A/N: I found a one shot that I've written somewhere in the summer of 2009 and I never really finished it. Or maybe I had different plans with it, that I don't remember for the life of me. But I liked the premise of the story and decided to finish and upload it. Enjoy!

Ceremony

Gibbs looked out of the window on the side, and noticed it had turned out to be a nice, sunny day. 'Were is he,' grumbled Director Vance incredulous next to him. 'He is late. You did talk to him, right?' He shot a look to Gibbs, was silently waiting next to him. 'Yup,' Gibbs answered with a nod. 'So you are sure he received the invitation,' Vance stated. 'Yup,' another nod.

They were standing side by side, at the front of the auditorium waiting for the ceremony to start. Or more specific: waiting for the last guest of honor to show up. The auditorium was already filled with other Special Agents and invited guests, and on the stage five people were waiting to receive the awards they were rewarded with for outstanding achievements in the line of duty. The sixth chair on the stage was still empty, and Gibbs knew without a doubt that it would stay empty.

From the moment that Vance had talked with him about Tony's nomination for the Meritorious Service Medal, Gibbs had said that Tony didn't want it. Vance had scoffed, saying something in the lines of 'DiNozzo would probably crave the attention' and had dismissed Gibbs' reservations. Gibbs had shrugged and left the office. When he talked with Tony about it, Tony had giving him a doubting look and went back to his work. Gibbs knew that his Senior Field Agent had received the invitation a few months later, because Gibbs had placed it on Tony's desk himself and had seen him read it. No words were exchanged about it.

Vance looked at his watch, grumbled something unintelligible, and walked up the stage. Gibbs followed right behind him, and waited next to the other Team leaders of NCIS for Vance to start the ceremony. Gibbs noticed how the director started with the others first, probably to give Tony more time to show up. But Gibbs knew it wouldn't happen. He self never accepted his awards because he didn't do the job for those awards, but for the people he helped doing his work. He knew that Tony had an entirely different reason for not accepting: although he seemed to love attention, when push came to shove he didn't want it. He couldn't deal with attention that was solely directed at him as a person and he tried to avoid it as much as possible. It probably was the same reason that Tony would say that he was 'fine', when he actual wasn't: when people would pay close attention there was a chance they would see things that Tony would rather keep close to his chest. Acting as if everything was nice and dandy was always easier than letting people in. Gibbs recognized the behavior as something he had done often enough.

Gibbs blinked and put his focus back to the auditorium. Applause faded away for Ingrid Bergen, who had received the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award because she had invented a better way to process paperwork, and saved countless hours and money with that development. Gibbs smirked when he remembered learning to work with the new program. Yes, it saved a lot of time and probably money, but he was pretty sure that the trainers still were having nightmares after training him.

Finally, Vance looked around the public, scanning the faces for, if Gibbs had to take a guess, Senior Field Agent Anthony DiNozzo. Who wasn't there. Vance gave a glare towards Gibbs as if it was his responsibility to make sure that Tony was were Vance wanted him to be. Gibbs bit back a smirk and waited for the speech that would follow.

'This year I would like to take a moment to highlight one member of our Major Case Response Team. You all know Supervisory Special Agent Gibbs,' Vance gave Gibbs a nod and a round of applause erupted from the crowd. Gibbs stood impassively for a few moments and gave a stare to Vance who seemed to enjoy the moment tremendously and waited another few moments for the applause to die down. That is what you get for never attending your own award ceremonies, Gibbs thought and he resisted an eye roll.

'Last year, one of the members of Gibbs' team, Special Agent David, was taken and held hostage in Somalia. Without the unwavering believe of Special Agent DiNozzo that his partner, Special Agent David, was still alive, we can be certain that Special Agent Ziva David would not have been found or rescued. Special Agent McGee and Special Agent DiNozzo have risked their lives to get her back. They tracked down the terrorist cell responsible, let themselves get captured to get into the enemy camp and rescued Special Agent David. We are beyond thankful and grateful for the skill, mindset and courage that they have shown and I would like to award Special Agent DiNozzo with the Meritorious Service Medal.' The public in the auditorium started applauding again, louder and more excited than they done previously. The story of how Ziva had been rescued was widely spread and popular among the agency and Gibbs knew that it had also been discussed in other 'Alphabet agencies', as Abby liked to call them. Gibbs didn't mind that he wasn't mentioned in the speech, even though he had made the kill shot. Because Vance was right: without DiNozzo's single-minded believe that Ziva was not dead, they would never have found her.

The applause for his Senior Field Agent kept coming, even though Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo did not, until Vance raised his hand. Slowly it became silent again. Before Vance could say anything, the entrance doors flew open and a red-headed, heaving McGee stood in the door opening. Gibbs lifted an eyebrow and scrutinized Tim. He thought his clothes looked rather … odd. He was wearing jeans with multiple green and brown stains. Grass stains? A white t-shirt on top of his jeans and a brown jacket that seemed totally out of place on the outfit. Actually: it looked like a jacket that Ducky would wear. McGee looked at the crowd that stared at him in silence and his face flushed even more.

'Special Agent Mcgee, is there something the matter?' Apparently McGee needed those words. He looked at Vance, straightened his shoulders and walked forward. 'Tony said he wouldn't make it. He asked me to accept the reward on his behalf,' he said to Vance. Vance looked even more pissed than before the ceremony had started and gave a short nod. McGee entered the stage, and walked up to Vance. Vance handed McGee the award, who thanked him and without an acceptance speech whatsoever, turned around and left the stage and the auditorium in seconds.

Gibbs looked outside again and wished that Vance would end things quick. He had a feeling he knew where his team was hiding out.