Authors note:- Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. Between migraines and bored 9yr olds, you know how it goes. I'll try not to make you wait so long for the next one.

He must have raised his hand to knock at least ten times before Tony realised how ridiculous he was being. The amount of times he'd just rocked up at Gibbs' place and walked right in was staggering.

Of course, that was before. Before everything had changed. A small part of him still blamed himself. After all, years of derision from the people you thought of as your friends, family even, would do that to you. But that wasn't the case here, he reminded himself. This was on them and especially the man behind this door.

Steeling himself, he raised his fist one more time and finally made contact. A minute later the door was answered. Not by Gibbs, however but by a strangely relieved looking Primo.

"Oh, thank God!" he breathed. "Jethro's down in the basement." Neatly sidestepping out the door, he passed Tony with a smile. "I'm going to head over to my office for a couple of hours. You guys have a lot to talk about."

Leaving a bemused Tony in his wake, he hurried to his car and drove off without a backward glance.

Tony shook his head. Although he was glad of the peace, part of him would've been glad of Primo's calming - on Gibbs at least - presence.

Crossing through the house, he followed the sound of the soft muttered cursing, presumably the reason for the other Italian's relief at leaving, to the basement. Stopping at the doorway and looking down at the older man he'd come to have a conversation with, he almost allowed himself to feel guilt at the obvious stress he was holding in every muscle of his body. Almost.

It didn't take long for Gibbs to notice he was there and as he looked up as Tony descended the stairs, the younger man was nearly stilled by the look in his eyes. Sure, there was the briefest flame of anger but layered above that, Tony could see his guilt, remorse and was that... hope?

The silence surrounding the two men was suffocating until Tony cleared his throat.

"Gibbs."

A simple word. That was all it took for him to know. Gibbs. Not Boss. He'd lost Tony. Sinking down onto the stairs, he nodded for Tony to join him.

"When are you leaving?"

"I start my new job in two weeks. But I've put in my unused vacation time. I'm gonna go in tomorrow, early, and clean out my desk."

"Is there anything I can do to change your mind?"

Gibbs knew he sounded close to begging but right then, he would get down on bended knee if he had to. If there was even the smallest chance.

Tony chose his next words carefully. He may be leaving NCIS, but he wasn't leaving DC and he didn't want to do or say anything that would further push the older man away. Still, he owed it to them both to be honest.

"There's nothing you or anyone else can do or say now, Gibbs. It's not one thing or even an accumulation of things that have made this decision for me. The thing is, yeah, I probably would've left sooner or later. But that's onme. The way the team, Ziva and McGee treat me, that's my own doing. I know they don't take me seriously and I can't exactly blame them for that. When McGee joined us, he flinched every time you reached for your coffee. If I hadn't acted the way I did, he'd still piss his pants if he so much as forgot to spellcheck his reports. And as for Ziva, I didn't trust her then and frankly, I trust her even less now.

She underestimates me. Even after Rivkin and Somalia. She still thinks I'm nothing more than an overgrown frat boy who lucked out on getting as far in my career as I did. If I couldn't change her opinion of me by now, I'm not gonna do it anytime soon."

"And me?" Gibbs asked, his voice low. "Guess I haven't helped any there either."

"No. You haven't." Tony was brutally honest on this point. It was the only way he could see forward.

"Truth is, I don't even know where to start with you. I suppose the easiest way to define it is that you take me for granted. Like expecting me to lead the team while you took your Mexican sabbatical or just demoted me by dumping my stuff back on my desk.

I'll admit, I have to take some of the blame for that myself. I could've and I should've said something at the time. But honestly, I was kinda relieved to have you back. But then there was how long it took you to get me back from afloat and then the Domino fiasco and just one thing after another. It hurts me to admit it, Gibbs but somewhere along the way I stopped trusting you like I should a team leader."

That last sentence was like a slap to Gibbs. Tony didn't trust him anymore? How the hell had he not seen that? How had he let it get to the point that he'd let Tony down so badly.

"God, Tony." he breathed. "I never wanted that. I never wanted you to think you couldn't trust me. You have to know... I'd do anything to keep you safe!"

"I know that. I do." Tony answered honestly. "I know without doubt that you'd never purposefully allow me to be physically hurt. I know you have my six that way. But you couldn't stop me being hurt on the inside. You couldn't stop my friends from turning their backs on me. That's on them. Not me and not you."

"I could talk to them, Tony. Make sure they understand that there's no place on my team for anyone who doesn't respect you for the agent you are. I could..."

"You could do a lot of things, Gibbs. Not one of them would change my mind. Besides, they're not the main reason I'm leaving now. It's Danny. Or more like me and Danny both."

Gibbs' brow furrowed.

"What do you mean, Tony? What about Sportelli. Danny. Why's he makin' you leave?"

The younger man shook his head in amusement.

"Danny's not *making* me do anything, Gibbs. Listen to me would you before you go leaping to conclusions. I said me *and* Danny. We're um... We're starting a family."

Gibbs' jaw dropped. This was perhaps the last thing he was expecting to hear.

"I thought you didn't want... I mean, you never said but... I just thought."

Tony smiled crookedly. "I didn't either. Until him. I love him Gibbs and this is right for us. It never was before."

"I don't get why this means you have to leave the team though." Gibbs objected. "Plenty agents have families."

"And plenty families miss out on quality time with parents, who as agents work unsociable hours. I don't want that for my kids. I don't wanna be an absentee patent like Senior was. There's no opportunities for Danny to take a desk job just now, but he will as soon as one comes up. We both wanna be there for our kids. As for me, even if I wanted to stay at NCIS, the only thing they'd have for me is in Cyber and you and I both know that's as likely as Ziva taking over HR."

Gibbs had to chuckle at that thought.

"Ok. I get it. I'm not gonna lie and say I like it. But I get it. So where are you going? I assume you're heading over to the dark side?"

Now it was Tony's turn to laugh. "Yeah. But you're not exactly getting rid of me that easy. I've accepted a liaison position. Basically I'm gonna spend my days trying to stop Toby getting in a pissing contest with the other agencies and LEOs in the area. So I'll be around from time to time."

Gibbs nodded. He could see how that position would be ideal for Tony. The amount of times he'd gotten between himself and a pissy LEO were uncountable. He could charm whoever he needed to.

"What about the others? Have you told them yet?"

Tony winced. "Abby's my next stop. Jimmy already knows. And I'll catch Ducky tomorrow. He'll be in when I go pick up my stuff. As for the other two. Frankly, I'm not gonna waste my time. I know that sounds childish and petty, but there comes a time I have to think of myself and this is it. Abby and Ducky deserve a personal visit. We've been friends since I came to DC but Ziva and McGee... We'll, I guess they'll find out when they come in. If you wanna tell them, that's up to you. If not, they can call me. I won't ignore their calls but I'm not going out of my way either."

A part of Gibbs wanted to argue but he knew Tony was right. Neither Ziva nor McGee would understand why he'd done this and he was sure they'd have some scathing remarks to make. He'd just have to take it upon himself to teach them a belated lesson on underestimating their ex-colleague.

"Can't say I'm not gonna miss having you watch my six, Tony. Not sure I'll trust anyone the way I did you."

"Well you just make sure, whoever you get to replace me, does watch out for you. I don't wanna have to explain to my kids why Uncle Jethro isn't about anymore."

Gibbs surprised himself by grinning widely at Tony's words. Looks like he hadn't fucked everything up as badly as he'd thought after all.

Standing up, he stretched his tired muscles, feeling the weight lifting. Heading over to his work bench, he picked up his bottle of bourbon and waved it at the younger man.

"Dutch courage before you see Abby?" he offered.

Tony grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "Make it a double!"