Email: slashgirl@gmail.com

Warnings: Spoilers for the imposter on the sub ep, Sub Rosa.

What you don't know
by Stacy L.A. Stronach
Oct/Nov 2003

Tony DiNozzo laughed as he walked away from the elevators. His plan
to hook Tim McGee up with Abby had worked like a charm. His
coworkers thought _he_ was interested in Abby, but he wasn't, at
least not in that way. He grinned at Gibbs, who was probably
thinking Tony was totally surprised at what happened, but he wasn't.
Okay, so the tattoo thing caught him a little off guard, but hey,
he'd got Abby a date.

As soon as he made eye contact with him, Gibbs looked away. Tony
frowned, he couldn't understand why Gibbs was being so... nasty
lately. It hurt Tony each time Gibbs cut him off or just plain
ignored him. He'd hung up on/cut Tony off at least twice during this
last case, and now the man couldn't seem to bear to look at him.
Seeing Gibbs stride into the break room, Tony followed, hoping to
catch the other man alone.

Looking in through the window, Tony saw his boss sitting at the
table, sipping his coffee. With no one else there. Tony walked in
and stood so he was in Gibbs' line of vision, well, what would _be_
Gibbs' line of vision if the man ever looked up from the report he
was reading. Tony waited impatiently for a couple of minutes for
Gibbs to acknowledge him; he tried clearing his throat, and Gibbs
barely raised an eyebrow. Tony could feel his anger really rising
and took a deep breath, releasing it, trying to calm down. "What in
the hell is your problem?" Tony asked, his voice heavy with anger.

Gibbs looked up, his blue eyes icy as they stared at the younger
man. "My problem? I don't have a problem," he said, his voice as
cold as his blue gaze. He stood up, grabbed his coffee and report
before turning to leave the room.

"Don't walk away...Gibbs!!" Tony called after him. *May as well be
talking to the fucking wall for all I'm getting out of him,* he
thought, dejectedly. He really did not know what the hell he'd done
wrong and he had no idea of whom to ask now as the man who could
answer wouldn't.

Tony watched as Gibbs settled himself at his desk, report spread
open, coffee close at hand, pen in the other. Idly, he wondered if
Gibbs had found out that Tony-no he knew that wasn't what the
problem
was since he hadn't told _anyone_ how his feelings towards Gibbs had
changed. Given that Gibbs wasn't a mind reader and that Tony knew he
hadn't changed his behaviour that much...well, except for staring at
his boss a little more and drifting off into little fantasies about
Gibbs when Tony wasn't focussed on work, he was the same.

Tony stared at the older man, loving the way his hair was greying,
loved the blue eyes that could make you feel as cold as the North
Pole or as hot as the Equator, the rare but genuine smiles.... Tony
forced himself to look away, knowing there was no chance his boss
would even be interested in him. After all Gibbs had been married
and divorced three times. Kate Todd would have a better chance and
after she'd told Tony what had happened on the sub with the sudden
ascent, he was sure of it.

Shaking his head, he grabbed a coffee for himself and started back to
his own desk. On the way it hit him: Ducky! He'd ask Ducky if he
knew why Gibbs was being such an ass. Even if Ducky didn't know, he
might have some idea. Proud of himself for thinking of it, he turned
and headed for the morgue.

Tony walked into Ducky's domain and was thankful to find the old
coroner was alone, well there were no other living beings in the room
at any rate. "Hey, Ducky, how're you?"

Ducky looked up from the body he was working on. "I'm just fine,
Anthony. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I...well, um, Gibbs seems to be pissed off with me. I don't know
why and HE sure as hell won't tell me. I was wondering if maybe you
know or something," Tony, said, speaking quickly and quietly.

Replacing an instrument on his tray and picking up something new,
Ducky chuckled. "Oh, I have a very good idea what's wrong with our
dear Jethro. But it's really not my place to tell you. You'll have
to ask him, I'm afraid."

Tony closed his eyes, trying to remain calm. "I _tried_ asking him
what his problem was, but all he said was that he didn't have one,
then he left the break room. Please, can't you give me a hint or
something-it's beginning to get annoying. I mean, he won't even
_look_ at me for god's sake!"

"How about a hint and some advice: first of all, Jethro hasn't been
married and divorced thrice because he likes women too much;
secondly, don't approach him about this at work. Take him out for
supper or drinks or visit him at his house. He won't be much more
talkative, but it's better than here," Ducky said.

Tony stared at Ducky for a few minutes, then shook his head. "Your
hints leave a lot to be wanted, you know. And I'll try to take your
advice, but I doubt I can get him to go along with it," he said,
disappointed.

"Won't know unless you ask!" Ducky replied cheerfully.

Before Tony could say anything more, the door opened and Gibbs
stalked in, looking a little pissed. He glared at Tony, "Why are you
down here? I'm still waiting on two reports from you that should've
been done by now. Instead I find you down here wasting Ducky's
time. I want those reports on my desk before you leave here today!"

Anger flared in Tony's eyes, and Ducky was sure the younger man would
say something angry and very rash, but he managed to hold his tongue,
except for a very surly, if not somewhat sarcastic, "Aye-aye, sir!"

Ducky watched Jethro watching Tony leave. Once the young man was out
of the room, Ducky shook his head, and grinned at Jethro.

"What?" came the irritated inquiry.

"You've got it bad for this one, Jethro."

"I have no idea what-"

"Tsk, tsk, 'de-nial' is not just a river in Egypt these days, it
would seem," Ducky said, grinning when Gibbs grimaced at the pun. "I
know you," he continued, pointing a scalpel at his friend. "You've
got it bad for that young man, and can't figure a way to let him
know. A shame, really. You'd make a lovely couple."

Jethro walked over next to his friend, "Even if what you're saying is
true, how do I know he'd even want an old man like me. He's young,
attractive..."

"I trust my instincts and they're telling me that he wouldn't object
to more interest on your part. The poor boy was just down here
telling me how horribly you're treating him. You catch more flies
with honey than with vinegar, hmmm?" Ducky smiled at Jethro.

"I'm not trying to catch flies!" Gibbs replied. "Or Tony," he added.

"Well, I'm sure sugar would work better with a handsome young man
like Tony. Far better than vinegar would, I know." Ducky peered over
his glasses at Jethro. "Try it. He might like it."

Gibbs rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You're an incurable
romantic, Ducky. What if you're wrong, what if he's _not_
interested. I could end up losing a great investigator, what then?"

"You'll never know if you don't try, and if you don't try, I know
you'll regret it. But ultimately, my dear Jethro, it's up to you.
Unless of course, he beats you to it!"

"He wouldn't dare," was the dry reply as Gibbs left the room.

On his way back to his desk, he glanced at his watch, just over an
hour til they'd be done for the day. Jethro was torn between leaving
things they way they were, which suited him only on the most
superficial of job levels or taking the chance, risking it all on
Ducky's intuition. There was only one way to find out and Leroy
Jethro Gibbs was not one to back down from a challenge. Entering the
office, he headed for his desk, and once sitting, noted that the two
reports he'd demanded from Tony were waiting for him. He looked
across at Tony, who appeared to be deeply engrossed in some
research "Hey, DiNozzo, thanks for the reports."

"Sorry they took so long, Gibbs."

"'S'okay, no problem," Gibbs replied. He stared at Tony for a few
moments, and felt his breath catch as he watched. The younger man
was quite handsome by most anyone's standards, but especially by
Gibbs'. Tall, with a great physique, the light brown hair, his green
eyes...Gibbs shut his eyes for a brief moment, to collect his
thoughts. Finally, he spoke. "Hey, Tony," he waited til the other
man was looking at him. "I was, um. I was wondering if you'd like
to grab a drink down at the bar tonight?"

The smile that lit up Tony's face alone made the effort of the
question worthwhile. "Um, yeah, I'd lo- really like to, boss."

Jethro smiled at him. "That's...great, Tony. Let's get our work
finished up so we can leave for the day?"

"Sounds good," Tony agreed, returning the smile. The remaining time
at work, he faked it, making it look like he was working on the
research for their latest case, but in reality he was puzzling over
Ducky's comments. What did he mean about Gibbs not liking women too
much? Had Gibbs had an affair with a man or what? Tony sighed,
hoping that's what Ducky had meant, that Gibbs wasn't averse to being
with a man...if that's NOT what he'd meant, then Tony would probably
end up with a broken jaw or black eye and no job. Well, Gibbs had
just asked him out so, maybe...but was it a date or just a coworker,
okay, boss/employee things? Finally, he forced himself to focus on
the job he was doing and not think about what might or might not
happen later on; all the possibilities and what ifs were starting to
make his brain hurt.

Twenty minutes later, Tony stood up and stretched; he felt his shirt
ride up a bit and glanced quickly to see Gibbs watching him. *Maybe
_that _is what Ducky meant,* he thought, hopefully. "Ready to go?"

"Yep. Let's go," Jethro replied, leading the way out of the office.

"Um, I was thinking-why don't we grab some take out and go back
to my
place?" Tony asked, hoping he wasn't sounding to desperate or
something but he really wanted to be alone with Gibbs, not in some
crowded, smoke filled bar.

"What? You can't cook?"

Tony saw the glint in Jethro's eyes, knew he was teasing him. "I can
cook, but it's Friday and I don't like cooking on Fridays. Chinese
okay?" he answered. He followed Jethro over to his car, and waited
by the passenger side door.

Gibbs looked at him, "Don't you have a car?"

"Yeah, but it went into the shop this morning and I won't have it
back til Monday. I got a drive in with Abby this morning."

Gibbs rolled his eyes and unlocked the door, before getting in. "You
need someone to take care of you, don't you?"

Tony grinned, then said slyly, "I've heard people say the same thing
about you."

"I don't need a keeper," Gibbs replied, starting his car and pulling
out of the parking lot.

Twenty minutes later, the two men were sitting side by side on Tony's
sofa, watching a football game. Gibbs found he wasn't concentrating
so much on the tv as he was on Tony. He didn't know how to approach
him about this, about what he wanted...it had been so long since he'd
wanted another man the way he wanted Tony, he didn't know if he could
go through with this.

"Hey, Gibbs, since you don't seem quite so pissed off at me now, how
about telling me why you _were_ so pissed off with me?" Tony asked,
much calmer than he'd been earlier in the day.

"It's Jethro. When we're off duty, away from work, Jethro. And it
wasn't you Tony, it was me," he replied, shifting uncomfortably under
the other man's direct gaze.

Tony reached over, gently grasping Jethro's arm. "What was you? I
want to understand," he said quietly. "Please, tell me."

"I want...something. Something from you...that I'm not sure you want
to give or if you even...Shit!" Jethro settled into a sullen silence,
unable to look at Tony.

Tony felt a tiny stab of hope that Jethro wanted him, but didn't know
how to tell him. He was pretty sure that's what it was, otherwise
why would it be such a problem for Jethro to ask him for something?
Deciding that it was better to take a chance and be wrong rather than
miss out altogether, Tony lifted his hand so that only his fingers
were touching Jethro's arm. Slowly, he trailed them up and down,
watching the other man.

Closing his eyes, Jethro felt a tingling sensation spread out from
where Tony was so softly touching him. He turned his arm over, and
when Tony's fingers wandered across his palm, he grabbed the younger
man's hand, twining their fingers together. "Tony," he whispered
still unable to open his eyes. He heard Tony murmur his name, felt
the couch move as Tony shifted his weight, felt the gentle caress of
a hand on his face, felt the warmth of a body which leaned against
his, felt the soft whisper of a breath before Tony's lips touched his
own. The kiss started out gentle, almost chaste, but then Tony was
licking at his lips, and Jethro opened his mouth, sliding his own
tongue out to taste Tony, to search his mouth. They stayed that way
for what seemed like forever, but was only a few minutes.

Jethro looked at Tony as the younger man pulled away. Tony's lips
were swollen from the kiss, his face flushed from arousal, green
eyes shining with want and need and maybe something more.

"Jethro, I want you to stay with me tonight, I want you. I want to
make love with you."

It took Jethro a moment to process what Tony had said. To truly
understand that the man he wanted, wanted _him_. "I want to make
love to you, too, Tony. I-" he was cut off by another energetic
kiss
from Tony. He pushed him away, just a little, so he could speak. "I
enjoy your enthusiasm, as you can probably tell, but can we please
use the bedroom?"

Tony smiled, and stood up, holding out his hand to Jethro, "Of
course, c'mon." Jethro took the proffered hand, letting Tony pull him
up. As soon as he was standing, Jethro wrapped his arms around the
other man from behind, nuzzling his neck, reaching up and undoing
some shirt buttons. Tony started for the bedroom, but stopped in the
hallway. He turned around in Jethro's embrace, kissing the older
man. He slid his hands between them, undoing Jethro's shirt, sliding
it off of him. By the time they got into his bedroom, both of them
were down to their boxers.

They stood beside the bed, almost touching, but not quite, both
nervous. Finally, Tony pushed his boxers down and stepped out of
them. He watched Jethro's gaze travel over his body before the older
man pulled him close, kissing his neck, down to his nipple. Tony's
head fell back and he gasped when Jethro sucked at it. Jethro
released the nipple, kissed his way back up to Tony's ear. "You're
gorgeous," he whispered.

Tony sighed. "So are you!" he said, before pushing Jethro's boxers
off. He reached around and cupped Jethro's ass, pulling him even
closer, and moaning as their erections pushed together.

Jethro fell back onto the bed, pulling Tony down with him. He
grunted when Tony landed on him, but wasted little time in kissing
him again. Tony started humping against him, rubbing their cocks
together. Jethro knew he wouldn't last long, but he wanted
more. "Tony, Tony, baby, slow down," he said after breaking their
kiss. He waited for Tony to look at him. "I want...I want you to
fuck me, please," Jethro asked. At Tony's slightly startled look, he
asked, "You've done this before haven't you?"

"Yeah, I have, I just thought you'd, you know, want to do me, that's
all," he explained.

"Oh, I probably will someday, but tonight I want you to fuck me.
You've got what we need?"


Tony nodded and reached into the drawer of the night stand, getting a
condom and some lube. "How do you want...?"

Jethro sat up, and took the condom out of Tony's hand, opening it,
then slowly sliding it down his erect cock. Grabbing the back of
Tony's head, Jethro kissed him roughly, his other hand stroking
Tony's latex-covered erection. Finally, he lay back on the bed, and
smiled at Tony. "This is good." He closed his eyes as the younger
man slid a lubed finger in to stretch him.

Tony grinned as his finger gently slid across Jethro's prostate,
making him groan. He did it again, and Jethro opened his eyes and
almost glared at him.

"Stop fucking around, Tony!"

"You want me to stop?" Tony shrugged, still grinning, "Okay," he
said, starting to pull his fingers away.

"You know what I mean!" Jethro's blue eyes were flaring with heat and
passion. "Fuck me, now!" he growled.

Tony slid his fingers out, then guided his cock slowly into his
lover's tight ass. He gasped in surprise when Jethro pushed down,
taking Tony the whole way in. Tony groaned, and leaning over Jethro,
started thrusting, angling so he stroked against Jethro's prostate.
Holding himself up with one hand, Tony used his other hand to caress
Jethro's growing erection. The sensations were almost too much for
Tony; sliding in and out of his lover's tight ass, the hardness of
Jethro's cock in his hand, the sight of the man, laying there, eyes
closed, hands gripping the sheets, all from what Tony was doing to
him.

Jethro knew he was close, had known he wouldn't last long, especially
with Tony fucking him so hard, and stroking his cock so well. He had
his eyes closed, knowing that if watched the younger man it would
push him over the edge that much faster. As it was, Tony's little
grunts and moans were having almost the same effect. He felt his
balls tightening, and opened his eyes and saw Tony with his closed,
concentrating on his lover. Jethro managed to gasp out a
warning "Tony, I'm gonna come, fuck, yes, do it!"

Tony opened his eyes, meeting Jethro's intense gaze, felt the heat of
the come as it slid over his hand. He knew he'd been done in a
couple more strokes; he lifted his hand to lick Jethro's essence off;
he tasted salty, almost tangy. Oh, God, he was close, he was so
close, could feel it building, knew the climax would be soon.
Leaning forward, hands braced on either side of Jethro's head, he
closed his eyes as he slammed into Jethro twice more. He yelled out
as he came, yelled his lover's name before collapsing on top of him.
They lay entwined for several minutes, each collecting his breath.
Jethro wrapped his arms around Tony, gently tracing his fingers
across the muscular back. Finally, he nudged Tony, getting him to
roll over.

Tony sighed, managing to quickly divest himself of the condom. He
climbed out of bed, and at Jethro's questioning look, merely
said, "Bathroom." He returned in a couple minutes with a washcloth,
and gently cleaned his partner, before lazily tossing the cloth onto
the floor.

"Thanks," Jethro said quietly. "Tony, that was...that was great."

"Wasn't I though?" Tony kidded with a sly grin. "Ouch!" he yelped
when Jethro's hand hit his backside. "What was that for?" he
pretended to sulk.

"For being far to self satisfied," Jethro said, his hand now gently
rubbing where he'd slapped.

"That's much better, mmmm," Tony murmured sleepily against Jethro's
shoulder.

Jethro smiled. It felt so good to be here, to be with Tony. He
worried that he'd fuck this up, but tried to put it out of his mind
for now. Right now, it was just Tony and him and some much needed
sleep. He'd worry tomorrow.

A couple hours later, Tony woke up. At first he didn't know why, but
then he realised that Jethro had just climbed back into bed. Tony
rolled over and nuzzled at his lover's neck. "Mmmm, where were you?"
he asked.

"The head," said Jethro. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't, really. I just woke up and you were gone. Maybe I
sensed you were gone or something?" Tony said.

"Yeah, sure," he replied, chuckling a bit, and thinking how sexy Tony
looked having just woken up, his hair sticking up all over, his eyes
half closed...sexy indeed. Jethro slid his arm around his
lover. "Or maybe you're just a big old romantic like Ducky is."

Tony pulled himself up so he could give the older man a deep,
passionate kiss. Jethro groaned, opening his mouth to Tony's probing
tongue, and he slid his tongue against Tony's and into his mouth.
After a few minutes, Tony pulled back, grinning down at
Jethro. "Romantic enough for you?"

Instead of laughing or even smiling, a very serious look crossed
Jethro's face and he reached up to cup Tony's face with his
hand. "Tony, this isn't just...I don't _want_ this to be a one night
stand."

"Neither do I. Jethro, I've had...feelings for you for a while now.
I don't know where this will go, and I know it won't be easy,
especially given where we work. I'm willing to try, though," Tony
replied.

Groaning, Jethro pulled Tony on top of him. "Never mind that I'm
your supervisor and I really shouldn't be with a coworker, but
dammit, I want you. We'll make it work, won't we?" he trailed off,
kissing his lover, running his hands slowly down Tony's back to his
buttocks. He grabbed Tony's ass, pulling him closer, making him
moan. Tony kissed just under Jethro's ear, then slowly trailed
kisses down the side of his neck, Tony's tongue lapping and tasting
the salty skin there.

The ringing of a cell phone made both men groan in
frustration. "Christ, it's mine," Jethro said, gently pushing Tony
off of him before getting off the bed to pull the cell out of his
pants pocket. He flipped it open and growled, "This had better be
fucking good!"

Ducky chuckled. "Did I interrupt something, Jethro? So sorry about
that, but it is the week end so you'll have that pretty young man all
to yourself. I was just calling to see how you, er, 'made out' so to
speak."

Gibbs sighed. "I 'made out' just fine, Ducky and will continue to do
so once I hang up!" Turning the phone off, snapping it shut, and
throwing it across the floor, Jethro just about growled. "And people
fucking wonder why I don't like cell phones!"

Tony laughed, he couldn't help it. Even irate, Jethro was still
sexy, especially when he was naked. The laughter earned him a scowl
from Jethro, making Tony laugh again, "You're cute when you're pissed
off, even more so when it's not ME you're pissed at!"

"I really am sorry about that, I handled it poorly," Gibbs said.

"Yeah, you did, but I forgive and the important thing is, you're
here, with me now. Right?" Tony asked. Gibbs nodded his agreement
as he slid a hand behind Tony's head, guiding the younger man to him
for a long, passionate kiss.

When they finished, Jethro pushed Tony so he was arms length
away. "This isn't going to be an easy road we're going down, you
know?"

"I know, but I'm willing to try with you beside me, Jethro," Tony
said, laying down with his head on Jethro's chest, arm across the
older man's stomach. He felt the reassuring squeeze of Jethro's hand
on his shoulder.

"All the way, Tony, all the way," he said just before Tony drifted
off and Jethro was right behind him.

The end