Legacy

I stood on the catwalk where my former mentors once stood. Watching the MCRT laughing and fooling around with each other. They brought me so many memories, of pranks, jokes, cases, and sadness. I leaned forward, my back creaking with age. I sighed; it was the twenty year mark since he died. There were not many agents that remember, or even heard of him as true. He was now myth that only a few of us knew about. He, along with his mentor was the last of the cowboys.

I couldn't think of anything else. I wished I wasn't the one standing there, staring. My oldest child now in college, my youngest a freshman in high school, I wished they could have met him. I wanted to break down and cry. I looked down and whispered "I need your help boss." I felt someone's hand on my back. I jumped slightly. "Take it easy Probie." My friend laughed.

"Sorry." I whispered. Closing my eyes again.

"Hey don't make me go old school on your MIT ass. McDirector." He laughed.

"Yeah, forgot, rule six."

We were quiet for awhile. Not really thinking anything. "Remember when that was us?" Tony asked, pointing down to his team.

"Remember when this was them?" I asked smiling.

He laughed. "Which them?"

"Well I'd prefer us to be Vance and Gibbs. 'Cause I am not a women." I laughed.

"I hope Jenny comes to you in your sleep and kicks your ass for saying you wish you weren't her. And why am I Gibbs?"

I turned to looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Seriously Tony? You are starting to even look like him." I cackled. We stood there for awhile longer, then went our separate ways.

That night I was walking past the bullpen, and stopped when I over heard the teams conversation.

"What's with the Boss?" The probie asked.

"Today is his Judgment day." The senior field agent said in a creepy voice.

"What?"

"There is a myth or a legend about an agent. The older agents say he was the last of the cowboys."

"Please don't start this again." The only girl in the group complained.

"What's going on?" The probie whined feeling left out.

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Apparently he basically had a perfect record."

"Dated the first female director for a while." The female added.

"Took on a rouge mossad agent."

"Took on Mossad."

"Sniper. Marine Sniper. Silver star."

"Took out the man who killed his family."

"Built a boat in his basement."

The probie drew the line at his co-workers 'myths' there.

"Enough! I am not that new ok? Don't tease me like that."

I decided to step in. "They're telling the truth." They all jumped and looked at me. "Leroy Jethro Gibbs, was my mentor, took me in when I was a probie. Had a boat in his basement. Drank bourbon. He was a damn good marine, until the very end. Always protected his family and it took a lot to become his family. If you screwed up he'd slap you on the back of the head, yes that's where your boss got that from," I paused to rub the back of my head, "Gibbs got that from his boss. He just wanted to help people. To make sure there was justice in the world. So what you are observing from Tony, is what he observed from Gibbs. He has and always will be a mystery, meant to be a myth." With that I started to walk away. I looked up to see Tony, Ziva and Palmer staring at me smiling. I turned back to the team, "but at least I get to be a part of the myth. Semper Fi." With that I entered the elevator with my friends. My wife was already in there. She smiled at me. Tony's team ran after the elevator and jumped in at the last second.

As we rode down in silence, I felt as if the five of us were truly the last cowboys, and Gibbs wasn't. He was merely Wyatt Earp. His mentor was Doc Holiday. Today we were all thinking sad thoughts: that NCIS would never know what it once had again. I could tell we were all thinking that. We all wore frowns, hung our heads in sorrow. All of sudden the elevator came to jerking halt. Sending us a sensation we hadn't felt in a long time. The new team clung to the wall terrified. The old team, really looked at each other for the first really in a long time. We started laughing. Not being able to control ourselves.

We all sat there for hours, waiting to be rescued. We told the team of times we spent together. We told them of Mike Franks, Donald Mallard, Jenny Sheppard, Leon Vance, Kate Todd, Paula Cassidy, and lastly and mostly we told them of the myth himself, the legend, the once face of NCIS, the one, the only Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

~Dedicated to my grandmother, who I will make sure will be remembered for as long as is permitted. It's been a year since she died. I am now only appreciating all the stories of her past. I hope this you enjoyed the story~