Head Slaps and Hand Grenades

Chapter One: Do That Again!

Grocery day wasn't a favorite for either Gibbs or Tony. Despite the list they tried to keep up with, neither knew what to get beyond beer, steak and spaghetti which they were quickly growing tired of. They'd already gone back and forth across the store several times but hardly had anything in their cart.

"What about burgers?" Gibbs suggested looking over the selection of meat.

"Gummy bears," Tony said only half focused on the task at hand. He had a major sweet tooth. The only thing on his mind was candy.

Gibbs reached over and smacked the back of Tony's head. The young man had added enough popcorn, candy and junk food to the cart to last them a month but hadn't contributed anything they could eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Tony's eyes went wide as soon as Gibbs' hand made contact with his head. The head slap seemed to have gone straight to his groin and his arousal was fairly obvious through his shorts. "Whoa!" he mumbled in shock at the affect the head slap had had on him. "Do that again!"

Gibbs cocked his head in confusion but as soon as he followed Tony's line of vision, he saw the bulge in the younger man's shorts. He just smirked as he shook his head. "Not here," he said grabbing a package of ground beef.

"Too late," Tony whispered.

Gibbs walked by Tony making sure to brush against his erection. He hummed in approval as Tony leaned into him wanting more contact. "I'll take care of that when we get home," Gibbs said with a wink.

"I don't know if I can wait that long," Tony said.

"Then stop screwing around and help me!" Gibbs scolded.

"Screwing around," Tony muttered.

Gibbs rolled his eyes at Tony's impressive ability to turn even the most innocent phrase into something sexual.

The two made their way through the store one last time, finally gathering enough groceries to refill their empty cupboards. They got in line and Tony skimmed over the magazines while he waited. When he didn't find anything interesting he grabbed another candy bar and tossed it into the cart while Gibbs chose a pack of gum. When their cashier got on the intercom and paged a manager Tony really started fidgeting. It was taking entirely too long for his liking.

"Calm down," Gibbs said.

"I can't," Tony said. "Will you do that again?"

"I told you, not here," Gibbs said.

The manager came and Tony hummed the Final Jeopardy theme music while the woman fixed whatever problem the cashier was having. As soon as Gibbs glared at him, he stopped. They put their groceries on the conveyor belt and the cashier started ringing them up.

"I've got it," Gibbs said when he saw Tony reaching for his wallet. They took turns buying things, neither of them really keeping track. With free housing and no car payments money was never an issue.

As Gibbs was pulling his wallet out of his back pocket both his and Tony's pagers went off. Tony groaned his displeasure loudly as Gibbs pulled his pager off his belt and looked at the number.

"It's Bryce," he said.

"Nooo," Tony groaned. Bryce meant a case and a case meant no head slap leading to sex. He grumbled angrily as Gibbs paid the cashier then the two headed out to his Mustang in the parking lot.

"You guys are on your way to Fort Savage, a couple hundred miles south of Kandahar," Bryce said. "It's the last forward operating base left in the area. The military's pulling out but we have a group of civilians near there who need to be evacuated. You'll be working with a small platoon of Marines to get the civilians then bring them home to the US."

"Dangerous?" Tony asked.

"It's Afghanistan, Agent DiNozzo," Bryce answered.

"Right," Tony said.

"I'll send you guys the information. Watch each other's sixes," Bryce said.

"Always," Gibbs replied.

"Which one of you's gonna take over when it's my bedtime?" Ace asked as Gibbs and Tony loaded their gear on the plane.

Tony looked at Gibbs and Gibbs looked skeptically at Ace. He knew the man was joking but Ace had the rare ability to tell a joke with a straight face.

"Relax, I'm just pulling your leg," Ace said. "This is JT Rudd. He'll be my copilot on the longer flights. Used to fly with the Blue Angels. He was grounded after an injury but he's more than capable."

Gibbs nodded at the young, hotshot aviator as he shook his hand.

"Hey man," Tony said bumping fists with the pilot.

"Sup," JT said with a nod.

"Wheels up in twenty minutes," Ace said. "You both know the drill."

Gibbs sat reclined on the couch with his feet propped up on his duffle bag in front of him as he read over the information they had on the civilians they were evacuating. Tony was stretched out lengthwise with his head in Gibbs' lap getting to know the small group of Marines they'd be working with. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses would help them know how to best utilize the extra manpower.

There were six civilians staying in a small house outside of a tiny town near a no name river in the otherwise dry landscape. They were working as missionaries of sorts, two of them providing some very basic medical care and the other four educating any women and children who came to them. With American forces moving out and the political instability in the region it wasn't safe for them to continue their work there. It had taken some time to convince the group they needed to leave but they'd eventually agreed.

Tony finished reading up on the Marines and started flapping the personnel folders back and forth. "LJ, will you slap the back of my head again?" he asked. He knew the answer and he knew they needed to focus but there was only but so much they could get accomplished on the plane and Tony really wanted to feel that electrifying sensation again.

"What'd you learn?" Gibbs asked ignoring Tony's request. If Tony's mind was drifting back to sex that meant he was done with his task, at least that's what Gibbs hoped it meant.

"Same basics as every fort just less manpower," Tony said. "They have a communications expert, a corpsman, an EOD tech, infantrymen and a pilot, although I think I'd prefer Ace."

"We definitely want the EOD tech and the communications expert," Gibbs said, "and I agree with taking Ace. We'll take a few of the others if they can spare them."

"They've got a helo we should be able to use too," Tony added, "a sea stallion so it's big enough we can grab everybody in one trip."

"Perfect," Gibbs said. "Our civilians are two male, four female, average, run of the mill people. We've got two teachers, a stay at home mom, a city bus driver and two paramedics."

"Sounds good," Tony said nestling further into Gibbs' lap. "If you're not gonna slap the back of my head again, I'm gonna get some shuteye."

Gibbs combed his fingers through Tony's sun streaked hair as the younger man yawned and closed his eyes. He watched as the tension left Tony's body. It didn't take long for him to settle into sleep. Once Tony was out, Gibbs took the folders from Tony's chest and stacked them with the ones he'd been looking through. He set them aside then rested his head against the couch and joined Tony in sleep.

"Sergeant First Class James Tripp," a middle aged man said as he shook hands with first Gibbs and then Tony. "You can call me Tripp. I'm the platoon sergeant at Fort Savage."

"I'm Gibbs, this is DiNozzo—Tony," Gibbs introduced.

"Washington already briefed me on your mission. I have a few men I can loan you," Tripp said. "I really appreciate you guys flying 'em home. We don't have the room or the resources for them here and we don't get many flights to and from the US."

"Not a problem, Sergeant," Gibbs said.

"We'd like to meet with the men and go over the plan, Tripp, if that's okay," Tony said.

"I'll gather them while you guys get settled in," Tripp said. "Meet in the Mess Hall in fifteen?"

"Sounds good," Gibbs said.

"We don't have much extra room but we do have a small tent you guys can work out of," Tripp said. "It's the second to the last one in that row," he said pointing towards their tent.

"We appreciate it," Gibbs said.

Gibbs and Tony headed to their tent, taking in their surroundings as they went. It was dry, sandy and dusty; definitely not the nicest accommodations but they'd both stayed in worse. With any luck they wouldn't be there long.

"How come you always introduce yourself as Gibbs?" Tony asked as he dropped his heavy bag on one of the cots.

"Habit I guess," Gibbs said with a shrug. He hadn't given it much thought.

"Does it bother you that I call you LJ?"

"Considering we're sleeping together," Gibbs said, "it'd probably bother me more if you called me Gibbs." Shannon had called him Gibbs but that was different. He wasn't sure why but it was. "Will you grab the map and I'll get the personnel files."

"Map," Tony said waving the folded up paper in the air. He turned and looked at Gibbs and realized his mind was somewhere else. "You okay?"

"Hmm?" Gibbs looked over at Tony and realized he'd zoned out. "Yeah." He hesitated before taking a deep breath and meeting Tony's eyes. "This just brings back memories."

"Good or bad?" Tony asked.

"Good," Gibbs said, "and bad."

"Know what ya mean," Tony said. He could tell just by looking at Gibbs that the man didn't want to talk about whatever was on his mind all of a sudden. "If you wanna talk, I'm here."

Gibbs smiled his thanks then grabbed the personnel folders.

"I gotta hit the head before the briefing," Tony said. "See ya in there."

Gibbs grabbed the front of Tony's vest and pulled him in for a kiss.

Tony kissed back eagerly, wishing they didn't have to go to the briefing. "Will you smack the back of my head?" he asked hopefully when they pulled apart.

"When we get home," Gibbs answered. "Now focus."

"I'm focused," Tony assured him.

Tony headed off to the bathroom and Gibbs grabbed a cup of coffee for himself and one for his partner then they met with the small group of soldiers assigned to them. Gibbs introduced himself as a former Marine Corps special operator and Tony a former SEAL. Both felt it was important that the troops knew they were former military and not just some hotshot rogue agents who thought they could conquer the world.

They were introduced to Weston, the communications specialist; Keenan and Harper, the infantrymen; Lake, the corpsman and Matthias, the EOD tech. It was a small but talented team.

"This is where we're looking to go," Gibbs said pointing at a marker on the map they'd tacked to the bulletin board. "We've got six civilians who need to be evacuated. Do we have any intel on the area or do Tony and I need to do some recon?"

"The Taliban have a camp somewhere in this area," Keenan said pointing to the higher ground just north of the building the Americans were staying in. "They like to lay in wait on the hilltops and pick our men off."

"Every time we leave camp I pick them up on the radio," Weston added. "They keep track of where we're going and which route we take. They have spies everywhere and they have an advanced network for passing information. We can never go the same way twice because they like to set up IEDs. We also have to avoid driving on the roads and we always have to be on the lookout for snipers and ambushes."

"I guess driving's out of the question," Tony said. He'd already suspected they'd fly in but his training taught him to always consider all possibilities and one possibility was the small road through the woods leading to the house.

"It'll take us an hour to get there by helo," Keenan said. "It'll take us all day if we try to drive. I'm sure our pilot would fly us."

"We brought a pilot," Tony said respectfully. "Ace'll get us where we need to be."

"I've got a bird you can take," Tripp offered. He wasn't going along but as platoon sergeant he was privy to everything that was happening in his command. "It's all gassed up and ready to go."

"Appreciate it," Gibbs said. "We have no communication with the civilians but they know we're coming. They've been told to be packed and ready to go in a matter of minutes. We're not flying into a hot zone but we still need to be on alert and take all necessary precautions. Nobody's close enough to come to the rescue if we get pinned down."

"Ace will drop here, at the edge of the forest, then take off again and be our eye in the sky," Tony said indicating the other marker on the map. "We'll have to go the other half mile on foot. I know we don't need to remind you guys but I'm gonna do it anyways, we need to be very careful in the woods especially. Watch out for booby traps, ambushes, anything out of place. Mathias, you're EOD, you'll lead the way. Work fast but be accurate. The goal here is not to be on the ground any longer than a half an hour."

"When are we leaving, Sir?" Mathias asked.

"First light," Tony answered.

"Take the evening to make sure you have your gear ready," Gibbs said. "Get a good night's rest. I want everybody alert and sharp tomorrow."

"Hoorah!" the soldiers chanted together.

"If there're no more questions, you're dismissed," Gibbs said.

The troops filed out leaving Gibbs and Tony alone in the Mess Hall. The two went over their plan one last time then packed up and headed back towards their tent. As they walked, Tony could see the tension in Gibbs' shoulders and sense the uneasiness radiating off of him.

"You're worried," he observed.

"'little," Gibbs admitted. "Not thrilled about going a half a mile on foot through the woods, especially with civilians on the way back."

"I'm not either," Tony said, "but we don't have any other option. There's not enough room for the chopper to land closer to the house and getting to them by car would take too long."

They continued walking and Gibbs remained unusually quiet and lost in his thoughts.

"Is there something else?" Tony asked. He knew he was prying but if there was something he could do to put Gibbs at ease he wanted to know about it.

Gibbs glanced over at Tony but didn't say anything. The last time he'd been in a camp like the one they were in was when he'd received word that Shannon and Kelly were gone—dead and that was right before he'd been blown up and spent several days in a coma. He wrote off the uneasy feeling in his gut to the memories and shook his head. "No," he said.

Tony nodded as they stepped into their tent. He didn't really believe Gibbs but decided not to push. The quiet reflection could've just been the older man's way of preparing himself for the upcoming mission. They were still getting to know each other. He reached over and brushed the back of his hand against Gibbs' hand so he knew he was there for him. Gibbs grabbed his fingers and squeezed briefly before letting go, thankful for the support. He just wasn't quite ready to pour his soul out yet.

After briefing Ace and making sure they had their gear ready, Gibbs and Tony spent the rest of the evening playing pickup basketball with some of the Marines. After the long flight it was nice to be able to move around with the added benefit of building rapport with the troops they'd be working with the following morning. There was already a mutual respect between the agents and the troops but spending time hanging out together would strengthen it.

After over an hour of basketball, a little bit of dinner and an ice cold shower, Gibbs and Tony enjoyed the bright glow that filled the sky as the sun set then they disappeared inside their tent to try to get some sleep. Tony pushed his cot right up against Gibbs'. It wouldn't be the same as being in the same bed but Tony found he needed to be close to Gibbs. He slept much better when he could reach out and touch the man.

"Do you know where Ace and JT are?" he asked kicking his boots off.

"JT's playing cards with some of the guys and Ace is in the shower," Gibbs said. The four of them were bunking together. It was either that or sleep on the plane and all four men preferred to stretch out on the cots, even if their feet did hang over the end a little.

"Want me to tuck you in?" Tony offered with a seductive smile.

"Behave yourself," Gibbs said.

"What are you talking about?" Tony asked naïvely. "I only offered to tuck you in!"

"Mm-hmm," Gibbs hummed. "I know where your head's at."

"Which head?" Tony asked wiggling his eyebrows.

"Exactly," Gibbs said as he stretched out and pulled the blankets over himself.

Tony smiled and flopped down onto his bed. He reached into Gibbs' bed and wrapped his hand around Gibbs' arm, just wanting to have that contact.

"Night Tony," Gibbs said.

"Night, LJ," Tony said. The two shared a kiss then settled into the silence of the night. Tony rolled onto his side and hugged Gibbs' arm to his chest, smiling when he felt Gibbs' fingers brush across his cheek. Just as Gibbs was getting ready to drift off, Tony's soft voice woke him.

"LJ, will you slap the back of my head again?"