Monday morning came much too early and it was with a rare sense of dread that Tony entered the bullpen. Tim had been a few minutes ahead of him and was already at his desk, digging into the pile of papers left there for him. Ignoring Gibbs, Tony gave Tim a quick grin before diving into his own paperwork stack. Ziva watched the exchange but didn't say anything.
Both men were aware of Gibbs watching them in addition to Vance, but a serious mood was set and they kept their faces buried in the paperwork. Even Abby's bouncing visit didn't distract them. Lunch was eaten at their desk after they both turned down offers. When the work day ended, they were both out of the bullpen before Gibbs could end his dismissal with an offer for beers to welcome the team back.
That night they spent at Tony's after dropping Tim's car off at his apartment. A movie played that they didn't watch, a pizza cooled that they didn't eat and Tony held Tim tight, whispering assurances that he didn't regret the decision to stay with the younger man.
On Tuesday, the stacks were smaller, but Vance did not see a team that had gelled enough to be out in the field. Tim pulled the necessary information remotely from Abby's computer rather than face her questions and the voice mails he hadn't gotten around to answering. A team-building session for the five of them was the last thing he and Tony needed. Gibbs had pizza delivered for lunch and that one cooled like the one still sitting in Tony's refrigerator.
By mid-afternoon, Ziva grew tired of waiting and followed Tim to the men's room, only to be stopped at the door by Tony.
"Don't."
"Something is wrong with McGee."
Fully aware of what she could do to him, he physically blocked the door. "I'm taking care of it, Ziva. Just let him be."
She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him. Usually by now he would be backing down or trying to sweet talk her, so whatever was going on, it had to be serious. "I do not believe you are doing a good job. You will tell me what is wrong."
Tony held his ground. "No, I won't. I won't violate his trust and I won't let you hurt him."
"I would not hurt him. How could you even suggest such a thing?"
"If you don't want to hurt him, then walk away from this, Ziva."
There was something in Tony's voice and his stance that told Ziva much more than his words ever would. "You are sure about this?"
"I'm sure."
When he entered the men's room and she reluctantly walked away, neither saw Gibbs' troubled face watching from the bullpen or Vance's worried face watching from the catwalk.
When the second workday ended, Tony distracted Gibbs with a question about a cold case, allowing Tim to quietly slip into the elevator alone, but not quick enough to hear the exchange.
"I realize that it's hard to get back in the swing of things, Tony, but just remember my door's always open."
Tony looked up just in time to see a pair of pain filled green eyes before the steel doors slid shut. He stumbled through an answer. "Yeah, I know, Boss." He didn't wait for the elevator to come back up, instead he took the stairs down, two at a time.
-NCIS-
It wasn't a shock when Tim drove straight to his apartment, not waiting to see if Tony would follow him. It did hurt, however, to see the surprise on Tim's face when Tony opened his car door. "How many times are we going to have to go through this?"
"I'm sorry, Tony."
Tony let his head hang for a minute before reaching out and taking Tim's hand. "Come on, let's talk inside." Tim was silent and meekly let Tony lead him by the hand through the parking lot and up to the apartment. Once inside he locked the door behind them and sat Tim in his computer chair before squatting down in front of him.
"What do I have to do to convince you that I'm not walking away from us?"
"Eventually, you're going to regret it and you'll hate me. You'll hate me for making you miss out on what you've always wanted. Don't you get it? I see him. He sits there, watching you, wanting you. He can give you everything you've ever wanted."
"Everything except you." Tony pulled him close. He'd known that Tim's self-esteem was sometimes as fragile as his skin, but he seemed to be coming apart right in front of Tony. "Come on, babe, let's take a shower and go to bed." He was growing worried about how compliant Tim was as he led him to the bathroom and undressed him like a child.
The steaming hot shower seemed to help, even if it made Tim look like a lobster. He was dead on his feet as Tony dried him and walked him back to the bed.
Laying in the dark, Tim draped across his chest, Tony wondered how they had gotten into this mess, and how they were going to get out of it. He thought about having Tim call in sick in the morning, but having Tony with Gibbs all day would probably destroy Tim. His next option was to stay away, himself, tomorrow, but he couldn't let Tim face Gibbs alone. What he needed was to find a way for the two of them to start over again someplace that had never heard of Leroy Jethro Gibbs. There was a fourth option, but it was so insane that he hadn't ever mentioned it out loud, even as it rattled around in his head.
Whatever was going to happen had better happen soon before they all shattered from the strain.
-NCIS-
Wednesday morning found Vance watching the team from his perch on the catwalk. The backlog of paperwork was almost gone and he'd expected Gibbs to be demanding to be out in the field before now. The least he'd expected was for the team leader to drag his team to the gym for some training and team building. Instead, Gibbs watched Tony and Tim, a sad look on his face while Ziva glared back at him. Seemingly oblivious to this, Tony appeared increasingly tense as he made a definite effort not to look at the older man, while constantly glancing over at McGee, a worried expression on his face. For his part, McGee never let his focus waver or shift from the folder in front of him, but he'd been staring at the same page for over three hours.
Choosing his target carefully, Vance decided to end the charade. "Agent DiNozzo, could I see you upstairs, please?"
With one last look at Tim, Tony stood and walked past Gibbs without saying a word. Once he reached the Director's office, he stood at parade rest, his time as an Agent Afloat showing very clearly.
"It can be hard, putting a team back together that has been apart for a while, DiNozzo."
Tony stared at a spot over Vance's left shoulder. "When something is shattered, it's not always possible to put it back together. Sometimes the pieces don't fit anymore."
"Is that what's happened to your team? You no longer fit together? You do know how hard Gibbs fought to bring you back?"
"And I do appreciate that, Director Vance. The life at sea isn't exactly my cup of tea, but..."
"But neither is going back to working under Gibbs again." Vance plucked Tony's personnel file out of a stack on his desk. "You ran the MCRT quite well while Gibbs was contemplating his navel in Mexico. Well enough that Director Shepard offered you your own team."
"Yes, sir."
"According to her notes, you turned down the offer, claiming to have more to learn from Gibbs. Looks to me that you're done learning from Gibbs."
Tony froze, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Vance watched him closely as he continued. "I'm making the offer again. We're increasing our presence in Southern Europe, adding a new team based in Greece. It's yours if you want it. A fresh start, with none of this hanging over your head."
"Mine?" Tony forced himself to stay calm as he looked directly at Vance for the first time since he'd walked into the office. "If it's a new team, do I get any say in putting it together?"
Vance sat back, clearly surprised. He hadn't known how DiNozzo would react to the offer, but that was a surprise. "Who do you have in mind?"
He took a deep breath. "The only way I would consider it would be if McGee were my senior agent."
"McGee? He has family, he has ties here. Do you really think he'd want to just up and move half way across the world?"
"You said it wasn't about punishment."
"It wasn't."
"Okay, so I ended up on a ship that I hated, and Ziva ended up back with Mossad, which she probably hated, but McGee was left behind." He could tell Vance wasn't understanding yet. "He was left behind, demoted back to cybercrimes."
"It wasn't a demotion." Even as he said the words, Vance was beginning to see how the change would have looked.
Tony just looked at him. "Not a demotion? He went from the top team in the agency to a hole in the sub-basement. At least Ziva and I got to do it among strangers who didn't know. Tim had to face people that knew. Every. Single. Day."
"He never said a word."
"You have met the man, right?" Tony was feeling a bit brave and very brash. "Tall, quiet, would take a bullet to the chest and finish writing up the incident report before he keeled over."
"Point taken." Vance leaned back and rubbed his face. "The truth is I want my best team back and at top form, but if that's not going to happen, I'm not losing either you or McGee to whatever has crawled up Gibbs' ass. Get out of here, DiNozzo, and take McGee with you. I'm sending the rest of the team home too. I don't want to see any of you until Monday. You and McGee give me your answer then. Will that work?"
"Can you give us a head start?"
"Thirty minutes, now go."
Tony didn't have to be told twice. He didn't slow down as he went down the stairs and through the bullpen. "McGee, you're with me. Vance's orders." Tim closed the files and grabbed his backpack in time to catch up with Tony at the elevator.
Ziva watched them leave, not moving until the elevator door closed behind them. She stalked over to Gibbs' desk. "What did you do to McGee?" When he didn't answer, she slammed her hands down on the polished surface. "What did you do?"