Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS

The car pulled up outside the derelict warehouse, Metro police backup pulling up nearby. They studied the schematics of the warehouse, before making a plan.

Bullet-proof vests worn, weapons at the ready, and the door opened. Wilson and Cabot silently went one way, Ellie and Anderson went another.

Ellie and Anderson eventually reached some stairs, and started to make their way upstairs, keeping an eye and an ear out for Noah. Silently, they kept moving forward.

A door to their right burst open and a man flew through it, knocking into Ellie and pushing her onto the floor. It was Noah, Anderson recognising his blond hair. She attempted to tackle Noah, get him off Ellie, but he ran upstairs before she could. Ellie got up.

'You alright?' asked Anderson. Ellie nodded.

'Wilson, Cabot. He's headed up to the roof,' said Ellie into her mike.

'On it boss. We've found his base of operations,' said Wilson.

'Cabot, you stay there. Try to start processing it. Wilson, meet us on the roof.'

Ellie and Anderson started going upstairs. They reached the top, the door to the roof closed.

'One, two, three' mouthed Ellie, before opening the door.

At first, neither woman could see Noah. They scanned the horizon, looking for him, then..

'Boss! Over here!' Ellie joined Anderson. Noah was standing on a ledge, looking down to the ground.

'Noah' said Ellie, in a calm voice. She didn't want to spook him. 'Noah, why don't you come down from there? This doesn't have to end this way.'

'Yes, it does.'

'Why does it, Noah?'

'They don't want me.' He sniffed. It sounded like he had been crying.

'Who don't want you? Your parents?'

'They lied to me, all my life.'

'They protected you, Noah. That's what parents do.'

'If they wanted me, why aren't they here?' Noah sounded desperate.

'But they are here, Noah. Your mom and dad are right here.'

'Noah, sweetie?'

Noah turned around at the sound of Mrs Farrington's voice. He saw Ellie holding out her phone, the faces of his parents on it.

'Mom?' Noah said, in a quiet voice.

'Come home, Noah' said Mrs Farrington again, pleading with him.

'You don't need to do this, son' said Mr Farrington. 'We love you, Noah, and just want you to be safe.'

'Come home, baby. Please?' Mrs Farrington was in tears now.

Noah stepped off the ledge he was standing on and went towards Ellie and the phone. Anderson took the opportunity and grabbed Noah, pulling his arms behind him and handcuffing.

'Mom!' he cried, tears falling. 'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.'

'I know, baby' said Mrs Farrington, quietly. 'I'll see you soon, OK?'

Ellie switched the call off and Anderson started to escort Noah off the roof. Wilson and two police officers came running onto the roof.

'Nice of you to join us, Wilson' said Ellie.

'Sorry, boss.'

Tony sat in the bullpen and his old desk. It was now Anderson's desk. A picture of her father in a firefighter's uniform was on it. He had been one of the first responders in New York on 11th September 2001. Anderson's father had been one of the lucky ones, able to survive and hadn't struggled with the memories like some of his colleagues.

The elevator dinged and Tony watched Ellie, Wilson, Cabot and Anderson step off, escorting Noah Farrington.

Tony was immensely proud of who Ellie had become. From probie, to team leader. Tony remembered Ellie turning up at their door in 2017 and quickly shooing Tali away so she could to Tony and Ziva alone. He remembered how shocked they had been at the news that Gibbs and Tim had not made it back from Paraguay, and that they were officially missing. Ziva immediately went to see Delilah, and Tony remembered how scared Ellie was at the prospect of leading the MCRT. She had spent several evenings talking with Tony after she had been made the temporary team leader.

Now, here was Ellie, the first woman to officially lead the MCRT, and she had been doing it successfully for six years now.

Tony watched as Mr and Mrs Farrington hugged their son tightly. Wilson took Noah to interrogation, Anderson escorting the Farringtons to the conference room. There was no point in asking them to leave.

Cabot and Ellie wandered over to Tony, Ziva and Tim joining them.

'I don't get it' said Cabot. 'After everything he's done, they're still here.' He looked at Ellie and the others. 'What?'

The four of them shared a smile and a look, knowing fully well why the Farrington's were still here. Noah was their son. A parent's love for its child out weighs everything else.

'If you ever become a father, Cabot' said Ellie. 'You'll understand.'

Ziva stood staring at the memorial wall that was at headquarters. Gibbs' photo was on it, even though when he died he was not an agent. After retiring in 2025, Gibbs had taken up employment with Triple Secure, a private security firm that worked with non-profit organisations. In 2033, Gibbs had been in Syria, crossed paths with Ellie, who was working a joint assignment with Lopez from the FBI, when a hostage situation went out of control, and Gibbs was shot whilst protecting a mother and her child. A few hours later, Gibbs had died from his wounds.

'There you are.' Tony was walking towards Ziva. 'I've been looking for you everywhere.' He glanced at the memorial wall. When news of Gibbs' death broke, many agents, past and present, insisted that his photo be added to the wall.

'You OK?' asked Tony.

'Yes. Just remembering. The hardest thing I had to do was to tell Tali and Tilly that Gibbs had died.'

'Yeah, I know. Tim and I were the ones who told Abby.' Everyone had been distraught at the news of Gibbs' death.

Tony's phone buzzed. It was a message from Tali. She was now a junior reporter at The DC Observer, having graduated from Northwestern in June.

'Speak of the devil' said Tony, showing it to Ziva. 'Let's go and have dinner with our daughter.'

Ellie looked at the clock in the corner of her computer screen. Seven pm. It had been a long day, almost twelve hours and they still had a tonne of work to do tomorrow. Wilson, Cabot and Anderson had gone to have drinks with Anderson's fiance. Tim had gone home to see Delilah, and Tony and Ziva had gone to meet Tali for dinner.

Noah had been arrested, charged and was now in jail awaiting the very first part of his case. It was going to be a long case. Darlene Simmons had also been arrested, not before Mrs Farrington slapping her twice for what she had done to Noah.

When Ellie had heard Noah call Darlene, Darlene and not mom, it gave her an idea. She despatched two agents to fetch the Farrington's from their home. Whilst Ellie was holding the phone so Noah could see his parents, Tony, Tim and Ziva had been a headquarters with the Farringtons, guiding them in helping their son.

They now had the mammoth task of processing the warehouse they had found Noah in. Noah had said he had been living there for almost two years and where he and Darlene set up their plan to attempt to get Davis Stewart released from prison. Ellie knew that Noah was going to prison. He had killed three men, but knowing that Darlene was also going to be tried in court helped. There was also a chance that Noah wouldn't get a full life sentence, given how he had been manipulated over several years and that he confessed.

In the warehouse, they found the murder weapon; a large flint knife that looked hand crafted. They had also found a notebook filled with drawings of an oval with a dot in the middle. Noah had explained that, according to Darlene, he struggled to draw it properly, so he used a guide when carving it into the necks of the men he killed. That was how paper got into the wounds. They still had a mountain of work to do, but they had made a good start.

The elevator doors opened and a twelve-year-old-boy and his dad stepped off it.

'Mom!' cried Henry as he went over to her desk.

'Hey kid.' Ellie got up and pulled her son into a hug. She looked up and smiled at Nick Torres walking over to them.

'What's up mama?' he said, smiling. Ellie leant forward and kissed Nick, Henry pulling a face.

At twelve years old, Henry Reeves Torres was the spitting image of his father. After a drunken one-night-stand, where they completely forgot about birth control, Ellie discovered she was pregnant. At first, she and Nick didn't know what to do. There was an obvious attraction between them. Ellie probably wouldn't be pregnant if there wasn't, but neither Ellie or Nick wanted to be together simply because she was pregnant with their child.

However, when Ellie gave birth to a son, who they named after their friend Clayton Reeves, there was no denying the love between them. Ellie, Nick and baby Henry Reeves Torres became a family very quickly.

'We were thinking dinner at the diner' said Henry. 'It was Dad's idea.' Ellie's eyebrows went up.

'Dinner at the diner, eh? That does sound like a good idea.' Ellie started to close her computer down and pack her things up.

'El, I have them every now and then.' Ellie laughed, but winced slightly. Nick automatically looked worried.

'What's with the wincing?'

'It's nothing, Nick' said Ellie, trying to get her husband off the subject.

'Ellie it's not nothing.' Ellie sighed.

'I got slightly injured when a suspect knocked me to the ground. Honestly, Nick, it's not serious. I'm fine.' Ellie glanced at her son, who was now sitting on the floor reading a comic.

'OK' said Nick, raising his hands in defeat. 'But our next workout we'll be doing stretching and core stuff.'

A year after Henry was born, a new FLETC training centre opened up in Virginia, and advertised for new trainers. At first Nick dismissed the idea of leaving the field for a job with less action. However, he kept going back to the advert, reading and re-reading the job description. After talking to Tony and Tim, a lot, then discussing it with Ellie, Nick eventually took the plunge and applied for the job.

In the end, it turned out that Nick was a natural teacher, excelling at the job and impressing everyone, even Gibbs. Two years ago, Nick had also set up a small personal training side business, with a handful of clients including Jimmy Palmer, NCIS Director Briony Olsen and FBI agent Monica Lopez.

Ellie picked up her bag and strung it on her shoulders. 'Come on kid,' she said to Henry. 'Let's go and get some dinner.

That's a wrap folks. I hope you enjoyed it.

The timeline I have for is this: retired from NCIS in 2025, Tim becoming team leader. Tim took promotion to Assistant Director in 2030, and Ellie took over the MCRT. Hope that makes sense.

I have another story in the works but it is still very early days and won't be up straight away.

Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed it. I don't think this is my strongest story but I really liked writing it.

Big thanks to Acrwdof1 for the plot help.