It was a late friday night. Gibbs had finally let his team go home, all of the agents marched to the elevator excited for the weekend. Suddenly, director Vance stepped out of MTAC.
"Agent DiNozzo." he said with a frim voice, "My office. Now" he finished as he turned around and walked away.
"You heard him DiNozzo." said Gibbs as he walked towards the elevator.
McGee smiled and said bye to Tony who kept staring at the stairs terrified of what Vance would want. Suddenly someone whispered on his ear.
"Tony..." said the woman, "Vance does not like waiting." said Ziva as she let out a grin. "Are you scared?" she kept on teasing.
Tony glared at her. Both their lips were so close to each other, but it seemed like the agents didn't notice. DiNozzo kept glaring at Ziva, and she stared back with an evil grin. The glare slowly turned into a gaze, and the grin slowly faded away. Tony focused on the big brown eyes Ziva had, and he smiled as he remembered how beautiful she was. Ziva had gotten lost somewhere inside Tony's green eyes. They slowly started moving closer without noticing. Just before they could touch Ziva stepped back and let out an evil grin.
"If you are not scared, then why have you not gone yet?" she said as she crossed her arms. Tony smiled at hair sarcastically.
"You want me to go?" he said with a teasing tone and an emerging grin.
"Yes." said Ziva, confused, "Now turn around and go." she insisted. Tony turned around ans walked towards the stairs. Ziva looked at him and her eyes slowly looked down.
"AHA!" shouted Tony as he turned around, "You wanted to look at my butt!" he said with an evil grin.
"Even if I wanted to," replied Ziva, "there isn't one to look at." she grinned and walked away.
"Whatever you say, Zee-vah." said Tony as he went up the stairs. Ziva entered the elevator and waited for the doors to shut.
Once the doors where shut she let out a tender smile. As soon as she realized she bit her lip. Did that smile mean what she thought it did? Tony walked up the stairs energetically, still having that smile on his face. Suddenly he stopped and took his smile away. He remembered where he was going. What could Vance possibly want at this time? And specially what could Vance want from him at this time. Clueless he opened the door and entered the office. Director Vance was sitting on his chair typing on his computer. As soon as he saw the agent he took his hands of the keyboard.
"Agent DiNozzo." he said surprised even though he had been expecting him. "Please come in."
Tony came in and closed the door behind him. He took a seat and listened to what the director had to say. Two hours later Tony walked down the stairs to his desk. He logged into his computer and saved everything into an external disk. After that he deleted all the data in his computer. Followed to that he emptied all the drawers and the shelves he had. He put everything in a box, grabbed his bag and walked to the elevator. His face was so neutral he looked twice as cold as Gibbs. The metallic doors opened and Tony walked to his red mustang. He put the box at the back and his on the co-pilot's seat. He turned on the engines. Then he gave a sad look to the building.
"Arrivederci." he said (see you soon in Italian).
The red mustang slowly pulled back. Once it was facing the road it sped through the streets of Washington DC. Tony's heart started aching as he left the Navy Yard behind. That night everything had changed. He couldn't be the same DiNozzo again. A tear fell down his red eyes. He quickly wiped it away and reminded himself, "real men don't cry".
The next Monday the NCIS team was on time. All but Tony. Ziva sat down on her desk and looked around. McGee started typing on his computer. Ziva turned on her computer and started typing as well. While McGee typed non-stop, Ziva typed steadily. She kept looking around for Tony. Finally, half an hour later her patience ran out.
"Where is Tony?" she asked McGee.
"He must be with the boss, since both of them are still not here." reasoned McGee without losing eye contact with his screen.
Ziva found McGee's answer rational and ceased her worry. She began typing fastly herself again. Suddenly the metallic doors opened and agent Gibbs stepped in. Like always walking quickly, with coffee on his hand. He went to his team and realized the senior member was absent.
"Where's DiNozzo?" he questioned as he took a seat on his chair.
"We thought he was with you, boss." replied McGee beginning to worry.
Director Vance stepped down the stairs and approached the team. "My office. Now." he ordered.
Ziva shut down her computer immediately, and rushed towards Vance's office. Her instincts told her that this had to do with Tony. McGee froze his computer and slowly walked after Ziva, waiting for Gibbs to give him some sort of clue. Gibbs stood up slowly for once, grabbed his coffee and walked alongside McGee.
The team entered the office and stood in front of the director. Vance looked at them vaguely as he felt the weight of their stares. Gibbs began to loose his patience so he jumped to the question.
"What is it Director?"
"Its about agent DiNozzo." said the director after a while.
"Is he okay?" asked McGee altered by the situation, "Did something happen to him?"
"McGee." interrupted Ziva trying to hide how nervous she was. What if something had happened to Tony? Tony meant a lot to her, and his sudden absence was worrying her a lot.
"Sorry." apologized McGee.
"Agent DiNozzo," began the director as he stood up, "will no longer be part of your team." he said.
"I'm sorry, what?" asked Gibbs with a threatening voice.
"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo is not part of your team anymore." he repeated with a disaroving look.
"And why is he no longer part of our team?" inquired Ziva as she crossed her arms.
"That is confidential, agent David." responded Vance.
"So you fired him?" said Gibbs getting mad at the director while keeping his voice down.
"No agent Gibbs." confirmed the director. Gibbs glared at him with the famous Gibbs stare and leaned on the table.
"Then where the hell is he?" he said keeping his threatening voice low.
"Agent DiNozzo has been transferred." stated the director as he looked at Gibbs warning him to back off.
"Where to, exactly?" questioned Ziva.
"That is confidential." repeated Vance. "While agent DiNozzo is gone, you will find a replacement for him. Once he returns he will assume his position again."
"And when will he return?" asked Ziva enfuriated for not having access to the information she was asking for.
"I don't know, agent David. If he returns he'll go back to his position." he stated as he sat back down. "That's all." he finished.
Gibbs stormed away but stopped as he heard McGee aske one last question.
"I'm sorry, did you just say, if he returns?" he inquired with a cold look, "Does that mean that he might never come back?"
"I said that's all." repeated Vance as he went back to his computer screen.
Gibbs opened the door and left in a rush, followed by McGee. Ziva remained standing, with her arms crossed at the Directors office. She stared at him for a few seconds and then walked out, slamming the door behind her. She reached her desk once more, but before sitting she turned around and headed toward's Tony's. Gibbs observed as the agent went through the empty drawers and shelves looking for a clue. Ziva turned to McGee and asked him to check the computer.
"Its all wiped out." said the proobie after minutes. Ziva groaned and sat on her chair again. She crossed her arms and looked to the void.
Was Tony really gone? Why would he have left without saying good bye, or at least notifying the team. Something was wrong and she knew it. Suddenly she felt a heartache. As if she had lost someone from her family. She looked over her computer at Tony's desk, which was now empty. Her heartache grew. Tony was gone.
