"I'm not going to work today," Tony says in the morning, and Ziva is incredulous when he tells her what he did. She's also a bit mad, but then she takes a deep breath and says that she doesn't have the right to be, because she had been considering doing the exact same thing.
He's amazed at how paralleled their thinking is.
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Tony has been unemployed for a week when there is a knock on his door and he opens it to find Gibbs on the other side.
"Uh, hey, Bo- hey," he stutters. Behind him, he hears Ziva approaching, and then her feet scuttling back out of the room. As she's now deemed herself well enough not to wear her sling anymore, she has continued going to work alone (though Tony insists on driving her- she can't even operate a motor vehicle when both her arms are completely healthy) and reports that the tension in the room is gone and replaced with something like sadness. Gibbs is quiet and has asked her about his former senior field agent several times; she has warned Tony that he'd be paying them a visit.
"Can I come in?" Gibbs asks, and it's so uncharacteristic for him to ask permission that Tony stares for a full two seconds before stepping back and opening the door wider. The older man steps inside almost sheepishly. He looks smaller than usual. It's surreal.
Nobody says anything for a few beats, and then Tony asks, "Wanna sit?"
Gibbs nods and trails behind him as he leads the way to the living room. They sit across from each other, a good amount of space between them, and once again, Gibbs shocks Tony. "DiNozzo… I was wrong. I wronged you and Ziva."
The words are gruff; clearly, they're hard ones for him to say, and that makes sense. This is not an "I'm sorry", but it's damn close to one… and everybody knows how Gibbs feels about apologies.
Tony shrugs, ever the subordinate, and then remembers that he's not, that he is a man, an equal one. "Yeah. You did."
It appears that Gibbs is attempting to keep a scowl off his face, but to his credit, he succeeds. "Look," he begins, leaning forward, "you can come back. Your point's been taken."
In the heat of the moment, his quitting in dramatic fashion had been to make a point, to himself and Ziva as much as Gibbs. Over the past week, however, he's had a lot of time to think, and he has come to the conclusion that his quitting was the best thing for everybody, including the team as a unit. Even if he hadn't felt the need to quit when he did, he is convinced that it would have happened anyway, that eventually, something would happen to force the issue.
Right now, that's exactly what he tells Gibbs. "Ziva and I dating and being on the same team just isn't going to work out. Everyone was miserable the entire time that was going on." He sighs. "I removed myself from the equation to fix it. It's fine."
Gibbs looks at him. "Will you be okay?"
And even though he doesn't know how or when, the answer is yes.
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McGee finally claims his temporary desk in the temporary offices. Now it's only Ducky who is still at home, and Tony finds himself spending more and more time with the medical examiner, because he is lonely and having minimal luck with the job hunt. He always brings a deck of cards with him, and as a result of these visits, he learns three new games he never knew existed.
Ziva is on good terms with the others, which is mostly a good thing, but it also makes him feel kind of left out. Things between him and the others are improving, but he doesn't feel as close to them anymore. He and Gibbs don't say much to each other; with Abby and McGee, he carries on conversations that are a bit too formal. According to Ziva, Abby cried when she was told that he had quit. He suspects that she understands why he did it but, deep down, is having trouble forgiving him.
As frustrated and stressed out as he is, there is one good thing going on: Ziva has officially, permanently moved in with him. Her clothes have taken over his closet and dresser, and there is seven-grain organic wheat bread alongside the white. There is bickering over space, which there is suddenly a shortage of, and an argument stemming from the fact that Ziva wants to pay the entire month's rent since he isn't working. In the end, she agrees to splitting the rent, and there is no room for disagreement in the way they make it up to each other.
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After three months of too many movies and too much watching the clock because he's lonely and wants Ziva to come home, he gets a call from an old buddy of his. Just like that, he is Detective DiNozzo again.
Always did have a nice ring to it.
Later that day, Ziva approaches him about inviting the team over to their apartment for Thanksgiving. It has become a tradition for them to spend it together, after all, and she insists that even though so much has happened, there is no reason for this year to be any different.
After he reluctantly gets on board, she smiles and pats his chest. "You should call everybody."
"What?" he asks, panicked. "Me?"
"Yes. They'll be happy to hear from you, Tony." His phone is lying on the dresser; Ziva picks it up and hands it to him. "I will be in the kitchen."
She leaves, and he is alone with a list of contacts.
As he plops down on the bed he contemplates whether to start with the potentially problematic invitations or the ones he knows will be accepted. In the end, he wimps out and calls Ducky and Palmer, who both enthusiastically thank him and say they'll be there. McGee sounds distracted when he answers; video game music plays in the background, so they get off the phone relatively quickly.
Abby's phone rings several times, and with each ring, his stomach tightens a little bit more. When she finally picks it up, her tone is that overly polite one he has grown way too accustomed to, and it maintains that stiff air. He steadily grows more frustrated until he accidentally blurts out, "Are you mad at me?"
"What?" She sounds surprised. "No."
"Then why are you acting this way, Abs? You talk to me and pretend everything's fine, but you can barely look at me."
This is met with silence. He knows she knows it's true.
Tony stands up, runs a hand through his hair, starts to pace. All of this is getting so old. He's the one who sacrificed his job; they didn't have to sacrifice anything. Why can't they accept his choice and him along with it?
"You were so happy when Ziva and I started dating," he says softly. "What changed?"
"You quit."
His suspicions are correct.
"Abby, everything was messed up at work. I had to do it."
"We could have worked through it!" she insists, her voice wavering slightly. "It was kind of weird for everybody, Tony. I mean, you and Ziva… it was great, it's still great, but we needed time to get used to it. If you'd waited a while…"
In his moments of regret, those moments where it seemed he'd never get another job, Tony had wondered about this. If I'd waited. If I'd waited…
But he always came to the same conclusion, the one he is sticking to: if he'd waited, nothing would have changed.
That's what he tells Abby now, adding that, "It's for the good of the team, too, Abs."
"No it's not," she sniffs. "Because you were part of the team, and now you're not here."
"I know."
"None of us can stand the new probie."
"That's what I heard. Listen, me and Ziva were wondering if you wanted to come over for Thanksgiving. Ducky and Palmer and McGee will be here, too… haven't called Gibbs yet…"
Abby pauses, a move he believes is deliberately designed to keep him in suspense. Then: "Is Ziva gonna make pie?"
"I'd imagine so."
"I'll be there."
As if there was really any question as to whether she would say yes.
Then it's time for the call he's been putting off for forty-five minutes. As soon as he hears, "Yeah. Gibbs," he is off, rambling and tripping over his words and saying "I mean" a lot, until finally Gibbs interrupts. "I got it, DiNozzo. What should I bring?"
Gibbs brings rolls, Ducky prepares a turkey (with Palmer and Breena's help), McGee buys expensive wine, Ziva makes pies, Abby is happy, and Tony thinks that it's way better than any Thanksgiving they've had before.
Epilogue on Tuesday!
WE ARE SO CLOSE TO SEASON TEN, GUYS!