Abby was sitting in her office thinking. She knew they were here by now and it was only a matter of time before she had to see them. Gibbs, she knew, would come down eventually to see her. He would try to act like nothing had happened and tell her he missed her. It would be a lie. If Gibbs missed her, he would've called her or come to see her. She hadn't seen or spoken to him since he quit and tried to give his job to Tony.

Tony was no better in Abby's eyes. He knew they were all suffering. They all missed Gibbs so much and were having a hard time dealing after he left. They needed to stick together and help each other mover on. But Tony left, and again, he never called or visited. He proved he was just like Gibbs. That used to be something she would've been proud of, but now it was just a disappointment.

Abby soon heard her music being shut off in the lab. She immediately started to prepare herself in case it was Gibbs. She was determined to show Gibbs that things had changed. He couldn't just come back and expect her to run to him. She was not going to forgive him.

Gibbs soon appeared in the doorway with a Caf-Pow. "Hey, Abbs."

"Hello, Gibbs," Abby said before looking at her desk, pretending there was something there that needed her attention. The best way for her to make Gibbs see that she was no longer the devoted young girl that needed his attention was to treat him like he was unimportant.

Gibbs frowned. He expected a much more welcome reaction from Abby. He was prepared to find her in his arms within seconds. Instead, all he got was a rather cold hello, like he'd gotten from Ziva. Ziva, he understood. He assumed it was loyalty to McGee. She'd been working with for him for three years and most likely felt he deserved to keep the lead on this case. Abby, he didn't understand. What was up with her. "I brought you a Caf-Pow, Abs."

Abby pointed to the Caf-Pow on her desk. "I already have one.

"Well, one for later then," Gibbs said as he walked forward. He put the drink on the desk next to her other one. "You okay, Abby."

"I'm fine," Abby said. she wasn't. She was really angry. Gibbs seemed confused that he was upset. Was he that stupid? Gibbs used to know things before anyone had the chance to voice them. She would joke that he had ESP. Yet he was so dense that he couldn't understand that she was angry at him for walking out of her life. It made her want to scream, but she wouldn't. Screaming meant admitting that she was hurt. She was hurt and she hated that she was hurt, but she didn't want him to know that. "I have to get back to work. Thanks for the Caf-Pow."

Gibbs couldn't help but feel a pain go through his body at Abby's cold and impersonal voice. What was it with his people? Well, his former people. It was like he was nothing to them. The years he taught them and helped them were meaningless. "Alright, I'll leave you alone."

Abby waited until she was sure he was gone before breaking down. Gibbs walking back into her life brought back all the pain of him walking out and now it was like she was back in that moment.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Gibbs went to see Ducky next. He wondered if this visit would be any better than the others. Would he get the same coldness he got from McGee, Ziva, and Abby?

Gibbs walked into Autopsy and found Ducky and Palmer cleaning the room. It seemed they weren't busy and were doing a some maintenance.

Ducky looked up when he heard someone come in. Upon seeing Gibbs, he turned to his assistant. "Mr. Palmer, perhaps you should take an early lunch today."

"Sure, Doctor," Palmer said said before taking off his rubber gloves and heading for the door. He gave Gibbs a quick glare as he did.

"Jethro. I see you made it," Ducky said neutrally as he began scrubbing the tables.

"Yeah, well, my case was reopened. Couldn't have thought I'd stay away," Gibbs said.

"No, I knew you'd be on the next plane. It's best. Hopefully you and Anthony can help Timothy and his team close this," Ducky said.

"He's different," Gibbs said, not specifying who he was talking about, but knowing Ducky would already know.

"Yes, very much so. I imagine he didn't respond well when you tried to take control of the investigation," Ducky said. No one had told him anything that went down between the two men, but he knew Gibbs. He knew he would try to take over the case and he knew Timothy wouldn't roll over for him.

Gibbs shook his head in disbelief. "I don't know what's wrong with them. Abby and Ziva would barely speak to me and pretty much dismissed me. They act like I'm an outsider getting in their way."

"By dismissed you, you mean that he wouldn't hand over what earned many years ago, yes?" Ducky asked.

"All I wanted was this one case, Ducky. It's my case," Gibbs said.

"It was your case eleven years ago, but you left. It is no longer your case. This may have escaped your attention, but you can't legally run murder cases for NCIS anymore," Ducky said.

Gibbs shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time I bent the rules. Look, McGee's only been in charge for three years. This was a hard case for me, let alone him. I want this closed for good."

"Timothy is good at what he does, Jethro. Do not underestimate his abilities," Ducky said.

"I'm not, but McGee knows I can do this better than he can. Been doing it much longer," Gibbs said.

"You expected him to hand over his team as well as his case to you. Timothy is as protective of his people as you were with yours. You would never have handed your team over without a big fight," Ducky said.

"Not the same. I'm not some outsider from the FBI or CIA. I trained McGee. He knows me. He should trust me. Instead he and everyone else are treating me like the enemy," Gibbs said.

Ducky sighed. "What were you expecting when you walked through the front door? Did you think things would be the way you left them? Did you really think that from Mexico, you could control how your former team lived their lives. You left, Jethro. Anthony barely lasted a month before he left too. That was two life altering actions in thirty days. You really believed everything would be the same?"

"Thought they'd move on under Tony's tutelage. Yeah, I get it was a life change, but they'd learn to deal with it. They were all adults. They know how to adjust to change," Gibbs said.

Ducky shook his head in disbelief. "Change? Is that all it was to you? Jethro, those young people cared about you. You broke them when you left! Abigail cried over you constantly. Ziva didn't show it, but she was hurt badly, as was Timothy. Your departures put the biggest burden on him. He was dealing with pain and anger while trying to help his teammates and being groomed to take over for you."

"What was I supposed to do, Ducky. I had the right to leave! People retire all the time. Not seeing the unforgivable sin," Gibbs said. He got people being hurt, but he didn't understand them judging him. He didn't understand the coldness they addressed him with because he made the decision to leave after fifteen years.

"You're right, you did, but not in the way you did it. You say they treat you know as though you are nothing? Well, consider it payback because that's how you treated all of us. We all had to go on, Jethro. This is the result, like it or not," Ducky said harshly before turning away from him.

Realizing his old friend was done talking to him, Gibbs walked away. He wasn't sure what to say now anyway.