Work Text:
Thom E. Gemcity
By YumYumPM
He’d been writing mysteries since, like, forever. But not until he started working his new job at N.C.I.S. was he able to write one that would sell. His new boss became his inspiration. He wasn’t just writing some tame, yet boring mystery story. He was living it.
To be perfectly honest Leroy Jethro Gibbs scared him shitless. He’d heard all about him even before he found himself working with him. He did not suffer fools gladly and while Timothy McGee was no fool, he was extremely insecure except in his field of expertise – computers.
Tim tried to tell himself that L.J. Tibbs, the lead character in his best selling novel, only bore a passing resemblance to Gibbs. There was a statement at the beginning that read ‘This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is strictly coincidental’. Could he help it if Gibbs had all the qualities; highly intelligent, extremely skilled, a born leader, that he wanted to attribute to his lead character?
Unlike most books out there, Tibbs wasn’t a young and coming detective. He’d been out there and seen it all. He was experienced, but he wasn’t old and fat, with a balding head. Gibbs had a full head of hair, the grey looking more like highlights and was in darn good shape for his age. McGee wasn’t sure just how old Gibbs was. He could have broken into records to find out, but his guilt complex kicked in so he never did.
He’d only meant to use Gibbs as a starting point, but then he needed someone for Gibbs to play off of and Tony was right there. Shifting Tony DiNozzo into Tommy had been too easy. Taking his womanizing, clowning, following Gibbs around like a puppy dog. He’d enjoyed writing Tommy making him into an even bigger buffoon then he really was, the butt of any joke, while adding a little humor, comic relief to the story.
Of course once he had those characters figured out, he needed a romantic interest. He’d written a good bit of the book with Kate Todd in mind. Her death had changed all that.
He didn’t want to capitalize on what had been a very personal experience.
It wasn’t until Officer Ziva David joined the team that he had a chance to remake Lisa. Ziva was totally different from Kate and that had required a great deal of rewriting, but looking back on it – it had been worth it.
Of course what mystery would be any good without a medical examiner? Dead bodies were his business and Ducky, without knowing it, gave him plenty of background with which to work. Then, of course, the medical examiner had needed an assistant, so who else better then Pimmy Jalmer. Okay maybe he had gone a little overboard with that character’s storyline, but he hadn’t been able to help it.
Then somehow he had felt his character needed a romantic interest as well. Who better to base it on then Abby. He would always have a soft spot in his heart for Abby Sciuto. She also added the extra impact as someone special to give them additional details with which to work with in order to catch the bad guy.
All in all it had worked. Now if he could just understand why everyone was mad at him!