Note: Wow, with a few exceptions you are liking this! I'm so happy to see that you haven't jumped ship since so far this appears to be so different from my other stories! As always, I write for myself and I'm always surprised and pleased when other people find something to like in my scribbles no matter how far out of canon I roam!

For the guest who was so unhappy: a) Don't like, don't read (please!) and b) to quote a fellow writer, "Clearly we don't watch the same show".

Chapter Two

Virginia, Washington D.C. and NCIS Headquarters:

Back in Virginia, Gibbs woke as usual before the alarm sounded that Monday morning. He'd spent the previous Friday and the weekend, in fact most of the hours between Tim McGee's visit and now, reviewing files, notes, meeting with Ducky and trying to figure out what had gone wrong and why. He was heartsick as he started to realize the truth of what Tim had said.

After a sleepless Thursday night, one of his first actions that Friday was to decide to bite the bullet and meet with the Director to see what he could find out. He'd gone into the office early only to find that neither the Director nor his Assistant was expected until 0900. Settling in at his desk, his eyes were immediately drawn to the empty desk across from him. It wasn't so much that the desk itself was empty. The computer equipment was there, the chair was there, even most of the stuff on the back of the cubicle walls was there. But it was empty. Tim had never kept anything personal on the top of his desk as DiNozzo would have taken it within minutes; Gibbs noted that thought as one clue to things gone wrong, but it was clear that he was gone. His workstation was as empty of him as Ziva's workspace, originally Kate's, was empty of both women. Hating the emptiness of the bullpen and the almost eerie silence of the squad room, Gibbs picked up his coffee cup and headed down to Autopsy to visit Ducky. He stepped off the elevator only to find a note on the locked double doors, that he and Jimmy would not be in until 0900. Gibbs didn't believe in coincidences; he felt there was no way that four people being away from the office and returning at the same time was not related. Was it something to do with Tim's departure from his team? Was he starting his new job, whatever it was, already? He knew he'd been reporting to Vance this week, was that what this was? Was it some sort of new position, not just for Tim, but for NCIS? Gibbs' anger started to build again. His initial response to McGee's short statement Thursday night had been anger for speaking to him as he had. Then he'd realized that it didn't matter, McGee could speak to him however he pleased, he was no longer his boss. That gave him a sour stomach and he'd spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what to do, how to fix it.

By dawn on Friday he'd gone over Tim's statement a thousand times in his head and was beginning to be reconciled to the loss of the man from his team. Ten years and he'd walked, that rankled. What had been the final straw? What had caused his faithful computer tech to take such a drastic step? With a start, Gibbs realized he didn't know the man very well. Sure he knew how he worked, and how much he protected his privacy, but hell, everyone who was around DiNozzo for any amount of time had to do that. He'd never read anything more in his personnel file than the page with his education. Mike Franks had trained him to ignore the facts and information in those files and get to know his staff through experience. Except he hadn't gotten to know the man, had never taken the time. He knew he was a Navy brat, McGee had spoken of that and knew he had a younger sister, they had met her during a case. More than that, Gibbs had no idea. He was happy with the work he got out of him and that was enough for him. He cringed at that thought, it sounded like he was talking about one of his wood working tools. It did what it was supposed to do, nothing more need be said.

He sighed looking at his watch. Abby would be in by now and he'd need to tell her. Unless there was also a note on the lab door that she wouldn't be in until 0900. Having had that thought, he suddenly knew that would not be so, whatever was causing the late arrival of the Director, Ms. Cooke, Ducky and Palmer would not involve Abby. McGee and Abby had not been friends or even friendly for quite some time. He'd never consciously thought about it until today, but now he knew it was true. He wondered what her reaction would be.

As he finally escaped the lab and her emotional rant several long minutes later, he wished that he'd delegated the task to DiNozzo or just let her own supervisor, Vance, tell her. Although he'd heard rumors of Abby's anger, he'd never witnessed a full blown episode and that was an eye opener. He guessed he shouldn't have been surprised at the angry and derogatory language spewing from her but he was dismayed and made a mental note to stay away from her. He had his own demons to deal with and just this once didn't want to take on the burden of hers as well.

When he returned to the bullpen, he noted that the squad room was still very quiet. DiNozzo was in and he looked up when Gibbs came from the back elevator. "Oh hey Boss, glad to see you. Where is everyone this morning? Did everyone but us get the day off or something? I've walked around and it seems like there's one person per team here and skeleton staffs in Legal, HR and even MTAC. It's weird."

"Don't know, DiNozzo. Abby's in the lab."

"Ok."

"Got something to tell you. Thought I'd get a conference room but since no one is here, we have all the privacy we need."

"Uh, Boss…?"

Gibbs sighed, "McGee came over last night Tony, to let me know… several things, but bottom line is that he's left the team."

"He…what?"

"He's gone, DiNozzo, moved on."

"He left the agency?"

"Don't know, I don't think so though."

"So he's left the top team in the agency, what a wuss!" Gibbs didn't even have to think about that, he whacked the back of DiNozzo's head hard enough for the younger man to jerk forward. "OW, Boss, come on, he walked and you're taking it out on me? This means we're off rotation until you hire another agent, he knew that would happen. "

"Ten years as his co-worker, his partner and that's what you have to say? You and I are at least part of why he left and now I'm beginning to understand."

"He was never my partner, Ziva was my partner. McGeek was rarely in the field, how could he be my partner?"

Gibbs took that in but couldn't yet digest it. He stood in thought, glaring at DiNozzo.

"You heard me. I'm going to find out what and why, DiNozzo and I don't think it's going to be a fun time for either of us."

"Well then you need to start with Abby, Boss, she's been mean to him for years."

"Yeah, I got a taste of that this morning when I told her. Why didn't you tell me, why didn't he tell me?"

DiNozzo stared at him, dumbfounded, was the Boss really that dense? He shook his head, "You'll have to get that from someone else, my ears are still ringing from that last whack to my head."

"DiNozzo!"

His Senior Field Agent, his only field agent – his only agent – shook his head, wincing.

"DiNozzo, I won't hit you, give you my word." DiNozzo stared at him for another minute before backing away from him. "No one ever told you about Abby because she's your favorite, she can do no wrong. It would have been suicidal for anyone to tell you, including Ducky. Not only suicidal, but you would not have believed anyone saying your princess was less than perfect."

Gibbs clenched his fists and then stalked by DiNozzo, who by this time had backed all the way to the window. When the elevator doors opened, Gibbs walked in and left without another word. DiNozzo sighed in relief and then sat down, realizing he was the only one left. The team was broken, although Ziva's departure had really done that. He started thinking about McGeek. He'd thought they were friends, sure he teased and pranked him, but it was all in good fun, even when the Probie still pretended to hate it and told him that he was crossing the line right in front of Gibbs, who never told him to stop, never did more than slap him, like that did anything. He picked up his phone and dialed McGoo's cell, only to hear a generic message, certainly not the one that was normally on his phone. He called his desk phone and listened to the same generic message. He opened his e-mail and sent a message, only to have it returned in a few minutes as undeliverable. His next thought was to see what Ducky or even better, Jimmy, might know. He wandered downstairs to Autopsy stopping when he found the sign on the door. Making a face, he then took himself to the lab, only to view Abby in full tantrum, the volume of her music at an all time high. He never stepped inside the door; an Abby tantrum was more than he ever wanted to deal with; he didn't know how McWuss had put up with them all these years and the music hurt his ears so much he retreated to the elevator and went back to the bullpen. After sitting for another couple of minutes, he got bored again and took another stroll around the building. The situation was the same, each field team had one member there; each department had one or two people there. He finally went back to Carter's bullpen and asked the guy who was there where the rest of his team was. The man had transferred in several months ago and was eternally grateful he hadn't landed on Gibbs' team. In fact, he'd heard at one time probies and juniors were threatened with transfers to Gibbs' team if they misbehaved. Vance had put a stop to that. When DiNozzo approached him asking where his team was, he replied as he'd been told to do: they were out of the office and would be in by 0900. Then he returned to the report writing he'd been doing before the old guy had interrupted him.

DiNozzo wondered what was so special about 0900 and then realized that had been the time on the note on the door to Autopsy. He went back to his desk and slumped in his chair, thinking. Gibbs came back in with coffee for both of them.

As Gibbs approached his desk after giving his only team member his coffee, he noticed a white piece of paper under his phone; that had not been there the night before. The note was from Vance and told him to read the file he'd placed in the bottom drawer of his desk. Remembering that the Director had a key to that drawer as it contained sensitive materials Gibbs unlocked it and saw that it was McGee's personnel file. A note from Vance told him that he should read it cover to cover before they spoke. Wanting privacy away from the nosiest man on the planet Gibbs told DiNozzo he would be in conference room A and did not want to be disturbed by anyone, including him. He stacked several cold case files on the man's desk as he walked away. DiNozzo was left alone again and he started thinking about the possibilities. Would the dissolution of the team continue? Would he be reassigned? Maybe he'd be offered his own team again, this time he thought he'd better take it. He really was getting tired of those head slaps; he thought Gibbs would have gotten past them by now. Would Gibbs retire? He mulled over the possibilities as he stared sightlessly at the cold case file open in front of him.

XXX

A Restaurant in DC:

As friends and colleagues bade Tim McGee an affectionate goodbye that Friday morning, their boss looked discreetly at his watch. The Director wasn't concerned about the time, when the surprise farewell breakfast party was proposed to him by Drs. Mallard and Palmer he had cleared it with the SecNav. He was figuring that by now Gibbs had found the office empty, had probably told both Ms. Sciuto and Agent DiNozzo the news and would have discovered his note and the file he'd left with an order for him to read it before he spoke a word to him. He knew how he'd felt when he'd first read McGee's file. No one could read that and not be affected. How had his agent, at the tender age of 9, not only survived the deaths of his parent and younger brother and then abandonment by his guardian, raised two toddlers to adulthood and done so well in his education and theirs while living on the streets for nearly a decade? Observing Gibbs' attitude toward McGee and the resulting disrespect from DiNozzo, Sciuto and David, it was clear to Vance that the Team Leader didn't know a damn thing about his junior agent. He obviously had never read the man's file, a circumstance Vance couldn't fathom. Thinking of Tim's life gave the director some ideas for handling things with Gibbs and the bully still left on his team.

Leon admitted he would miss having McGee in the office; he'd often called on him for help on a project. However, overall he felt relief that one of the best agents he'd ever met had cut the ties that bound him – hell, they were more like chains – and could now move ahead in his career. Vance felt sick to his stomach whenever he thought about how he himself had bungled things; he should have never have put the man back on Gibbs' team after the mole hunt. Yes, McGee had been unhappy with being torn from his team and relegated to Cybercrimes and had been even unhappier about the seeming demotion for no reason from the top team on the Eastern Seaboard to a geek in the basement. However, he'd channeled his anger into doing exactly what the new Director demanded of him and giving him the results Vance needed. Surely as Director he could have found a better spot for him on another team, even in another office as he was doing now, all these years later. The fact remained that with his Team Leader constantly leaving him behind in the office his agent had had minimal experience in the field and had had to fill in the blanks himself, by working on his own time with friends in law enforcement to develop the skills needed. However, he was still lacking experience and that's what he would be gaining during his first few weeks at his new post.

He glanced up now as Pamela caught his eye and he realized it was his turn to speak. Smiling, he nodded at her and rose from his chair, reaching down to the table and tapping his glass with his spoon. Others joined him and soon there was quiet as he began his own farewell to the former member of Gibbs' soon to be defunct team. His intention was to re-assign DiNozzo and Gibbs would have a choice of taking on a new team, selected by the Director, or give up his position as Team Leader. No matter how stellar their results, Vance knew they'd all escaped a potential catastrophe with the way the man ran his team.