If you hadn't noticed, these chapters just keep getting longer! And this one is my favorite of the bunch. Thank you to those few who have dropped a line to let me know that you've enjoyed reading so far! It means the world.
And if you wondered where the smut was, it's HERE. along with some more surfer!Gibbs and even a little surfer!Tony
Tony's hand fisted and flattened restlessly against the leg of his pants. They weren't officially due back at Pearl for another five hours but the information they had gleaned the night before meant there was work to do and for now, what they had begun on the beach would have to wait.
He kept glancing over at Gibbs, trying to convince himself that the events of the morning weren't, in fact, merely a dream inspired by the tropical night breezes and some serious sleep deprivation. Finally deciding to tempt fate, he reached out a tentative hand and let it rest lightly on Gibbs' thigh, just above his knee. It was a familiar gesture, one born of early mornings on the way to the Navy yard in the weeks before Gibbs fled NCIS, made habit when things were still new and promising and thrillingly uncertain. It was also one he had missed desperately and which scared the hell out of him now.
Tony felt muscle tighten beneath his fingertips and half-expected the touch to be rebuked. Instead, the other man's fingers wrapped around his own and squeezed lightly. The simple reflexivity of the action made his chest ache and he looked out the window to hide his slightly wistful smile. It was a small step but it was an important one for both of them.
The buzz of Gibbs' cell phone a moment later made Tony pull his hand away abruptly, but to his surprise, Gibbs tightened his grip and held him just a few seconds longer.
"It's Ziva." Tony checked the caller ID.
"Speaker."
He flipped open the phone and set it on the dash.
"What did you find on Fayed?" Gibbs wasted no time in getting to the point.
"Too much." Her voice sounded grave even with the tininess of the phone. "McGee and Abby are-how did you put it, McGee? Burning down the walls?"
"We're currently trying to get access to the files CIA, NSA, and Homeland have on Fayed but they're being slow to turn over information, even to the director. We might have to get creative with their firewalls, Boss," he said cryptically.
"Do what you have to do," Gibbs said flatly. "I don't know how time sensitive this is and there's already been a delay. We've got another week until the majority of vessels are in place for PACRIM but there's already a foreign leadership presence on base here. Too target rich for my comfort."
"According to my contacts at Mossad, Fayed and the Sword of Mohammed are believed to be responsible for at least a dozen bombings in Israel, Turkey, Syria, and most recently the Ukraine. All targets were military but had a high number of civilian casualties as well. Fayed seems to prefer a body count."
McGee's voice interrupted. "I'm putting everything into an email, Boss. Sending it now."
"What about the thing with the 'desert's graveyard'?" Tony asked, mind immediately switching gears. "There's no desert on this island."
"The translation is accurate," Ziva confirmed, "however I do not know its meaning. I could find no other references to it."
"Good work. Keep digging into the CIA files and let me know when you have something. We're headed to the base now."
Tony flipped the phone closed. "I don't think this is a dead lead, Boss."
"Me neither." They drove in silence for awhile, merging onto the freeway south of Schofield Barracks. They were an exit or two away from the one that would take them back to Pearl when Gibbs suddenly jerked the wheel to the right, veering onto a different ramp without warning. "Damn it," he swore, joining a line of traffic heading into a massive parking lot.
"What did I miss?" Tony had managed to hang onto the files in his lap but just barely.
"The desert's graveyard." Jethro pointed to a sign ahead of them that read USS Arizona Memorial. "Military target, civilian casualties." He pulled into a spot reserved for military personnel at the front and flashed his badge to the guard who had immediately started for the vehicle before seeing the government tags.
"This is a security nightmare," Tony muttered as they followed the herds of people headed for ticket windows and tours. "And in the middle of a Naval base."
They passed up the lines, gift shops, and museums and made their way down to the water where there was an excellent view of the harbor and its numerous memorials. Tony would have liked to see it under less pressing circumstances.
"We looking for anything in particular?" He scanned crowds and buildings with a trained eye.
Gibbs stopped dead and pointed to the horizon. "We're looking for that."
Tony followed his arm. "Is that a…"
"Tourist charter helicopter," Gibbs confirmed without Tony finishing his question.
"In military airspace?" he asked incredulously.
"Special arrangement." Gibbs shaded his eyes and followed the path of the low-flying helicopter.
"Circling vultures," Tony muttered. "It was right under their noses. How many of them are there?" He had already spotted another on the horizon.
"Too many. And we need to get them out of the air." He turned and made a bee line through the gathered throng and Tony had to jog a few steps to keep up.
"Gonna be a lot of disappointed tourists."
"Better than a whole lot of dead tourists," Gibbs countered.
In the end it took them almost a half hour to clear the checkpoints and arrive back at the NCIS offices. Tony called Cabbot on the way and filled him in on what they knew and what they suspected and the FCI team was waiting for them when they entered.
"Get that email from McGee and find out where they're at with Homeland and the CIA. I'll call Morrow myself if I have to."
Cabbot was already moving aside paperwork to make room for Gibbs but Spencer and Borling were just standing by, seemingly awed at the way the senior agent had come in and taken over.
"I need email access and a printer," Tony approached Borling who was probably the safest of the pair.
"Sure." Borling led him over to a desk which seemed to be unoccupied while still glancing over his shoulder to where Gibbs and Cabbot had their heads together. "Does he always do that?"
"What? Take over?" Tony grinned.
"Yeah."
"Pretty much," Tony admitted. "Listen, just move when he says move and don't ask too many questions. His bark is usually worse than his bite unless you're on the other side of the interrogation table, but it's a helluva bark." Tony was already busily logging on and downloading everything McGee had sent so far. "And Borling?" Tony called to the younger agent who was already moving back toward his own desk. "You might want to watch the back of your head for the next week."
"They'll give us 48 hours," Cabbot said as he hung up the phone, his frustration obvious.
"Why not ground them until we neutralize the threat?" Tony asked.
"Tourism is important business on Oahu, DiNozzo, and since we can't tell them why we're grounding them, we get 48 hours," the other agent explained. "We may not like it but it's better than nothing."
"We also don't want to tip off Fayed and risk him running," Gibbs added.
Cabbot nodded. "It's not unheard of for us to close down airspace for short periods of time when we have special operations taking place on base."
"We don't know exactly what the target is and whether he's targeting today, tomorrow, or next Tuesday. We have 48 hours to figure it out." Gibbs came to stand beside Tony as he spoke and he could feel the familiar heat rolling off the older man in waves.
Agent Spencer joined them. "I've got the towers at Hickham and the lookouts at Pearl on high alert. The choppers can fly beneath their radar, but with everything non-military grounded they'll be watching closely."
"DiNozzo, you and Spencer check in with McGee, tell him I want an update every half hour. Then I want a list of every single company that has permission to fly in that airspace and every aircraft they own."
"On it, Boss." Tony had to admit, for him, this was the fun part. Things moved fast, he had a mission, a purpose. And if his eyes lingered a little longer than necessary on Gibbs' backside as he turned away, he was certain everyone else was too busy to notice.
"So, you and Agent Gibbs," Spencer said speculatively as they settled in at her desk. "Have to admit, I didn't see that one coming." She didn't bother looking up from her computer screen.
Tony's head snapped up. Spencer already put him off his game and he didn't like the implication. "See what coming?"
"Come on, your eyes were practically glued to his ass a minute ago. And the way he looks at you? I misjudged you, Agent DiNozzo. Of course you can't really blame me with all the 'you're really pretty' crap from last night."
Tony blinked in surprise. Not only had she seen right through him, she actually seemed to be warming to him. "Yeah, well, it's complicated," he fumbled. "And he's my Boss. So I'd rather not talk about it."
"There aren't any specific NCIS rules against fraternization." She tapped rapidly at her keyboard as she talked.
"There are other kinds of rules, believe me. Like I said, it's complicated." He dug his cell phone out and began to dial.
"The way you two look at each other?" Spencer laid a hand on Tony's wrist to still him, "Trust me, DiNozzo, it's not that complicated."
He could feel the heat in his face and he snuck a quick glance over at Gibbs and then grinned back at his phone as he resumed dialing McGee's number.
"Tell McGee to quit playing grab ass with Abby in the lab and get me something I can use," Gibbs barked as he came stalking over a moment later.
Tony set the phone on the desk and slipped in next to Spencer who moved aside. "McGee's running a list and cross-referencing all Fayed's known aliases from CIA, Homeland, and Mossad as well as all known or suspected members of the Sword of Mohammed against passports coming into the US." The screen in front of him mirrored what McGee was doing back in the DC office.
"Got three hits already, Boss." McGee's voice came through the open phone on the desktop.
"Spencer, get me profiles on all of them with BOLOs out to all local agencies within the hour. Borling, get a list of every employee at every company that has permission to enter the base's airspace, look for any new hires in the past year, anyone who doesn't completely fit. McGee, you keep looking. Cabbot, get your Homeland guys in here. Find out if anyone's been tracking these bastards. DiNozzo, you're with me." He snatched the list of charter companies from the top of the desk.
"Where we headed, Boss?"
"Road trip," Gibbs headed for the exit.
"Sweet." Tony grinned, pausing to grab his bag from beneath his temporary desk. Cabbot stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"Is he always like this?" The FCI team leader asked, sounding almost as awed as Borling.
"Pretty much." Tony grinned and trotted for the exit.
Three hours later they had checked two of the major charter companies on the island and found nothing out of the ordinary. Employee files checked out, registration numbers were accurate, owners were surprisingly cooperative, and they were no closer to even knowing what in the hell they were looking for.
As Gibbs and Tony pulled through the gates of Bright Sky charters and toward its row of four sky-blue hangars, nothing immediately stood out.
A man in khakis and a Hawaiian-print shirt emerged from an open hangar and approached them as they parked.
"How can I help you, gentleman?" he asked pleasantly.
"You can help up find the owner." Gibbs held his creds out for the man to see.
"I'm Roger Chambers. My brother Bill and I own Bright Sky. You here to tell me why my birds are on the ground and I'm losing business by the hour?"
"We're here to see if you've seen any of these men." Tony held out the photos of the men McGee's search had turned up earlier.
Chambers studied the photos, pausing at the last one. "This is a joke, right?" He held up a photo.
"You know this man?" Gibbs immediately went on alert.
"Well, I don't know who Hussein Nasir is, but this is a picture of Sam Ames, my mechanic."
"Where is he now?" Tony's fingers were already unsnapping the holster at his belt.
"Hangar 3, working on a tail rotor." Chambers pointed to the last building in the row, still looking dumbfounded.
"Get back inside and stay out of the way. If you've got an office, lock yourself in it until we tell you to come out." Gibbs motioned Chambers back toward the building he had come from.
"You're not gonna shoot him are you?" Chambers looked from Tony to Gibbs. "It's just that he's a really good mechanic."
"Go," Gibbs barked, unholstering his own weapon.
The main door to the hanger bay Chambers had indicated was closed. Tony and Gibbs found a window but it was too high to offer any kind of view. "Love going in blind," Tony sighed.
"Eyes open. Lot of open space with no cover," Gibbs said as they positioned themselves outside the smaller entry to the side of the building.
"And no vest." Tony held the older man's eyes for a moment and then nodded. A moment later, Gibbs turned the nob quietly and they entered on silent feet, going to each side of the door immediately to scan the room.
A ladder was positioned near the tail of a helicopter and a drop cloth littered with fluids and various parts covered the ground beneath it. There was no one immediately visible in the hangar but there were tall rows of shelves and crates lining one back wall which appeared to contain a supply of spare parts, and they moved toward these cautiously.
The sound of metal falling on concrete reached Tony's ears from somewhere off to their left. "Sam Ames?" The sound echoed through the open space.
There was a door to Tony's right and he gestured to it as Gibbs circled around the last row of shelves. The next 30 seconds were a blur.
A tall row of shelves filled with parts and boxes suddenly toppled toward Tony and it was only quick reflexes and a strong sense of self-preservation which kept him from being crushed. As it was, he was on his ass and rolling the last few inches out of the way as he caught sight of their target moving quickly toward the exit. But it was the weapon clutched in the other man's hands that nearly stopped his heart.
"Gun!" Tony yelled, even as the first bullet hit the concrete far too close to his head, sending an explosion of cement shards into his face and hair even as he rolled toward the semi-cover of the debris from the fallen shelves.
"Drop your weapon. Down on the ground. Now!"
Gibbs' voice was sharp and clear in Tony's ears despite the pounding of his pulse and he raised his weapon just in time to see Ames or Nasir or whoever the hell he was pause and put the gun to his own head.
"Don't do it!" Gibbs' warned.
Tony flinched at the sound of the gun's echoing report but as Nasir's body hit the concrete he knew there was nothing he could have done.
"You okay?" Gibbs extended a hand and helped Tony up a moment later.
"Never better, Boss." He ruffled his hair to shed the dust and Gibbs' fingers joined his, searching intently for any injury.
"He didn't hit you?" His face was nearly ghost white.
"Hey." Tony took his hands to still his frantic movements. "Missed me by a mile." He smiled, realizing the shot had been a little too close, even for his own comfort. "I'm fine, Jethro." This was gentler, less for his boss and more for the man who'd sat on a beach and told him he loved him mere hours ago.
Gibbs nodded, finally satisfied. "He's not."
They walked over to where Nasir lay, dark red blood pooling around his head like a macabre halo. "I hate it when they do that," Tony sighed.
"Call it in to Cabbot. I'll get Chambers out of the bunker. Tell Cabbot to get some other teams on the rest of the list and to give them a heads-up on how this went down. We're gonna be here awhile."
They didn't make it back to NCIS until four hours later.
"There's something hinky about the inventory at Bright Sky," Abby's voice told him from the speaker phone.
"Define 'hinky'," Gibbs ordered.
"Well, unless they've had a bunch of repairs lately, there should be more there. I've cross checked the shipments received and they just aren't matching up. There's a whole lot of missing parts, Gibbs."
"What's a 'whole lot', Abbs?" Gibbs leaned over Tony's shoulder and looked at the information coming in on the screen from DC.
"Almost enough to build an entire helicopter from the ground up," she said gravely.
"Damn."
"Not the word McGee and I used but it will do." They could almost hear her smirk through the phone.
"Let me know if you find anything else worth paying attention to."
"Actually, I wasn't done yet. McGee did some checking on that box you sent us photos of. By the way, how do they not have a tech team there?"
"Just get on with it, McGee."
"At first I thought it was just a spare transponder." McGee's voice took over. "But then when we examined all the images, there were a few things I couldn't account for. You'll have to have someone there open it up and check for sure but I think it's actually designed to mimic another transponder's signal," he explained.
"So to someone watching a radar, our rogue pilot could look just like a recognized aircraft, no matter what he's flying?" Tony asked.
"Exactly. They wouldn't even need to hijack another chopper." McGee confirmed.
"That's good work. Maybe I should leave you two on your own more often." Gibbs was already halfway across the room.
"Miss you, Gibbs! And you too Tony!"
"Miss you too, Abbs. Good job, Probie." Tony smiled as he ended the call.
"Like looking for a damn needle in a haystack," Gibbs growled as he and Tony drove back toward Kai's house a few hours later. "We should have stayed on it."
"There are three other teams working through the night. How do you propose find we a single helicopter, that might not even be a whole helicopter yet, on an island this size? Go door to door? We can't do everything ourselves and staying up all night and being too tired to work tomorrow when there are fifty other agents on base right now doesn't do anyone any good. Cabbot said he's call." Tony actually flinched when the words were finally out.
Gibbs glared at him across the seat.
"Sorry, Boss. Must be jetlag." He went back to watching the miles of ocean pass by them. Before he knew it they were pulling into the driveway back at the house. It was late evening but there were still a few hours of daylight left if Tony judged correctly. Time on the island seemed to move differently somehow.
The silence that had settled between them on the ride from the base had continued after their arrival back at the guesthouse so Tony was surprised when Gibbs returned from checking in with Kai and tossed a wetsuit into his lap.
"Put this on." He was already unbuttoning his own shirt and heading for the bedroom, a matching suit in hand.
"Seriously?" Tony's eyes lit up.
"Only if you get your ass in gear in the next five minutes. We're losing daylight."
Kai was waiting for them at the front of the main house next to the row of surfboards Tony had noticed the night before. He was only slightly disappointed to realize it wouldn't be just him and Jethro on this particular adventure.
"Don't worry. Gibbs is a better teacher than I'll ever be. I'm just coming along to make sure you don't drown." Kai winked at him knowingly. "This is my beginner board. Even a haole can ride Bertha, here." He grinned and handed him the longest and widest of the surfboards along the wall.
"Bertha, huh?" He wasn't sure he liked the sound of that.
"She may be big but she's steady and reliable." Kai laughed.
Even with its size the board was lighter than Tony expected it to be though walking it to the beach proved to be more difficult.
"You have to pop up," Gibbs instructed. "Both feet at the same time."
"I did." Tony said defensively. After a half hour they hadn't even made it into the water and he was ready to throw Gibbs and the board in head first. Kai had wisely taken a seat away from the action and was watching with obvious amusement.
"Your back foot was half off the board. You'd have wiped out before you even got up. Go again."
Tony's abs and arms were burning and he was using muscles he didn't even know he had. He pushed his frustrations aside and focused on bringing his legs up under him in tandem. This time there was no denying that the move felt different and his feet landed solidly on the board.
"Woohoo!" He raised an arm up over his head in triumph.
"That was good," Gibbs agreed. "Now do it ten more times just like that and we'll talk about hitting the water."
In the next hour Gibbs and Kai taught him how to dive under incoming waves, how to roll, and how to balance in the relatively calm water of a sheltered bay to one side of the larger beach. The sun was getting low on the horizon and Tony was beginning to lose hope that he would ever get on a wave today.
"Now or never, Tony. Let's paddle out," Gibbs pulled himself up and began to move away in long, confident strokes.
Tony hesitated. The waves in the bay were smaller now than they had been that morning but they were still a little intimidating and his muscles were already aching. Still, he wasn't about to bail now. Arms burning with every stroke, he followed Gibbs toward the break with Kai right behind him. The older man paused to wait for them in the calmer waters.
"Head through that break in the waves. Water will carry us right out where we want to be. I'll be right behind you." Gibbs motioned him toward a point in the center of the bay where the current seemed to be flowing out.
"And I'll be right here to make sure you don't drown when you wipe out," Kai grinned at him.
Tony fought his way through the surf toward the break. He could feel the flow of the water around him and Gibbs was right, he could tell the moment he hit the rip tide that was funneling water out of the bay. Suddenly he was working with the sea instead of against it. And just like that he was past the break, heading out of the flow and into deep, calm water where Gibbs joined him. Tony sat upright, feet hanging into the water as he turned to face the shore.
"So, I just pick a wave and go?" Now that they were out here, Tony wasn't sure quite what was supposed to happen next.
"No, now we wait." Gibbs came up beside him, so close that their legs touched as they bobbed on the surface of the ocean.
"What are we waiting for?"
Gibbs laughed and shook his head. "Only half of surfing is about skill on a board. The rest is up here." He tapped the side of his head.
"Are we gonna wax the floors next?" Tony smiled.
Gibbs raised an eyebrow.
"Wax on-wax off? 'The Karate Kid'?" Tony said awkwardly. He knew it was the fear talking. "Never mind."
"A good surfer reads the waves. Can tell this one's gonna break here or there," he pointed, "or if the barrel's just gonna close up. You have to learn the ocean."
"Kai said you were born to it."
"Kai believes what he believes. I'm just more observant than most. I spend time watching. But even that's only part of it."
Tony waited for him to continue.
"Out here, this is the place you have to let go, let yourself be part of something bigger for just a minute. The ocean doesn't give a shit about you. She's bigger than you and she'll chew you up and spit you out again without a second thought if you fight her. And before you can ride her, you have to let go of everything else."
This was a Gibbs he didn't know. There was something open about him that Tony had never seen before. The sharp edges he had always known were softer, the towering walls less high. "I'm afraid," Tony confessed, "afraid of loving you too much when you can't remember half of what you felt for me, afraid of losing you again no matter how many promises you make." He stared at the breaking waves. "I'm afraid I'll break next time, Jethro. I'm sure I will."
"Take my hand." Gibbs reached across the space between them.
Tony did as requested and felt somehow comforted when the other man's fingers twined with his own.
"I didn't like how I felt when Nasir shot at you today," Gibbs admitted. "It was more than just worry over losing an agent. The minute I heard the shot it was like someone reached inside and pulled my guts right out and my heart along with 'em." Gibbs shook his head. "I'm afraid too, Tony. Afraid I won't be able to give you all the things you want from me, afraid of loving you too much, afraid of losing you like I lost them."
"You won't lose me. Haven't you figured that out after six years?"
"And I came back for you, Tony. I came back when I could have, maybe even should have, stayed away. You won't lose me."
Tony watched the waves roll toward the shore. "Maybe we need to try being unafraid together for a while. See what that's like."
"Think I'd like that." Gibbs grazed his thumb across Tony's knuckles.
They sat together in silence for a while and Tony felt tension he hadn't even realized he'd been holding slowly drain away with each gentle swell that moved beneath him.
"Jethro?"
Gibbs looked at him.
"I think I'm ready now."
The other man nodded. "When I say 'go', aim for the spot right between those two palm trees. That's where it's breaking best. If you go under, and you will, look for Kai. He'll be there." He turned his board to watch the incoming swells.
Tony took a deep breath and waited.
"Go."
His head snapped up and his arms went into motion immediately, pushing himself ahead of the swell he could feel propelling him forward. He was nearing the break before he knew it, the water surging up beneath him, trying to leave him behind. With everything he had, Tony dug in and felt himself poised on the just-shattering crest. Gripping the edges of the board he pushed himself up, landing just as Gibbs had taught him. For one brilliant, shining moment, he rode the edge of the wave, borne aloft like Poseidon on his chariot.
And then he was falling.
Arms flailing, he went down the face of the break and plunged into the churning sea. He tried to remember everything Gibbs and Kai had said about staying down and waiting for the wave to roll over him but in his panic he immediately fought for the surface and was nearly smacked in the head by his board. The collapsing wave pounded him, rolling him toward the reef and he didn't have enough air any more. Fighting for the surface again, he was startled by a strong arm helping him up and onto another surfboard.
"Relax, Tony. I got you."
Still reeling from the high and low of the experience, Tony was startled to discover that he could now touch the bottom and that the reef was behind him. Kai had managed to wrangle his board as well and gave him a moment to transfer over and cough out the water he'd swallowed.
"Just paddle the rest of the way in. I'm right behind you."
Tony looked over his shoulder and saw that Gibbs had found his ride, dropping in and making it look like the easiest thing in the world. Grudgingly, he headed for shore.
"Now that's a proper Hawaiian welcome." Kai said as Tony collapsed onto his knees on the beach. "Pretty good for your first ride. Most people never even get up."
"I wiped out." Tony looked up and saw Gibbs approaching.
"With style too," Kai laughed. "But you got up." His big hand clapped him on the back as he grinned.
He had gotten up. And for one moment it had been absolutely glorious. For one moment he had understood all those things Gibbs had said to him that morning about balance and focus and letting go. It had been beautiful.
"Pretty nice wipe-out. But you were looking good before that." Gibbs observed as he came up and made no pretense of checking Tony over for injuries.
Tony looked up at the two men with an almost maniacal smile filled with grim determination "When can we go again?"
"Am I supposed to hurt this bad before I go to bed?" Tony rolled shoulders which were already stiffening up.
Gibbs looked at him speculatively. "Might be able to help with that."
"Anything that will let me move tomorrow without feeling like I got run over by a bus." He watched as Gibbs got up and went into the bathroom, emerging with a glass bottle filled with light brown liquid.
"Something Kai makes up. Gave me some for my knee last night." He motioned Tony to the couch.
"What's in it?" Tony looked at the bottle suspiciously.
"I don't ask," Gibbs laughed. "You'll wanna take off your shirt for this. It stains."
"You're just trying to get me out of my clothes," Tony chided. In fact, he felt as nervous as he had the first time Jethro had touched him in a way that was decidedly more than friendly
"I don't seem to remember that being a problem for you." Gibbs waited as Tony tossed his shirt onto one of the armchairs. He pumped some of the liquid into his palms and rubbed them together, placing his hands on Tony's shoulders and using light pressure. The younger man's skin sliding beneath his hands caused an avalanche of memory and he fought not to react.
"Mmm…feels good," Tony purred as Gibbs' thumbs worked on either side of his spine along his neck. "Doesn't smell too bad either." Whatever Gibbs was using had a light mint aroma without being mediciny.
Jethro worked at the tension in Tony's shoulders then moved down to his upper arms. His movements were long and fluid and he could feel Tony relaxing more with each sweep of his palms. Eventually his fingers wandered over the younger man's shoulder blades, slipped beneath his arms, and fanned out along his flanks. "This okay," he asked when he felt Tony shudder.
"Mmmhmm." Tony didn't have words to say how okay it was. His breathing picked up and he leaned back into Jethro. "Exactly how much do you remember? About before?" Whether or not he was ready to hear the answers, at least it was a distraction from what his body was telling him needed to happen next.
"Fragments, flashes. It's like having just enough of a puzzle to tell what the picture is but still missing important pieces," he tried to explain. He kept his fingers working lightly against Tony's ribs which he knew from experience would be sore from the workout he'd gotten that afternoon. "Most of the time I remember feelings more than actual events."
"But you remembered the sliver? That night in the basement." He referred to the incident on the plane and felt heat climb up his throat at the memory.
"That one I remember." He leaned forward and spoke against the rim of Tony's ear. "That one I remember all of."
Tony stiffened at the feel of Jethro's lips against the spot that drove him absolutely wild. "That was the first night I…"
"I know." His hands came around and flattened over Tony's stomach, pulling him into an embrace.
"Never thought you'd ever touch me like this again," Tony breathed. "Do you have any idea how much I wanted to…ever since you came back. The minute you walked in that door, Jethro, putting my hands on you was all I could think about."
"I know," Gibbs whispered.
He laid his hands over the top of Jethro's. "I'm not sure I know how to go back. I don't think I can just pick up where we left off four months ago."
"Not asking for that. I'm not asking for anything." He held Tony tight against his chest now. "Still trying to figure everything out myself. Don't think I wasn't more than a little shocked to remember being with you like that. To remember wanting you." He wanted Tony just as badly now. His entire body pulsed with it. He was like an alcoholic who'd gotten his first taste of liquor in four months and needed the whole bottle, but was scared to death to pour a drink.
Tony shifted in Jethro's embrace and sat up, turning to face him. "I don't know where to start over." He could see the arousal coloring the other man's face, darkening his eyes. It mirrored his own and he cursed his own uncertainty.
Reaching for Tony's wrist, Jethro wrapped his fingers around it lightly as he had in the hold of the plane, as he had on the night which had begun so many things. His thumb stroked the center of the younger man's palm and he heard Tony's breath catch as he lifted it to his lips and pressed his mouth reverently against warm skin. "We can start wherever you want, Tony. Whenever you want." He kissed the pads of each one of the younger man's fingertips in turn and returned to center, looking up to find Tony watching him intently, lips slightly parted.
Trembling at each curl of warm breath against his flesh, Tony lifted his other hand and pulled at the edge of Jethro's t-shirt, slipping his fingers beneath the soft fabric. The other man's skin was magnetic, pulling at his fingertips as they slid through the soft down on his belly, climbed up to tangle in the fuller hair of his chest.
"You wanna do this here?" Jethro asked, not breaking eye contact. Something in Tony's fleeting, careful touches said this wasn't about sex.
He shook his head. "Just wanna…just need your hands on me tonight," Tony confessed. He couldn't explain the feeling any better than that.
Gibbs pulled away slowly and stood, taking Tony along. "Think I can do that." He was achingly hard and the tenting of Tony's boxers told a similar story but it didn't have to be about that. Not tonight. He let the other man lead the way to the darkened bedroom. "On or off?" He plucked at his t-shirt.
"Off," Tony breathed, "definitely off." He wasn't sure how far he was prepared to take this but he had always been a tactile creature, always learning the world through his hands, and he wanted nothing between his skin and Jethro's own tonight.
Tony paused with his fingers in the waistband of his boxers. "This feels weird. Like it's the first time you're seeing me naked, except it's not." He felt inexplicably self-conscious, though he had never been ashamed of his body.
"Think about how I feel," Jerthro laughed, lightening the awkwardness of the moment slightly.
Pulling the light blankets off the bed, Tony sat down on the sheet and shifted toward the wall, making room for Gibbs on a bed that was really too small to accommodate both of them without some serious cuddling.
Jethro lined his body up with Tony's, facing him on his side, but kept a few inches of distance between them. Slowly, he reached out and traced the curve of the younger man's jaw with his thumb, letting his fingertips trail lightly over his cheekbones and over the lobe of his ear as they glided down the back of his neck. "This okay?" He asked, tracing the long arc of Tony's back in slow, gentle sweeps.
"More than okay." Tony shifted closer, feeling the heat of Jethro's body against the entire length of his own, tasting his breath on his lips. He reached for those lips tentatively, fleetingly, remembering the first moment they had found his in the dark of Gibbs' basement.
Opening to Tony's kisses but letting the other man retain control, Jethro put more weight behind his touches, increasing the pressure on hard muscle. When the younger man deepened the kiss and snaked a hand over his hip, pulling him close, he began to wonder if this was such a good idea. His body remembered, even if his brain was swiss cheese, and there was no ramping down his desire even if he did put it on a very short leash. "Tell me if you want me to stop," Jethro murmured against lips that seemed to have no intent on leaving his.
"Don't stop. Don't you ever stop touching me, Jethro. Never again." Tony's plea was too close to a moan for his own liking but Jethro's fingers were kneading his thighs and his bottom in ways that told him the other man remembered far more than he was letting on, and he was too lost in the miracle of what was happening between them right now to care.
He could feel Tony, hard and leaking against his belly, hard and rolling his hips now, giving little unconscious thrusts with each sweep of hands over his skin. Fingers curled into his hair and with every tiny noise and sigh the younger man made against his mouth, Jethro felt his own control slipping that much more.
"Turn over." He nipped at Tony's bottom lip and loosened his hold just a little.
"Jethro, I…"
"Just trust me." Jethro kissed the younger man gently and nosed at his cheek.
Tony turned onto his side, spooning into Jethro's body now, feeling the thick shaft of his cock against his bottom. One of the other man's arms reached up over his shoulder and clasped his hand while the other slowly roamed the length of his body from calf to clavicle. Soft lips moved against the back of his neck, the curve of his shoulder, the nub of his earlobe, never demanding, never taking. His body was on fire from the tips of his hair right down to his toes, sensitized, electrified by the never-ceasing sweep of loving hands across his flesh.
Jethro's caresses became more focused as Tony's breathing became shallow and the younger man's moved restlessly against him, muscles bunching and twitching at every touch now. He traced circles across Tony's belly, pressed into the crease of his hip, worried and rubbed one flat nipple with the pad of his thumb. With a hand beneath Tony's knee, he urged him to open to him, draping one long leg over his own and caressing the inside of the younger man's thighs.
Gasping and clutching at the hand between his legs, Tony drew it up slowly and placed it on his twitching cock. "Please, Jethro…just…please." He didn't care that he sounded desperate. He'd been dying for the other man to touch him like this for months and he didn't want to be afraid of it anymore.
"Never have to ask me, Tony. Never again." Jethro's voice was thick against the curve of Tony's ear as he fisted his cock and began to stroke it's length in slow pulls, listening to the hitch in the younger man's breathing that told him he'd found the right pace. Tony was alive in his arms, thrusting and rolling his hips moving his free hand restlessly across the sheets or clutching at his hip, all while his gasps and sweet, throaty moans became more needy and close.
The catch of Jethro's thumb beneath the rim of his head sent a shudder through Tony's body with each stroke. Whatever else he'd lost, Gibbs definitely remembered just how he liked to be jerked off and he was quickly driving Tony toward an almost certainly explosive release. He could feel the insistent pressure building between his hips, the warmth that tugged at his spine. Tony reached for the edge, fingers flexing against Jethro's thigh as the heat in his belly burst and shattered, spilling out of him in sharp waves that shook him from head to toe.
Gibbs didn't need a warning to know Tony was about to come. He kept his strokes even when the younger man's breathing hitched and stuttered, finally emerging as a broken gasp as warmth burst against his fingers in heavy spurts. He kept stroking while the man in his arms trembled and moaned through his orgasm, only stopping to wipe his hand on the sheets when Tony had fully quieted. "Okay?" he whispered against sweat-dampened skin.
"Mmm..."Tony sighed heavily. "Much better than okay."
"Still here." Gibbs kissed the spot just behind his ear.
"You are," Tony agreed, rolling his hips lazily against Jethro's persistent erection. "Maybe I can do something about that."
"'M fine." He nosed into Tony's hair and tried to think about something other than the fact that he was hard as a rock with aching balls. He didn't want this to be about what he needed.
"Don't argue with me, Jethro." Tony rolled over and smiled dreamily at him. His hand began to wander the older man's backside.
They both jumped as a cell phone buzzed to life on the nightstand beside the bed. Gibbs reached for it and checked the caller ID. "Cabbot." He scrubbed a hand over his face and answered.
"Yeah, Gibbs."
Tony's hand didn't still as he waited to hear whatever Jethro was getting from Pearl.
"No, we'll be right in. Hold them off until we get down there." He snapped the phone shut.
"Talk about your bad timing." Tony kissed him gently and pushed himself up. He was going to need to wash off before they went anywhere.
"They ran all the orders and deliveries against each-other. Found one address that didn't fit. Cabbot's putting a team together to check it out right now. They'll wait for our lead." Jethro swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood, a movement made far more awkward by his stiffly jutting erection.
"What are you gonna do about that?" Tony grinned while he watched Gibbs' bare bottom head out of the room.
"Really cold shower."