A/N Remember this is AU. Thank you all for your patience and I hope you enjoy. Thank you to Syn for beta'ing and to all of those who gave me their opinion on one part of this chapter I wasn't sure about.

XXXXX

Tony looked around at his apartment; the clean white sterile look had do personality. It looked like something from a magazine; none of it screamed Tony DiNozzo. There were no cases full of DVDs, they were hidden away. The movie posters he once had were rolled up carefully and stored. It was time for more than just a change in job; his whole life needed an overhaul. He had enough money saved that he didn't need to work straight away. His apartment was in a well sought after area. If he brought something cheaper then he really could take his time and decide on what was going to do. He grabbed his laptop and sat down on a large comfy chair. He needed to figure out what kind of place he wanted first. Tony needed to make sure there were properties around before he tried to sell this one.

XXXXX

"Uhh boss." McGee walked over to the desk and stared at him as he waited for some kind of acknowledgment.

When nothing more came Gibbs looked up. "What is it McGee?"

"I was thinking with Tony leaving and before we get a new probie that I should be made the senior field agent. It will make things run more smoothly if it's sorted out first."

Gibbs had tried to figure out what to say when McGee was told he wasn't going to be promoted. He thought he'd have a little more time, obviously not. "You think you're going to be my SFA?"

"Uhh," Tim looked over at Ziva who had just joined them. She'd been the one to push for it; she smiled as she showed him support. "Well, I am the one with the most experience at the moment. I mean Tony had that position–."

"Stop right there before you even start on how Tony didn't do anything, he only has a degree in physical education. I don't want to hear that crap. He was a police officer; he became a detective in homicide at a young age. He had experience in running an investigation even before he got here. You don't, Tony and I were the ones training you. Yes, I've heard you both run your mouths off about him, saying he doesn't do anything. Well, he leaves you both in the dust when he doesn't joke around. He gets his reports in before both of you and he also has SFA paperwork to do. You're not going to be promoted in this team and I don't think Vance would promote you in any other one either. I could be wrong, so go ahead and ask him."

"But why?"

"Why? How about the fact you turned off your radio and left a team member without back up. Don't smirk Ziva, Leon knows that you recognised your father in that photo. If you had said something that meal would not have happened and his wife and your father could both be alive today." Gibbs knew he sounded harsh, but this had to stop. "Who would want to work with either of you when all you think about are yourselves? Everyone here saw how happy you were when that email came out and told us that Tony had quit. You didn't care why, you didn't know the circumstances. It might have been his lungs after the plague, but that never even occurred to either of you did it?"

"Gibbs we weren't happy about Tony leaving, Ziva and I–."

"You're actually going to try and come up with an excuse? We all got the email at the same time, that would be a remarkable coincidence that the two of you happened to have something else come in at that exact time. I don't want to hear any crap. Things around here are going to change, welcome to the new world order. There will be no snide back talk back to my new SFA whoever that turns out to be. If you do, it goes straight on report. There will be no going off the reservation, which means that any criminals we deal with whether it is on a case or something personal will be arrested. Killing them will be the last choice, and if any do die it will be looked at very closely. If I have any doubt there will be repercussions." He watched Ziva carefully. "Vance will be keeping an eye on me as well. Any paperwork that doesn't need to be done by me or my SFA will be handed down to you two. Things like gassing the truck and making sure it is stocked will be down to you two as well. There will be no arguments in who gets to sit in the front; it will go down in seniority. Me, my second in command, McGee and then you David."

"Why didn't Tony get this extra work?" McGee argued.

"Have you listened to anything I just said? I told you he managed to get his reports and his SFA paperwork in before you two did. Who did you think did it? It wasn't me so who, the paperwork fairy? McGee when Tony had the plague you checked the footage, apart from me he worked the most hours. You can check again if you want to, it hasn't changed. Any attitude towards any new team member will be reported. What happened with DiNozzo will not happen again." He held up his hand to stop any questions. "This is not up for debate, if you don't like this new regime ask for a transfer. You two will be partnered together until I can trust that you will have every team members back. If I see an improvement I will start to trust you more. This is not a game, it's not a test; this is the start of your new lives here at NCIS." Gibbs caught Balboa give him a grin and a thumbs up as he walked past.

XXXXX

"It's Tony's fault, somehow he talked to Gibbs and sabotaged me. He was always jealous because I would get further than him."

"Go away Timmy." Abby rubbed her weary eyes.

"What, why?"

"You did this to yourselves. I haven't even spoken to Tony and when I listened to the two of you at lunch it made me feel sick. I had to leave, I couldn't stomach being with you. After I talked to him, I could see we were all to blame."

"So Tony blamed everything on us, typical."

"Actually no, he says we're all at fault including himself. He knows that he's made mistakes. You on the other had are blaming him." Abby didn't need him to agree she knew what the answer was. "Gibbs is right; we all need to change a little. If you can't or won't do that then I can't see us remaining as friends. Until I see something change you can only come here if you have a case. You don't now, so please leave my lab."

"Who's going to see this mystical change of yours?" Tim snapped, he'd better little Miss Perfect here would stay the same.

"I've asked Ducky and Gibbs. They also going to talk to the agents I interact with. We've all gotten away with so much. We felt that we had a right to, but no one does. I'm glad this is happening now. I hate to imagine how much worse it could've become." Abby's mind back to the terrorist case where Tony could've died because of his team-mates arrogance.

McGee opened his mouth to argue his point, but Abby had already turned away from him. He knew that if he pushed it would make her very angry and that was the last thing needed to happen. He walked out of the lab and never saw his ex-girlfriend wipe tears from her eyes.

XXXXX

9 Months later

Tony sat at his desk and glanced around at his new home. The time had passed quickly since he had left NCIS. He'd sold his showy apartment and had fallen in love with this house as soon as he had seen it. It still needed work done. It wasn't in a busy area and it had a huge shed type building that could fit cars and a boat. It made him think of Gibbs as soon as he saw it. He'd sat down with Fornell, of all people, and tried to work out what to do next. The FBI agent had really been there for him and was now considered a friend. Toy really didn't want to join another agency as he would still have the same reputation, which was when being a consultant came up. He dealt with new and cold cases and had contracts with Metro PD, FBI, and Homeland Security. Tony even had worked some cases for the CIA. He and Trent actually got on and had become friendly, which was weird all on its own. As of yet he hadn't worked for NCIS, but he did have a contract with them, he'd spoken to Gibbs a couple of times. He felt it was better that he sorted out his own life, and Gibbs could make the changes he needed. Then one day, they could become friends for real, or something more.

Balboa had been in contact and told him that things had started to change, Gibbs especially. He interacted with his team was differently, there was less of a bastard in control. He didn't play them against each other, they worked as a team. His new SFA was respected and didn't do any of the crappy jobs. Abby it seemed had also made an effort; she was no longer completely self-absorbed. She treated everyone with respect and didn't have temper tantrums if things didn't go her way. She also never asked Gibbs to step in if there was a mistake. Abby would own up to it and sort it out.

Tony opened the file that had been delivered. Vance had called him and asked if he would help with a case. It was a current one with the MCRT. It would be the first time that he saw them, well apart from Ducky and Jimmy; they'd always supported him and met up often. When the director spoke to him, he had thanked Tony for being honest and pointed out places where NCIS could improve. It should never have become that bad and because of it they had lost an excellent investigator. Vance was just happy that he would still consult with them.

Tim and Ziva hadn't changed much; they of course, believed they hadn't done anything wrong. The two of them had felt things were fine just the way they had been and that nothing had needed to change. Jimmy had told him they'd both been written up a couple of times and they had no choice but to follow the new rules or at least pretend to.

It was going to be weird seeing them all again. He had no regrets leaving that job. He loved being a consultant and being able to work with different agencies, it was a lot of fun. His security clearance was ridiculously high so he could go from one to another. He also had log in's to their separate computer systems. It made things easier on him.

Tim was an arrogant little shit that he could deal with. Ziva was a killer one that believed the world she revolve around her. She was a nasty piece of work and with the death of Michael and her father she seemed to just blame him for everything. Tony grabbed another file; it was one that Trent had given him, just in case Ziva gave him problems. The CIA agent also promised to take her out if something happened. The contents of the file had been a shock, but it did explain why Michael Rivkin was drunk. It never made much sense that a man who had so many people after him decided to get drunk. If only Tony had never come that night everything would have been different the next day. Ziva might have killed Michael and her father for what they had done. Tony pulled out the emails between Eli and Rivkin. They already knew Eli had told Michael to get together with Ziva. Things, it seemed changed when she came back to NCIS. Michael was tired of hearing her complain about everything and especially Tony. The two men were lonely and become closer then one day, they became lovers. He didn't know how exactly they ended up having sex and Tony felt like he was going to be on Jerry Springer with this. The reason Michael was drunk was that he planned to tell Ziva it was over and that he was going to be with her father. He had fallen out love with Ziva David and had fallen in love with her father, Eli.

TBC