Work Text:
Travel-Sick
by Jools
"Have I mentioned how much I hate these things?" Kate demanded, wiping her mouth and reaching for her water.
"Only a couple of hundred times." Gibbs replied as she rinsed her mouth out, before spitting, half missing the bag as turbulence hit yet again, shaking the entire craft and knocking her sideways into Ducky, who gave her a decidedly lecherous look. She yanked herself upright and looked across at Gibbs, jealousy rising at his ease in sitting through the violent dips and turns. Tony, she noticed for once, was thankfully quiet, although that was probably due to the fact he didn't want to open his mouth for fear of imitating her. Which would make her feel a lot better, she reflected; if she wasn't the only one suffering.
"Why did we have to take this thing anyway? I would have thought that after the last time you would have realised they just make me sick." She complained, feeling a little guilty for whining but she was too nauseated to care.
"They're quicker, and cheaper, Kate." Gibbs replied, not moving from his sitting position, which Kate knew if he fell asleep, he would not move from. The last journey she and Tony had taken with him, he hadn't moved the entire way. For the first hour or so, it had been her throwing up and Tony teasing her mercifully, but by the end of the flight they were both as sick as dogs and miserable to boot.
"What about Tony? If you're not going to take pity on me, take pity on him. Has he ever been this quiet before?" She said, motioning at the younger agent, who was curled up next to Gibbs, eyes shut tight in determination.
Gibbs did look over at him, and she noticed a tiny frown of concern cross his face, only to vanish when Tony opened one eye to say "I'm fine, boss. Honestly. Just trying to get some sleep," with a cheeky grin at Kate afterwards.
"As are we all." Piped up Ducky, from right beside her. She wondered again how this arrangement of seating had occurred. She would rather be seated next to Gibbs or Tony, who she was pretty sure wouldn't make a move on her. Well, pretty sure. Having all three of them on one side might be better, she ruminated.
"Stop complaining, Kate." Gibbs told her with a small smile.
"It keeps my mind off it. And face it, you're not going to get any sleep with me throwing up every ten minutes."
"Try me." Gibbs said, closing his eyes.
"Yeah, we'll see." She said, but Gibbs was already half asleep, and from Ducky's heavy breathing beside her, she guessed he was as well. "Tony? Are you awake?"
"Unfortunately." He said sleepily.
"How come I get to sit next to Ducky?"
"Short straw?" He asked innocently, and she saw his grin though he kept his eyes closed. She sighed heavily, giving him a scathing look even though she knew he couldn't see it, and then sat back, praying that she would get at least some sleep.
Her wish was granted, for at least a couple of hours. She awoke without any recollection of going to sleep in the middle of a particularly bad bit of turbulence. Cracking open her eyelids, she glanced over at Gibbs and Tony, and just suppressed her gasp of surprise.
Both of them appeared to be awake, murmuring so quietly she couldn't hear what they were saying. But that wasn't the part that surprised her the most. The two men had shifted position so that they were facing one another, and Tony had scooted over as far as he could so that he was resting against Gibbs' chest, and Gibbs arms were wrapped tightly around Tony; protectively, a lovers embrace.
As she watched, Gibbs reached to feel Tony's forehead tenderly, and Tony smiled up at him before snuggling back in to the warmth of Gibbs' torso. Gibbs kissed the top of Tony's head gently, and then rested his own head there, going back to sleep.
Kate was too shocked to think for a little while, but when she finally could, it began to make some sense. The way they acted like a married couple; how they seemed to know so much about one another, even stuff that wouldn't normally be knowledge among close colleagues. The way they argued seemingly for the sake of it sometimes, the glances they often shared; the physical closeness which she had always seen as a kind of mentor-pupil bond. Only now she could see that it was anything but that. And?she had to admit it? they made a very cute couple. They were both good-looking guys, and she had seen Tony in all his glory, so she considered herself a qualified judge.
Resigning herself to the fact that this juicy new piece of information was hardly going to make it easy for her to go back to sleep, she let her mind wander a little. How, and when had they gotten together? Before or after she'd arrived? Probably before, although their bond had certainly strengthened in the time she had been with them. And they definitely looked comfortable together now, wrapped together so that in the poor light it was difficult to tell where one body ended and the other started.
"Doing some spying, are we?" Ducky's voice hissed in her ear, startling her and then making her stutter as she searched for a reasonable answer. Before she could, he spoke again. "Rather a cute couple, aren't they?"
"You knew about them?" She asked incredulously.
"My dear, I know everything that goes on with these two. I practically set them up together."
"Really?" She asked, any pretence to be nonchalant giving way to her curiosity. "How? When?"
"Oh, a few months before you came along. As I remember, Vivienne Blackadder was still with us. Jethro used to get very frustrated with her, and it was quite out of character for him to be so impatient with someone. I realised that he was annoyed with more than just her incompetence and quest for vengeance, but with her friendship with Anthony. Of course, once I realised that, I realised that he was in love with Anthony."
"So you set them up?"
"I planned to. But as it turned out, I didn't really need to. Anthony set it all up for me perfectly. Although it did happen in my autopsy room. Anthony, as you might have noticed, is sometimes a little squeamish. Anyway, in this particular case, he was present at the autopsy, and just as I opened the woman up - I think her name was Jessica Felix - he fainted dead away."
"Tony fainted?"
"Yes. He'd had rather a hard day, I believe, and this was a particularly gruesome case - as I remember it, she had been mutilated rather brutally - so I suppose it shouldn't really have been that surprising. I called for Jethro straight away, seeing my opportunity. He came rushing down and took Anthony into my office, where he proceeded to bring him round. Unfortunately - or rather, fortunately - Anthony was rather confused when he came to, and kissed Jethro smack on the lips. And the rest, as they say, is history." Kate took in this new piece of information with some relish.
"And they've been together ever since?"
"Yes. Through thick and thin, actually. Everything was a little unsteady at first, especially as Jethro would keep arguing with Vivienne, but recently they've been going extremely strong indeed. You wouldn't put them together, would you?"
"No, I guess not. I mean, they're so-"
"Different?" Ducky interjected. "I know what you mean. But they're often very similar-minded, and they complement one another brilliantly. Anthony stops Jethro from becoming too obsessed with his work, and Jethro keeps Anthony focussed. They're a good team. And they help with each other's insecurities."
"I didn't know Gibbs had any insecurities." Kate said in puzzlement.
"Oh, everyone has insecurities. Haven't you noticed his need to be right? His need to be in control? He doesn't like being out of his depth. Anthony's beginning to help him through that, persuading him to become more easy-going. And that he'll never leave. If there's one thing Jethro has never been successful at before, it's his love-life."
"And what about Tony?"
"Anthony is not quite so brash and confident as he makes out. He desperately wants to be accepted; to prove himself. Haven't you noticed how he takes every criticism to heart? And will do anything possible to improve it?" Kate looked down guiltily, remembering her comments about Tony's weight, which, she had noticed, had resulted in him watching what he ate. Ducky noticed and smiled at her. "Don't worry. Tony likes to banter with you. They both do. They like you a lot."
"Really?" Kate asked, feeling a strange warmth flood her at that comment.
"Yes. We all do." Ducky said warmly, and she smiled at him gratefully. "Now, I think I'm going to try to get some more sleep before this godforsaken thing lands. Goodnight."
"Night, Ducky." She replied, smiling and sneaking one last look at Gibbs and Tony, before shutting her eyes and floating off to sleep.
END