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“So this is the famous Gibbs basement,” Sam Hanna walked around the room, picking up tools and examining them, looking at the empty expanse of floor. “To hear Callen talk about it, ya got the Titanic in here, Gibbs. Where’d she go?”
“Broke the bottle,” Gibbs shot back, arching an eyebrow. He cocked his head, nodding as he heard the water going on upstairs. He was silent for a few moments, just watching Sam, wondering which one of them would talk first.
Sam seemed content to wait it out, so Gibbs spoke up first. “How long have you two been together? You Domming him, Sam?”
“Us two, what? Doing what with him?” Sam asked, giving Gibbs a look and shaking his head firmly, his lips pressed together.
“Don’t try to bullshit me, Sam,” Gibbs warned softly. They’d had a long week and now that the case was wrapped up, Gibbs’ patience was fading. He wanted a warm bed and his sub, not to dance around what he knew was the truth. But his sub was out getting pizza and beer right now and Gibbs wanted answers.
“Not bullshittin’ ya, Gibbs,” Sam replied, but there was a smirk on his face. Gibbs didn’t pursue it until the shower went off, preferring to stay in comfortable silence with Sam. Once the water had been turned off, Gibbs made his move, an act designed to get a hell of a reaction, even from Sam and Callen, two veteran NCIS agents.
Gibbs abruptly pounded up the stairs and into the bathroom Callen was using. He’d had a combination of blood and mud on him from the case and Gibbs had ordered him upstairs to clean off rather than risking Callen tracking all the crap through the house.
Gibbs could hear Sam’s footfalls right behind him, the slight intake of breath the only indication that the former SEAL had been caught off guard. Gibbs tried not to smirk. This was going to be interesting, if not outright fun.
He strode into the bedroom, removing his belt quickly and snapped it in the air. “Callen, front and center! Kneel!”
“What the hell, Gibbs?” Sam asked in shock.
Callen came flying out of the bathroom, buck naked, water droplets still streaming off his body, and fell to his knees, looking up at Gibbs. This was the first time Gibbs had seen his former lover naked since the shooting and he studied the ridges of scar tissue, cataloguing all the new injuries, his hand clenching around the leather of his belt.
“You can stand, Callen,” Sam said, annoyance in his voice.
There was a moment where Gibbs thought Callen might be conflicted, but then he stood, giving Sam a sheepish look. “Sorry about that. Training and conditioning.”
“Training and conditioning, my ass! You don’t respond to that like anyone else now, Callen. Not now, not ever. I don’t care what’s in the past, you’re mine now.”
“Yours, huh,” Callen said to Sam in a soft voice, his lips curling up in a smile, a look in his eyes Gibbs had never seen before. The look between Callen and Sam was intimate and something Gibbs wanted no part of.
“You two screw up the bed, you change the sheets,” he told them before heading downstairs, the belt still clenched in his hand.
“Gibbs?” Callen followed him downstairs. “What the hell was that about? Why did you do that?”
“To prove a point,” Gibbs replied, turning and meeting his former sub’s eyes.
“What point?”
“He was lying to me. I asked a question and he lied.”
“About us? Why should he tell you?” Callen asked. “We were over a long time ago. We were over when you married Stephanie. Who I sleep with nowadays doesn’t have any bearing.”
Sam emerged from the bedroom and joined them downstairs, standing a few feet away, a pile of clothes in his hand. It was clear that he was watching over his sub. Gibbs met Sam’s eyes for a long moment before looking back at Callen.
“It does when you’re on my six and you have a Master. I needed to know that you and Sam were a unit. I needed to be able to watch over my men and I need full disclosure for that. It went to hell out there in the field with you two and DiNozzo. Was he the odd man out?”
“It never gets in the way of our profession,” Sam put in, stepping closer now. He rested a hand on Callen’s shoulder and stared Gibbs down. “I’m real sorry that DiNozzo was grazed, but you can’t think for a minute that was Callen’s fault.”
Gibbs looked away, fixing at a point over Sam’s shoulder and setting his jaw.
“You don’t think that we screwed up, do you, Gibbs?” Callen asked before Sam shoved some clothes in his hands.
“Put these on. Then we talk. Full disclosure, Gibbs. You’ve got a thing going on with Special Agent DiNozzo, don’t ya? That’s why you’re so pissed, isn’t it? You’re angry ‘cause your boy was hurt on our watch and you think we were screwing around and not paying attention.”
Realistically, Gibbs knew that wasn’t the case. Sam and Callen were incredibly talented agents. The emotional side of him wanted to blame them. The too-calm tone of Tony’s voice when he said he’d been shot still rang in Gibbs’ head.
Gibbs stayed silent as Callen dressed, wishing like hell he had something to do with his hands beyond twisting the belt. Callen’s body was still compact and hard, despite the marks and scars, and it just made Gibbs want Tony all the more.
“None of your business,” Gibbs finally replied.
“Bull,” Callen retorted. “You’ve got a new sub. DiNozzo. Not McGee like I thought, but DiNozzo. That’s why he was such an ass to me today.”
“Ass? Did somebody say…?”
Gibbs let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding and took in the sight of his sub, his eyes lingering on the snowy white bandage at Tony’s temple. Not anything more than a scratch, Ducky had assured him, but Gibbs had insisted that Ducky use his new X-ray machine to make sure. Ducky had chased Gibbs out after promising that Tony was fine. Gibbs had lingered outside autopsy until Tony had emerged twenty minutes later and he’d shadowed him to his car. When Tony had suggested pizza and beer, Gibbs had agreed reluctantly, following Tony to the pizzeria a few blocks away before leading the OSP agents to his house.
“How is the head?” Gibbs asked casually, barely holding himself back. He wanted to pull Tony into a tight embrace and kiss him hard. Maybe even deliver a gentle head slap for his recklessness, but with Sam and Callen here, he had to behave.
“Head is fine. What’s this about ass?” Tony asked, putting the two pizza boxes and six-pack down. He stood next to Gibbs in a position mirrored by Sam and Callen. It wasn’t quite a standoff, but it wasn’t a relaxed meeting of colleagues either.
“You were an ass to me today, DiNozzo. I was wondering if that was because you were jealous.”
“Jealous? Of you? No way, Callen.” Tony flicked a glance Gibbs’ way and Gibbs could sense the uncertainty in Tony’s movements. A blind man could have seen his jealousy, but there was no way Tony would admit to it.
“Enough with the pissing contests. I’m hungry and tired and it’s been a long day.”
“In a minute, Gibbs,” Sam replied. “DiNozzo, front and center, on your knees!” The order was delivered at a military roar that resonated through the house.
Tony’s body jerked at the command, but he held his ground and Gibbs found himself chuckling, the tension coiled inside him finally breaking.
“He’s only ever served one master, Sam. And that’s me. Just the way it is supposed to be.” Gibbs pulled Tony close, brushing a fingertip over his temple. “You’re okay, right?”
“I’m great,” Tony said, his stomach rumbling. “But I want to eat.” He pulled back, giving Gibbs a lusty grin. “Permission to eat, Master?”
“Permission granted, DiNozzo. Make nice with Sam and Callen, too.”
“On it, Boss!”