Hello! Here I'm with another short story as I give the final touches to my longer works. I hope you'll enjoy this third romp in the Bosavian AU.

Bosavian Loving

By Gunnery Sergeant

Sequel to "Bosavian Fever" and "Bosavian Screw-Up"

Thanks to Finlaure, my wonderful friend and betareader!

It was a normal Friday afternoon when Tony looked up from the report he was writing and saw his boss and lover pale while he stared at his computer monitor.

They were alone because McGee and Ziva had gone to interview a witness to get some clarifications about what the woman had said in her first statement. Tony didn't restrain his concern, but stood up and approached the older man's desk.

"You okay, Boss?" he asked softly.

Gibbs raised his eyes to meet his and answered. "Just got bad news. My father is dying."

Tony felt himself get deadly cold at the thought of Jackson Gibbs dying. He was such a nice man, and he had been so supportive and approving when Jethro had told him about them. "What happened?" he finally managed to ask. "Is he ill? Are you leaving now for Stillwater? Do you plan to fly there or-"

Gibbs stared at him, his expression unreadable. "I said father, Tony, not Dad."

That all important distinction blocked Tony's flood of words. For Gibbs, 'Dad' was Jackson, the man who had given him his name and raised him. 'Father' instead was the Bosavian male by the unknown name – if he had one in the first place – that sired him and who lived in an extinct volcano crater in Papua New Guinea. A biological father Gibbs had said he wasn't attached to because of what he had done to his mother—so why had he paled upon reading the news?

Unsure of what to say, Tony murmured, "I'm sorry. Is he ill? Was he wounded in a fight?"

"Dr. O'Neill, the anthropologist I keep in contact with, says it's his heart. It's failing him." Gibbs took a deep breath. "He keeps asking for me. Says his ancestors will welcome him in the other life only if he passes away with all his living sons near him."

"Oh." Tony really didn't know what to say now.

Gibbs stared in front of him, eyes fixed as he said softly, "I always thought I didn't love him. For what he did to my mother. But the truth is that, had he not done it, I wouldn't ever been born. I would have never met Shannon and you. Never had Kelly." He looked up at Tony. "I owe that much to him to go there…grant him his dying wish. Tell him, at least once, I love him."

Tony nodded in understanding. He could sense how important this realization was for Jethro. "Then go, don't lose a moment more. The journey to Down Under is long."

"Yeah…I'll talk to Vance now." Gibbs stood up, circled the desk and walked quickly toward the stairs, as Tony watched him, barely restraining himself from giving his lover a comforting hug.

Gibbs already had a foot on the stairs when he suddenly stopped and retraced his steps, approaching the younger man.

"Listen…I just thought…this is gonna be the last time I'll visit the crater. Without my father and with no need to seek a mate for my fevers, I'll have no reasons to go back. So, do you wanna come with me? See the tribe?"

"You really mean it?" Tony asked, surprised.

"Yeah…of course. If you want." Gibbs took a deep breath, then, "I think my father would like to see you. Last time I was there, he told me he was worried about my future fevers. Worried that once he would be gone, no one would loan me a female. Seeing you would reassure him I will be fine."

Tony schooled his face not to show his surprise, but he wasn't sure he was successful. It seemed to him that this uncivilized, beastly creature felt more love and concern for his son's wellbeing than Senior had ever shown for him. A lesser man would be envious Gibbs had not one but two fathers who cared so much for him. But Tony wasn't such a man. He loved Jethro and would never be envious of him.

"I'll be happy and honored to go with you, Boss…but will Vance allow me to leave? We have an open case."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes as he often did when he caught a lie during an interrogation or was ready to spring one of his verbal traps. "Leave it to me, Tony," he said, walking quickly toward the stairs, "And book two seats on the first flight to Port Moresby while I'm upstairs."

"On it, Boss!" Tony exclaimed already reaching for the phone, excited by the imminent trip.

Mount Bosavi, here we come!

XXX

Twenty-eight hours and 4 planes later, each plane smaller than the other, Tony's excitement was gone, replaced by tiredness and sore muscles, some of them caused by the shots Ducky had given him after being informed he was leaving with Gibbs. It had turned out Papua New Guinea was full of dangerous diseases which Gibbs, as half-Bosavian couldn't catch, but against which Tony needed to be immunized. That's why Ducky had transformed him in a pin cushion.

Cranky and tired, Tony stared with red rimmed eyes at the helicopter that had just landed in a private area of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea's capital and airport.

"This is the last leg of the trip," Gibbs explained. "You'll be able to sleep at the researchers' camp."

Tony just nodded in response, as a man got down from the chopper, and walked toward them, holding his hat on his head with his left hand.

"Jethro," he said, reaching out with his right hand. "It's a pleasure to see you again, although I'm sorry it has to be in such sad circumstances."

Gibbs took the offered hand and shook it. Then he turned toward Tony and said, "Kevin, this is my partner and Fever Mate, Anthony DiNozzo. Tony, this is Dr. Kevin O'Neill, the world greatest expert in Bosavian language. We have known each other since I was sixteen."

Tony shook the anthropologist's hand, as he thought of the way the man – who looked to be fifteen years or so older than Gibbs – had perked up when Jethro had said the words "Fever Mate". He hoped O'Neill wasn't planning questioning him about his partner's fever, because Tony had no intention of sharing that experience with anyone, and certainly not with a stranger who might write an article about it.

The introductions ended, they got into the helicopter, and soon they were in the air, moving fast toward the Southern Highlands province, where Mount Bosavi was located.

During the trip Gibbs asked questions about his father and Dr. O'Neill answered them. The bottom line was that Kuruma – that was the old Bosavian's name – was still alive, most likely out of hope, because he had been informed Gibbs was coming.

"I'd not be surprised if he dies shortly after seeing you. He is stubborn and resilient-" the anthropologist said.

Qualities he shares with his son, Tony thought.

"-but he is old, his body too tired to go on living."

"I see," Gibbs answered, and Tony heard the sadness in his voice.

Beneath them, a luxuriant jungle stretched as far as the eye could see. Peering out the window, Tony spotted several huts in a clearing among the trees.

"Is that the village?" he asked to O'Neill.

"No. That's a Bosavi Kalu – or "men of Bosavi"- village. They are humans, and live at the bottom of Mount Bosavi, not inside the crater as the Bosavians. Now fasten your seatbelt, Mr. DiNozzo. We are going down."

The helicopter started its descent inside the crater, and it was so much like the scientists' arrival scene in "Jurassic Park", that Tony fully expected to see a dinosaur appearing from behind one of the tall trees.

They landed in a small clearing, inside what looked like a military compound surrounded by powered fences and barbed wire. The younger man looked around, surprised, and O'Neill explained.

"Bosavian males in their Fever and looking for a mate can be very dangerous. Jethro's mother wasn't badly hurt during the attack because Kuruma wasn't in his Fever when he captured her…so he was gentle with her…, but I doubt a human could survive through a Fever, not with our delicate skin, and their long, sharp claws and fangs." Tony gave a strange look at the other man, as to say, "Isurvived" and the anthropologist added, "I'm talking about full Bosavians that, let me say you, are nothing like Jethro."

"I know," Tony commented. "I remember the photo you sent me last year."

"Good to know you are prepared. Now come, I'll show you your quarters and then I'll take you to the village. I see Jethro is impatient to go."

"He's always like that," Tony replied with a smile, as he shouldered his duffle bag and followed O'Neill toward a low building.

X

Thirty minutes later, dressed in a heavy duty pair of jeans and shirt and wearing hiking boots, Tony followed O'Neill and Gibbs out of the compound and along a path in the jungle. As they walked, his eyes kept on shifting from observing the vegetation surrounding them to ogling his lover, who looked quite hot in his Marine green camouflage uniform. But then, Jethro looked hot in everything, including the Ghillie suit he had worn in Somalia.

After a while the narrow path opened into a large clearing, where several simple huts could be seen. But what really captured Tony's attention weren't the buildings, but the creatures standing near them. They all looked like the one he had seen in the picture O'Neill had sent him the previous year. They looked like humans, with tanned skin and abundant yellow-brown body hair. Their eyes were yellow, and their long fangs stood in stark relief against their brownish skin.

As the group crossed the clearing directed to a hut on the far left, Tony became aware that the Bosavians he could see were all males, and that they snarled, growled and showed their fangs as the three men walked past them. They seemed ready to attack, and he reacted to that unpleasant thought by posing his hand over the butt of his gun—the gun Gibbs had explicitly ordered him to take with him.

Near him, Dr. O'Neill armed the rifle he was carrying, and the Bosavians closer to them took a step back as they heard the noise caused by the narcotizing dart sliding into place. Evidently they knew what a rifle could do and feared it.

"Are they always like this?" Tony asked as his eyes darted right and left.

"Truth to tell, no, they aren't," O'Neill answered. "They are used to us and are usually friendly. I'm afraid Jethro's presence is causing this reaction."

Gibbs arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Me? Why? They have never been like this in the past. They just observed me and snarled if I got too close to their females or children. They have never been so outwardly aggressive."

"I think it's because of the change they feel in you."

"What change?" Tony and Gibbs asked in unison.

"I don't know how to explain it, but…you seem surer of yourself. More… dominant. As if acquiring a permanent Fever Mate, a partner you love, has made your Bosavian part – your Bosavian male part—stronger…more prominent. And I think they can smell you on Mr. DiNozzo, and recognize it as a Bosavian male's scent, not a human's, and see you as a rival for your father's females, who most of them hope to claim after his death."

"You picked up a lot of details during such a short trek," Tony commented, embarrassed by that bit about him carrying Jethro's scent over himself. He didn't mind to smell like his lover, but he wasn't happy a stranger knew and talked about it in such a nonchalant manner.

"Observation is a vital skill for an anthropologist living among potentially dangerous beings, Mr. DiNozzo. Besides, I've already seen the males' behavior change like this…when boys enter their puberty. One day they are children to protect, teach to and play with. The next one, they become rivals, enemies to be kept away," O'Neill explained.

"Well, Boss," Tony joked, "I guess they finally realized you are no longer a child…"

Gibbs' hand moved fast, delivering a quick head slap, which Tony translated with, Shutup,orassoonaswealoneI'llshowyouhowgrowupIam.

"That a threat or a promise?" Tony said aloud, causing Jethro to smirk, amused, as O'Neill watched them, clearly puzzled.

When they finally reached their destination, they stopped in front of hut made of dried mud mixed with tree branches.

"Ready?" O'Neill asked.

"Ready," Gibbs answered for both of them.

The entry was quite low for them, because Bosavians were shorter than humans, so they needed to bend down in order to enter, and once, inside the ceiling was just enough high to allow them to stand straight.

The hut was bigger than Tony had thought it to be from outside, roughly circular in shape, and with a packed-dirt floor. The smell inside was strong, and it was more animal-like than human-like. It felt like entering in room where a dog had been enclosed in for a while, rather than getting in a crowded bus in the summer.

There were about fifteen Bosavians inside, gathered in groups around a pallet in the centre of the hut. There were females and children of the left and two young males on the right. Kuruma's only surviving sons beside Gibbs?

The males moved slightly aside and let the three newcomers approach the pallet. Gibbs and O'Neill knelt down, while Tony, unsure of what to do, stood near his lover and looked down.

He wasn't an expert, but he didn't need to be one to see the Bosavian lying there was more dead than alive. His eyes were closed, the skin pale, the fangs stark white against his bloodless lips, the fur coarse and dull, the breathing labored.

Dr. O'Neill made a strange sound with his mouth, a cross between a word and a growl.

The dying Bosavian opened his eyes, blinked and then focused them on Gibbs. His lips bent in a strange grimace, but Tony quickly realized it was a smile. Kuruma raised a thin arm and posed his hand against Gibbs' cheek.

Is this the same guy who raped Jethro's mother? Tony found himself wondering, as he noticed how careful he was not to scratch his son's skin with his claws.

Gibbs whispered something Tony didn't catch and O'Neill emitted more strange sounds, evidently translating the other man's words. Kuruma replied in a low, raspy, guttural voice.

The conversation went on for a few minutes, then Gibbs looked up at the younger man and said, "Tony, kneel please. He wants to take a look at you."

He did as asked and the old Bosavian fixed his strange yellow eyes on him, observing him with keen interest. Then he said something, and Tony turned toward the anthropologist, wondering what it meant.

"Kuruma says he is happy to meet his son's Fever Mate and wishes you many joyful seasons together," O'Neill translated.

"Please, tell him I'm happy to meet him too. And that I plan to take care of his son for many, many seasons," Tony said to the other man, while looking toward Kuruma with a smile.

"Tony…" Gibbs whispered, embarrassed as usual to disclose any detail of their private lives in public.

Tony ignored him. "Tell him, Doc. That's the truth and I think Kuruma will like hearing it."

O'Neill translated the line and Tony had the satisfaction of seeing the old Bosavian smile again, before he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and went still.

"Is he…?" Tony asked, unable to see if Gibbs' father was still breathing.

"No," O'Neill answered, "but it won't take long. He saw his wishes fulfilled; he has no reason to fight any more."

"I see…So we wait?"

Gibbs nodded. "Yes, we do."

Silence fell in the tent, and Tony let his mind wander, imagining what Ziva, Abby and McGee would say if they ever knew about where he and Gibbs were now and why. He also wondered what Jethro had said to Vance to convince him to let both of them take a leave at the same time.

After a while, he became aware of an uncomfortable pressure in his bladder. Turning to face his companions he whispered, "Uhm…Jethro, Dr. O' Neill…I need to relieve myself. Where can I go?"

"Just behind this hut," the anthropologist answered.

"Okay. And Boss, if you don't mind, I'll stay outside for a while. I need some fresh air too." He didn't want to say aloud the smell was starting to bother him, but Gibbs understood all the same.

"I know, it's the same for me. Just be careful."

"I will."

Tony stood up, and stepped outside the hut with a sigh of relief. He breathed deeply in the flower scented air a couple of times, before he walked around the hut to relieve himself.

When he was done, he looked at his surroundings and saw a path departing from the edge of the clearing and leading somewhere. He stretched his neck, wondering where it led, and in the silence of the jungle, he heard the distinctive sound of running water. There was a pond or a lake nearby, maybe even one of those majestic waterfalls he had seen when he had Googled "Mount Bosavi".

Looking around Tony saw he was alone, so he decided to take a look. The sound of running water was pretty loud, so it had to be close.

He was right. After a few hundred yards the path opened on another clearing, and Tony found himself staring at the beautiful waterfall he had hoped to see.

Enchanted by the beauty of the place, by the brightly colored birds and flowers, he took out the camera he had brought with him from his pocket and started snapping photos. He saw a furry creature, a sort of giant rat on a rock near the water and was about to photograph it too, when a low, roar like sound made the hair on his nape stand up.

Slowly, carefully, Tony put away the camera and turned around. He knew at once he was in trouble. There was a Bosavian blocking the path he had come from. A snarling Bosavian male…and it didn't end there. The creature was aroused, his manhood rising from the thick fur of his belly and groin.

"Oh shit…" Tony muttered. His hand moved to his gun, but before he could pull it out of the hostler, the Bosavian jumped like a big feline and landed over him, throwing the human down to the ground.

.

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Cliffhanger! *ducks to avoid rotten tomatoes and eggs* Let me know what you think and remember that reviews make me update faster!