Tim walked into the bullpen the next morning and found his team's area empty except for Gibbs. He wasn't surprised. He was pretty early. His team still had about twenty minutes before they'd be considered later. He wasn't surprised to find Gibbs there so early either. Gibbs was always the first one in the office when he ran the team and Tim didn't expect it to be any different now.

Tim immediately went to his desk and powered up his computer. He and his team had a lot of work to do to close this case.

Gibbs suddenly got up and approached the young team leader's desk. "McGee."

Tim sighed and looked up at his former boss. "Gibbs."

"Think we could have a conversation?" Gibbs asked.

"Depends. If the conversation topic is on you trying to take over my team and my case, no," Tim said firmly.

"It was my team once, and for a whole lot longer. You remember that?" Gibbs asked.

Tim nodded. "Yeah. And before that, it was Mike Franks. Before him, it was someone else. A lot of people have inhibited this chair. I'm not really sure what your point is. On that note though, let me ask you a question. Would you step aside for Mike Franks?"

"That's not the same!" Gibbs bit out.

"No, I imagine it's not for you. It's because it's me that is sitting in this chair. You don't trust my ability to do this job. Well, frankly, Gibbs, that's your problem, not mine," Tim said, trying as hard as he could to make it sound like he didn't care. As much as he wanted to unaffected, it hurt to know that the man he'd worked so hard to impress as a probie and junior agent had no real respect for his ability. But Gibbs would never get to see that.

Just then, Tony came through with Brooks just a few feet behind him.

"Morning," Tim said.

"Morning, McGee," Tony said with a grin. He was in a pretty good mood after his conversation with McGee the night before. He knew he still had a lot of people he had to make amends with, but he was just happy that McGee was at least willing to give him another chance.

"Morning, Boss," Brooks said as he headed to his desk.

Ziva and Ralph showed within about five minutes of each other ten and fifteen minutes later.

"Alright, everyone, we've got a lot of work to do. We might have a small lead. The blood isolated from the rest of yesterday's crime scene was determined to be the killer's. Abby found a match right before we left last night," Tim said.

"There a reason you didn't mention this last night? With a name, we could've started looking for the bastard right away," Gibbs said as he glared at him.

Tim glared back at him. "If I could be allowed to finish please. The match was to another cold case from around thirteen years ago. A man named Cole Robin was murdered. We still don't have a name on the killer.

"Great. This guy has at least six bodies under his belt."

"And he's good at covering his tracks. We still have no idea who he even is," Ralph said.

"We're closer. He obviously slipped up with the first killing that we know about and he did with this last one too. This is at least something we never had before," Tony said.

"Yeah, it seems he messed up in the beginning. That's why I'm sending two of you to Warrington, Virginia where the first murder took place. I want you to see what you can find out from the original detectives and maybe even speak to some of the people they've talked to. I called ahead. They know someone will be coming," Tim said.

"I'll go, McGee," Tony volunteered.

"Good. You'll take Ziva with you too," Tim said.

Ziva looked up with a sour look on her face. She was clearly unhappy with that decision. "What? I can be of more use here, McGee."

"You're going with Tony, Ziva," Tim told her simply.

Ziva glared fiercely at her boss. She knew very well that he was doing this on purpose. He wanted her to talk to Tony, which she had no interest in.

Tim chuckled. "That look has no effect on me anymore."

Ziva huffed and grabbed her bag. "Let's go. I am driving!" she told Tony before angrily heading for the elevator.

Tony grabbed his own stuff and followed. "Thanks, Tim."

"Thank me if you come back alive," Tim said with amusement in his voice.

"Boss, I've got an angle with Mackey's sister that I want to follow. I think she might know something," Ralph said.

"Do it. You can help him with that, Brooks," Tim said.

"Got it, Boss," Brooks said.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tony held onto the car door as hard as he could as Ziva went about ninety on the high way. Several times he'd go to look at her with the intention of talking to her, but every time, he wondered if it might be such a good idea when she held his life in her hands.

"Stop staring at me," Ziva grumbled as she drove. She'd caught Tony's eyes on her several times since they left the Navy yard.

"Sorry," Tony said as he looked away. Seconds later though, his eyes made their way back towards her. "I'm sorry, Ziva. I know you don't believe me, but I am sorry."

"You are correct! I do not believe you! I do not wish to discuss it either," Ziva said as pushed on the gas pedal a little more.

Tony yelped and gripped the door harder. "I was an ass, okay? I wanted to walk away without feeling bad, like Gibbs had. I chose not to think about what I was doing to anyone else because I didn't want to deal with it.

Ziva said nothing and showed no sign that she even heard what he said.

"Look, Gibbs leaving hurt me and I couldn't deal with it, not here. So I chose to leave and get away from this place," Tony said.

"Yes, and do to us what Gibbs did," Ziva said through gritted teeth.

"I didn't want to think about that. That's why I made my goodbye as impersonal as possible. Deep down, I knew what I was doing to you and I didn't wanna face that. I was a heartless bastard. I won't claim to be anything other than that. I can only say that I was hurt," Tony said.

"We all were!" Ziva exclaimed. "We were all jilted by Gibbs leaving! You made it worse by leaving yourself and not even giving us the courtesy of an explanation! You could've told us how you felt!"

"I…I'm not good at that. It's never been easy for me to tell people how I feel," Tony admitted.

"Yes, I know," Ziva conceded. It had become clear a long time ago that Tony indeed was about as good at revealing his feelings as she was. While she did it with coldness, he did so with jokes.

"The only person I even came close to letting in was Gibbs. He became important to me and I couldn't handle it when he just left like that. I couldn't be in the office anymore. I couldn't be your team leader. I tried. Yes, I know I didn't try for long, but I knew it wouldn't get any better. So I left, and because I didn't want to deal with your pain, I pretended like it wasn't even there," Tony said with sorrow in his voice.

"What do you want from me? I am not a forgiving person, Tony. You cannot expect me just do so with you now after five years!" Ziva said harshly.

"I don't deserve your forgiveness. I'm aware of that. I would like to try to earn it though. And the only way I know to start is to say that I'm sorry. Please, Ziva, give me a chance to earn the forgiveness you give to so few. Give me a chance," Tony pleaded.

Ziva sighed. Most of her wanted to tell him to go to hell. She did not want to forgive him, not after working so hard to get over what he did to her and the others. But after actually listening to him, she did know he truly was sorry, even if that didn't make much of a difference to her at this moment. She could see and hear the partner and friend she once knew. "I will consider it."

"Thank you," Tony said before turning to look out the window. He knew this was the best he was going to get right now.