This missing scene fic was inspired by the uh, special edition BTS pics which emerged from the filming of this episode. Since I couldn't take my mind off of Tony's...sock puppet, I figured Gibbs wouldn't be able to take his mind off of the real thing!

As with most of my PWP's, this started as a quick fic and ended up being insanely long for a one shot PWP. Missing scenes tend to take me the longest to write as I strive to TRULY fit them between the lines. I like to imagine that every other thing that we saw happening on screen could have happened even with this inserted between (I realize that's the definition of 'Missing Scene' but you'd be surprised at how many people write them poorly). Anyway, I sincerely hope you enjoy this. As with all my stuff it's a little angsty and broody, a little feelsy, and a whole lot smutty.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters. I make no claims on them and do not intend to profit financially from their use here.

Jethro stared at the ceiling.

He'd decided last night that the bed was far too soft for his liking and had doubled up the thin comforter on the cool tile of the floor, stretching out tired muscles and resting the back of his head on his open palm. Even with the A/C running on full blast the tropical night air was warm and the thin sheet was more than enough cover.

Sleep had come easier than he'd anticipated that first night even with all of the unanswered questions vying for supremacy in his head. He might be in a cushy house but he was still a few klicks away from an active fence line, a minefield, and a few thousand Marines. He always slept better under those sorts of circumstances. He'd awakened with a heart stopping rush to DiNozzo's yelps from the next room and, when his mind could focus on anything other than the shock of Tony's naked body in the feeble morning sunlight, Jethro had been startled to realize it was already 0600.

Tonight he was preoccupied, perhaps dangerously so. The questions from the previous night remained and had been joined by a myriad of others which tugged and worried around the edges of his brain even though he was not consciously focused on them.

He'd been a shit to Tony. More than a shit, he'd been cruel, and that just wasn't like him. Barking at Tony had felt akin to kicking a puppy and he'd regretted it deeply as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Jethro knew he could be hard as nails, cold as ice, tough as an old tomcat-the list went on and on-but abject cruelty, especially to those he cared about, went wholly against his grain. Normally he could walk off the guilt he felt over such a trespass, but this was Tony –Tony- and tonight the burden of it lay smack in the middle of his gut, pinning him to the floor with the sure and certain knowledge that the younger man was lying awake a few feet away, stewing in a war of righteous indignation and insecurity.

Jethro had a much bigger problem than his guilt and Tony's wounds, however. An image had been seared into the insides of his eyelids this morning, one that bothered him in more ways than one. Long legs and trim shoulders, soft curves –different than the ones which usually caught his eye- meeting hard lines in perfect combination, setting up an uncomfortable pulse deep in his belly, an unlooked for hunger that instantly put him on edge.

Maybe it was the adrenaline flooding his system after his rude awakening, maybe it was Tony's delightfully disheveled appearance, or the way it took him more than a few heartbeats to get bashful about his nakedness. Whatever the reason, the image had come on him unaware more than once during the day today, sending an unlooked for flood of heat through his body. The more he tried to ignore his decidedly visceral reaction, the more it haunted him. Something about Tony- solid, powerful thighs, softly padded bit of belly, dark hair trailing down to a thickened cock-his brain supplied the images unhelpfully-sparked a carnal curiosity about his sheer maleness Jethro'd not known he possessed the capacity for.

It wasn't as if he'd been unaware of Tony until this moment. Two years of working with a man in such close proximity to each other and you noticed things about him even if you were still busy dodging calls from your third ex-wife. DiNozzo had a…quality, a darker unconscious sexuality lurking beneath the outward shell of playboy flirtatiousness that was only visible when Tony thought no one was looking. Jethro'd recently begun to realize that he was always looking, that it was difficult to take his eyes off of the younger man at times if he was being really honest about it.

He liked the way DiNozzo moved, liked the fluid grace of his easy trot across a parking lot, the sweeping gestures of long fingered hands which could palm a basketball or anything else the man might put his mind to, the peek at lightly furred skin he got from beneath the hem of Tony's turtleneck when he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms behind his head. Tony was easy to watch.

Jethro scrubbed his hands over his face with a sigh but the images remained sharp and clear as ever, as crystalline as if Tony were standing in front of him right now, smiling that semi-mischievous 120 watt smile.

The rub of it all was that he knew exactly why he had jumped down Tony's throat earlier. He was jealous. Jealous of Cassidy, jealous of Tony's seeming interest in her, jealous of Tony's defense of her, and there was no point in trying to deny it to himself no matter how uncomfortable he was with the emotion. He wanted to be able to chalk it up to rules and loyalty and his team, but the erection that had stirred to life and quickly grown against his thigh at the mere thought of the younger man's naked body betrayed every excuse he could attempt to muster.

Whichever way he looked at it, he was fucked.

And lying on his back staring at the ceiling all night long wasn't going to do him a damn bit of good. Without a solid plan of approach and without an expectation of resolution, he pushed himself up from the floor on protesting knees and slipped quietly into the hall.

Tony wasn't anywhere near sleep when the smooth rasp of metal on metal announced the opening of his door. On instinct he reached beneath his pillow and had his finger on the trigger of his sig before a silver head stole silently into the room followed by the equally soundless movements of Gibbs reclosing and, to his surprise, locking the door behind him.

"You lost?" Tony muttered. Gibbs had rules about apologies so if the man was creeping into his room at this hour he figured he might be in for a more direct tongue lashing than the thinly veiled twisting of the knife he'd been subjected to earlier.

"Hope not." Jethro's voice was firm but not hard. Still, his uncharacteristic uncertainty managed to slip through.

He'd been prepared for a fight, at the very least a quiet pummeling, and now Tony was a bit caught off guard. Sitting up, he contemplated Gibbs who remained a few feet away, balanced on the balls of his feet as if he was torn between moving forward and fleeing. "Got something more you needed to say? If you do, we might as well get this over with because…"

"You disappointed that you missed your shot with Cassidy?" Jethro asked bluntly, interrupting. Dark eyes glinted in the moonlight.

"What?" Tony's head snapped up. This was not the opener he had expected.

"Thought the question was pretty clear." Jethro took a step forward this time and his tone remained easy, not accusing, just curious.

"She tell you I missed my shot with her?" Tony was suddenly feeling his nakedness somewhat acutely and wondering if the sheet draped across his lap might not be adequate cover after all.

Jethro rolled his eyes. "Jesus, DiNozzo, can you ever just give a straight answer?"

During the last two hours Tony'd spent lying awake trying to figure out exactly what he had done to deserve Gibbs' ire and mistrust, one thought had never occurred to him. But now, faced with this stealthy and unexpected middle of the night visit, with Gibbs' clear hesitation and indecision, the frankness of his question, Tony was hit with an almost unthinkable option. "You jealous, Gibbs?" He asked it as gently as possible, desperately afraid of the consequences of being wrong.

Jethro stiffened and slow seconds ticked by before he seemed to make a decision on how to proceed. "And if I was?" he asked steadily, eyes fixed on Tony's in the darkness.

Tony's breath caught and then quickened. "Ask me again."

"What?"

"Ask me about Paula again." Tony sat forward on the bed slightly, parted his legs beneath the sheet.

Jethro's jaw twitched. "You disappointed you're not fucking Cassidy right now?" He moved closer to the bed, stopped less than a foot away. Something in Tony's posture, in the suddenly heavy tone of his voice, made it easier to be direct.

"Think you know I'm not." Tony didn't flinch or dodge this time. "Think you already know I'm exactly where I want to be right now." It was a standoff now. Their cards were on the table, freshly turned, but the game came down to who was willing to move first.

The coiled heat, the warmth that had been sitting in the pit of Jethro's belly since that morning, began to expand and tighten. Muscles tense, he stretched out his arm and caught Tony's upturned jaw, sensitive pads of his fingers scraping along the night's stubble. It wasn't a bold move but it was an undeniable invitation.

Tony's fingers tangled in the thin fabric of the sheet across his lap and pulled it aside to expose the thickening erection and well-muscled thighs that had been the subject of Gibb's preoccupation for the last 20 hours.

Jethro kept his distance for a moment, lips parting as he weighed and measured that bit of newly exposed flesh. His fingers twitched with a desire to touch, to feel the hard heat of Tony's cock in his palm.

A long arm reached out for Jethro's hip and tentative fingers wrapped around the curve of his body, slid beneath the fabric of his shirt while Tony watched his reaction from beneath long lashes.

Unmoving, Jethro allowed the hesitant exploration. Tony moved slowly as if he still expected to be stopped at any time. The heat of an open palm kissed the skin of his belly, slipped up his sternum while Tony's other hand settled on the back of his upper thigh-just above the bottom of his boxers, just below the curve of his ass-fuck, he needed that touch- and tugged him closer.

"Take your shirt off." Tony's voice was thick and tight, barely controlled.

"You giving the orders now?" Jethro asked, side of his mouth curling in a half grin even as he reached for the hem of the garment.

"Think I am tonight, yeah." There was a confidence in Tony's voice far different than his usual bravado.

Jethro nodded his assent and the look of comprehension beneath the hunger –fucking hell, when was the last time someone looked at him like that?- on Tony's face told him he didn't need any more to stress that the pass was being given only for tonight.

As soon as Jethro's t-shirt hit the ground, Tony rose slowly, stretching out and up on long legs, so close that their ribs grazed briefly on his ascent.

Tony's breath ghosted over Jethro's parted lips, turned up just slightly to match the younger man's superior height. He felt Tony's thumbs slip into the waistband of his boxers and then stop.

"What about the rules? About what you said to Kate about romance between agents?" Tony's question filtered through the haze that was suddenly clouding Jethro's brain.

Of course he had been listening.

Jethro took a breath, another, tried to remember something, anything, that outweighed the need he felt for Tony in this moment. "What the hell makes you think this is about romance, DiNozzo?" Fingers slipped into the soft, wild hair at the back of Tony's neck and pressed as Jethro opened his mouth fully against his lips, chased the heat of him with his tongue. His kiss was hard and deep and anything but uncertain.

Tony met Jethro's passions with a needy little moan, tugging fitfully at his boxers and slamming their hips together as soon as the offending fabric was out of the way.

Jethro would never allow himself to be like this with a woman-fuck, that was part of the appeal wasn't it?-so reckless, so abandoned, so violent. Tony's tongue was in his mouth, hands in his hair, cock pressed to his belly, and he just let it happen, let whatever had wormed inside of him that morning take over and shout above the voices of his better angels. His fingertips dug into the smooth flesh of Tony's ass, left little half-moon imprints of flat fingernails behind as he began to pump his hips urgently, heedless of anything but the friction against his throbbing dick.

"Fuck, Gibbs," Tony murmured against the stubble of his chin, teeth rasping along his jawline.

"Jethro…just tonight…just Jethro." The plea sounded breathless against Tony's skin. He didn't care, not about anything but this, anything but the need to hear his name torn from Tony's throat, the base syllables of it slipping over his tongue when he came undone.

"Jethro," Tony rumbled, testing it on a voice of nubby silk, flat of his tongue dragging over a taut tendon before his lips closed around a tender earlobe and pulled.

Shivering despite the heat in the room, the sweat on his skin, Jethro slipped a hand between them and got his fingertips around Tony's dick in the tight space. The bite of sharp teeth into sensitive flesh in response to his touch had him hissing and twisting his fingers in the hair at Tony's nape.

"This really why you came into my room in the middle of the night, Jethro? A quick and dirty little dry hump? Jerk each other off, get it out of your system, and then back to business as usual?"

Tony's lips tickled the curve of Jethro's ear as the words wormed their way down his spine and made his cock jerk and twitch against the soft little curve of belly he'd been aching to touch. His mouth opened hotly against Tony's shoulder and a desperate sound escaped as he tried to pull him just that much closer.

"I didn't think so." Tony mouthed the words against the skin just behind his ear.

Too caught up, Jethro missed the subtle shift in the muscles of Tony's thighs that would have given him a half second of warning. Instead, he was pulled off his feet as Tony shifted backward until they came to rest in a mess of limbs and mouths and heat atop the already tangled sheets. He would have objected, would have protested at least a little if Tony's mouth wasn't on his so quickly, wasn't silencing every coherent thought with a twist of his tongue and a soft chorus of little moans every time Jethro's lips pulled and tugged eagerly at his own.

Somehow they worked themselves completely onto the bed. Tony's body was warm and firm beneath him and he settled into the space between the younger man's thighs like he'd been born to it. Jethro's mouth was everywhere, lips chasing the long slope of Tony's throat, lapping at his Adam's apple and loving the way the vibrations of all the delicious noises DiNozzo was making-Jesus, fuck, his noises- sang across his lips.

When Jethro's tongue traced the hard protrusion of Tony's clavicle and worked into the covering of hair across his chest to worry a flat nipple, Tony's enthusiastic groan of delight carried just a little too far.

"Kate." Jethro spoke against his dampened flesh, teeth twisting the little nub that seemed to elicit so much pleasure.

"Tony," Tony breathed, lifting his hips and grinding against Jethro for emphasis.

"Kate," he repeated, emphasizing the warning tone this time and raising his thumb to Tony's opposite nipple to rasp the rough pad across it. "Keep your damn voice down." Jethro moved lower, shifting his weight. His mouth worked restlessly across Tony's fevered skin, pulling the taste of him over his tongue. Hesitating when he reached the twitching muscles of his belly, Jethro let the warmth of his breath tangle in the thin trail of hair there and then dipped his tongue into Tony's navel, laving the wide indentation fixedly.

"Fuck!" Tony twisted against the sheets. "Not sure I know how to be quiet when you're doing that." He arched his back into the insanely pleasant sensation.

Jethro lifted his head slightly and moved a little lower. "Well you better fucking figure it out fast," he growled, licking into the crease of Tony's thigh. The scent of him was intoxicatingly warm and so undeniably masculine-so undeniably Tony. It covered his lips and tongue, got inside his head and made him want in ways he had not known possible.

Hand on Tony's stomach, pressing him to the mattress, Jethro gave no warning before he suddenly wrapped his lips around the younger man's cock and began sucking him off with unpracticed but fervent determination.

Tony's world was suddenly imploding. A few minutes ago-15? 20? He had no idea anymore-he'd been lying on his back praying for sleep, and now he was biting on his own fist trying to muffle his gasps as his boss-Gibbs-Jethro-sucked his head like a needy sailor on leave and scraped his teeth gracelessly along the shaft of his cock.

The impossibility of it contrasted with the stark reality of a calloused palm gently rolling his balls, of a long finger pressing up, pressing…shit. He thrust his cock into Jethro's mouth without thought and felt the hard contraction of throat muscles as he went too far. Instead of pulling off, Jethro merely fisted his erection tightly to control his depth, working him up and down in twisting strokes while his other hand continued to massage the spot behind his balls that was driving him fucking insane.

Fumbling blindly, Tony's hand landed on his go-bag beside the bed and he somehow managed to work open the zipper and find the little pocket which contained the small tube he was now thanking every God he'd ever heard of that he'd thought to pack.

There was a hugely selfish part of him that wanted to simply lie there and enjoy the best blow job he could remember receiving in, well, a long fucking time, a part of him that wanted to lose himself to the perilous heat of Jethro's mouth, to just let go and come across the velvet of his lapping tongue. But if he had one night-one night- he was damn well going to make the most of it.

Fingers twinging in silver hair, he pulled back gently but insistently and wrapped his hand around Jethro's, stilling the divine motions around his cock that had him so close to coming he could almost taste it.

Lust glazed eyes blinked up at Tony in the feeble light and Jethro wiped wet and swollen lips across the back of his hand. "You're stopping me?" he asked incredulously.

"Only for this." Tony extended his hand out to Jethro who grasped the contents. "Unless this wasn't what you had in mind tonight." He held Gibbs' eyes, dancing at him from where the man was still hunched low over his belly.

Without a word Jethro sat back on his heels, eyes never leaving Tony's as he flipped open the cap, coated his palm, and began to slick his cock in long, fluid pulls. Tony's tongue flashed out to dampen his lips and his dick twitched as he watched Jethro's measured strokes, the quick rise and fall of his chest, breath coming shorter and sharper.

The hand between Tony's thighs was gentle but insistent and he drew his knees up, pressing down into the touch of slick fingers against his hole. "Not exactly where I thought my night would end up," he muttered breathlessly, grabbing handfuls of sheet as Jethro exerted more pressure. "Listen, I don't want to make any assumptions or anything Jethro, but if this is the first time you've…" He drew a sharp hissing breath involuntarily as a long, thick finger forced him open and slipped along his walls pressing just the right places. "Okay, so clearly not your first time." The words were choked around the groan of ecstasy stuck in his throat.

"No," Jethro leaned forward and nipped at the soft inside of Tony's thigh, "not my first time."

Jethro watched Tony's eyes slam shut as he continued to work him open just a little. The younger man's ass was tight and slick around his fingers and it was all he could do to wait the few moments it took to give him even this feeble amount of preparation. When Tony's fingertips reached down and closed around his cock, began slipping up and down his shaft in a rhythm that matched the twisting thrusts of his own hand, patience was a lost cause.

Hand behind one of Tony's knees, Jethro surged forward, fitting himself to DiNozzo's hole and pushing insistently against the resistance of tight pulsing heat. Tony's back arched and his mouth opened in a quiet gasp, eyes widening a little as Jethro began to thrust slowly, each pulse of his hips taking him just that much deeper.

Arcing forward as far as his body would let him, Jethro swept a line of open mouthed kisses up Tony's sternum, punctuating each one with a stroke of his cock. With his hands planted on either side of the younger man's chest, his tongue set up camp in the delicious little triangle at the base of Tony's throat, suckling at moist skin and licking into the inviting, salty hollow with an eager tongue, claiming the space for his own. Fingernails bit into his shoulders, urging him urgently upward. Stretching to meet hungry lips, Jethro couldn't suppress the moan into Tony's mouth as firm thigh muscles lifted and tightened against his flanks, shifting them, letting him sink deeper into the intoxicatingly snug warmth that now fully surrounded his cock and stroked him from all sides.

The clutching flutter of Tony's muscles was dizzying and pulled unrelentingly at his spine with each meeting of their bodies. The hard slap of flesh against flesh sung in the room, quickened and intensified as their skin grew slick with heat and sweat, and the effort to keep quiet made each choked moan that much sweeter. Tony panted brokenly against Jethro's ear, muttered strings of curses into his hair, filthy, breathless pleas that drove him closer and closer to the brink.

"Gonna make me come just like this, Jethro…so close."

Clenching fingers curled into the small of Gibbs' back, digging hard into burning muscle.

"Want you to watch me." Tony's lips moved restlessly against Jethro's ear. "Want you to remember how it looks when you make me come. Please…"

The words and the images they evoked sent an insistent surge of need straight to Jethro's cock. Pushing reluctantly off the heat of Tony's body, he came to his knees slowly, ground his hips against the backs of Tony's legs, felt hard muscle twitch and bunch beneath his palms as he caressed the younger man's upper thighs. "I'm always watching." He pulled out almost fully and then slammed their bodies together hard for emphasis.

Tony's head rolled back against the pillow and he reached for his cock, fisting himself and tugging at his head erratically. Jethro watched his fingers twist in the sheets, watched each breath become quick and sharp, saw the tightening of his belly muscles, and memorized every beautiful second of it.

"Gibbs…Jethro," Tony stammered breathlessly, "'m gonna come…fuck!" Somehow he had the presence of mind to press the back of his wrist to his mouth and muffle the sounds that heralded his orgasm as he came in thick spurts onto his chest and belly, arcing forward with the power of it and then collapsing back against the bed as he continued to stroke himself through it.

The deep convulsions of Tony's body pulled the air from Jethro's lungs in a silent and blissful cry of release. His muscles trembled, shuddered, and contracted while the tightly fluttering heat of Tony's ass milked him dry. He willed his eyes to stay open, forced himself to stay upright just long enough for the sated smile of contentment to bloom across Tony's face, and then collapsed against his still-heaving chest, heedless of the sticky mess between them.

When Jethro believed he had the ability to move his muscles in any sort of meaningfully coordinated pattern again, he pulled out of Tony's body reluctantly and collapsed against the mattress beside him. He let the air cool his feverish skin for just a few moments while he caught his breath and tried to fathom the depth of the hole he had just dug for himself and the level of damage he had potentially done to Tony.

"DiNozzo."

A soft voice was calling his name from very nearby but he was too busy floating in post-orgasmic bliss to give it too much heed. "Tony," he corrected, trying to reconnect the scattered bits of himself.

"Tony," Jethro said gently, "hand me my shirt."

"Not leaving already are you?" Tony mumbled disappointedly, hand moving to rest on Jethro's thigh as if to anchor him to the bed.

"Just pass it over." Jethro made no move to go, nor did he attempt to shrug off the heat of Tony's palm.

"Mmm…if you insist." He groped blindly on the floor to the place a foot or so away where he was pretty sure the garment had landed in the heat of their frenzied foreplay. His fingers closed around soft cotton and he passed it to Jethro reluctantly. A moment later Tony felt the gentle sweep of dry fabric over his stomach as Jethro wiped him clean. He trembled a little as his now half-hard, and still very sensitive cock received the same attentions before Gibbs moved on to taking care of himself.

"Always thought you'd be the chivalrous type, Jethro." Tony smiled as he rolled onto his side and felt Jethro curl up against his back. "Didn't peg you for a cuddler though," he chided as a solid arm draped over his hip and pulled him close.

"That's one of a dozen things I didn't count on you finding out about tonight, Tony." The words carried weight.

Tony shifted and craned his neck to look at Jethro, suddenly fully conscious. "Secret's safe with me. You know that, right?"

"You wouldn't be on my team if I didn't," Gibbs confirmed.

Relaxing again, Tony tried not to think beyond the moment they were in. "Maybe I need to make you jealous more often." He meant it to be light-hearted but he could tell by the way Jethro tensed against him that he'd opened the door to exactly the thing he'd been trying to avoid.

"You know we can't. I can't." There was no hiding or denying the regret in Jethro's voice.

Tony was quiet for a moment. He wanted a way. Jesus, he wanted a way. But he knew Jethro was right, had known it from the moment he'd realized why Gibbs had come into his room tonight. "I know," he said quietly.

"Tony…"

"I know." This time he turned fully in the other man's arms to look him in the eye.

Jethro nodded and then dropped his head into the hollow of Tony's neck and shoulder, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly.

Tony sighed happily as soft lips began to move against the column of throat. "This mean you're hanging around for a while?" He ran a flattened palm over the long line of Jethro's back.

"Looks like it. Already dug the hole. Might as well get comfortable down here for as long as we can." His mouth began making a slow journey to Tony's lips.

"What about Kate?" It wasn't an objection, merely a factor to consider.

"I'll go before her alarm." His teeth rasped against Tony's jaw lazily. "Just promise me one thing."

"What's that?" Tony pulled back and looked at him for a moment.

"When you wake up and find me in your bed, try not to scream like a girl and point your gun at me." Jethro grinned.

When Tony breezed into the common area of the house the next morning, Gibbs was already at the coffee maker in the kitchen. Flashing a big grin, he slid into the empty seat at the small dining room table.

"Good morning, Kate," Tony boomed, reaching for a donut.

"For you maybe." She glared at him over the top of her coffee mug.

"Someone wake up on the wrong side of Cuba this morning?" He popped a bite of pastry into his mouth.

"No. Someone was rudely awakened by the sound of her co-worker…" she hesitated with a glance back at Gibbs and then lowered her voice, "pleasuring himself in the middle of the night. Repeatedly."

Tony's eyes widened and he very nearly chocked on his breakfast. He recovered quickly, though. "Sorry, Kate, I tried to keep it down." He shrugged and managed to keep his eyes from straying to the kitchen where Gibbs was watching from behind Kate's back with an amused grin. "It's all this tropical heat… just gets in a man's blood, I guess."

"You're a pig." She wiped her hands in disgust and picked up a stack of papers she had obviously been reviewing.

"Come on, Kate. Everyone does it. It's a healthy natural outlet. Besides, if it helps, I wasn't thinking about you. Okay, well not the whole time anyway. Maybe for a couple minutes in the middle of the second…hey, you didn't finish your breakfast." He smiled innocently as Kate pushed herself back from the table.

"Suddenly lost my appetite. And now I need a shower," she tossed over her shoulder as she made a rapid exit, her flaming cheeks and ears giving her away.

"Need you both ready to go by 0700 whether you get your appetite back or not." Gibbs chimed in from the kitchen.

"Don't use all the hot water," Tony called after her, looking up in surprise as Gibbs slid into the space next to him and handed him a steaming cup.

"You bringing me coffee now, Gibbs?" There was a delicately subtle emphasis on the change of moniker.

"Didn't think it could hurt just this once, DiNozzo." Gibbs' voice was definitely gentler than his usual pre-coffee bark.

They sipped in silence for a moment, the words that would never be spoken filling their throats and the space between them with ponderous silence. Surprisingly, it was Gibbs who made the move, letting his hand rest lightly on Tony's wrist atop the table. The weight of his calloused palm carried every ounce of regret that they would both have to live with past this point, the burden of possibility left untested.

"Tony, you did NOT use my toothbrush again. And why in the hell is all this hair in the sink?" Kate's screech came to them distantly from the back of the house causing them to break apart.

"Was the red one yours? I thought it was Gibbs'." Tony looked at Jethro and found that he was looking at his boss this time, rather than the man who'd spent the night in his bed. The lightness Tony had sensed about him, the feeling that something dreadful and heavy had been lifted from Jethro's shoulders if only for a few moments in the night, was gone and the concrete exterior he was so familiar with back in place.

"You KNOW the red one is mine, it has my initials right on it!"

"Hey, relax. I washed it off when I was done with it." He called back at her. Tony looked at Gibbs with disappointment as he pushed himself back from the table. "I should probably go tell her I used her razor before she figures that out the hard way."

Gibbs nodded mutely and sipped at his coffee.

Tony's feet were heavy as he reached the hall. Turning over his shoulder at the last moment, he was surprised to see that Gibbs was watching him. "Thank you, Jethro. ..for the coffee, I mean."

The hard mask slipped for the space of a few heartbeats and Gibbs' ice blue eyes warmed noticeably. "You're welcome, Tony…for the coffee."

"Oh my God, DiNozzo! What did you do to my razor?"

Thank you for reading. As always, I'd love to hear what you think!

Kat