A/N thank you to my wonderful beta for her help. I am slowly going through reviews, but it's difficult. I have handwritten this entire story out. If it stays the same when typed then there will be total of 9 chapters.

XXXXX

The Director looked up and smiled. "It's good to see you, Tony, you look well."

"Thank you sir, you too."

"Call me Leon; you're no longer one of my agents. You here is a consultant; I'd say that puts us more on an equal footing." He paused for a moment. "I want to thank you for accepting a contract with us. It would've been understandable if you refused."

"I may have had problems here, but NCIS meant and still means a lot to me, as does the reason why it exists. Thank you for reaching out to me, I'm glad that pride didn't get in the way on either of our sides."

"After everything you'd been through, pride had no place. We were in the wrong, and I wasn't going to deprive NCIS the best consultant it could get." Vance smiled at the shocked look on the younger man's face. "Your reputation precedes you. There was no doubt in mind you would do well, you're a born investigator."

"I appreciate that…Leon." It still felt weird for him to say. "I've also heard things about NCIS, the changes that have been made around here."

"Gibbs, Abby, Ducky and myself we made a promise to make the changes that were desperately needed. I am sorry to say that McGee and Ziva have had a few problems with this. They don't seem to understand why and I don't think they ever will."

"It's a shame that they can't see beyond their wants and needs, but what happens to them means little to me. What does mean a lot to me is what the rest of you have done. After that McGee and Ziva can say whatever they like, it's taken a while, but I moved on."

Leon laughed. "I bet Gibbs is making sure that they don't do or say anything that could possible upset you. He's changed, and that's a good thing, but he no longer seems happy."

"Gibbs, happy?"

"You know what I mean. This job means everything to him, but now there is something or someone missing."

Tony tried not to read too much into that statement. "I'll talk to him and see how he's doing."

"Thank you; I'd appreciate that. Here's the file, have a look through it before you head down. If there are any problems or you need anything come back and see me."

Tony smiled and nodded. He reached out took the file and sat down.

XXXXX

The first place he went was to autopsy.

"Tony, my boy how wonderful to see you." Ducky said as he pulled him into a hug.

"It's good to see you too Ducky. Hey, there's my little autopsy gremlin." Tony laughed, and as Jimmy just shook his head. "I can't use it in front of anyone else if they don't get it."

"While it is good to see you, NCIS or work isn't the same without you here."

"I appreciate that, I just thought I would pop in and say hi before getting down to work."

"Maybe we could have dinner one evening?"

"I'd love to Ducky, just let me know when is best for you. I'm my own boss, and things have settled down. I've got a decent list of clients so that I can take some time for myself. I don't quite have to work all the hours under the sun now."

"It's understandable you had a quite a few changes in such a short time. You moved home and started your own business. I have heard wonderful things about your new venture, and I am thrilled it is working out."

"It feels like this is what I was meant to do. I get to pick my cases some old and some new. Working with different agencies and Police Departments means there is a variety type of cases."

"You are a born investigator, and it's your time to shine." Just then autopsy phone rang. "I guess it's time to get back to work."

"I'll talk to you both later. I'm off to see Abby now."

"She'd be thrilled to see you, Abby has missed you desperately, and she isn't the only one." Ducky smiled secretively.

Tony shook his head, was this another comment aimed at Gibbs? He hoped that Abby wanted to see him; they hadn't spoken since before he quit. There had been some emails, but seeing someone face to face was completely different.

XXXXX

Tony looked around; it was so weird it being silent. He walked into the lab, the very quiet lab, since there was no ear-splitting music. Abby was working hard, and she looked amazing.

"Hey Abs."

Abby spun around there was the biggest smile on her face and ran into his arms. She pulled back with a small frown. "Is this okay?"

"Of course it is." He pulled her back against his body and wrapped his arms around her and held tightly. "You're looking good." He whispered into her ear.

"Thanks, I needed to make some changes to grow up. I have missed you so very much." Abby pulled out of his arms and just stared at him.

"I missed you too, so how are things?"

"They're going well." She sighed at the look he gave her. "Okay, things are going really well except I'm not talking to Tim or Ziva."

"I'm sorry about that." He hadn't meant to ruin any friendships or whatever was between her and McGee.

Abby slapped his chest gently. "You have nothing to apologise for. It's their fault they don't see or don't care what was going on. It's their self-centredness that ruined our friendships. I'm glad you left, I mean because we needed to change. You also needed to leave for your sanity." She bit her lip. "I was hoping that now you've seen how I've changed that we can start hanging out together."

"I'd like that. I didn't stop seeing you because you hadn't changed; I needed to work on me too. I've heard wonderful things about how you've all worked hard to change."

"If you need me for anything work or friendship just call me. If you need an escape while you're here my lab is at your disposal." Abby grinned at him.

"I might need to take you up on that. I can't imagine things are going to run smoothly with McGee or Ziva." He laughed as she nodded in agreement. "I'd better get back up there and earn my fee."

"Go on and show them what a real investigator looks like."

Tony leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "See you soon."

"Bye." Abby bounced on her toes, happy to be in his life again.

XXXXX

Tony settled down at the desk just behind Gibbs and ignored the looks that Ziva and McGee kept throwing his way. The case was about some Marines that had possibly been stealing and selling military grade weapons.

"I don't see why a consultant is needed. We are perfectly capable of investigating this case ourselves." Ziva spoke as soon as Gibbs left to get a coffee refill.

"We have enough experience," McGee added.

Tony shook his head at how he still followed Ziva like a little puppy. However, their words no longer meant anything to him. He knew what he was good at and nothing they said would change that.

"Stop right now." Alex Webster suddenly spoke out. He'd put them on report before and would again. "Mr DiNozzo is here as a consultant to help us with a case we haven't found any leads on. You are to treat him with respect. If you don't, I will write you up, again."

"Thank you, and please call me Tony."

"Very well Tony, I'm Alex. I want to thank you for agreeing to help us. It couldn't have been easy coming back here." He glanced over at his two agents.

Tony smiled as he glanced around. "There are some things I would rather forget, but there are a lot of good memories as well. NCIS will always be important to me. If my help is ever needed, I will do everything I can to help."

"Is there a possibility I could pick your brain about being Gibbs' SFA." He smiled which immediately fell from his face as he turned to look at Ziva.

Tony knew that she'd been about to say something about it and it wasn't going to be flattering. He decided to ignore her. "Of course, Gibbs is the best to work for; it's not always easy, but worth it. I wouldn't change the experience for anything." He pulled out a card from his pocket, and Alex walked over and took it from him. "McGee, pull up everything on the plasma. We can go through and see what theories any of you have."

The plasma lit up as the photos from the crime scene flashed up on the screen.

"Maybe they did it; they could have argued?" Ziva explained as she looked at the photos

"You think they killed each other? Where are the murder weapons?" Tony looked over at her doubtfully.

"It might have been some customers?" McGee added.

"Tony?" Gibbs questioned, no one had noticed that he was back.

"It doesn't sound right. There are too many holes, and the scene was too clean. Some elements were planned, but there is something off."

"What does it matter if things feel off if the evidence points to them?" McGee complained, with Ziva nodding.

"Unless you find the murder weapons and actual physical evidence that puts the guns in their hands, it matters. It doesn't all fit."

"I agree with you Tony; there are too many inconsistencies." Alex agreed it had frustrated him about this case, where you found evidence and followed it to a dead end.

"Someone's trying too hard to place the blame on these guys."

Gibbs looked at the plasma then to his team and Tony. "We need to figure out if they are guilty and if not who's trying to set them up."

TBC