Tony hardly left Gibbs's bedside for days. He spent most of the time on the bed, holding Gibbs in his arms while Gibbs slept – and slept and slept...and slept. Shanti and Tessa were next to them, their bodies entwined too, as Tessa and Gibbs slowly healed.

People came to visit – Ducky, Abby, and McGee. Director Shepard walked in, gave them a strange look, and didn't stay long. He thought she'd finally figured this one out. She didn't understand it, but she'd figured it out.

Jackson Gibbs showed up and shooed him down the hallway to take a shower and have a shave. He brought him a change of clothes which was a relief as his own were getting pretty stinky.

When he returned to Gibbs's room he got onto the bed again and held him tight. No way was he letting go until Gibbs told him to get the hell away from him. Gibbs had never liked being touched, but right now he seemed to need it, and Tony was happy to oblige.

"Will he ever be right again?" Jackson asked him. "How can anyone survive what was done to him, Tony?"

"He'll be fine," Tony said firmly. "He was brave, Jack – if you could have seen how brave. I don't know that any of us could have suffered what he did and survived – let alone stayed sane. You should be proud of him."

"I am, Tony. I always was." Jackson's eyes were bright with unshed tears. "Come back to us, Leroy," he said, gently stroking his son's hair. "Come back to us, son."

Jackson stayed at Gibbs's place and came and went regularly, but still Gibbs didn't rouse himself enough to speak to anyone. Tony let him be. He figured that Gibbs would wake up and start talking again when he was good and ready.

One day, Ziva showed up at the door. Tony glanced up and beckoned her in.

"I am sorry I did not come before. I…have not known him that long. I did not want to intrude," she said nervously. "Also…my boss insisted I write up a report and process all the paperwork on the case." She made a face at him, and he laughed, remembering the barked orders he'd given to her over the phone a few days ago.

"Yeah, your boss is a bastard. He learned from the best." He smiled down at Gibbs fondly.

Ziva tiptoed over to the side of the bed and sat down. Her spider daemon peeked out from under the collar of her coat.

"I thought I had seen everything. I think, maybe, I thought I knew everything too." She gave a self-deprecating little smile. "I was wrong. There is still much to learn."

She ran a gentle finger over Levi's furry back.

"Don't know why you kept him hidden so long. He's not so bad," Tony said, glancing at the spider with a grin.

Ziva looked annoyed. "He can kill with one bite!"

"Of course he can!" Tony laughed out loud. "I wanted to say…thank you for showing me who you really are, Ziva."

Ziva glanced at where Shanti was lying with Tessa wrapped up between her big paws. "You too, Tony," she said softly. "You too."

XXX

He dreamed he was locked in a cell, his paws were chained together and there was a tight metal collar around his throat, keeping him fastened against a wall. He couldn't move. He could only lie there, howling.

He woke up with the howl dying in his throat, covered in sweat.

"Hey…it's okay…" Strong hands soothed gentle patterns down his arms. "Ssh…it was just a nightmare."

He rested his head on Tony's shoulder, and Tony held him tight and talked to him until the shivering stopped. While he talked, Shanti gently washed Tessa's fur with her big, rasping tongue and between them they soothed him until the memory of the nightmare faded.

He didn't ask why Tony was there. He didn't ask why Tony slept in the hospital bed beside him, holding him. He wasn't ready to have that conversation yet. He just knew that he didn't want Tony to leave.

He was still the same old Gibbs; he still hated being fussed over, but Tony and Shanti weren't like his father and Meldra. They didn't fuss – there were just there, helpful and unobtrusive.

He didn't speak much. Tony talked, but then Tony had always been able to talk – about everything and yet somehow about nothing. Gibbs watched him talk, keeping one hand wrapped in Tessa's fur as he listened. He wasn't sure what Tony was rambling on about half the time, but he liked the sound. It washed over him, soothing him and helping him heal. Sometimes as he watched Tony talk, he wondered what it would be like to silence those endlessly moving lips with a kiss.

One day, Tony was sitting on the chair beside the bed, going on and on about some movie, impersonating all the actors in it, and Gibbs finally felt compelled to interact.

"Tony," he croaked, propping himself up on his elbow and beckoning. Tony looked at him in surprise and leaned forward – and Gibbs slapped the back of his head weakly.

Tony's face broke into a delighted grin, and he laughed out loud. "I take it you're back with us then? I knew that if I annoyed you loudly enough for long enough you'd give in and join the land of the living eventually!"

He got up and did a little jig around the bed, Shanti trotting beside him, both of them looking so happy that Gibbs had to laugh. He managed a few words of conversation with Tony over the next couple of days, but he still wasn't ready to talk to anyone else.

His father came to visit every day. Only when Jack was here would Tony leave his bedside to go take a shower, and shave, and change his clothes, giving father and son some privacy.

Jack talked a lot too, reminiscing about people he'd known back in Stillwater. Gibbs ignored him until the day he told him that Chuck Winslow's wife had walked out on him and was suing him for all he had. Then he gave a little grunt of amusement.

"Thought that might amuse you!" his father beamed.

"I'm sure Chuck deserved it," Gibbs muttered. He sat up in the bed, and his father plumped up the pillows behind him. "I know I sure as hell deserved it, every time one of my wives walked out on me."

His father sat back in his chair, deeply etched anxiety lines creasing his face. "I thought we might have lost you, son," he said. "I wasn't sure you'd ever come back to us."

"I'm fine," Gibbs said dismissively.

"But you always did say that, whether it was true or not. How is a father to know?"

Gibbs sighed and moved his hand so that it was resting on his father's hand on the side of the bed. "You worry too much," he said, and Jackson laughed and squeezed his fingers tightly, and that was all that needed to be said between them.

He lost count of the days and nights. Gradually the need to sleep diminished, until one day he knew he'd slept for long enough. He rolled off the bed and staggered into the bathroom with Tessa beside him, pressed up close against his leg, never out of bodily contact.

"You okay?" Tony followed him into the bathroom. "Need a hand?"

"No." He shut the bathroom door in Tony's face and turned to gaze at himself in the mirror. He had a shaggy beard and a multitude of yellowing bruises on his face. He was thinner than he could ever remember being in his life before and his Marine haircut had grown out, leaving him with straggling long silver hair.

He pulled open the door. "Need to shave," he said to Tony.

"Oh, thank God!" Tony's face split into a wide grin. "Uh, not that it looks too bad – I mean, you can carry off facial hair, but even you…"

"Tony!" he snapped, and Tony grinned again and went over to the nightstand.

"Already on it, Boss!" he said smartly, pulling out a shaving kit and holding it up. "I'm so glad you're gonna get rid of it," he added, following Gibbs back into the bathroom. "I was worried you might decide to keep it."

Gibbs turned back to the mirror and had a sudden flashback to that deformed stranger he'd seen in the car mirror. He shuddered.

"Hey…" Tony placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," he said, the way he always did, as his father had pointed out. He wasn't fine, not yet, but talking about it wasn't going to change that.

He lathered the shaving cream onto his face and picked up the razor. As he looked at himself in the mirror, all he could see was that wild-eyed man without a daemon. His hand began to shake.

"Here, let me," Tony said, smoothly taking the razor from him.

He took Gibbs's chin in his hand and began firmly passing the razor over his face. Bit by bit, his old self emerged, like a moth from a cocoon. Afterwards Tony handed him a towel and, maybe sensing his mood, left him alone in the bathroom.

Gibbs passed the towel over his face, wiping away what was left of the foam. He looked older, and there was a haunted expression in his blue eyes, but it was definitely him.

"Of course it's you," Tessa told him. "You are who you always were." She rubbed her face against the side of his leg.

"I'm not so sure about that." Once he had hated being taken care of, but now he let Tony and his father take care of him as if he was a helpless child. Once he had hated being touched, but now he leaned into Tony's gentle caresses, loving the feel of his fingers in his hair, or ghosting over his arms as he soothed him back to sleep after a nightmare.

"You are letting them love you. It's about time," Tessa said. "You don't always have to be the one who is strong for everyone else. You can let others take care of you for a change."

He wasn't sure he knew how to be that person, but if Tessa said it was so then he would try. He would always listen to everything she said from now on. He knew what life without her was like now.

They took him home, and he felt like an old man walking into his house, leaning on Tony for support. He remembered coming here, without Tessa, going down into his basement on autopilot, and crawling under his boat. The memory brought him up short, and he paused, fighting for breath. Tessa looked up at him anxiously.

"I have a memory you don't share," he told her.

"We both do," she replied. "We can share them together, when the time feels right."

He nodded and allowed Tony to lead him into the living room and help him to sit in front of the fire.

Jackson stayed for awhile, cooking meals and trying hard not to fuss over him. Gibbs found he didn't mind the fussing so much now. Maybe he was getting old. Or maybe, as Tessa had said, it was okay to let the people who loved him take care of him for a change.

He was getting better. He got tired easily, and he still had bad nightmares, but he felt more like himself every day.

Jackson left when he was satisfied he was going to be okay, but Tony…Tony didn't seem to have any intention of leaving. He spent every day by his side, and slept every night in his bed, holding him tight. Gibbs sometimes woke up and watched him as he slept, wanting to stroke his hands through Tony's thick, soft hair, or trace the outline of his lips with his fingertips.

"Tell him how you feel," Tessa urged, but he didn't have the words for that. It had been so long since he had spoken words of love, and he'd never been very good at it, even back then. He didn't even know how to begin to have this conversation.

"I'm pretty much better now," he told Tony over the dinner table one evening, a few days before he was due to return to work. "So you can leave, if you want. You must be pissed off with playing nursemaid to me all this time."

Tony gazed at him for a long moment, a flicker of annoyance in his eyes. "Is that what you want?" he asked at last. Gibbs shrugged. "Jethro? Do you want me to go?" Tony pressed.

Gibbs still didn't have the damn words. He threw his napkin down on the table and got up.

Tony got up too, looking anxious. "I'll leave then. If that's what you want."

"No!" Gibbs shook his head fiercely.

"Damn it, Gibbs. What the hell are you trying to say?"

"This!" He took hold of Tony's arm and pulled him down so that they were both kneeling beside Tessa and Shanti. Then slowly, carefully, he placed Tony's bare hand on Tessa's fur. There was a momentary sensation of giddiness, but he never minded Tony touching Tessa. He never had.

Gibbs placed his own hand on Tessa too, and then he opened up his heart through his daemon in a way he never could with words. He let Tony see a glimpse of the deepest part of his soul, and all he kept hidden there.

He showed Tony an eight year old boy, who he'd instinctively recognized as a friend the minute he'd first laid eyes on him. He showed him the man he'd grown up to be – always big-hearted, playful, and full of life, who had never given into the bitterness his lonely childhood could so easily have caused. He showed him a pale, coughing, sick man, dying from the plague, and shared the desperation he had felt at the prospect of losing him.

He shifted, moved both their hands, and showed him that moment in the basement when he'd been lost to himself, and Tony had come down those stairs towards him, holding out his hand. Tony hadn't turned away from him when he'd needed him most. Tony had led him to Shanti and shared her with him, giving him hope and shelter in his time of need.

And then he opened up even more and showed Tony how he had appeared to him that terrible day. He showed him the man with the lion inside, strong, and courageous, and loyal.

It was Tony who had rescued Tessa, and who had never once given up on him during the long days and nights in the hospital, no matter how monosyllabic or short-tempered he'd been.

It was Tony who rocked him during the stormy nights when the dark dreams came, and it was Tony who was always there by his side, trusted and beloved, through the good times and the bad.

Tony had been by his side for five long years, his loyal companion, almost as constant a presence in his life as Tessa.

He showed Tony all this – and then he showed him the nights he'd spent looking at him, wondering what it would feel like to touch him, and kiss him, and wanting to do just that.

He didn't have the words to say it, but the truth was all there, laid bare in Tessa.

Tony was his pack, his second, and the other great love of his life, all rolled into one.

Tony was…his soul-mate.

He couldn't look up into Tony's face. He had revealed too much of himself, and he wasn't sure what the response would be.

He heard Tony take a deep, shaky breath and felt his gaze upon him, but still he couldn't look up.

"Jethro?" Tony said quietly. "Why do you think I stayed?" He stroked Tessa's fur gently with his fingertips, and Gibbs felt the feather light touch on his own back.

"Loyalty?" Gibbs finally forced himself to glance up at Tony and found him sitting there with a puzzled little smile on his face.

"No. Idiot. Here."

Tony took Gibbs's free hand and placed it on Shanti's warm, soft coat. Gibbs had touched her before, many times now, but never like this – and never while Tony was touching Tessa at the same time.

He felt the whirl of Tony's soul opening up to him, and he stepped inside. He immediately felt the ache of Tony's lonely childhood and discovered just how much Tony had thought about him during those long years of separation.

Gibbs let his fingers shift though Shanti's fur some more, and he saw himself lying on a hospital bed, and Tony standing beside him, calling him back from the dark place he hadn't wanted to leave.

"That was you?" He looked up at Tony in surprise. "You were the one who called me back when I was in the coma?"

Tony nodded. "That was me."

"But how...?" Gibbs tried to make sense of that. Tony had been there for him as long ago as that? He had somehow found him, and touched Tessa, and brought him back to himself, even when he'd been lost in that dark place after the death of his family?

Tony's fingers met his in Shanti's fur, and he was plunged back into Tony's soul again. He was standing in the snow when a beautiful, familiar wolf appeared out of nowhere. He felt a surge of joy flood through his body as he realized who she was. He wasn't alone anymore; he had found Jethro again and all would be well now. Being close to Jethro was all he'd ever wanted.

The scene shifted, and Gibbs saw himself lying asleep under his boat that night soon after Kate's death. He was Tony, looking down on him, a sudden revelation sweeping through him…Jethro was warmth, and safety, and happiness…and love.

"That's why I stayed," Tony told him. "Not just because of loyalty, but also because of this."

He leaned forward and kissed Gibbs on the lips. His mouth was warm and gentle, his kiss deep and searching, and his lips felt soft, and loving, and somehow familiar. Gibbs responded hungrily, pulling him close and kissing him back.

They were interrupted by a loud sighing sound. They pulled apart in surprise and looked at their daemons who were sitting there, side by side, watching them.

"About time!" Tessa said triumphantly. "You have no idea how long we've waited for this."

"It was driving us nuts," Shanti agreed.

Gibbs laughed out loud and stroked Shanti's head.

"The fact we really don't mind you touching us should have been a big clue," Tessa said, nudging her muzzle against Tony's hand.

"And the fact we spent half our lives trying to curl up as close to each other as possible was another big clue." Shanti rolled her eyes.

"It's what you two wanted to be doing with each other but were too stubborn…" Tessa began.

"And pig headed…" Shanti continued.

"To give into," Tessa finished.

"Well, I'm ready to give into it now." Gibbs grinned, looking at Tony. "You ready for that, Tony?"

Tony laughed. "Oh yeah. I'm ready. Boy am I *ready*."

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?"

He reached for Tony again, but Tony stopped him. "I think I should explain a bit more about the coma thing," he said, looking anxious. "I don't want to freak you out, but…see, I promised myself I wasn't going to hide who I am anymore, and this is big, and it's about you, so…well, you should know about it."

Gibbs sat back, puzzled, wondering what the hell was going to come next.

"See, I've kind of been connected to you since…well, since what happened back in the motel room all those years ago," Tony said quickly. "It's hard to explain…but it's like that moment linked us, and I've been able to feel what you're going through ever since. Not all the time – just when something big happens."

Gibbs gave a wry chuckle. "Connected huh?" Then he threw back his head and laughed. All these years he had thought it had been one-sided, and that Tony hadn't felt it too. He'd been an idiot.

"Yes." Tony wasn't laughing. His eyes were serious and intense. Gibbs wasn't used to seeing him this way, but it seemed he really meant it when he said he wasn't going to hide who he was anymore.

"It's okay, Tony, I…" Gibbs began, but Tony stopped him. He placed his hand on Gibbs's cheek and stroked gently, with one finger.

"I felt it when Kelly was born," he said quietly.

Gibbs looked down and found Tessa there, by his knee. He swallowed down the lump in his throat and looked up again. "You know about Kelly?"

"Yes. I knew at the time. I knew about Shannon dying the instant you found out. I hitch-hiked to Stillwater, and then I came here. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I wanted to be near you, to help in some way. But you'd already gone back to Kuwait by the time I got here."

Gibbs stared at him, astonished. "You did that for me?"

"Yes," Tony said firmly. "See, I made a promise to Shannon, and I wanted to keep it."

Gibbs remembered standing on a station platform, many years ago, and watching Shannon kiss a small boy on the cheek. Look after Jethro when I'm gone."You remembered what Shannon said, after all that time?"

"Yes." Tony's eyes were fierce and protective, and Gibbs suddenly realized just how seriously he took that promise he'd made all those years ago.

"You've been keeping that promise all this time, and I never knew." Gibbs gently caressed Shanti's soft head, making her purr.

"It was important to me. It still is. Besides, you saved my life that night in the motel room, so it works both ways. I was just giving back what you gave to me." Tony gave a little grin.

Gibbs felt humbled that one act of kindness in his youth had been repaid over and over again with so much love and dedication since.

"When you were injured in Kuwait, I felt that too," Tony continued. "I went to Bethesda, and they said you were in a coma. They said that your physical injuries weren't that bad, but you wouldn't come out of it, like you wanted to stay there. So I kind of sweet-talked my way into your room…"

"I heard someone calling me, but I never did understand what happened. I didn't know it was you, calling me back."

"I wanted you to live."

"Why didn't you hang around and talk to me about it?" Gibbs asked. "Drove me nuts thinking there was a reason I came back but not being able to figure out what it was."

Tony gave a little laugh. "I was scared away. There was this Marine with a giant eagle daemon. He caught me touching Tessa and chased me away. Said he wouldn't report me to the police if I got the hell out of there."

"Major Ryan." Gibbs shook his head. "That old son of a bitch. He always did what he thought was best for me, but if I'd known…"

"What would you have done?" Tony asked. "I was just a kid – still in college. I couldn't have given you anything you needed back then."

"And now?" Gibbs asked softly.

Tony smiled. "Now I can. If you'll let me, and I really hope you will."

Gibbs gently took hold of Tony's chin, pulled him close, and kissed him again. Tony melted against him, and Gibbs slid his arms around Tony's back and held him tight. He pushed Tony's lips open with his own, and their tongues met eagerly. Gibbs kissed him deeply, wanting to taste him and explore him, to keep him close and never let him go.

They parted only to scramble up the stairs to the bedroom with Shanti and Tessa at their heels. Tony disappeared into the bathroom and then reappeared holding a tube of lubricant. Gibbs took it from him and threw it on the nightstand, then pulled him in and kissed him again.

He took his time undressing Tony, wanting to savour every single moment. He let his fingers drift down the buttons on Tony's shirt, before sliding it slowly off his shoulders to reveal his naked chest. He pressed a dozen little kisses along his collar bones, loving how Tony sighed into his caresses. Then he moved down, trailing kisses over Tony's hairy chest and pausing to enjoy the softness of his belly under his lips.

He undid Tony's belt and pulled it free, and then he unbuttoned his fly and pushed his pants and boxers down, freeing Tony's straining erection. He pulled Tony in close again and kissed his mouth while at the same time taking Tony's hard cock in his hand, loving how Tony gasped into his kiss.

Now it was Tony's turn. He kicked off his shoes and peeled off his socks and then turned back to Gibbs, entirely naked. He approached him with a gleam in his eye, like a hungry predator, and Gibbs grinned and held his ground, liking Tony's look of intent.

Tony undressed him like he was a present he'd been longing to open for years. He paused every few seconds to brush a kiss over Gibbs's mouth, and he studied every single inch of his skin as he freed it from his clothes. He seemed fascinated by him, as if he couldn't get enough of him. When Tony was done undressing him, Gibbs pushed him onto the bed and slid his hands over his beautiful naked skin. He liked the way Tony pressed up against him and yielded to his touch.

Tessa and Shanti settled down on the rug next to the bed, their bodies gently entwined, their noses touching. They did a little dance all of their own, nudging and nuzzling and petting each other in time to the rhythmic love-making on the bed.

Gibbs trailed a string of kisses over Tony's chest and then up his neck and along his jawline. "I felt you too," he whispered into Tony's ear.

Tony gave a sigh of pleasure and ran his tongue over his already moist lower lip in a way that was positively obscene. Then Gibbs's words clearly sank in, and his eyes snapped open.

"What?"

"That night you busted your knee I was holed up in a foxhole behind enemy lines, unable to walk because of you."

"Oh shit. I'm sorry." Tony pulled him down and kissed him again.

Gibbs laughed into the kiss. "Having a fucked up knee was bad enough, but then I got a damn hard on because you got lucky with a threesome." He shook his head, still laughing.

Over on the rug, Shanti hid her eyes with her paws in embarrassment.

"Oh fuck," Tony whimpered. "You were in a foxhole…behind enemy lines…with a busted knee…and a hard on…"

"Courtesy of you. Yeah." Gibbs grinned and kissed Tony's neck.

"That night was hot…but not as hot as this." Tony pushed up against Gibbs and rolled him over so that he was on his back, with Tony looking down on him. "This, you – lying naked and willing beneath me – is way hotter, Jethro."

He caught Gibbs's lips in another deep kiss, and Gibbs pulled him in close, resting his hands on Tony's soft, firm buttocks.

"You ever had sex with a guy before?" Tony asked him between kisses.

"No." Gibbs pulled Tony's buttocks apart a little, wondering what it would be like to explore deeper. "You ever had sex with someone you're in love with before?" he asked in return.

Tony made an embarrassed sound and buried his face in the crook of Gibbs's neck. "No," he admitted.

"Then I guess we both have something to learn." Gibbs extricated Tony from his neck and kissed him again.

Gibbs might not have had any experience with men, but his body, it seemed, didn't give a damn about that because his cock was hard and aching. He found Tony exciting and wanted to explore him, open him up, and find out everything there was to know about him.

He rolled Tony down beneath him, and Tony guided Gibbs's lubed fingers into his ass, gasping in pleasure as Gibbs gently worked him open. When he was done, Tony opened his legs wider, smiling up at him, encouraging him in. Gibbs slid a generous amount of lubricant over his cock and then positioned himself between Tony's thighs. He pushed easily into Tony's body, humming in pleasure at the sensation. It didn't feel new; it felt like he had done this before, a thousand times.

Tony's welcoming gasps and cries of enjoyment turned him on like nothing else, and he pushed in as deep as he could go, looking into Tony's eyes the entire time. Tony gazed back at him and reached up to brush his fingers gently over Gibbs's cheek.

"It's good…please…more," he urged.

Gibbs began thrusting, slowly at first and then faster, and he felt Tony moving with him, their bodies rising and falling in perfect time. It was as if they were merging, becoming one, and he lost himself in the sensation.

He could feel Tony beneath him and around him, and then something strange happened. Every nerve ending in his body suddenly flared into life, like fireworks sparking everywhere, sending shooting stars of pleasure through him. He had never experienced sexual pleasure so intensely before. Every pleasurable sensation seemed to have been doubled, and it took his breath away.

He looked down on Tony and found him gazing back at him in astonishment.

"Do you feel it too?" Tony whispered.

"Uh huh. That's…oh shit…that's just amazing…"

Gibbs glanced over at their daemons, entwined on the rug, and realized what was happening. The connection between them meant that he was experiencing Tony's pleasure as well as his own, and Tony was experiencing the exact same thing.

"It's beautiful." Tony ran his fingers lightly over Gibbs's back with a look of wonder on his face.

The feeling of skin on skin, lips on lips, and his cock moving inside Tony's body was indescribable when magnified by Tony's sensations too. Gibbs looked down on Tony lying beneath him, his green eyes glowing as he gazed back up at him, and he almost passed out from the sheer sensory overload of the experience.

That incredible feeling spiraled out as they continued making love, enveloping them both, and generating wave after wave of ecstasy. Gibbs cried out as he experienced Tony's orgasm as well as his own, and it was so intense that the following few minutes were a haze.

When he came to, he pulled out of Tony's body and sank down beside him. For some time afterwards he could only lie there, with Tony in his arms, as they shared the glowing aftershocks of the most amazing sex they'd ever experienced.

They spent the next few hours lazily stroking, kissing, and touching, luxuriating in the soul deep connection between them. After awhile, Tessa jumped soundlessly onto the bed. She lay down beside Gibbs, her long tail brushing over both their naked bodies. Shanti jumped up beside Tony and arranged herself on the pillows, resting her big head on both their shoulders.

As Gibbs lay there, touching all three of them, he felt a profound sense of wellbeing.

He was complete. He'd been broken, but now he was whole again, and stronger and happier than ever before.

He knew that sometimes he would look in the mirror and see that stranger staring back at him. But he also knew that when that happened Tessa would be by his side, nuzzling his fingers, and Tony would be behind him, holding him tight, and Shanti would be next to him, pressing against his thigh.

"Pack," Tessa said contentedly, her eyelids drooping.

"Pride," Shanti said, just as contentedly, purring in the back of her throat.

Gibbs didn't care what it was called. He just knew that it meant he would never be alone again.

XXX

Tony put on his sunglasses, got out of the car, and looked around, smiling.

"Look any different?" Gibbs asked, getting out of the car.

"Hmmm…it's kind of darker," Tony replied.

Gibbs swiped the sunglasses off his face and thwapped him on the back of the head with them.

Tony laughed. "No, it doesn't look any different," he said with a happy sigh, swinging his arm around Gibbs's shoulders.

They were standing on Main Street, right outside Jack's store. It had been four months since they'd got together, and Jack had been nagging at Gibbs to bring Tony home for a visit ever since he'd found out about them.

The door opened, and Jack came bustling out to welcome them, enveloping them both in an enthusiastic hug while Meldra groomed Shanti and Tessa vigorously with her beak. Jack ushered them into the store, and Tony thought how strange it was to be stepping foot inside this place again, after all these years.

"I haven't been in this store since the day I said goodbye," Tony murmured, looking around. It hadn't changed much. Jack wasn't a great one for modernizing, and the décor was pretty much the same as it had been when he was here as a child.

They spent the day catching up with Jack. Meldra seemed to be in some kind of hen heaven as she clucked over Shanti and Tessa with a happy gleam in her eye. Tony could never get enough of being clucked over, looked after, and taken care of, and Jack loved fussing over him. That worked well as it meant that he and Shanti were able to draw that side of Jack's nature to them, giving Gibbs and Tessa some breathing space.

They slept in Gibbs's old room, and the following day they emerged late to find the mid-summer sun shining, and Jackson beaming at them benignly.

"Here…I packed you a picnic," he said, handing them the same battered old basket Tony remembered from years ago. "I thought you'd want to take a trip down to the woods – you know, to revisit old haunts, and do what comes naturally to young folk." He gave them a knowing wink.

Gibbs let out an exasperated sigh, and Tony nearly wet himself laughing.

"Young folk?" he said, still laughing as they walked off down Main Street with the basket. "Just how old does he think we are? Eighteen?"

"When you're as old as Jack, I guess everyone seems young. But mainly I think he just likes saying it to wind me up." Gibbs rubbed his jaw ruefully.

"Yeah – and I think it worked!"

"It always damn well did." Gibbs finally gave in and threw back his head and joined in Tony's peals of laughter.

Tony's laughter faded as Shanti gave a low growl. He saw Tessa stiffen, and Gibbs put a warning hand on her head. There, emerging from a car right in front of them was a man with a coyote daemon. Tony barely recognized Chuck Winslow, but he'd know his daemon anywhere.

Chuck glanced at them and his lip curled up in distaste when he saw Gibbs.

"You're back I see, Leroy," he said, in a smooth, urbane voice that did nothing to disguise the old enmity lurking just below the surface.

"Just visiting my dad. How are you doing, Chuck?" Gibbs said tightly.

Chuck stepped forward to reply, and Shanti put back her head and roared out an ear-shattering warning. The entire street came to a standstill as everyone turned to look at them. Chuck muttered something and walked quickly away.

"It's okay – I really don't think Chuck will be picking any fights with us today, Shanti," Gibbs told her with a laugh.

Tony flushed and put his sunglasses on, looking around furtively. "Move along – nothing to see here, people!" he said in a loud voice. "Sorry," he muttered to Gibbs under his breath.

"Don't apologise…" Gibbs began.

"I know, sign of weakness."

"Wasn't gonna say that. Was going to say don't apologise for Shanti. I love it when she lets rip with one of her big roars."

"Yeah – is it my imagination, or has she been more, well, *lionly* ever since…you know."

"Is 'lionly' even a word?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

"I have no idea."

"I think she's being exactly what she should be, and that's herself. And I love it."

Tony felt a little glow of contentment. His father might never have loved him for who he truly was, but Gibbs always had, then and now.

They walked into the woods, and Tony thought how little it had changed. He could walk this trail from memory – he'd been here often enough in his head since leaving it behind all those years ago.

They went deep into the woods, all the way down to the clearing by the creek. Shanti went crazy when she saw the creek – she scampered over there like the puppy she'd once been, bellowing at the top of her lungs.

Tony followed her over and looked at the water where he'd once played as a child. He remembered Gibbs making little hand-made boats with tissues for sails and them floating them down the creek.

When he turned around he found that Gibbs had spread Jackson's old green and red checked blanket on the ground. Tony was about to say something, and then he paused, having a moment of déjà vu. He'd been in this moment before, that day on the docks just before he'd met up with Jethro again after years apart. Gibbs had been sitting here, looking as he did now, his hair completely silver and his face still a little gaunt after his ordeal at Hunter's hands. Maybe it had been some kind of premonition.

"What?" Gibbs asked.

"Nothing…" Tony shook himself. "Just…it's all exactly as it's been in my head all these years. This has always been my happy place, Jethro. I used to come here in my daydreams when I was pissed off or unhappy, and it always looked like this." Tony glanced around. "The sun was always shining, that blanket was always on the ground, and you…" He broke off and looked at Gibbs who was kneeling on the blanket with Tessa by his side.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

"You were always here, waiting for me."

"I'm waiting now." Gibbs jerked his head impatiently, and Tony laughed and went and sat on the blanket beside Tessa.

"So, what's for lunch?" he asked.

Gibbs gave him that wolfish grin that made him think that something else entirely was on the menu.

"Fuck lunch," Gibbs said.

He reached out and began unbuttoning Tony's shirt. Tony smiled and leaned back, surrendering. He'd found, over the past few months, that it worked best this way. Gibbs was as focused about sex as he was about work and that suited Tony just fine. He loved being the centre of Gibbs's attention; it turned him on like nothing else. Tony had never known sex as mind-blowing as it was with Gibbs; the connection between them magnified every orgasm twofold, making it an almost spiritual experience.

Gibbs stripped his shirt off him, pushed him back onto the rug, and then made short work of stripping his pants off him too. He didn't stop until Tony was naked, and then he rolled on top of him, pinned him to the blanket, and began kissing him with that sweet combination of gentleness and strength that made Tony's entire body tingle.

The sun felt so beautifully warm shining through the trees, dappling their entwined bodies. Tessa and Shanti were at their feet, grooming each other vigorously, the way they always did when he and Gibbs were making love.

Tony felt Gibbs's consciousness seep into his own as usual, and he sank down into the sensation, loving how it felt. They made love slowly, passionately, to the feel of the sun on their bare skin and the sound of the creek trickling noisily nearby.

Afterwards, they lay on the blanket and looked up at the trees overhead. There were ghosts here, for sure, Tony thought, but they were friendly ghosts.

Over there, an eight year old boy was running through the trees, his arms outstretched, playing airplanes. A little golden retriever puppy romped with him, chasing him excitedly. She changed into a butterfly and flew up into the air, and the boy ran after her, calling her name.

And over there was a tall, moody, young man with a pronounced limp and a beautiful wolf daemon loping along at his side. The man got out a knife and began whittling the branch of a tree into the shape of a boat to keep the child amused.

A kestrel circled above them and over there, hardly visible at all, was the faint outline of a pretty girl with red hair. She came towards them, her skirt billowing in the breeze. When she got close, she looked at Tony and smiled.

"Thank you for taking care of him," she said.

He smiled back and wrapped his arm around Gibbs's shoulder, pulling him in close.

"It's my pleasure," he said softly.

She gave another dimpled smile and then shimmered into nothing, disappearing into the sparkling rays of the sun.

Over by the creek, the young man with the Marine haircut turned and looked straight at him. He raised his hand and waved, and Tony waved back. He limped away, his wolf daemon by his side, and when Tony looked again he'd vanished.

The boy chased his puppy daemon around the blanket one last time, and then he ran off into the woods. He turned when he reached a bank of trees, and his daemon changed into a cockatiel and perched on his head, squawking loudly. The boy paused for just long enough to poke his tongue out at Tony…and then he too was gone.

The End

If you enjoy my stories then you might like to buy my original character BDSM slash novel, Ricochet! Find out more here: www-xanthewalter-com (change the dashes to dots!) or search for Xanthe Walter on Amazon.