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They packed up their things that night.
The next day they were flying back to D.C.
Tony purchased a new apartment, three floors up from McGee.
Two days later Tony and Ziva walked into NCIS.
The team sat in the bullpen, doing their work as always.
They saw the team again.
McGee and Bishop were the first to hug them.
Torres and Reeves introduced themselves.
Someone must have told Abby.
She came running from the lab and pulled them both into one of her famous hugs.
Palmer and Ducky followed soon after.
Gibbs watched from his desk, where he had been waiting for them. Ziva and Tony stood in front. The team gathered silently behind them, waiting.
"Rule 12 boss. Sorry about that." Tony apologized.
"Rule 51." Gibbs stated impassively.
"I don't understand?" Tony asked. After a moment of silence, Tony smiled. "Oh, now I do. Thank you boss"
"Welcome back Tony, Ziva." He dipped his head to each in turn.
And just like that, they were together again.
They brought Tali in the next day to meet the team.
Abby was her favorite.
She bought a matching dog collar.
She enrolled herself into an after school forensics program.
Years passed.
Tali submitted her application to NCIS.
She was instated as Abby’s lab assistant the next day.
No team in the history of NCIS had ever solved as many cases as that team did.
Clayton and Emily got married.
Delilah was her maid of honor.
Tali was the flower girl.
Everyone wondered why this team was the most successful of them all.
When any of them were asked, they would smile and say,
“I dunno, we just work well together.”
And that was that.
They were a family.
Family came first, and in the end that was what really mattered.