Gibbs knew something was wrong the moment Abby dropped Leigh off on Saturday afternoon. They were having what Abby called a 'bonding day'. Tim's team was on duty, and Abby was taking Katie to the mall for some girl time, so Leigh, who could care less about all things girlie, was coming to stay with him for the afternoon.
They did this fairly often. Abby had some theory about the girl needing to spend time as individuals or something since they were twins. He didn't even pretend to understand. All he knew was that the girls looked forward to it, and quite frankly, so did he.
Today, however, the nine-year-old wasn't her usual self. He couldn't quite put a finger on it. She didn't seem upset exactly. She still smiled and hugged him, as usual, but some of her customary reckless abandon seem to be missing.
He'd gotten ice cream, so he took her into the kitchen and began to get it out, hoping the sweet treat would cheer her up. Grinning, Leigh filled her bowl and stood at the counter trying to eat. He turned her and gave her a gentle shove toward the table, reminding her they sat at the table to eat. Leigh hesitated and was about to argue, but a brief stern look sent her scurrying on her way. At the table, Leigh hesitated again, eyeing the wooden chair dubiously before carefully lowering herself into it, and suddenly, he understood.
He filled his own bowl and sat down across from her. After a moment, he asked casually, "What happened?" Leigh looked up, confused, though he knew perfectly well she knew what he meant. In explanation, he flicked a glance at her chair where she sat with her feet tucked up under her, lifting her bottom off the seat.
Leigh looked away, studying her ice cream intently, a faint blush creeping slowly up from the base of her neck all the way to the tips of her ears. "Mama's mean," she replied, pouting.
"She is?" Gibbs said, feigning surprise. "What did she do?"
"Spanked me. Hard. With a wooden spoon." She added the last in tones of injured outrage, and Gibbs had to fight hard to hide a smile. Whatever his errant namesake had done, she had clearly driven her mother to the end of her patience.
"Mmm Hmm," he said noncommittally, "what did you do?"
"Nothing," Leigh groused. "Not my fault the stupid soccer ball landed in the sink, or that the dumb plate broke."
This time, Gibbs couldn't resist the urge to shake his head in exasperation. "Maybe you better start from the beginning."
As Leigh told it, she had simply taken advantage of the beautiful spring morning to go out and practice with her soccerball. She hadn't left the yard, and under normal circumstances this wouldn't have been a problem. What she didn't know, was that Abby was in the house calling for her to get dressed and do the dishes. And by the time she became aware of it, when Abby finally found her playing in the yard, her mother was beyond annoyed.
Abby, who was still getting dressed herself on top of trying to get the girls ready, poked her head out of the back door and yelled, "Leigh Anne McGee, get yourself in this house right now. Didn't I tell you we had to get ready to go and you didn't have time to play? And not only that, you still have to do the dishes."
Leigh, incensed at having her play interrupted, huffed impatiently. "I'm already ready, Mama. I'm only going to Uncle Gibbs's, and the dishes won't take long. I have plenty of time, you and Katie take forever."
"Well, maybe I wouldn't have taken so long if I hadn't had to spend the last 10 minutes looking for you." Abby replied. "And if the dishes won't take long, then you should have no problem getting in here and doing them now. You'll have plenty of time to play after."
"Maa-ma," Leigh whined.
"Now, Leigh Anne," Abby told her, pointing inside for emphasis.
With a heavy sigh, Leigh had trudged inside, kicking the ball morosely before her as she went. Just as she stepped into the kitchen, one kick went a little hard and a little wild and the next thing she knew, it was flying into the middle of the sink full of dirty dishes.
With Leigh's animated expressions and expressive gestures, Gibbs had no problem picturing the scene. Leigh's wide-eyed horror as her soccerball made a perfect arc into the midst of the sink full of dirty dishes; the crash as the ball came down hard on top of a stack of plates and shattered the one on top; and the splash of water, juice, and assorted other liquids that seemed to fly up in slow motion and land all over Abby. It took everything he could do, not to break down in helpless laughter. If there was ever a comedy of errors, that few moments had to be it.
Abby, who was already nearing her wits end with Leigh's dawdling, hit the end of her patience. "That's it, young lady, I've had it," she snapped. "You know better than to go outside before your chores are done, and you know better than to play with that soccer ball in the house." She snagged a wooden spoon from the container on the counter and advanced on her daughter.
Leigh, suddenly realizing she was in deep trouble, frantically covered her bottom with her hands and took a step backward. "I'm sorry, Mama, it was an accident. I won't do it again. Please. I'll take the ball outside, and I'll do the dishes right now."
"Yes, you will," Abby agreed. "Just as soon as we deal with the fact that you haven't done them already."
Leigh shook her head, continuing to back away, but Abby caught her by the arm and stopped her in her tracks. Pulling her daughter to her, and turning her to the side, she began to paddle her bottom with the wooden spoon, hard and fast. Leigh screeched like a banshee and tried her best to wiggle away, but Abby held her fast.
For her part, Leigh was miserable. The spoon stung like blazes, and it seemed like Mama was never going to stop. Usually, she prided herself on being able to keep quiet, but she didn't think anybody would be able to stay quiet on the receiving end of that stupid spoon. It hurt too much! She knew she was bouncing up and down on her toes and dancing around like a little kid, but she couldn't help it. Her thin soccer shorts offered little protection, and her bottom felt like it was on fire. Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore and started to cry, and miraculously, Mama stopped.
Leigh felt more than saw her Mama toss the spoon onto the counter as she was pulled her close. Though part of her was still angry, Leigh pressed in to Abby's body, drawing in comfort as she scrubbed furiously at her eyes with her fists. "I didn't mean to," she said quietly.
"I know, baby," Abby said, "but you've got to learn to do important things first, before you get distracted. It wouldn't have taken you long to do the dishes and then it wouldn't have been a problem. Understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," Leigh sighed.
"That's my girl," Abby praised, pressing a kiss into the top of Leigh's head. "Now, you need to do the dishes, and I've got to get dressed. We're running late. Be careful of that plate. Don't cut yourself." She gave Leigh a gentle push in the direction of the sink and hurried to finish her own preparations.
"See?" Leigh concluded. "Mama's mean. She spanked me, and I still had to do the stupid dishes."
She looks so put out that it took all Gibbs could do not to chuckle. He reached over and ruffled her hair affectionately. "Sounds like you had a hard morning," he said sympathetically.
"Very," Leigh agreed, giving him her most pitiful look and shifting pointedly in her seat as she licked the ice cream from her spoon.
'Little con artist,' Gibbs thought, smiling ruefully to himself. He ignored the ploy and went on. "You have to admit though, your Mama has a point. I wouldn't have liked all, if I had asked her to run a test on some evidence and then found her playing a video game or something, because she didn't think the test would take very long."
"Maybe," Leigh conceded grudgingly, "but at least you wouldn't have spanked her. That's just mean."
If you only knew, kid, Gibbs thought. If Abby had pulled a stunt like that, he'd have busted her butt and not thought, and Abby knew it. Granted, her daughter probably didn't need to know, but the comparison was laughable.
"You never know," Gibbs said, chuckling. He reached out and tousled Leigh's hair. "Now, I think we have a project to work on. Put your bowl up and let's go." Grinning, Leigh deposited her bowl in the sink and followed him down the basement stairs. Maybe it wouldn't be such a horrible day after all.