FIC: Snow Blind (Part 1/2) written for taylorgibbs

[sinfulslasher]

Title: Snow Blind
Author: Gaby
Pairing: Gibbs/Tony (+ mentions past Gibbs/Holly and Gibbs/other canon female characters as well as Tony/Jeanne in very general terms)
Author's Notes: Written as a pinch hit for round 5 of the NCIS ficathon for taylorgibbs . Her prompt: "Holly Snow is discovered to be Gibbs' Ex wife #1. Pairings I'm open to are Gibbs/DiNozzo, Gibbs/Holly, Gibbs/DiNozzo/Holly. Any rating up to and including FRAO welcomed." I'm sorry you had to wait so long for the fic, but I hope it was worth the wait. :-)
Additional Notes: Some dialogue has been taken from the episodes "Jet Lag" and "Guilty Pleasure".
Big thank you goes to kaylashay81 who not only got her beta comments back to me super-duper-quick, but made a fantastic cover art and an icon as well! *squees and points proudly*
Warning: None, really, unless you count het vibes. ;-)
Rating: R
Genre: first time
Spoilers: General spoilers for "Flesh and Blood", particular spoilers for "Jet Lag" and especially "Guilty Pleasure". If you don't know these eps, this story might not make much sense. In addition, there are basic spoilers for the Gibbs backstory in general.
Word Count: about 11,000
Disclaimer: Not mine, never were, never will be, gosh darn it!
Summary: Holly Snow might be best known for arranging dates with high-class escorts. Her real talent, however, is match making.


There weren't many people who really knew the man behind the mask of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, for the simple fact that he was a very private man and liked personal things to remain, well, personal.

Only a chosen few people, like his team, knew really personal details about him.

Like, for example, details about his sexual relationships.

His team, his friends, knew about his latest ex-wife, Stephanie, because she had been involved in one of their cases. Gibbs would have preferred to keep work and personal life separate, but sometimes, that just didn't work. Especially in this case, when the woman he was dating at the time, Hollis Mann, had been involved in the investigation as well. His team had acted surprisingly mature--for them--during that case, though Gibbs honestly didn't want to go through something like that, ever again.

They also knew about Diane, his second ex-wife. They didn't know her personally, but they were well aware of the fact that he and Fornell still got together once a year to celebrate the fact that they both got out of their respective marriages with that woman without losing any vital body parts.

Gibbs had always enjoyed mind-fucking his team in the early days, when he was having an on again / off again thing going on with Julia, a beautiful redhead. He used to make her pick him up at crime scenes on purpose, just to see the complete look of astonishment on Tony DiNozzo's face. Those had been fun times.

The fact that his team found out about his fling with Jenny Shepard was less funny. They dealt with it more maturely than the whole Stephanie and Hollis Mann debacle, but it was incredibly difficult to keep things professional when Jenny was the one who kept trying to insinuate herself back into Gibbs' life. She had been the reason why he had come up with Rule 12, and having to work with her again only confirmed the rightness of that decision.

Hell, his team even knew that he had once been married to a wonderful woman named Shannon and had had a daughter, Kelly, both of whom had been killed many years ago. Gibbs had always tried to keep them a secret from anyone, but had finally accepted the fact that his friends knew.

After working with his team for so many years, after being friends with Fornell and Franks for even longer, Gibbs felt like a damn open book to these people. He trusted them, and he knew they would never use any of this knowledge against him, and up until now, he was convinced that nothing and nobody could make him want to hide things again from these people.

Until a case unearthed a sudden witness, who might actually turn into a suspect. A witness that Gibbs never in a million years thought he'd see again. A witness he would do just about anything to make sure that she would not get in contact with any of the people he knew and trusted.

Because no matter how open a book to anyone on the team he was by now, Gibbs solemnly swore to himself that he was going to do anything to ensure nobody was going to find out that Holly Snow, the beautiful, smart, scheming, sexy-as-all-hell D.C. Madame Extraordinaire was, in fact, ex-Mrs. Gibbs Number One.

XxXxX

One of the most important talents Holly Snow possessed was being able to read people.

While she sat in the interrogation room, waiting for Special Agent McGee's elusive boss to finally show up and talk to her, she had ample opportunity to watch the young man. She knew that there was definitely more to him than met the eye, and despite his slightly nervous attitude, he seemed like a seasoned professional. The geeky personality was easy enough to see, but Holly was convinced that the young man had a wild streak hidden somewhere. Heck, she wouldn't be surprised to learn that he had a prominent tat somewhere, or wore a metal ring through a body part other than his earlobes. His sex life did most definitely not consist of the standard, boring missionary style. It was always the quiet ones that surprised people with their dark side.

Holly enjoyed the obvious nervousness of the younger man though. Her reputation clearly preceded her, and he reacted the way most people did: he had no clue what to say or do, and instead of just treating her like a perfectly normal person, he appeared a bit overwhelmed and acted awkwardly. Holly thought he was cute, and enjoyed herself by teasing and flirting with him.

McGee, after almost dropping the file he kept studiously thumbing through, finally just muttered a bit helplessly, "My boss should be here any minute, ma'am."

"And who would this mysterious boss be, Special Agent McGee?" she inquired politely, cocking her head and smiling innocently up at him.

McGee flashed back to his junior year in high school when the new, young, and very pretty science teacher complimented him on successfully conducting a complicated experiment. He cleared his throat, chuckled nervously and stuttered, "That would be, um, A-A-Agent Gibbs, ma'am."

Holly raised an eyebrow at that. Gibbs. She never would have thought to hear that name again, much less see the man again in her life. Of course she had no idea if the Agent Gibbs in question would actually be the Leroy Jethro Gibbs she had been married to almost twenty years ago, but what were the odds of two Gibbses working for NCIS and being stationed at the Navy Yard? She smiled broadly at McGee and inclined her head. "Well," she finally said, "can't wait to meet this Agent Gibbs of yours."

A few seconds later, the door to the interrogation room opened and a man strode in purposefully. He walked with a ramrod straight posture, had an air of absolute command about him, and wore a scowl on his face that warned everyone to not mess with him. Holly smiled inwardly. The hair was now completely gray--no, silver, and an absolutely beautiful silver at that-- and there were quite a few new lines etched into the stern face, but she would recognize those blue eyes anywhere.

So, McGee's boss, Agent Gibbs, really was her ex-husband.

This should prove to be interesting.

Gibbs shot Holly one long look of pure warning, then began to interrogate her in a very business-like manner. Holly realized that he didn't want anyone to know that they had a history together. That was fine with her. Back then, they didn't part on the best of terms, after all. So she decided to act professionally while others were around, since there was no reason to embarrass Gibbs or expose him in any way. She would wait and bide her time and just see what would happen. Maybe, if it turned out to be in her best interest, she would change plans, but for now, she would be the consummate professional who had been brought in as witness.

Didn't mean she couldn't torment Gibbs in small ways, though, she thought with another inward grin, and began to flirt with him a little.

"I don't give it away, Agent Gibbs. My services cost," she said when her ex-husband demanded some vital information. She smiled sweetly and cocked her head to the side, wondering how he would react. Gibbs just grinned without missing a beat and agreed on a plea deal with her, but his eyes flashed at her, clearly warning her not to overdo it.

Holly merely grinned back. She was a smart woman, but that didn't mean that she didn't enjoy playing with fire on occasion.

XxXxX

Gibbs concentrated on getting the plea deal approved, wondering the whole time why fate was obviously out to get him. Crossing paths with Holly Snow had definitely not been on his list of favorite things to do, and now she was not only involved in one of his cases, she was also an important witness. There was no way Gibbs could ignore her and let someone else deal with her. Especially not McGee, not after he saw the younger man's floundering reaction to her.

Not that he blamed McGee. Holly had a tendency to do this to men, after all.

Gibbs knew that this would end badly. Ever since Abby had excitedly bounced up and down and demanded to meet Holly Snow, Gibbs had been beyond wary of letting his team get in contact with his ex-wife. He had been successful--so far, at least--where Abby was concerned. McGee wasn't much help, which came as no surprise, because he was clearly no match for Holly Snow. Gibbs was just glad that Ziva and Tony weren't around. The mere idea of Tony meeting Holly sent a shiver of pure panic down Gibbs' spine.

He had sent Tony to Paris on a whim. The younger man was still shaken by his father's visit, and Gibbs had wanted to give him a little treat. He knew that Tony loved to travel, loved Europe, and that he had always wanted to visit Paris. And Tony deserved it. Gibbs firmly told himself that this had absolutely nothing to do with the drunken late night fumbling after Tony's father had left, when Tony's desperation for paternal love and approval had turned into pure need for physical reassurance of some, of any kind. Gibbs barely remembered the sloppy kisses and uncoordinated groping on his couch, the mutual handjobs that didn't even result in orgasms because they were both too drunk to manage erections. It had been desperate and completely unplanned, and they had studiously not talked about any of it the next morning. But something was simmering between them ever since, and Gibbs wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad thing. He didn't think that Tony knew either.

So, when the opportunity presented itself, Gibbs had decided to send Tony to Paris, wanting to reward him for all the hard work he had been doing and at the same time putting some much needed distance between them. Gibbs had hoped at the time that not seeing Tony for a few days would help him make up his mind about what had happened between them, and about what next to do about it.

And so, while he still cursed fate for throwing Holly Snow at him without warning, he thanked fate at the same time for having ensured that Tony was several thousand miles away and would have no opportunity to do anything really stupid around her. Because, consummate professional or not, Tony would not be able to stop himself from trying to impress the famous D.C. madame in his own special way, and manage to embarrass not only himself but also Gibbs in the process.

So, time was of essence. Gibbs needed to close this case and get rid of Holly Snow before Tony and Ziva came back from Paris. The plea deal would be approved in record time, he was going to make sure of that.

XxXxX

Holly smiled when Gibbs stormed into the interrogation room again. She had amused herself with profiling Director Leon Vance for the last few minutes, a man who clearly got off on power but who was most likely a pussycat at home where his wife was wearing the pants. He was trying hard to hide some secrets, Holly was sure of that, and she was convinced that Gibbs either knew them or at least knew about them.

So, Holly watched the interaction between both men closely once Gibbs was in the room, and while the tension increased a notch or two, the power dynamic also clearly shifted. Interesting. She was dying to find out what was going on between those two. Time to poke Gibbs a bit more, she decided, especially since something had clearly changed since the last time he had talked to her. He seemed...preoccupied, for lack of a better word.

"Give us the numbers," Vance demanded, looking at Holly sternly.

Clearly not intimidated, she turned to Gibbs and smiled. "What, no foreplay?" she asked. "No seduction?" They shared a long look. Holly smiled softly to herself. It was only a matter of time before she would manage to crack her ex-husband.

"Deal's done. It's approved," Gibbs merely replied gruffly. It was obvious that he expected the needed information, and now.

Holly only smiled. "You like it rough, don't you?" she asked sweetly. Vance could interpret this question as a simple comment on Gibbs' gruff demeanor. Holly knew, however, that Gibbs would interpret it as the obvious tease it was supposed to be. During their short marriage, their love making had always been intense. Yes, there were very gentle and sweet times, but mostly, the sex had been passionate and rough, two alphas vying for dominance. They had always had a lot of fun in the bedroom, and Holly remembered fondly the good times they had shared.

Judging by Gibbs' look, he knew exactly what she was hinting at. "Always a time and a place for everything, Holly," he replied, innocently enough, though she clearly heard the warning in his voice. Rough play in the bedroom had been consensual and fun. Playing hard to get while he tried to solve this case, however, was neither welcomed nor appreciated.

Holly gave Gibbs a long look, trying her best to figure out what exactly was going on behind those blue eyes. Something was different, something had changed, and while she couldn't really put her finger on it, she somehow knew it had to do with his sexual preferences. She had been in her business for too long, had been too successful, not to immediately know that something, no matter how elusive, was going on.

"I thought so," she replied. "I'm usually pretty good at reading people. What they respond to." One corner of her mouth barely curled up when she saw the tiny reaction on Gibbs' face. It was almost imperceptible, and she knew without a doubt that nobody else would have seen the reaction on the man's poker face. Nobody except her. Even twenty years later, she could still read him, though he had gotten much better at hiding his thoughts and emotions. Going for broke, she asked innocently, "Roleplay?"

Gibbs' reply came promptly and was clearly the truth. "No."

"Too bad," Holly said. She had been almost convinced that it was something like that, some kind of radical change to what he was before. Gibbs had never been a fan of roleplay, he just had no imagination for this kind of thing, which was a shame since Holly had always thought he would make a great Roman gladiator or a stern school principal. But Gibbs thought roleplaying was silly, and there was just no reason to give this sort a thing a try when your partner didn't take the concept seriously. So, if Gibbs had suddenly found enjoyment in roleplaying, it would have solved the mystery of the unknown yet palpable change in him.

Since it wasn't roleplay, it had to be something else. Holly was determined to find out what it was.

Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance to do so because Gibbs, being Gibbs, solved the case--also thanks to her information--in record time.

XxXxX

Gibbs was relieved to see Holly leave the Navy Yard. And not a moment too soon, considering the fact that less than an hour later, Tony and Ziva arrived with their own witness in tow.

His plan to send Tony away for a few days to clear his mind and get his emotions under control again was completely shot to pieces, however, when he next saw the younger man. His feelings for Tony were stronger than ever, and he fell hard for him as soon as Tony graced him with one of his famous megawatt smiles.

Fortunately, his injured shoulder hurt like a bitch, and so Gibbs was grumpy enough to pull off the gruff act, going so far as to growl at Tony when the younger man reprimanded McGee for not keeping Gibbs safe. The pain was bad enough to distract him from his thoughts about Tony, about their drunken fumbling together, and he managed to convince himself that it was best to bury any and all feelings he might harbor for the younger man and just continue to be Tony's boss, and nothing else.

And he thanked fate that Tony and Holly Snow had never met during the case.

XxXxX

"Guess who she used to work for! Holly Snow, the former D.C. madame!"

Abby grinned broadly while Gibbs was ready to throttle fate. How was it even remotely possible that Holly Snow showed up again in one of his cases? He had just successfully gotten rid of her a few weeks earlier, and now the prime suspect in his latest case used to be one of Holly Snow's escorts.

This had to be one heck of a cosmic joke.

"You really should go talk to her," Abby suggested with a solemn nod.

Yeah, Gibbs thought dourly. And make sure she doesn't run into Tony.

XxXxX

Holly looked beautiful as ever, and Gibbs couldn't help but smile as he watched the reaction of the male attendants of the sexual harassment seminar. She had everyone in the room clearly wrapped around her little finger. Gibbs wasn't surprised.

He looked rather smug when Holly lost her forward momentum during her speech when she detected Gibbs. So, apparently he was still able to surprise her. Good. During the first case, Gibbs had constantly felt as if he was half a step behind Holly, and she had outsmarted him a couple of times during their little mind games. Now he seemed to have the upper hand, and he liked that feeling.

He smiled innocently when Holly called a break and walked over to talk to him. Oh yeah, he definitely had the upper hand now.

XxXxX

Holly had to admit that the last person she expected to see during the seminar was her ex-husband. He was clearly a sight for sore eyes, but she immediately sensed that his appearance couldn't possibly mean good news. Something bad must have happened, and at the moment, things couldn't get much worse than they already were, considering the fact that she was officially out of a job and had to wear a damn ankle bracelet that traced her every move.

Holly walked over to Gibbs, checking to see if any of his team members were there as well. But apparently, he had come by himself.

Wonderful. No reason to hold back anymore.

Holly smiled to herself, her mood lifting. She had wanted some one-on-one time with Gibbs ever since he had stepped back into her life, but during the first case, he had always made sure that someone else was with them. Now he was alone, and as far as Holly was concerned, he was fair game.

What she didn't expect was Gibbs asking about one of her girls, Charlotte Cook. She was even more surprised when he expected her to help him find Charlotte. Holly only smiled knowingly at Gibbs and waited him out.

"This is gonna cost me," he finally said, clearly a statement and not a question. Oh, he was definitely a smart man, always had been.

Holly's smile widened. "Oh, my rates have always been very reasonable, Special Agent Gibbs," she all but purred, emphasizing his title. "I'm just looking for a little change of pace." She thought for a split second, then added, "And this..." She leaned in to whisper something in Gibbs' ear. A dinner without expectations didn't sound like too much of a request, Holly figured, even if it would be an intimate dinner between ex-spouses.

Gibbs smiled back and replied politely, "That's a deal breaker."

Holly wasn't surprised by that reaction, though she was disappointed. Did Gibbs still, after all those years, harbor angry feelings towards her? He had acted like a consummate professional while they had worked their first case together, and by Gibbs' standards, he had even been a gentleman. Holly had hoped that the hard feelings of days past were finally forgotten. Calling the request for a simple dinner a deal breaker, however, showed her that Gibbs was still not willing to forgive and forget.

Inwardly shrugging, she decided that a little blackmail might not go amiss. He had come to her, after all. He wanted her help, not the other way around. Holly considered it only fair to demand a bit of...compensation for her troubles.

"You need me, Gibbs. Use me." She smiled at Gibbs, clearly coming on to him. He had never been able to resist her charms, and the mere idea of being used by Gibbs sent a shiver down Holly's spine.

Gibbs gave her a long, intense look, then stepped right into her personal space. If this had been part of the sexual harassment seminar, this would have definitely counted as "red light behavior". Gibbs, however, merely smiled, clearly having decided to pay her back in kind. He knew that being physically overpowered was one of Holly's big buttons. Gibbs figured that, since she played dirty by using intimate knowledge about his preferences, by tilting her head just so while giving him her special, enigmatic smile, the one that still made him feel as if a hook was embedded in his stomach and was tugged...well, then it was only fair to tower over her, crowding her, and giving her the slow once-over that had always made her shiver in the bedroom.

Gibbs waited until Holly's breath hitched, then he leaned in even closer and calmly said, "Okay."

XxXxX

There were several thousand reasons why Gibbs wanted to avoid having Holly and Tony in the same room, but his plan for catching Charlotte Cook demanded that these two people at least met briefly to discuss the undercover op. Getting Vance to agree to the slightly risky plan was a piece of cake compared to what Gibbs would have to get through next, namely making Tony behave long enough to prep for the op even with the famous Holly Snow in the near vicinity. Gibbs still remembered all too well Tony's whining the first two weeks after Paris, bemoaning the fact that he had never gotten the chance to meet "the famous DC madame" in person. It had finally died down after Abby and McGee consequently ignored his constant pleas for sordid details. Delivering the occasional slap to the back of Tony's head had probably helped as well, Gibbs mused.

But now he was back to square one, and he just knew that Tony would try to say or do something stupid. Gibbs knew that it was mostly a façade, and that Tony sometimes just couldn't help himself, but that didn't change the fact that Tony sometimes came off as the world biggest, silliest playboy while in fact he was one hell of a good investigator and one of the best undercover agents Gibbs had ever worked with. The problem was that Holly could read people almost as well as Gibbs could, and Gibbs freely admitted to himself that she would be able to figure out that something was, at least in theory, going on between Gibbs and Tony. Something that was best kept hidden. Tony might be good, but Holly was--sometimes, at least--better, and Gibbs knew that Tony was still struggling with what had happened between him and Gibbs during that fateful night after his father's visit. Gibbs knew that Tony would try to compensate for this, would turn on his charm, would try to impress Holly with his Italian gigolo persona.

And boy, would that end badly.

Gibbs sighed, cursed fate yet again, and then went to collect Holly. He was going to wait for Tony in the conference room with her.

XxXxX

Holly amused herself by watching her ex-husband pacing up and down. Gibbs seemed nervous, for whatever unfathomable reason, and the fact that Holly was suddenly completely quiet seemed to unnerve him even more. Which, of course, was the reason why she kept her mouth shut and merely watched the man.

A few minutes later, the door burst open and a man she hadn't seen before came storming in. "Hey, you called me, Boss? What's up? 'Cause I gotta tell ya, McC and I found some great leads and we were going to check 'em out. McC--you know, Lieutenant McCadden? What a great guy, you should check into hiring him for NCIS. I'm telling you, teaming us up was the best damn idea you had in ages! So anyway, he's waiting downstairs so we can go check out the leads and-- Oh, well, hi!" Tony finally stopped babbling when he realized that Holly was also in the room.

Holly, on the other hand, had barely noticed Tony's verbal diarrhea. She was too focused on her ex-husband. Gibbs' face radiated a myriad of different emotions, all within a split second. As soon as Tony had entered the room, his eyes got soft while his body went rigid, as if readying for a fight, though Holly immediately realized that neither anger nor aggression were the reason for this stance. It was more as if Gibbs prepared himself for a potential threat, and Holly wondered what kind of threat could possibly be posed here--against whom, and by whom. The very next moment, Gibbs' face grew stern, his mouth turning into a fine line and his eyes flashing with--jealousy? Right around the time Tony mentioned this McCadden guy. Interesting. And then there was that look of exasperated, slightly amused affection, as if Gibbs hadn't expected anything but the rapidfire monologue from the other man. Holly's radar pinged madly, even though Gibbs managed to hide behind his mask of indifference almost immediately. He was a damn good poker player, but Holly was better. And finally, she thought she could pinpoint what exactly had seemed "off" about her ex-husband the first time they had met again. Roleplay, my ass, she thought, berating herself for having been so blind. Gibbs had a thing for another man. This was going to be extremely interesting.

Tony sashayed around the table and slid into the chair next to Holly's, letting it roll a couple of inches closer until he could drop his arm on the back of her chair. "The one and only Holly Snow," he said, as if announcing her as the guest of honor. His voice dropped an entire octave as he added, "Hi, I'm Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. But you can call me Tony." He flashed her his megawatt smile, showing dimples that not even Gibbs had ever seen.

Holly looked Tony up and down for a long moment, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. She knew that kind of guy. Good looking, very good looking in fact, downright sexy, with an innate knack for charming men, women and children and getting what he wanted. Unfortunately, he knew that he was that kind of guy, and that made him just about insufferable. Holly knew that he would still try to win women over by smiling brightly at them when he was in his fifties, had a beer belly and a receding hairline. Holly couldn't stand superficial people, and Tony fit that description to a T. So, instead of reacting to the charm Tony was pouring over her, Holly turned to Gibbs and asked calmly, "And what's so very special about him?"

Before Gibbs could reply, Tony leaned over with an even bigger smile. "How much time do you have?" he all but purred, waggling his eyebrows.

Gibbs could clearly see that this was Tony trying to impress Holly in all the wrong ways. He had feared the worst, but this? This was even worse than worst. He knocked on the conference table in lieu of headslapping Tony, sending a warning glare. Then he turned to Holly with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "He's one of the best undercover agents we have," he said. "We need him for our plan."

"Plan? What plan?" Tony sat up straight, his eyes sparkling. Undercover work! That sounded like fun. He thought for a moment, then grinned. "Am I going undercover as a male escort?" He turned towards Holly. "I've always wondered about that, actually. Did you only ever, you know, um, how shall I put this delicately? Well, erm, pimp girls? I mean, women? Female escorts? Or did you also have male escorts in your, um, contingent..."

Holly raised an eyebrow again. Tony would have been the perfect material for a male escort in his younger years, she was sure of that. She would've taken him under her wings in a heartbeat, he would've made her a ton of money--as long as he kept his mouth shut. Then again, most women wanted a pretty face and a good body, not intelligent conversation. Still, Holly was rather going to bite her tongue off than admit that to someone who already had such an inflated ego. "I deal exclusively with ladies," she said calmly.

"Dealt," Gibbs corrected automatically.

"I thought I was back in business," Holly replied with a smile.

Tony did a classic double-take. "You are?" he asked, then looked at Gibbs. "She is? What did I miss?"

Gibbs sighed and rubbed a hand over his tired face. He was beginning to develop one hell of a headache. "Okay, here's the plan," he said, then began to explain how he wanted to get his hands on Charlotte King.

Tony was immediately in love with the plan. "Great!" he enthused, standing up and straightening his jacket and tie. Then he smoothed down his hair and grinned. "She'll never know what hit her."

Holly rolled her eyes inwardly. Could this guy be any more annoying if he tried to? And why did Gibbs so obviously have a thing for that guy? He just seemed like such...un-Gibbs-material. Her ex-husband could clearly do better.

"Is there anything else we need to know?" Gibbs asked Holly. "Anything in particular we should be aware of?" He pulled out a photo of Charlotte King and showed it to Tony. Tony gave a wolf whistle and made inappropriate noises. Holly was surprised that he didn't actually openly drool. Judging by Gibbs' murderous look, he seemed to think along the same lines.

"Nothing," Holly replied with a shrug and an innocent smile. "She'll show up, they'll exchange money, you'll be able to arrest her. End of story."

Gibbs gave her a long, searching look. He obviously didn't trust that statement, but Holly just looked back calmly, tilting her head and curling a strand of hair around her finger in a way that made Gibbs give a sharp intake of breath.

"Okay," he finally said, snatching the photo out of Tony's hand and sending the younger man off to meet with McCadden. Gibbs' face darkened slightly when he said that name, much to Holly's amusement. "Just keep on stand-by. Once Charlotte calls and Holly sets up a meeting, we're gonna need you at the Adams House Hotel."

"Sure thing, Boss," Tony replied with another broad grin. "This is gonna be so much fun!" He made his way over to the door and almost fell on his ass, tripping over his own feet, because he couldn't stop staring at Holly while walking backwards.

When he finally managed to leave the room with as much dignity as he could still muster, Holly turned back around to give her ex-husband a long, meaningful look. Her raised eyebrow said it all.

Gibbs merely sighed and hung his head.

XxXxX

Holly felt guilty about having told Charlotte the secret code for a client liking to be slapped around a little. It was just the way Tony had grated on her nerves during the initial discussion. He really made her hand itch, and so if she couldn't slap him, then she could at least enjoy watching him being slapped. But it still wasn't fair to let the man, annoying and obnoxious as he might be, walk into that undercover op without prior warning, and Holly did have a conscience, so yes, she did feel guilty about the whole thing.

Until she saw Tony emerge from the hotel's bathroom looking--and smelling!--like Hugh Hefner.

Holly immediately berated herself for not having ordered something even more extreme.

Clearly at the end of her patience, Holly tried to explain to Tony what he was supposed to do to make this op work.

"That's rich. Instructing a DiNozzo on how to act around women. What's the matter with you?" Tony retorted with an uppity chuckle.

"Pretend like you've done this before," Holly implored. It was bad enough that she had let Gibbs talk her into going back into business temporarily. It was even worse that she was about to betray Charlotte's trust, who was one of her best escorts. And all of it would blow up in their faces only because "Very Special Agent" Anthony DiNozzo couldn't act himself out of a paper bag.

"What makes you think I haven't done this before?" Tony retorted.

Holly was really getting close to slapping the man herself and not wait until Charlotte would do the honors. "Because you're wearing underwear straight out of the package," she said with the last remnants of patience, holding up the control tag accusingly. "She's faking it, you're not. You got it?"

"A woman's never been able to tell when I was faking."

If Tony hadn't been out of arm's reach, Holly would have smacked him for that line, not to mention the pose he was actually striking. Her ex-husband had fallen for that guy? It completely boggled her mind. Taking a deep breath, she walked Tony through the rest of the plan she had come up with. Tony blinked and seemed a bit surprised by the change of plans--or, more precisely, the additional information suddenly sprung on him--but tried his best to bluff his way through it, trying to convey that he was a consummate professional and seasoned undercover agent and thus would easily manage to get through this op successfully.

Holly made her way to the adjacent room where McGee had set up the surveillance equipment. She was just glad to be out of the room Tony was in.

"This'd better work," Gibbs growled as he strode in.

Holly looked up, surprised by the vehemence in her ex-husband's voice. "Is that a threat?" she asked, only half-jokingly.

Gibbs gave her a short but poignant look, clearly telegraphing that she shouldn't even try to bullshit him. That look darkened and then turned murderous when he watched on the surveillance monitor how Tony was being slapped by Charlotte. That had clearly not been part of the plan, and Holly had very conveniently "forgotten" to mention this. Gibbs was not amused.

"It's fun to watch," Holly commented with a grin. And it really was. She just wished that it was her slapping the arrogant, smug, uppity playboy smirk off Tony's face.

Gibbs' hand curled into a fist, and he stuffed it into his pants pocket. It was the only way to stop himself from slapping Holly in return. He could clearly see that Tony was off his game, which came as no surprise considering the fact that the man hadn't been properly prepared for the operation. Gibbs swore to himself to have a very good talking to with Holly after all of this was over.

And thankfully, they were able to arrest Charlotte King after only another couple of minutes.

XxXxX

After interrogating Charlotte and discussing the next steps with his team, Gibbs decided to have the much needed talk with Holly. He had calmed down enough by then to not immediately lash out at Holly in anger, though the slightly reddened spot on Tony's cheek where Charlotte had slapped him still had Gibbs' blood boiling.

He found Holly in the break room, looking at the contents of the vending machine. "Coffee, cream, two sugars," he said in way of greeting, setting one cup down in front of an empty chair as he sat down.

Holly turned around and came over, smiling brightly. She was clearly surprised that Gibbs obviously still remembered how she liked her coffee. "Charlotte's not your killer," she said, trying to distract Gibbs from starting to talk about Tony. She could clearly sense that her ex-husband was still mad at her for almost screwing up the op, even though his calm outward appearance would fool anyone else.

"How do you know that?" Gibbs asked quietly, clearly willing to go along with the distraction for now.

"I know people. That's what I get paid for." Gibbs gave her a long measuring look in response. Holly decided to go for broke and finally mention the big white elephant that had been in the room with them for almost twenty years. "So, aren't you gonna ask? How a nice girl like me...blah, blah, blah...?"

Gibbs immediately shook his head. "No. I don't care."

"Oh. He doesn't care." Holly looked disappointed, but wasn't really surprised. Gibbs was one of the most stubborn men she had ever met in her entire life, after all.

Their marriage had been a good one, and she was convinced that they had genuinely loved each other, but when Gibbs had found out, quite by stupid accident, what she was doing for a living, Gibbs had packed his bags and moved out of their house the very same day. The divorce papers had been delivered to her doorstep soon afterwards. She had never been given a chance to explain any of this to him. Gibbs, being Gibbs, had mulishly turned his back on her and never looked back. And she hadn't even been a prostitute anymore back then. She had given up that part of her life before she ever met Gibbs. She had just started her career as a D.C. madame, making a name for herself in exclusive circles, when she got together with Gibbs. Her "day job" had been working part-time at a publisher's, and Gibbs had never questioned that. Until one fateful Saturday afternoon when he found her little black book, and things had gone to hell.

Holly mentally shrugged and then told Gibbs how her career had started. It still felt weird, talking about her life story like that, but she felt she deserved finally being allowed to tell her side of the story, and she hoped her ex-husband would finally understand that things had been, at least in part, out of her control. Besides, she had never, not once, been unfaithful. She had never cheated on him. She had always felt that Gibbs had been unfair to her, just packing his stuff and leaving without looking back.

"And they say you can't make money with a Liberal Arts degree," was Gibbs' only comment when Holly finished her story.

"Oh, I didn't know you had a sense of humor," she replied, trying her best to hide her hurt feelings. She had hoped for a slightly different reaction.

"Oh, there's a lot you don't know about me, Holly. You just think you do." Gibbs gave her a long, meaningful look, before he was distracted by his ringing cell phone.

Holly smiled sadly. If Gibbs only knew how much she actually knew about him, she thought. The look on his face when he answered Tony's call, the softness around his eyes and the slight smile tugging at his lips, told her more than anything that her suspicions about Gibbs having feelings for Tony were right on the money.

Though she still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that her smart, passionate, highly complicated ex-husband would fall for a shallow, one-dimensional, overgrown jock and playboy.

It clearly had to be a mid-life crisis sort of thing.

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(part 2)