****A Week Later****
Gibbs and his team were exhausted as they trudged into the bullpen. The case in Puerto Rico had lasted a lot longer than any of them expected and the depressing conclusion of it, combined with the fact that they were a man down had made the case seem longer and harder, especially without Tony’s insights.
Tony. All through the past week, Gibbs’ thoughts had kept turning to his senior agent. He’d been growing increasingly concerned by Tony’s ill-health and his part in it. It had been after Tony had dived into that icy water to save Maddie and himself that he’d begun coughing so much and with increasing force. He’d ordered the young man to the doctor while trying to quell his feelings of guilt over Tony’s condition.
Looking around, Gibbs was worried and a little angry to not find his senior agent waiting for them. He’d called Jenny to tell her that they were on their way back and he’d assumed she’d tell Tony and that Tony would be waiting for them.
But maybe he was being unfair, Tony had been pretty ill when Gibbs had last seen him; maybe he hadn’t been cleared by Dr. Pitt yet, or maybe it had gotten late and he’d just decided to go home.
Gibbs pulled out his cellphone and looked at it; he was tempted to call Tony up, just to check on him, but a look at the time put a halt to that urge. Tony was probably sound asleep and Gibbs was reluctant to wake him up; that would be playing the bastard a little too much. He put his phone up and barked at Ziva and McGee to go home, they had the next few days off barring a big case. As he stalked out, he missed the envelopes sitting on Tony’s desk.
****Three days later****
McGee was worried; it was 9:30 and Tony wasn’t in yet, there had been no phone call and he kept getting Tony’s voicemail on his cellphone. Calls to his land line got him a message saying that Tony’s phone had been disconnected, which probably meant that the lines in Tony’s neighborhood were out again.
McGee fidgeted, as often as Tony got on his nerves, the older man usually called in if he was going to be late. Plus Tony had looked so sick when McGee had seen him last that he wanted to be sure Tony was okay.
“Any luck,” Ziva asked from her desk, a concerned look on her face.
McGee shook his head, “None. He’s not answering his cell and I keep getting a message saying that his phone has been disconnected.
Ziva looked worried, “Maybe he’s still out sick. Gibbs told him not to come back until a doctor cleared him.”
McGee frowned, “But that doesn’t explain why he’s not answering his phones. Plus, I’m sure Director Sheppard told him we would be back today.”
Ziva’s frown deepened as she tried to think of any reason for Tony to not answer his phone but couldn’t come up with one. “Let’s check his desk, maybe he left a note or something and we missed it.”
McGee got up and went over to Tony’s desk and froze when he saw an envelope addressed to Gibbs with another envelope beneath it addressed to the entire team, “Uh oh.”
Ziva looked up, “What? What’s wrong?”
McGee’s eyes were wide as he held up the envelope. “It’s addressed to Gibbs. And there’s another one addressed to all of us.”
Ziva’s dark eyes looked worried as she came over to the desk and looked over McGee’s shoulder, “Open it.”
McGee took a deep breath, hoping against hope that it wasn’t what he was sure it was and gently peeled open the envelope. But any hope he had was dashed when he read the first line.
‘Special Agent Gibbs, please accept my official letter of resignation from the Naval Criminal Investigation Service.”
McGee and Ziva looked at each other, both of them thinking the same thing; ‘Gibbs is going to be pissed.’
TBC
Author's Chapter Notes:
The team is back from Puerto Rico, but where's Tony?