About three weeks and a couple of more solved cases later, each team had to say goodbye to their temporary members with conflicted feelings. On one hand, they had come to like their guests a lot and also to depend on their various talents and skills, on the other hand they were missing their own teammates dearly and were glad to finally get them back. A month without your loved ones had been a long time, after all. The teams, and especially the leaders, each wished they could keep both agents for themselves which was, of course, impossible.

"So, this doesn't mean we can't keep in touch…" – Said JJ, sounding strangely choked up. When Tony pointed this out, she just shrugged. – "I think I'm coming down with a cold." – She explained half-heartedly, not really believing it herself. Tony had been the first to trust her with a very important task; an agent's work. Tony had told everyone she could do it, even though they had all pointed out she was 'only' the media liaison. And she had done it. After that, Hotch had asked again whether she wanted to try and become a full-fledged agent and this time, she hadn't rejected the idea right away. It didn't sound so impossible anymore.

"There are a few more movies we could watch..." – Garcia offered and Morgan nodded right away in agreement.

"Like Terminator." – He suggested.

Tony smiled. Their Star Wars marathon had been a blast, followed by all of the Indie-movies. He couldn't wait to do something like that again with his new friends.

"Did you know that originally O.J. Simpson would have played the Terminator?"

The others just laughed, shaking their heads. When it came to films, Tony knew nearly as many random trivia as Reid about everything else. Nobody would tell at first glance but they had learnt by now: the two agents weren't as different as they had originally thought them to be.

"So, you think nobody can withstand the DiNozzo charm, right?" – Elle asked cheekily. – "We could test this theory sometime… I challenge you to get a date within two hours in a bar of my choice!"

"Two hours? Lady, are you kidding me?! I only need twenty minutes to have three women hanging on my every word! I will show you!"

"Great. But if you don't manage, you'll pay for all our drinks."

"Agreed."

After a few pats on his shoulders and some more well-wishes, the senior profiler stepped up to him to take the others' place saying goodbye.

"NCIS is lucky to have you." – Said Gideon, shaking his hand and Tony felt thrilled. Somehow, he had a feeling a praise coming from this man meant nearly as much as from Gibbs. – "I hope we'll have another opportunity to work together soon."

"I hope that, too! I had a great time."

"It was an honor having you on the team, Agent DiNozzo." – Hotch shook his hand as well, showing the utmost respect. – "You're an incredible agent and highly intelligent. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, because your working method and success rate speaks for itself. And if you ever wish for a change of scenario, I will take you in a heartbeat."

It was surreal. Tony hadn't ever thought he could be civil, let alone friends with FBI agents. And to have them compliment him this way! Gibbs always let Tony think he was the dumb one on the team. McGoo was the smartest of them after all and Kate the slick one. With Gibbs as the strict marine and team leader, the only role remaining for Tony was that of the class clown and frat boy. Or at least that was what he'd believed – until now.

Maybe things could change for the better at home, too.

"Oh, and Agent DiNozzo?" – Gideon called after him. – "I hope you left Spencer's apartment in pristine condition."

Tony blushed.

"I… khm…"

NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS

"You were much more agreeable to work with than Tony. I'm almost sad to see you go." – Teased Kate, patting Reid in the back. She had by now learnt the boy didn't like sudden, unexpected movements or any kind of uninvited human contact, so she made sure that he saw her intention in advance and also to keep the touch brief.

"You're not bad. For FBI." – Abby laughed to show she was only joking. – "And it's a plus that you understand what I say. None of them do. Well, aside from Timmy here. Sometimes."

"Hey! I always know what you say!" – The young agent protested. – "But I surely liked having someone around who's even more geeky than I am…"

"Ahm… Thanks. I think…"

Ducky stepped up to him, grabbing his hand warmly.

"You know what Gibbs said, my boy? He said you were an incredible agent with amazing instincts and an admirable way of thinking. If he could do so without losing Tony, he would keep you on the team permanently. But if you tell him I said that, I'll deny everything; I'm generally not a coward but I do value my life."

Gibbs strolled into the bullpen at that very moment, stopping in front of the group.

"So, you're leaving?" – He asked in a neutral voice but his posture betrayed his feelings: he was sad to see the young agent go even though he couldn't wait to get his own agent back. He didn't understand why it had to be a choice between them.

"Assignment's over…" – Reid explained, having difficulty speaking for some unknown reason. – "I need to go back to my team and your agent is coming home…" – Originally, he had hated the mere idea of spending a month with NCIS so why was it so hard to say goodbye right now? Shouldn't he be happy to go back to Quantico? Wasn't he happy? Of course, he was, he couldn't wait to talk to his teammates. His family. It was just… Whatever.

"Oh." – Gibbs sighed. – "Well, I hope you left Tony's apartment the way you found it. Especially that his DVDs are still in place. He doesn't like a mess. Unless he's the one making it."

Spencer smiled.

"It's all clean and tidy." – He confirmed. – "Thank you for… you know… Putting up with me." – He said awkwardly.

"It was good while it lasted."

"Sir? I mean… Agent Gibbs?"

"I'm just saying it wasn't as horrible working with the FBI as I thought it would be. You're a very competent agent and I believe even Tobias wouldn't want to deny any association with you like he usually does with the morons called colleagues he has."

The others burst out laughing and Spencer soon joined, figuring it probably wasn't meant as an insult but a joke. He hoped at least.

NCIS * BAU * NCIS * BAU * NCIS * BAU * NCIS * BAU * NCIS * BAU

When Spencer entered the director's office, three persons were already there: the director of FBI whom he knew very well, the director of NCIS whom he had seen occasionally in the past month and a young agent who he assumed must be the 'infamous' Anthony DiNozzo whose apartment was full of DVDs but otherwise looked like a museum for expensive furniture you marvel at but wouldn't want to actually have in your own home.

"Doctor Reid, thank you for joining us. Take a seat, please."

Spencer sensed Tony's curious expression follow him as he settled in the armchair next to him and in front of the two directors. Strangely, the stare didn't feel uncomfortable. Actually, it was as if he knew this man whom he'd never even met before.

Tony studied the young 'Doctor' whom he felt like he knew already, although he was seeing him for the first time ever. Still, he'd just spent a month being him: living in his apartment, working with his team. The boy's home was full of books. Nothing but books. He didn't have anything usable in the kitchen and his furniture was old but comfortable; the whole place was cozy but also as disheveled as the boy himself seemed to be. He didn't own a television which Tony would have found unbearable, hadn't he traveled nearly all month to different well-equipped hotels or visited Morgan to watch films.

The kid looked just like he had expected he would: he was a very young child playing dress-up in his grandfather's closet. Thank God they hadn't had to wear each other's clothes during the assignment; even the FBI sweatshirts were better than this ancient style…

Spencer turned to look at his 'colleague' and smiled shyly. He got a confident grin in return.

"I'm sorry to say I might have left a bit of a mess in your apartment. You know, pizza boxes, because, honestly: what else was I supposed to eat without even a microwave? And the clothes I used. The ones your team oh-so-kindly provided for me? You know, all with FBI logos everywhere on them? I might have left them on the floor… Things like that, 'cause we've been a bit too busy traveling around to do much cleaning. But I didn't touch your books, I swear."

Spencer felt annoyance boil in him but if he had learnt something over the last month then it was standing up for himself and not taking the bait. So he plastered a cheeky smile on his face and said calmly:

"Oh, no problem at all. I love to do housework. So much that I cleaned out your desk drawers-"

"You did WHAT!?"

Bingo…

"Well, Kate and Tim told me you've been meaning to do it for ages, so when we had half a day without a case I went ahead and-"

"And what!? What did you do? I'll kill them both!"

"Don't worry, I only threw out those old dirty magazines. Gibbs said you never even look at them anymore. And I found a broken Mighty Mouse stapler-"

"It's. Not. Broken!" – The NCIS agent growled. – "You didn't throw it out, did you? DID YOU!?" – In the end, it sounded more like pleading than anything else.

Spencer ignored the question and went on.

"By the way, I enjoyed your apartment very much. Especially the jacuzzi. Ahm… I hope you pay flat fee for hot water…"

"WHAT!?"

At that, Spencer burst out laughing and Tony, finally understanding what was going on, was shocked. This… Kid! This child had won! Against him! Who would have thought?

Actually, he felt proud; since he was sure this must be his team's doing.

The director of FBI, rolling his eyes at the agents' immature display, began his speech.

"So, I'm sure you've already guessed but this is Agent DiNozzo, whose place you took for a month. Agent DiNozzo, this is Doctor Reid. You were filling in for him during that time."

The two nodded silently.

"Agents." – The director of NCIS continued. – "I hear both of you have been doing a great job in an undeniably irregular situation. You've been taken out of your comfort zones and put into a very new environment without preparation, forbidden to contact your friends and family and even banned from your own homes, without access to your personal things. That must have been difficult but you exceeded all expectations. Congratulations."

The two young agents nodded again, not really sure what was expected of them at that point and neither ready to admit they hadn't suffered as much as they probably should have…

"Since none of you gave up ahead of time, I guess we couldn't say who won… I mean… I didn't mean it like that… ahm…" – The director of FBI bit his tongue.

"Sir?" – Tony asked, suddenly suspicious. – "What do you mean by 'won'?"

"Nothing, DiNozzo, nothing." – The director of NCIS answered dismissively, but a bit too quickly for the two agents' liking.

"Was this a competition? Sir?" – Reid guessed, using his skills as a profiler to read the two uncomfortable-looking older men.

"Actually, Doctor Reid, this was… khm… morelikeabet…"

"A bet!?"

"Yes, Agent DiNozzo. We're the directors of our agencies. We are entitled to place bets if we so wish."

"A BET."

"Yes, I believe that's what I just said."

"You mean there was no 'Interagency Teambuilding Exercise' at all!?" – Reid gasped.

"Gee, Kid. You only now figured this out? Really, I thought you were a profiler." – Tony snapped, feeling entirely humiliated and annoyed. Never mind he had just understood the situation himself: they'd been played!

Spencer ignored him, having learnt about the other agent's temper from his teammates and knowing quite well the attitude wasn't really directed at him.

Director FBI said:

"But there could have been! It's actually a good idea, isn't it?"

"Quite frankly if I may, sir. I think you should take your bet and stick it up yo-"

"You don't really want to finish this sentence, Agent DiNozzo."

"Why would you bet on something like that though? What's the point?" – Reid inquired, failing to understand the purpose.

His director fidgeted.

"We were bored."

"Excuse me?"

"Bored, DiNozzo. Bored. I'm sure you know what it's like. Every time you are bored something catastrophic happens."

"With all due respect, sir-"

"This tone of voice is certainly not respect, DiNozzo-"

"- when I'm bored I only annoy my teammates. Not two agencies."

"DiNozzo: when you're bored you annoy the WORLD!"

"But I don't play around with agents!"

Spencer alternated looking at the two as if watching a tennis match. He hadn't ever heard anyone talk to a director like that before, though he agreed it was absolutely warranted this time. He tried to imagine how Hotch and Gideon had dealt with a strong-willed man like that for a month and couldn't wait to hear the stories about it.

"You're also not the director of an agency, are you, DiNozzo?"

"I think I-"

"I think we should probably go back to our teams. We haven't seen them in a month and, Agent DiNozzo, I happen to know your friends miss you a lot. So, come on!" – With that, Spencer grabbed the riled up agent's arm and pulled him to his feet before pushing him out of the room. He had never done anything as daring as that before but things have changed lately. A lot… He had learnt he wasn't just a 'kid' with brains who could be used to read material quickly or to remember everything by heart. No, he was a valuable member of the team and he had a right to participate in everything they did! Even if it was protesting against unfair treatment! So, he encouraged his soon-to-be friend to turn his back on not one but two directors and leave without their permission to do so before things got even more out of hand and they'd do something they would regret later.

Meanwhile, Tony was thinking about how the past month had changed things for him, too. He had learnt how much easier it was to do things as a team; how much it meant if you didn't have to solve everything alone. What a great feeling it was if you didn't have to worry about your boss shouting at you or slapping your head all the time and that you could and should spend time with your colleagues outside of work to be able to call them 'friends'. When teammates respected you and they really listened if you had something to say. Also, what it was like to just be himself and not an image others wanted him to be. Yep, he would try to change. Maybe he should invite Tim over to watch a film sometimes, and take Kate out for dinner… Maybe he should go bowling with Abby and try to talk about some personal matters with Gibbs while he worked on the boat…

Or maybe he could begin right now…

"Hey, Kid? Would you like to share some stories about what my dear teammates did to you? Maybe over a coffee?" – The BAU team had told him enough about the boy to know that he had coffee flowing in his veins.

"Sure thing! Especially if you describe the faces of my teammates when you gave them this attitude!"

The laughing and joking of the two could be heard for a while. Back in the room, the directors looked at each other.

"Well, I didn't expect this behavior from my agent. Usually, he's like a scared child and the others have to speak for him." – Said Director FBI. – "Your agency has had a bad influence on him!" – He accused.

"Excuse me!? My agent behaved much worse, in case you hadn't noticed! While he certainly never needed anyone to speak for him, I still haven't experienced him talking to me like that before! His team leader would slap him into next week! So, maybe it was your agency having a bad influence on my agent!"

"Your agent was a rotten apple to begin with, there was nothing that could worsen him! My agent was just a child!"

"Oh, yes, exactly, a child with his wonderful social skills is so much better, isn't he!?

They both glared at each other for a moment before relaxing.

Then as if on cue, the two started to laugh.

"Well, that was certainly fun." – Said Director NCIS when he managed to catch his breath again. – "Maybe next time, we should switch team leaders!"

The End