A/N: Thanks for the reviews!
Real Truths
"You can't do that, Andy."
Gibbs watched Tony talk to his manager on the phone. He had started out calm, had actually asked if Andy had told the press about his whereabouts. Apparently he hadn't denied it and that was when all hell broke loose. Gibbs had never heard Tony raise his voice, as he had always been calm and balanced around him and now that he heard it, he was glad not to be on Tony's bad side because the guy sounded lethal. Andy, on the other hand, apparently wasn't afraid of his boss because after a short pause, Tony replied coldly.
"Fine, you're fired."
Again there was silence when Tony listened and Gibbs could almost see the color drain from his face. He intuitively took a step closer towards the younger man and then laid a hand on his arm because Tony was by now breathing heavily and Gibbs could tell that he was on the verge of losing his temper once and for all.
"I don't care," Tony finally said. "Do whatever the fuck you want to do. I'm through with you. You can't blackmail me – not anymore."
With that he ended the call and then continued to stare at his cellphone for a few moments, apparently surprised at his own courage.
"What happened?" Gibbs asked stupidly as if he hadn't heard Tony's end of the conversation to know what's going on. "What did he say?"
"He didn't even deny that it was him who has always called the vultures. Thought it was a good idea to have me on their radar all the time because more press is always good press. But what the fuck? He knew I hated every second of it, he knew all I wanted was my quiet from time to time. And what does he do? He calls them every goddamn time he can. God, I can't believe I didn't see it before."
"Sometimes you don't want to see things as they are," Gibbs shrugged as he gently guided the younger man towards the couch. "It happens to the best of us."
Tony nodded and then rubbed a tired hand over his face. Gibbs hadn't seen him like that before. He looked utterly defeated and the older man didn't like it one bit. He was clearly exhausted but at the same time Gibbs knew that Tony wouldn't get the chance to rest, not yet anyway. There was still something about the phone call that made him uneasy.
"You said something about blackmail?" he finally went on as Tony stayed quiet and Gibbs hated it when he was quiet, it was so out of the ordinary that it made him uneasy.
"Yeah," Tony sighed, sitting back and staring up at the ceiling as if it held all the answers to his questions. "I wanted to fire him a couple of times already but he always told me that he'd tell the vultures that I was gay."
"I take it that hasn't changed?"
"No, but I have," Tony replied and he suddenly sounded stronger again. "I'm tired of being pushed around by him. This time he's gone too far. It's one thing booking me for every goddamn promotion tour there is, but it's a whole different thing invading my privacy like that."
"What are you going to do?" Gibbs asked while internally he already thought about the chances of getting Andy for blackmail. There probably was a way to have him booked for it – if Tony wanted that but Gibbs wasn't quite sure about that.
"I don't know," Tony answered, putting his head into his hands. "I could wait it out, but they know where I am and it'll be front page – again. There's still this pregnancy and the prostitute thing out there, not sure how much bad press me and my career can stand."
They were dipped in silence for a few minutes and Gibbs felt himself getting more uneasy by the second. He wished he could help him but he didn't know how. He had no idea how to deal with stuff like that and it made him furious. He hated when he had to see his people hurting.
"God, I never wanted this," Tony finally whispered and he sounded so broken now that Gibbs closed the small gap between them and engaged him in a tight hug which thankfully Tony returned without a second of hesitation.
He held him for what seemed like a really long time until his breathing had slowed down a bit. It was then he grabbed him by the shoulders and waited until he finally looked at him again.
"I know you don't want this, but you got it. You'll have to face this Andy problem head-on. Otherwise it won't go away."
"Yeah," Tony sighed again. "I know. I'm sure he's already calling the agencies."
"What can you do?"
"Not much, I suppose. The only thing is telling the truth about Mandy. I've planned that for next week but I guess I can call my lawyer and let him make an appointment on some talk show or another to tell them. I'm pretty sure it can even be tonight if one of the New York talk show hosts will have me."
"What about the other thing?" Gibbs asked quietly and took the other man's hand as he could see that it had started to shake ever so slightly.
"I can't possibly tell the truth. I… I just can't. My whole career would be down the drain."
"Are you sure about that?" Gibbs checked back, at the same time thinking about how it would affect his work if he'd told anyone about this thing with Tony. It probably would get him some strange looks but he didn't think that it would affect the team much at all. They were civilians after all and 'Don't ask, don't tell' didn't apply to them. He could, however, see what Tony was afraid of.
"What if you tell them that you just fired your manager and that he'll probably get every lie possible out to harm you? Would that work?"
"At times like these I really wish I had a public relations guy," Tony sighed, but Gibbs could see that he was giving his suggestion serious thought. "You know," he finally continued after a moment or two while he stroked his thumb up and down the back of Gibbs' hand. "I think it could work actually. I just have to sell it like I mean it."
"If you can sell people that you're a cop running an underground drug cartel, I'm pretty sure you can do this, too."
"Yeah," Tony let out a bark of a laugh before he picked up his cell phone. "I can try."
Gibbs got up to make himself a cup of coffee as he only half-listened to Tony's call to his lawyer. He was still oddly beaten about the viciousness that Andy was radiating but at the same time he was glad that he had apparently managed to calm Tony down somewhat and had maybe even given him an easier way out than outing himself.
Life sometimes really was horrible like that.
#
A couple of hours later, Gibbs felt himself get antsy again. He had been called in to work in the late hours of the afternoon and while it looked like a simple suicide they still had to investigate it as a murder until proven otherwise. He had hated leaving Tony alone but the younger man had assured him that he was fine and that Gibbs couldn't possibly help him. He had gotten a late night gig at a New Yorker talk show that Gibbs had never even heard of, but Tony had assured him that it was as good as it could get at such short notice. Tony had also told him not to worry about him as things would get sorted out in no time.
He was just looking up some possible leads in their case when Abby came running towards them, her eyes glowing as she grabbed the remote of the screen in the bullpen.
"Tony's on TV!" she cried out at Gibbs' questioning gaze. "He'll clear things up about the incident last night. I couldn't believe they printed that," she added, her voice sounding a bit troubled. "How is he handling that anyway?"
"He's used to it," Gibbs just shrugged, earning himself a raised eyebrow from Kate.
"You guys really are good friends," she observed as she walked around her desk to stand next to Abby to have a closer look at the television set. "I thought you just said so but didn't really mean it."
"When did I ever say something I didn't mean, Kate?" Gibbs replied sharper than he had intended and he could actually see her take a step farther away from him.
However, he was distracted from his own anger towards Kate's irrational behavior by a loud 'Shush' coming from Abby as the talk show came back from a commercial break. Tony was already sitting next to the host, and only now did Gibbs recognize him as the favorite of his second wife. He had always grudgingly watched the show with her, but didn't know why people thought the host was good. His interviews sometimes lacked empathy but that was maybe because he didn't have the time to hide his reactions all the time as the show was always live and not taped like most of the others. For a moment Gibbs felt his stomach clench. He forcibly tried to relax again, knowing that Tony knew what he was doing. Everything would be fine.
The interview started with a couple of jokes and while Tony was smiling broadly and laughing at the right times, Gibbs could tell that he wasn't feeling comfortable at all. The way his eyes were darting all over the place all the time clearly told him that he was hoping it soon would be over.
That was also why Gibbs was almost relieved when the host held the paper into the cameras that displayed Tony's alleged adventure with the prostitute.
"What was up with that?" the host asked and he was still grinning ever so slightly and all what Gibbs wanted to do was punch the grin right off his face.
"What the press will believe," Tony replied, letting out a fake laugh. "See, somebody sees something or hears something and then everybody believes and prints it. While it is true that I was in that car," he pointed at the paper again. "With a prostitute, it was because I was helping out NCIS to catch a killer. No big deal really," he continued, shrugging, and he seemed to be so relaxed that Gibbs let out a deep breath, too. "Just a favor for an old friend."
"Can you prove that?"
"Sure," Tony shrugged again. "And because I knew you'd ask, I have a legal piece of paper signed by the director of NCIS personally."
He handed it over and the host, who wasn't surprised at all by the way the internet was taking (and Gibbs supposed that they had talked it through beforehand), held the paper into the camera again.
"That's really noble of you," the host said.
"Like I said, it was no big deal. Just wanted to do what's right."
"Isn't he great?" Abby let out and then softly boxed Kate.
"I know, Abby," the agent replied, her eyes still glued to screen in front of her. "I've met him."
"How come the press has it in for you like that?" the host interrupted their conversation and the two women fell silent as the camera showed Tony's face again.
Gone was the relaxed posture again and Gibbs knew what was coming. This was the serious part of the interview and he could tell by the way that Tony was smiling that he was, after all, nervous about it.
"Scandals sell well and I'm fairly well-known. They'll dig everything up and then blow it out of proportion."
"Fairly well-known he says," the host laughed into the camera. "He's the most paid and most recognized actor in the world and yet so humble which makes it even weirder that everybody seems to be out to get him. So, tell me, Tony, why do think that is?"
"I've been pretty ill-advised a couple of times. Hired the wrong people maybe and sometimes didn't contradict the press because I thought it wasn't worth the effort really."
"What has changed your mind this time?"
Tony shifted in his chair and Gibbs could tell that he hadn't expected that question.
"This thing was too big not to comment on it," he said with ease, at least it sounded like he was at ease, while his shoulders told a whole different story, but then again, Gibbs was sure that probably nobody had realized that just yet. "This is the kind of thing that can impact your whole career and while I didn't plan to advertise the fact that I was helping out the police, there was no other choice this time. Not with the press acting like that."
"That sounds reasonable," the host agreed but then continued in a somewhat harsher tone. "What about that woman who claims to be pregnant with your child? Was that thing blown out of proportion, too?"
Gibbs watched Tony blink once and twice and a third time and immediately knew that something was wrong. They sure as hell hadn't talked about that beforehand and Gibbs didn't understand why the host would press the matter like that. Then, he remembered that he was part of the press after all and maybe he felt attacked by what Tony had just said, too.
"I mean," the host went on when Tony took a second too long to answer. "There are pictures of her leaving your hotel in quite a hurry."
"And how does that prove anything?" Tony asked back, his tone of voice having turned rather icy while at the same time he was still smiling.
"Well, you can't blame the press for believing something was between the two of you when she looks the way she did that night."
"They could have asked me."
"And what exactly would you have answered? You weren't available for a statement when the news broke."
"Like I said, I was ill-advised at that time."
"So, what are you saying now, then?" the host pressed and Gibbs could hear Abby gulp next to him.
"Why is he being so mean?" she all but whispered, earning herself an agreeing grunt from McGee who had been silent throughout the interview as he hadn't averted his eyes even once since it had started.
"I'm saying," Tony slowly answered, apparently slightly thrown off course and Gibbs couldn't help but wish that he would just stand up and leave the show. "That it's nonsense. I haven't had sex with that woman."
"That's what Clinton said, too and we all know how that turned out, don't we?" Another smile into the camera. "Besides, how can you be so sure? You're well-known for dating a lot of women. Could it be that you simply forgot about her?"
"Trust me," Tony's voice was ice-cold as he answered now and the smile was long gone, too. One would have to be blind not to see that he was on the verge of… something. "I would remember if I slept with her."
"How so?
Gibbs was so spellbound by what he saw on the screen that he hadn't even noticed that he had gripped the edge of his desk so hard that his hand was hurting. He let it go, flexing his fingers but still watching the interview intently. He could tell that it wasn't going as planned at all. He could see that Tony was searching for words, was searching for a way to turn the tide in his favor and was spectacularly failing at it. Gibbs' gut clenched again and only now did he wonder why he hadn't thought about the possibility before that the host wasn't on Tony's side. At all.
He watched Tony bite his lower lip, a sure sign that he was nervous and then take a sip from the glass of water that had been provided to him to buy himself some time. The host remained silent this time, too, apparently knowing that he was onto something big.
"I'm so sure," Tony finally replied and his voice sounded rather shaky all of a sudden and his eyes weren't fixed on either the camera or the host anymore. "Because I'm pretty sure I would remember sleeping with any woman."
Gibbs stopped breathing, feeling his heart sink as he realized what Tony had just done. The room around him had turned very still and he was sure that Abby and Kate weren't breathing either when the host followed up on Tony's answer.
"Are you telling me, you don't sleep with women?"
"Yes."
And now Tony's voice suddenly didn't sound shaky or broken anymore. It was strong and steady and he was looking straight at the camera again as if he had found his own resolve again and if Gibbs hadn't been so floored at the turn of events, he would have been proud of him.
"I don't sleep with women."
Gibbs let out a breath and closed his eyes, afraid of the reaction on both the screen and his immediate surroundings. When he opened them again, he could see the speechless host and could hear loud mumbles from the audience on TV. He could also see Kate and McGee staring at the TV in wonder.
But what made Gibbs' heart stutter and then beat in an erratic rhythm was the way Abby was fixing his glance on him. She didn't look away from him even when Tony stripped away the last of the doubts about his statement.
"I'm gay."