Evanescent

As soon as DiNozzo left, Gibbs turned to Vance “I want them both off my team.”

“Now, Gibbs let's not be so hasty here. I know this could have been a lot worse, but no one was actually hurt.” Vance tried to calm Gibbs down.

“So you'll wait until someone is hurt and you actually have a lawsuit on your hands before you'll do anything, Leon?” Gibbs growled.

Holding up his hands in innocence, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying let's think this through rationally and apply the punishments that make sense.”

“I think having them both off my team is a fitting punishment. Ziva clearly can't be trusted and Tony and I need to be able to trust our partners will have our backs. As for McGee, he needs to fucking grow a pair and step up to the plate when he knows someone is doing something wrong." Gibbs snarled practically getting into Vance’s face with each word.

Gibbs stepped back a bit wanting to make sure he had Vance’s complete attention for this part. “Taking the easy way out like he did, can't be allowed to fly. Watching your partner's back is one of the sacred laws of any federal agency or police force. If word of this gets out, it won't just be my team that they aren't wanted on.” Gibbs pounded on the table three times in emphasis.

Vance blinked in shock at the number of words in Gibbs diatribe and before he could recover and respond, Gibbs stormed out yelling over his shoulders. “Get them off my team by Monday, Leon.”

Leon sighed. “What a mess this is.” He thought as he returned to his office ignoring the growling Gibbs bear in the bullpen.

As he passed his secretary, he asked her to get McGee on the line for him and let him know when she had him.

Meanwhile, Tony quickly finished what work he needed to get done and headed to the home he shared with Gibbs. Needing to distract himself from thoughts of what may happen, he started cooking a homemade meal which would also have the likely benefit of improving Gibbs mood when he got home.

Gibbs too was finishing his work, but this kerfuffle had added to his workload as he would now need to submit requests to HR to have Ziva and McGee reassigned. He severely hated paperwork. Grumbling under his breath, he tried to finish everything before 1pm as he'd told Tony he'd be home around 1:30 when they discussed their schedules this morning.

He wished Tony had given him a heads up about this though as he could have planned better had he known, but he understood why he didn't as they both preferred keeping their personal life separate from work. They may need to make an exception today to discuss backup plans since those could affect their personal lives in this case.

Finally, he finished all the paperwork and could go home. Opening the door to their house, he started salivating. He could practically taste the food from the smell alone. Tony had clearly outdone himself. “What’s the occasion?”

“Just needed to shut off my brain for a while.” Tony smiled in greeting.

“Do you still need to shut it off?” Gibbs asked a slight note of concern in his voice.

“Nah. I think I’m good, but let’s have dinner first.” Tony gave Gibbs a quick kiss as he came closer.

After dinner, they settled on the couch together Tony leaning into Gibbs. “I told Vance I wanted them both off my team.” Gibbs abruptly stated.

Tony blinked in shock. He hadn’t expected that. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“Yes, I did. They need to learn better and this is the only way they will.” Gibbs snapped.

“What is Vance going to do?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t care either. What do you want to do if Vance doesn’t handle it to our satisfaction?” Gibbs wanted to make sure they had their ducks in a row in case Vance did not appropriately deal with the situation as far as they were concerned by Monday.

“I have a couple of backup plans. Fornell owes me a favor and there’s always Internal Affairs or a discreet word to one of the NCIS gossips. And of course I could leave NCIS or you could or both. I’m sure we could find work at another agency.” Tony waved away the concern. There were many options. He wasn’t worried at this point in time.

Jethro dropped a kiss on Tony’s forehead in agreement. “Let’s not worry about it now. Any of those options would be good and we can discuss in more details which one depending on what Vance does.”

Meanwhile Vance’s secretary let him know McGee was on the line. “Agent McGee. Sorry to call you on the weekend.”

“No problem. What can I do for you, sir?” McGee had basically snapped to attention when he realized who was on the phone. He had no idea why the director would be calling him.

“I have great news for you. There’s an agent afloat position with your name on it. You leave on Monday.” Vance abruptly announced.

“What?” McGee reeled in shock.

“Why am I being shipped off?” McGee wondered to himself. “I thought Vance liked me.”

“Sorry. I know it’s a shock, but I really need someone I trust there and this will be great experience for your field agent career.” Vance explained further as he waited for McGee to recover.

“Uh. Um. Thanks.” McGee stuttered not at all sure what to think about this development.

“You’ll need to catch The USS Seahawk first thing Monday morning. It’s been struggling with discipline issues since DiNozzo left.” Vance informed.

“What about Gibbs?” McGee asked. He knew his boss hated anyone messing with his team.

“Don’t worry. I’ll explain everything to Gibbs.” Vance spoke calmly not about to reveal to McGee that Gibbs had demanded him off his team.

“I’d best start packing then.” McGee murmured.

“Let me know if the agency can do anything to help. I know it’s short notice, but this will be a really great career move for you.” Vance reiterated in closing.

Vance sighed after he heard the ringtone. That was the easier solution of his now two problem children thanks to DiNozzo. Vance wasn’t actually sure that McGee would survive as agent afloat, but if he did, he’d be a much better agent and unlikely to give in so easily to someone when he knows it’s wrong in the future.

Ziva, however, was a completely different problem especially with his friendship with Eli.

On Monday when Gibbs and Tony came in neither Ziva nor McGee were at their desks. Tony started up his email and saw that Vance had sent a message saying they’d both been reassigned per Gibbs request. Tony couldn’t help but liken Ziva to an evanescent tornado. Here one day making a mess of everyone’s lives and gone the next. He couldn’t help but hope things would be better for everyone this way, however.

“Vance took care of it.” Tony mentioned aloud knowing Gibbs wouldn’t check his email.

“Good.” Gibbs grunted. “We’ve got a case. Let’s go.”

Tony smiled. It was business as usual with Gibbs. He did wonder what happened to McGee and Ziva though. Vance’s email did not mention any details. Oh well he was sure to hear what really happened through the grapevine eventually.