AN: This is seventh in the Breathe universe and starts in February of Season 7. It's going to be another epic - probably twice the length of Razor's Edge in the same number of chapters - so posting is going to start at twice a week. Next chapter will be up Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. If I get further ahead in the writing, I might speed things up, but I'm trying to avoid long gaps between chapters, and 5,000 words is more than I can write in a day most days.

Also, if you haven't been reading Breathe, earlier stories include Razor's Edge, Dares to Stand, Play For Me, Heart of the Matter, and Steal My Breath Away. Tony and McGee are together and are waiting for DC to legalize gay marriage. Tim was badly injured in a case just before this and will be out of the field for several months. Tony is going through long-term treatment for his plague-scarred lungs, which were aggravated during the rescue mission in Somalia at the beginning of S7. He and Tim's dad, Commander Sean McGee who has asbestos-related lung issues, are both being treated by Dr. Brad Pitt (from SWAK). And after saying that, if you like this chapter and haven't read the earlier stories, please do - lots of these plot threads have their roots in earlier stories.

Chapter 1

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Gibbs walked into the bullpen and hung his snowy coat over the back of McGee's chair to dry. He sighed at the thought that the young agent wouldn't need it for a while. McGee was still stuck in Bethesda, though right now it was the snow, not his injuries, that kept him there. Two major snowstorms within a week had virtually shuttered the tri-state area. Gibbs had only made it to the Navy Yard because his ancient truck had four-wheel drive, but he wasn't betting on Ziva getting dug out. Tony was at the hospital with McGee, and if Vance asked, he was snowed in there. The team leader let a half-smile cross his face as he remembered his discussion with Tony on Tuesday.

"Boss, they're predicting another big storm for tomorrow," Tony said as he walked over to lean against the end of Gibbs' desk.

"We're not on call for this one," Gibbs said. "Vance has Kowalski's team on call for this one."

Tony just nodded. "I was planning on staying with Tim tonight, especially since Sean got out today, but if I do, I might get stuck there."

"Make sure you've got your kit." Gibbs glanced toward the stairs before adding, "I'll cover for you with Vance if he kicks up a fuss."

"Yeah, about that," Tony said. "Tim's worried Vance is going to use this as an excuse to bump him to CyberCrimes."

Gibbs turned to face his senior field agent. "It's my team. None of you leave unless I OK it."

"Boss." Tony's voice held a rare hesitation.

Gibbs just lifted an eyebrow.

"You know the doctors aren't guaranteeing that he'll be able to return to the field," Tony said. "They had to do so much repair work in there that he can't even move it for another week, and after two weeks strapped down, the chances that he's going to have a permanent decrease in his range of motion are almost 100 percent." He grimaced. "Sometimes being a Phys Ed. major sucks."

"Don't go borrowing trouble," Gibbs said. "You only had a 15 percent chance of surviving the plague, and I'm sure as hell not talking to your ghost."

Tony sighed. "Yeah. Because a senior field agent who carries an inhaler is just what you need."

Gibbs just let his hand speak for him, leaving Tony rubbing the back of his head.

"Yes, Boss. Sorry, Boss." He blanched. "I mean, won't happen again Boss. That wasn't an apology."

"Calm down, DiNozzo," Gibbs said. "You've spent most of the last week snowed in with nothing to do but worry about McGee. You just focus on helping him heal; I'll take care of Vance. And don't sell McGee short — I don't imagine his high school bullies ever imagined he'd become a federal agent on the best team in DC, capable of kicking their ass worse than they ever kicked his. He's tougher than you think."

Tony nodded. "Thanks, Boss. Just remind me of that when I forget. This whole worrying-about-Tim thing is new — usually he's the one McWorrying about me. It's almost as weird as you being nice."

That time, Gibbs smacked him just to show he wasn't being nice, then sent him home. Only after Tony was in the elevator did he let his smile escape. McGee would be back — he was sure of it. And it would do both of them good to have their roles reversed for a while.

But now, with a summons from Vance waiting for him on his desk, Gibbs was less certain. He was sure McGee had forgotten all about their interrupted meeting with Vance before Brad went missing, and Tony hadn't know about it. Gibbs, though, had been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since and had been surprised it hadn't come Tuesday, the one semi-normal day between the two storms.

He left a cold case file on Ziva's desk on the chance she made it in, then headed up to the director's office.

Vance's secretary wasn't there — no big surprise — but the director had his door open. Gibbs walked in.

"Gibbs," Vance said from his seat at his desk. "You made it in."

He nodded. "DiNozzo's stuck at Bethesda, and Ziva's probably stuck at home. Left a cold case for her if she does get in." He stood in front of the desk, preferring to have the height advantage.

"I wouldn't send you out anyway, not until we get a TAD agent for your team."

As Vance paused, Gibbs just looked at him. Whatever the director had in mind, Gibbs wanted him to bring it up.

"DiNozzo talk to you?" Vance's poker face, as always, was too good for Gibbs to tell what he was thinking.

"DiNozzo talks a lot, Leon. Anything in particular you have in mind?"

"Last week, at Bethesda, when I went back to visit McGee while he was still out, DiNozzo was talking to him. After hearing some of what he had to say, I didn't go in. Didn't seem to be my place, since I'm not part of the family your people have become." Vance paused again, looking at him. "Have either DiNozzo or McGee talked to you about transferring to another team?"

Gibbs glared at the director as he fought to rein in his emotions before saying anything. "This why you called McGee and me up here last week, to tell us you were transferring him to CyberCrimes again?" He clenched his hands into fists at his sides.

Vance's eyebrows rose. "So DiNozzo hasn't talked to you." He looked over at the framed photos at his desk. "Close the door, Gibbs."

"You sure about that, Leon?" Gibbs said.

Vance just looked at him, so he walked over and shut the silver door, then returned to his spot.

"I'm not the enemy."

Gibbs just stood, waiting for the director to explain.

Vance didn't speak, but Gibbs thought it was because the director was choosing his words rather than forcing a power play. He waited, not wanting to say anything until he figured out what was going on.

"You're coming up on mandatory retirement age for field agents in three years."

Gibbs nodded.

"Some agents move into administration. Some petition to stay in the field. Others retire completely."

Gibbs nodded again, trying to figure out where this was going.

Vance folded his hands. "Never seen you as the administration type."

Gibbs shook his head. "Ass-kissing is a skill I don't care to develop." He hid a half-smile as Vance's raised eyebrow showed his dig had hit home.

"You planning on sticking around, or is that beach in Mexico calling your name?"

Gibbs tried to keep his face expressionless as he considered the question. Sure, he had known he would have to make that decision one day, assuming he wasn't killed in the line of duty before then. He'd always figured he'd stay on the job as long as they'd have him, though Tony was certainly capable of leading the MCRT. That would mean breaking up the team, though, since once Tony took the lead, McGee would have to shift to another team. Married teammates were one thing; married supervisor/subordinate would never pass muster.

"You got a reason for asking?"

Vance smiled. "You know, one of the reasons you hate administration is because we have to deal with the big picture. Not a single case or a single team, but an entire unit or an entire agency."

"You are not breaking up my team again." Gibbs stepped forward and put his hands on the desk, leaning forward to glare at Vance. "You've got the future of the agency there, and if you split them up, you're going to lose them."

"Agreed."

Gibbs opened his mouth to argue when Vance's words sunk in. "You agree?"

Vance nodded, and Gibbs pulled back.

"Sit down, Gibbs. This isn't going to be a short conversation." Vance settled back in his chair.

Gibbs conceded the point and took a seat, but didn't relax.

"Everybody had a lot of time to think last week at Bethesda, myself included," Vance said. "You have done this agency a service by building what is probably the most effective investigative team at any ARMFED agency."

Gibbs couldn't stop the surprise from showing in his expression. He knew that, but he never realized Vance did.

"I might not always like your methods, Gibbs, but I appreciate your results," Vance said. "You're tough on your agents. Some say too tough. Agents who couldn't cut it with you have gone on to do some good work for NCIS."

"Leon, where are you going with this?"

"Patience, Gibbs. I know you have it. You were too good a sniper not to be patient. Let me draw the big picture for you."

Gibbs suppressed a growl. He had no patience for this administrative bullshit, but with his team all out of the office for the day, he couldn't even argue he had a hot case that would give him an excuse to escape. And he wanted to know what Vance was plotting.

"As I said, administration has to look at the big picture, and I'm already planning for the future of this agency long after you've sailed off into the sunset." He paused. "I see the members of your team having a big part in that future."

Gibbs remembered what he'd told Sean and Eileen McGee back in the fall. "DiNozzo's the next MCRT team lead. He's the best young agent I've ever worked with. McGee? He'll be sitting in your chair one of these days. Abby's already the best forensic scientist at any federal agency. And Palmer is going to be a fine medical examiner when Ducky's ready to hand over the reins."

"You're not telling me anything I don't already know," Vance said. "The question is how to get them there."

Gibbs shrugged. "Never worried much about that. Abby's there. Ducky will retire before I do, and DiNozzo's ready to step in. Led the team once before, did a good job by all accounts."

Vance nodded. "That just leaves McGee."

"Who has to move once DiNozzo takes over the team."

"Precisely. I had an idea, one I was going to present to you both last week." Vance paused. "Then I overheard DiNozzo when he was sitting with McGee that first night at Bethesda. That had me reconsidering my plan."

Gibbs frowned. "You going to share, Leon?"

"Only on the condition that this goes no further — for now."

Gibbs searched Vance's face for a signal, some clue of what he had in mind. "I don't like hiding things from my team that affect them. They trust me; I want to keep it that way."

"For now." Vance raised a finger. "I want us to work out some details before we talk to DiNozzo and McGee. And I want them to come to us. I thought DiNozzo would have talked to you by now."

"You wanna tell me what you're talking about?" He threw the question at Vance, only to be met with a return query.

"Did you know DiNozzo and McGee are thinking of starting a family?"

Gibbs raised a single eyebrow. "Hadn't heard that one." He thought for a second. "I knew McGee wanted kids. One reason he and Abby didn't work out. DiNozzo's never said anything one way or the other."

"And you thought with his family background, he wouldn't want them," Vance said.

"Never thought that much about it," Gibbs said. "Not like I have to worry about it happening accidentally. If they decide to adopt, it would be a year anyway, likely more. Plenty of time to adjust."

Vance nodded. "From what I overheard, one of their sticking points is the hours your team works. They'd been talking about one of them transferring, and they seemed to think I would have moved McGee to CyberCrimes."

"Wasn't that what you were pulling us in here to tell us last week?"

Vance shook his head. "Not exactly. I had something different in mind. But what I overheard DiNozzo say last week was that he knew McGee liked being an agent too much to go back to the cyber unit. Instead, he was planning to come to me this week and asking for a transfer to Cold Cases, with a recommendation that Dwayne Wilson take the empty spot on the MCRT."

Gibbs tried to process that information, but he was having a hard time. Tony had been on his team so long, he couldn't imagine the team without him. The week Tony was still on the Seahawk while McGee and Ziva were back on the MCRT never had seemed real to him. After almost 10 years — twice the length of either Burley or McGee — Tony had become a permanent part of the team in Gibbs' mind.

"Tony is going to ask for a transfer?"

"And I'm inclined to grant it — temporarily."

Gibbs wanted to be angry at Vance, but he also wanted to know what Vance was plotting.

"Spell it out for me, Leon."

"McGee doesn't want to be stuck in CyberCrimes; they both want one of them to have regular hours; and McGee needs team leader experience to move into administration. But he needs senior agent status first - a slot DiNozzo currently holds." Vance got up and went to stand in front of the conference table, looking at the plasma. Gibbs joined him.

"This is what I have in mind," Vance said, pulling up a diagram. "Until McGee returns, I'm assigning Wilson to you on a TAD basis. Break him in, make sure he can handle a spot on the team. Once McGee returns, Wilson will move back to Cold Cases. Jarvis hits 55 later this year. When he retires, I want to promote DiNozzo as the new lead on Cold Cases, McGee to your senior agent, and transfer Wilson to your team on a permanent basis." He clicked to the next slide. "When you retire in a few years, I'll move DiNozzo to take your spot on the MCRT. That will move David to the senior agent spot, and DiNozzo can pick his own probie."

Gibbs started to object, but Vance held up his hand.

"Since McGee will have done a stint as senior field agent, I can promote him to head up a new team, charged with providing computer forensics and investigative help to all the teams in the region. The team will be made up of field agents who also have the computer skills McGee brings to the table."

"Remaking the agency in your own image, Leon?"

Vance raised an eyebrow at the derisive tone. "You can hardly argue that McGee hasn't had an impact on your team's success. As it is, too many teams are relying on him for help, and that's not fair to your team. Listening to you and Agent Balboa last week convinced me of that."

"And you have a way to stop them from asking him for help?" He didn't try to hide the skepticism in his voice.

"Dr. Mallard tells me McGee will be on desk duty for at least two months after he returns, possibly longer."

Gibbs nodded, since Ducky had told him the same thing.

"When he comes back, I'm giving him a couple of weeks to develop a training plan," Vance said. "Then, he's going to run half-day training sessions in two-week blocks for agents in this region. Team leaders can nominate agents for spots, and McGee will have a say in choosing which ones get in. He'll have time to handle three, maybe four, classes before he's cleared for field work, and you'll still have him half days. My goal is for every team to have at least one agent pass this course during that time. That should spread enough knowledge around to keep them out of your hair."

Gibbs thought about it. He didn't like the idea of not having McGee fully on the team for that time, but if it got everybody to stop asking his junior agent for help, it was worth it, especially while McGee couldn't be in the field. "How does this fit into your master plan?"

Vance smiled. "This gives McGee and myself a way to identify the most promising agents for the future cyber liaison team that he would lead," he said. "It will also help us build a case for the unit, so that by the time you're ready to retire, SecNav will authorize the budget."

Gibbs thought about it and realized Vance had developed a good plan. "Wilson showed promise when he worked with us that one time. Doesn't scare." He considered. "Will Ziva be off probationary status by the time Jarvis retires?"

Vance nodded. "As soon as she's naturalized, she will move to junior agent status," he said. "With four years on your team, nobody will question it. Only three agents besides her have ever lasted longer."

"DiNozzo, McGee, and Burley," Gibbs said. "Burley still afloat?"

Vance nodded. "I've told him if he ever wants to stay on land, he's in line for a team lead position, but he likes working alone."

Gibbs nodded. "Always did. Polar opposite of DiNozzo."

"I would have thought that was McGee."

Gibbs tipped his head. "In some ways." He stood. "We done here?"

Vance nodded. "Just one thing."

Gibbs turned, looking back at him.

"Not a word of this, even to DiNozzo or McGee. Let them come to us."

Gibbs thought back to Tuesday's discussion with Tony. "They're both worried you're going to use McGee's injury as an excuse to send him back to CyberCrimes. If they ask, can I reassure them?"

Vance nodded. "And if it hasn't come up by the time McGee returns to work, I might change my mind about waiting for them to initiate the discussion since I'll have to talk to him about this training program."

"Six weeks easy," Gibbs said. "Maybe eight."

Vance nodded. "I think it will come up before then."

As Gibbs started to leave, Vance's voice stopped him. "Gibbs. You get an opening, you suggest they come to me."

Gibbs nodded, then walked out. He could see Ziva wasn't in the bullpen and was glad. Vance had given him a lot to think about.

He settled into his chair and sipped at the coffee cup he'd left there. He had to give Vance credit; the director had come up with a good plan. Wilson was one of the few young agents he thought he could tolerate on the team, and McGee was ready to take more of a leadership role. DiNozzo seemed to be ready for a change as well, hard as that was for him to accept. Didn't mean he was happy about Vance finding out this information before him. Sure, Vance only knew because he'd overheard Tony talking, but that didn't erase the sting of wondering if the boys were planning to talk to him about it. Vance had said Tony was going to go to him to request the transfer — not Gibbs. He couldn't help but wonder why he was being left out of the loop, especially since Tony had made it clear neither he nor Tim had much trust in the director. Did they not think he would be OK with the idea?

He swallowed hard. With everything that had happened in the past year, he'd forgotten somewhere along the line that they weren't really his kids. Tony, Tim, Ziva, Abby - none of them were his, not the way Tim and Sarah belonged to Sean and Eileen. He wondered if Tim and Tony had talked to the McGees about having children. They were family, in a way that it didn't matter what Tim and Tony did for a living or where they lived, the McGees would always be family. The way Jack was always his father, no matter whether they had last talked two hours ago or two decades ago.

He tried to ignore the logical conclusion of that, but couldn't help but realize the same held true for Tony. His father, his biological one, would always be Tony's father no matter how long it had been since they had talked. That didn't leave much of a place for him. Being the honorary dad, being on Tony's six in his personal life the way Tony always had his in the field, was that all just because of the job? Tony didn't need him outside of work anymore. He had Tim for when things got rough. It had been months since Tony had talked to him about how things were going with Brad, if there was any improvement in his lungs or any change in his health.

He wondered what other important discussions he may have missed. Would he only ever hear the ones that were case-related in the future? Damn Vance and his grandiose future plans. Gibbs had never thought ahead to when he turned 55. He'd always figured either he'd be dead by then or the petition to stay in the field would just be a formality. Now he was beginning to wonder.

He didn't want to deny the boys their chance at a family. However short his time with Kelly had been, he knew eight years of her sparkle in his life was better than never knowing what it was to love somebody more than he'd ever thought possible. He wanted Tim and Tony to experience that, especially Tony. From everything he'd observed over the years, he knew Tony didn't realize that parents, real parents, loved their children no matter who or what they were. He thought the McGees were special, that Jack and Gibbs were unusual. Gibbs had never tried to explain to Tony that it didn't matter how long it had been since you talked to them, or what they did for a living, or who they loved. Your child was always special, always a part of you. He would never not be Kelly's dad; Jack would never not be Kelly's grandfather.

Gibbs forced himself to take a deep breath. If he retired, would he still be Papa Bear to the people he'd come to think of as his children? Would he still be part of family gatherings at Tim and Tony's house? Would he be Grandpa Gibbs? Or just Gibbs? Would he be just an occasional face, the way he was to Amira? He rarely saw his goddaughter, and he knew she didn't remember him between one visit and the next. Or would he be a fixture? Would the Gibblet children enjoy a growing collection of handmade wooden toys from Grandpa Gibbs? Or would he just be a name to them? Would the team even consider themselves Gibblets when he left? He'd rolled his eyes the first time he'd heard Abby refer to the younger team members like that, but he'd come to realize it was an honorific, one that made it clear what place he had in their lives.

He leaned forward, resting his head in his hands. Maybe he needed his own master plan to ensure his kids would realize he wanted to continue being a part of their lives off the job even as Vance revealed his intentions for their future on the job.