This is where the story takes a little bit of a departure. I just started writing this chapter and this popped out. I have no idea where I am going with this but I hope it's a good ride. Thank you for the reviews thus far and I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you. It's a quarter past eleven here and I am just starting on the third chapter now. A start and two chapters in one night? Maybe I can do it.

A/N: Don't own any NCIS characters or anything pertaining to the show. (Although I am looking forward to buying the season 5 DVD)

The two days passed quickly for Tony. The case was a simple open and shut. The first day they had taken evidence back to Abby, Ducky the body. When the results came back with some DNA this morning the team quickly fetched a young petty officer that had broken in interrogation and confessed to the crime.

All that was left was the dreaded paperwork. They had all started around noon and McGee and Ziva had finished around four. Gibbs was apparently lenient and let them leave early. Tony on the other hand had to finish his report for this case, that plus the last case he worked as team lead. He worked late into the night all too aware of the deadline that was fast approaching.

By the time he finished his reports he had an hour to kill before it was time to give his final answer to Director Shepard. He took his time and leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk. He laced his fingers behind his head and let his mind drift over the events of the last three days.

Since Gibbs had taken over the team again things were vastly different for Tony.

The walls surrounding Ziva that Tony had slowly and painstakingly taken down over the last four months shot right back up. For two days he could do nothing to penetrate their iron skin. He knew that Ziva and Gibbs had a deep connection due to the Ari Haswari situation but why put her wall up against him? Did she think she was betraying Gibbs by opening up to another? He had broken down her resistance and they spent every Wednesday together for the past few months, whether it be a movie night, piano lessons, or just a quiet dinner and talking. Nothing had taken precedence over these nights. Rough cases or not, Wednesday's they would share. But not last night. He waited for her to come over but she never did. When he asked her about it she simply stated she forgot. That had hurt him to no end.

McGee seemed to have lost his funness. Since the loss of Lee he was now the probie again and he seemed to take it out on Tony. Tony and him had always had a sarcastic relationship but that had improved and become more akin to friends than colleagues. Tony had helped McGee "break in" Lee with some practical jokes. He gave McGee good conversation pieces to get her goat. He had even taken McGee to the gym and shooting range to increase his marksmanship and self-defense. All that seemed to strip away and all that remained was serious probie who was annoyed by Tony.

Abby was probably the worse of them all. Since Gibbs had returned she had only spoken to him three times when they were dropping off evidence. That was unusual for her. She usually called him three or four times a day just to talk. She was devastated when Gibbs left and Tony had picked up the pieces. She would cry for hours and hours at home and Tony would just hold her. When she was moping around he would take her out on the town for dancing and dinner or just take her to his house so she wasn't alone. He even sacrificed his body in a mosh pit just to make her smile. It had taken a while but her pain and anguish at being abandoned had subsided and the happy goth came back into their lives again. Now seeing her so happy with Gibbs back and her not talking to him like they used to was a new hurt. Was he really that easy to cast aside?

He had done well masking his pain from the others. He didn't want to hear them tell him he was just being jealous of his hero. He took longer to think on that thought. His hero.

Gibbs definitely used to be his hero. He could do no wrong in Tony's eyes. What changed that fact?

Immediately Tony knew what changed that fact. He had left. Abandoned them with no reason as to why. He left Tony to pick up whatever pieces he left behind in his wake and Tony did it willingly because the team needed him to.

In that moment Tony knew that his hero was gone forever. Forced from his mind. In truth Gibbs had forced him to grow up in a rather unconventional way. Through Tony's new eyes he saw that he didn't need a hero anymore. He saw Gibbs as he was, not some aggrandized version of himself. He saw a man who was fallible and filled with hypocrisy and judgment.

He knew there was an easy way out of this situation. Take the job in Spain. But Tony had done that his whole life. Run away from a problem whether it be a girl or some other situation. He had to face this one head on but he knew he couldn't work for Gibbs anymore. Gibbs had asked too much from him by his leaving and when Tony delivered ten fold he came back and pulled it all away again. All the work and strides his team had made together for months simply wiped clean away like an etch-a-sketch.

Tony thought he would all be missing by leaving though. Seeing Ziva everyday. Watching McGee get a date and prying details from him about it later. Abby's hugs. Ducky's conversations.

He couldn't leave them all. He just couldn't. That is precisely what Gibbs did. He left them all and broke them.

He couldn't work for Gibbs though either. The past two days Gibbs had treated him like he had before he left. Stares that were designed to get another to do what they were told. Head-slaps. The barking of orders and secret gut feelings. The first head-slap Tony had received he put it up to just getting the feel back of being second in command. By the fourth he was ready to punch the silver haired man. He had expressed these feelings to McGee that he thought they were unprovoked but McGee just said he was overreacting.

No he definitely couldn't work for the man who still thought of him, as someone who still needed reminders that wasn't as good as he should be.

He made up his mind.

A knocking on her door roused the director from the papers she was reading. "Come in Tony." She said loudly enough to be heard on the other side of the door. The door slowly opened and Tony stepped into the office sheepishly. "How did you know it was me?" He asked. She smiled at this and said, "Because it's passed your deadline and Gibbs doesn't knock." He nodded as he leaned against a shelf by the door.

She gave him a good once over and noticed the apprehension in his steps and body language. "You made your decision?" She asked him in an even tone of voice. He nodded at her and replied, "I want a transfer, but not to Rota." She frowned at his answer. She figured he would either take the job in Rota or stay on Gibbs's team. She didn't expect this. "Can I ask why?" She asked.

Tony sighed heavily and moved to sit in one of the chairs in front of her desk. He plopped down on it feeling the weariness of his mind's constant struggle to find and answer to his current dilemma. In an angry voice he said, "I can't be away from them Jen. They are too important to me. And I won't abandon them like Gibbs did either. But I can't and won't work for him anymore. He doesn't respect me or what the team had to go through when he left."

She had seen firsthand the toll that Gibbs' leaving had inflicted upon the team. She also knew about Tony's efforts to keep the team going. He was the reason they had carried on. He had been the foundation on which they all sat and they hadn't even seen it. She had seen them all shrink away from Tony for Gibbs over the last two days. She remembered seeing how excited Abby was when Tony was coming back from his conference in Germany and couldn't believe her attitude towards him now. And Tony still wanted to be there for them even though they were treating him this way. Maybe he thinks things will settle down after a few weeks and they can get back to normal. But she completely understood him getting away from Gibbs.

"I don't have any team leader positions open here in DC Tony." She said apologetically. He nodded and asked, "What about single agent positions?" She frowned at his question. Single agent positions meant cold cases. "Tony you are too good for cold cases." She said. He gave her a little smile and said, "If I am so good maybe some cold cases won't be cold much longer." She chuckled at him using her words against her.

She turned to her computer screen and typed in a few words. A few moments later a new screen popped up which she perused before taking off her glasses and looking back at Tony. She said, "I got one single agent position available." He smiled at her and nodded saying, "I'll take it." She looked deep in thought for a moment and said, "No. No you wont." He frowned at her and furrowed his eyebrows and asked, "Why not?"

She turned to a drawer behind her and pressed a few buttons on the digital lock. She opened the drawer and pulled out three files. She closed the drawer and spun around to face front again. She placed the files on top of the desk and reached into another drawer on her right hand side. She shuffled through the papers for a few moments and apparently found what she was looking for. She placed the paper on her desk and closed the drawer. She took up her pen and began writing on it.

He looked at her with a curious expression and said, "Jen? What you doing?" She did not respond only filled out the paper she had fetched from the drawer. When she was finished she set the pen down and placed the paper on top of the files. She looked back up at Tony with an amused look upon her face.

"Why can't I have the position Jen?" He asked again. She smiled broadly at him she said, "Because I just gave you a new one. Team lead. Cold case files. Until a different lead position becomes available." Tony just sat there stunned. She continued, "I can't let you have a full team but here are three files of probational agents. You can have one." He continued to look at her in shock. He finally managed, "You just made up a new position? For me?" She smiled at him again and said, "Tony, you're a good leader even if you don't believe it. An agent working under you will not only help them but also help you. Like I said this is only until a lead position becomes available here in DC. Think you can handle it?"

He smiled his most dazzling smile at her and said, "Thank you Jen. Really, thank you." She nodded at him as he picked up the files. He turned to leave and as he was reaching for the door she said, "Tony, I need a name by tomorrow. It's Friday and I want my new cold case team ready by Tuesday. Don't worry bout Gibbs tomorrow, as of this minute you're off his team. Move your stuff on Monday. Congratulations Supervisory Agent DiNozzo." Tony smiled and nodded at her again before leaving.

Now all Jenny had to do was talk to Gibbs.