CH 4

On the 10th of December, the team was at a crime scene in Rock Creek Park. Tony rolled his eyes and shook his head at Tim when they heard the location; it was a long-standing joke between them that they wished criminals would be a little more considerate with their body dumping choices. Unfortunately the very dead Petty Officer had had no say in the matter. They were canvassing the scene for physical evidence, taking pictures, following their usual procedure when Tim's cell buzzed with a text. As he was in the middle of extracting a piece of something from a nearby tree he ignored the buzz until he had the specimen in an evidence bag and marked. He turned to head back to the van and found Gibbs, Tony and Palmer standing and staring at him while Palmer's assistant watched the others watching Tim. Jimmy snapped out of it when his assistant set the body bag out on the ground. Ellie was interviewing the runner who'd found the body and hadn't noticed anything odd about her team - or at least nothing odder than usual. The Petty Officer's car was in the parking lot so Gibbs ordered Bishop to have it towed back to the yard and to stay with it. As they'd all driven over in the van the three men piled in, buckled up and headed back to the office. On the way Tim pulled out his cell and looked. "It's Westler, wants me to call him."

"Call him now Tim!"

"Nope Tony, it can wait."

Tony and Gibbs both groaned although they knew Tim was right. Vance remarked later that day that Gibbs' team seemed in more of a hurry than usual, and that was saying some, to get this case solved. At one point the Director called Gibbs up to his office and asked if they were worried about additional attacks or murders. When Gibbs returned to the bullpen he cautioned his team to be as thorough as they always were; that the dead Petty Officer deserved their best work. That was when Ellie knew something was up: while she just rolled her eyes, her partners frowned at each other and nodded, taking Gibbs' warning to heart. They worked in shifts, each of them sleeping for at least 5 hours and by late afternoon on the 12th they had it figured out. Tony and Ellie went to bring in the suspect and Tim and Jethro went for coffee so that Tim could make his call.

When Westler answered he crabbed again about the length of time it had taken Tim to return his call but backed off when Tim told him they'd been tracking a murderer. "So your books are real life?"

"Yes."

"Wow, that's pretty exciting! Well listen kid; I have good news and bad news. The good news is they went for everything you sent in and congrats on that, you did a super job!"

Tim's heart was thumping so loudly he was sure anyone walking by would hear it. "Thanks, what's the bad news?"

"They want to get started the first of the year so we'll need you out here by January 7th."

"Wow, that soon!"

"Yeah, not a problem right?"

"No, it's not, I'll be there."

"Ok, great! Now, someone else will be contacting you about your flight and where you'll stay and all that. You should hear from her in a couple of days."

"When we get started, will I need to be there for a block of time?"

"Yeah, figure a couple of months. At least."

"Ok."

"You have any more questions, send me a text."

"I will Stash; I'm sure as soon as we disconnect I'll have a lot more."

Westler chuckled and then continued speaking, "I FedEx'd the package with the contracts to be signed yesterday so it should be there already. Need those papers signed and notarized asap, kid."

Tim swallowed as he agreed and finally disconnected. He joined Jethro as he was leaving the coffee shop with a tray of hot beverages. "So?"

"Um, yes."

"Oh my God, Timmy!"

"Yeah, I know. I want to yell and jump and down but…"

"Yeah, let's get this scumbag's confession and then we'll go out and celebrate."

"The contract is here already."

"Ok, we'll get that first and then go celebrate."

"Blue, they want me there by the 7th of January. "

"The 7th? That's less than a month!"

"Yeah."

"For how long, did Westler say?"

"He said two months at least."

"Ok, I'm going with you."

"I was thinking…"

"What?"

"You know Jimmy and Breena are saving for a house, they don't want to take the money from Breena's family or from Ducky. Would you consider renting your house to them while we're gone? "

"Hmm, it's paid off, so we won't need to cover a mortgage. So rent it for cheap, the cost of property taxes and utilities?"

"Yeah, something like that. Then they could save more money and buy a nicer house and you'd have people in the house you trust. They'd both be closer to work and I've heard it's one of the best school districts."

"Babe, that's a great idea. Let's figure out the details and see if we can talk to them over the weekend. What if this falls apart?"

"Then we'll come home, beg Vance to take us back and rent an apartment. I'll still have the money they're paying me up front and you know I have the Gemcity funds too."

They reached the bullpen and found that Tony and Ellie had just returned.

"Dirtbag is in Interrogation 1, Boss."

"Why don't you leave him there for a bit, Tony, and then you can do the honors."

"Me? But Boss…" Tony looked at their faces, "Yes?"

They nodded, grinning and he grabbed them and Ellie who still had no idea what was going on but had long ago learned to go with the flow with these guys.

"Oh man, I can't believe it!"

"Guys, I have no idea what's going on here."

Gibbs pulled back, "Meet in Abby's lab in 5 minutes. Tony, call Doc."

While Ducky was in the process of retiring they'd found that it was faster to call Palmer "Doc" and each team had eventually started using it. It was easier to remember and closer to Duck or Ducky and Jimmy much preferred it to 'autopsy gremlin'.

When Ellie showed up in the lab, Abby frowned, "Bishop, i don't have anything more for you."

"Gibbs told us to meet down here, Doc is coming too."

"Huh? Oh!"

"You know?"

"Well maybe, not sure."

But when Abby saw Tim's face as he walked into the lab, she squealed and held her arms out, "Please, I need a hug."

"Make it gentle Abby, I need to breathe, I'm not losing this because you've cracked a rib!"

Gibbs was just behind him and when he saw Abby starting to squeeze too hard, he pulled her off.

"He told you to be gentle, Abby, knock it off!" Tony and Jimmy came in together and Gibbs gently pushed Abby toward them. He nodded, "Tim has something to tell us."

Grinning, Tim told them the good news and finally they could let their excitement out. When they finally calmed down, there were some questions. "When? When are you going?"

"The first of January."

"Oh good, you'll be here for Christmas."

Abby looked at Gibbs, "Gibbs…"

"I know Abs, but it's not forever, we'll be back and forth until it's done."

"But this is the end of an era; you're giving up the team!"

He rested his hand on Tony's shoulder, "It's about time DiNozzo here takes over, he's been ready for years now."

Tim nodded, "Since Director Shepard."

Tony looked at them, reality starting to hit him. "Man this isn't going to be fun." He glared at Tim, "You'd better be taking a leave of absence."

"Up to the Director, but yeah, I hope so!"

Gibbs turned to Doc. "Jimmy, like to speak with you and Breena in the next few days. Tim has an idea we'd like to run by you."

The M.E. nodded, "Want us to come over or you come to us?"

"Be easier if we come to you."

"Ok thanks for that; let me see what Breena's got going."

Ellie was still standing there, in shock. Tim's book was going to be made into a movie and he was going to California, Gibbs was going with him. That part made sense, she knew about their relationship. The team was breaking up. She'd been here for a few years now, long enough to feel a pang that the two men would be leaving and the team would be changing. She would be fine working for Tony; she was used to taking direction from him. She looked at Tim and Gibbs, "Have you told the Director yet?"

Tim shook his head once, "No, we'll need to do that very soon."

Gibbs added, "He's at the Pentagon today; he'll be back in the morning."

Tim nodded, "I'll call Pam, make an appointment."

Abby's phone rang, one of the other teams looking for information, so the group broke up. Tony went to interrogate their suspect while the others watched from Observation.

Ellie said, "How come Tony's doing this but you're still here watching? I thought you'd be out of here tonight!"

Gibbs shook his head, "I'm still Team Lead, and how many more times will I get to watch him do this?" Tim agreed and then smiled as Tony worked his magic on the suspect. Within a few minutes he had a confession and they met him in the hall while Ellie headed back to the bullpen. "Good job!"

"Thanks Boss. You guys leaving?"

"Yeah, got to pick up the papers and everything."

Tony looked a little forlorn. "You meeting with Vance tomorrow?"

Tim nodded, "Yeah, I'm coming in early to tell him what's happening, hope he'll approve a leave of absence."

Gibbs continued, "Then I'll go in and tell him I'm retiring and recommend you for Team Lead position. And if he asks, I'm just going to tell him the truth – that I'm going to California with Tim."

He gave Tim a look and got a grin in return. "Tony, when you're done here tonight, come celebrate with us. We're going to Ribiero's for dinner, meet us there."

Tim added, "My treat for all your help and because I can't imagine celebrating this without you!"

Tony blinked, "You're right, you shouldn't be celebrating without me; that would just be wrong! Meet you there at 7?"

"Yep, reservation's under Gemcity."

"Of course!"

When they walked into the restaurant that evening, they found Tony waiting for them at the table with a bottle of champagne on ice. The three men spent the evening celebrating the new adventure and their long partnership working together.

The next morning Tim arrived aboard the Yard early for his appointment with Director Vance. He was admittedly nervous and as he'd told Gibbs, he had mixed feelings. They both did. Leaving this place, this team, such a huge part of their lives, would be very difficult. If it had to be a final cut, if he couldn't at least have the slight comfort of a leave of absence he didn't know how he'd deal with it, he didn't know how Jethro would deal with it. But the planet would continue its travels around the sun whatever decision he made; he couldn't bring himself to pass up the opportunity to see his work and the characters that represented his family on the big screen, so here he was. Squaring his shoulders, he hurried up the stairs, just wanting to get this out there to the Director.