Next Monday morning arrived bright and clear. Making his way toward the Director's office, Tony stopped when he saw Gibbs storming out. "Bad morning?" He winced at the question. He didn't need to hear the answer; all he had to do was to look at the man's face.

"He got a job offer. He took it," Gibbs grumbled.

"Who?"

"Steve." With the work load, Steve really had a bad timing. At least he could have stayed for the full year and not five months.

"Stan?"

"Whoever. Doesn't matter now. For all I know, he's probably by now half way across the Atlantic."

Tony frowned. "Why Atlantic?"

"Don't know where he is, must be Tom's doing, but it sounds about right; leaving without so much as warning me."

"Wouldn't blame him... But Gibbs, he did warn you. I was there, so don't claim you don't know." At the blank look, Tony sighed and leaned against the staircase railing. "On Friday, after he was in such a hurry to finish his every SFA duty and then some."

- FLASHBACK -

"You done yet?" Tony asked. He was standing next to the desk, which looked like it was about to drown under all the files laying on it. Gibbs' desk looked just as bad and he knew all those files had gone through this same desk first.

"Almost..." Stan muttered and squinted his aching and bloodshot eyes, to see if he had missed anything, and only then he finally closed the last file. "Done."

"If that's what it's like—nothing but mountains of paperwork—I never want to become SFA."

Stan chuckled and stood up. He added the files from his desk on Gibbs'. If a few slipped on the floor, he didn't look for it. Stretching his arms and fingers, he picked up his bag from the floor. "It's not this bad. Always. I just had to finish all my work up to a week from now."

"A week?"

"Maybe a little more than that..."

Tony smirked. "A little? What you're up to? Gonna take a vacation without telling Gibbs? You know he'll shoot and then hang you in the bullpen as a warning example."

Stan shuddered at the thought. "Well, he's all yours now."

"What?"

"Come on. I knew this was just a temporary thing. We all did—do. Thank God for that by the way... I even knew why it was temporary. I'm only leaving a little earlier than I thought I would since I got a job offer. You're looking at the new Agent Afloat."

Tony winced, imagining how Gibbs was going to take this. The man might be a bastard, but even he had to know he would be losing a great Agent. "Seriously? You hate working with him that much?"

Stan laughed. "Honestly? I would much rather work with Vivian as my boss."

"I hope you are joking."

"At least if I would pull the I'm going to the Director card on her, she would have to start behaving or get fired. But with Gibbs?"

"Fair point... So. Agent Afloat. I doubt I could handle that. Too much water and no beach with babes anywhere near, just to start with, and then living in a small space with bunch of other dudes. I wouldn't last a day before throwing myself overboard and hope for the best or worst; not sure which one."

"Don't sell yourself short. I've seen you work and I've heard people say nothing but good about you. Well, except Vivian of course, but no one takes her seriously anymore."

"People talk about me?" Tony wasn't sure what to think or feel, since usually it meant nothing good for him. It seemed like in general people liked to talk—both good and bad—behind his back, but it was the bad things that he usually ended up hearing about.

"Sure. All the way from your heroic stunt of saving that old woman from that self-made race car driver, to when you ditched your SFA and backup going after a murderer on your own." Stan gave him a meaningful look at the last part. It was one of those secrets everybody knew. How they knew it? It was hard to tell after the rumor had gone around and grown, until the case of a woman who had nearly killed Valentine had somewhere along the way turned into some epic story where Tony was starting to look more like Schwarzenegger in one of his more badass movies.

Pointing at his desk, Stan had a playful mirth in his eyes. "You're gonna enjoy taking my spot, once the time is due of course."

"Funny."

"I'm serious. So, ready to go and get that drink I promised you?" Stan asked.

Of course that was when Gibbs decided to materialize behind them. "Going somewhere?"

Somehow Stan didn't startle too much, nor did he stutter. "Boss. I finished all the work and the working day is over so—"

"We're going out. To drink." Tony grabbed Stan's arm and pulled him to the elevator before Gibbs could ruin this.

Stan remembered then to shout over his shoulder his news to Gibbs, "This was my last day working with you! Director will tell you more!"

Gibbs stared at the mountains of paperwork, now on his desk, hearing nothing but roaring in his ears at the very thought that he would have to go through them all.

"Yeah... I guess I can see where the problem is... I should have given him the chance to speak properly, before dragging him away, but I was kind of afraid what you might do to him." To be fair, Stan hadn't been exactly slow to move either, probably knowing that it would do no good to give his former boss a chance for anything.

Gibbs head slapped him with a glare. "You know what this means to us, don't you?"

"Reset the time back to the year. Look... I'm sorry that Stan left. He's a good man and good Agent to work with." And he was, Tony could finally truly admit that, once he got over his worry and Vivian's taunting of just how amazing Stan was and then the threat of their possible new Agent... And especially when Tony remembered that this was Gibbs they were talking about, and exactly how many agents besides Vivian had worked with Gibbs for more than a few months, before he finally scared them off? He also didn't exactly trust Vivian to watch Gibbs' back. While he wasn't yet willing to admit that he maybe was starting to feel something akin to affection toward the old bear, he did like Shannon and Kelly and didn't want them to have to bury their husband and father, because of a woman who had failed to watch his six. It didn't make him happy, knowing Vivian would be for a while the only partner Gibbs had.

"Hey. Watch your six out there," Tony said when Gibbs moved past him. Gibbs, seeing the honest worry, allowed a small smile despite his dark mood.

"You too, DiNozzo."

Before Tony got the chance to go to the Director, Nathan was calling for him downstairs, "Tony! We got a case, big one!"

The case turned out to be a joint case, with another team and then finally even the FBI added to the mix. That another team was team Gibbs, seeing as it was already two agents short, so their two teams had been temporarily made into one. Even so, it took way more than two or even three agents, plus the FBI, to finish and it was a messy case involving a possible terrorist cell in Washington D.C. They lost a few good men and women of their own at the bomb explosion, which their bad guy had planted inside one of the buildings where they searched him from. All in the name of some 'holy' war.

Fortunately and unfortunately it was also the case where Vivian's time finally ran out. During the intense chase after the bad guy and his ilk, she saw the one responsible for her brother's death; this time for real. While team Valentine had trustworthy partners to look after one another, Gibbs only had her to secure his back. So when she abandoned her duty and ran after 'her guy', Vivian left Gibbs vulnerable. Tony and the others saw it, but were a little too far and late to do anything about it. All they could do from there was to watch in horror.

Seeing the perfect opportunity for what it was, one of the bad guys came out of hiding and shot Gibbs from behind. Several bullets finished the man in an instant, but by then Gibbs was already falling and when Tony ran to him with an ashen face, Gibbs was lying on the ground bleeding, with a head wound and not making a sound or a movement, which could only mean two things; either he was already dead or would be any moment.

"I quit!"

Tom was startled speechless. Tony was looking so fuming mad it was a miracle he didn't break something. Or someone. "Agent— Tony..." Since he was the Director, Tom had of course already heard what had happened and he wasn't about to let it just be. It shouldn't have happened and he had to make it clear to everyone. Right now he had DiNozzo to deal with though. He couldn't afford to lose him, much less lose another agent.

"I no longer want to do this. It sounded good at the time, it honestly did, but now I know what a bad idea it was. Gibbs has been all the time half of his mind elsewhere and then he can't even trust his own partner to keep him safe when it matters the most, where things should have never gone so wrong, so easily." Tony took a shaky breath, trying to calm himself down. "Put me in his team like it was meant to be or I'll accept one of those job offers. I'm sure that losing another agent so soon won't look good."

Tom smiled weakly. "You aren't leaving me much to choose from, are you? But you are right, this doesn't work as well as it should have."

"Don't worry, I'll tell everyone that I asked for this." Before leaving, Tony turned around at the door and spoke again, "Team Gibbs will be another Agent short. Vivian quit."

When he was gone, Tom sighed wearily at the closed door. "There's two of them now..."

By the time he finally made it to Bethesda, Tony was sweaty and tired—after running most of the way, having given up driving his car all the way thanks to the crowded streets, which was what happened when a certain part of the city was closed for anyone but those working on what was left behind by the terrorists—but he hardly noticed. Instead, his eyes saw the redhead getting out of her car. He couldn't help but wonder how she managed to drive there, when he couldn't.

Before she even made it away from her car, he pushed her back inside and followed, locking the car doors. "What are you doing here, Vivian?"

Vivian licked her dry lips. "I heard Gibbs got hurt and—"

"You heard!?" Tony exploded. "He is lying there in the hospital as we speak and we don't know whether he will live or die! His family is there and they don't even know just how bad it was! I had to change my clothes before coming here, because they were entirely covered in his blood! I was watching him die and that's on you!"

"I'm—"

"He might already be dead by now, because his own partner decided that avenging her dead brother was far more important than watching the back of someone still alive!"

"I swear, if I had known—"

"He may be a bastard, with a big B, but he sure watches your six when it counts the most!"

"I came back."

"When, Vivian? When did you come back?" Tony wasn't yelling anymore, but somehow it was much more terrifying. This was pure unadulterated fury, which she felt deep in her bones.

"After. After I got him. The guy who is the reason my brother is dead," she answered with a small voice.

Tony didn't look impressed, nor did his fury look any closer to calming down. "Tell me something... What makes your need for a vengeance more important than everyone else's? What made it so important, that you couldn't even wait for someone else to cover his back?"

The silence took over the car. Finally Vivian spoke with that small voice again, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't good enough and it's not me you need to say sorry to. It's Gibbs, his wife and his daughter. I don't give a rat's ass how you feel now. You made your bed, now lie in it and don't you dare complain about it." Opening the door, Tony stepped out. Leaning over the car, he looked inside at the distraught woman and spoke icily, "Go back to the Navy Yard, pack your things and go to the Director. You will quit and if I ever even see you again, I swear you will regret the day you were born."

She frowned and opened her mouth to speak back against the clear order, but Tony knew what she would say before she even let her defiance show on her face. He spoke with a voice and look in his eyes that put fear in her, only second to the fear of God, "I don't easily choose to make people my enemies. You don't want me as your enemy and now that you successfully did it... I swear, I will come after you like a raving wolf and tear you apart, limb from limb. You're lucky I haven't received a phone call from Shannon yet, telling me they need a shoulder to cry on, because he's dead. If I were you I'd disappear, in case it happens. Because if it happens and I find you..." His next and last words to her were damning and painful to hear. "Would your brother be proud of you now, Vivian? Would Rex give you a good pat on the shoulder and tell you what a fine job you did? What does something like this do to his memory? I hope it was worth it."

She would love to think that he was only saying those things to scare her, but without a doubt in her heart, she knew he had been dead serious or a really good actor. With a trembling hand, she started her car and drove away, without looking back even once.

Storming through the hospital hallways a moment later, Tony finally found Shannon and Kelly. Shannon was crying silently, hunched on the chair and Kelly was leaning against a young man, seeking comfort from him. Before Tony could see whether she was also crying, he noticed another man standing there. Not Ducky, because the man was elbows deep in all the bodies from this case. Abby was in a similar situation, going through mountains of evidence sent to her lab.

Standing close to the women and drinking his hospital quality coffee was... Mike Franks.