Chapter 6

"The young one? The one getting pierced?" Gibbs asked in a rush, reading the other man's eyes for the truth. It was worth it. It had to be. He needed that boy here. He needed to show that boy what compassion and care is. He nodded briefly, ignoring Tony's bluster. He was not gonna let DiNozzo dictate that boy's future. And if it took a kiss to get some concessions, Gibbs could fall into line damned easily.

He grabbed Tony's shirtfront, muscling him onto his back in the bed, jamming a leg between Tony's and pinning him in place with a hip before sliding his hands up to capture Tony's. He turned to look at Pee Wee. "You shoot on my floor, I'm making ya lick it up."

That said, he looked down into Tony's stormy green eyes, letting his close as he sealed his mouth on DiNozzo's, darting his tongue out to dip between Tony's lips. It was worth it. Saving that boy was worth it.

There was instant refusal followed a moment later by instant arousal. Even as he struggled to get free, he moaned with pleasure, one second clamping his mouth tightly shut to keep a disgusting male tongue away from him, the next second parting that mouth in surrender to the conquering invader.

"Bastard," he hissed up at Gibbs, though he was more angry with himself than with the other man when the kiss broke. "Get the hell off me! I'm not some ... some kissing-whore you can use to get what you want from that jerk!"

Tony refused to acknowledge that his struggles under the man were almost half-hearted and were only causing him to harden even more.

"Very, very nice," Thomas purred, not the sort of man to touch himself in front of others but definitely the sort of man to watch such a display with big shining eyes. "I'm sorry it took a bribe to make it happen, but under his protests he's definitely your whore. I'll get the kid DiNozzo ... somehow."

"And the two Gibbs' too!" Tony shouted, not about to go through such a revolting, body-self betraying thing and not be compensated too. If Gibbs was so intent on saving someone with Tony's face, Tony was going to save someone with Gibbs' face. Two someones.

That ought to rile, Boss, he thought to himself with a smirk.

"Second B, DiNozzo," Gibbs shot back, not moving. "You're hard again, DiNozzo. Just like you were when I was gonna toss you on the bed earlier. Just like you were when you were checking me out as you came. Don't think I didn't see you peel that curtain back and take a good long look." Gibbs rubbed his hip bone against Tony. "Might be a bastard but you're almost panting for it, Tony. Don't lie to yourself."

Gibbs pulled away, snickering. "The two guys that look like me too?" He met Pee Wee's eyes. "The kid is a dealbreaker. Got it?"

"I'm not hard! I wasn't checking you out!" Tony sputtered. "There was no peeling going on! And DiNozzos don't pant for anyone!" He whirled on Thomas, a dangerous glint in his eyes showing a man close to a point of no return. "You!" He wrapped a hand around PeeWee's throat and shoved him into the wall, ready to snap that weasly little neck just to prove that he was still a man, that his manhood had not been threatened and was very much on the straight and narrow where it had always been. "What didja do to him? You put us in that bed together! You set it all up! But what didja do to Gibbs?! What didja do TO ME?!"

"STAND DOWN, DINOZZO! You wanna be like that kid in the pound? If we kill him, that's where we end up!" Gibbs waited the beat of three seconds before breaking Tony's hold, throwing him in the bed. Gibbs had enough. There was a limit to what he'd take here and he'd hit his limit. "Settle down, dammit. Your masculinity and dick wars aren't worth my life. We've lost enough, don't you understand that?"

He turned to look at Pee Wee. He wouldn't ask if the man was okay but he did arch an eyebrow

"Always knew," Thomas said, choking as he tried to get his breath back, "there was a reason I liked you better, Gibbs." Or was it only because Thomas was dying to be under Gibbs one day? He'd screw Tony in a minute if he thought it would teach the man a lesson, but it was as the screwee with Gibbs he really wanted someday. Thomas was a top in his social world of men, but in his secret clone world he liked to play bottom to a very select type of clone.

"I understand I'm hungry," Tony growled and flew out the door. It had been nearly twenty-four hours since he'd last eaten. "There better be food here, PeeWee!"

"Why do you two keep calling me that?" Thomas was truly confused. Yes he was a bit on the short side, yes he wasn't muscular, he was lean and well-groomed as befitting, in his eyes, a man of his station. But PeeWee? He had long ago forgotten that the name would go down in history in relation to has-been child entertainers and porn theaters.

"Consider it a nickname," Gibbs growled, shaking his head. "Maybe you better put him up elsewhere," he said softly now, trying like hell to keep his own head on. He really wanted to be alone, lost in a haze of bourbon and his boat and his memories. "Yeah ... I think he'd be better off someplace else, Pee Wee." Gibbs sighed one more time, changing slowly out of his bloodied NIS T-shirt and into one Abby'd bought him that said caffinate me. He studied himself in the mirror. Bruises were appearing all over his rib cage and there was a bad one right at his stomach. "Should have tensed," he muttered, pressing it gently and wincing at the pain.

Gibbs regarded Pee Wee for a long moment, wondering which of his creations he'd follow. "Going to the basement," he announced. "If there's food, call me. If not..." He shrugged. He didn't really care.

"You're going to break his heart ... and after everything you promised him." PeeWee couldn't believe it, but he'd be good to his word. If Gibbs didn't want Tony, he'd exert owner control and make Tony leave. It could prove very interesting anyways. Separate the men and see who cracked first. Being kicked out by Gibbs made him willing to bet yet another home of his that it would be DiNozzo first.

Tony did find food, plenty of easy to fix food so that he had a fair sized, though oddly mixed, meal on the table for he and Gibbs for dinner. That and fresh coffee. He called down to the basement when it was ready, his rumpled clothing fixed by then too, his hair combed and looking much more like himself now that PeeWee was out of his line of sight. That he was on borrowed time and should have been packing instead was going to blow his mind if Gibbs didn't want him anymore.

Gibbs just shrugged. He could do 'bastard' well. "Your slaves, your rules. I live to serve, master." He spat the words out before storming down to the basement, downing two jelly jars of bourbon, popping a couple of muscle relaxers he had there, and just brooding. Gibbs heard Tony call and hesitated for almost a few minutes before going upstairs.

"What d'ya want?" he asked softly, just staring, knowing his eyes probably reflected the desolation he was feeling. The reality of the situation had hit and hit hard. He couldn't drink it away and even mixing the meds and liquod--which should have knocked him on its ass--hadn't done the job. He was a little wobbly but he could still feel.

Dammit, he could still feel.

"Boss?" Tony definitely saw that desolation and ached to relieve it for the man, even if he knew he made a poor substitute for Shannon. Food? Hug? Blowjob?

BLOWJOB?!

Go back to food! Go back to food!

"Thought you might be hungry. D ... Didn't wanna bother you down there," he stammered as he tried to wipe the image of falling to his knees and blowing the man out of his head. The basement was sacred territory. Tony wouldn't dare go down there uninvited. "PeeWee's gone. We could eat and watch the rest of the series. I'm feeling my inner masochist coming out," he tried to joke to lighten the mood. Having already worked out his anger about Gibbs on Gibbs, he was much calmer now with Thomas not around.

Gibbs shrugged. "If it makes you happy. We'll do whatever you want, DiNozzo. Didn't have to cook." Gibbs just stared at the other man, not reacting, just watching. "If it makes ya happy, Tony..."

He sat at the table but didn't make a move to collect any of the food on his plate, just stared at the table and began talking. "Built this table. With my own hands." He held his hands out, examining them. "Got the calluses, the scars. And none of it was real. Whose to say the food is real. Any of it. We're just puppets performing on Pee Wee's stage."

His second cocked his head. Gibbs was acting very strange, and it scared Tony more than he cared to admit. "Boss ... you want some pain killers? I found Tylenol." He pulled a small bottle out of his jeans pocket and placed it on the table. "Maybe a doctor should take a look at ya? I didn't break any bones, did I?" Tony placed food on the man's plate and put it right in front of him. "It's your table now. Yours ... just like I'm yours. Still got your six, Boss. We're not performing for him now." He took one of the man's hands in his own and squeezed it. "I'm real. You're not alone."

The tables were turning, and Tony was stepping up to the plate. He had to. If Gibbs cracked, Tony knew he'd crack right behind him.

"No painkillers. Took a couple muscle relaxers with a couple bourbon chasers." He gave Tony an ironic smile. "Didn't dull the pain though, DiNozzo. Didn't do a damn thing. Nothing broken ... bones. Anyway..." He sighed, stroking the wood, looking at the food for a moment.

"Ya really think eating will make it better, DiNozzo? We're still slaves. Freedom out the door." Gibbs gently disengaged from Tony's hand and stood, going to the cabinet and finding an unopened bottle. "Ah, Mr, Daniels. You and I are gonna get real well acquainted later.' He cracked the seal and took one giant gulp before returning to the table and eating mechanically.

"If it makes ya happy, DiNozzo, I'll eat." But his heart wasn't in any of it.

"Gotta keep up our strength. Can't let'm win, Boss. That's what ya told me. Stay strong, right?" Tony sat opposite the man and pushed food around his plate, his ravenous appetite suddenly gone as he felt that thick despair rolling off the strongest man he knew right at him. "I think we should take off in the morning before he shows up again. Take our chances out there instead of in this guilded cage."

Tony had been sleeping during the conversation about work on the Naval Base in town. He didn't know yet that they had a chance to make a difference in doing pretty much the same thing as before if they were willing to trust Thomas just a little to help them.

Was it he who told Tony that? Or someone who put words into his mouth. Gibbs didn't know. But what Tony was saying shook Gibbs.

"Absolutely not. He's gotta have surveillance here. He knew both times ... he knew to come in both times, Tony. Don't ya think he's willing to use us against each other to keep us in line? We're gonna get that kid. We're gonna be able to help him, Tony. A younger you ... we can fix him."

He wasn't the only one they could fix but Gibbs had to spoon feed Tony the info.

He finished shoveling the food in and put the plates in the sink. "Den?" he asked in a soft, sad voice. He wanted to touch DiNozzo, even if it was just a headslap, just to ground himself, but he couldn't ask, so instead he curled his hands in fists and sighed, the pain in his body the only thing he was sure was real.

That soft, sad voice rocked the foundation of Tony's world, a foundation that was now made up of Gibbs and Gibbs alone. "Anything you say, Boss," he murmured and embraced the man, this time doing it without thinking because when he thought it only brought him trouble. "Anything you say."

Not that Tony was especially pleased about the idea of a younger version of himself running around being cared for by Gibbs. But Tony was a good man under his selfish exterior, and that good man in him extended to being willing to help the boy, heal him ... and then send him on his way, as far away from Gibbs as can be.

Gibbs grunted, his sore ribs protesting even as his arms went around Tony. "Ah, DiNozzo," he said, sighing. "Don't ya let me drive you away, got it? Understand me?" He tipped his head back slightly, looking into Tony's eyes, wobbling a little as he watched those green eyes. He was sore, and exhausted, and a little drunk, and right now he didn't mind letting DiNozzo in.

"Same here, Boss. I know I'm not gonna be easy to live with, but don't ever leave me ... please."

Tony was completely sober and full of pent-up energy now. There was so much he wanted to do to prove to Gibbs, to himself, to the whole damn world that he was real, that there was nothing fictional about him, but first he wanted to watch the rest of the series, he wanted to see just what PeeWee and the world knew about their deepest darkest thoughts and desires.

Only a knock on the door could have pulled him out of those arms. "I'll get it," he sighed, surprise soon showing on his face when he opened it to see Thomas flanked by those men again. "Why do ya bother to knock when you're the zookeeper, Dr. Zaius?"

"Respect," Thomas said with a shrug. "If you two don't give me a reason to barge in here, I won't. Give me a reason, and I'll burn the place down and make you live in MY basement. Now get your things, you're coming with me, DiNozzo."

"Like hell I am." He started to close the door, but two burly arms swept out from behind Thomas and kept it open.

"Don't make this difficult. He wants you gone."

If ever Tony was going to have a heart attack, it was right then as he turned to look at Gibbs, heart pounding, mouth falling open in astonishment.

"Burn the place down," Gibbs said, speaking up. "Go ahead. Want me to start the blaze?" He looked at Tony, feeling completely lost now, losing his last hold on control. "Changed my mind. Want him. With me." He moved closer.

"But not in my house. Not if you're gonna hold the one thing I can hang onto over my head. You want to destroy it, go ahead. You trashed every other aspect of my life. Why not tear down the last fucking refuge I have? Sure it'll be someone's entertainment."

Gibbs grabbed the bottle of Jack, taking in a few more gulps, and then poured a small amount on the table. "Got a light, boys?"

"You sure about this?" Thomas could certainly afford the loss of his investment, but he wasn't so sure it was the right thing for his clones. "I can set you up in something else, something new ... no more memories surrounding you. Maybe," he pondered as he pulled out his cigarette lighter and tossed it to Gibbs, "it really is the best thing. Start over. I leave the choice to you."

Tony's mind was still grappling with something else. "You changed your mind? You told him to take me away? What did I do? It was hitting ya, wasn't it? Oh Christ, I crossed a line, didn't I?"

"The sooner you stop blaming me," Thomas continued, "the better. I didn't trash anything, Gibbs. I just gave you life. The house is yours to the extent that you hear me knocking and not just barging in here, but if you want to lose this last bit of your past other than Tony, fine with me. I can certainly take the loss on my books. Can you?"