Prologue

Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs sat in his tent. He ran his hands through his short, silver hair, as he looked at the family picture, taken only three weeks ago. He, his wife, Shannon, and his daughter, Kelly were at the beach. He had wanted to take one last trip before he deployed. Just in case he didn't come back.

Gibbs set his jaw. "Dammit," he scolded himself. "Don't talk like that! You WILL return home."

He had had the camera set up on a timer. They had tried to remain serious for the picture, but had collapsed into a fit of laughter. Shannon was leaning on his arm, her eyes sparkling with mirth and mouth open in laughter. Kelly was pulled over his lap, as he tickled her mercilessly. He could still hear her squeals of delight. He was smiling one of his rare genuine smiles, as he looked at his family.

A shout of "Mail's here," broke him from his musings. He could here the stampede of boots outside his tent, running to be the first to get to the bags of mail. He knew that there would be smiles and laughter, and even tears as these men, his brothers, opened up letters and packages from their family and friends. There wasn't much to laugh about any more, not in this hell-hole anyway. Not with men dying left and right. He sighed and got up, tucking the picture into the pocket on his left breast. He walked out of his tent and ran straight into his tent mate, Staff Sergeant Matthew Barber.

"Hey, Gunny! Grabbed your mail for ya. It's nuts out there! A fist fight nearly broke out! One guy nearly punched another guy because the second guy had grabbed the first guy's mail-"

"Thanks, Matt," he interrupted, as he snatched the packet of letters offered to him out of Matt's hands. The packet was quite thick. He tore it open and two white envelopes fell out. One was thin, containing probably only one sheet of paper and addressed to My Dearest Gibbs in Shannon's gorgeous cursive. The other was stuffed with multiple letters and addressed to Daddy in a childlike scrawl. He opened the thick envelope first, and seven sheets of paper fluttered to the ground, each one addressed and dated. He grabbed the one with the date of his deployment, July 10, 1990. He unfolded it and began to read.

Dear Daddy...

A/N: Hey guys! This idea kinda just popped in my head. Hope y'all like it! Please review and give me your thoughts! Thanks! :)

Disclaimer: I sadly don't own any of these characters. They belong to CBS and Donald P. Bellisario.