to be fucked, aren't you?" Jethro shifted to get the right angle. With a steadying hand on Tony's hip he gave a small thrust and his cock penetrated Tony's ass, forcing past the tight ring of muscle and into the welcoming heat. The feeling was so overwhelming Jethro stiffened with pleasure and he had to remind himself to breathe.

Tony's hand stroked his own cock, but Jethro reached around and slapped Tony's hand away. "Don't touch," he rasped into Tony's ear. "You get no say in this."

"But Jeth…Jethro…"

"No more talking," Jethro threatened. He grasped Tony's cock, twisted and pulled at the shaft and ran his thumb across the head, slippery with pre-come and felt it harden within his fist. Jethro pushed his hips forward and slowly slid his cock deeper into his partner, then a bit more until he was fully seated. He waited and took a breath then pulled back a bit. Once more he pressed home, hard and deep and from the way Tony's breath hitched, the way his muscles tensed, Jethro knew that he'd hit that sensitive spot. The sound of Tony's vocal reaction and the friction from his cock buried to the hilt in his lover's tight ass were incredibly erotic.

Slowly and deliberately he fucked Tony, hugging him close with his other arm. Tony moaned and moved with him, his hands clawing at the bedding to gain purchase. Jethro was aware of Tony's every reaction to his touch, loving the way his belly twitched and his ass clenched around the shaft buried deep inside of him, and the way Tony threw his head back and breathed raggedly with low moans escaping his throat.

Slowly Jethro's rhythm increased in tempo, with Tony moving in synch with him. They rocked with intensifying drive, the mattress bouncing under them, Jethro's balls slapping against Tony's ass, both of them moaning with need.

Tony's cock was leaking over Jethro's fingers, and he was bucking and heaving, his rhythm changing, now in counterpoint. Hearts beating and breathing erratic, bodies sweating, muscles straining, both men striving to gain the upper hand, to win a fight from which they would both emerge as winners, a struggle born of love and an intimacy that neither had ever dared to hope for.

Tony cried out as pleasure rippled through him, his semen coating his belly and Jethro's hand. He went limp in Jethro's arms, whispering, "Oh Jethro, oh Jethro," again and again until he simply lay there panting.

The pain in Jethro's leg intensified as he sought leverage, his muscles knotting up with every fierce jerk of his hips. He wouldn't give in to it, gritting his teeth and making one more thrust and another and another and then the agony and pleasure merged and his dick felt like steel between his legs, his balls aching and he was ready to explode and he completely lost himself in his lover and came, shouting Tony's name. His body trembled with release and afterwards, when his cock slipped out, he lay there clinging Tony, unwilling to let him go. Jethro barely managed to kiss Tony's shoulder and say, "Good boy," before he gave in to sleep.

The next morning Tony had showered and was shaving when Gibbs, already dressed for work and on his third cup of coffee, entered the bathroom. He came up behind Tony and kissed him on the side of his neck. "Mornin'. You okay, Tony?"

Tony stretched and looked at Jethro in the mirror with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. "Okay? You mean apart from walking funny this morning after being fucked into the mattress last night?"

Jethro grinned. "Too much for my boy, was it?"

"Never too much," Tony replied. He finished shaving with his electric razor, put it away and turned into Jethro's hug. Tony gently ran his fingertips over Jethro's polo shirt and across his nipple, the one he'd bitten during their lovemaking. He felt it harden beneath two layers of clothing. "Did I do any damage?" he asked remorsefully.

"Nothing permanent."

"You need a band-aid?"

"I'm not walking into work with a band-aid over my nipple, Tony."

"I could kiss it better if that would help," Tony suggested.

"Wasn't that how the whole thing started?"

"I thought it was because of the chocolate icing." He licked his lips suggestively.

"So much for my rule about no food in bed," Jethro said, pulling a face. He kissed Tony and just as his tongue began to delve deeper into Tony's minty fresh mouth his cell phone rang. Holding onto Tony with a one-armed embrace, Jethro pulled his cell off its clip on his belt. "Gibbs. Yeah." He listened for a few seconds, grunted and hung up. "Petty Officer found dead under her Christmas tree. Gotta get to work."

Whether or not the people who worked at NCIS were exchanging holiday gifts, there was a festive feel in the air in the week leading up to Christmas. An impromptu singalong broke out by the watercooler and Tony nudged Gibbs to join him in a chorus of Let it Snow, but the team leader glowered and refused, backing away with his hands raised. Abby concocted a batch of coffee-flavored eggnog in her lab and shared it with the team; even Gibbs thought it was delicious and came back for seconds. One day McGee brought in a batch of gingerbread men, with 'NCIS' emblazoned across their chests in icing sugar. "Mom sent them for me to share with the team," he said. The accounting department pencil-heads had their annual fruitcake competition against their bitter rivals, the cyber crimes geeks, with Director Vance as the judge.

Despite the holiday mood, serious crimes were still being committed. Gibbs' team was called out on three cases over the next few days, each one as bad the next. First there was the rape and brutal homicide of a female petty officer, strangled with the lights of her own Christmas tree. Then a husband and wife, both military, killed each other in a domestic squabble with their children looking on. A couple of days later a series of seemingly unrelated bomb threats to several Naval properties landed in their laps.

The next few days the agents were kept busy.

On the first day, the case of Petty Officer Myra Rodriguez's death was solved when her boyfriend confessed to raping and murdering her. It was a crime of passion, he admitted remorsefully. The team collected evidence, ran interviews and forensics, processed the perpetrator, finalized their reports and were finally able to drag themselves out of the office well after midnight.

With eyes still half-closed with sleep, Gibbs groped his way into the kitchen the next morning, limping a bit. His bruise was significantly better but he was stiff and achy. The only light in the kitchen came from the small bulb under the microwave but the gray light of dawn filtered in through the window over the sink. Gibbs knew exactly where to find his favorite old mug and the pot of fresh coffee, piping hot due to the pre-set timer. He drank his rich black coffee slowly while looking blearily out the window at the back yard, now covered in the remainder of last week's snow. The frozen garden looked decidedly sad this time of year, the only sign of life being the birds and squirrels flitting around the bird feeder.

Although the previous day's case had been wrapped up in record time, it left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth. Maybe it was due to the brutal nature of the crime, or perhaps it was because it had happened so close to the holidays.

Christmas had not been a happy time for Gibbs for quite a few years, and he'd been concerned that this year he was going to inadvertently put a damper on Tony's enthusiasm. He was trying to get into the spirit of things though. The past week had many special moments, with giving gifts from their hearts to each other. Gibbs wasn't the kind of man to collect and cherish small but meaningful memories. Or at least he hadn't since the early days of his first marriage. Now, with Tony's fun-loving, sweet, and oh-so-hot presence, the things they did together seemed to have taken on a new meaning. Everything Tony did, from enjoying their first Christmas tree to being sensuous and generous in bed, touched Gibbs' heart.

He'd always been an early riser but lately Gibbs had a hard time getting up in the morning. He could blame that on Tony, he thought with a smile. Tony…to think they'd worked close together for years before either one of them had realized, and finally admitted, that their relationship was destined to proceed to a whole new level. Well, it certainly seemed as if they'd hit a high recently. Gibbs had never felt so fulfilled, so complete, so damned loved.

Changing gears between work and home life had become a habit since they'd become partners and they'd both strived to keep all the bad shit that came with their job from bleeding into their personal time. Gibbs had also had to ensure he didn't allow his affection for his head field agent to show when they were in a work mode. There were times when he couldn't take his eyes off Tony and he was afraid everyone could see the lust in his eyes. It had not been easy, though for some reason Tony seemed to handle change better than he did. Gibbs thought that maybe it was his age that had made it tough for him to adjust…old habits died hard.

Gibbs finished his coffee and poured himself another mug to take upstairs to drink when he shaved and dressed. That's when he noticed a large post-it note stuck on the cabinet above the coffeemaker. He peeled the pale yellow note off the cabinet and squinted at it to decipher Tony's handwriting. Tony had written, in large block letters, "LOVE YOU JETHRO." Gibbs chuckled and began to head for the door when he noticed that there were more post-its - a lot more. He blinked and realized that Tony had stuck notes on every cabinet, door, wall, and on the fridge.

He slowly walked around the kitchen, taking his time, reading every one. "YOU'RE EVERYTHING" "I'M YOURS FOREVER" "WITHOUT YOU I'M NOT COMPLETE" "YOU'VE AGED LIKE A FINE CHEESE" "I'D DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN" "THERE IS NO FOR WORSE, ONLY FOR BETTER" "BOSS" "LOVE YA BIG GUY" "WITHOUT YOU I'D BE LOST" "MARRY ME (KIDDING)" There were several only with hearts drawn on them, and one with a simple drawing of two snowmen holding hands.

Gibbs looked around to see Tony lounging against the doorjamb, wearing an old pair of sweats, his chest bare, obviously fresh out of the shower.

Tony ran a hand through his still-damp hair, causing it to stand up in spikes. "So you saw them. I was afraid I'd need to tape your reading glasses over the coffeemaker," he said casually.

Too casually, Gibbs thought. He could tell that his reaction to the gift of the loving post-it notes mattered a lot to the younger man. He carefully placed his coffee mug on the counter, then held out his arms in invitation and said in a voice colored with emotion, "I love you too, babe." In a flash Tony was in his arms and Gibbs held him tight, as if he was never going to let him go. He murmured into Tony's neck, "Was that yesterday's gift?"

Tony nodded. They'd come home late and Tony had almost fallen asleep over a hastily made dinner. They had been in bed and snoring before either had thought of the daily gift exchange. "When'd you do all this?" Gibbs asked.

With a shrug Tony said, "You were asleep."

"Thank you, Tony."

Pleased, a smile lit up Tony's face. "You have something planned for tonight? Because I don't mind if we miss a day, you know. We can wait 'til after Christmas, when we're on vacation."

"I'm not about to miss anything." Jethro slid his hands up Tony's back to his shoulders, holding him close. Tony made a small sound of pleasure. "Just one thing, Tony…"

"Yeah?" Tony asked drowsily.

"That note you wrote about aging like cheese?"

"Cheese?" Tony's eyes scanned around the kitchen and located the note that said YOU'VE AGED LIKE A FINE CHEESE. "Oh. Guess I was dead on my feet when I wrote that one, Boss. I meant wine." He kissed Gibbs and smiled winningly. "You're like fine, full-bodied, expensive wine. Worth every drop."

"Good catch, Tony." Gibbs stood there in his old t-shirt and flannel pajama bottoms, drinking coffee out of a chipped mug, with his partner's arms wrapped around him, watching the blue jays vying with squirrels for seed at the bird feeder out in the wintery yard. Tony leaned into him and sighed with contentment. Jethro decided that this was turning out to be a very good Christmas after all.

The next day they determined that the Navy husband and wife killing was open and shut due to irrefutable witnesses. He had knifed her and she had shot him in front of their three children and an adult neighbor. The case kept the agents working late once again.

Gibbs glanced at the wall clock…again. It was 1800 and Ducky and Palmer had already left for the day. Ziva and McGee were out collecting witness statements and were due back at any time. Once they returned the team could finish writing up the case files and they could all head home.

Tony had brought back takeout food an hour ago, which they'd consumed, and now he was down in Abby's lab. Probably sampling her eggnog, Gibbs thought, which by now the goth would have spiked. He was looking forward to tonight, just snuggling up, giving Tony his gift and watching a movie with him. A couple of weeks earlier, when Tony wasn't at home, Gibbs had put on his reading glasses and carefully looked over all of the holiday movies in Tony's massive DVD library. It had taken him a while and some cross-referencing with a book of DVD reviews, but Gibbs had determined that Tony's Ultimate Christmas Collection was missing a couple of titles. With the assistance of a very young salesperson at the Potomac Video, Gibbs had ordered the perfect DVD to add to Tony's collection.

"Finally," Tony said as he plopped down on the couch next to Jethro. "I thought we'd never get out of work today. At least those kids have relatives living nearby who were able to take them in and…uh…Jethro…that's the DVD remote." His tone was that of a parent discovering his child was running with a sharp object. Tony reached to take the control out of Gibbs' hand, and was surprised when the older man warded him off and held it out of his reach.

"Hey! I've got it, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, affronted.

Tony stared at his lover and wondered what had come over him. "It's for the DVD player," Tony explained carefully.

"I'm not stupid, Tony. And I might be as aged as cheese-."

"As wine," Tony cut in. "Fine wine." He sniffed the air. "Do I smell popcorn?"

"Just sit back and don't touch anything," Jethro said. "Be right back." He headed for the kitchen and returned shortly bearing a large bowl of popcorn and a couple of cold bottles of beer. "This is the Leroy Jethro Gibbs movie night," he said, suppressing a smile at the dumbfounded look on Tony's face.

When he picked up the remote Jethro squinted at the buttons, but once he found the one he was looking for he didn't hesitate to press it. "There."

Tony took a handful of popcorn and looked sideways at Jethro and asked with a hint of admiration, "You've been learning new tricks when I wasn't looking?"

"You accusing me of being an old dog?" Jethro motioned towards the screen of their big TV. "Pay attention, Tony. The movie's starting."

Tony sat there with his mouth open when the titles began and then he looked to Jethro, eyes as wide as a kid's. "Double feature! Holiday and Christmas in Connecticut! Oh, Jethro…" He kissed Jethro hard on the cheek and immediately turned back to the screen. "I love Holiday! 1938, George Cukor directed. Cary Grant shocks his fiancée's parents when he tells them he's retiring at an early age so he can have fun when he's still young. Doesn't this remind you of Magnum? Have fun in the sun when you're young is his motto. Look! Katherine Hepburn is the oddball sister and she falls in love with Grant…"

Gibbs didn't follow everything that Tony was telling him, and truth be told he didn't pay a lot of attention to the old film either. As it played he realized he must have seen it many years ago, probably on the Midnight Movie on TV with his dad. Not that it made any difference because the only person he had eyes for was the younger man sitting next to him on their living room couch, the one enthralled with the old movie, the man he loved so much it sometimes hurt. Jethro slipped his arm over the back of the couch and around Tony's shoulders. He relaxed into him and just enjoyed the show.

***end chapter 8***