part 2
Of course Tony did not go to the doctor. He only had a few scratches. And he could do without being poked with a needle, thank you very much. This day had been bad enough without that. Instead, he drove aimlessly around town for some time, trying to clear his head. Not that it helped. The more he thought about it, the angrier he was at Gibbs. Damn the man for getting to him like that. That Gibbs hadn't meant anything by it only made it worse. Eventually he gave up on it. In this state he would get into an accident before his anger had evaporated. Tony did a quick U-turn, ignored the angry honks of the other cars and headed home to take it out on his punching ball.
***
When Tony didn't come back after more than an hour Gibbs started to worry. It was out of character for Tony to go to the doc in the first place. But how long could it possibly take to get some scrapes cleaned out? Maybe he had been seriously hurt?
He gave him another ten minutes and the called the doctor. He was probably just worrying about nothing. Tony often complained that he fretted too much.
He was even more worried when they told him Tony had never stopped by.
Gibbs hung up without saying good bye and clicked the button for speed dial to Tony's cell phone. One ring. Two. Three. /Come on. Pick up Dinozzo./ What the fuck was taking him so long? The few seconds felt like an eternity. He breathed a silent sigh of relief when he heard the quick knack of the phone being picked up. But instead of Dinozzo's voice, all he heard was a busy signal. Cursing, he got up from his chair and grabbed his jacket.
"I'm going home, Cait. I want the report on my desk first thing in the morning!"
"But…" Gibbs didn't hear the rest of it as the elevator doors closed.
He shrugged into his jacket and impatiently waited for the doors to open again. As soon as he got out he pressed speed dial 1 on his mobile and rushed to his car. The phone rang and he was hung up on again. He got into the car and pulled out of the garage. He dialed the number again, but this time all he got was the voice mail. He cursed and called Tony's home number. All he got was the answering machine. He hung up and tried again. This time he didn't even get the answering machine. Gibbs growled at the phone and threw it on the passenger seat.
***
Tony had cranked up the stereo to full volume and was beating the crap out of the punching ball. Only he was picturing Gibbs' face in its place. His ringing cell phone interrupted his little `physical therapy' session. Annoyed he picked it up. He saw Gibbs' name on the display a scowled at the phone and hung up on Gibbs. He turned around and got back to his punching ball.
Several moments later it rang again.
Tony didn't even bother to look who it was but hung up on him again. He figured Gibbs would just keep on calling and switched it off and threw the phone down on the table. He was just about to get back to beating up `Gibbs' when his normal phone rang. He scowled and hung up on that line, too. And for good measure he ripped the chord out of the wall.
If possible, he was even more furious now and turned back to punching ball.
***
Gibbs pulled his car to the side of the road opposite of Tony's apartment building. He glanced up at the second where Tony's apartment was. There was light, so somebody was home, but already knew that. He looked from one window to the other. From down here he could see Tony pounding into the ball. Thank god he was okay. Gibbs took a deep breath and rested his head on the steering wheel for a moment. Tony was fine.
Wait. Tony was *fine*.
He slammed the door to the car shut and stalked up to Tony's apartment. Furious, he pounded on the door.
***
Tony nearly screamed when he was interrupted by the pounding on the door. Only one person would `knock' like that.
"GO. AWAY." He yelled in the general direction of the door
"Open the god damn door, Tony!" Gibbs yelled right back and underlined his demand by more pounding. Tony really didn't want to explain to his super how the door had gotten broken, so he stomped over there and threw it open. "WHAT?"
One look at Tony and Gibbs mouth went dry. Tony was wearing an old shirt, with the sleeves ripped off, that showed of his well defined abs glistening with sweat. The red hot anger in his eyes only made him that much more alluring. For a moment he wanted to push him into a wall have his wicked way with him. Which pissed him off even more. He quickly pushed the surge of lust down. This was not why he had come here. Tony had some explaining to do.
Gibbs noticed one of the doors to the other apartments opening and an old lady peaking out. He didn't want, or need, an audience. So he pushed Tony inside and threw the door shut. "When I call, you answer your god damn phone!"
"Well guess what. I didn't want to talk to you!"
The two men came nose to nose.
"I don't CARE. I call. You answer. Is that clear?"
"I was off duty! I answer my fucking phone when ever I fucking please!" Did he seriously think he would jump whenever he called?
"You're not off duty until I say you are off duty!!" Gibbs shouted and punctuated his words by jabbing his finger at Tony's chest. "You can't just leave when ever you fucking feel like it!"
Tony tried to swat his hand away, but Gibbs' reflexes were faster and he grabbed Tony's arm. Tony flinched. Gibbs had him in a nice grip right over one of the multiple bruises. Gibbs loosened his grip immediately and took a step back.
Gibbs went from furious to concerned in less than a second "You're hurt." He stated matter of factly and brought Tony's arm up to inspect the injury.
Tony yanked his arm free. "I'm fine," he snapped.
"Let me see."
"I said I'm FINE."
The boy really had a talent for pissing him off. "Shut up. And sit down." Gibbs barked and pushed Tony into a chair. He took a quick look at the arm and then went to the bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit. He methodically started to clean up the wound, but Tony tried to pull free again. "Dinozzo… you are really starting to piss me off. Stop fussing and let me do this."
By now Tony was really fuming. "I'm… Leave. Now." There was nothing Tony hated more than being treated like a little boy. Tony tried to get up again, but Gibbs firmly pushed him down.
"Not until I'm finished with this."
"I said. Leave." Tony said, his voice low dangerous growl.