A/N - I forgot the Disclaimer - I do not own any of these Characters. NCIS and all characters belong to Donald Bellisario.
Stan Burley has been doing the NCIS Agent Afloat stint for 10 years now. He was getting kind of tired of it, and meeting the love of his life, Connie, on board the USS Delarue the previous year had been a god-send. Now that he was engaged to be married, Stan decided that it was time to go ashore and settle down.
He met up with Vance at the Navy Yard and explained that he wanted to become a team leader. He was hoping that his experience could get him a position as an MCRT team leader, preferably not at HQ. But being the leader of an MCRT team in another office would be good, if Vance could swing it. Stan also explained to Vance why he needed to come ashore - because he was getting married. He went on to state that he had his eye on the man he wanted as his Senior Field Agent, but Stan wasn't sure of this person ever wanted to leave the team he was currently on.
"But I did see some signs this last time I worked with him, that indicated that he might be ready to move on, soon."
"When did you work with them and who is he?" Vance asked
"Last week over the matter of Admiral McGee possibly being a murderer. I want Timothy McGee. I think he would make a great Senior Field Agent. He has all the qualifications to be a Senior Field Agent."
Vance nodded his head. "Actually Stan, you're in luck. Agent McGee has already expressed an interest in becoming an SFA for another team leader. He told me that as long as Tony was on Gibbs' team, Tim felt that he was never going to be given the chance to grow and gain new experiences. He said he had already been type cast-" Vance used his fingers for emphasis, "as the geek, and he really wanted to break out of that mold. He's had 10 years of experience, and he feels that it is long past time for him to move on. He wants to do more field work, more undercover work and develop more forensics and interrogation skills as well."
Stan smiled. "I'll take him." he said without any hesitation.
"I'll have orders cut for McGee ASAP. How soon can you put a new team together? Timothy may have some good ideas on who might fit with you guys as a team."
"I'd like to wait until after Timothy joins me. He would be far more familiar with the younger agents and their skills than I am. Both here at HQ and around the other offices."
Vance nodded. "I'll get right on it." he said.
But then Tony and Ziva were sent to Berlin, and all hell broke loose as Ziva began her own personal private witch hunt of revenge to find Ilam Bodnar, the man she believed had murdered her father and Mrs Vance.
Unfortunately the way Ziva and Tony went about this "witch hunt" did not escape the notice of Internal Affairs and the Department of Defence. All thoughts of transferring Timothy McGee were driven out of Vance's mind with the appearance of Richard Parsons and his own personal witch hunt of Agent Gibbs. Gibbs and his team had come under suspicion for their investigation of Bodnar. When Gibbs was finally arrested, all 3 team members solemnly walked into Vance's office and gave up their badges and guns in support of Gibbs.
[Authors Note - End of Season 10 - everything from here onwards - is AU]
Vance went to visit McGee at his home, the day after he resigned in support of Gibbs. Timothy invited the Director into his apartment.
"How can I help you, Director?" asked Tim.
"Do you still want to transfer to another team?" Vance asked.
Timothy nodded. "Yes, and I think this resignation is the perfect time to do it. Are you able to get me back into NCIS?"
"Well considering I have not processed anyone's resignations yet, technically you are still employed." Vance smiled and continued.
"In the meantime, I am putting a new team together for Rhode Island. My new team leader is Stan Burley who has requested you as his Senior Field Agent. You will be working on the Major Case Response Team based in Rhode Island. You will be covering all the states from Pennsylvania to Maine, and also any US Navy and Marine personnel who find themselves in trouble in eastern Canada as well. So your beat will cover the cities of Boston, New York, Newark, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. You may end up doing a lot traveling. Are you interested?" Vance kept a close eye on Timothy's body language as he spoke and knew what Tim would say.
Tim's eyes had widened as Vance spoke, and by the time he was asked if he was interested, Timothy was nodding his head. "I would love to do the MCRT out of Rhode Island. And Stan Burley asked for me? Personally? As his SFA? Yes I accept." He had a huge smile on his face. "Never been to Rhode Island. It would be nice to live somewhere new. So how long do we have to move?"
"I'd like you to come back into HQ tomorrow where you and Stanley can meet and choose those new agents you want to join your team. I'd like your team to be in Rhode Island and starting work within the next 4 weeks."
Vance paused and then hesitantly spoke up again. "If I may ask, Agent McGee? Could you tell me why you never filed any complaints against Gibbs and DiNozzo for the way they were treating you?"
McGee sighed. He didn't particularly want to air the family secrets, but Vance was entitled to an explanation. "Last month when this whole business of my father being a suspect for a murder blew up, Abby suggested that I speak to my father about how I felt about the way he was treating me. What I told Abby was 'He's the Admiral. No one talks to him, they just listen.'
"Well I gave that same authority to Gibbs and Tony 10 years ago back when I was a green probie. I didn't know any better, and I never developed the guts or the courage to override that authority. I just accepted what they said, that they were training me. They treated me just like my dad did, so I thought nothing of it.
"But then I read an article about the Boss from Hell, and it described Gibb's personality quite closely. That's when I realised that Gibbs' behaviour was not normal and that's when I first came to you to request a transfer to a new team.
"I do have a detailed record of how I was treated. But no one has ever seen these records. And now that I have made this decision to leave, I am not going to use them. BUT I do not want Gibbs and Tony to know where I am going. I know Gibbs. He will keep looking for me, and if he ends up at Rhode Island without having called me to authorise him to visit me first, [and NO I would not willingly agree to see him again] then I will file a complaint against him of stalking and harassment as well as using all the records I have. Same goes for Tony as well."
Vance nodded. "I promise I will not tell Tony and Gibbs where you are, if they ever do return to NCIS."
Vance was very pleased that this mess had all finally worked out so well. He said goodbye to Timothy and returned to the NCIS office to begin writing up the paperwork to have Agent McGee transferred and to process the resignations of Agents DiNozzo, David, and Gibbs.
