Gibbs stormed into the bullpen, he’d overslept for the first time in years and then his favorite coffee shop hadn’t had his favorite hazelnut creamer. Then, he’d hit every red light between the coffee shop and NCIS Headquarters so his coffee was lukewarm instead of hot.
As he headed for his desk, he scowled upon seeing McGee and Ziva at Tony’s desk, looking at a piece of paper.
“McGee! Ziva! Is the government paying you to sit around on your asses? You both have reports to do, get to it!”
McGee and Ziva didn’t move, they just looked at each other and then at the letter McGee was holding.
Gibbs stormed over, “Did you two hear me?” He paused when he realized that he didn’t see Tony anywhere, “Where the hell is DiNozzo?”
McGee and Ziva gave each other a long look before McGee cautiously handed Gibbs the paper they were looking at and then both of them scrambled to their desks.
Gibbs took the paper and stared at it for a minute before handing to McGee, “Read it out loud, I left my glasses in the car.”
McGee gulped as he took the paper from Gibbs’ hands and began to read,
“Special Agent Gibbs, please accept my letter of resignation from the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, effective immediately. My reason for leaving on such short notice is that I am simply physically unable to continue as an agent any longer, which is why I am not giving a two weeks notice.
I understand that I am leaving you short handed but Special Agent McGee is more than ready to step into the senior agent position and will do well there.
Anthony Dominic DiNozzo.”
McGee folded the paper, taking care to crease it right so it would fit into the envelope again. He was stalling because he was afraid of what he would see when he looked up again. Finally, he couldn’t stall anymore and hazarded a glance up at Gibbs and automatically wished that he hadn’t.
Gibbs was standing there and, if one didn’t know better, looked as if he hadn’t heard a word of the letter. But McGee and Ziva could see a vein pulsing in Gibbs’ forehead and his fists were clenching. Without a word he ripped the envelope from McGee’s hands and stormed off, presumably to Director Sheppard’s office. Leaving McGee and Ziva alone and very glad that they weren’t Director Sheppard.
*************************
Gibbs stormed into Jenny’s office, not bothering to even make a pretense of knocking, “What the hell is this?!” He waved the envelope under Jenny’s nose.
Jenny looked up over her glasses, “Jethro, I’ve asked you repeatedly not to come barging in here. And please don’t shout.”
Gibbs growled, “Don’t start that with me Jen. Did you know about this?!”
Jenny looked at the envelope, “You mean Tony’s resignation? Yes, I did know.”
Gibbs looked at her, absolutely flabbergasted at her calm demeanor, “Why wasn’t I informed?! I’m DiNozzo’s immediate supervisor! I should’ve been informed immediately!”
Jenny rolled her eyes, “Jethro, you’ve been in Puerto Rico on a case for the last week. Besides, given the circumstances it wouldn’t have mattered if Tony had waited for you or not.”
Gibbs scowled, “What the hell are you talking about?”
Jenny sighed and reached into her desk, pulling out some paperwork and handing it to him, “Tony came to me last week, saying that he’d visited Doctor Pitt about his chronic coughing. Unfortunately Doctor Pitt discovered that Tony’s swims to rescue you and Maddie Tyler caused an infection which did more damage to Tony’s already damaged lungs and that Tony could not be cleared for duty. And due to the amount of damage, Tony was given paperwork for a medical discharge.”
Gibbs sank down into one of the chairs in front of the desk, “When was this?”
Jenny sighed again, “The day you and the rest of the team left for Puerto Rico.”
Gibbs felt his heart sink and a sudden memory flashed through his mind of the last time he’d seen Tony. “But I…need to talk… to you about something… boss.” God, Tony must’ve been trying to tell him what Dr. Pitt had said, maybe hoping that Gibbs would be able to find a way around the medical discharge that would end any chance of him finding another job in law enforcement. And he’d just yelled at him and walked away without even asking him what was wrong. And it was HIS fault that Tony was sick again in the first place.
He was quiet for several minutes, staring at the paperwork before asking his next question, “Is there any way Tony could stay on with NCIS?”
Jenny shook her head, “No. I actually asked Tony to hold off doing anything until I could make a few phone calls. I called everyone I could think of and looked over all the rules and there is no way that Tony could stay on as an agent. He would not be able to pass the endurance tests required. I told Tony that and offered to help him in any way possible.”
“Did he say what he was going to do? Is he still in DC?”
Jenny shrugged, “I honestly don’t know. He said that Doctor Pitt had recommended that he move to somewher warm and dry in order to stave off further infections. But when I spoke to him last, he hadn’t made any definite decisions.”
“When did you talk to him last,” Gibbs asked, his voice quiet.
“About five days ago, when I called to tell him that there was no way that I could find that would allow him to stay at NCIS. He thanked me for trying and said that he would be coming in to drop off his badge and gun and to clean out his desk.” She looked at Gibbs, sorrow in her eyes, “I’m sorry Jethro, I did everything I could.”
Gibbs nodded, knowing that Jenny wasn’t bullshitting this time. But that didn’t quell his desire to find Tony and try to make things right.
TBC
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs finds out about Tony leaving.