Hello all, sorry for the long silence (well, for me!) but I underwent surgery to my right hand and that made typing difficult and tiring, hence my lack of posts. Now I'm a bit better, but it will take time before I'll be able to hold a pen again and be able to write.

I hope you'll enjoy this new romp in the Vampire! Gibbs/Tony universe!

Unexpected Connection

By Gunnery Sergeant

5th Story in the Reconnection Universe, Tony version. AU set during "Aliyah", with references to some Season 7 episodes.

Thanks to Finlaure for the beta reading!

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Gibbs didn't know how things could have gone so wrong and so quickly.

When a few hours before he had told Tony to stay on Rivkin, he hadn't had any idea what would have happened next. He had had no idea that while he would be talking about Vance in his basement with the Secretary of the Navy, Tony would have gone to Ziva's place to confront her about Rivkin, only to have the door opened by the very man they were trying to track down.

His mate had acted as a concerned friend, not as a NCIS agent, and committed the mistake of not bringing McGee with him as back up. As result, when Rivkin had attacked Tony, he had responded and ended up shooting at the Mossad officer.

Now Rivkin was dead, Mossad wanted answers, Vance was pissed and Ziva…well, only God knew what was going on inside her head, but her behavior toward Tony was everything but friendly.

As for Tony, he had a broken arm and he was in such deep shit Gibbs had no idea how he would be able to pull him out of it.

Sighing, Gibbs opened the door of the conference room, carrying with him the report Ducky had just given him.

"He's dead and I'm not, and I don't have a concrete reason why," Tony was saying to Vance.

Gibbs walked to the table and gave the report to Vance.

"What's this?" asked the director.

"Concrete," Gibbs replied pointing to the line stating the level of alcohol found in the Mossad officer's blood, "Rivkin was hammered."

"He might have had a couple of cocktails, but, I mean, he was doing a pretty good job hammering me. There's no way he was drunk," Tony protested, looking from Gibbs to Vance and back to Gibbs, his eyes silently asking to be believed.

Gibbs believed Tony, but the point was that he wasn't the one his mate needed to convince. "Blood alcohol level was .16," he pointed out as he leant against the wall, listening to the rest of the interview.

"Twice the legal limit to drive," underscored Vance. He passed the report to Tony, who read it and commented, "Huh. Maybe I should have called him a cab."

Gibbs resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He loved Tony's sarcasm and sense of humor, but there were times he wished his mate would simply keep his mouth shut.

Just like now.

"You went off grid," Vance said, his tone hard. "You killed an officer of the Mossad. And to make things worse, the entire crime scene has been blown to hell. People are going to have some questions. You'd better have some damn good answers, Agent DiNozzo."

Tony raised his eyes, looking at Gibbs, and he nodded, telling with his eyes what he couldn't say aloud. The younger man would have to face the music, but Gibbs would be at his side—always.

"Understood," Tony answered firmly.

Vance nodded and stood up, indicating the interview was over. Tony rose to his feet and walked toward the door. As he passed by, Gibbs reached out and patted his butt in silent support.

"Think your boy can handle the meat grinder that's coming?" the director asked, looking toward were Tony had just disappeared.

Gibbs restrained the smile that always rose on his lips when he heard Vance call Tony "his boy". He liked it, but this wasn't the moment to show it. "He'll manage."

"Good, because he's going to have to step up, take one for the team," Vance concluded, making a shiver run along Gibbs' spine.

He still had to digest how his team had been disbanded the previous year, with no explanations given. He also knew the director didn't like Tony that much and would have gladly let him rot on a ship as agent afloat if Gibbs hadn't insisted on have him back. As things were, the vampire didn't trust Vance to do all he could to support Tony during the upcoming trial.

"What's the end game?" he asked, as he walked to the door, barely hearing Vance answer, "Diplomacy."

He wasn't surprised to see Tony lingering in the corridor, his broken arm protectively cradled with his sound one.

"Are you in pain?" Gibbs asked, stepping closer to his mate. "Did you take the painkillers?"

"Not yet," Tony answered, shaking his head. "The pills make me fuzzy and I wanted to be sharp and ready for Toothpick's questions."

Gibbs smirked and lowered his voice. "If you can bear it until we go home, I'll give you some drops to speed up the healing."

As usual, he was pleased when Tony nodded, accepting with no hesitation to drink his blood. He was aware a lot of humans found the idea of tasting blood so revolting they refused to do it even if that meant to renounce to all the benefits that drinking vampires' blood could give them.

However Tony wasn't like that. After the first time, when Gibbs had given him blood in order to save his life, he had taken a liking to it. Not for the taste of the blood, but for the act itself. Tony loved to be the only human Gibbs shared some parts of himself with—his vampire nature, his body, and his blood. It made the younger man feel loved, special, wanted, and safe.

Gibbs had often thought about going to visit Anthony DiNozzo Sr. and shake him so hard his teeth would rattle for the way he had treated his son. He and his own father Jackson had never had an easy relationship since his mother's death. They had ended up not talking to each other for eighteen years. Yet, even during those all stormy fights and that long silence, Gibbs had known Jackson loved him. He had always felt sure of Dad's affection for him, even when he had been too angry to welcome it.

It wasn't the same for Tony. His mate had never been sure of his father's affection. And how could he have been after being forgotten in a hotel room or being disowned while still a kid?

It wasn't surprising Tony wanted so badly to belong with him and to know Gibbs was his as much as he was the older man's.

Gibbs just hoped one day Tony would realize it and stop trying so damn much to get something he already had.

The vampire returned to the present and since he knew there were no security cameras in that part of the corridor, he raised a hand and gently squeezed the back of Tony's neck, before saying, "Time to get back to work."

"On it Boss," the younger man replied with a little smile, falling in step at Gibbs' side as they walked toward the elevator.

TBC

More angst and troubles ahead! Let me know what you think... and remember reviews make me update faster!