Notes: Thanks to the Nice English Lady ™ for the beta. All errors are mine. Thank you for all the follows, favourites and reviews. This is an AU, with plenty of medical and police procedural inaccuracies. I research some, but it's more about serving the story I want to tell than being accurate.

Chapter 5

6278 words (28min)

Jerome Craig was everything to be expected and feared as a director. A mix of bureaucrat and diplomat who threw words like "procedure" and "desired outcome" around as if they were mantras.

Gibbs went out of his way to avoid the man. Langer tried his best to give him a wide berth. Balboa walked around with a permanently pinched face. Ziva seemed more infuriated than ever, always mumbling about Mossad and American weaklings. McGee was just confused. The interim director seemed to admire his technical skills but was dismissive of his fieldwork.

It took less than two weeks for SecNav to appoint a permanent new director for the peace of mind, and to no surprise, of most of the agency. Leon Vance, previously Assistant Director for Special Projects used to work from San Diego office but had come through the DC office a few times between Tom Morrow and Jenny Shepard terms as directors.

Gibbs made a sour face when the appointment was announced. He had history with Vance, but then, who he didn't have a history with? When asked, Gibbs would say Vance was an okay agent but too much of a politician for his taste. Not exactly a bad endorsement since everybody was too diplomatic or politically inclined in Gibbs views. And being considered an 'okay agent' might be high praise coming from him.

McGee took a full afternoon to research the new director and calmed down some after seeing how the man was very technically inclined, proposing that technology and technically capable agents were his vision of federal law enforcement future. McGee felt comfortable with the appointment and believed his own future was back to being as bright as Shepard had first promised.

Ziva was smirking again with her superior attitude, no more trying to hide and escape any conversation with Jerome Craig. It was clear she was happy with the newly appointed director. That was a big red flag In Balboa's book - if Ziva David was happy with the new director, it meant she would be able to keep getting away with her shenanigans.

Balboa only had the official information on Vance, and was glad that his SFA, Taylor Carson, was friendly with the current MCRT SFA, Brent Langer. That gave him, and his team, inside information and heads-up to any issues with Gibbs' team. Since losing DiNozzo from the agency, that kind of information was scarce and more biased than ever, but it was still important information considering how the messes MCRT got caught in could affect half the agency. The most recent information Langer passed on was all related to Vance and the perceived or expected relationship with the MCRT. But Balboa was pleasantly surprised with Vance's approach of talking with each department manager and team leader as soon as he arrived in DC.

Balboa was the last team leader to have a meeting with the new director. Gibbs' meeting, directly before his own, was less than 10 minutes long and the parting words were heard all over the bullpen, since Gibbs gave them by the open door of the director's office, not caring who would hear him or how it would be perceived.

'Don't try to interfere in my team, Director, and we'll get on well. Shepard cut a slice from the MCRT, and we're still recovering from it.' He strode out without looking back, crossing the bullpen directly to the lift, his face a mix of anger and discomfort.

Martin Balboa waited for a signal from Vance to climb the stairs towards him. He signalled again for Balboa to go into the inner office while the man himself stopped to talk to his assistant. Cynthia Sumner came from the admin pool to work as Jenny Shepard's secretary on the first week of her directorship. She had been worried what would happen to her when Shepard retired, but Vance was quick in requesting that she stayed to work with him.

Vance entered the office, closing the door behind him, and gestured to the meeting table. Balboa followed him, sitting with his back to the wall, while Vance seated himself at the head of the table closer to the door. The chosen arrangement told Balboa that Vance would choose convenience when working, since the position was closer to his own desk, in case he needed something from there, but also that he seemed to have forgotten some training, or instincts, from his time as agent. No field agent would willingly sit with their back to a door, even if someone they trusted were guarding said door.

'Agent Balboa,' Vance started the conversation. 'I'm certain it will be a pleasure working with you. We had few interactions prior to my appointment, but I heard very good things about you.'

Balboa nodded in acceptance of the compliment but cringed a bit inside at the officious delivery. He might chalk it up to the stress of the new position and the problems with the previous director. Balboa sincerely hoped that this wasn't usual for Vance because such interactions could get tiring really quickly.

'Likewise, director.'

Vance shuffled a few papers he had in front of him. 'Secretary Davenport was clear on his expectations when he appointed me. He wants NCIS back as a clean, well-oiled machine, and he wants the crown of solving rates back with DC MRCT.'

Balboa hmphed. Bragging rights around the alphabet agencies was a high-stakes game. NCIS was always the small fish in that big pond, but Gibbs, and later DiNozzo, were their big guns and guaranteed NCIS a place at the table. Without DiNozzo, and with the rising behavioural issues from Gibbs, it didn't seem feasible that that was going to continue.

'I would like your take on the overall situation of the DC office, Balboa. I talked to all the other team leaders here, but you and your team seemed to be the closest to MCRT and Gibbs, and Shepard even listed you as their backup.'

'Officially, director,' Balboa started. 'We are MCRT 2 to Gibbs's MCRT 1, as per the structure Director Morrow created. We should be scheduled for alternate weekends and public holidays, besides the normal week. Gibbs…' here Balboa took a deep breath. 'Gibbs is used to taking charge and started picking and choosing the cases when they came through dispatch. I know Morrow never fought it and my ego can survive Gibbs' posturing. Besides, he works his team to the bone, without rest if they have a case. And if a new case comes in and he wants it, he doesn't worry about downtime in between.'

Vance made a note after his comments and moved the papers in front of him some more. 'I had to get copies from Tom Morrow about the workings of the office. It seems Shepard… misplaced the originals.'

Balboa's eyebrows shoot up at that comment. He knew the woman was not in her right mind, but it seems the issue went far deeper than he expected. To destroy official documents, that was actually criminal.

'I think the health situation with Jenny was more dire than anyone would think,' Vance said sadly. Balboa remembered that they should have worked together or, at least, know each other well. Shepard had also been the one to give the special projects for Vance to run with, Morrow not so keen in diving so deep into the spy arena before.

Vance took a deep breath, re-arranged the papers in front of him and put down his pen before looking Balboa directly in the eyes. 'I have official reports and comments from other agents, but I think I need some unfiltered, eye-witness comment on the last months here, Balboa. Gibbs is too cagey to comment on things he might be called out for. The other team leaders don't have the same access you have. Unfortunately, Jenny's notes are not reliable…' Vance tapered off.

'What about Agent Bayley, or even Ms Bromstead?' Balboa tried, needing to know how genuine the request was.

'I will be speaking with both of them next, but I don't want to start with official or suspicious perceptions here. I want an agent's view of the situation. I have to be prepared for things that are not clear yet.'

Balboa kept looking at the new director, deliberating the truth of the request. After a few moments he decided that he didn't have anything to lose and maybe they, everybody in NCIS really, would gain an ally.

'It all started with Ari Haswari and apparently some kind of deal that Shepard made with Mossad…' Balboa started his tale, intending to go into details about DiNozzo's suspicious retirement and his own opinion about Gibbs' mental health after all the head knocks he suffered.

'Agent Bayley, I left our conversation to the end because I wanted a general picture of the agency situation from the field agents' perspectives,' Vance started. Alex Bayley sat where Balboa had done, at the meeting table, a pile of folders in front of him. Vance had a legal pad and a pen.

'It's okay, sir,' Bayley answered. 'You should do it on your schedule.'

Vance nodded, playing with the pen. He patted his suit's breast pocket, like checking that something was where it should be, but didn't pick anything up.

'My understanding, from SecNav and the agents, is that Shepard was a bit too handsy with MCRT, but pretty much hands-off with other teams.'

'Pretty much, yes, sir,' Bayley agreed.

'The biggest issue for everybody seems to be Officer David, being slotted into the MCRT without anyone else being consulted, and the retirement of their previous SFA, DiNozzo…? Vance questioned and waited for Bayley to nod in confirmation before continuing. 'I must be upfront and say that I have a good work relationship with Director David and actually consider him a friend from my own time as field agent. He was quite helpful during a time that a young black man was not welcomed as a federal agent.'

Bayley made an effort to avoid showing his dismay in his face. That didn't bode well for changes in NCIS or MCRT, and this friendship certainly wasn't a well-known fact.

'I believe a close connection with Mossad, through the presence of Office David, can be a boon to NCIS. I do understand the concerns about her training in relation to U.S. laws, so I will talk with Gibbs about sending her for a short training period with FLETC, but we both know that Gibbs does what Gibbs wants.'

Bayley nodded in agreement, but still peeved inside with the knowledge that the new director didn't seem keen in doing anything to rein in the MCRT team leader.

'Maybe this is part of the basic problem, sir,' Alex commented. 'Letting Gibbs grab the bit and run free might not be the best course of action for the agency,' He needed to be clear on his opinion because when something Gibbs did exploded in their faces, as it certainly would at some point, the director couldn't claim ignorance.

Vance nodded in acceptance. 'I will have to see what can be done, but it seems more a long-term project.' He kept playing with the pen in his hands. 'About DiNozzo…' Vance seemed lost for a moment. 'His jacket is full of commendations from everyone but his team leader and Shepard. Morrow said he was a great agent, especially how he was able to deal with Gibbs and other agencies. The other team leaders were very positive about him, especially Balboa. I never actually met him, so I can't comment. I'm sorry that things were not handled per procedure with his situation but it's, what, six months since he was retired?' Vance looked again to Bayley for confirmation and continued after his nod. 'I think it's too late to do anything and there isn't a real reason to upset the boat at this stage. DiNozzo wouldn't be able to come back anyway,' Vance gestured dismissively.

The IA team leader decided he was done with the conversation, since it was clear nothing would be changing any time soon at NCIS. He collected his folders, tapping them on the table, and began to stand up. 'Well, sir, if that is all? It seems I don't have any case to discuss at the moment.'

Vance seemed surprised by the comment. 'Ah… well, then Agent Bayley, if something else comes up…'

'I will make sure to come to you, Director,' Bayley said, already walking away from the office and thinking "NOT!".

Vance waited until he was alone to walk to his desk and pulled out an elegant black case from the inside pocket of his suit. He opened it with precise movements and picked up a toothpick. Even if his wife was not in DC yet, if he tried to go back to his smoking habits she would find out. She always did.

NCIS kept marching on, since cases never stop coming. Leon Vance seemed to settle well, and the agency mostly saw him as a good but unremarkable director. Not as good as Tom Morrow, but certainly far away from the crazy of Jenny Shepard. Jerome Craig was quickly forgotten, even if he was still the Assistant Director for International Relations.

Gibbs was on high alert at the beginning, thinking that Vance might try to interfere on the MCRT but even with Gibbs' refusal to send Ziva to FLETC training, nothing more came from him.

Ziva was strutting again, as much as she did when she had arrived, and Shepard was clearly invested in her presence. She knew Vance was a friend of her father and Eli David guaranteed that the man would not interfere in her life or her mission.

McGee was still unsure. Vance seemed to like him and held him up as an example for new agents, but he also asked a lot of questions about field work and investigations that McGee couldn't answer, or thought were irrelevant. McGee was still trying to decide if Vance could be an ally or not. He was also finally getting his book published after all the changes the publisher and the copyright lawyer "suggested". Tim thought the story lost a lot of appeal with the tone down and changes of some of the characters and plots, but he was planning a sequel already and if the book was a success like he expected, he would have more power to do it his way.

Balboa and the other agents were more on a "wait and see" approach. The new director seemed to be working okay, way better than Jerome Craig, not even mentioning Jenny Shepard, but most of them remembered Tom Morrow, so Leon Vance was in a comfortable second position in the overall pool.

Brent Langer was happy with his position in the MCRT team, feeling more comfortable with Gibbs' way of doing things, and being able to deal with the whinging ways of McGee and Ziva's arrogance. Abby and Ducky were actually welcoming to him, but he barely interacted with Jimmy Palmer. All in all, Langer thought he landed in a place he could stay and even plan to go up to team leader at some point.

Vance's family had arrived and was quite settled in. Kayla and Jared were in a nice and a bit exclusive school, Jackie was doing some consulting work in between charity events and taking care of their children, life was just marching along fine.

The first big issue to pop up during Vance's tenure as director came up when JAG Lieutenant Nora Stanton walked into the director's office with a pile of folders to discuss an appeal going through the system. It was a case around one year old, an embezzlement scheme where the person convicted was fighting long and hard to prove his innocence. Nothing too out of the ordinary if it hadn't intersected with the most recent case Gibbs's MCRT caught just that morning.

MCRT rushed out of the office around 10am, after a petty officer's body was found in a hotel room. It was interesting that NCIS was called first, even before the local PD, because witnesses spotted a man leaving through the staff door with the agency's initials on his jacket and an NCIS ballcap.

The meeting of the JAG and MCRT investigations happened when the team got back to the office, with the body being identified as one Justin Grady, a prosecution witness and previous colleague of a Lieutenant Renny Grant, the man that was fighting to prove his innocence. To complicate matters a little more, MCRT were the team that worked on the case against Grant, while Gibbs was in Mexico, during his 'retirement', and DiNozzo was the acting team leader.

The whole MCRT was seated at the meeting table in the director's office. Lieutenant Stanton was at the top of the table, farthest from the door, files neatly organised in front of her. Vance was at the other side of the table from her, still not worried about having his back to the office's door. Gibbs was seated mid-way between the two with Ziva by his side. On the other side, McGee positioned himself closer to Vance, with Langer closer to the JAG lawyer.

'Do you think that Mr Grant is responsible for the death, Agent Gibbs?' Nora asked, pencil in hand, ready to take notes in the legal pad in front of her.

Gibbs huffed. 'We barely started the investigation, but he seems a likely suspect. The guy did testify against him and he's trying to overturn it, right?'

'Losing a witness in such a violent manner would not contribute well to his case, though,' Nora commented.

'We should just pick him up and interrogate him,' Ziva stated, clearly out of patience with the meeting, even if it wasn't even 5 minutes yet.

'We don't have probable cause, Ziva," Langer responded crisply. 'Abby has all the evidence we collected. If something shows up that connects him…' he completed.

'I'm more worried about the person seen in the NCIS jacket and cap,' Vance said. 'What would whoever did this gain trying to frame an NCIS agent?'

'If Mr Grant is involved, he might be trying to shift the blame to the NCIS investigation,' Nora commented.

McGee pulled out a screen grab from a surveillance camera showing a tall, light-skinned man, his eyes hidden by the cap, but the strong jaw visible. The photo went around the table and stopped by Langer, where he kept if with the case file.

'Since this was the first case we caught after Gibbs….' McGee stopped mid-sentence because of a low, growling noise coming from the lead agent. 'I mean… the first case with Tony as acting lead.'

Ziva cocked her head to the side. 'Considering the bad camera, it could be DiNozzo.'

Gibbs turned toward her with an angry look. Langer pulled the photo out of the file and looked at it again. Lieutenant Stanton tapped her pencil on the legal pad. McGee made a disgusted face, while Vance leaned away from the table, crossing his arms in front of him.

'Mr DiNozzo was medically retired four months after the case, correct?' The JAG lieutenant asked. After a sharp nod from Gibbs, she continued. 'I don't see how he could be involved.'

'He makes friends with all sorts,' Ziva scoffed. 'He was not happy to be thrown out. Maybe he is helping the guy trying to escape.'

'Ziva!' Gibbs barked.

'Quite a serious accusation, Officer David,' Nora commented and made a note on her pad.

Ziva shrugged but kept an eye on the pad, as if she could read what the other woman was writing. 'He probably is hurting for money, it is not likely he has much now that he is unemployed.'

'Interesting that you think that DiNozzo couldn't get another job,' Nora commented, still making notes and not looking towards Ziva.

'He was a joke, didn't contribute much. Unless he is playing security in a shopping mall now,' Ziva shrugged again with a malicious smile.

McGee couldn't control his laugh. 'Sorry, but also true,' he said between guffaws.

'Still an interesting thought, considering you two were involved in the situation that led to his retirement,' Nora added, throwing a cool look towards the two agents.

'We were not!' McGee retorted.

Vance hummed, bringing the attention of the table toward himself before Gibbs could intervene. 'Let's put that idea on the backburner until we have some evidence to consider. Do you have the original case file, Agent Langer?'

Brent Langer had a puzzled look on his face, facing the smirking Ziva and the angry Gibbs. He shook himself to get rid of whatever thoughts were going through his head and turned to the director. 'Yes, sir.' He opened the file and perused the final report in there. His eyebrows shot up in surprise when he reached the end of it. Then he turned other pages, checking the progress reports throughout the clearly thin folder. He checked the first page again before putting everything down and turning to the rest of the table, who were all watching him with different levels of impatience.

He coughed, cleaning his throat before he told them, 'The case was officially closed by Director Shepard.'

That certainly got everybody's attention.

Langer continued. 'There are notes from DiNozzo requesting that the White-Collar team revise the research done by McGee to find the trail of the money transfer, but Shepard overrode it and closed the case, passing it on to JAG with just the logs they had.' Brent switched papers before going on. 'DiNozzo wrote that the evidence was too down pat, and smelled like a frame-up. But there isn't any trail search in the file.' he said before turning to McGee.

The junior agent jumped a little when all the eyes at the table turned to him. 'What?!'

'Didn't you archive the search, McGee? You know the protocol, even if you didn't find anything,' Brent said.

'Ah… well… Maybe…' McGee kept stuttering but not actually answering the question.

The loud noise of Gibbs smacking the table made half the people around the table jump. 'Did you or didn't you do the search, McGee?!'

'No, I didn't!' McGee yelled back, between scared and angry. 'It was a stupid request! We had the logs and all of them pointed to Grant! Searching for a money trail takes a lot of work and time. It was a lame-duck case, why waste any time? Director Shepard clearly agreed since she signed off on it.' He crossed his arms, literally pouting.

'Considering that case where DiNozzo was framed, and we all had to work hard to prove he didn't do it, I would say the work is worth it not to send an innocent to jail!' Gibbs stood up and leaned over the time, getting into McGee's face, making the younger man incline farther away from the table.

'Gibbs,' Vance's tone sounded like a tired warning, but it took a moment for Gibbs to sit back down, still fixing the younger man with an angry look.

'McGee was busy with his "book",' Ziva sneered.

'And you didn't seem to contribute much to the case, Ziva,' Langer interjected quickly. 'No reports from you.'

She shrugged, unmoved. 'I went with McGee to arrest the man. Nothing else to do.'

'It was busy work, Gibbs!' McGee whined. 'Tony was just trying to show us up!'

'Doesn't look like it,' Lieutenant Stanton interfered. 'When the appeal started, JAG made an official request for an in-depth search of the logs and whereabouts of Mr Grant, and the preliminary report from Agents Coby and Bennett seems to say it would be impossible for him to do the transactions. He was not even near the base when half of them happened.'

Vance raised a hand to stop Gibbs from going into the rant he was gearing up to. 'What I'm hearing here is that Mr Grant has a solid case and the team, and Director Shepard, weren't as diligent the first time around.'

'As usual for DiNozzo,' Ziva commented.

'Yeah,' McGee jumped on the comment. 'He was the team leader; it was his responsibility!'

'Oh, I don't think so. It's clear here that the director overruled him,' Nora said.

'Whatever…' McGee said sotto voce.

'It doesn't help going around distributing blame,' Vance said with finality. 'Gibbs, you will go on investigating the death to see if it was related to Mr Grant's case or not. I will let Coby and Bennett work with JAG to sort out the embezzlement case.'

Gibbs gave a curt nod and rose, moving quickly towards the door. Langer was collecting his papers when the team leader shouted at his team to "haul ass back to the bullpen!".

Vance looked at the JAG lawyer and sighed. 'What do we need to do about Mr Grant's case specifically?'

Nora looked at her legal pad. 'I have the preliminary report from your agents about the money trail and the whereabouts of Mr Grant. I think I will request they check the prosecution witnesses too, since they might be more involved than expected.'

Vance nodded in agreement. Nora continued. 'Clearly Agent McGee and Officer David are guilty of sloppy work, and it would be more than interesting to find out why Director Shepard took the action she did. I will go through the original case file to see if anything else needs to be re-checked.' She started to collect her papers, preparing to leave. Vance stood up and walked towards his desk. The lieutenant stopped by the door, turning to the director.

'I hope you will make sure that, this time, the investigation will be thorough,' she sighed. 'I can't blame Mr DiNozzo for this… mess considering what I witnessed here today and what I know about Director Shepard.'

Vance nodded in agreement again and waited for her to leave before sitting at his desk and pulling out a toothpick. He bit hard on it, hoping that this clusterfuck wouldn't interfere with his plans.

Taylor Carson had just finished coordinating with Rita Zamora, from Rapid Response team, while Mick Andrews, the junior agent of his team, was busy checking calls concerning the location of their suspect. Balboa was up with the director, clearing their sting operation and Jennifer Owen, their other team member, was in protection detail, playing best friend to their victim.

Taylor put down the phone and got up to meet with his team leader and the director when McGee stop in front of his desk.

'What got you so busy, Taylor?'

'We have a harassment case, McGee,' Carson answered, fully aware that Balboa and the director didn't want details of their case getting to Gibbs's ears.

'Boring,' McGee answered, sitting himself on the side of Carson's desk.

Taylor shrugged and decided that now could be a good time to get some information about the MCRT team's case.

'What are you doing? Don't you guys have a murder case to solve?'

It was McGee's turn to shrug. 'Ziva and Langer brought in the two suspects. Gibbs and Langer are interrogating Captain Davis. He was the officer at the finance department where the embezzlement happened last year. Looks like the guy, Grant, really was framed. JAG was pissed overall. They should haul DiNozzo back here and interrogate him,' McGee completed.

Carson reeled in surprise. 'What?! Interrogate DiNozzo?! For what?'

'Well,' McGee moved to sit more comfortably on the table. 'He messed up the case, didn't he? He should have investigated the money trail, after all.'

'That was your job, McGee!' Taylor threw back to the other agent. 'And Langer said that Shepard closed the case against Tony's recommendation. Why are you going on and on about this? And get your ass off my desk!'

McGee stood from the desk, looking offended that Taylor was not supporting him. 'I'm tired of Gibbs looking at me like I did something wrong! Tony was just flying high on his power trip; I was not going to enable him! I was busy with real work! Ziva and Director Shepard said that I didn't have to cater to his whims!'

'I don't care for your opinion, Agent McGee,' Balboa's voice boomed from behind the younger man. 'DiNozzo was your team leader at the time, you did have to do what he asked of you, especially because it was part of your job! And if you keep letting little Miss Mossad fill your head with insubordinate thoughts, you will never go as far as you dream here, or in any other federal agency, for that matter.'

McGee jumped and turned toward the older agent. 'I was doing what I was told!'

Balboa hmphed. 'You're pretty good at picking and choosing what you listen to. Don't you have some work to do? I doubt Gibbs just left you to your own devices.'

McGee looked quickly towards his team's side of the bullpen but turned back to Balboa when he saw it was still empty. 'I did what I needed to do. I don't know why you're so adversarial with me!' Tim responded with bravado.

Taylor actually laughed at the comment while Balboa just shook his head. 'And that's why you won't go far at all, McGee. Let's go, Taylor, I got the authorization and both Zamora and Owen confirmed everything's in place,' Balboa answered, starting to walk towards the lift.

Carson picked up his backpack, shook his head towards McGee and followed up his team leader. McGee jumped in surprise when he was pushed out of the way by Mick Andrews, the last member of Balboa's team, rushing to catch up with the other agents.

McGee didn't have time to move before Gibbs was back in the bullpen, followed by Langer. 'McGee! What are you doing over there, like a useless stop sign?! Did you finish the report I told you to do?'

Tim jumped again and ran back to their side of the bullpen. 'Ah, yeah… I mean, yes, Boss, the report is printing.' He went to the printer, checking the pages being spit out.

'Where is Ziva?' Gibbs barked.

'Ah, well… I…' McGee stuttered. He took a deep breath before being able to answer. 'She said she had an emergency, something in her apartment. Since we already had the perps here and you and Langer were doing the interrogation, she just took off.'

Gibbs actually growled at the information. 'Haul ass and go pick up the lab results from Abby! And then call Ziva and tell her to come back to work, if she wants to have a job to come back to!' Gibbs stalked out of the bullpen towards the lift.

Langer sat at his desk and started typing a report. 'Better do what he told you to, McGee. Gibbs is in a wounded bear mood.'

'Should you call Ziva? You are the SFA, after all,' McGee whined.

Brent Langer looked at the younger agent with an unimpressed expression. 'The Boss told you to do it. I won't step on his sore paw,' he answered and went immediately back to his report.

McGee moodily collected his printed pages, put them at Gibbs's desk and left the area through the staircase. Langer really hoped he at least tried to call Ziva, even if he knew she wouldn't give the young man the time of the day.

NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS

Gibbs was finalising his report on the Grady murder. The force he was using on the keyboard only stressed his angry mood. He was still pissed at how the original embezzlement case was dealt with. Furious with Shepard's high-handed approach at closing a case against the team leader's opinion. He couldn't even look at McGee at the moment. His carelessness and disrespect towards DiNozzo, the case and his work were appalling. Gibbs would make him do all the crappy jobs for all the cases for the next year! Ziva was also on his bad books, since she didn't seem to have done anything during the original case and she kept disappearing from the office during this murder investigation. Gibbs didn't swallow her stupid excuses about issues with her apartment. She was up to something, and Gibbs would make time to find out what it was.

Langer was actually helpful and had good insights that helped solve the case. Gibbs was warming up to the guy, trusting him more and more – which made him think about DiNozzo. It was clear that Jenny Shepard had put a lot of pressure on DiNozzo and, at the same time, as many obstacles as she could in his path. It was not how Tony operated, to let the Director roll over him, but it was clear he didn't just lie down for it, since there was a full report filed with JAG with all his misgivings about the embezzlement case. Lieutenant Stanton said the case went ahead and DiNozzo was never called to testify because the lawyer responsible, a Captain Villaverde, thought it would enhance his career and he didn't really care for the inconsistencies.

Well, the whole scheme came down in flames. Villaverde died in a car crash a few weeks after the trial and never got his big career advancement. Of the true culprits, Grady was dead because he got greedy and tried to blackmail Carl Davis and Mick Wilkins. Wilkins was in the hospital and might not ever walk again after Davis tried to get rid of him too. And Davis would die in jail, all things going as they should. McGee was in the doghouse for all he didn't do, and Gibbs didn't have to face DiNozzo. All in all, Gibbs thought the results were good enough in his book.

Gibbs put the final touches on his report, passing it on to Langer to complete the case file. Ziva had already flown the office, as was her custom now. McGee was hiding in Abby's lab, but Gibbs didn't want to see his face anyway. His attention was caught by a young woman talking with Balboa and his team. Something seemed to jog his memory and he stood to approach the group.

'… and they will pick me up,' Gibbs caught the end of the young woman's comment.

'I'm glad we were able to help and solve the issue,' Taylor smiled.

'And even if you will be on the other side of the country, we could still exchange emails,' Jennifer Owen said, holding the other woman's hand. 'I really liked having you as a friend, almost like a kid sister.'

'Oh, me too, Jen! I would love to keep in contact!'

Gibbs got close and moved to be able to look at the young woman's face. He gasped because even if she was older, he could still recognize the features of the child who had visited his home many times, the girl in pigtails who was almost inseparable from his own little girl, his Kelly's best friend.

'Maddie Tyler!' Gibbs exclaimed.

Maddie turned from Balboa's team to face him.

'Ah, Agent Gibbs! I tried to contact you, but you were busy with a case when I first came in.'

'What are you doing here?'

Maddie ran a hand over her hair and blushed. 'I had a bit of trouble with an ex-boyfriend, a marine. I came here to ask for help.'

Gibbs turned to Balboa with a glare. 'Why didn't you tell me?'

Balboa shrugged, not affected by the other man's angry glare. 'You had a big murder case on your hands mixed with the embezzlement clusterfuck. We thought this was just a harassment case and it would be resolved quickly.'

Gibbs caught up the language. 'But it wasn't? Not just harassment?'

'Rudi, my ex, was involved with smugglers and he was trying to use me as an entrance door into the U.S.,' Maddie answered.

'Is he…?' Gibbs started to ask but Balboa was quickly to interrupt him.

'He was arrested, along with a couple of guys from the Army and the crooks here who were planning to sell the goods. Everything is resolved and JAG is working with the FBI on the case. It's done, Gibbs.'

It was clear Gibbs was not happy with the information but before he could beat on the subject, Maddie approached him, touching his arm hesitantly.

'Now that everything is resolved, I'll be moving back to California. My parents want me closer, and I think I'm over my overly independent phase,' she laughed quietly. 'My flight is tomorrow, early morning, but maybe you would have time for dinner today? If you want, that is…'

Gibbs gulped and his first response was to decline. That meeting would mean an exchange of stories and memories about the happiest time of his life, and he wasn't sure he could take it. But Balboa's knowing stare changed his mind. He could do this and not go on a three-day bender.

'Yeah, sure. I'm finished with the case, and we're not on rotation this weekend. We can have dinner and I can drive you to the airport tomorrow morning.' The surprise looks of Balboa and his team was victory enough for Gibbs but the happy squeal from Maddie was a real prize.

'Oh, thank you, Mr Gibbs,' she said, going back to the manner she used to call him. 'That would be really nice.' She turned to the team and waved while walking towards Gibbs's area. 'Thank you again for all the help and I'll sure keep in contact, Jen.'

The team waved back, and Gibbs was quick to pick up his gun and creds to leave the office. Langer waved them out and was back finishing his work after smiling towards Balboa.

TBC