By the time Abby and Ducky realized that Gibbs truly wasn't in the mood for their company and was barely even listening to a word they said to him, they finally left him alone; although as hurt as Abby was, she left only after Ducky made it clear to her that Gibbs would need his rest and that they could come back the next day. Meanwhile, faking his sleep, Gibbs felt just a little guilty for doing it even when his wife and daughter came to see him. He knew they didn't even have time for any hospital visits and yet they came anyway, but he needed to be left alone and get his moment of peace to think about everything he had heard.

Part of him didn't want to believe that Mike could have done anything like this; his good friend and mentor, a man he had looked up to and respected so much, despite the faults. Another part didn't know what to think or feel. Finally, one big part of him was mad at himself for never seeing what had been right in front of his eyes the whole time. Especially when he knew what kind of man his former boss was. People had died because of Mike and with dread chilling him to the bones, Gibbs realized that those two people could've been Shannon and Kelly. With a growing rage he realized that it would've been them, had Tony not been there. Tony, a young boy, not a man. He could've lost them and never even known who to really blame. He didn't want to think what he would've done if that had been the reality.

The machine next to him was starting to make distressed sounds and Gibbs had to focus hard to force himself to calm down. The last thing he needed right now was to have the doctors and nurses running there to see what was wrong with him. It was already hard enough to get any peace when people kept coming in his room, and still they had the nerve to tell him to get some 'rest'... After trying to remain calm, but when he couldn't stop thinking about the many 'what if' scenarios, Gibbs finally had enough and he stood up. Ignoring the pain in his head and the weakness in his body, he disconnected himself from the machines, not thinking what the pain would be like once the pain relief would be gone from his system.

Valentine was a nervous wreck, standing there and watching his former boss. To think that by calling Mike and then gathering all the evidence during the years, that it was he who might be the man's ultimate downfall. The thought scared him a little. The young probie in him was shaking, but he reminded himself that he was the boss now and had his own team to lead, so he couldn't let his former boss scare him into submission anymore. Mike Franks was just a man, no more than that. Maybe even less of a man if you counted his cowardly actions.

Entering the room, Tony didn't take his eyes off the man sitting behind the window. "Has anyone been talking to him yet?"

Tom looked away from the window showing the interrogation room and shook his head at Tony's question. He then looked back at Mike who had remained calm during the whole time. Either he trusted that things would turn out good or then he had resigned to his fate. But there were no such signs there, just calmness and at times something that looked like a smile on his lips. "Not yet. I wanted to give you a chance to be here first, but I'm sure you understand that I can't let you do this yourself. You're too close to this and far too emotionally invested."

Only slight narrowing of the eyes told Tom that the young man wasn't happy, but Tony didn't say anything. Instead he crossed his arms over his chest and looked thoughtful. When he did speak, the tightness in his voice was the only evidence of the barely contained rage that still hadn't calmed down since confronting Vivian and then meeting Mike soon after that. He merely used all of his willpower to keep it on leash. Last thing he needed was to let his Director see his less professional side... He didn't want to gain a reputation of being Gibbs 2.0.

"I don't have a good feeling about this. It's not like they died by his hand. Not directly... And then there's all the years between then and now." If only he could do the interrogation, he'd make the man talk. Tony had to admit that his Director was right; he was too close to this, which could cause some future problems.

Tom hesitated. He didn't want to give any false hope. "We'll see about that. Obviously we can't just keep him sitting there forever, but I called in someone to take the case from us and explained the situation. They'll be looking into the evidence and choose the next course of action. Hopefully we'll have enough to keep him on a very short leash if nothing else, to give enough time to work on this case with the kind of care it deserves."

"Who?"

"The FBI."

Tony turned around sharply. "What?"

"I do have there some people who I trust with this. Besides..." Tom hesitated again, wondering how much he should reveal, with the other two agents in the room with them. When he spoke again, it was quietly and leaning closer to Tony. He knew the other two must have noticed that secrets were being shared, but he didn't have time to worry about their personal feelings. "I'm not too sure where our SecNav's loyalties are."

Seeing the dead serious look on the man's face, Tony nodded. He studied the old man behind the glass. "Could explain why he's so sure of himself."

"Could be."

The FBI agents arrived and Tony looked at them surprised, but then he was wondering why was he surprised. Of course it would be Tobias Fornell they would send... Who else? At least he knew the man well enough and how he worked. With that knowledge, Tony relaxed and focused watching the show that was about to begin. Fornell was no Gibbs, but neither was Mike Franks.

"Shouldn't you be in a hospital?" Chris Pacci stared at Gibbs, completely unsurprised, but somebody had to ask the question.

Gibbs, thankfully fully dressed in his own clothes now, ignored the question and instead looked around the bullpen. "Where..?"

"Interrogation," Chris answered and Gibbs turned around, nearly falling flat on his face, had it not been Chris and his quick reflexes saving him with a steady hand. "Let me guess... AMA? Are we going to get the doctors calling soon and telling us you have disappeared without a trace?"

Pulling free from the helping hand on him, Gibbs left without answering and with as much dignity as he could, when he was still feeling frail and weak as a newborn kitten.

Watching him go, Chris shook his head and called Ducky. No pity for the idiot, and it was better if somebody with actual medical knowledge was aware of the situation...

When he finally found the right one, Gibbs stepped in the observation room as quietly as he could, thankful for the dim lightning in there. Standing close to the door, he saw Tony, Tom, Val and another Agent. All of them were focused watching Mike Franks and the two agents in the interrogation room with him. To Gibbs' surprise, Fornell was the one doing the interrogation.

"Why don't you do all of us a favor and stop evading the questions," Fornell was saying to Mike who was glaring at him and clearly not cooperating.

Watching the scene play for a little while longer, Tony finally turned away to look at Tom. "I bet he now regrets for not taking that lawyer."

The Director laid his hand over the young man's shoulder and whispered something in his ear, which no one else in the room could hear. Gibbs automatically leaned a little closer, but with that movement he revealed himself.

"What are you doing here?" Tom frowned at his Agent who was looking like the slightest breath of wind could knock him over.

Tony stepped away from Tom and looked almost uncertain. "Gibbs... Shouldn't you be in the hospital?"

Gibbs shrugged. Instead of answering, he nodded his head toward Mike, regretting that small movement when the pain shot through his head and made him dizzy. Now that he was away from the hospital, his time with the pain relief was running short fast. "How's he doing?"

Misinterpreting the question, the look on Tony's face darkened. "He's starting to show some cracks, but I bet since he wasn't holding the gun, and he knows how the game goes, he's going to do the dance and walk away with much less than what he deserves."

"I meant Fornell."

"Fornell?"

"He's good, but so is Mike and he doesn't know Mike the way I do; by that I mean knowing all his trigger points, what sets him off and what buttons to press to get those charges just a little higher or at least buy some more time. I can make him dig his own grave. I'm going in."

Tony was now openly staring at the older man, or his back now. The arms, which he had previously crossed over his chest, were hanging down uselessly at his sides.

"Gibbs! You can't just—!" Tom started and they watched as Gibbs left the room.

Unsurprisingly, only a moment later they saw him enter the interrogation room where Fornell stopped talking mid-sentence. The glare on the Agent's face changed into something almost like concern when he saw the state the other Agent was in. Mike, when he saw his former probie walking in, went from angry to smug. Fornell and Gibbs shared a few whispered words and by the time Gibbs sat down and faced Mike, it was all business. While Mike was still smiling, it was forced. Although he still didn't believe that Gibbs of all people would go against him, his own gut had finally kicked into full gear, after all those years of silencing it with alcohol. Now the only drinks that had been given to him were coffee and water.

Looking back at it couple of months later, Tony would think how unsurprising the turn of events were. The only shocking thing was Gibbs actually being surprisingly calm for a change, but that could have something to do with the fact that he had to save his strength just to be there. Gibbs kept his eyes on his former boss and then little by little he pushed down the walls the other man had built up. Mike Franks went ballistic and the whole thing was over by the time he had his hands around Gibbs' throat.

"That idiot!" Tony hissed and turned around when he saw that Gibbs was finally leaving the room, supported by Fornell as his adrenaline fueled strength was fading fast. The other FBI Agent—now accompanied by another Agent—had restrained Mike Franks, who in the end had digged his own grave, with some generous help from Gibbs. Gibbs had indeed bought some time, but anything could still happen. From now on Mike would be Fornell's problem and case to work with. But for now all was good. Almost.

"Tom!" Tony raised his voice when the Director hadn't reacted in any way. The older man had turned around and was now pretending to be looking through his contact list on his phone. Even Valentine had looked away at some point and was now glancing over his shoulder uncertainly, his back still toward Mike. His face still red from the screaming, Mike at least seemed to be finally resigned to his fate as sanity slowly returned.

"What? I'm sorry, I wasn't listening," Tom answered with a tight smile, finally looking at Tony and then he had almost pitying look on his face. "You know, if you ever find a need to have a career change, please come talk to me first. Gibbs can be a..."

"Bastard?"

"That too." Morrow shook his head with a pained look and he glanced at the other Agent in the room, the only one who hadn't spoken a single word since stepping in the room. "Make sure things are finished properly. I'll go make sure that nothing in this will be turned against us. He didn't use any violence or even raised his voice there, but as soon as the lawyers hear the name Gibbs, they are going to try everything they can to destroy our case... Make sure the camera recording doesn't get lost like it did last time."

"Lost?" Tony looked at the Agent when their Director left the room. The Agent didn't say anything, but when Gibbs and Fornell joined them in the room, his eyes automatically looked toward Gibbs and then back at Tony, with a ghost of smile on his lips.

"Of course. That was a stupid question." Tony rolled his eyes and then he rushed to help Fornell take Gibbs to the chair in the room.

"Don't," Gibbs said when Fornell took out his phone and called the ambulance.

After checking the red finger marks around the neck and seeing that at least Gibbs wasn't in any immediate danger of dying, Tony let go, "What am I going to tell Shannon and Kelly if you get killed? Again!"

Too spent to talk, Gibbs glared at anyone looking at him. When Ducky entered the room, not a moment too soon, Gibbs found himself too out of strength to face his old friend's furious tirade about two idiots—Gibbs and Tony—and how he would have to lock them up and watch out for 24/7 if he wanted to make sure they remained safe and healthy. By the end of it, Gibbs finally lost his consciousness.

By the time Gibbs was well enough to leave the hospital, for real, it was several days later. The doctors of course gave him strict orders to not go back to work yet and to take it easy for many days to come, but he was Gibbs; he didn't take orders, he gave them. So it was no surprise to see him at work the very next morning, sitting behind his desk and looking like he had lost something.

Walking in the bullpen and seeing his new boss sitting there, Tony hid a smile. "In the bottom drawer. You left it on your desk before you... There wasn't room anywhere else."

With a grumble, Gibbs finally found his glasses. Once he made sure DiNozzo wasn't looking at him, he put them on. Grudgingly. When he started on the mountain of files that had been waiting for his recovery and had even mysteriously grown during the time he was gone, Gibbs finally looked at Tony who was leaning against one of the desks close to Gibbs and was now studying a stabler of some kind. "Where's Blackadder?"

There was poisonous mirth in Tony's eyes as he smiled. "She quit."

"Without a word to me?"

"Well, you are known to lose your agents without them always even talking to the Director first."

"I'm sure you had nothing to do with it."

Tony looked almost startled and he set the stabler back on the desk. "Gonna get me one of these... So, the Director told you?"

Gibbs had a half-smile when he remembered that conversation. "More like hinted that she quit because someone went Agent Gibbs on her. Those were his exact words."

Tony chuckled. "Went Agent Gibbs on her? Now I'm insulted. Besides, he wasn't even there, how would he know what happened?"

Gibbs stared at him quietly, thinking how he would not have shown that much restrain. "You've done good. Even if you're not my Agent."

"I have to start from somewhere if I decide to stay in your team. Can't have people like her use her career as a weapon for revenge and almost kill the people she works with."

"What?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you should be out of the hospital, Gibbs? You're slow today. I had a word with Morrow and as soon as you will be officially back to work, I will be part of team Gibbs, if you still want me."

Gibbs' eyes widened in surprise and when the news fully registered, he smiled. The work suddenly forgotten, he stood. "Come on. I need some coffee."

"That's all you're going to say?" Tony sighed when Gibb smirked and walked to the elevator. "Of course that's all you're going to say... You know, it'd be nice to hear something like, I've been waiting for this, or even something slightly cheesy."

"I knew this would happen."

"No you didn't." Gibbs didn't answer and Tony scowled at him as he hurried after him. "You didn't know it!"

Whether Gibbs had known or not was irrelevant, but for some time there would be peace in the building and all was well.

It was a few days later when Tony went to his new desk that he saw there a big envelope waiting for him. It didn't look like any of his usual work mail, so feeling suspicious he studied it first with his eyes only. Then carefully shaking it few times—couldn't be a bomb if it made it on his desk—he finally opened it and suddenly it would've made more sense if it had been a bomb. It was from Mike Franks, who was currently in a hot water now with his case was wide open and all his past actions investigated. The files were what Howard had apparently started working on, but never got the chance to complete when he died. Or that's what the letter inside claimed. Tony stared at the files for a long time before finally opening them and reading the contents inside. It was his father, or rather, it was the beginning of information and collected evidence against Senior.

"This doesn't change anything," he spoke as if Mike was there, with a hint of anger and uncertainty in his voice. Most of all, he felt resentment. The man had no right to do this, to make him feel almost something like forgiveness starting to creep in his heart. He had no right.

Had the files not been something his brother had worked on, for him, Tony might have thrown them in the nearest trashcan, but this was another rare piece of his brother and he couldn't do it. So he took the files with him and left work. He then put the files in the safe he had opened not too long ago. He may have moved on with his life, but he wasn't quite ready to face this yet. To tell the truth, he didn't even care. He had walked away from that life and never looked back. He wasn't going to start doing it now. Senior was as good as dead to him and he knew the old man felt just the same about him, if not worse.

They were sitting in Gibbs' front yard, drinking beer and talking about their new case. Things were finally starting to calm down after the last stormy months and the two of them worked well together, even as a two man team, and the Director couldn't be happier. Even if he did keep telling them to fill those two empty spots on the team. For both Tony and Gibbs it felt like they were two pieces of a puzzle that had found out by accident just how well they fit together—but of course for either one of the two to admit that out loud was never going to happen—and for now, there was no room for others.

"You know... In another life, my brother could have been your boss, if he hadn't been already promoted elsewhere before Mike quit."

"Was he that good?"

Tony smiled teasingly at him. "No. Better. You know, could hold his temper under control much better than some... For starters."

"If I were you, I'd watch your mouth."

That fearless smile only grew wider, even with that hint of sadness, which was always there whenever Tony mentioned his brother. Both Gibbs and Shannon had made it a habit of asking questions about the man, hoping that with time it would get easier to think and talk about Howard. "Sure thing, boss. Whatever you say." Tony shrugged and thanked Shannon, when she brought them two plates filled with food. The men glanced at each other when they saw that more than half of the plate was filled with vegetables... Under the eyes of Shannon, they quietly ate the 'rabbit food', silently swearing to stop by a steak house on their next lunch break at work.

A few weeks later there was another sealed envelope left on Tony's desk. It looked less suspicious than the other one and this time there was a note scribbled on top of it, instead of being hidden inside. There was no name there, but he knew it was from Tom Morrow even without recognizing the handwriting.

'I think we both know you are ready.'

The End