Redoubtable

Gibbs watched the death of the Navy men that could have been prevented and knew he was too old to continue doing this job. He couldn't handle working for someone who didn't care about loss of life. He would have tried to stay on long enough for them to find a replacement, but he knew that Tony was more than capable of leading the team and would do a better job than he did.

With Jenny as Director, he couldn't help the force of the redoubtable caution that ran through him. His judgement was especially suspect when it came to her given their shared past. He believed that Tony would be a better counter to her, like he'd been to Gibbs, because Tony wouldn't let her get away with anything wrong and Tony didn't have the shared past to make him even consider bending.

He never considered what impact his leaving would have on Tony. He had full faith in Tony. So he relaxed on the beach in Mexico and repaired Franks’ house, enjoying finally being able to relax.

It was true he was also avoiding the memories of Shannon and Kelly, but he didn't see anything wrong with that. When Ziva called demanding his help, he ignored her the first time. The second time she called he answered and barked, “Tony is team lead, now. He's more than capable of helping you, if you let him.”

He hung up on her before she could respond. Ziva wasn't willing to call back a third time. Neither did she trust Tony to help. She continued to work it by herself.

Of course, when she went underground Tony investigated. He gathered the team together and they worked on proving her innocence without Gibbs. They finally proved her innocence, but Ziva still didn't see Tony's worth and thought she should be running the team.

Gibbs didn't know any of this, though. He continued to work on Franks’ house, building Franks the hot tub he wanted and many other things. The next person to call was Fornell.

Gibbs just directed him to Tony. Even Emily wasn't enough to tempt him away. In fact, he flat out told Fornell that Tony was a better investigator than he ever was.

After that, people stopped contacting him. While the calls were a boost to his ego, he had to admit he didn't miss them when they were gone. Everyone had always wanted something from him.

A year passed by and then another. He didn't notice. He was as happy as he could allow himself to be. Plus, the only one he'd come back for hadn't contacted him so he was content to stay where he was.

He was enjoying the lack of responsibility placed on him. So when the phone call came in for Franks from Jenny, he stayed behind even though it directly related to a previous case of his. He'd gotten too used to having no responsibility and he felt no compulsion to help Jenny after the way things went down before he left.

He clung to his anger and grief and refused to let anything change it. When Abby called him about the bullet he'd put in Pedro Hernandez, he told her to tell the truth. He then called Tony to let him know.

He was shocked to find out that Tony was no longer in charge of the MCRT and had no say in what NCIS did anymore. Before he could charge back to DC demanding to know what had happened, the Reynosas appeared at Franks’ house with the intent to murder Franks and him when they found out he was there. Together, they managed to fool the Reynosas long enough to escape on a boat.

Their first destination was Tony. Gibbs needed to understand what had happened. He needed to know why his chosen successor no longer worked at NCIS. He hadn't gotten much out of Tony on the phone. He hoped he'd have better luck in person.

Tony rolled his eyes at the two men on his doorstep. He had known they would show up after he received the phone call from Gibbs. Tony had taken a job with Homeland security under Tom Morrow when Vance attempted to ship him off as agent afloat.

The truth was he could probably pull some strings to help Gibbs, but after 5 years or more of Gibbs missing with no contact he didn't feel like he owed Gibbs anything. Still he was too nice to just turn them away, even if he hadn't been impressed with Franks handling of the situation with Jenny.

“What happened, Tony?”

“That's a very long story. Suffice to say when you left things changed. By the time, Vance replaced Jenny as Director and forced me to take an agent afloat position, I'd already been considering changing jobs. Director Morrow was kind enough to offer me a position with Homeland security and I accepted.”

Gibbs glared. He wanted more than that, but it was clear Tony wasn't interested in rehashing the past.

Tony shrugged. “If you want to know about the Reynosa investigation and Abby's report I suggest you talk with Vance directly.”

Gibbs sent Tony a pleading look. This wasn't the Tony he remembered. Tony simply raised an eyebrow and tilted his head towards Franks.

Gibbs lips turned down in a frown before he growled at Franks that they were leaving. He'd go talk with Vance and find out what the hell happened. Then he'd have to look for a new place to stay since Franks Mexican villa was out of the question and he'd already sold his house.

It was time for him to start living his life again. Now, he just had to figure out what life that was.