Just as the story ends, I realise that I forgot to say that I don't own these characters ...

As promised, Ducky came early in the morning to look at Tony's arm. He removed the big protective dressing but advised Tony, without much hope, to wear the sling for a couple more days. Tony invited him to stay for a cup of tea but Ducky declined saying he had chores to do at home.

"I'll see you at work on Monday, Anthony. I told Jethro that I would advise you to carry on wearing the sling, so don't be surprised if he arrives for an inspection. Cheerio."

"Bye, Ducky," said Tony, wondering when Gibbs would arrive. He decided to put some coffee on to brew reasoning that Gibbs wouldn't really mind if he arrived and found it had been brewing for hours. In fact Gibbs arrived about fifteen minutes after Ducky's departure and before Tony had started thinking of removing the sling.

"Come in, Boss," greeted Tony, "the coffee's brewed."

"Thanks," said Gibbs, getting his favorite large mug down from Tony's cupboard and helping himself to the coffee, "you want a cup?"

"No thanks, I made it Gibbs strength so I'll stick with tea. I'm still rather fond of my stomach lining," said Tony. Gibbs grinned and set about making Tony a cup of tea. He then produced two pastries,

"I bought these from that Italian place round the corner. Seem to remember you missed out on them yesterday."

"I think I love you, Boss," and Tony as he sat on one of the tall stools by his kitchen island. Gibbs pulled the other stool out and sat down to nurse his coffee.

"You did good yesterday, Tony," he said after a minute or two, "shows why you're a good agent, my best agent."

"Wow, Gibbs, I don't think you've ever said that to me before. Thank you," said a slightly pink Tony.

"Wouldn't have kept you on all these years if I didn't think you were good," said Gibbs gruffly. "Ducky would say that I should have told you more often. Would it have made a difference?"

"Boss, I know that ... You might not have said it very often but I always thought that you didn't think I was a complete waste of space. Don't think you'd have kept on with the head slaps if you didn't think I was worth beating into shape. And no, I'm not leaving because you didn't keep on massaging my ego."

Gibbs grimaced, "Don't think I'd know how to do that, sounds a bit unpleasant."

"And that's why you'll never be Director!" laughed Tony. Gibbs nodded in agreement and then asked,

"Tony, are you sure about leaving? Vance told me about the offer he made you. Even if you don't want to be out in the field you can stay at NCIS. You should think about it."

"Boss, I've done nothing but think about it and part of me wants to stay ... but a bigger part of me needs to go. And I'm staying in Washington. I may have decided I don't want to work with you guys any longer but I still want to hang out with you all. You've been a big part of my life for years, I can't just cut you out of it."

"No fear of that. I went to get coffee today and Radhika told me you've offered her a job. Looks as if I'll have to come visit just to get decent coffee!"

"Sorry about that, Boss," Tony winced. "Are you going to offer McGee my job?"

"Thinking about it, what do you think?"

"I think he's ready, he's so nervous I'll start calling him McQuiver but he'll be good. But you don't need my advice. What does your gut say?"

"My gut says I'd rather keep the senior field agent I've got now but he seems determined to go off and sell popcorn so I guess I'll go with McGee."

"It's not just about selling popcorn," Tony protested, "there'll be sodas as well." Gibbs cleared his throat and looked uncharacteristically uncertain,

"I got McGee to Goggle Seymour Boulevard yesterday. Looked it up on Goggle Earth."

"So that's what McGee was doing for you, he was a bit secretive about it," interrupted Tony.

"Yeah, he found quite a lot for me. It looks a bit run down. Have you had a survey done?"

"Gibbs, don't worry. The theater needs quite a bit spending on it but it's mostly superficial. Until fairly recently Archie was on top of everything so structurally it's sound."

"And you trust this Archibald, do you?"

"Please don't tell me that you had McGee run a background check on him?" exclaimed Tony and when Gibbs nodded, he laughed and said, " because I've already done one. If the FBI spot us doing all these checks on him they'll start to think he's a criminal. Boss, I know you don't think much of my father but, in his own way, he's a pretty shrewd businessman. Before I went off to school all I heard from him was about how to run a company. So, of course, I've looked at Archie and we've drawn up a legal agreement so neither of us can rip the other off. Seymour Boulevard is a sound business opportunity. Admittedly it will be a bit shaky for a while but the business plan is a good one which will be good for us as well as for the area."

"I called the bank today," said Gibbs.

"That's ... er ... nice," said Tony, a bit puzzled at the way the conversation had turned.

"They said they could give me a mortgage on the house."

"Ouch, those termites the other year did more damage than you thought, eh?" asked Tony sympathetically.

"No, you bozo. It means that I can loan you some cash to get this theater place done up."

Tony was genuinely lost for words and he struggled to keep his composure.

"Wow, Boss. I ... I ... I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. Thank you."

"No need to thank me. We can go down tomorrow and sign the agreement."

"Boss, I can't accept your money. I don't need your money"

"Of course you do, it's going to take a small fortune to smarten your place up. My money's as good as anyone else's and it'll be cheaper than the bank."

"Gibbs, I really don't need the money. It's all in hand."

"Tony, it's up to you, of course, but you're not expecting your father to come up with money, are you?" Tony shuddered at the thought.

"No, Boss, no way. I've already got the money," at Gibbs' questioning glare, he hastily continued,

"You know I've always had some money from the trust fund my mom left me?"

"Yeah, enough to keep you in your fancy clothes and a fancy car. Not enough to fund this though," replied Gibbs.

"It turns out that Nonno and Nonna DiNozzo shared your doubts about my dad's finances so they each set aside some money for me, unknown to him, so that it wouldn't matter if he went belly up. In fact my grandparents each did it without letting the other one know; it seems they both felt a bit disloyal to Senior for doing it so didn't like to admit it to the other. I only found out about it a couple of months ago, just before I went to Seymour Boulevard."

"How much was there?" asked Gibbs a little faintly.

"They each put $100,000 in thirty five years ago. It was invested wisely and it's grown a bit."

"A bit?" queried Gibbs.

"Well, quite a bit. And Grandma and Grandpa Paddington put some money in trust for all their grandchildren so that will be useful too."

"Are these the parents of your uncle Clive who died a millionaire?"

"Yes."

"So I'm guessing that's 'quite a bit' as well?" said Gibbs even more faintly.

"Yes."

"Tony, do you need to find another job?"

"I guess not, didn't occur to me not to. Perhaps I'm not a playboy after all."

"So, let me get this clear, you don't need to work but you want to spend your time doing up an old theater just for the hell of it?"

"Suppose so, does seem a bit out of character doesn't it?"

"Not out of character, Anthony. I'm proud of you," and Gibbs reached out to shake Tony's hand.

"Thanks, Boss, I might not be taking your money but I'll take your advice on restoring the seats in the theater. I don't want to rip them out but they're in need of love and attention."

"My pleasure, Tony. Especially now that I know you can afford to pay me!" Gibbs laughed out loud at Tony's outraged expression.

NCISNCISNCIS

The next day Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo handed in his resignation from NCIS.

Twelve days after that, Special Agent Timothy McGee moved his possessions into Tony's newly vacated desk and then went to join the noisy, and emotional, farewell party for Tony taking place in the largest of the conference rooms.

The day after that Ziva, Tim, Abby, Ducky and Palmer, rather heavy eyed, paid their first visit to Seymour Boulevard. They carried pails, mops, paint brushes and other paraphernalia ready to start the movie theater's deep clean. Tony greeted them cheerfully, having obviously deployed the DiNozzo Defibrillator to good effect. Abby hugged him as she if she hadn't seen him for days and then hugged a slightly startled Archie who tried to remonstrate,

"Archie, if you're a friend of Tony's, you're a friend of mine and I hug all my friends."

Tony shrugged and said,

"No point resisting, Arch, an Abby hug is unstoppable." Archie wondered, not for the first time, at how his life had changed since he first met Anthony DiNozzo. Ducky spotted him and approached him with hand outstretched,

"Ah, Mr Archibald, a fellow Scot. How nice to meet you at last, Now tell me, from which part of Scotland did your dear mother hail?" and before Archie knew what was happening, Ducky had led him away to a quiet corner to continue their talk.

Miriam arrived with a big sack of donuts, with and without sprinkles. She also brought a rather nervous Stephen who was back on his meds and wanted to meet the person who had saved him. Ziva had brought sandwiches for later. McGee intended to look at the rudimentary booking system to see if he could bring it up to date. Radhika arrived with flasks of her inimitable coffee. Tony wandered round with a happy smile on his face.

An hour or two later, Ziva and Ducky were watching Tony talking to Stephen. Ziva was puzzled,

"There is something different about Tony today. Have you noticed it, Ducky?"

"He looks very happy, my dear."

"No, there is something else. I cannot put my thumb on it."

"Finger," corrected Tim coming up behind her.

"Is it possible that he has grown taller?" asked Ziva.

"Well," said Ducky, "it would be anatomically impossible for an adult of Anthony's age to grow taller."

"You're right, Ziva," said McGee, "he does look taller."

They all looked at Tony and realised that, indeed he did look taller. He had lost that slightly hunched, tense posture which he had often had at NCIS. At that moment they finally agreed with Tony that leaving had been the right thing for him.

It was nearly time for lunch break and Gibbs hadn't arrived yet. They decided to start on the sandwiches and coffee trusting that the aroma would somehow lure Gibbs. Sure enough, just as Radhika was pouring the coffee, Gibbs arrived carrying what looked like a large board, covered in an old sheet.

"What you got, Boss?" asked Tony eagerly.

"Not your boss, Tony. I've made a new sign for the theater, paint took a bit longer to dry than I thought." Tony pulled the cloth off and everyone gathered round to look at the beautifully carved and painted sign.

Tony laughed as he read what was written on it:

"SEE MORE MOVIES AT SEYMOUR MOVIE THEATER!"

"Thanks 'notBoss'," said Tony, and he did what he had only done once before, he gave Gibbs a hug.

Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited or followed this story. I apologise to those who hoped that Tony wouldn't leave ... I couldn't get him to stay!