Heartland Connection
By Gunnery Sergeant
This is a sequel to "Reconnection, Tony version".
Thanks to Finlaure for the betareading!
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Anthony DiNozzo sat down on a bench in Stillwater Central Park, a grand name for a small rectangle of grass, some bushes, a few trees and a couple of swings.
The evening was peaceful, still warm for mid-October, and he relaxed against the back of the bench as he looked toward the nearby Sheriff Office.
Gibbs was still inside, dealing with the paperwork connected with the arrest of Nick Kingston and the two miners that had killed Corporal Taylor and had almost beaten to death Corporal LaCombe.
Gibbs had told Tony to go to his father's home and rest, but he wasn't that tired. He preferred to wait for his boss here. Perhaps, when he was done, the older man would agree to sit there with him for a while, and they could have some time in private before they returned to the house.
Tony longed for some quality time with his lover. He had been home from his stint as Agent Afloat for only two weeks, and they had yet to make up for the four months they had been separated.
He had hated every moment of his assignment on the Ronald Reagan and the Seahawk, and he hoped to never set foot on a ship again. He had hated the constant rocking of the floor, the ever present buzzing of the engines, and the noise of the landing and departing crafts. He had hated the lack of privacy and to be in close quarters with 5000 people that had distrusted him because they saw him as the cop of the ship.
He had hated his loneliness and missed his friends and the chance to be his goofy, sometime even foolish self. He had missed teasing McGee, verbally sparring with Ziva, listening to Ducky's ramblings and hugging Abby.
Most of all, he had missed his boss and lover: his quiet intensity, his abrasive but charismatic personality, and Gibbs' relentlessness, both on the job and in their relationship.
Tony had never been in a true, committed relationship before – his time with Jeanne didn't count – and he hadn't known how good it felt to be part of a real couple, and how much he would miss his partner when separated from him.
He hadn't just missed the sex-- although, being Tony DiNozzo, he had missed it a lot.
He had also missed working with Gibbs on his boat, watching movies with the older man and enjoying his wry commentaries, even running errands together. Simple things that always made Tony feel he belonged somewhere, that he was part of something important.
Most of all, he had missed those precious times when his lover's mask fell and he allowed himself to be what he really was; a vampire.
The mere idea still caused a thrill to run along his spine. Not just because of the whole strangeness of his lover's real nature, but because of the trust involved in the fact he let Tony see it.
Gibbs trusted him to never reveal his secret and Tony trusted his lover to not hurt him when he sunk his fangs in his neck and drew blood.
Tony had never been one to equal pain to pleasure, but boy, he had come to crave the sharp burn of Jethro's bites or the slight stinging sensation when his lover ran his fangs over his cock or nipples, tantalizing, teasing and always so careful not to hurt him.
He groaned and shifted his weight on the bench to relieve the pressure on his groin. That wasn't the moment to get hard. He had the feeling Jethro wouldn't agree to have sex in his father's house, with the rest of the team near, no matter what a turn on doing something risky could be.
He shook his head with fondness. His lover was an old fashioned man, and he liked him exactly how he was.
As he returned to the vampire thing, Tony was sometimes surprised by how well he had reacted to Gibbs' revelation and adapted his beliefs to the discovery that vampires, probably the most celebrated 'fantasy' villains really existed.
He still remembered when, as a child, he had been scared of the vampire hiding on his canopy bed. That kind of irrational fear had stayed with him as he grew up, so much so that he had told Kate vampires were his bête noire. But now, everything had changed and he was no longer afraid.
That was probably due to the fact the real vampires were less scary than the fantasy ones, but most importantly it was due to the fact it had been Gibbs that introduced him to that notion.
Tony had trusted Leroy Jethro Gibbs as his boss from the first day he had started working for NCIS, and the trust had only increased along the years. A trust that became so strong that even learning about the older man's real nature hadn't shaken it.
As for their relationship, Tony had been attracted to Gibbs right from the first time he had seen him in the Baltimore Police precinct.
Back then, it had just been a matter of physical attraction, of him having the 'hots' for a handsome, strong, older man. He had reined in his feelings because he had thought Gibbs would have broken his legs and fired him on spot if he ever made a pass at him, and he really liked to work for NCIS.
Years had passed and while Tony had dated more women than he cared to remember plus some occasional guy, his attraction to Gibbs had never gone away. Instead, it had become stronger the more he had come to know the older man, and care, respect, and admiration had been thrown into the mix.
He had begun to crave Gibbs' approval and rare praises, and secretly enjoyed every time his boss had smacked his head, for it had been highly unlikely the older man would ever bestow any other kind of touch to him.
In time he had come to realize that what he felt for the older man was more than loyalty to a mentor, more than friendship with a colleague, and more than physical attraction to his blue-eyed, iron-willed boss.
He had refused a promotion in Spain in order not to leave Gibbs and you don't throw away such an opportunity if you don't have a very damn good reason to do it—and that reason hadn't been his concerns for his boss' still confused memories or his undercover mission for Jenny. Tony wasn't so altruistic—and he had known it.
Deep inside he had known the reason he hadn't wanted to leave, but he had stubbornly refused to call it by its name—until the evening Gibbs had revealed his real nature and calmly announced he loved Tony.
It had been only then that he had found the strength to admit to himself he also loved his boss.
It had taken him only a few hours of soul-search to decide he wanted to be with Gibbs and couldn't care less if the older man were a vampire, a werewolf or an X-Man.
He was Leroy Jethro Gibbs and he loved him. As he had later told his lover, it was as simple, or as complex, as that.
TBC
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