Soul Deep - Part One: Pack

Soul Deep - Part Three: Pretence

Gibbs returned to NCIS to get paperwork issued for Tony, to check on the progress of the autopsy, and to do some research on their dead Marine. Then he went home to grab a couple of hours sleep, take a shower, and get changed.

“Why didn’t you tell Tony?” Tessa asked him curiously as he shaved.

He looked at her in the mirror. “Tell him what?” he asked, swiping the razor over the foam on his face.

She gave him her disapproving glare, and he winced. He hadn’t seen that expression in her eyes since the last time he got married, and he never liked provoking it.

“Why didn’t you tell him you can feel what's going on for him sometimes – that you felt it when he experienced emotional anguish and also when he hurt his knee?”

“You think I should have told him that I had a hard on in a foxhole that time because *he* got lucky too?” Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

Tessa gave a little chuckle. “Oh, I can see why you didn’t tell him *that*. But why not the rest? Why not tell him that you’ve been connected all these years?”

“Have I?” Gibbs raised an eyebrow at her. “Or is it just that you’ve been connected to Shanti? You always did like her, Tessa – right from the moment she scampered up to you and touched your nose. And you usually hate being touched. Always surprised me you took to her so easy.”

Tessa looked at him quizzically in the mirror. “Your daemon likes his daemon. All that means is that you like him, and you did from the start. You might not recognize it, because you are human and complicated even though you think you are straightforward. I work on a much simpler and more instinctive level. I see the things that you often do not want to see. I believe that is why we have rule number one.”

“Oh, don’t invoke rule number one with me!” He grinned at her in the mirror. “You just use that to win arguments!”

“Do you remember what it felt like when I was touched by another’s bare hands against your will?” Tessa asked.

Gibbs shuddered, remembering a time in combat when an enemy soldier had grabbed Tessa and tried to throttle her. There had even been a time when his father had tried to touch her when he’d been ill as a kid, and it had made him want to throw up.

“I remember,” he said quietly.

“Shanti didn’t feel that way when you touched her back in the motel room. She trusted you and felt safe with you,” Tessa pointed out.

“Yeah, but I didn’t know back then that I was creating some freaky link between us! And Tony didn’t have a choice – he didn’t consent to me poking around in his soul like that all those years ago,” Gibbs growled at her, toweling his face dry. “So no, I didn’t mention it to him. I didn’t want the kid to feel obligated to me in some way, or like I’d intruded into his damn life!”

“I think you’re missing the point,” Tessa said, getting up as he strode into the other room.

“And that is?” He turned to glare at her.

“The fact that his daemon welcomed your touch,” Tessa said quietly. “Shanti trusts you because Tony trusts you. I don’t think he’d mind being linked to you like this.”

“There’s a reason we don’t go around touching other people’s daemons!” Gibbs snapped. “I shouldn’t have done it. Tony was just a kid, and he didn’t give me permission.”

“You saved his life.”

Gibbs sat down on the bed and gazed moodily at the wall. “Damn it, Tessa, have you ever heard of a link like this being created between people as a result of touching their daemon? I touched Pell several times, but me and Shannon didn't end up being linked this way. I’ve never heard of anything like it. If someone told me about it, I’d think they were nuts.”