A/N: I'm actually quite sad to be finishing this but I can hardly just keep wittering on about Gibbs' recovery (and what would I do when he's fully recovered?). Anyway, I really appreciate all the excellent reviews everyone has submitted. Special thanks must go to silvanelf, iGymnast, hotchner, CD57, memnoxx, Moonlight83, mirajo, louise and last but not least laoisbabe for all their encouragement.

So...I can truthfully say that this is THE LAST CHAPTER of Business As Usual. It has been a pleasure writing this and seeing how people react to it...

But anyway, here you go. Tell me what you think - I promise I'll reply to all the reviewers before I go on holiday on Thursday.


The elevator pinged as it reached his floor and he stepped out into the large open-plan room, barely missing a step as he was briefly reminded of the last time he had stepped through those doors with a case. He walked to the bullpen and found half of his team there already. Tony was typing away at his computer, concentrating so hard that his tongue was poking through his pursed lips, while Ziva was sharpening one of her many knives – her gun laid out in pieces on her desk. "DiNozzo! Why don't you take notes from Officer David on how to really clean your weapon?" At the sound of Gibbs' voice, Tony's head shot up – although Gibbs was mocking him it was said in a more playful tone than he was used to. "It's good to see you, boss – we were getting a little bored with no cases to work, but now you're here we can finally get back in the field. McGee even had time to reinstall your computer, although IT weren't too happy about it." Gibbs looked around the bullpen, as if expecting the MIT graduate to have appeared while he was talking to Ziva and Tony. "Where's McGee?" Tony, who was still sniggering, answered. "He's down in Abby's lab. As it happens, he's been there all morning, boss. I think he said something about helping Abby with...something. Want me to call him up for you?" He reached for his phone, ready to dial despite knowing what McGee's reason for not being in the bullpen was. "Nope."

Gibbs turned away, intending to go straight down to Abby's lab but Tony called him back. "Boss, the director wants to see you." Something in Tony's expression – he was not sure whether it was apprehension or guilt – told Gibbs it had to do with his time spent as Smith's hostage. "She can wait, DiNozzo. I've got an over-excited goth to greet." Again, Gibbs smiled and turned away, striding towards the elevators and pressing the button for Abby's lab. The Mossad officer was left staring after her immediate boss – something had changed about him but she could not place the cause. It was not a negative change, but a change nonetheless – one that made Gibbs more open, at least when he was speaking to Tony. The two colleagues left in the bullpen waited until the elevator doors closed and then they dashed to the stairwell and followed him down.

When Gibbs reached the lab, however, the door was shut and locked. There was no flashing red beacon to indicate that the young forensic scientist was dealing with harmful chemicals so he was not overly concerned, just curious. He knocked and waited. Just before the door swung open, he could have sworn he heard a shrill cry of glee but shook it from his mind as McGee appeared. The young agent had lost the crutches and thick white cast that had plagued him for six weeks two weeks ago and now walked with only a very slight limp. "Hey boss. How're you feeling?"

"I'm fine, McGee." Gibbs answered gruffly. "Where's Abby? Tony told me you were helping her with something."

"Uh, she's in here, boss. We were just finishing up actually." McGee replied nervously, trying to block Gibbs' view into the lab.

"Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!" Abby's shrill chant pierced the quiet in the lab and she hastened from her desk to stand behind McGee. Tim stepped aside to allow Abby to embrace Gibbs. She squeezed him tightly, crushing his still tender ribs, as though he were about to die. "Oh, I'm so-o glad you're back!"

"Hey...Abbs." Gibbs finally managed to utter, finding it difficult to breathe in her tight hug and slightly overwhelmed by the goth's unusual exuberance – more so than usual. She pulled him into her lab and dragged him over to her desk, forcing him to sit in her chair. "What's going on, Abbs?" He asked as she swivelled the chair round and he caught sight of Tony and Ziva sneaking in to the room. "Since it's your first day back at work after your...um...incident, we decided to get you something." Abby offered as way of an explanation. "Really?" He asked, raising both his eyebrows – now this he wanted to see. "Indeed we did, Jethro, my dear boy. It is good to see you looking so well." Ducky's accented voice came from behind Gibbs and he spun 180 degrees to see Director Shepard and the NCIS medical examiner enter the room from Abby's other lab. They were both smiling, although Shepard's did not quite reach her eyes – it was merely a show for the rest of the team: both Gibbs and Shepard had come to realise that things would never return to how they used to be – especially after Gibbs had managed to extract the 'weakness' in Smith's plan of which Shepard had spoken from Tony. Admittedly, it had been very difficult and expensive – involving a lot of Bourbon – but Gibbs had finally learnt the truth. They knew each other well enough to not have to discuss it.

"Hey Duck...Director Shepard." Gibbs kept his voice as neutral as he could. He smiled broadly at his long-time friend, Dr. Mallard, but glared openly at the woman. If looks could kill, the director of NCIS had just died several times over. It was entirely possible that all other occupants of the room would have been killed alongside her – such was the intensity of his stare. Boldly, she stared back.

Everyone remained silent, waiting for either Gibbs or the director to break their staring contest. Tony shifted in the doorway but in the end it was Ducky who broke the silence, coughing pointedly at the pair. They both redirected their 'death stare' at him, allowing their barely concealed hatred of one another to focus on Ducky. The older man smiled disarmingly and proceeded to tell Gibbs why they were all gathered in Abby's lab. To ensure Gibbs' attention was drawn away from the director, he stepped forward, physically placing himself between them. "I'm not sure what is going on between you two children..." Abby and Tony risked glancing at each other: they knew exactly what was going on. "...I'm not sure I even want to know, but young Abigail, here, decided you'd need something other than alcohol and your boat to keep you occupied during your...compulsory absence. Unfortunately..." Ducky and the rest of the room chuckled, all except Jenny who was still standing at the doorway, fuming. "...We didn't manage to come up with anything until a few days ago, and then you were coming back anyway – so we got you something else." He grinned and looked at Abby, allowing her to take over.

"Well, we all know how much you love your coffee so..." She slid an A3 envelope out from under her mass spectrometer. "We got you something which will get you as much coffee as you want." Gibbs smiled as he tore open the envelope – his team was crazy, but not crazy enough to buy him a whole coffee plantation...plus that would involve him moving there to run it and Abby would never agree to that. He pulled out the card and gaped at the artwork on the front. The sight of his team in caricature form almost brought tears to his eyes – the picture reminded him of the drawings Kate Todd had done of them. Gibbs did not look up, nor did he speak – not yet trusting his voice. If he had looked up, he would have seen the smiles that flickered over his team's faces. Slowly he opened the huge card and read the message written in Abby's handwriting.

To our boss,

Glad to have you back – we've all missed you.

Don't kill McGee too much but he cleaned out your inbox – now you only have THIS year's e-mails – and Tony finished all the paperwork you had left over – he even spellchecked it! TWICE!

Gibbs smiled at Abby's jokes and then glanced further down the massive card. There was a small rectangle of plastic below her scrawled message, about the size of a credit card. On it, it read:

A lifetime's supply of free coffee.

Provided exclusively to NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs for being one hell of a team leader.

As he looked up and gazed around the room, he could not help but smile back at the row of faces opposite him. He stood up and kissed Abby on the check and murmured "Thanks." She glowed with pride and beamed back at him. Ducky, Tony and McGee each got a firm handshake and Ziva got a light-hearted tap on the back of her head. "Hey! What was that for, Gibbs?" He shrugged – content to let the Israeli officer puzzle it out for herself. Silently, Director Shepard slipped out of the room, tears forming as she realised that the relationship between her and Gibbs was now nothing more than professional, and disappeared into her office, burying herself in work.

Recognize the hell that you're spewing forth
What we might have shared is nothing anymore
What you said to me
Was never meant to be
Never... again...

THE END

A/N: w00t finished. Again, a huge thanks to all of the reviewers (and the readers, of course). Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did writing it and I look forward to reading the reviews to follow this chapter.

A/N+1: The lyrics at the end are from Never...Again by All Shall Perish.

Hawkeye