It's time for Tony to meet Gibbs – so references to the episode "Baltimore".
Dear Mary
I know it's not Sunday but I had to write things down so they can stop doing banging like bumper cars in my head.
We got called to Baltimore a couple of days ago for a report for a dead 'navy officer' - except that it wasn't a dead navy officer but Danny. You remember Danny, don't you? My old partner from Baltimore PD, the red head. We thought there was a link to another case we working so we got the case although technically it wasn't really our jurisdiction.
It all seemed a bit surreal. Gibbs was nice to me the whole time, sort of thoughtful and considerate which is always a bit disconcerting ... it's the sort of behavior he usually reserves for children, animals and the elderly so it always throws me when he directs it at me. To make things even odder, McGee and Ziva decided to be concerned as well and we all laid off the bickering a bit. It was all very civilized. Ducky was openly curious; ever since he got that psychology degree he feels he has an excuse for asking any question he wants to because he's 'building a psychological profile'. I don't mind really but, again, it was odd having it all directed at me. Abby gave me soulful, sympathetic looks and hugged me if I got within touching distance.
There's no need to keep it secret now, and I think you suspected something anyway, but Danny was a dirty cop – he was on the take and that's why I left Baltimore. All these years I wondered if I did the right thing, sort of wished I'd resolved it differently but that chance is gone for good now. Going back to Baltimore, back to the station made me remember how, in some ways, it was a golden time. I was learning all the time, felt appreciated, made some good friends, met Wendy (so perhaps it wasn't all good!), everything was great. But when I found out Danny was crooked I felt as everything was an illusion, that I'd been conned somehow because I thought Danny was a friend. Hell, I'd have asked him to be my best man at the wedding, that's how close we were. I've asked myself ever since, how good a cop could I be if my best friend deceived me like that? It turns out now that it wasn't just Danny who pulled the wool over my eyes – we found out that Major was an even bigger crook and had killed Danny when he thought he was going to expose him.
I don't think anyone would get away with that with me now – I'm much more suspicious of people. I look back and can't quite believe how trusting I used to be. Trouble is, once you've lost that, it's gone forever. It can sort of taint everything you do – I guess it's an occupational hazard, the price you pay for being a cop.
I sometimes wonder, though, if Danny hadn't been a rotten apple, whether or not I would have stayed at Baltimore PD. Sure, I was enjoying it, doing well, having the time of my life but once Gibbs came on the scene I suspect it was inevitable that I'd be on my way. Once Gibbs decides he wants something, or someone, he usually gets it. I can't imagine that he would have been very subtle about it – no soft words or flattery. He'd have just told me to pack up and be at the Navy Yard the next week. And I'd probably have done it. Perhaps it's like the Indian cobra trick except that Gibbs mesmerises people into doing what he wants.
I think, too, that I saw a glimpse of something else with Gibbs. I could tell that he was good at his job – no, good's not the right word. The man's an artist – he sees things other people don't and I wanted something of that. I thought I could learn something from him which I couldn't learn staying in Baltimore, staying being a cop. So perhaps all these years I've been blaming Danny for 'making' me leave Baltimore when the Gibbs effect would have sucked me in anyway.
And the last few days have reminded me of something I often forget – that when it comes down to it, I think Gibbs will always have my six. And something else – Gibbs may do odd things (to put it mildly) and he certainly walks to the beat of his own drum but he is absolutely incorruptible. I still find it odd, after living with Senior, to know someone for whom money means nothing - it's kind of reassuring.
Sorry to have rambled, Mary but I don't think you'll mind.
Kate sends her love ... or she would if she wasn't obsessively cleaning the glass wall of her bowl. Who knew she would be so like her human namesake?
Love always,
Tony.
NCISNCIS
Mary had always thought something odd had happened with Danny to make Tony leave Baltimore so unexpectedly and this letter confirmed her suspicions. She had met Danny a few times and liked him well enough – superficially he had been quite like Tony and came from a similar mixed background of privilege and deprivation but something hadn't been quite right. It might just be that, obviously, she knew Tony much better but somehow she hadn't thought there was much 'substance' to Danny, he might be easily led astray.
She had also thought it odd that Tony hadn't kept in touch with his old friend – usually when Tony made a friend, he kept that friend. He was still close to his fraternity brothers, to fellow cops in Peoria and Philadelphia as well as friends from boarding school, former members of the house staff in Long Island, even some old flames were still around but Danny had been dropped and never mentioned again.
Mary and Carl had really thought that Tony was settled in Baltimore – he had certainly done well and had seemed to blossom once he earned his detective's shield. Of course, Mary had been sad when Tony went to Washington but she knew that becoming a federal agent was a good career move and he hadn't moved far away. She realised now that what had really made her sad about the move was that Tony had lost a bit of his sparkle, his wide-eyed optimism had faded a little and he had retreated into himself a bit. Now she could see why he had lost some of his trust in other people.
Mary had begun to think that Tony wouldn't stay more than two years with NCIS although she knew that none of his job moves had been because he was restless. Tony just seemed to attract a lot of 'extenuating circumstances'. She had wondered what his new boss, Special Agent Gibbs would be like. Tony was a fan but she had struggled to work what it was that had made him fall under Gibbs' spell. He didn't seem to talk much (which made him an odd match for the talkative Tony), was something of a loner (again, unlike the usually gregarious Tony) and took his coffee black and strong (unlike the sweet toothed Tony). It had all seemed an unlikely match except ... except ... that Gibbs had seen something in Tony, something good, which he wanted. For that alone, Mary had been prepared to give Gibbs the benefit of the doubt. And of course, Gibbs was a former marine – his watchword would be 'Semper Fi' – he'd never leave Tony behind and for that Mary would forgive him a lot.
