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crack_van2009-05-08 01:51 pm
bananacosmic.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2009-05-08 01:51 pm
Damage by Xanthe (NC-17)
Fandom: NCIS
Pairing: Gibbs/DiNozzo
Length: 132 000 words
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
xanthelj
Author Website:xanthestories
Why this must be read:
Xanthe has to be one of the best Gibbs/DiNozzo authors currently writing in the NCIS fandom. She writes both humor and much more serious stories – and this is one of the latter ones, and in my opinion, her best story yet.
One of the longest Gibbs/DiNozzo stories out there, and doubtlessly one of the best. It’s impossible to put it into a single category – I’d say angst first and foremost, but also hurt/comfort, with drama and maybe a bit of romance. The characters are so in character that you’ll forget you’re reading a fanfic. Pretty much everyone is featured, although Gibbs and Tony are obviously in the center of the story.
What the team thinks will be a simple case turns out to be something much more complicated, and it brings up things in Tony’s past that he’s spent years ignoring. The story deals heavily with child abuse (but not incest), but it’s handled with extreme care.
Excerpt
"Christ, that's sick," Gibbs hissed. He forced himself to survey the photographs with an objective eye, but it was hard. Justin didn’t look as if he was in any pain, or as if he was struggling – there was just a sense of weary, numb acceptance about him that somehow was just as poignant as if he’d shown any more visible signs of distress.
"Pedophile ring," Tony said, with a dismissive shrug. "Someone groomed Justin, and I think we've all got a pretty good idea who that must have been, and then he got passed around to the other men in the ring. Photos were taken to be shared and passed on too – just within the ring. If the admiral is anything to go by, the men in this ring are all intelligent professionals – they don't take any more risks than they have to, so they keep the ring closed and only admit new members if they're really sure about them. New recruits to the ring gain entry by bringing a child along for the others to use for sex."
McGee and Abby stared at Tony, and Gibbs glanced at him, one eyebrow raised. Tony gazed back at the three of them, looking completely unconcerned.
"What? I worked vice in Baltimore. That's how these things work," he said, with a grin.
"You just sound so matter of fact about it, Tony," Abby said. "I mean, that poor kid. First his dad dies, then his mom has a breakdown, and then the one person who befriends him turns out to be a total pervert."
Tony shrugged again. "So the kid's had some tough breaks – so what? I'm just saying I've seen this kind of stuff before, and this is how it works." He looked totally unfazed by it. "What?" he said again, when Gibbs, Abby and McGee all gazed at him. "Look, you guys have all seen more dead bodies than I bet you can even remember. Don't tell me you still get affected by each new one that shows up. I'm just saying - maybe this kind of stuff loses its ability to shock after awhile."
"I hope stuff like this never loses its ability to shock me," Abby murmured. "Just what kind of cases did you work in Baltimore anyway, Tony?"
Tony grinned. "You don't wanna know," he told her with a lascivious wink.
Gibbs frowned. Tony's reaction was very Tony - in fact it was almost stereotypically Tony – but somehow that made it all the more surprising. Tony was nosy, attention-seeking, and at times highly annoying, but over the years Gibbs had always found him to be the most empathetic of his agents. Maybe he was right, and the things he'd seen during the course of his job had dulled his reaction to them. If so, he was the only one who felt that way, judging by the expressions on the faces of the other people in the room when they looked at those photos.
Damage
Pairing: Gibbs/DiNozzo
Length: 132 000 words
Author on LJ:
xantheljAuthor Website:
xanthestoriesWhy this must be read:
Xanthe has to be one of the best Gibbs/DiNozzo authors currently writing in the NCIS fandom. She writes both humor and much more serious stories – and this is one of the latter ones, and in my opinion, her best story yet.
One of the longest Gibbs/DiNozzo stories out there, and doubtlessly one of the best. It’s impossible to put it into a single category – I’d say angst first and foremost, but also hurt/comfort, with drama and maybe a bit of romance. The characters are so in character that you’ll forget you’re reading a fanfic. Pretty much everyone is featured, although Gibbs and Tony are obviously in the center of the story.
What the team thinks will be a simple case turns out to be something much more complicated, and it brings up things in Tony’s past that he’s spent years ignoring. The story deals heavily with child abuse (but not incest), but it’s handled with extreme care.
Excerpt
"Christ, that's sick," Gibbs hissed. He forced himself to survey the photographs with an objective eye, but it was hard. Justin didn’t look as if he was in any pain, or as if he was struggling – there was just a sense of weary, numb acceptance about him that somehow was just as poignant as if he’d shown any more visible signs of distress.
"Pedophile ring," Tony said, with a dismissive shrug. "Someone groomed Justin, and I think we've all got a pretty good idea who that must have been, and then he got passed around to the other men in the ring. Photos were taken to be shared and passed on too – just within the ring. If the admiral is anything to go by, the men in this ring are all intelligent professionals – they don't take any more risks than they have to, so they keep the ring closed and only admit new members if they're really sure about them. New recruits to the ring gain entry by bringing a child along for the others to use for sex."
McGee and Abby stared at Tony, and Gibbs glanced at him, one eyebrow raised. Tony gazed back at the three of them, looking completely unconcerned.
"What? I worked vice in Baltimore. That's how these things work," he said, with a grin.
"You just sound so matter of fact about it, Tony," Abby said. "I mean, that poor kid. First his dad dies, then his mom has a breakdown, and then the one person who befriends him turns out to be a total pervert."
Tony shrugged again. "So the kid's had some tough breaks – so what? I'm just saying I've seen this kind of stuff before, and this is how it works." He looked totally unfazed by it. "What?" he said again, when Gibbs, Abby and McGee all gazed at him. "Look, you guys have all seen more dead bodies than I bet you can even remember. Don't tell me you still get affected by each new one that shows up. I'm just saying - maybe this kind of stuff loses its ability to shock after awhile."
"I hope stuff like this never loses its ability to shock me," Abby murmured. "Just what kind of cases did you work in Baltimore anyway, Tony?"
Tony grinned. "You don't wanna know," he told her with a lascivious wink.
Gibbs frowned. Tony's reaction was very Tony - in fact it was almost stereotypically Tony – but somehow that made it all the more surprising. Tony was nosy, attention-seeking, and at times highly annoying, but over the years Gibbs had always found him to be the most empathetic of his agents. Maybe he was right, and the things he'd seen during the course of his job had dulled his reaction to them. If so, he was the only one who felt that way, judging by the expressions on the faces of the other people in the room when they looked at those photos.
Damage
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