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Title: Think of Things - Notes
By: sandersyager
Pairing: Tony/Abby
Fandom: NCIS and CSI
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: These characters belong to CBS, Bellisario, et al. No copyright infringement is intended..
Spoilers: none
Summary: It was their last night in Vegas.
Author's Notes: Think of Things story.

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I'm fighting for the story to start with that dance scene, or a more fleshed out version of it. The idea of that group grinding together, getting sweaty with a nice funky bass line from Prince or NIN's Closer in the background... I have this whole running soundtrack for their evening. "Tell Me Something Good" and Abby and Warrick peeling off from the group to dance together, to dance for the others, while Nick's fighting with himself about which one he wants more... Tony caught between Greg at his front and Abby at his back to something slower and hypnotic like Tori Amos' "Cruel". Tony teaching Nick a few new steps, both of them slightly aggressive with the other, all up in one another's space but neither of them quite ready to go for the kiss they both crave, with Nelly's "Hot in Here". A clear image of Warrick throwing his head back and laughing as the others, following Abby and Greg's leads, bounce around to something like "Hey Ya!" All of it coming back to something like "Darling Nikki" and them not so much moving in pairs or threesomes, but as a mass, hips and asses and hands in all the right places, and entirely too much clothing among them.

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What I've been seeing in my head is that Gibbs found his way to Lady Heather, many years ago, possibly while he was still an active duty Marine and a lot more like DiNozzo. She would have seen his potential as both a sub and a dom, training him to be both. Lady Heather would have met Gil a few years ago, as in CSI canon, and pursued him as both an intellectual partner and dominant. Gibbs would have been around for a reason I've not yet figured out, and taken a strong role in Gil's training, being the only one Heather would trust to stop Gil if he approached her, or more likely, his own limits. I'm in love with the idea of them as a triad, with LH submitting at times to both men, other times one of the three sort of showing off with a random sub at the Dominion for the others. They're also a support system for one another, with Grissom not really having family, Gibbs' wife and daughter being killed and his history of marriages going "boom" and then Lady Heather's daughter being murdered. They can drop the roles with each other.

All of this... there's shitload of psychology to work out in the backstories for all of the characters to allow them to get to this night. I think Gil would try to top Gibbs, I think he might even succeed, but only with Lady Heather's support and guidance. I see him as being newer to domination than Gibbs, still testing his boundaries and establishing the type of Dom he is. Gibbs helps with that, and there are certain things Gil can do that if anyone else even looked they might have thought about it, Gibbs would shoot them dead.

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I've been interested to see fandom and fanon pick up on both Gil and Gibbs as Dominants. It's rare to see either of them portrayed as a switch, and it's something I want to explore. When Rebecca and I started talking about this fic, one of the things we agreed on was that Gibbs had to have learned his skill as a Dom somewhere. In the Pavlov series, Rebecca writes Gibbs as a very empathetic Dom, almost always aware of his subs needs and limits as well as his own, and particularly tender when any of them need to safe word. On one hand, this is simply Gibbs being a good Dom. On the other, I think he has an understanding of submission from his own acts of submitting to Lady Heather. I think he and Lady Heather would have similarly built Gil's confidence as a Dom by allowing him to witness each of their moments of and need for submission, and by allowing him a safe place to explore his capacity for both sides of D/s. I don't think that Gil often submits, although he will for Lady Heather, and when it's required, he will for Gibbs. He's the most at ease with the idea of serving two masters.

I think the triad has a very clear pecking order, that Lady Heather calls the shots, she's the one who can see mostly completely what is required. This includes recognizing when she needs to be dropped and hard, and those moments are few and far between. She will always have her own reasons for allowing it, and those aren't always clear to Gibbs or Gil. She won't go down for Gil alone, she's always Dominant with him, even when they're vanilla, even when they're just having tea.

I think there are possibly three moments that Lady Heather has subbed for Gibbs and Gil. Once as Gil was beginning to train as a Dom, and he initially thought it wasn't something he was supposed to see, and that he wasn't sure how to think about because it ran counter to all of his experience and all of his evidence, which is exactly why Lady Heather would have allowed him to see. The second is with both Gil and Gibbs as Doms, a while into Gil's becoming a Dom, and at her request. She never tells them why, only lets them know that it's what she needs. The final is at some point after the death of her daughter, and is something that nearly pulls them apart. Gil knows the extent to which she's suffering, has seen her lose control in a way that will destroy her, and calls Gibbs, who takes the next flight out. Rationally, she knows she needs it, and she knows they will take care of her. She also struggles with it feeling like one more abandonment of her child, she wants to keep her grief intact, with the acknowledgement that there are many ways to be a masochist.

This second instance will probably be revealed as a flashback from Gibbs' perspective. If any of this doesn't makes sense, let me know, because this is just a first pass at figuring out more of the details. I'm realizing that one of the major hurdles for plausibility is the idea that Lady Heather would submit. I'm questioning now whether she ever truly does, or if it's another level of her control. At some point, she makes a statement in canon to the effect of what one sees and what she feels have little in common.

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So, I feel like I must be one of the least observant people ever, because when friends of mine started talking about the Warrick/Catherine subtext-becoming-text, I had no idea where they were getting it from. I'm still not sure because Warrick appears on screen and all I can see are those green eyes and nice hands. I personally support pairing him with anyone because again, the man is walking sex.

I slash him for the exact same reason you have a hard time seeing it. I think he's a lot like Tony in the "if it breathes, I will flirt with it" world view, but he has a subtlety Tony will never acquire. I'm currently really enamored of the idea of those two together, because Warrick would cut straight through all of Tony's bullshit and teach him a thing or two, up to and including reducing Tony to a wibbling puddle of wrecked somewhere very public and walking away like nothing happened. I think Warrick would roll with the punches. In my head, he doesn't have a lot of use for definitions of sex and sexuality, not quite hedonistic, but more of "why talk about it if you can do it and do it well?" coupled with an appreciation of people and bodies.

And really, I think he and Nick are too snarky and competitive with each other to not be sharing sweaty, naked fun. Otherwise, Warrick would have put a quick end to Nicky's whinging a long time ago.

Griss/Warrick fic of quality seems to be hard to find. I tend to look for the threesomes or foursomes, because as the bodies increase, so does the attention to writing. This isn't a hard and fast rule, mind you. I recommend edgecity/Casey's series for well done Warrick slash. It's a healthy investment of time as a reader, because Hormigas Coloradas is currently 17 chapters and counting and Results is 46 and complete, but both are worth reading. HC is Nick/Greg/Warrick/Grissom with a heavy focus on Nick/Warrick, and Results is Warrick/Greg, eventually Warrick/Greg/Nick. Both stories are available here.

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