Gibbs looked up from his paper work. "Pack it in. Go home." Papers stopped mid shuffle as the team looked up. "Be here by 0800 in the morning. See you tomorrow." He stood up, and the others followed suit. They all gathered their things and filed into the elevator. The ride to the parking garage was a silent one. It had been a long, interesting day for Team Gibbs. The elevator reached the garage, and they all made their way to their cars. As Tony was buckling his seat belt, his cell phone rang. "Meet me at my place," Gibbs's voice came over the line before he could respond with a greeting. "Ok. Something you-" Before he could finish, the line went dead. He laid his head on the steering wheel. He had been waiting for it all day, and there it was. The other shoe was about to drop.
It had all started when Vance walked into the squad room with EJ and dropped a bomb, well, two really on Team Gibbs. The first revelation made by the director, was that EJ would be joining the team for a while. The second one was the reason why he was being summoned by Gibbs. EJ had come to Team Gibbs by way of Rota, Spain, the position Jenny had offered and he had turned down all those years ago. As he drove, he ran over in his mind all the ways the meeting could possibly go down. Before he knew it, he had reached the boss's house. He pulled into the drive and cut the engine. He sat for awhile, steeling himself for what was to come. When he had gathered enough courage, he went inside.
Upon entering the living room, Tony expected to find Gibbs ready for confrontation. Instead, he found him relaxing on the sofa. A six pack, minus one bottle, was on the table. Motioning with his bottle he asked, "Want a beer?" Tony hesitated toward the table. "Sure," he said taking one. He came around the table and sat next to Gibbs. They sat silently nursing their beers. "Why didn't you tell me?" Gibbs asked without looking at him. "Thought you already knew. I figured Vance told you. If not he didn't, then Jenny." This caused Gibbs's head to snap around. He started to speak, but stopped short as a long ago memory of he and Jenny together in the observation room during an interrogation after his return from Mexico came to mind. He smiled ruefully at the thought. "She tried."
"Why didn't you take it?" Tony knew he had to answer carefully, so he waited a beat before he did. "Wasn't ready." He ducked to avoid the head slap, but it didn't come. He looked up to find Gibbs facing him. "I know you were ready. I wouldn't have quit if you weren't." Tony's quick wit fired back before he could stop it. "You didn't quit. You retired." The head slap came now. "Tony, the truth. Why didn't you take the job?" "Honestly, Boss?" Gibbs nodded. "Your leaving was hard on the team. "I came back .It would have been ok for you to go. We would have been fine." "I started to believe that too until-" He paused. "Until when, Tony?" "You called Ziva "Kate"." The eyes looking back at him iced over. "You weren't really worried about the team. It was me." It was out now. Tony stood to put some distance between them. "You wanted the truth, so, I'm giving it to you. I was worried about you. That slip with the name clued me in to the fact that your memory wasn't what it had been before the explosion. Someone needed to watch your six." "You turned down a promotion to play babysitter." Gibbs stood now closing the distance Tony had put between them. To his credit, the other man stood his ground. He smirked. "Nope. Fashion consultant. That mustache made you look like Wilford Brimly, Jr. During my time as leader, I held the team to a very high fashion standard. Couldn't have you mess that up. Luckily, it disappeared before I had to say anything." Tony waited for another head slap. Instead, Gibbs stared at him for a moment then, turned on his heel, heading to the kitchen. "Light a fire. Got a steak in the fridge. Can't eat it all by myself." Tony smiled at the retreating form. "On your six, Boss."