Chapter 2
It had been a week since the funeral, and life appeared normal on the surface, but below it was anything but. Gibbs sat at his desk, his hands steepled before him, his eyes scanning the email before him, yet another condolence email form yet another department they had worked with at some time or other. He hit the delete key with enough force to cause it to stick, causing the computer to emit a shrill whistle sound after a few moments
"McGee" he yelled "Fix it" he said as he pushed his chair away from his desk and stormed out of the bullpen and up to the central staircase.
"Uh, ok boss" McGee called as he hurried over to Gibbs's desk sighing, it was the second keyboard he had broken, and he was on his third mobile, and second desk phone in the week since Kate's funeral.
Tony watched silently from his own desk, which to McGee's mind was worse than Gibbs's temper. Gibbs reaction whilst extreme was at least in keeping with his normal pattern, but Tony was acting totally out of character. He never joked anymore, rarely smiled and just sat watching everything silently.
"You ok Tony?" McGee called out, wishing he would come back with some nasty comment, call him Probie in that sneering way of his, but he didn't do any of those things, he just nodded and turned his attention back to the file he was reading, his eyes far away, not focusing on the words before him.
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Gibbs found the director in MTAC, and silently sat down beside him, waiting as the Director held up one finger to indicate silence for the moment. Gibbs sat impatiently until Morrow turned and looked at him
"You look like hell Gibbs" he said softly, his voice rich and smooth but an underlying hardness to it.
"Sir, I want to request immediate leave" he said quietly, his eyes on the large screen before him and the director, rather than on the man himself
The Director sat quietly for a moment assesing and watching his best agent, his hardest agent.
"Request denied at this time" he said quietly and with regret, normally he would have encouraged an agent to take time off after the murder of a colleague in front of them, but he knew why Gibbs wanted the time off and it had nothing to do with the fact that he wanted a rest. He wanted to find Ari.
"Sir…" Gibbs started, only to be cut off by Morrow
"If I thought you wanted it for the right reasons I would give it too you, but I cannot let you go after Ari, I can't let you go off like some loose cannon, your dismissed Gibbs" Morrow said coldly, turning back to the screen.
Gibbs stood, surprising Morrow, he had expected more of an argument from him, he had pulled Gibbs and his team off the case as soon as he heard of Kate's death, the FBI were dealing with it, Farnell was dealing with it.
Gibbs reached into his pocket and handed Morrow a slim white envelope
"My resignation, effective immediately" he said spinning on his heel and heading for the door
"Jethro" Morrow called out, waiting till Gibbs turned to face him
"Unacceptable" he said, ripping the envelope in half, Gibbs stared at him for a moment, his eyes harder than Morrow had ever seen them, but he said nothing just opened the door and strode out, heading for the bullpen.
Morrow watched Gibbs go and sighed before crossing over to his assistant who sat discreetly at a desk in the corner
"Get me Farnell" he said shortly.
When Gibbs reached his desk, McGee was once again sitting at his own desk, the computer no longer screaming in pain, Tony sat silent as ever, his eyes not even looking up as Gibbs walked past.
Gibbs flicked his eyes to Kate's empty desk momentarily before he turned his attention to his own, his eyes scanning it impassively before he reached into his pocket, taking out his badge and phone then reaching over and tossing them into the drawer that housed his gun; with that he stood slowly, his eyes scanning the room that had been his home for nearly 19 years and he grabbed his coat and walked away.
"Where you going boss" Tony asked softly having seen what Gibbs had done, he watched as Gibbs' stride faltered for a mere split second before he continued
"Home" Gibbs said quietly not looking back at the two agents staring after him.
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Tony watched Gibbs walk away, his mind trying to block out the pain that his departure was creating but failing. As Gibbs disappeared from view Tony's eyes turned to the empty desk before his own, his heart catching as it always did at the sight of it, devoid of the things that had made it Kate's desk.
He could picture her sitting there, looking at him with concern, her eyes wide and worried at Gibbs's actions. He knew she would have made some comment, would demand that they go after Gibbs, stop him, and make him see sense. She had cared for them all, but Tony couldn't find the energy to care at the moment and so he slowly turned his eyes back to the report he had been staring at all morning, not having read a single word of it. Trying to ignore the voice in his head that sounded so much like Kate's telling him to go and help Gibbs.
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McGee watched the by play between Gibbs and Tony, he had noticed Gibbs throw something in his desk but he had no idea what it was, when Tony had asked where Gibbs was going he had been shocked to hear Gibbs say home.
He stood silently and crossed to Gibbs's desk, his eyes scanning the room checking Gibbs was no where around as he slowly pulled open the drawer, his heart pounding, expecting Gibbs to come back at any moment and shoot him for looking in his desk. He swallowed nervously then looked down at the contents of the drawer, his eyes shooting upwards to where Gibbs had vanished from view.
"Uh Tony…" McGee said quietly, his voice shaky
"Yeah I know" Tony said, finally looking over at McGee standing white faced at Gibbs's desk "He quit" was all Tony said before turning his gaze back down.
McGee stood there with a frown on his face, not sure what to do but knowing in his heart that he had to do something. Slowly his features resolved into a determined mask and he crossed the room to the elevator, hitting the down button.