Chapter Twelve - "Leave on One Goodbye"

McGee stood by the door to observation room, watching as Ziva walked away and left Gibbs standing there. They all didn't know how things had gotten to this point, but something was going to have to give. McGee opened that didn't mean Ziva was going to let go. They were a team and if they lost even just one member it just didn't work out the same. They had been there and done that and proved they work better with the seven of them, Ducky and Palmer included. McGee didn't really know what to say, or wither to say anything at all. Before he had a chance to even decided Tony came walking up.

"I got it, we ready?" Tony said.

"No, He lawyered up" Gibbs said.

"Did something happen?" Tony questioned.

"Who had the eyes on David?" Gibbs snapped.

"I…" McGee started to say, but was interrupted.

"It was me, Boss" Tony said. McGee wasn't completely sure why Tony was coving for him. "Then I got your message that you needed McGee and me. I guess I forgot to tell someone to watch her."

"Boss" McGee said finally stepping into the fold.

"McGee" Tony said trying to tell him to shut up.

"What McGee" Gibbs questioned.

"You yelled at me to turn the camera on, before you went to bust down the door. Well…." McGee started to say.

"Don't tell me she messed with that and we have nothing" Gibbs said.

"Not exactly" McGee said. "She never touched it. It was recording the whole time."

"Are you telling me that whole confession she just got, was caught on tape?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes" McGee said.

"This is a good thing right?" Tony questioned.

"It's a great thing" Gibbs said, and then walked away.

"I really feel like I am missing something" Tony said as he turned to McGee.

"Why'd you cover for me?" McGee asked him.

"I owe you one" Tony said to him. "This case hasn't been easy on any of us, and I haven't been easy on you. I know I'm normally a pain in the ass to you, but this time it was different. I didn't want you to get in trouble for something that was an honest mistake." Tony said to him. "Could have happen to any of us, plus we're partners."

"Thanks" McGee said to him. "Even though you didn't have to do that."

"Would you rather I go to Gibbs and say you brought her in the observation room, after she begged and possible threaten bodily harm to you?" Tony said being a smart ass.

"There is the Tony I know" McGee said. "Thanks. We should go"

"Yeah Gibbs is cooking something up" Tony said.

"Yeah" McGee said. The two then headed on their way back towards the bullpen

"You managed to get him to confess and still not screw this case up" Vance said to him. "I will give you that."

"We had everything we needed thanks to my teams, but I wanted him to confess" Gibbs told him. "All the evidence wasn't enough."

"Well done agent Gibbs" Vance said to him. "Now send them home, they all need a break." Without a word Gibbs left his office.

Tony and McGee walked into the bullpen and notice there was no Boss and no Ziva. They walked over to their desks, not really sure what to think about this. Both Ziva and Gibbs were gone and after what happened in interrogation things did not look good.

"You think Vance is…" McGee started to say.

"No" Tony said interrupting him. "We played this one by the book. Ziva knew what she was doing when she went in there. She knew the right and the wrong things to do."

"In her state of mind Tony, it's easy to get right and wrong mixed up." McGee said to him.

"I don't believe it" Tony said to him. "I chose to believe she knew we'd come running in once we knew she was in there. That she left that camera on because she knew he wouldn't think twice about it with her in there. I chose to believe all she wanted was for him to confess to everything."

"Believe what you want, but it's not always black and white Tony" McGee said to him.

"Pack up" they heard a voice said, and just then Gibbs walked into the bullpen.

"We got another dead body already?" Tony questioned.

"No you're all going home" Gibbs said, he then turned to see Ziva wasn't at her desk. "Where's David?"

"We thought she was with you?" Tony said to him.

Ziva walked into Vance office, she had thought about it long and hard and she knew this was the right decision. When she first came back, she wanted nothing more than to return to the team she knew and loved. She wanted to be a team again, even when Vance told her he wasn't so sure. Now it was her that wasn't too sure they could be a team again. She was messing up left and right and jumping when she shouldn't be. This wasn't who she was and it she didn't want to be the one to coast any of her team their life. She walked over to his desk and looked at Vance.

"Are you sure about this?" Vance asked her.

"Yes" Ziva said to him. She then took her badge and gun and placed them on Vance's desk. She then walked out of his office, and back down to the bullpen. Without a single word, she grabbed her stuff and headed out the building.

AN: Sorry it's a short chapter. I had more but couldn't figure out how to make it work. So went with this just to move the story along, it gets interesting next chapter.