A/N: Written as a gift for BlackSwan on the NFA. Just a light-hearted oneshot with only a slight bit of plot and definitely no angst. Shocker, I know, but I can do that occasionally.
Disclaimer: Not mine! Not mine! I do not own NCIS or the characters. ...and unfortunately, I'm not making any money from my writing.
Secret Fan
by Enthusiastic Fish
Tim got home from work and was tired, aching...and in a bad mood. He felt as though everything had gone wrong that day. All he wanted was to get to sleep...after eating something other than vending machine crap. He began flipping through his mail as he thought about what he was going to eat. Finally, he gave in to the inevitable and ordered a pizza. While he waited for it to arrive, he continued to flip through his mail. He had quite a pile this week because he'd been home so rarely.
Jethro nudged his hand, distracting him from a thick packet from his publisher. Tim set it aside and took Jethro out to do his business and then fed him. Then, his pizza came and he finally settled down with the packet. Lyndi kept trying to tempt him to revisit Deep Six. He wondered what her latest attempt would be. He pulled out the cover letter and read it.
Timothy:
I found these fan letters from a couple of years back. I missed them in the initial onslaught and they're so complimentary, I thought you might enjoy reading them. Let me know.
Lyndi Crawshaw
Tim rolled his eyes. As if that was accidental. She probably had not bothered to send them along and then decided to pull them out and send them along now as an inducement. Still, fan mail was nice to have; so he ate his pizza and started reading them. They dated back to the first release of Deep Six and a few were also from Rock Hollow. Most of them were typical gushing letters that he enjoyed, but they didn't mean as much. They were mostly along the lines of I luv u! OMG! UR an amazing writer! and while that was nice, it lacked something. It lacked sincerity. Still, anything positive wasn't to be sneered at. Then, he got to a longer letter and he began to read it with interest...as he started on his fourth slice of pizza.
Dear Mr. Gemcity:
Your book Deep Six is quite an interesting foray into the complexities of being an agent and a human being at the same time. I wasn't exactly planning on reading Deep Six. Still less had I planned on actually sending a letter. I received it from my wife for my birthday and I mostly read it out of a sense of obligation. You see, I myself am a federal agent and I am well aware of the foibles of humanity which can make up the ranks of federal law enforcement. Oh the stories I could tell you. If you think this Tibbs is bad (is that a reference to Virgil Tibbs of In the Heat of the Night?), you should meet some of the agents I have worked with in the past. They would give even Tibbs a run for his money.
Tim smiled to himself. If only this fan knew. He was a bit surprised about the reference to In the Heat of the Night. It hadn't even crossed his mind that there was a similar character name in that series of novels...and films...and TV series. Oops. He resumed reading.
My wife would undoubtably be mortified to know that I am writing a fan letter. If I ever thought there was the slightest possibility of our meeting, I might be mortified myself, but print is a safe medium for giving adulations...adulations which you deserve. You seem to have an insider's knowledge of how a federal agency can be run, of the problems faced by those of us who are tasked with upholding the law. You have an interesting cast of characters from Lawrence James Tibbs to his team of misfits to the backup players. The villains are clever, if a bit stereotypical. The takedown was extremely exciting. It even got my jaded heart beating a little faster to see whether or not they were going to triumph in the end. Agents don't often have that luxury.
Tim nodded in agreement.
"That's for sure," he said aloud and grabbed another slice of pizza.
All in all, this novel is a throwback to the good old days when law enforcement was shown to be flawed but, at the end of the day, good people doing a job that needed to be done. None of these corrupt officials manipulating the system. There is enough of that in real life. We need to see the heroes, and you have heroes galore, even in your ragtag motley crew of characters. I am intrigued that you added a computer geek as an agent. It does happen, of course, but not often, and I think that he's a bit more fleshed out than some of the other characters. Perhaps some self-injection?
Tim laughed.
"You have no idea..."
Regardless, I feel privileged for having read Deep Six and I do look forward to reading the promised sequel Rock Hollow. Yes, I have already pre-ordered a copy of it. I am happy to follow where you lead in the coming novels. I do hope there will be more than one as I think there are stories galore available to be shown to us. These are fascinating characters, in a fascinating environment.
Tim suddenly choked on his pizza as he read the signature.
An enthusiastic fan, hoping for more,
Leon Vance
Tim's eyes widened.
"You've got to be kidding. ...no way. No way, Jethro," he said. "Director Vance can't be a fan of Deep Six. He can't be a fan of Thom E. Gemcity. It's just not possible."
Jethro barked helpfully at him.
"How am I supposed to look him in the eye? He must know that I'm Thom E. Gemcity. He never said anything. What if–?" The pizza was forgotten.
"When was this letter written?" He looked at the letter and saw it was from three years before. "He must have forgotten by now. Right?"
Jethro barked again.
"Oh, man."
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"McGee, Vance needs these right away. Run them up to his office," Gibbs said, gesturing to the files on his desk.
"Uh...uh...Boss? Can't Tony do it?"
"No way, Probie. I'm not a grunt and they're your stuff, you know. All that geeky stuff. Vance'll love it. You can both gush over the code."
Thwack!
"No, McGee. Get up there."
"Y-Yes, Boss." Tim grabbed the files and dashed up the stairs. Maybe he could hand them off to Vance's assistant.
"Hi, McGee. Just go on in."
So much for that.
Tim stepped into the office. Vance was on his phone.
"Yes, thank you. Very good, sir. Yes. I understand." He hung up. "Ah, Agent McGee, these are the files from the Denny case?"
"Yes, sir," Tim said, far too quickly. "This is all of them."
"Is something wrong with the case, Agent McGee?"
"No! No, sir! No problem at all."
"Then, what's wrong with you?"
Think of something, Tim! Think! Nothing was coming.
"Nothing's wrong, sir. Nothing at all."
Vance stood up and walked around his desk.
"Are you sure? You seem really nervous about something."
"Nervous? Me? No! I'll...just get...back to work, sir!" Tim stepped back and tried frantically to think of something to say that would distract Vance from questioning him further. Unfortunately, he said the first thing that came to his mind. "So...you enjoy In the Heat of the Night, Director?"
"What?"
Idiot! "Nothing, sir."
Vance looked at him much as people looked at the insane. "You can go back to work, Agent McGee."
"Thank you, sir," Tim said, not bothering to disguise his relief. He nearly ran out of the office and down to his desk. He knew his face was burning but he was so relieved at his escape that he didn't care about Tony teasing him. He focused only on working for the rest of the day, hoping for an early escape.
No such luck.
"McGee, I need this ready for tomorrow."
"Sure, Boss. I'm almost done. It'll take another hour, I think."
"Good."
After another half an hour, Tim was alone in the bullpen.
Not for long.
"Agent McGee, is that program ready yet?" Vance asked, coming down the stairs.
Tim jumped.
"Uh...almost...sir."
"Good." He walked over. "Show me."
Tim did so, with fumbling fingers. Vance looked at the program and the parameters Tim had set up, nodding approvingly.
"It looks good. It'll be ready for tomorrow?"
"Absolutely, sir."
"Good." He started back up to his office and then looked back. "By the way, Agent McGee?"
"Yes, Director?"
"I'm still waiting for another sequel."
Tim couldn't unfreeze his brain in time to respond, even when Vance simply smiled and continued on his way up the stairs to his office.
It took a full five minutes for him to be able to look at the program again. Then, he worked as fast as possible, finished it and fled the building.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
It was late. Almost midnight. Tim sat down, but not at his computer. He sat down at his typewriter, fed a piece of paper into it and stared for a few seconds. Then, he got up and turned on his jazz music.
Back to the typewriter. He stared for a while again.
Finally, he started to type.
Some days it was hard to be the one in charge, Director Chance thought to himself.
FINIS!