Abby stood in the bathroom staring at Tim holding her toothbrush with her heart in her throat. Mikel had just escaped out the bedroom window and Tim was facing her looking confused, and she could see the anger building.

"Abby, did you open the door twice after I told you not to?" Tim quietly asked her with lowered brows.

After a stunned silence she quietly muttered a "yeeeesss" while scraping her foot against the cracked lino.

"Oh for god sakes…Gibbs is going to…you stay right there! Don't move!" Tim spat out as he opened his mobile phone, took three steps into the bedroom and closed the window. He made a call to Gibbs and Tony to report what had happened. Tony would start searching the surrounding area after a B.O.L.O was made on Mikel's car and black-and-whites were patrolling his neighborhood. Gibbs didn't say anything other than that he'd be right there. Tim knew with a sinking dread that he'd be seeing him soon enough.

XXXX

"Gibbs, it's me. Abby is fine but Mikel found his way into my apartment and scared her something fierce." Gibbs heard Tim talking to him but he found himself concentrating on the unspoken and getting angrier by the second. He slammed his phone shut and focused on the quiet road he drove as fast as possible, getting to Tim's apartment in a matter of minutes. He took the stairs two steps at a time in a hurry to see, with his own eyes, that everyone was in one piece.

Tim already had the door open and was trying to explain when he strode through the door frame. He told Tim to stop talking and before he could ask a single question Abby flew through the living room and crashed into him with a bear hug.

"I'm sorry! I know it was stupid Gibbs, but I thought it was just Timmy coming back in again, and then it was Mikel, and now there's a big mess…"

"What was stupid Abs?" Gibbs held her a little away from him by her upper arms so he could get a good look at her. Once he was satisfied that she was ok, he tried to catch her eye. Failing that he glared at Tim, who strangely had become paler than normal.

"She opened the door to him Gibbs, I had told her not too but she didn't listen." He hated to tell on his coworker but it was going to have to come out sometime, might as well get it over with, and Abby was burying her face in Gibbs' jacket so she was of no help.

"Abigail Scuito! What. Is. Wrong. With. You?" He gave her a quick little shake and saw that she was still too upset to answer, bawling as she was onto his coat. Gibbs sighed and threw Tim daggers as he barked,

"I'm glad you are both ok, but leaving her alone was beyond idiotic! If I could smack you right now I would, however, I'll have to settle with a longer lasting reminder tomorrow. If she's not going to sit, you won't get that right either. Go to bed!"

Tim stood there dumb-founded; he wasn't getting a spanking, was he? Abby was the one that hadn't listened to orders, not him. As he was mulling this over with a sinking in the pit of his stomach, Tony called and said he hadn't seen anything, but the L.E.O's knew about the situation and would keep an eye out. They'd all have to be at work early tomorrow so he suggested they get some sleep. Tim knew he wasn't going to be the only NCIS agent sleeping with a gun under his pillow that night.

XXXX

Abby had stopped whinging by the time they got to Gibbs' house and when he grabbed her upper arm to help her out of the passenger seat he'd reached down to the foot well and shouldered her backpack. She was exhausted but relieved that before he'd gotten to Tim's she'd thrown on a pair of his sweatpants. She loved Gibbs, but didn't feel like he wanted to see her knickers. Having the undershirt on was bad enough, let alone the matching panties.

Gibbs saw that she was dragging when he opened the front door and ushered her in. He had suggested going to bed but Abby was too wound up to sleep. He knew he wasn't going to sleep anytime soon and so he went to get her a fresh t-shirt. When he came down the stairs she was sitting on the couch with her head in her hands, he handed her the shirt, which she pulled on, and sat down beside her on the cushion taking a hold of her hand.

"Abby, I know you're upset right now but you need to talk to me. Why did you open the door after Tim told you not to?"

"I…I thought it was Tim coming back with my toothbrush, I didn't think…"

"That's right!" Gibbs interrupted, "You didn't think! What if Mikel had had a gun, or a knife, instead of a handcuff key? What would you have done then?"

"…" Abby stared at him blankly, realization dawning on her face. "Oh" she exhaled.

"Not only did you say nothing of this before the other day, you also didn't trust Tim enough to follow his orders. You not only put yourself in danger, but Tim too. Do you understand that?"

"Yes"

"You are smart, brave, and self-sufficient, all qualities I love and admire, but are you a NCIS agent?"

"No."

"A cop?"

"No"

"Do you work for the Secret Service, the N.I.S., and the F.B.I.? Are you qualified to carry a weapon and skilled in hand-to-hand combat?"

"…no…I'm sorry Gibbs, I didn't mean to get anyone hurt. I'd feel horrible if anything happened to Tim. Or you. Or Ziva, or Tony, although sometimes he might deserve"

"Stop. Abby you know you disobeyed direct orders from a field agent tonight."

She gulped and turned to him with very wide eyes, "I did, and I'm really sorry. I need to make it up to him, I'd be happy to give him all my CafPow's for the next week."

"I don't know if that's going to cut it Abs."

"Oh, well maybe I could help repair his typewriter. I missed Mikel but I know for sure that counter top isn't going anywhere fast." She earned a small smile for her efforts.

"No, Abby. If Tim's going to lose his chair tomorrow you are going to lose the right to sit as well." Gibbs said softly as he stroked her hand.

"Gibbs, you can't! I mean you can but I don't want you to. And you're taking away Tim's chair?"

"I know you don't want me to spank you Abby, but I don't think Tim wanted you opening that door and you didn't listen to him. And yes."

Abby started biting her lip and looking down at her fingernails. When she started tracing the smiley face on her finger for the seventh time she knew she was beat. She couldn't think of one thing to say without feeling like she was just backing herself into a, metaphorical, corner. Glancing up at Gibbs she noticed he was waiting to see what she would say. She really didn't want to say anything, but the guilt was starting to eat at her.

Her sniffles started to ease off. When Gibbs handed her a wad of tissues she blew her nose and decided that she'd feel even guiltier if he didn't spank her. Odd as that sounded she felt by getting spanked she'd paid her dues, not only to Tim for not listening to him, but to Gibbs for not telling him about the whole screwed up situation with Mikel originally. The biggest reason she felt guilty was that she knew she'd hurt Gibbs' feelings by not confiding in him. That was the worst part.

"O.K., I think I'm as ready as I'm going to be." Abby stood up, brushed her hands down the front of her pants nervously, and waited.

"Come here."

A halting step or two and she was standing by his right side. Before she could regret the decision she was over his knees and her pants were around her ankles. She hadn't realized she was bare until she felt his hand rest on her bum.

"You could have avoided this situation if you'd made better decisions Abs. I'm disappointed in you."

Her stomach sunk lower than she could it could, she felt lower than a snake's belly.

Then the spanking begun.

"Oh holy cats!"

Abby started struggling as soon as the work-roughened, callused, right hand of Gibbs came down over and over on her butt. She thought she was going to bear up well considering playful spankings during (before & after) sex was just fine with her. Her number 1 rule had just been broken. She'd lied to herself.

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

The skin on her ass was burning and he wasn't letting up at all.

"Gibbs, you can stop now!" "I'll be better in the future!" she blurted out, hoping for an end to the punishment.

"Yes you will."

Wait, he didn't stop? Oh, no he's speeding up. #$%!

If anything his hand started to move faster. And did he spank in just one spot? Oh, no. He moved around making sure he covered every inch of her tautly stretched skin. Abby had no idea why but Gibbs seemed to be concentrating on the area where her thighs met her butt. She just figured because that was where it stung the most.

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

She was in agony! It felt like her butt was on fire, and that it had swollen to twice its size. Gibbs didn't stop spanking her until she finally burst into tears, and then he still gave her five very hard smacks. Crying let her feel she'd atoned for her guilt, and he knew she rarely cried so she should remember this lesson for a long time.

Abby lay sniffling over his lap for a little while until she figured out she wasn't being spanked any more. As she laid catching her breath, and desperately trying not to reach around and rub her butt, she noticed the puddle beneath her head that had soaked into the carpet.

Whoa…I knew it was bad but crying, me?, really?

Gibbs was slowly rubbing her back, urging her to stand up when she was ready. All the blood that hadn't gone to her butt had rushed to her head, and it took her a minute or two to reach equilibrium. She stood and balanced herself against Gibbs' shoulder.

He handed her another wad of tissues. Before she could move he'd drawn up her pants and knickers, replacing them and held her in a tight hug.

"Abby, in the future, tell me when you are worried about some guy." He ordered softly, his head buried in her hair.

"I, sniff, I will Gibbs." She promised to herself, as much as him, that she could lean on others when she needed too.

Abby's crying subsided and Gibbs walked up with her to the other guest bedroom as she was winding down for bed. Gibbs paused at the door to say 'good night' and see if she wanted anything else.

Digging through her bag she was starting to relax despite her sore arse when she discovered something missing.

"Gibbs, do you have an extra toothbrush?"