Disclaimer: NCIS and all of its characters belongs to Bellisario and CBS

Spoiler: Very vague spoiler to Baltimore. Remember the fortune cookie?

Author's Note: Yes, it's another Baltimore story. I seem to have an endless supply of them…this one's not so OOC though. 'Least I don't think so…

The Lucky and The Brave

By Headbanger Rockstar

"TONY! DAMMIT! DINOZZO! TONY STOP!"

Gibbs watched helplessly as Tony chased their perp right out into the street, paying no mind to the oncoming traffic as he rushed to tackle the killer. The team leader grimaced as he heard the tires on the Honda squeal, just before the sickening crunch of a body hitting a vehicle echoed around the block.

Gibbs' gut clenched, his hands balled into fists, and for a moment it seemed that all of the sounds around him silenced. He watched in horror as his partner—his lover—bounced off the hood of the sedan and rolled to a stop on the pavement in the middle of the road where he lay still.

"Ha!" The killer paused only for a moment on the other side of the road, laughing loudly when he saw the agent was unmoving on the ground in the road.

Of course traffic had come to a grinding halt once Tony had been hit and the Honda stopped, so Gibbs was able to rush to his lover's side. He heard McGee and Ziva running past him and knew the killer would not get away with what he'd done.

Gibbs reached out a slightly unsteady hand and checked for a pulse. He let out a long breath when he felt Tony's pulse beneath his fingers, still strong and regular. Tony still hadn't moved though, and Gibbs was beginning to worry.

"'M ok Boss," Tony moaned from the pavement.

"You with me DiNozzo?"

"Been with ya the whole time," Tony muttered. "Just…taking that bodily inventory that's required whenever you try to knock limbs off." He moved to push himself up but winced in pain and dropped back down.

"Hey easy!" Gibbs helped him roll to his back. "Why don't you lie still?"

"Gotta get him…arrogant bastard…"

"McGee and Ziva are on it. You just rest."

Tony pushed himself up, but was favoring his right arm. "I'm good Boss," Tony said softly. "Need to get up."

"What you *need* is to relax until the ambulance gets here."

The driver of the Honda climbed out of the car. She was about Gibbs' age, silver hair, and her eyes were flashing. "Are you crazy?" Her voice was loud and screechy and Gibbs wasn't sure if it was the hysteria of ohmygod-I-just-ran-over-someone, or if she was that way anyway. "You ran right out in front of me?"

"We're federal agents ma'am," Gibbs said coolly. "We're in pursuit of a murderer. There wasn't a lot of time for us to look both ways before stepping out." Gibbs would take up for Tony to this stranger, but there would definitely be a lecture to come later on.

"How the hell was I supposed to know that?" Her voice ramped up a notch as the screeching continued and Gibbs figured it was definitely hysteria. Come on—who in their right mind is gonna yell at a federal agent?

A few moments later, the wail of the ambulance signaled the arrival of the EMTs and close behind it was a police car with an officer to take statements and do the report.

The officer took down the lady's information, assured her that she was not at fault in any way, and let her go. She stopped by Tony and Gibbs who were still sitting on the ground with the EMTs. Tony was pale and his shoulder was dislocated, but he appeared to be otherwise fine.

"I'm glad you're alright," the woman said to Tony.

Tony offered her a weak smile. "Me too," he said softly.

"Next time don't run out in traffic like that—you could get yourself killed!"

Tony nodded, "I'll try not to," he agreed. "Thanks for stopping," he said.

"You'd be dead if I hadn't," she snapped. When Tony nodded in agreement she told them goodbye and left.

"Ok Tony we got to get you in the ambulance. Do you wanna try to walk?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah I'm good," he said.

Gibbs watched Tony critically as he and one of the EMTs helped his lover to his feet. They started toward the ambulance and Tony suddenly stopped. "'m gonna be sick," he mumbled, just before he threw up all over the street and Gibbs' shoes.

The other EMT was immediately in front of Tony, flashing a penlight in his eyes and looking for signs of a concussion. "I can't see a concussion," he said. "But sometimes head injuries are tricky. Or it could be the adrenaline is wearing off."

Tony looked at Gibbs. When he saw the concern there, he smiled. "'m ok Boss," he mumbled again.

"You keep saying that Tony," Gibbs said, "but I'm not sure I believe you."

Tony smiled—just before his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.

"Tony!" Gibbs and the EMT struggled under the unexpected shift in weight and the three men worked together to get Tony fastened safely onto a stretcher. As they loaded him into the back of the ambulance, Tony's eyes fluttered open.

"Jethro," he murmured, still pretty disoriented.

"Right here," Gibbs assured him, climbing in the back with him. "I've got you. We're going to the hospital. Just relax."

"I love you," Tony breathed, not knowing or caring who was listening. "Never told you before…but I've loved you forever. Almost dying gave me the guts to finally say it."

Gibbs choked back his emotions and nodded silently. He ran his fingers through Tony's hair and leaned over his agent, his lips brushing the shell of his lover's ear. "I love you too sweetheart," he said softly.

*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*

Gibbs didn't like it. He didn't like that the ER doctor shrugged off Tony's dislocated shoulder as though he were a kid with a scraped knee on the playground. With a prescription filled in the hospital pharmacy, Gibbs escorted a very tired, very hurting, very doped up Tony out of the Emergency Department at Bethesda.

"Ok easy babe, come on," Gibbs opened the door to his car, and reclined the seat a bit so that Tony wouldn't have to sit up quite so straight in the seat.

Tony settled down with a quiet moan of pain and let Gibbs help him with the seatbelt. Moments later they were on the road, speeding back towards Alexandria and Tony leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

The doctor reasoned that Tony passed out on the way to the ambulance as a result of the rush of adrenaline he encountered first during the chase and then the subsequent hit by the car running out once he was safe and out of harm's way. The doctor instructed Gibbs to keep an eye on Tony tonight, and to "bring him straight back here if he encounters any complications."

Ducky was going to meet them at the house.

Gibbs rolled to a stop at a traffic light near his house and glanced at his lover. Tony's head was canted towards him, his eyes closed, breathing nice and even. It was the perfect nap…almost.

"I know you're not asleep Tony," Gibbs said with a smirk.

"Keep tellin' m'self if I pretend to sleep, m'be I'll r'lly sleep," Tony breathed out, his position never altering.

"Hang on just a few more minutes and you can go to sleep in our bed," Gibbs told him softly. The two had been officially seeing each other for months now, had been fucking for even longer than that, and today…today Gibbs had nearly lost everything—again.

Tony sniffled softly and made a vaguely affirmative sound and a gentle smile brushed over his features. God he was beautiful. Gibbs licked his lips, trying not to stare, but unable to tear his gaze away. "Almost there," Gibbs murmured and barely resisted running his fingers across the chestnut locks that he knew were much softer than they appeared.

*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*

Gibbs leaned against the bedroom doorway and sipped his coffee as he watched his lover sleep. The painkillers had finally done their job, and shortly after they'd arrived home, Tony had fallen into a quiet and blissful sleep.

Ducky had come by and checked Tony over again. He was a bit more concerned about the possibility of a concussion than the ER doctor had been. "Doctors these days are not thorough enough," Ducky fussed, not for the first time. "I'd wake him every two hours Jethro, just to be safe."

Gibbs glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was time to wake Tony again. The younger man was not going to be happy about being woke up, but Gibbs needed the reassurance that he was alright. Setting the coffee cup down on the bedside table, Gibbs sat down on the edge of the bed. He brushed his fingers lightly over Tony's hair and smiled when the younger man curled into him like a cat.

"Tony? Can you wake up for just a minute?"

Tony turned his face towards Gibbs' voice, but he didn't open his eyes. "Mmmh, nope," he murmured.

"C'mon Tony I need to do a concussion check. Don't make me do this the hard way."

Tony just snuffled and went back to sleep. Gibbs took a sip of coffee and thought for a moment. "Alright," he conceded, "Hard way it is. You asked for it."

Tony let out a surprised gasp when a strong hand suddenly wrapped around the base of his penis and squeezed. His eyes popped open and he tried to focus his gaze on his lover, but the painkillers made him groggy and he blinked his eyes hard.

"You with me now?"

Tony blinked again and nodded slowly. He let out a long gaspy breath when Gibbs slid his hand up the entire length of his cock, squeezing it just right, and stopping just shy of the tip.

"Wha're ya doin' Jeh…Jethro?"

"What year is it?" Gibbs kept his voice even, but struggled to keep the smile off of his face. He jacked Tony up and down one time.

"Two uh…Two thous'nd 'leven," Tony breathed.

"Who's the president?"

"S-Seems really in'propriate t'be talkin' bout th'pres'dent when you're doing this," Tony groaned as Gibbs continued his ministrations.

Gibbs smiled when he saw the tent in Tony's sweatpants. He squeezed again, tighter. "You didn't answer my question, babe," he said. "Who's the president?"

"Ohhh-mmm-b-baaaa-myyyyyyy God," Tony groaned.

"What was that," Gibbs said sweetly, squeezing again, "I didn't quite catch that."

"You're a b-basssstardddddd," Tony groaned.

"I told you I was going to do it the hard way since you wouldn't cooperate," Gibbs said reasonably. "We can go back to the easy way if you like," Gibbs said as he removed his hand from Tony's body. The sudden lack of touch drew a whine from the younger man and Gibbs couldn't keep the smile from his face.

Tony took a deep breath and stared up at Gibbs. "It's 2011, you are Lee-Roy Je-Throw Gibbs, and the president is Obama. Can we please have sex now?"

Gibbs narrowed his eyes a bit. "Don't know if I like your tone or not, Antonio," he snarked, badly abusing the Italian accent and version of his lover's name. He leaned over and captured Tony's mouth in a searing kiss before the other man could answer.

*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*

Somewhere amidst their lovemaking, Tony vaguely recalled a fortune cookie he'd gotten one day back when he was still in Baltimore. Love is for the lucky and the brave. He'd never understood it before now. But now he was beginning to think he got it.

"I remember this fortune I got out of a cookie, Jethro," Tony breathed, his naked body wriggling with pleasure under Gibbs. "Love is for the lucky and the brave," he bit out with a moan.

Gibbs smiled. "You know which one you are don't you," he said silkily, his lips sliding over his lover's tanned skin, being mindful of the injured shoulder that was still housed in the sling.

Tony blinked and tried to focus through the delicious pleasure his boss was inflicting on him. He thought of the way Gibbs had paid so much attention to him, fussed over him, made sure he was so comfortable… "Of c-course...I-I'mmmh the l-lucckyy one," he moaned.

Gibbs brushed the back of his fingers lightly over the wrapped shoulder. "No babe, you're the brave one," Gibbs murmured. He pressed a sweet kiss to Tony's lips. "I'm the lucky one. I love you so much."

Tony blinked his eyes open and stared up at Gibbs. "I love you too," he whispered.

The End