DISCLAIMER: I don't own any recognizable character of NCIS.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: (sighs) And so another one comes to an end. This is actually sort of sad, because everybody's asking for more. Maybe I'll do a spin-off on this one, too… Thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing!

Epilogue

It had been ten months since Tony and Ziva had disappeared. Ten months, and every day, Gibbs had wondered if they had made it to safety. Where they'd gone. What they were doing.

He missed having movies quoted at him. He missed hearing mangled idioms. On the plus side, he'd finally finished a boat. Managed to get it out of his basement, towed it to Florida. She was going to sail her maiden voyage today. And he'd taken the team along – what was left of his 'team', any way. After Tony and Ziva, they had all realized how they depended on one another to pull through. Ducky, Jenny, Abby, McGee, even Palmer. A friend, a lover, a daughter, a son and… Palmer. Like a family. And what good was a good boat when you had nobody to sail with you?

They came into one of the beachside cafes to eat that evening, after a full day out on the water, laughing and talking.

He heard it very suddenly: the familiar sound of Tony's laugh. Nobody else seemed to have heard it, as they all kept sipping at their cocktails and talking.

Gibbs looked around carefully, trying not to alert anybody by being obvious. He spotted them sitting at the far end of the patio, Tony working on a laptop with a drink beside it, and Ziva doing a sketch of some sort on a notepad on the table. Shiloh was between them in her own chair, probably eating dinner, and in the chair next to Ziva was a baby carrier, where she had one hand lightly rocking.

Tony said something to her casually, and Ziva laughed, turning her attention briefly to the carrier once more. She replied with a smile and lifted a small infant out, resting him or her against her shoulder. Her eyes locked gazes with Gibbs momentarily, then she sent him a slight smile. Tony found him seconds later, and raised his glass almost imperceptibly.

He would go home comforted. They were fine. They were happy.

And so he would be too.