A/N: OK, umm, hi?! Well, this story is kinda short; maybe three chapters, or so! The idea of it kept going through my head for a long time and then I wrote something down around two years ago. However, as it's obvious, I never got around to actually working on it. Hopefully, now I can post it regularly, so you guys can tell me what you think.

Once again, huge thanks to all of you for sending me messages or leaving reviews, asking for more stories. I know I've said that I'm gonna add more stories to "TCAOF" and I will. But first, I had to do this one, since it's the last -Non-AU!- fiction I'll write for this (or probably any other) fandom!

It's a 'fix-it' sort of story! The first few lines, which are in italic, are actual lines from the show and they will tell you what the story is about.

Hope you enjoy this one.

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(S01-Ep05 - The Curse)

Kate: I'm impressed.

Tony: Didn't become an NCIS agent yesterday, Kate. As a matter of fact, tomorrow is...

Gibbs: It'll have been two years.

Tony: That's kinda touching, Gibbs. Remembering the day you hired me.

Gibbs: Yeah, well, seemed like a good idea at the time.

"Yeah... Yeah, it did." Tony managed to utter before the hurt and sadness, that had suddenly gripped his heart, could affect his voice. Turning around, he resumed taking pictures, not noticing the frown on Gibbs' face at hearing those words or Ducky's look of concern and surprise.

He was already feeling unsure about staying any longer on Gibbs' team as the stupid insecurity he'd struggled with most of his life was getting pretty much overwhelming. He didn't expect coddling or any sort of special attention from his boss; the man was his boss, not his friend or his family, for crying out loud; but he couldn't deny that the thought that Gibbs might've actually regretted offering him a spot on his team hurt.

The past two years had been anything but easy; Gibbs was a bastard and that was when he was having a good, productive day. The amount of work and responsibility that he had to shoulder, had also become way more than the time he'd been a detective; but he didn't mind any of those things; he loved his job here and he was learning a lot from Gibbs; and his sour mood? Well, it was nothing Tony hadn't dealt with before, so he was pretty much immune to it. And he was aware that he was good at his job; he knew that, most of the times, he could make a connection between seemingly irrelevant events and find the missing link that'd break a case open and he enjoyed it; plus, he was glad that he was still doing something that was making a difference.

Still, from time to time, more so recently, he felt maybe it was time he moved to a new place again.

After what had happened between him and his old partner at BPD, he'd actually questioned his motives; thinking that maybe he'd made a mistake by becoming a cop; but here, at NCIS, he'd once again regained his faith in himself and in the system. That, however, didn't mean he'd want to stay there forever, and even though he was still learning new things, he didn't want to stay in a place where he wasn't needed anymore.

And now that Gibbs had found a new agent, one that he apparently liked and could actually tolerate; maybe his time here was up. Besides, if Gibbs was stating that hiring him had only seemed like a good idea at the time, then the prospect of leaving suddenly wasn't all that painful.

And he hadn't set roots here yet; he didn't even have a fiancée anymore to think about before upping and leaving; he could easily apply for a job somewhere else and then start anew. Again!

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For the rest of the case, Tony tried to ignore the thoughts of leaving or having his expiration date coming up. He focused on the case and even ignored the new agent's jabs and snide remarks.

Agent Todd clearly thought he was an idiot, not worthy of the title he was carrying and she seemed to think that she was a much better agent since she'd experienced being in the Secret Service.

Tony was really tempted to remind her that she'd pretty much been fired from her previous job, for not being competent and professional, and despite being an agent before coming to NCIS, she knew absolutely nothing about investigation techniques or working through a crime scene. Being a bodyguard for the president didn't automatically give you the knowledge and experience you needed in the field, as a cop or an agent. He kept his remarks to himself, though, realizing quickly that even though he'd be right to defend himself and even though all the things he wanted to tell her were true, unlike what she was throwing at him, still, and despite all those things; Gibbs would snap at him and tell him to behave, because a) the new agent was a woman and having them around was one of Gibbs' weaknesses; he could never be fair when there was a woman in the equation; and b) she was the new toy and Gibbs liked new shiny things, despite pretending otherwise. And hey, he'd already voiced his thought on what he thought of Tony these days; he pretty much regretted hiring him; so why would Tony retort and put Todd back in her place when he was positive he'd lose this battle?

It was obvious that if she wasn't sure she had Gibbs backing her up, she would never dare uttering those things about him; he was her superior, after all, something she clearly didn't believe and didn't think he deserved.

Well, there were two things he could do at this point; he could become this serious agent; speaking from the position of power and demand respect; or he could go to the director's office and ask for a transfer.

During the two years that he'd worked with Gibbs, new agents have come and gone, none of them sticking around for too long and after awhile no one was assigned to their team anymore; but he'd had no problem with other agents; even the ones like Blackadder. He was a people person and knew how to read them and how to play their games; Kate Todd seemed like a different thing, though; she was making it clear she thought she was superior to Tony because she was a woman and a former Secret Service agent while Tony was just an ex-cop, a man -which was something that Kate thought of as a disadvantage- and just a joke if Gibbs' remarks and their unfortunate first case were any indications. To tell the truth, Tony'd never thought she'd be joining their team or he would've acted differently during that first case; but what's done is done and he couldn't change it; so if he wanted to suddenly become serious now, it'd most probably backfire. Gibbs would put him in his place and Kate would just have more reason to not take him seriously; who knew, he might even get fired.

So, that left him with the second option.

He'd go to Morrow, see if there were any other positions within the agency for him and if not, he'd hand in his resignation letter.

He liked challenge and rivalry; he liked good jokes and banter, but he sure as hell didn't like disrespect and dammit, he'd earned his position; had worked hard for it and wouldn't tolerate a know-nothing green agent come and act like he was this dumb jock just because he'd been a cop before joining NCIS.

He was proud of his years as a cop; he'd done a lot of good stuff then and had helped a lot of people; precisely why he'd joined the force in the first place. Which meant that letting her continue putting him down and undermining his abilities and his years as a cop would be like letting down all the cops, who put their lives at risk each and every day to make their country a safer place and while he could stay and prove she was wrong about the local cops and what they did, he knew with Gibbs as her backup, he'd either snap and get himself fired or he'd lose the game and give them more ammunition to use against him; because let's face it, Gibbs didn't think much of LEOs, either.

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Gibbs was preoccupied with his own dilemmas. Tony's answer to his remark about hiring him had bothered Gibbs; even though he hadn't addressed it again. Gibbs liked to think that Tony was sure of his place on his team and wouldn't leave again just because his usual two years were up.

If he wanted to be honest with himself, the moment the words had left his months about him regretting hiring Tony in the first place, he'd wanted to headslap himself and take the words back; but he couldn't do that. If he hadn't been terrible at using the right words, at least two of his ex-wives wouldn't have left the way they had and half the people he used to call friends would be still his friends. Somehow, for some reasons, after he lost Shannon and Kelly, he had lost his ability to joke without it being snide and hurtful and he hadn't minded it much until recently.

Now, he'd seen the look of hurt in Tony's eyes, had heard the unnerving retort and noticed the changes in his SFA's behavior. Yes, he noticed how the younger man's jaw was uncharacteristically clenched most of the times; he noticed how he didn't say anything back to Todd even though it was clearly killing him to tolerate some of those jabs and he saw how cold his eyes had become.

He also noticed how the new agent was being harsh; he let it go because for one thing, he wanted to see how Tony would react, see if he'd say anything back and put her in her place since that would mean things were normal in Tony's world; and partly he'd remained quiet because well, he had a case to solve and he knew this was probably Agent Todd's way of fitting in and as wrong as it was, she was a woman, he didn't like snapping at them. So he let them be and figured they'd solve their problems on their own. They were both grownups.

Ducky had scolded him for thinking that way; he'd approached him about Tony, thinking that maybe they should do something to show him he now had a home with them and that they were glad he was there. The old ME had told him he'd made a mistake to utter those words about hiring Anthony, especially in front of their new agent and now she thought it was alright to be rude to the team's SFA because apparently he wasn't all that competent and worthy, based on Gibbs' earlier comment.

That had hurt to hear. Gibbs could admit it to himself that he didn't like to think he'd acted like he was giving Kate permission to undermine the SFA, but he couldn't do anything about it and he'd said so to Ducky, telling him that Tony knew how to take care of himself. Which was what that had led to the scolding from the Ducky! The older man had looked at him with disappointment and reminded him that just because one person knew how to take care of himself, that didn't mean they had to do it all the time when they had a team and friends, people who cared about him; and as the Team Leader, it was Gibbs' job to make sure all his agents felt they were safe and secure and that he should give them all the same sort of support.

Gibbs, being Gibbs, told the ME that everything was fine and Kate would soon get tired and give up and then DiNozzo would strike back; and then he'd stormed out of the autopsy.

How was he to know that he'd been wrong? Seriously; how was he supposed to know he hadn't seen the whole picture and had misread the whole thing so terribly that things would soon get totally out of control?

Except; he should've known. He would've realized it if he hadn't refused to open his eyes or if he'd just listened to Ducky!

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TBC ...

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A/N: So, how was this as a way of easing you into the main part of the story? Let me know what you think?

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No! I still own nothing but my own plots and of course my mistakes.

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