Emerald City 5/5
4/5
Tony's not surprised to find Daniel's car already at the site when he gets back to work. He's still tired, but he at least had time to drive to his apartment and shower, and grab a quick bite to eat. Daniel, of course, is standing outside his car, leaning impatiently against the hood.
"For the record, I still think that this is a bad idea. Very bad idea," Tony says, getting out of his truck and pulling out a small flashlight, shoving it into his back pocket.
"Then go home," Daniel says, but he's already straightening up and starting for the line of woods down past their dig. "Or, you could always just call Gibbs. I'm sure he'd be thrilled to come help."
"He'd be angry as hell, that's what he'd be," Tony mutters to himself, just low enough that Daniel can't hear, and Tony gets an eyebrow raised in response. With a sigh, he says, "Well, if someone finds people poking around the dig site after hours, it'll look a lot less suspicious if it's you and I rather than a couple of NCIS agents. We'll just claim that we're protecting the place from further vandalism."
"Provided we don't get killed," Daniel provides helpfully.
"Oh yes, I feel so comfortable now. Thanks," Tony says, but he can't help smiling. "So where did you want to look around? And why?"
"It's something I thought of when I was talking to Bettina yesterday," Daniel replies. "There's a creek back down here in the forest--nothing deep, really, but it used to be a river, and it has branches all up and down this area."
"And this is important why?" Tony repeats. They're walking into the woods now, sinking rays of sunlight falling in pools all around them. Tony can hear the trickle of the creek, not too far off, and Daniel walks in front of him, scrambling through the underbrush until they arrive at the creek. It's down the bottom of a small ravine, and it's overgrown with bushes and weeds. Tony halfway expects to see a snake curling itself around his ankle, and jumps every time he hears a snapped twig.
"There," Daniel points, and Tony follows his arm. There it is--a small boat, tied to a stump on the other side of the river and clumsily obscured with cut branches.
"Damn," Tony swears.
Daniel takes a deep breath, and then starts forward. "We have to check it out."
"No, we do not," Tony says quickly, and grabs Daniel's arm, pulling him around. "It's getting dark--we need to get out of here, now." Daniel opens his mouth, annoyance clear on his face, but Tony shakes his head. "For all we know, that thing belongs to someone who left it there for completely legal reasons."
"You don't believe that," Daniel spits out.
"Of course I don't believe it," Tony says. "But this is a job for Gibbs, not for us. We found something--great. Now let's go."
Daniel sighs, shaking his head, but he does leave with Tony. As they emerge from the forest, the sun's nearly gone, and Tony's about to let out his own sigh of relief when he sees tail lights in the parking lot, burning red and peeling away.
"Shit," he says.
"There's no way we were seen, right?" Daniel asks, eyes wide. "We're too far away."
"Let's hope so. Time to leave, come on."
They arrive at their respective cars out of breath; Tony had pushed them to jog over as quickly as possible, despite several dirty looks from Daniel.
"I think we should be fine, but all the same I'm following you home. And give me a call if anyone shows up, okay?"
Daniel gives Tony a sour look. "Yes, fine. See you tomorrow." Daniel turns to unlock his car but again Tony's gripping his shoulder and pulling him around.
"I'm serious, Daniel," Tony says, voice low. "Don't take chances. Call me if you need me."
Daniel looks at him for a few moments, eyes searching him. "I won't, Tony," he whispers, reaching up to lightly squeeze Tony's hand. "I won't."
Tony glances down at Daniel's hand and then back up again. "This mean you're done forgiving me?" he asks, and Daniel smiles tightly.
"Getting there," he says, choosing the words delicately; and really, that's all Tony can ask.
And of course, the ride back to Daniel's apartment is uneventful; no one following them at all. Tony finds himself thankful for that, if only because he's glad that he didn't have to pull the small revolver he'd concealed in his ankle holster. For now, he's just grateful that Daniel didn't have to know what he was hiding.
*
The phone conversation with Gibbs that night is, predictably, pretty bad.
"I can't believe you just went out there with him without telling any of us, DiNozzo," Gibbs snarls. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"He's a stubborn guy!" Tony insists, knowing even as he says it that Gibbs isn't buying it. "Okay, look, I know it was stupid but you have to admit, it did make sense. Dr. Jackson walking around the dig--it's just Dr. Jackson. You walking around? It's suspicious."
"I don't have to admit anything, DiNozzo," Gibbs retorts. "We'll go check it out tonight."
"Be careful, Boss," Tony admonishes, and he can almost hear Gibbs chuckle dryly before the line goes dead.
*
The sky's cloudy again the next day, and apparently Daniel's not really looking forward to getting soaked again because he announces to Tony early the next morning that he's going to be working in the office all day long.
"What happened to solidarity, working out in the field?" Tony asks, glancing at the ominous sky.
"I have no clue what you're talking about," Daniel replies, grinning, and turns to step inside the office. Suddenly, though, Daniel stops, and whirls back around to face Tony. "I want you to work with Mark's group today," he says. "They've barely gotten any excavation work done, and he keeps sending the interns over to help Ted and Mona. We need to see some progress today."
"Fine," Tony calls out, and for the next few hours finds himself working at Mark's site. In all fairness, he thinks, Mark does only have a couple of interns to the three or four that are at Mona and Ted's disposal. The work's still slow, even with Tony helping out; Mark's site isn't all that large, but the terrain is full of rocks and they have to be careful about where they dig.
Tony doesn't even realize that it's lunchtime until his stomach is growling, and so he excuses himself, realizing that he has a perfect excuse to go inside and sit with Daniel in the air conditioned building. "Sorry, guys," he says, grinning, "Dr. Jackson's hoarding my sandwiches. I'll be back out after lunch."
Daniel doesn't have any sandwiches, though; as soon as Tony enters the office he can smell the sweet aroma of pizza, and he enters Daniel's office sniffing, nose in the air like a bloodhound.
"Pizza?" he asks, walking over to the box on Daniel's desk and pulling a slice of pepperoni from it without asking. With a happy sigh, Tony sinks down into the desk opposite Daniel's and practically inhales the pizza.
"Yes, by all means help yourself," Daniel says, grinning; and then Tony's reaching for another slice of pizza, and another, and the look on Daniel's face turns horrified. "It's a good thing I ate before you got in here, and that's just--disgusting," Daniel trails away, watching as Tony finishes the pizza off in record time.
In just a few moments Tony's hands are empty and he's licking his fingers, dirt and all, breathing happy little sighs of contentment. Suddenly Daniel stands, bumping against the desk, and walks hurriedly over to his office door, closing it and turning the lock.
"What the hell?" Tony begins, but Daniel crosses the room and grabs a handful of Tony's shirt, pulling him from his chair.
"That was just obscene," Daniel says, running his fingers over Tony's wrists and leaning in, licking a strip down Tony's neck.
"Are you insane?" Tony hisses, pulling back, but Daniel doesn't let go. "A few days ago you hated me and now you want to, what, make out in your office in the middle of the day?"
"Are you honestly saying no?" Daniel says, all smile and wicked gleaming eyes, and Tony can't help but to gulp.
"I didn't think so," Daniel whispers smugly, leaning in to press a firm kiss to Tony's lips.
Daniel sucks on Tony's lower lip, kisses a line down Tony's jaw and up to his ear, whispering, "Get with the program," low and husky, and Tony's instantly turned on. Tony wraps his hands around Daniel's waist, and then slides a few fingers down the front of Daniel's pants, pressing down on the hipbone and Daniel shudders.
"This is crazy," Tony whispers, right before he unbuttons Daniel's pants and slowly, slowly begins to slide down the zipper. Sinking to his knees, Tony leans forward, mouthing the erection straining against Daniel's boxers and all of a sudden there's a sharp knock at the door.
"Dr. Jackson?" Mona calls out. "Dr. Jackson, I need to talk to you!"
"Shit, shit, shit," Daniel whispers, pulling away from Tony and buttoning his pants. He's frantic, running a hand through his hair, and then he reaches down, pulling Tony up from the floor.
"You have to hide," he says, eyes darting around the room, and Tony just stares at him.
"You have got to be kidding me," he hisses, and Daniel shakes his head just as Mona knocks on the door again.
"Under the desk, now," Daniel whispers, urgent, and he's practically shoving Tony over and so Tony kneels, crawling underneath Daniel's stupid desk.
"Bastard," he whispers, and Daniel shakes his head frantically. "Shut up, shut up!"
Tony curls himself up underneath the desk, and hears Daniel walk away and open the door.
"Dr. Jackson!" Mona says, vibrant, and right now Tony could shoot her.
"Yes, Mona, what is it?" Daniel says, not too obviously impatient, but Mona practically interrupts him.
"We found pottery shards!" she exclaims, and then Tony can hear Daniel scrambling around and grabbing for something on his desk.
"And beads," Mona adds, and from the sound of it Daniel nearly falls over himself to follow her out the door. Tony can hear the two of them talking and then the sound of the door shutting.
Exhaling, Tony stretches his legs a bit, wincing at the bones popping as he straightens up and stands. "You have got to be kidding me," he mutters, although he's not really that surprised that the pottery shards get the most attention. Now he's just got to find a way to sneak out of Daniel's office without being seen.
He doesn't hear anyone walking around outside the door, so he pulls it open and steps out into the hallway, closing the door quietly behind him. Tony's just about to exit the main office when the door opens in front of him and Ted walks in.
"Hi there, Ted," Tony says cheerfully, waving at him, but Ted just glares.
"What are you doing in here?" he demands, stepping closer to Tony.
"Oh, you know," Tony says, stumbling over the words, "just, um, eating lunch. Heading back out to work now."
Ted laughs humorlessly and then points at Tony, anger clearly written over all of his face. "I know what you were doing, Jack," he spits out. "I saw you here last night."
"That was you in the parking lot!" Tony exclaims. "What the hell were you doing here after hours, Ted?"
"I could ask you the same thing, couldn't I?" Ted murmurs. "Just stay out of my way," he says, and pushes past Tony down the hallway.
*
Afterward, Tony tries to find a convenient time to slip away and call Gibbs but there's always something to do and Ted keeps shooting glares his way, so Tony decides that he can't risk it--he just doesn't understand why Ted would threaten him.
"It doesn't make any sense," Tony whispers to Gibbs later, huddled behind the main office. He's on his cellphone with its lousy reception, and everyone's gone for the day except Daniel and Mark, still chatting over the day's find.
"Why would he let me know that he saw us? Is there any way he could know what I'm doing here?" Tony asks.
Gibbs's gruff voice echoes back to him through the phone. "I don't know, DiNozzo, you tell me. Did you slip up?"
"No," Tony whispers, vehement. "Maybe he's just stupid."
"Yeah, well, the majority of criminals are," Gibbs agrees. "We'll watch him tonight, see what he's up to."
Tony snaps the phone closed and emerges from the back of the building to find Daniel standing in front of the parking lot, waving at Mark as he's backing his car out of the lot.
Daniel turns around at Tony's approach. "Hey," he calls out, "do you have a few minutes?"
Tony nods, curious, and Daniel walks over to the main office, dragging Tony by the wrist. As soon as they're inside Daniel slams the door closed, eyes glinting. "I believe we were interrupted earlier," he says, and Tony smiles.
"I think you may be right." Tony moves forward, pressing a grinning Daniel back into the wall. Tony's leaning down, lips only a fraction of an inch away from Daniel's, when Daniel's cellphone rings.
"Don't answer it," Tony whispers, nipping at Daniel's jaw, but Daniel shakes his head.
"I have to--I have to get this," he says apologetically, digging the cellphone out of his back pocket.
"We just can't get a break, can we?" Tony mutters, and then crosses his arms, leaning back against the opposite wall of the corridor as Daniel answers the phone. Daniel's speaking in low tones, his back turned to Tony, and Tony can't really make out what he's saying. Just a minute later, though, Daniel hangs up and turns around, face serious, and Tony knows that something is wrong.
"What?" he asks. "What is it?"
"Mark called--he says he's got information about Dr. Forson's death," Daniel says, face ashen.
"Mark has your cellphone number?" Tony says, without thinking, and Daniel makes a face at him.
"I gave my number to everyone on the staff so they could get in touch with me. Look, what do we do? He says he's only a couple of miles away and he's turning around to come back and talk to me."
Tony takes a deep breath. "Okay. You go wait in the office," Tony says, leading Daniel down the hall and through the door. "I'm going to go get in my truck and drive out, stash it in the woods at the edge of the drive, and then I'll run back in after I see Mark go inside the building. I'm going to call Gibbs--he and Ziva should be here soon."
"And what, you're just going to walk back in here?" Daniel asks, frantically running a hand through his hair.
"Quietly," Tony says, shrugging his shoulders. "It's all I have right now. I'll follow him in and wait in the hall--you make sure that he comes here, into the office. You have that recording device with you?"
Daniel nods, fumbling in a desk drawer. "Good," Tony says. "As soon as you hear him come in here, you start recording."
"Is that even legal?" Daniel hisses. "Or admissible in court, or whatever?"
"We'll worry about that later," Tony snaps, "I have to get out before he gets here. I'll be right back."
And with that, Tony turns, walking out of the office and pulling his cellphone from his pocket. Mark's not back yet; Tony quickly jogs over to his truck, dialing Gibb's number as he hops inside.
"Gibbs," the terse voice comes over the line, and Tony sighs in relief.
"Look, Boss," he says, cranking the truck, "I don't know if you found anything on Ted but I need you to get over to the dig site A.S.A.P. Mark called Daniel, told him that he knew something about Dr. Forson's death--he's coming over now to talk to him."
"Understood," Gibbs says, voice clipped. "Ted's just been sitting in his house all night watching 'Magnum P.I.' or something."
"Yeah, that's--really weird," Tony says, backing up the truck and then changing gears to drive out of the complex.
"You armed, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asks, and Tony grins.
"Of course," Tony says. His shoulder holster and Sig Sauer are safely tucked into the glove compartment. "I'm driving the truck out to hide and then I'm going to double back in. Wait--yeah, there he is, Boss, Mark just passed me driving in. As soon as I get out of sight I'm going to go back. Dr. Jackson's going to get Mark to come into his office; I'll go back in and be in the hallway."
"Careful," Gibbs admonishes. "We'll be there in a minute."
"You got it," Tony mutters under his breath, snapping the cellphone shut. As soon as he passes the curve in the driveway he pulls the truck over to the side of the road. When Mark leaves he'll see it, but Tony doesn't have time to hide it anywhere else.
Turning the truck off, he reaches for the glove compartment, removing the shoulder holster and putting it on, and holstering his Sig. Tony jogs through the wooded area to the side of the road, following it back down the driveway. At the edge of the tree line he stops, looking out toward the office, and sees Mark walking into the building. Tony counts to ten, and then starts jogging across the open field between him and the building. The door's still shut when he gets there; listening at the door, he can't hear anything, so he turns the handle slowly and opens it, silent and waiting.
He can hear voices, but they're muffled, coming from Daniel's office. Tony creeps down the darkened hallway and pauses outside the door.
"You see, Dr. Jackson, I needed to talk to you about--oh, hell," Mark sighs, reaching behind him--and Tony can see the bulge in Mark's back pocket but Mark's moving too fast and there's nothing he can do. Suddenly, Mark's pulled a handgun out of his pocket and is aiming it at Daniel, who's staring, open-mouthed.
"Mark, what the hell are you doing?" Daniel demands, and Mark smirks, holding the gun steady.
"Just cleaning up loose ends," Mark says, voice cold, and Tony's cursing him silently.
"You--you killed Dr. Forson, didn't you?" Daniel asks, and Mark smirks but says nothing. "What are you doing with the emeralds?" Daniel presses, and Tony can tell that it's just a guess, he's just playing for time, but Mark scowls.
"I knew you saw too much," Mark begins, but then stops, shaking his head. "Not going to work."
"You don't have to do this, Mark," Daniel says gently. "Put the gun down. We'll work something out."
"There's nothing to work out, Dr. Jackson. Now, if you'd be so kind as to go sit over there, behind your desk; they found Forson slumped over there, and I really think that it's just too good an opportunity to pass up leaving you there, too." Tony hears a click as Mark turns off the gun's safety.
"Now," Mark says, menacing and gesturing with the gun, and Daniel has no choice but to comply, walking slowly over and seating himself behind the desk.
"Just tell me why you did it," Daniel pleads, obviously pressing for time, and Mark shakes his head.
"Do you think that I'm actually going to sit here and explain everything to you?" Daniel asks, glaring at Daniel, and Tony tenses--Mark's hand on the gun is steady, and he's moving forward, toward Daniel. "Sorry, Dr. Jackson," Mark spits out. "I have no reason to tell you anything and I'm just really not inclined. I'm not stupid."
"But you're a really bad criminal, Mark," Tony says, bursting through the door in a flash and firing. Mark goes down with a cry, but Tony already knows that something's wrong--knows that he's missed something, because Daniel is shouting at him, screaming at him to get down, but Tony doesn't have time. He sees the movement out of the corner of his eye, though, and whirls around and in front of Daniel.
There's an explosion of sound and suddenly all Tony knows is that he's staring up at the ceiling, liquid heat licking out from his left shoulder, his grip on the gun gone cold.
*
At some point there are bright lights surrounding him, and pain; Tony tries to look around but his head's sluggish and doesn't want to do what he's asking. There are faces surrounding him, blurred and fading, and while Tony's not aware of much he feels a hand pressing his, and the warmth of calloused fingers.
*
The next thing Tony knows, his head feels like it's full of buzzing insects and his mouth is dry. It takes a bit of effort to get his eyes cracked open, but he does it; everything's white around him, the industrial hospital colors fading in, and Tony sighs and shuts his eyes again, falling asleep to the repetitive beeping of the monitors surrounding him.
It feels like days later, but has probably only been a few hours when he wakes up again. He blinks the sleep from his eyes, turning his head just a bit and immediately realizes that he's not alone.
Daniel's sitting in the chair across from him, watching him, eyes big and sad. Tony smiles a little, flexes the fingers of his right hand and Daniel stretches out his own hand and grabs Tony, holding him like he's a lifeline.
"You got shot, you idiot," Daniel chokes out, and Tony sighs, sinking back into his bed.
"Yeah," Tony says, voice raspy. "I can feel it." He doesn't offer anything else and Daniel is quiet for a minute, squeezing Tony's hand.
"Mind telling me what happened?" Tony asks, studying the hard lines of Daniel's face. "Who shot me?"
"Mark had an accomplice, obviously," Daniel says, rubbing his free hand over his face. "He must have arrived a few minutes after you did. All I know is that after you shot Mark, I saw him standing behind you and then I heard the gunshot."
"Why am I not dead?" Tony asks, trying to smile but failing.
"Because the other guy was a lousy shot," Daniel replies. "When you went down, I went for Mark's gun and shot the bastard," he says, venom in his voice.
Tony squeezes Daniel's hand. His eyelids are growing heavy but he has to know the rest. "What happened? Why did Mark kill Forson?"
"Because he's also a bastard," Daniel says tiredly. "Gibbs got him to talk a few hours ago; good job not killing him, by the way."
Daniel takes a deep breath before continuing. "Apparently when Dr. Forson was still at the dig, he, Mark, and Lieutenant Adair discovered a--jackpot, basically. Raw emeralds, pots, jewelry--enough artifacts to make them all famous. In the world of archaeology, anyway. They were there after hours, just trying to finish something up and they stumbled on it."
"And--Mark killed them?" Tony asks, confused; his head's starting to buzz again, and his eyelids are heavy.
"He killed them," Daniel confirms. "Shot the both of them and then hid the artifacts--buried them out back, behind the office. He's been slowly smuggling them out down the creek ever since; apparently he got paranoid, didn't want to store the stuff in his own house. He was burying everything down river, waiting to come back for it when the dig was over."
"He hit Mona," Tony mumbles, and Daniel nods. "Probably would've killed her too."
Something's still buzzing at the back of his brain, wrong, and Tony grabs at it. "Ted?"
Daniel raises an eyebrow. "What about Ted?"
"Threatened me, something about--staying out of his business. He shoot me?" Tony asks, and Daniel's eyes bulge.
"Ted? God, no," Daniel says hastily. "Ted didn't--oh, okay, let me explain, I see where you're going," he says. "Ted didn't shoot you; Mark's accomplice, Phil something-or-other, he shot you. Ted's just--well, he may have had something of a crush on me," Daniel says, blushing slightly. "He's been leaving coffee in my office for the last few days. Really good coffee, actually. Anyway, he's been asking me out to dinner and I keep turning him down. He actually came by a little while ago but he's gone now."
"You're still here," Tony whispers, eyelids leaden and falling shut, and Daniel says something that Tony doesn't hear.
*
All in all, he thinks, it could have been worse.
The bullet hit him in the top left shoulder, avoiding his heart entirely, and if the shot hadn't been at such close proximity, the doctors tell him, he probably would've been out in a day or so. As it is, he's only there for three days, although after his conversation with Daniel he doesn't see him again. Gibbs comes in, though, bitching at him for getting shot in the half-hearted way Tony's come to recognize means I'm glad you're okay.
Tony doesn't see Daniel again; he was there to fill Tony in on information, and then he's gone entirely and Tony pretends that he's not looking for Daniel to step through the doorway every time his door opens.
On the afternoon of the third day Gibbs is there to help him hobble out to the car; Tony's arm is in a sling and it hurts, a pulsing pain, but the doctors have cleared him to go and Tony's not keen on staying. Gibbs has already boxed up everything in the temporary apartment that belongs to Tony, and even though he knows he's not leaving any of his possessions behind, Tony feels like he's missing something.
He sleeps through most of the car ride back; Gibbs insists on bringing him by headquarters when they get there so that Ducky can have a look at him. Predictably, as soon as they walk in the door Abby jumps on Tony, betrayed look on her face, exclaiming, "Tony, you got shot!"
And Tony can't help but to smile, and tell her that it's okay, and that no, it really doesn't hurt and it's going to be fine; at least she looks like she believes the lies and leaves him to Ducky's care.
Ducky pronounces him idiotic and feels the need to remind Tony that he is not, in fact, a slice of Swiss cheese, and that contrary to what he apparently believes, he does not need another hole in his body. The stitches are sound, though, and Ducky grudgingly admits that his shoulder looks as though it's going to be okay.
Gibbs drives him back to his apartment--Tony's own apartment, still messy and smelly but full of his own things. Gibbs helps him inside, carts all of Tony's things in, still in cardboard boxes, and tells him that he's got as much time off as he needs; and for once, Tony doesn't argue, just shows Gibbs out and then falls into bed.
*
After only a couple of days Tony's tired of sleeping; he's got some painkillers but they just make him groggy and sleepy, so he tries to lay off them as much as possible. He doesn't really feel like doing anything, although the smell of spoiled milk becomes too much to bear after about a day or so and he grabs a garbage bag, stuffing everything perishable from his fridge and dragging it outside to the dumpster. He curses the whole time but the smell starts to leave his apartment so he decides that it was worth it.
Of course, now his fridge is full of only ketchup, mustard, and dill relish, and so he ends up ordering pizza for every meal.
Tony tries to tell himself that he likes the quiet of his empty apartment but really, it's useless to lie to himself, so mostly he gives up.
*
Daniel knocks on his door on the third day after Tony's back; as soon as Tony sees Daniel's face through the peephole in his door, he bangs his head against the wall.
"I know you're in there," Daniel shouts.
Tony unlocks the door and opens it just a crack. "Did I forget something, or did you just want to make sure that I'm not dead?"
"Oh, get off your high horse," Daniel says affectionately, and nudges the door open, letting himself inside. "I was there when you woke up and fine, I left after that, but I had stuff to take care of."
"I'm sure that was really important," Tony says, sinking down onto his couch. "May I remind you that I took a bullet for you?"
"I'm going back to Colorado," Daniel says. "Back to work."
"That's great," Tony says. "I'm sure it's a great opportunity. Be seeing you."
"My plane doesn't leave for another week."
Tony raises an eyebrow. "You're either incredibly presumptuous or you've made living arrangements elsewhere."
"The first one," Daniel replies; and then, before Tony can say anything, "You live here. I--well, I live in Colorado, as much as I might like to change that. This isn't going to change. But," he says, sitting down on the couch with Tony, "I'm here now. I don't get that much time off, and I guess you probably don't either, but I do have a telephone, and there's always, you know, holidays."
Tony stares. "Dr. Jackson, are you asking me to be your long-distance girlfriend?"
Daniel blushes a bit and rolls his eyes. "Well, you did take a bullet for me."
"And I'm really good at sex," Tony offers.
"And that also, yes," Daniel agrees.
Tony takes a deep breath and pretends to think for a second. "Okay," he says, standing up with a wince. "We'll see what happens."
Daniel breaks into a smile and stands as well, nodding. "Sounds good."
"And now," Tony says, grabbing Daniel by his shirt and pulling him down the hall, "Now we can't be interrupted and you are coming to my bedroom."
"Yes," Daniel says, following Tony inside the darkened bedroom. Daniel kicks the door shut behind him and then puts his hands on Tony's shoulders, hesitant.
"It doesn't hurt that much," Tony says, and Daniel waves him off.
"You're a bad liar and this is a bad idea but we'll figure something out."
Tony's wearing a loose t-shirt, and Daniel pulls it up and over easily, barely snagging it on the corner of Tony's sling and Tony hisses in pain.
"That's it, I'm sorry," Daniel says, kissing down Tony's collarbone. Daniel unbuttons Tony's pants and pulls them down, along with his boxers, helping Tony to step out of them, and then he pushes Tony down onto the bed. In just a few seconds Daniel's out of his own clothing, scattering everything haphazardly on the floor, and then he climbs down onto the bed, carefully holding himself over Tony.
For a while, they just kiss--Daniel braces himself over Tony, licking up and down Tony's stomach, reaching a hand down once in a while to pull on Tony's cock until they're both panting and Daniel's arms are shaking from the strain.
"Okay," Tony says, his right hand cupping Daniel's arm, "sex now, right now."
"Are you sure?" Daniel asks, and Tony's already nodding his head. "Condom and lube, bedside drawer."
And as Daniel hesitates, Tony says, "I'm sure, Daniel."
Daniel reaches over and grabs a condom and the lube, the snap of the container opening loud in the still quiet of the room. It's cold as Daniel slides a finger in, and then so much warmer and soon Tony's panting, kicking his legs around a bit and urging Daniel to get on with it.
Daniel leans over for a sloppy kiss and then pulls back, ripping open the condom wrapper and rolling the condom down on himself. Then he's moving back over Tony, right hand cupping Tony's neck a few inches away from his bandaged shoulder, left hand supporting himself and Tony can feel Daniel nudging at his entrance, moving in slowly until he's deep inside.
It's tight, and uncomfortable, and Daniel must see it written on his face because he somehow manages to stay still until Tony adjusts; and then Daniel pulls out, just a bit, so slowly, and thrusts back in, over and over. He's got a slow rhythm going and refuses to speed up, even after he's found the right angle to brush over the spot in Tony that makes him shudder. Tony curses at him, wants to urge him on but he feels boneless and so he just lies there, takes it, and trembles.
It's not long before Daniel's panting, hitch in his breath as he whispers, "Come on," moving his right hand down to Tony's cock and pulling, jerking him off, and then Tony comes, murmuring, "Yes, yes."
Daniel's right behind him, thrusting harder and then stilling, gasping for air. He pulls out after a few seconds, pulling off the condom and throwing it in the waste basket, and then rolls over into bed, pulling the sheets over them. Daniel presses a kiss to Tony's cheek and Tony turns over, finding Daniel's lips with his own.
They kiss for a few minutes, easy and slow, and then Tony rolls onto his back, yawning, and Daniel turns, slinging an arm around Tony's waist, falling into sleep.
*
In a couple of days, Tony will be back at work, stumbling around through the pain, and a few days after that Daniel will be on a plane to Colorado; but for now, they lie in bed together, tangled up in the sheets, fingers threaded together.