Prologue:
Gibbs listened as Secretary of the Navy Davenport began to read a letter of commendation from the Director of National Intelligence, praising and thanking NCIS and in particular Leon and Gibbs himself for their work in investigating the actions of the rogue deputy director of the FBI, S.A. Gehob. He wished his whole team, heck his whole family could hear this; Lord knows they needed it.
SecNav paused, "Gibbs, your team all here today?"
"Yes Sir."
"Let's get them up here! In fact," the Admiral turned to Vance, "I should be presenting this in front of your whole office, Leon."
Vance had an alternate idea that would save them time right now. "I hate to take the Secretary's time while we arrange that, Sir. Why don't we do this…let Gibbs get his team up here and then at our next awards ceremony you can present it to them or perhaps the Under Secretary, whichever works best for you."
Davenport nodded as his time really was at a premium and with an inward sigh of relief Gibbs pulled out his cell and ordered the team to join him in the Director's suite. He was glad Tim was in the office; he had recently returned to desk duty after a lengthy convalescence from his back injury and resultant surgery.
His team filed in with their best neutral expressions but knowing them as well as he did, he could see the anxiety. He gave them a subtle nod as he proudly watched them stand together, straight and tall. He knew Tim would need to sit, he started to flash a look at Leon but his boss was already speaking, "Good morning Agents DiNozzo, McGee and Officer David; please be seated." They sat and Gibbs stood behind them. As the Secretary read the commendation, Gibbs gave each of them a proud pat on the shoulder.
When the letter had been read, SecNav paused, looking at the three agents and their Mossad liaison. "I want to add my personal thanks and congratulations on a job well done." He continued and Gibbs saw a twinkle in the man's eyes. "Now, you Gibbses and yes I know that includes you Agent DiNozzo, have had a rough time in the past weeks. And I know that you have plenty of vacation time coming to you as Leon and I always have a conversation around budget time about having to carry all those days forward. I have a proposal for you: my family owns a beach house that I believe is large enough for your whole clan. Coordinate with Vance and go…take a break. At least ten days off and that's an order! And I do not want to have Leon getting phone calls from the local folks complaining about vacationing federal agents sticking their noses into their cases!"