Gibbs blew gently on the newly sanded wood. He watched the sawdust flutter into the air and fall lightly to the ground. He smiled at the shimmering light refractions hitting the particles, swinging across the shower of dust as the light swung above his head. He stroked his boat affectionately and hummed quietly to himself. His phone vibrated in a jam jar on his work bench and he grunted. He unscrewed the lid roughly and retrieved the phone from its exile.

'Gibbs,' he snapped gruffly. 'Yes...yes...on my way.' He flipped the phone shut and stomped up the stairs into his lonely kitchen. He grabbed his coat and left the house immediately; he rarely spent any time in the above ground part of his house anymore; he was becoming more reclusive by the day.

He had never fully recovered from his retirement and he not yet readjusted back into his work setting. He had only returned after Franks threw him out and he wandered aimlessly around Mexico before realising he needed a purpose to exist and going back NCIS. DiNozzo accepted him back gladly, he had been arguing relentlessly with McGee, Agent Lee, Ducky, and even Abby. The team still felt disconnected and the days slipped passed uneventfully. His family was falling apart.

Tony sat at his desk, eying his old post warily. He had not been the team leader for four years now and, at the time, he had been relieved to fall back into his more junior role, but now he was bored by the monotonous life. McGee had ceased to be an object of amusement and Lee was dull. Abby had lost her spark and Ducky was becoming more doddery and forgetful. Vance was steely and hadn't connected with the team. In fact, Gibbs's group had become outlawed – they were producing no results so they got stuck with the easy cases. They had not dealt with a murder, terrorist attack or espionage for over a year and had not taken on any interesting cases since Kate's death. He still thought about Kate regularly and mourned at her grave monthly. He was unable to let her go and clung onto her memory as tightly as he could. His love life had never existed and he messed up every real date he went on. Of course, he had sex almost every night but it was vacant and meaningless. Undercover-information-gathering-by-sex jobs went to other less handsome agents and promotions got offered to guys who had once idolised Tony.

Vance surveyed the team directly below him, pleased with the scene. He had never been given cause to regret his decision of demoting Gibbs's team to a less prominent spot in the building and, despite Jenny's warnings about the ferocious Gibbs before she retired, in all his years at NCIS he had never experienced that side of the old man. He could see that Gibbs was capable of more and certainly he had been until he had cropped up in many unfavourable reports but it was obvious that retirement had not suited him. Gibbs was often uncooperative and single minded but he had no flair or passion for the inconveniences he caused.

McGee rummaged around in his single desk drawer. He was the only member of the team who held any respect in Vance's eyes so he often got given extra jobs to do. At the moment, he was working on some encrypted codes but his work was stunted and hesitant since he had to keep closing his work whenever Tony walked in. He kept his extra duties a secret because, although Tony was a shadow of his former self, he still was competitive and McGee was careful with Tony's fragile ego.

When Gibbs arrived at his desk, he found his team waiting listlessly for him, engaging in petty arguing with no enjoyment in the debate. He sighed and shoved his gun into his holster, waiting for just another day at work to end.

Sorry it's short but I didn't have much time. If you want me to continue please review.