The ride home from Norfolk was spent in silence as Tony laid across the bench seat of Gibbs' old pickup, his head in Gibbs' lap the entire time, and Gibbs' hand caressing up and down the side of Tony. When Gibbs pulled onto his street, he frowned at the blockade of cars surrounding the house, all cars that he knew.
"I knew we shouldn't have told Abby we were headed home early…" Gibbs mumbled under his breath as he pulled into the driveway and shut off the engine to his truck.
"Everyone is here, aren't they?" Tony asked quietly, turning over onto his back and looking up at Gibbs.
Gibbs nodded as he carded his fingers through Tony's wayward hair, grinning slightly "Mhm… back to being the bosses. Bastard Gibbs and Pushy DiNozzo." Gibbs said, frowning slightly, "I had a really great honeymoon with you, babe." Gibbs added, winking as he bent forward as best he could, and Tony pushed up, their lips meeting in the middle for a gentle kiss.
Tony laughed as he slowly sat up "Can we do it again? Say… now? Because I am so not ready to go inside and face everyone right now." Tony said, looking towards the bay window, shaking his head as Abby stood there expectantly.
Gibbs laughed "Sure, we'll go back and just sail the seven seas. No need to go back to work, or ever come home again." Gibbs said, grinning as he pushed his door open and headed to the bed of the truck.
Tony sighed as he got out of the truck and began collecting bags on top of bags of souvenirs and general purchases, "Maybe we could travel by plane next time… Or car… Or anything other than a boat?" Tony questioned out loud as the two men headed for the front door, arms loaded down with bags.
"Tony, you did great out there – You only got sick once, and that was during the storm from hell. You can't tell me you didn't love every second of it, not without lying or with a straight face anyway…" Gibbs challenged, leaning against the stairwell as he fumbled with the front door handle.
"Okay so I did enjoy everything – Save for the dance club fiasco – I just would rather not travel by boat to Hawaii, Paris or Rome when we go on our next vacation." Tony stated as he pushed passed Gibbs and kicked the door with his shoe "SOMEONE OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" Tony shouted, frustration clear in his tone.
The door swung open with an excited Abby bouncing on the other side of it "TONY! GIBBS!" Abby squealed as she pulled the two men into the house, crushing them both in a hug.
"Can't… breathe…" Tony rasped out, extracting himself from Abby's hug and regathering the bags that dropped onto the floor, his brows furrowing slightly.
Gibbs rolled his eyes as he picked up his own dropped bags, frowning at the sound of broken glass, "Damn it to hell…" Gibbs growled as he walked further into the house and set the bags down on the coffee table, slowly going through them until he found the broken item.
Tony walked over to the coffee table and set his own bags down, then frowned as Gibbs pulled out one of the coffee mugs that read 'I don't need your approval.' "Oh no…" Tony said sadly as he dug the broken pieces out of the bag and sighed "I… I'm sure we can find another one online…" Tony said softly, trying his hardest to piece together the broken bits of mug.
Gibbs shook his head as he bent down, wrapping his hands around Tony's shaking fingers, "Hey… It's okay Tony." Gibbs said as he reached up, brushing his thumb across Tony's cheek.
Abby frowned as she stood away from the group "I messed up… again." Abby whispered sadly, looking around at the friends and family gathered in the living room, then back at the two men who seemed even closer now, than before they left.
McGee sighed as he wrapped an arm around Abby's shoulder "You should have waited, but now I think it's time to make some necessary apologies…" McGee said as he pushed Abby towards Tony and Gibbs.
Gibbs turned his head up to look at Abby, "It was an accident, Abby… You don't need to apologize." Gibbs stated as he stood up, enfolding the young girl in his arms.
Tony rolled his eyes as he stood up "I'm going to go put this stuff away." Tony said as he collected all of the bags except for two and headed towards the stairs.
"What happened while you guys were on vacation? Junior seems awfully moody…" Senior observed as he peered inside one of the two bags, "Or, has he always been like that, and I just never noticed before?" he added questioningly, glancing over at Gibbs.
Gibbs shrugged his shoulders as he began pulling items out of the two bags left behind "I'm not talking about the honeymoon to anyone in this room." Gibbs stated tersely as he began passing out wrapped packages to everyone "These are from the trip, enjoy them whilst I go try and soothe the beast." Gibbs said as he turned towards the stairs and left the members of his team alone.
Senior opened his wrapped box first, laughing as he pulled out the palm-tree covered tie "This has my son's influence written all over it." Senior said proudly as he tugged off his current tie and put the new one on.
Abby was next to open her package, she squeaked sadly as she pulled out the twin rainbow flag beanie babies "Its Tony and Gibbs… Bear-sized." Abby said, holding up the two bears and then hugging them to her chest.
Tony smiled from the staircase with Gibbs standing behind him "They have magnets in their paws…" Tony informed her as he walked down the steps and sat down beside Abby on the floor. Abby gasped as she put the bears paws together to make them hold hands, she looked at Tony and tentatively hugged him, Tony laughed as he wrapped his arms around Abby and pulled her into his lap "I'm sorry I got a little… short? I'm just… Really tired is all…" Tony said softly against her hair.
McGee laughed wickedly as he held up his gift, "You guys! This is epic!" McGee exclaimed as he pulled the plastic M4A1 out of the box – an authentic laser-tag gun from Battle House – he pulled the trigger and everyone laughed as it said 'Beam me up, Scotty' in William Shatner's voice "Awesomeee!" McGee drawled out, a wide grin on his face.
When Ducky opened his gift, he looked up between Tony and Gibbs with a soft smile "Wow I… This is quite thoughtful…" Ducky said as he pulled out the electric cup warmer from the box, "Thank you, so much boys." Ducky said affectionately.
As everyone else unwrapped their gifts, Tony stood up and quietly walked into the kitchen, hoisting himself up onto the counter and staring at his swinging feet "Are you okay, Tony? You seem so… different." Abby said quietly as she joined Tony on the counter.
Tony shrugged as he looked over at Abby "When we were in Miami… There was this guy…" Tony began telling Abby all about Rick and the length in which he had to go in order to get the guy to back of, "I mean… What does that say about me? I went… completely bat-shit crazy on this guy…" Tony said quietly, turning his head back down to his feet.
Abby sighed as she hugged Tony softly, "It means that you were sticking up for your husband, and so what if you had to go a little diva on the dude? He shouldn't have been hitting on your man! Tony, whether you're a full-out diva or just a divette on the side, it doesn't matter, what matters is, at the end of the day… Gibbs and you are married, and he loves you for whoever you are, because it's what's on inside of you that counts." Abby said as she laid her head against Tony's shoulder.
"Yeah, but Abby… This is me we're talking about here…" Tony said, glancing at the top of the black haired beauty resting on his shoulder.
"Yeah? And what about you, Tony? You're married to a man, who obviously tops you – Yes, we've seen the way you… you know what, never mind – You're married to an alpha male Tony, and you've always been his beta. You giggle like a high-school girl with a crush, you are fashionably exuberant, and you enjoy the finer things in life…" Abby said, waving her hand around the high-end kitchen, "So, yeah… You're a little bit of a queen, and guess what? Gibbs still loves you, with all your odd ends." Abby said as she hopped off the counter and squished Tony's cheeks in her hands, kissing his puffed out lips, "Stop being dramatic, and just enjoy what you have… Just don't wear a skirt, or Gibbs will probably kill you." Abby said with a grin as she skipped off back into the living room.
"She's right you know…" Gibbs said as he pushed off the doorway and walked over to Tony, situating himself between Tony's spread legs.
"About what? You killing me if I wear a skirt?" Tony asked quietly, setting his hands on top of Gibbs' hands and interlinking their fingers.
Gibbs nodded slightly "Well, yeah… I would. But not about that, about me loving you for all of your perfect imperfections. I love that it takes you nearly an hour to get your hair just right, and that it takes another thirty minutes to coordinate your clothes for the day. I love that you enjoy things that make you feel comfortable, even if I don't understand half the appliances that come through the front door. I love the way you laugh, and the way you light up a room whenever you walk into it. Tony, I love you for who you are as a man, and sometimes a bit of a woman… And I wouldn't want to change a single thing about you, because then… You wouldn't be you anymore… So, if you want to embrace that…" Gibbs looked at Tony with a raised eyebrow.
"Inner diva." Tony supplied with a smile as he tugged Gibbs' arms up to his shoulders, and then wrapped his arms around Gibbs' back, pulling the older man closer.
"Yes, inner diva… If you want to embrace it, do it. I will love you for every curve-ball you want to throw at me, and I will take it in stride, because that's what marriage is about Tony… Give and take." Gibbs said as he kissed Tony lovingly on the lips.
"You know you quoted one of John Legend's songs, right?" Tony asked as he slipped off the counter in front of Gibbs, grinning at the older man.
"Who?" Gibbs asked as he wrapped his arms around Tony.
"John Legend… All of Me…" Tony said as he pulled Gibbs towards the den, leaving the older man to stand in the middle of the room as he went to his iPod and hooked it up to the sound system, he quickly found the song and pressed play.
After the song finished, Gibbs stared at Tony for a few minutes with his head tilted to the side, "Wow…" Gibbs breathed out, nodding his head approvingly "Yeah… That song pretty much covers it Tony. I do love all of you, everything." Gibbs said as he closed the distance between him and his husband, wrapping the younger man up in an embrace and holding him close.
Tony sighed as he laid his head against Gibbs' chest, "Love you too Jethro, for everything." Tony said as he caressed up and down the older man's back lovingly. Neither man would have noticed that all their friends and family left the house, leaving behind a note on the coffee table.
Late Night Confessions has been continued as per several requests, it is in a separate post all on it's own, and is called 'Sequel: Happy Marriage After' So, head on over and get to reading! :)