The Truth Can Set You Free

by Belladonna

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asb/belladonna/truth.php
Summary: In the show NCIS, Tony DiNozzo is hurt beyond words in the episode 'Boxed In'. He runs to his old friend, Dr. Daniel Jackson and when the truth starts to come out, it makes certain people realize how important the truth really is

Tony was hurt. Not just physically, though tossing off his sling had turned out to be a bad idea, but his heart hurt too. Damn it, he just couldn't measure up, and he didn't know why.

"Damn it," he cursed as he dropped his bag. The intercom called his flight again and he sighed and switched his bag to the other hand, getting in line to get on the plane. He thanked his lucky stars that Daniel bought the ticket, he didn't want anyone to know where he was.

He got settled into his seat, wincing as his seat partner brushed his injured shoulder. He needed some kind of pain killer but he'd wait until they served sodas. Tony leaned back and forced his clenched muscles to relax, thinking about his request for vacation form. He'd lied, but Madam Director wouldn't figure it out until it was too late.

Daniel was at Stapleton, pacing back and forth as the plane rolled up to the accordion-like concourse. He was worried sick, Tony had called out of the blue and asked for his help, his voice broken.

People started coming off of the plane, and he almost gasped as he saw Tony. He didn't physically look bad, but his eyes looked like his soul had been broken. Daniel was pissed, he was going kick ass when he found out who'd hurt his friend.

"Tony!"

Tony could almost feel his muscles sag in relief, "Danny." The two men hugged, and the scent of his friend, and the strong shoulders almost made him break down, but he moved back, his eyes bright. "Where can I get a drink around here?" and winced when Daniel touched his arm.

"Are you wounded?" Daniel asked, his eyes sharp. "Were you supposed to fly?"

"It's just a scratch, and the doc didn't say I couldn't," Tony shrugged carefully. It was throbbing like a bitch.

Daniel pursed his lips and took Tony's carryon. "C'mon, let's go home."

**

Abby was feeling bad, and she had a bad feeling. She'd seen the hurt on Tony's face when he realized he'd been left out of the party the night before at Ziva's. Damn. She picked up her phone and dialed his number, and almost dropped her phone when the message on it came on stating the number was disconnected. She tried his cell but remembered it was in her lab. She hung up and frantically dialed again.

Gibbs scowled at his phone, checked the number and smiled. "Yeah Abs, what's up?"

"Tony's cut off his phone service," Abby spat. "I knew something was wrong, he was so hurt when he heard about last night."

"Abby, please. It wasn't personal," Gibbs said, though his alarms were starting to ring. He put up his tools and took the stairs two at a time.

"Not personal? This is TONY!" Abby yelped.

"Calm down, Abs. He probably forgot to pay his bill," Gibbs said as he slipped on his shoes.

"He pays by direct deposit," Abby replied scornfully.

Gibbs shrugged into his coat. "I'm going over there now, I'll let you know what I find." and he closed his phone. Damn it, DiNozzo better be at home.

***

Daniel stared at Tony as he slept. He gently brushed the hair off of his friend's face and wished he could make the heartbroken look go away.

**

Abby was scrolling through passenger manifests while Gibbs paced in the background. After a couple of hours, she shook her head. "I'm sorry, bossman. He lied on his vacation form. I can't find him," she spun on her seat and looked at him seriously. "I don't blame him, we all screwed up."

"IT was a dinner, Abby! It wasn't that big of deal!" Gibbs bit out, even while knowing that Tony would never believe that. An excellent agent, Tony's self confidence was almost zero, and this fiasco didn't help. Fuck.

"If he comes back, he's fired," Director Sheppard's voice came from the doorway.

"Shut up, Jen!" Gibbs said savagely. "He's our best agent and he's hurting. I need to find him before he does something stupid."

"It sounds like he already has," she pointed out. "He lied on his form! He's obviously mentally unstable."

Abby was about to say something when Gibbs stopped her with a quick head shake. "Stay out of this, Jen. Okay? Let me handle it."

The Director shook her head and flounced out.

"I hate her," Abby intoned softly. "She has no people skills, but we're not much better. He was so hurt."

Gibbs sighed. "Go home, Abby. Maybe he'll call you."

Abby brightened. "Yeah, he always calls me," she grabbed her bag and waved, dashing out.

The next morning found Gibbs standing at the door to Tony's apartment. He pulled out his lock picks, when McGee cleared his throat.

"Um, boss?"

Gibbs held on to his temper. "What?" A key entered his peripheral vision.

"Abby gave it to me."

A key. He sighed and accepted it, unlocking the door and stepping into Tony's apartment.

**

Daniel had ended up sleeping with his friend the entire night. Tony kept having nightmares, some quiet and tear filled, others violent, like Jack's old prisoner of war ones. It scared Daniel that his friend was so torn up, and if he ever met the Gibbs that Tony had cried over, he was going to have words. After he kicked his ass.

The phone rang and Daniel dived for it, but Tony was so far under that he didn't even twitch. "Hello?"

Jack frowned. "Daniel, why are you whispering?"

Daniel winced. "Hang on," and he crept out of the bedroom. "Jack, I'm not coming in today."

Surprised, well, no, more shocked, Jack gaped at his phone for a minute. "What?"

Daniel sighed and pinched his nose. He needed coffee. "A friend of mine flew in last night. He's in a bad way, so I'm going to need some time off. Probably a week."

Annoyed, but knowing that he was over a barrel, Jack said, "You've got it. How about I come over tonight?"

Warmed by his thoughtful friend, Daniel smiled. "I need groceries. Get something like hamburgers, fries and beer, could you?"

Sucker. Jack smiled wryly. "Yep, see you at seven. Good luck with your friend."

"Thanks, Jack." Daniel was grinning as he turned off his phone and went to start his coffee maker.

**

Jethro prowled through Tony's apartment, and didn't have clue one as to where DiNozzo disappeared to.

"Boss?" McGee came back in, waving a pile of envelopes. "He's paid everything. It looks like he's going to be gone for awhile."

"Like hell," Gibbs growled. He looked around for something, anything that would say, 'look at me', when McGee did that throat clearing thing again.

"What!?"

McGee winced. "How about his black book?" He held up the little leather book, which Gibbs snatched, and opened to find it all blacked out.

"What in the hell?"

McGee peered at it. "Why did he do that?"

"Why would you black out all of your romantic prospects, McGee?" Gibbs drawled sarcastically, even as his heart suddenly began to ache. His phone chirped and he grabbed it. "Talk to me, Abby."

"Boss, I have a number! Tony made a phone call at about 9:30 last night. To a Dr. Daniel Jackson in Colorado Springs."

"Give it to me," Gibbs ordered and he repeated the number out loud while McGee wrote it down. He snapped his phone closed and dialed the number that the younger agent rattled off.

**

Daniel was into his third cup of coffee when his phone rang again. He grabbed it, deciding he was going to unplug the damn things, and answered it. "Jackson."

"Is this Dr. Daniel Jackson?"

Daniel sat up. "Yes, who's this?"

"My name is Agent Jethro Gibbs of..."

"You sonofabitch! You have some nerve calling here!" Daniel exploded.

"What? I'm calling in regards to..."

"I know who you're calling for. Yes, Tony's here, and no, he doesn't want to talk to you. ~I~ was the one who sat up all night listening to his nightmares, NOT you. I was the person he called when he was so broken he didn't know who to turn to, NOT you. Go back to your precious NCIS and leave Tony alone!" and Daniel slammed the phone down, going through the house and unplugging everything.

Gibbs blinked.

"Was he there?" McGee asked tentatively.

Gibbs nodded slowly. "Yeah," and he walked out of the door, leaving a puzzled McGee to hustle after him.

~

Tony stumbled out, sleepily rubbing his eyes. He accepted the cup of coffee and sat down, groaning as he moved his arm wrong. "Ugh, I feel like shit."

Daniel smirked at his friend over his glasses. "You ~look~ like something I scraped off of the bottom of my shoe."

This brought an amused snort from the table.

Daniel watched his friend carefully as he worked on a translation. He noticed the lines of strain around Tony's eyes were lessened by a semi solid twelve hours of sleep. "Hungry?"

Tony grunted and shook his head. "Not really. What time is it?" he peered around for a clock.

Daniel glanced as his watch. "Um, 1145."

"Geez," Tony's eyes widened. He never slept that long.

Daniel closed out the document he'd been working on and got up and poured himself more coffee. He sat down across from Tony and sipped. "So..."

"So?"

"Agent Gibbs called," Daniel began and Tony flinched sharply as if he'd been hit. "I told him to go to hell."

"I can't believe he found me already," Tony whispered, hazel eyes stricken.

Daniel shrugged. "Probably your phone call. Don't worry about it, you're here to stay as far as I'm concerned. Fuck 'em all."

Tony snickered as he took in Daniel's relaxed attitude. Daniel cared, and it was soothing all of the rough edges of betrayal. "Do you kiss your boyfriend with that mouth?"

"I used to," Daniel smiled slyly at his friend.

This teasing rejoinder put them in mind the summer of their affair. Daniel had been at Ohio State for an archeology symposium and Tony, cruising for smart chicks, had met him there. They'd immediately been attracted to each other and had spent the spring and summer together, flying to see each other almost every weekend while they carried on their whirlwind affair. They'd ended it reluctantly, but amicably when Daniel had accepted an invitation to go on a dig in Egypt. He'd agonized over it, but Tony had convinced him to go, it was Daniel's home and he'd respected that.

They'd kept in touch, always having that soft spot for each other, and if Daniel hadn't been hired by the Catherine when he'd lost everything, he would've called Tony for help, because he knew that his friend would've been there for him like he was for Tony. It was a given.

Tony sighed and drained his coffee. He walked over to the couch and flopped down, carefully, covering his eyes with his good arm.

Daniel opened his mouth, to ask, to prod, he didn't know, when Tony began to hesitantly speak. Daniel listened with growing anger at Tony's past year, how he'd been infected with Y Pestis, almost dying and his parents not even visiting (and boy, Daniel could go chapter and verse on Tony's parents), how he lost his partner to a terrorist, how he'd saved the life of the new partner, a former Mossad agent, a couple of times and was rewarded so cruelly by being left out, and the unhappy frown every time Tony mentioned Agent Gibbs. Oh yeah, some serious ass kicking to be done, starting with Agent David, and ending with Gibbs.

Instead, Daniel moved over to the couch and cupped Tony's face. "From everything that you've said, I really think Abby didn't know."

Remembering the honest excitement on Abby's face the night before, Tony agreed. "Abby's been one of my best friends, I can't imagine her being that mean."

Daniel nodded. "And I'll bet she's worried, do you wanna call her?"

"Yeah, I should," Tony accepted Daniel's help in getting up, moving to the table where Daniel set the cordless phone. He pressed the button on but got nothing. "Um, Danny?"

"Whoops, let me plug it in," Daniel said sheepishly.

Tony gave his friend a warm smile. "Thanks." He dialed the phone and held his breath.

**

Earlier that morning at NCIS-

Gibbs was pacing, he seemed to be doing a lot of that lately when it came to Tony. Abby came out of the elevator, her face pinched with stress. "I've got what I could, Gibbs."

"Put it up on screen Abby," Gibbs ordered.

A picture of Daniel showed up on screen, and Ziva tilted her head curiously. The man didn't look like any archeologist she'd seen.

"Dr. Daniel Jackson, PhD's in Archeology and Anthropology with a masters in linguistics. According to his official record he speaks 20 or more languages."

"Wow," McGee said, his voice impressed.

Gibbs was less than impressed. Daniel was Tony's age and he was beautiful, and a threat as far as Gibbs was concerned. "And?"

"He was born in Egypt, his parents were killed in New York when he was a child and he went into foster care. He's a genius and graduated early, went to Oxford in England." Abby frowned at the picture. "Now here's where it gets hinky," she said.

"Hinky?" Gibbs asked.

Abby nodded. "He was laughed out of the archeological community for a theory that the pyramids all over the world were made by the same people. There was some crack about aliens, and he just disappeared, only to by hired by the United States Air Force."

"So, since the Air Foce doesn't hire crackpots..." he trailed off thoughtfully. "Let me guess, NORAD?" Gibbs asked. He dismissed the hinky aspects for now, Tony was more important.

"Yeppers."

"I wonder how he and Tony know each other," McGee said aloud.

Abby shot him a glare. "I wonder why Tony felt like he couldn't come to us when he was hurting. Oh wait, we fucked him over, that's right!"

"Abs," Gibbs said wearily.

"Don't 'Abs' me. Tony is the heart of this team, and we're supposed to be like family and ~not~ stab him in the back," Abby shot back.

Ziva had been sitting at her desk, suddenly realizing that she'd really messed things up. She only meant to tease Tony, knock him down a few pegs. She'd made the mistake of thinking he was the arrogant ditzy, playboy when in fact he was an excellent agent, with instincts she wished she had, all wrapped up in that 'boys will be boys' persona.

"No, Gibbs, Abby is right. It was my fault and I shoulder the blame. What I did was cruel and unnecessary and I should have known better," she said. Abby sent her a nasty look and she fell silent.

Pulling her files together, Abby marched to the elevator. Before she stepped on she looked back, "I hope he'll forgive us, or this team is broken."

Gibbs felt like he'd aged overnight, his heart, his very bones ached. He missed Tony and he was only now just realizing why. "Agent David, I think you need to take some vacation."

Blinking back the sting in her eyes, Ziva nodded. "For how long?"

"Call it a week. I'll see you back here on the 19th."

She nodded sharply, gathered her things and left.

McGee sat in his seat and watched in horror as the team he'd worked so hard to be a part of, literally fell apart before his very eyes. "Can't we do something?"

Gibbs glanced over. "Give DiNozzo some space for the moment, that's it.

~

Abby was morosely trying to doing something for another NCIS team on her computer when her phone buzzed. "Sciuto," she said quietly.

"Hey Abs," Tony said just as quietly.

"Oh Tony," tears started as she began to speak, "I'm so sorry. I didn't know, I thought you were on a date or I wouldn't have hugged her and said I was glad she was alive 'cause I would've been kicking her ass!"

This diatribe made Tony laugh. Daniel was always right, Abby had been worried. "It's okay, Abby."

"Are you okay?"

Tony sighed, shoulders slumping until his arm pinched and he had to straighten. "I'm with a good friend and he's taking care of me. I'm fine." His eyes went to Daniel's warm blue ones.

Abby glanced around and whispered, "Madam Director is on the warpath but Gibbs..."

"Let Gibbs deal with her, don't mess with the bitch, Abby. Okay?"

"Ah Tony, you like me, you really like me," Abby teased, wiping her face.

"I really do. I'm doing fine and just wanted to let you know. I'll talk to you later, 'kay?"

"Bye, Tony," she said, hanging up the phone as McGee walked in.

"Was that Tony?"

Abby nodded.

McGee looked troubled. "Gibbs said Tony needs time, but I think that's a mistake. We need him, Abby."

Abby got up and thumped him in the chest. "Did you know?"

"No! I thought Tony had a date or something, or he said no when he realized that Palmer and me were gonna be there."

Abby thumped him again and he protested faintly, rubbing his chest. "Tony would never, ever turn down a team night. Even with Jimmy. God, men can be such idiots."

"Hey, it wasn't us who left him out," McGee said, loyally defending all man kind.

"But Gibbs knew," Abby said savagely. "He had to rub it in. God, men are sooo stupid."

McGee decided if he wanted his chest bone left intact, he'd better find somewhere else to be. "If you talk to him again, tell him we miss him," and he fled the lab and Abby's uneven temper.

"Pussy."

**

Jack schlepped the two overly full grocery bags, and one plastic one dangling from his fingers to Daniel's front door, and was presented with a dilemma. If he put the bags down his knees would never forgive him, and he couldn't ring the damn doorbell. He resorted to a hard kick. "Danny! It's me! Open the damn door!"

The door opened to reveal a stranger, as tall as himself with hazel eyes that looked sad. Ah, Daniel's friend. "Hi, I'm Jack, could I get a hand here?"

Tony laughed at the irritated man. "Sorry, I'm Tony," he took one of the grocery bags and the plastic one and headed into the kitchen, Jack on his heels.

"Daniel! I'm here!" Jack bellowed and Tony turned to stare at him wide eyed. Good lookin' kid, Jack thought. About Daniel's age, and looked like he'd been kicked while he was down. "Don't worry about Daniel, he's used to it."

"No, I'm not!" Daniel said firmly. "But I'm not the one who's gonna need hearing aids, either," he teased, moving smoothly to the side when Jack would swat him.

Tony was abruptly homesick. He and Gibbs had the same kind of relationship, though not the obvious affection.

Daniel had his arms buried in the bags and he caught Jack's eye and jerked his head. "Get Tony a beer and go be elsewhere, I'll get dinner started."

"Oh Danny, let me help since I'm sponging off of you," Tony protested.

Daniel put down the large tomatoes and went to Tony. "You are not sponging off of me. You're my friend, now go drink a beer and keep Jack company."

"Yes massa, right away," Tony bowed deeply, making Daniel laugh and thump him.

In the living room, Jack watched Tony so not relax in the chair, gripping his beer as if it were a lifeline. "So, what do ya do, Tony?"

Tony looked at the handsome silver haired man, and was relieved to see dark brown eyes, not blue. He could do this, and he sighed. "I'm an investigator for NCIS."

Daniel came in at that moment with some cheese and crackers on a plate. "I thought you were a cop?"

"He is," Jack said before Tony could. "It stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service. They're assigned to Marine and Navy cases."

Daniel frowned. "We've got Marines, do we have an NCIS?"

"No, Daniel," Jack said. Like they needed ~another~ alphabet government agency mucking around in the mountain. "If we can't handle it then we'd call them in from DC. But in the ten years we've been there it's never happened."

"You work for the military, Danny?" Tony asked in confusion.

Jack raised an eyebrow and Daniel snorted. "Yeah, Jack is the head cheese."

"Oh thanks, does that mean I'm stinky?" Jack asked in mock outrage.

"If the stinky shoes fit," Daniel replied primly.

Jack laughed, Tony and Daniel joining in. "Seriously, I'm the General in charge of the deep space telemetry program," Jack said. "So, you any good?"

Tony was taken aback, "Um, I used to think so."

Jack flashed a look to Daniel, who was staring at Tony. "I have no doubt that you're an excellent cop," Daniel said staunchly. "Heck, you were a great football player."

Relief flashed over Tony's face when he realized he wouldn't have to speak about work anymore. "Yeah, but I tore the hell out of my knee in my senior year, remember when you called and I was in the hospital? And since a degree in physical education doesn't open a lot of doors, I decided to go to police academy and moved to Peoria, Illinois where I was a street cop, then I went to Philadelphia, then on to Baltimore. That's where Gibbs hired me from."

The timer dinged and Daniel jumped to his feet. "Jack, can you start the grill? Tony, you want to get your shower before we eat?"

Tony nodded and stretched carefully. "Yeah, I need it." He disappeared down the hallway to the guest room.

Daniel gestured for Jack to follow him into the kitchen. They grabbed the burgers and went out back to start the burgers on the grill.

"So, what happened to Tony?" Jack asked seriously. He watched in bemusement as Daniel paced and waved his arms as he described what had happened to his friend. As he railed, his mention of terrorists and Mossad rang unpleasant bells for Jack. Poor DiNozzo.

"And what I can't believe is how Gibbs plays them against each other! You never did that to us!" Daniel finished up.

Jack winced slightly. "Well, that's not strictly true. I played you and Carter against each other to make you come up with solutions that worked."

Daniel waved that off. "Of course, if you look at it like that. But you didn't encourage bad feelings, you didn't encourage mean tricks. You didn't let us invite part of the team, and not all of us."

"I agree. But you've got to remember, Mossad agents are trained to be loners, and she's taking cues from this Gibbs and probably didn't think anything of it except as a way to jerk Tony's chain."

"Well, she's in America now and needs to realize that we work better if we can trust each other," Daniel grumbled and flipped the burgers before Jack could get up. "And boy, I'd like to kick Gibbs' ass. Tony was so sad when he got here last night."

Tony came out in time to hear this and went over to hug his friend. "I'll be okay, Danny. Really. I just need some time to clear my head," his voice was muffled in Daniel's shoulder.

Daniel pulled him tight, pressing a kiss to Tony's head. "I want you to stay forever. Fuck Gibbs and the horse he rode in on."

Jack blinked slightly at this. They were behaving way closer than just simple friends. He saw Tony turn his face and accept a warm kiss, holy fuck! On the lips!

Daniel caught the shock on Jack's face, and inwardly groaned but didn't stop the hug. He just raised a challenging eyebrow and Jack shrugged and raised his beer in salute, but his best friend had a gleam in his eye that Daniel couldn't figure out.

Tony pulled back. "You're grill is smoking," he pointed out.

"Ja-ack!" Daniel complained as he opened the grill to plate up the burgers before they became burnt offerings.

"Hey, don't blame me! You were occupied and I'm just a guest," Jack winked at Tony who smothered a chuckle.

The men ate together, talking about places they'd been, sports, which was dominated by Jack and Tony, and things to do in Colorado Springs. Jack sat back and rubbed his stomach lazily. "So, how'd ya two meet?"

Tony snickered and Daniel laughed. "There was an archeological conference at Ohio State. I went looking for smart women, and found Danny instead," the fond glance exchanged confirmed Jack's suspicions, and fueled his excitement.

Daniel toasted Tony with his beer. "And we've been friends since then."

Jack nodded. This evening had given him a lot to think about.

After Jack went home, Daniel checked Tony's arm, bandaging it competently. Then he cupped his friend's face. "Sleep with me tonight?"

Tony pressed into the big hand. "Just sleep?"

Daniel slowly shook his head. "Not if you don't want to."

Tony stood and pulled Daniel down the hallway, "Oh, I think we both need this."

They slowly undressed each other, relearning the others' body, Daniel kissing Tony's wound then moving his mouth down farther until Tony could only throw his head back and feel.

**

Jack left Daniel's home, a big smile on his face. His whole future had suddenly brightened a whole hell of a lot. As he got into his truck, a pale blue Ford Taurus with Virginia plates caught his eye. Hmm. Someone was watching Danny's house, and they couldn't have that.

Ziva lifted her binoculars again, focusing on the snug house where Tony was. As she began to let them down, her car door jerked open and she found a 9mm Glock in her face.

"Get out and be silent," the man said, brown eyes flat. She automatically catalogued him, 6'1", silver and brown, lean but muscular and obviously Spec Ops trained for her not to have seen him approach. His dangerous presence reminded her a lot of Gibbs. She raised her arms and carefully got out of the car.

"What do you want?" she asked innocently, immediately knowing that the man saw right through her.

"Leave DiNozzo alone, Agent David," the man said, and her heart jumped. How did he know who she was?

"I don't know who you are referring to," she bluffed from where she leaned stiffly against the car.

This patent lie made Jack roll his eyes. "In America a team works together, not like Mossad where you all work separately and against each other. Leave him alone, David. He'll go home when he's ready." Satisfied that she understood, he slipped his weapon away, and caught the Mossad agent's arm as she went for hers. "Ah ah, play nice, little girl or I'll have you deported."

Arm and wrist aching from the way the silver haired man had it twisted, Ziva made a face as he took her gun and her knives from her. "Who ~are~ you?" she demanded.

He smiled grimly, he had a skeleton to rattle. "Jack O'Neill, with two 'l's'. Now go away and don't let me find you here again."

Clearly unable to do anything else, Ziva drove away, feeling humiliated. At the hotel she pulled out her phone and settled on the big bed, back against the headboard, rubbing her sore arm absently.

"David," a gruff voice answered.

"Papa?"

In Israel, the senior Mossad agent was surprised. "Is there something wrong, Ziva?" The last time his daughter had called was to notify him that his son Ari was dead.

"Do you know a Jack O'Neill? Spelled with two 'l's'? I believe he was Special Forces of some kind," she asked. She still smarted from losing her weapons.

In his office, despite his second in command being with him, Agent David went so pale that the deep black of his hair stood out starkly. There were certain memories from his past, including one former Black Ops pilot named Jack O'Neill, that he was completely happy to just leave there.

His Captain stood, trying to figure out where the threat was but David waved him back to his seat and sharply ordered his daughter, "Stay away from him, Ziva. He's dangerous. Far more dangerous that anyone you have ever met. Do I make myself clear?"

Obscurely reassured, Ziva sighed. "Very well, papa. I will stay away from him." It made her feel slightly less bumbling since O'Neill clearly had to be very good to sneak up on ~her~.

"Good. How is everything going at NCIS?" he asked, turning the subject to something less dangerous.

"Fine, papa," she lied. "I'll let you go, I know you are busy." And she closed her phone, and sighed. Maybe she would drive to Florida. She still the rest of the week to kill. And she would apologize to Tony when she got back.

~*

Jack was looking through Tony's records, just checking that there was nothing that could hurt Daniel in any way, when his phone rang. "O'Neill."

"Sir, this is the switchboard. We have an Agent Gibbs of the NCIS asking for Dr. Jackson, and since we know that Dr. Jackson is out for the week..."

"Got it, Sergeant. Go head and pass it to me."

"Yes, sir."

Jack sat back and said, "This is General Jack O'Neill. How can I help you?"

"I was looking for Dr. Jackson?" The surprised voice on the other end said.

"Yeah, I figured. Listen, Daniel definitely doesn't want to speak to you. In fact, I'm pretty sure he made that clear to you yesterday. Don't worry about DiNozzo, he's being well taken care of."

Gibbs sat down and sighed. "It's all been a big misunderstanding, if I could just ~speak~ to DiNozzo..."

"Listen, Agent Gibbs. I've been a commander most of my adult life. I understand the need to pit your people against each other to get the highest results, but when it turns to petty competition that hurts one of your people, then I'm not sure the results outweigh the risks," Jack sighed. "Your willingness to turn a blind eye is what has got you in this mess. It's up to you to get out of it, and I wouldn't put it off."

"I know I screwed up, sir. I didn't think it would get this out of hand."

"You know DiNozzo's background, right? How could you not see this outcome? According to Daniel the kid worships the ground that you walk on. Fix it Gibbs, or I'm going to see if I can keep him here," and Jack smiled at the outraged yelp as he hung up on the man. ~That~ should get him out here, asap.

~

Gibb stared at the phone, pissed beyond belief. There was NO fucking way that O'Neill was keeping Tony. Tony was ~his~, and he'd get on his knees to apologize and promise never to do it again before he'd let ~his~ Agent, and the man that ~he~ needed stay in Colorado Springs. That included going through Dr. Daniel Jackson if need be.

*

Ducky ~happened~ to be walking by when he heard Jethro tell the Director he was going after Anthony, and the resulting shouting match was everything he'd been promised. A hand on his shoulder made him jolt, and he turned to see Abby putting her finger to her lips, and McGee behind her as well. Ducky rolled his eyes and went back to eavesdropping.

"It doesn't matter if Agent DiNozzo returns. I'm going to terminate his employment here for conduct unbecoming," the Director promised.

"No, you're not, Jen. Because if you do, then I'm resigning as well. I'm well past my 20 and can do it."

"Damn you! Don't tell me how to lead my people!" she hissed.

"Oh please, lead? You're the token woman in the NCIS hierarchy. You're here on some Senator's whim, and not for your dubious abilities as a leader," Gibbs shot back. "Now, I'm flying out to Colorado in two hours. I'll be back, ~with~ Agent DiNozzo no later than tomorrow. Take it or leave it."

Her eyes were pissed but she gave a short nod and Gibbs spun on his heel and left her office, pretending not to notice that there were certainly a lot of people around who obviously had nothing to do.

**

Tony and Daniel ran together the next morning, Daniel relieved to see Tony looking and feeling better. Though the three bouts of sex had probably helped, too. "So," he panted as they jogged, "How long have you been in love with Gibbs?"

Tony slowed up and jogged in place. "Have you ever wondered why we didn't make it?" he countered. He started jogging again and Daniel caught up. "I mean, I love you, the sex is great, why didn't it work?"

Daniel jogged meditatively for about a mile, chewing on Tony's question. "I think that we knew we had things to do with our lives, and we weren't ready to settle down. If we'd been serious, you'd have come to Egypt with me, or I would've moved to Columbus and waited for you to finish college, and we didn't do that."

Tony nodded in agreement. "I might love Gibbs, but I'm not sure I like him right now. I know I can't trust him, which I never thought I'd say, I mean, he saved my life just the other day. He's got terrific instincts when it comes to the criminal element, but when it comes to people? Well, let's just say he's been divorced three times."

"Yuck," Daniel said. "Okay, I see your point."

"What about General Jack? He practically lives in your pocket."

"He's straight," Daniel said matter-of-factly. "I keep expecting to hear that he and one of my former team-mates are engaged. So I worship from afar."

"Damn, we're messed up," Tony said with a laugh, and Daniel couldn't help but laugh with him.

*

Gibbs cursed the computer map thing in the car he was driving. He should've already arrived at Dr. Jackson's house. The computer spoke, "Turn right in 150 yards." Ah, fucking finally. He pulled up in front of the house and sighed.

Fight or flight.

Yeah, right. He was a Marine, and he never ran away from anything. Plus, Ducky and Abby would drop-kick his ass to Topeka if he didn't make this right.

Daniel was making lunch when the doorbell rang. He stared for a moment, it wasn't Jack, who the hell was it? He grabbed his sidearm and shoved it into the back of his jeans and went to open the door. On his porch was a silver haired man, his height, with icy blue eyes that held a similar miserable expression that Tony carried. Oh yeah, he knew who this was.

"Agent Gibbs," he said cooly.

"Dr. Jackson," Gibbs said, rigidly keeping any expression off of his face. "May I speak to Agent DiNozzo, please?"

"No."

Gibbs didn't budge. "I'm not leaving until I speak to Agent DiNozzo."

"Fine. It drops to freezing at night. Enjoy," and Daniel slammed the door in his face.

Tony came out, towel around his hips and using another to rub his hair dry. Several hickeys stood out against his slightly olive skin. "Who was at the door?"

"Gibbs."

Tony froze, eyes wide. "What? I could've swore that you just said Gibbs."

Daniel nodded. "I did. He wants to talk to you."

"No. Yes... No." Tony shook his head. "I don't know! What should I do?"

Moving to his friend, Daniel put his hands on his shoulders. "What do you want me to do? Should I let him in, let him say his piece, then kick him out?"

Tony felt like his brain was frozen, but he nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

Daniel nodded and went to the door, opening it, and punched Gibbs in the face, knocking the other man off of the porch and into the remnants of snow and junipers.

"Danny!" Tony dropped the towel he'd been holding and rushed out, kneeling beside his boss, unmindful of the cold air. "God, boss? Are you okay?"

Gibbs shook his head and rubbed his rapidly darkening chin. "I think so," he said, moving his jaw back and forth, "I seem to have all of my teeth."

"Too bad," Daniel stood in the doorway, arms across his chest, a mild twinkle in his eye. ~He~ felt better. "Tony, you might as well bring him in here with you before you catch pneumonia."

Gibbs head jerked and he suddenly noticed the expanse of bare skin, and the hickeys. Damn it. Tony dragged him to his feet and brought him into the house. He sat down, still holding his jaw, his eyes not leaving a shivering Tony.

"Hey, go get dressed, you're freezing," Daniel ordered.

Tony nodded, eyeing his friend with a question. "No more hitting?"

Daniel held up his fingers like a boy scout. "No more hitting."

Gibbs snorted as soon as Tony was out of earshot. "You never were a boyscout, were you, Dr. Jackson?"

"Hell no. Let's get something straight, Gibbs. You're here on my sufferance. You hurt Tony again and it won't be just your jaw that's hurt." Daniel glared, he hoped menacingly, "You've fucked up royally and you'd better be here to make it right or I'm gonna fry your ass."

Gibbs blinked. He could tell the archeologist was serious, and it went to show how close the two men were, and how badly he'd hurt Tony. "I'm here to make it right."

Daniel nodded. "Good, let me get you an icepack. Looks like it's gonna hurt like a bitch," and he disappeared into the kitchen. He reappeared the same time Tony did, giving some Tylenol and a glass over water to Gibbs before he handed over the icepak.

"I'm going to my office. Call me if you need anything," Daniel told Tony. Tony smiled and pulled Daniel in for a quick hug, before settling uneasily across from Gibbs.

* Daniel closed the door and went to his phone and dialed the mountain.

"O'Neill."

"Can I have a zat?" Daniel asked plaintively.

He heard Jack laugh and felt better, until he heard, "So, Gibbs is there?"

"You ~knew~ he was coming out? You didn't think you could warn me?"

"If you had DiNozzo wouldn't you want him back?"

Daniel sighed. "Of course. Damn it. But if he hurts Tony again I want your help in hiding the body."

"You've got it. Talk to ya later, Danny."

*

Jealousy. Well, his wives had warned him he was a jealous bastard, but he didn't realize what the word meant until now. Gibbs put his head down and ordered himself to breathe before he said something irretrievably stupid and lost Tony forever.

"Boss?"

The uncertainty in the word made Gibbs hitch in a breath and look up at the man he cared for more than he'd ever realized. "I'm sorry, DiNozzo. What happened was wrong and cruel and it won't happen again."

Tony closed up at the first part of the apology. "Right," he said. "That'll work until the next time you need your kicks in seeing Ziva and I arm-wrestle for your attention, or whatever."

Oh hell. O'Neill was right. God, how had he fucked this up so badly?

"Tony, I want you and Ziva and McGee to do your best and healthy competition fosters that. Sometimes I go overboard, I'll admit it, but I ..." he shook his head. "I can't promise to stop, I think you all do better for it. I fucked up with the dinner thing, and I'm sorry about that."

Tony stared at Gibbs. Gibbs had ~really~ apologized. To him.

"You're my best agent, probably the best I've ever seen. You've got better instincts that I have, and it would be a real loss if you decided to leave." Gibbs looked down at his hands. "I miss you, Tony."

Tony's heart thumped hard in his chest. "I've only been gone two days, boss." He fell back on his 'don't take anything seriously' routine.

Blue eyes shot up to his. "DiNozzo"

"What do you want from me?" Tony exploded to his feet. "You've apologized! Great! What does that mean for the next time?" he tried to wave his arms around and winced as his right protested. "Damn it Gibbs, I'm not good at these kind of games. Give me good old fashioned police work and I'm your man. Beyond that, you need to find somebody else because I'm not playing anymore!"

Gibbs got to his feet. "I apologized! Goddamnit, Tony! I don't apologize for ~anyone~, see three ex-wives for exhibit 'A'," he shouted back.

"So what does that ~mean~?" Tony snarled in frustration.

"It means I love you, Damn it!"

There was shocked silence in the living room as Tony stared at Gibbs, certain that he'd let his own wishful thinking put those words into the older man's mouth. "Huh?"

Gibbs blinked back at him, as shocked as Tony was.

Had he said that?

Had ~he~ said that?

Tony sat in the chair with a graceless thump, hope warring with reality, his childhood providing painful evidence of promises made and broken. Gibbs didn't date co-workers, one of his precious rules, and Tony knew he wasn't worth the price.

Gibbs was kneeling in front of Tony before he'd even realized he'd moved, his hands clutching Tony's shoulders, mindful of his injury without thinking about it, "I ~love~ you," he whispered harshly, the sincerity in those words loud and clear.

It wasn't the words that mattered to Tony now, it was the look in Gibbs' eyes that burned into his heart. Gibbs needed him, and cared for him, and loved him, and was sorry for being a bastard, though that was sometimes going to be a given.

"Are you sure? Because this is it, I'm gonna fight for you when you get stupid, I'm not going to let you push me away like you did with Ari, and I'm not letting Madame Director sink her claws into you. Are we clear on this?" Tony demanded.

Gibbs' lips twitched at the 'rules' Tony had just set down, his blue eyes warm. "Are ~you~ sure? I'm a total bastard. I tend to be kinda cranky without my coffee, I regularly break electronic things when I get frustrated, and I tend to pit my agents against each other to get what I want..."

"What do you want?" Tony whispered, hazel eyes dark with lust as Gibbs hands began to wander.

"You," was whispered even quieter, and the kiss that followed was positively sizzling.

Daniel watched from the doorway, smiling wistfully.

**

Jack stood beside Daniel at the gate, watching with a smile as Gibbs and DiNozzo bitched at each other cheerfully. It was good Tony was going home, and it looked like Gibbs had finally gotten his head out of his ass. The airline called their flight for boarding...

Gibbs gently smacked Tony's head, then turned to Jack and Daniel, holding out his hand. "I want to thank you both for taking care of Tony for me." His voice was serious, but his eyes glowed with a happiness he couldn't hide.

Daniel shook it. "Just remember you need to take care of him now. Hurt him again and no one will find your body."

"Danny!" Tony said in scandalized tone, though his eyes laughed. He hugged Daniel hard, shook Jack's hand after Gibbs, then dragged Gibbs to the gate. "Thanks Danny!" he called back and Daniel waved.

"I'm gonna miss him," Daniel said wistfully.

Jack nodded. "When I retire we'll have plenty of time to fly out and visit."

Daniel turned and stared at his friend. "Huh?"

"Oooh, reduced the linguist to a one syllable word. Ten points to me," Jack crowed as he headed down the terminal.

Daniel stared, then hustled after Jack. "Wait, what do you mean retire?"

Jack shot Daniel a grin. "See, there's this guy that I love more than life itself. And I'm going to retire to be with him. And maybe he'll cut back on his hours and let me be a kept man, and well, maybe we could travel around where people ~aren't~ shooting at us."

Stunned, Daniel stopped in the middle of the large passageway, making people go around them in muttering knots, his blue eyes wide as he stared at Jack. He was having trouble coping with the fact that he'd just gotten his dream just dropped in his lap.

"Jack?"

Jack turned back and stood in front of him, cupping Daniel's face for a brief moment. "C'mon Danny. Let's go home."

"Home?" Daniel repeated and Jack chuckled and wrapped an arm over Daniel's shoulders to guide him.

"Home."

**

Tony heard a squeal and braced himself when Abby threw herself into his arms. "Tony, you're home!" She hugged the stuffing out of him, kissing him hard enough to leave a black lipstick kiss on his cheek.

"Aack! Smothering here!" he gasped.

Gibbs grinned and pulled one of her pony tails. "Get off of him, Abs. He's got to breathe."

Abby obediently slid to her feet and eyed Tony critically. "You look good. How are you?"

Tony grinned. "I am good. I've got great friends who are my family, and I'm home. Can't ask for more than that."

Gibbs smiled as Tony caught his eye. "Yep, DiNozzo, you're home where you belong. And don't you forget it."

Abby wrapped an arm around Tony's waist, waving excitedly to Ducky and McGee who'd just arrived. Tony waved too, but his attention was on Gibbs.

"I won't, boss. I think I finally appreciate what I have," he replied, the love in his voice alerting Abby, whose eyes went round when she saw the goofy smiles on the two men's faces.

"Holy smokes, Batman!"

the end