"WHAT?" Gibbs roared in fury.
"You heard me," the director said, completely unfazed. Vance had been Director of NCIS for several years now so he had become well use to the trademark fits of temper from the head of the MCRT. He'd also known right from the moment DiNozzo and David had come to see him two weeks earlier that something like this was going to happen so he hadn't been surprised when Gibbs burst into his office first thing on Monday morning. "DiNozzo and David have resigned. For the past fortnight they've been working out their notice. Their last day was on Friday."
"Is this another one of your plans to discredit DiNozzo?" Gibbs demanded dangerously.
Vance rolled his eyes in exasperation. He'd picked a hell of a week to stop chewing toothpicks. This mess was entirely on Gibbs but of course he was going to be made to look like the bad guy. He began to regret not insisting that DiNozzo and David let the rest of the team know about their plans before they left. Gibbs still wouldn't have been accepting of the situation but at least he would have had to acknowledge his Senior Field Agent and probie had left NCIS on their own accord. "Believe it or not, Gibbs I am sorry to see DiNozzo go," he said. "I may not always agree with the way he goes about things but even I can't deny that he is an extremely capable agent."
"Yes, he is!" Gibbs snarled. "So he wouldn't just quit on a whim and neither would Ziva. Tell me why they left!"
Vance knew that Gibbs was going to explode when he found out that this was all because of Rule 12. It wasn't officially a rule on the NCIS books but most agents, at least the ones who had regular dealings with Gibbs, tried to live by it even if the rule often did more harm than good. Vance had to admit that some of Gibbs' famous fifty rules were good ideas but Rule 12 – 'never date a co-worker' – was ridiculous. As if a rule, especially one set forth by someone else, could control what the human heart desired. "I believe their plan is to get married and start a family," he informed Gibbs bluntly. "Apparently they decided that having two parents as federal agents would not allow for a positive environment to raise their children in."
"WHAT?" Gibbs yelled furiously. "And you just let them leave?"
Vance rolled his eyes again. "I know this may come as a shock to you, Gibbs but neither of us actually control their lives. They're both fully grown adults and free to leave NCIS if they choose. Their only obligation was to serve out a period of notice, which they did."
"And you think that just letting them do this is a good idea, do you?" Gibbs challenged angrily.
"And I repeat: they're fully grown adults free to do what they want," Vance retorted. "I suppose they could have tried to balance this job and a family but I think we both know that it hardly ever works out for those who attempt it. I applaud their decision, really," he added reflectively, thinking back on all the fights he'd had with Jackie over the years about his job getting in the way of their family. Jackie was a loving wife who supported his ambitions so they'd always worked it out in the end but it hadn't been easy. "Putting anything before this job isn't an easy thing to do. Besides, after everything that's happened don't you think DiNozzo and especially David are due a bit of happiness?"
"Happiness?" Gibbs scoffed. "You actually think that this 'relationship' of theirs is going to work out? DiNozzo is too much of a skirt chaser to stay with one woman for more than a few weeks and Ziva will never be satisfied without a gun on her hip and a target to chase. In three months at most they'll both have realised that they've thrown their careers away for something that is no more than a passing fancy and any child that they're idiotic enough to have together is the one that's going to suffer the most in all of this!"
"Scuttlebutt around the agency is that everyone's been expecting something like this to happen for years," Vance smirked.
"Not on my watch!" Gibbs snarled, shocking Vance with his total lack of faith in his two now ex-agents. The director had always thought Gibbs looked upon his agents and Miss Scuito as his children and would support them through anything. Now he began to realise that Gibbs would support them so long as they did things his way or the highway. He didn't think a relationship between DiNozzo and David was a good idea so of course they shouldn't try.
What Vance didn't tell the irate Supervisory Agent was that DiNozzo and David's relationship did work and it had lasted. He remembered taking Jackie out to dinner to celebrate their wedding anniversary a few months into his directorship. It had been shortly after the MCRT got back together following the conclusion of the Lee/Langer fiasco. He'd been shocked to see DiNozzo and David having a candlelit dinner at the same restaurant. From conversation he'd overheard as he and Jackie were seated DiNozzo and David were celebrating an anniversary of their own. Listening to gossip around the agency he heard several unconfirmed rumours that the two agents had been together ever since Gibbs had briefly retired to Mexico. Vance had no idea if the couple had been together that long, nor did he really care, but it was pretty obvious that they were together.
NCIS regulations stated that relationships between agents were at the discretion of the Director. For a few weeks Vance had watched DiNozzo and David carefully but their working relationship never changed so, as Rule 12 wasn't an official NCIS regulation, he'd never let the couple know he knew they were together. Actually he'd mentally applauded how discreetly they'd conducted themselves. Considering how much of the agency gossip surrounded the MCRT it was a minor miracle that their relationship had never been outed.
Vance also didn't tell Gibbs that David was already pregnant. A fortnight ago she and DiNozzo had confessed to him that the child hadn't been planned but it was a very welcome surprise and what was prompting them to leave NCIS so abruptly. She wanted to stay home and raise her child for a year or more and DiNozzo didn't want to keep working a minimum of 12 hour days and miss watching his child grow up.
"But it has happened, Gibbs," Vance said sternly. "And before you get any ideas about interfering in their lives I have to tell you that neither DiNozzo nor David will be re-hired by NCIS." He handed a large stack of personnel files to Gibbs. "Look through these and choose two to join your team. You have until Wednesday or the decision will be made for you. Oh, and while you're at it make sure that Miss Scuito hires an assistant. She has two weeks to do so or I'll choose someone for her and she won't like the consequences if that has to happen."
"Abby won't like having someone else in her lab period," Gibbs said angrily.
"I don't care," Vance said. "This is an order that comes directly from the SECNAV. She hires someone or we'll hire someone for her. Forensics keeps getting slammed and NCIS can't afford to keep having every team delayed while Miss Scuito stubbornly keeps carrying the workload of at least two people. And I would like to remind you that the lab belongs to NCIS not to Miss Scuito personally."
"I see that you're taking the opportunity to hold your directorship above everyone's heads," Gibbs said bitterly.
"I don't deny that," Vance said calmly. He was genuinely sorry to have seen DiNozzo and David go but their departure had opened his eyes. For far too long his staff had been able to get away with doing whatever they wanted and not necessarily for the good of the agency. That stopped now. "This may come as a shock to you, Gibbs but I am in charge of NCIS, not you. It's time that you and a lot of others realise that."