Letter Home

Summary: AU – Gibbs gets a letter from Tony during his time as Agent 'Afloat'.

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just play with them.

A/N: This is a stand-alone story and not part of either of my series. It was inspired by the lovely artwork that fanarts_series made for Xanthelj, which you can see on Xanthe's Live Journal page: http [colon backslash backslash] xanthelj [dot] livejournal [dot] com [backslash] 248186 [dot] html. It's almost entirely NCIS, but transports the characters into the Star Trek universe and mentions a couple of the characters - it will probably make sense even if you don't know anything about Star Trek:TNG beyond the fact that it's set on a starship; it probably won't make sense if you don't know NCIS.

For Xanthe: a belated happy birthday/cheering-up ficlet

To: Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs

Sent: Stardate 44390.1

From: Agent Afloat Anthony DiNozzo

Subject: Hi Boss

Hi Boss... yeah, I know you're not really my 'boss' anymore, but old habits die hard, you know? Anyway, I wish we'd had a chance to talk before I shipped out. There's a lot I would have liked to say... but, you probably know it all already, don't you? You've always had that really freaky ability to know what I was thinking... and when I needed a headslap before I even did anything to deserve it! And neither one of us is that good at talking about our feelings and stuff, so maybe Vance did us a favour by not giving me time to tie up loose ends.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm doing ok. No, I mean really. I'm fine. It's not really what I had in mind right now, but I can survive a couple of months out here. And, really, Vance was actually right about one thing (yeah, I know...) – I've been working for Starfleet for a hell of a long time and have never been stationed on a ship, and it's probably about time I work on my space legs.

And, I gotta tell you, Boss... if I have to be stationed on a starship, at least I managed to end up on a good one! I mean, seriously... the Enterprise? When Vance told me to report to that pokey little research ship, I thought I was gonna end up gnawing off my own arm from boredom. He didn't tell me that it was just delivering me to the freakin' Enterprise!

And this ship is seriously great, Boss. The Captain totally has that whole toppy 'I'm in charge; don't mess with me' thing going... he's a lot like you, really. Only he drinks Earl Grey tea instead of coffee and you'd probably think he's a bit pauncey because he reads Shakespeare instead of building boats... although, considering that the ship doesn't have a basement, maybe he doesn't have much choice! I can just see the two of you glaring at each other, if you ever had to beam aboard to investigate something. And... uh... did I just say you were toppy? Uh... sorry, Boss. Huh... maybe I should figure out how to back up and erase with this thing? Uh...

Ok, never mind. Moving on.

Anyway, everyone here has been really friendly and welcoming! I was expecting a bit of a cool reception – after all, who's gonna like the guy whose job is to catch you breaking the rules? But it doesn't seem like there's a lot of 'crime' going on on this ship... and with a Captain like Picard, that's probably not much of a surprise. And it's not even dry – there's a bar and everything – so it's not like I have to go around searching people's bunks for hidden flasks. Maybe things will change after our first shore leave, when I have to round up people getting into brawls with weird two-headed aliens, but so far I actually seem to be fitting in, which is a nice surprise.

And McGeek would love it here! There's even an android! I can't decide if Tim would spend all his time talking to him, or if he'd try to reverse engineer him! Actually, it's probably a good thing Vance didn't send him out here... there's way too many cool gizmos, and there's no way he'd be able to keep his hands to himself!

And, speaking of keeping hands to oneself... there are some seriously hot women out here, Boss! I've already had to meet with the ship's counsellor, because apparently most of the people who end up in trouble out here are people who are 'troubled', as she put it... and... wow! The bartender warned me that I shouldn't show too much interest in the pretty little counsellor, but she didn't tell me why... I think I'm going to have to do a little more digging, because unless she has a really big boyfriend somewhere on this ship, I think I'm going to be showing a little interest!

Anyway, I should probably go figure out how to send this thing. Just wanted to let you know that I made it out here ok, and that I'm fine. Of course, I miss you guys and I'm looking forward to coming home, but I know that agents afloat usually only do six months in space at a stretch and I'm pretty sure I can keep myself amused out here for that long. By the way, has anyone ever explained why we still say Agent 'Afloat'? 'Cuz, it's not like we're actually 'floating' anymore, Boss... maybe you can mention that to Vance next time you want to annoy him? Although, Agent In Space sounds like a bad science fiction movie, so maybe that's why they never got around to changing the name when we stopped being Navy. Anyway, don't worry about me, and stay in touch.

Tony