Sunday afternoon, Tony woke up refreshed. After getting the equivalent of Gibbs' blessing, he took him up on his offer and joined Gibbs in his basement later that night. They drank bourbon while Gibbs worked on his boat, and spent time together mostly in silence. Occasionally, one of them broke the silence, and their conversations consisted in stories about their time in the field and their time spent as team leader. Tony learned more about Gibbs, the man, than he had in the whole time working for him. Gibbs even smiled at Tony's stories about the team while he'd been in Mexico. He told him about the cases that came up, his campfires, his methods of knowing what the team was talking about behind his back, and how proud he was of each and every member of the team for the way they dealt with the change of authority. It wasn't always easy, but when it came down to it, they were all completely supportive of one another. He could see the pride reflecting in Gibbs, too.

Tony didn't get home until the early hours of the morning, but he didn't care. He had a renewed confidence in himself, and felt sure that his relationship with Gibbs wouldn't suffer because he was leaving. Would things be the same? No. Would they keep in touch, the way he would with Abby? No, probably not. But that wouldn't matter. Even though they'd be technically equals, Gibbs would always be 'boss', just like Tim would always be 'probie', even if he became the Director of the Agency himself. It made Tony smile to think about it—Tim would, in fact, make a wonderful director someday.

It was time to crack open the files of his new team members. Today was a day for himself, a day for preparation. He was almost done packing, thanks to the help from Abby and Jimmy. McGee had given him the name of the best movers around, and he had given Tony a list of 5 apartments according to the specifications he had given him. He had the rest of the week to deal with Ziva and Jeanne; today, he allowed himself to really get excited about what was to come. With a smile and a freshly brewed cup of hazelnut coffee (his favorite), he began to browse through the information about the apartments, read about NCIS Rota, Spain, and analyze his new team members.