I am sorry for the long wait, but I have just had the absolutely worst 3 weeks. Found out about a whole myriad of health problems, and a whole bunch of other stuff going on with work… Urgh. It was hard to find the time to write, but I did it. :)

I really do hope you enjoy, and make sure to tell me what you thought!

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"Teams do not have secrets."

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Abby was staring bleakly at the computer screen in front of her, squeezing Bert the Hippo to her chest, her thoughts in a whirlwind. Tony couldn't leave. He was always there for her, whenever she wanted to vent about a guy or even when she called him at three o'clock in the morning asking for a ride home from a crazy party. After six years, she couldn't imagine not having Tony around.

She sniffed as she grabbed her computer mouse, bringing up some photos of her and Tony together, from way back, even before Kate had joined the team. She smiled at the close-up shot of the two of them, out clubbing together. Abby wracked her brain trying to remember when the last time they'd gone out, but the latest that she could remember had been well over a year ago.

She squeezed Bert unhappily, not even cracking a smile when the hippo farted. Had she and Tony really drifted apart? Enough that he wouldn't tell her that he was going to be leaving NCIS?

"Uh, Abby?" Special Agent Adam Dobson asked cautiously, waving a hand in front of her face, getting slightly worried by the fact that she hadn't answered the previous two times he'd called her name. Normally, that wasn't too much of a surprise with Abby's lab, but on this particular occasion there was no music playing, and that was strange in and of itself.

Abby turned around quickly, finally wrenched from her thoughts. "Hi, Adam," she said, not even trying to act cheerful as she put Bert down in front of her and clicked a few buttons to enlarge the photo so it covered the whole screen.

"Hi," the senior field agent replied, looking somewhat disturbed by this very different personality he was encountering. He didn't deal with Abby on a regular basis, since unlike Gibbs' team, his team hadn't commandeered their own personal forensic scientist, and so they switched between a few of them. Although they rarely used her, his favourite by far was Abby, since her vibrancy and eclectic tastes was a nice refresher from the tedium of the day to day work in a federal office.

"Uh, did you check those DNA results?" Adam asked her, trying to not to let his discomfort with this despondent Abby show in his voice.

"Oh, right, yeah, I'll just print off that report for you," Abby replied, already moving toward her office next to the lab.

Before following her, Adam gazed around at the desk in front of him, his gaze falling onto the computer. When he noticed the prominently displayed picture, his eyes widened slightly in realization.

"So, you found out about the Rota assignment," he said with sympathy as he followed her into the office. He knew how close Abby and Tony were, and he guessed that she must have taken it hard when Tony told her he was going to be leaving. At least she could be happy that he was leaving for a promotion and not because of an injury or something. Adam shuddered in the remembrance of when Tony had had the plague; although he hadn't seen Tony until after he'd left the hospital, the ex-cop had still looked bad enough that there had been a lot of speculation on whether or not he would be able to return to active duty again.

Abby clicked on the mouse button unnecessarily hard as she went to print off the report, glaring at the computer screen as if it were its fault that everyone else seemed to know about Tony's imminent departure before she did.

She grabbed the paper right as they came out of the printer, thrusting them at Agent Dobson without a word. The field agent took them carefully, and said carefully, "You know, it will be good for him. Get away from all the stress here. Not to mention everything else that's been going on…" He trailed off as Abby turned around, glaring at him with her arms crossed.

Deciding that it would probably be a better idea to just leave her alone, he quietly said goodbye to her and backed away slowly, making a mental note to tell someone to bring the gothic scientist a Caf-Pow.

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"…so he said he should have delivered before the end of next week," Ziva was saying to McGee as the two of them walked into the bullpen with their black backpacks slung over their shoulders, looking rested after getting the weekend off. "Morning, Gibbs," she greeted the older agent, getting a nod in return.

"Morning, Boss," McGee said, smiling at the man whom they had all missed over the last four months, three days, and fourteen hours that he had been taking a break in Mexico.

McGee sat down at his desk and turned on his computer, turning to take a look through his inbox as the machine booted up. After a few minutes, he realized that he hadn't yet heard the customary 'Probie! How was your night?'

Ignoring the twinge of guilt he felt at the reminder of the somewhat harsh words he'd said to DiNozzo on the subject of the nickname, the junior agent turned to the desk he'd recently vacated, curiosity piqued when he found it devoid of the senior agent, and looking as though nobody had yet used it today. Despite his and Ziva's teasing, Tony was actually very rarely late, and it wasn't all that often that the two of them got to the office before Tony, particularly over the last four months.

"Where's Tony?" he asked, directing the question at his boss, even as he looked around the squadroom as though he expected the older agent to just appear out of thin air.

"Probably flirting with that new agent down in Human Resources," Ziva laughed, already looking through her email, deleting most of them without bothering to read them. "It seems that gossip is at an all time high; that is probably what they are talking about."

"He's at the dentist," Gibbs informed sharply, his tone making both the agents duck their heads and turn back to their work. The former marine frowned, thinking about the message Tony had left on his phone that he wouldn't be able to make it in today because of a dental appointment. While his memory still wasn't perfect, one thing he did remember was that unless he was well and truly sick enough to require hospitalization, the ex-cop never missed work because of any health issues, even check-ups. Like Gibbs, any appointments that were strictly necessary, he made sure to make outside of work hours. The fact that all of a sudden Tony had taken the whole day off just because of a dentist appointment slightly worried the former marine.

Gibbs signed his signature on the papers in front of him, distractedly skimming over the forms filled out in the messy scrawl of his senior field agent. Tony must have come in over the weekend to do some paperwork so he wouldn't get behind by taking a day off. If Gibbs was remembering correctly, then it certainly wasn't the first time, but this time he had given his team the weekend off for a reason. They had all been working hard over the last few cases, and they also had the added stress of trying to get used to being back in their old positions.

The newly reinstated lead agent had tried to just eliminate the awkward transition period altogether by putting all his agents back to their original desks, and trying to pretend that it had never happened, but judging by the fact that both DiNozzo and Ducky were refusing to say a word to him unless it was absolutely necessary meant that that plan had backfired.

The vicious sniping also seemed to be another side effect of everyone's return to the old status quo. It hadn't escaped his notice that Tony wasn't having an easy time of things, and he frowned at the thought. He had hoped that his team was close enough, and supportive enough, that they would help each other through the backlash of what the rest of the agency would likely see as the demotion of two agents.

While he remembered the teasing banter that his agents liked to indulge in, the last thing he had expected was for Ziva and McGee to hit DiNozzo with more vicious barbs, rather then trying to protect him from similar gossip from other agents. He was grateful that at the very least, the other two senior field agents, Mick and Adam, had done their best to shield Tony from the worst of the gossip.

It was also why he had been so grateful to hear the speculation being passed around the agency, and the money changing hands to be put in the official underground betting pool. He didn't know what the gossip was, and he didn't particularly care, so long as people stopped causing stress lines to appear on the formerly carefree face of his senior field agent.

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Things had been quiet over the last hour, all of them working on separate things. Gibbs was still trying to catch up on all the minor policy changes that had occurred over the last couple of months – it seemed like Jenny was determined to at least slightly change every policy while she was the Director. Ziva seemed to be working on something for Mossad, if the Hebrew characters on her computer screen were any indication, while McGee was trying to put a dent in the sizeable stack of paperwork left on his desk.

Although none of them voiced it, all three of them were missing the lightheartedness that Tony always brought to the office. There was nothing worse then being stuck deskbound and doing paperwork, but Tony always seemed to be able to make it bearable, and although she often complained, Ziva had to admit that it did make time fly far faster.

However, the dull atmosphere of the bullpen was soon broken when Abby stalked into their area, holding tightly onto an extra-large Caf-Pow in one hand, and clutching Bert the hippo with the other. The three NCIS agents all looked at her, glad of the distraction, but also wondering what had brought her up to the squadroom, particularly considering that they didn't have a case.

"Where's Tony?" Abby demanded, moving towards the desk, and sitting down on the chair. She put Bert down on her lap, and the Caf-Pow on the desk, as she started to look through everything on the desk, checking to make sure that Tony's personal effects were all still there.

Looking at her strangely, wondering why in the world she was looking through Tony's belonging, McGee answered her, "He's at the dentist, Abs."

"The dentist? What do you mean he's at the dentist?" Abby demanded, narrowing her eyes and glaring at all of them. "Why isn't he here?"

"Because he needed to get his teeth checked," McGee responded, trailing off uncertainly, wondering what had triggered this bout of bizarre behaviour.

"Something wrong, Abs?" Gibbs asked, feeling slightly disconcerted that for once, he really didn't know why Abby was so mad, and also because she was mad at him. That was rare. He didn't think that Abby had ever glared at him, not even that time that she had thought that he had forgotten her birthday. He picked up his nearly empty coffee cup, and drank the remaining liquid. He had a feeling he was going to need it.

"Wrong? There's nothing wrong," Abby ranted, her temper fraying, "why in the world would there be anything wrong with the fact that Tony is leaving, and nobody even bothered to tell me!"

Gibbs choked on his coffee as Abby slumped back into the chair, now looking more depressed rather then angry. What the hell did she mean, Tony was leaving?

"Abby, Tony is not leaving," Ziva said, feeling shocked at Abbys rant, and wondering who had put that idea in her head. "He is simply at the dentist."

"Yeah. At the dentist, probably thinking about when he was offered the Rota position," Abby said, squeezing Bert tightly and making him fart.

Gibbs looked at her sharply. This wasn't a joke. He could always tell when Abby was joking, and right now she was deadly serious. And Gibbs knew that the Rota position had recently become available. It was a very popular and highly sought after position, and he had found himself thinking that Tony probably would have enjoyed it. But he never would have thought that Tony would have actually gotten the offer.

"Rota? Abby, Tony wouldn't get Rota," McGee stated, and though he sounded slightly derisive, he actually found himself feeling a little uncertain. Surely, if Tony had gotten such a good promotion, wouldn't he have been boasting about it the moment that he had found out? Surely, he wouldn't have just kept it a secret, from his team and his closest friends?

Abby found her temper rearing up again at McGee's harsh words. "Well, he did get Rota McGee, and apparently he didn't want to tell anyone that he was leaving," she snapped, and though she was answering McGee's words, she was glaring at all three of them.

She left a shocked silence behind her as she stalked out of the bullpen.

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Hope you enjoyed. The next chapter should be up much sooner. Please don't forget to leave me a review! :)