Tony stared down at the file in his hand. He'd just closed a cold case for Metro PD and had just finished up the paperwork. He looked up as he heard someone knock on his door. Tony glanced over at the security monitor and smiled at the image of Kort. It was still a shock at how they'd become friends. There was a lot of security due to the fact of not trusting Ziva or Mossad. His safety wasn't a joke, not to him anyway. Tony walked to the front of the house and opened the door.

"What's that?"

"Tony, my friend, here's more information on Ziva and Eli."

"I'm going to assume it's something I need to look at?" He grinned at the glare he received. "Fine, I'll take a look."

Tony grabbed them both a beer and sat down to read. There were lots of emails and telephone transcripts that showed Ziva knew about the people and agents Michael murdered. She was upset that he would kill others but not Tony. She believed that things would be easier for her without him around, McGee was easy to manipulate. There were others between Ziva and Eli after the death of Rivkin. He tried to push his daughter to get rid of DiNozzo whether it be an accident or maybe she could arrive a little too late to save him. Tony had no idea if she'd attempted anything.

"You okay?" Kort asked.

"I'm just glad that I managed to get Eli to admit that Michael was working for him. I hope that eased the homicide rage a little."

"So instead little miss psycho tried to get Gibbs to kick you off his team."

Tony laughed. "She honestly believed that he'd pick her."

"You thought that as well, didn't you?"

"They had a connection. I've never seen him like that with anyone else. It might have been with Abby or Ducky, but I knew them all after. Ziva could and did get away with so many things."

"He's not the same without you. I've had to be in a couple of meetings with him, and he was miserable. I did ask where his faithful shadow was." Kort laughed at Tony's facial expression. "I do love getting that Gibbs glare."

"You need psychiatric help; you know that right?"

"You're lying; you like me just the way I am."

Tony just laughed.

XXXXX

Gibbs sighed as he glanced over at his new SFA. He missed DiNozzo, not just the amazing agent that he was, but the man himself. He suddenly felt eyes on him, so he glanced around and saw McGee glare at him briefly before the vulnerability came across his face and he looked away. If the young computer expert didn't grow up and check his attitude, Gibbs was going to kill him. A brand new team had started to sound like a brilliant idea.

"I'm going to see Abby." McGee waited for Gibbs to nod and headed off to the labs. No matter what he did, she wouldn't forgive him. There were no dates, which is something he still hoped for and they couldn't seem to be friends either. He had tried to say sorry, but he didn't believe that he'd done anything wrong. They were better off without Tony.

XXXXX

"Abby."

She sighed as Tim's voice echoed around her. Abby knew that tone; he was going to whine at how badly people acted around him. In his mind 'Timothy McGee' was better than anyone else and should be treated like that.

"I don't have any cases of yours at the moment." She hoped to cut him off before he started.

"I know I just needed to get away from Gibbs. He glared at the new SFA today. If he doesn't like the guy, he should just replace him with me." Tim sulked.

"He wasn't glaring McGee, he was remembering."

"Remembering what?"

"Tony, the former SFA they that use to sit in that very seat. The excellent agent, the man you left unguarded during the terrorist case and who you and Ziva belittled every chance you got. Is any of this coming back to you?" She snapped.

"It's not–."

"McGee if the next words out of your mouth are 'it's not our fault' or any variation on that theme I am going to murder you."

"After everything we were to each other, I still can't believe you took his side." He pouted.

"Well, hopefully, one day when you're not the hero of every event you are involved in, you'll see what you've done. Not just to Tony, but how you treat others. I changed and finally grew up. You should try it sometime."

"I came here to talk, not to be lectured."

"Tim, you want someone to agree with you, to hang onto your every word especially when it comes to Tony and how he ruined your life. You want that go and talk to Ziva. No one else wants to know."

"Fine." He spat out. "If he had as much work as I do, he would've left. I get all this extra paperwork, and I wasn't even promoted." Tim turned and glared at Abby as she started to laugh. "What?"

"You're doing the typical amount of paperwork. Tony had done it before, and that's not including the SFA work." She saw the disbelief on his face. "Don't believe me talk to Balboa's team, hell you can talk to any team. The reason you didn't get promoted is you aren't good enough, you have a lousy attitude, and you suck as a team player. You don't see the whole picture; the only thing that matters to you is you. As long as you're the star, you're happy. Then you have Ziva, you follow her like a sheep, do her bidding, and she is lower than you in the chain of command and not even an NCIS agent."

"You're just jealous of my relationship with her," Tim smirked.

"Out of everything I just said the only thing you got was thinking I was jealous over you." Abby sighed. "Tim I cared for the man you once were. I hate and am disgusted with the man you've become. When I looked at myself nine months ago, I was felt the same about myself. Ducky made me see things how they were. I hope to build a better and stronger friendship with Tony. Just like Gibbs I need to show him how different I am."

"You're doing all this for DiNozzo?"

"No, I'm doing it for me. I want to be a better person, I'll still make mistakes, but that's human nature."

"There was nothing with how you were. I miss that Abby who would joke with us."

"You and Ziva didn't joke, you belittled." She could see that nothing had got through. "Goodbye Agent McGee, please only come back when you have a case. If you don't, I will make a complaint."

Tim just stared at her; she had changed so much. Her Goth style had matured, which was covered by a white lab coat. The machines could be heard as there was no longer ear splitting music. It wasn't just her; everything seemed to have changed since Tony had left. There was still a lot of anger that Director Vance hadn't forced Gibbs to promote him. He could have transferred him or even been given his team. It still confused him why Tony leaving had affected everyone so much.

It was time to find Ziva; she was the only one that understood.

XXXXX

Tony smiled and had a brief conversation with security as he headed into NCIS. This was the first time back since he'd quit and was nervous about seeing everyone. He walked out into the bull pen.

"Yo DiNozzo," Balboa called out and walked over. "It's good to see you, heard great things about your consultant business. Can I uh pick your brain later? I was going to give you a call and see if we could work something out."

"Just because it's you, I'll take a look. Send me what you have." Tony handed him his card. Balboa had been a great support and did everything he could to help during some of his most difficult times.

"Tony," Gibbs called out.

DiNozzo could feel the warmth in that voice. He'd missed Gibbs so very much, but the time apart, the need to change and to grow was something that had to happen.

"It's good to see you, Gibbs."

"It's Jethro; you no longer work for me."

"Okay, Jethro it is." He could feel the cold stares from Ziva and McGee, but he no longer cared about their opinions. "I understand you have a case that needs a little help?"

"We don't need any help" McGee muttered.

"Especially not his," Ziva added snidely.

Gibbs turned and glared at them. "Do you have leads, any at all?" He waited for them to both shake their heads. "You don't; well then, yes we do need his help. If you ever get your own team and at the moment that's doubtful, you can then decide what you do or don't need."

"I need to go and check in with Vance, then with Ducky and Abby. I'll be back after that."

"Aren't you supposed to be working the case?" McGee asked with a smirk.

"I will be I'm going to ask them their thoughts, just like I did when I worked here. Not everything is written in a file; don't discount people's feelings and ideas."

"Good idea, I'll sort out a desk for you." Gibbs watched Tony smile, how he had missed that and watched as their new consultant headed up the stairs to see the director. He turned to look at his team. "As for you two, I don't want to hear any nasty, sarcastic or so called teasing remarks coming from either of you. If you do or say anything to cause an embarrassment, Vance will hear all about it. From now Mr. DiNozzo is someone new to both of you. He's here to consult, so treat him with the utmost respect."

"You mean we can't be friendly to him." Ziva smiled as she spoke.

"You have never been friendly to him. Just try and be professional. I hope that is something you can manage or wasn't that part of your Mossad training." Gibbs wanted to show Tony how much he'd changed and how he worked.

"Yes, I can be professional." She snapped.

"McGee?"

"Of course I can."

"Good. Webster, I'll introduce you to him. You might be able to get some pointers on being my SFA."

"Thanks, boss, I'd like to be able to talk to him." Webster knew he could learn a lot and there were things he wanted to ask.

Gibbs hoped things would run smoothly. If McGee and Ziva did anything to mess this up, they would pay for it. He wasn't going to lose Tony because of their egos.

TBC