A/N: I wrote this the afternoon before the season premiere last week, and now decided to edit and submit it. Basically my "welcome back" to the NCIS team.

Note: I don't know how realistic the whole vacation idea would be, but let's just go with creative license, okay? :)

MY 100th FANFIC! YAY.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS.

Welcome Back

Gibbs would never admit it out loud, but he had really missed NCIS. It had been a long vacation.

One month earlier, Director Vance had called the MCRT into his office and dropped the bombshell—Sec Nav was requiring the agency to train reserve investigators; newer, younger replicas of the seasoned special agents. This was not a job takeover, Vance had explained. It was merely a plan devised for an emergency situation.

"Like, what, if we all died?" Tony had asked skeptically.

Vance had nodded. "Exactly, Agent DiNozzo."

It was clear that everyone had something snide to say in response to that, but having been in situations where death for the entire team seemed inevitable, they chose to refrain from comment.

The whole idea was ridiculous in Gibbs'mind. In his whole career at NCIS, there had never been a specially-trained back-up MCRT. But Vance was insistent on complying with every demand made of him, and instead of recruiting the current team to train the more-or-less Probies, he was taking the duty upon himself.

To fashion perfect mini-McGee's, no doubt.

In essence, this meant Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, and McGee had to make themselves scarce for a while. Which meant a rare vacation—with the stipulation of being on-call should a true emergency erupt.

They weren't the only ones. Abby was also ousted from her lab and temporarily replaced by a younger scientist, a development that had irked her to no end.

'No one else understands my babies! They'll miss me.'

Nevertheless, that was all a thing of the past, because this morning marked the grand return of the scattered colleagues.

Gibbs settled into his seat, reluctant approval on his face as he realized everything had been put back where it belonged by whoever had occupied his desk over the preceding thirty days. He wondered whether Ducky had a hand in this, and smiled at the thought of his old friend, who had met him at the airport two days ago when his flight arrived from Mexico. He made a mental note to visit autopsy later in the afternoon.

Tony was the next to arrive. He was talking animatedly on his cell, but hung up when he reached the bullpen. He grinned at his boss.

"Welcome back, Gibbs!"

"Same to you, DiNozzo."

Tony surveyed his desk happily; that is, until he noticed something missing.

"My Mighty Mouse stapler is gone!" he complained, rifling through his desk drawers. "One month away, and they steal my most precious cargo."

"Tony?"

"You seen it, boss?" The man looked up and followed Gibbs' extended finger to the missing supply.

Which was on McGee's desk.

Uttering a cry of outrage, Tony snatched it up and gave it a fond pat before putting it in its rightful place.

"There's no place like home!" a new voice exclaimed, and both agents turned to an ecstatic Abby, who proceeded to hug them each in turn. Tightly.

"Um, ow." Tony rubbed his arms where his friend had squeezed them.

"Anyone else back yet?" Abby asked excitedly, perching on Ziva's desk. She didn't wait for an answer. "I want to see my lab—and they'd better have taken care of it—but that can wait. I wanna say hi to Timmy and Ziva first." She tilted her head to the side, observing Tony. "You're tan."

He grinned cheerfully and winked. "Yep."

"So…you went to the beach for a while, right? Did you, ahem, meet anyone?"

"No, he didn't." McGee had arrived. He beamed and accepted Abby's enthusiastic embrace. "At least, not the week that I was there."

Abby's jaw dropped. "You went on vacation? With Tony?"

"Why is that so unbelievable?" Tony wondered aloud.

McGee ignored him, nodding at Abby. "Yeah. He invited me along."

"You're still really pale," she observed critically.

He blushed and leaned on his desk. "I never tan—only burn. So I had to wear sunscreen. Lots of sunscreen. Anyway, Abs, did you have fun in New Orleans?"

Abby nodded vigorously. "I'd forgotten how much I missed everyone down there. We got caught up, but I kept missing NCIS."

"As did I." Ziva, who had slipped into their midst, said in agreement, smiling uncomfortably as Abby rushed at her.

"How was Tel Aviv?" Tony inquired.

"It felt good to be home," she admitted. "But I am just as happy to be back here."

"I missed all of you so much!" Abby exclaimed. "Let's not do another month-long vacation anytime soon, okay?"

"Okay," Tony and McGee said in unison, grinning at the inadvertent synchronization.

"Hey!" Ziva suddenly called as she shuffled through her things. "Who stole my paperclips?"

Tony smiled. "Oh...I forgot to tell you. They took those away. Decided you were too dangerous to be possessing sharp objects."

In a flash, Ziva had him by the throat.

"Where. Are. They?"

"Don't know." Tony was sputtering slightly, but his grin did not fade. "Ask Vance."

"Give them back!" Ziva snarled.

Then she and Tony winced as each received a sharp Gibbs-slap to the back of the head.

"Knock it off, you two." Gibbs reached into Tony's top desk drawer and removed Ziva's missing box of paperclips, handing them to the Liaison Officer. Then he glared around at them. "What are you all just standing there for? Let's do our jobs!"

But he couldn't stop a small smile as they mumbled apologies, Abby disappeared to her lab, and Tony, Ziva, and McGee settled obediently at their desks.

Welcome back.