Further Investigation

Summary: Tim just wants to forget what happened. The rest of the team has other ideas. Sequel to The Secret Life of Tim McGee. Warning: discussion of spanking of adults. Don't like? Don't read!

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just play with them.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who suggested these two scenes in the reviews to The Secret Life of Tim McGee.

Warning: This story contains discussion about the spanking of adults. If you have a problem with that, click on that 'back' button now. You've been warned.

Thursday night:

Tony batted harder at McGee's door, determined not to give up. Gibbs had quite effectively kept him from catching Tim alone all day, but now, the case resolved and the team off the clock, he planned to satisfy his curiosity. He didn't want to use the key he had for his partner's apartment, but if he didn't open his door pretty soon, he'd...

'What do you want, Tony?'

'It's about time, Probie! I think I bruised one of my knuckles, there...'

'Well, most people would have figured out that that meant I wanted to be alone...'

Ignoring Tim's protests, Tony swept past him into the living-room.

'C'mon, man, you're killing me here! What the hell did you do last night?'

'Tony...' Tim whined, looking helplessly between him and the still-open door.

'I mean, one minute Gibbs is handing out assignments and saying goodnight and the next he's tanning your hide. What the hell did you do in the thirty seconds between me leaving the room and...'

'I don't want to talk about it.'

'...well, you know. 'Cuz there's no way it was for something you did earlier – you were way too relaxed during that meeting for someone who had a spanking coming afterwards...'

'I mean it, Tony. I don't...'

'Unless... Gibbs hadn't told you yet that he knew about whatever your screw-up was, so you still thought you were in the clear!'

'...want to talk about it.'

'That's it, isn't it, McGee?'

'What part of "I don't want to talk about it" do you not understand?'

'I understand, Probie. I'm just ignoring you. You see, I'm a seasoned investigator, and I know that the stories that people don't want to tell me, are usually the best ones...'

'Tony, can we please not do this? I really...'

'Seriously, Tim... that sounded like one hell of a whipping...'

'Tony...'

'Gibbs used his belt, didn't he?'

'Yes! Ok! He spanked me. With his belt. Are you happy now? Can you just leave and let me get back to...'

'What's that like?'

'What?!'

'Gibbs... using his belt.'

'It hurts! What do you think?' Tim huffed, looking at him like he'd lost his mind.

Tony hesitated, already regretting asking the question and not sure he wanted to continue.

He still didn't understand why Gibbs had never used his belt to spank him, but he was profoundly grateful for the unexplained omission. He already regretted how much he'd revealed during that alcohol-lubricated conversation after he'd been spanked for something he didn't do. The last thing he needed was to have to explain why he had a complete freak-out, if Gibbs ever reached for his buckle.

And yet, the idea of Gibbs spanking him with his belt somehow felt... unthreatening. Comforting, even, for reasons that he couldn't begin to understand.

And the fact that McGee was often spanked with their boss's belt made him angry.

It was how fathers spanked their sons, he thought bitterly. And it was Tim who was punished with all the informality and spontaneity of a casually removed, always present, everyday item. Unlike him, who almost invariably had to endure the wait while Gibbs fetched the paddle or the strap, things more often associated with a school principal or other remote authority figure than with a parent, or figured out some creative alternative to the obvious, but off-limits, option.

And last night, listening to Tim being spanked in the bedroom next door, he'd been surprised to realise that the sound he knew was made by his boss's belt didn't make him break out in a cold sweat.

He'd felt a little bit smug about not being in trouble himself, but mainly he'd felt sympathy for his partner, and a bit of annoyance that Tim's cries of pain had carried no trace of the hysteria that he was sure he'd feel in that situation. For someone who couldn't make it through his first spanking without throwing up, Tim had settled easily into the role of Gibbs's surrogate son. Then counting the minutes before Gibbs left him alone, the bile rising in his throat, he'd visualised the tender hug that no doubt followed the punishment.

'Relax, Probie... it's just that, after your first spanking, you seemed pretty freaked out by the idea of Gibbs even wearing a belt around you, much less taking it to your butt. You're not still traumatised by it, are you?' Tony covered quickly. There was no way, he decided, that he was going to have that conversation about his own mixed emotions.

Tim looked astonished by the question.

'Uh... no. It's.. uh... it's fine,' he muttered, obviously embarrassed by the reminder, looking like he'd forgotten his own earlier distress about their boss's preferred discipline methods.

'Ok,' Tony said with a forced grin, slinging an arm around the younger man's shoulders. 'So, there's a Magnum marathon on TV tonight... what do you say we order a pizza and...'