The room turned devastatingly chilly as Gibbs retained his vice like grip on Ducky's wrist. Without even looking at Tony and Tim, his eyes busily boring into the doctor's soul, he cleared his throat. "You two. Get up and go to the Conference Room. I'll be there soon. Go, now. No arguments." Standing immediately but shakily, both Tony and Tim felt identical pangs of fear for Ducky who, to his credit, looked remarkably unmoved by the crushing sensation in his wrist. But one look at Gibbs' twitching jaw and both knew to leave well enough alone. As soon as the doors swooshed closed behind them, Tony wisely disabling the stationary feature, Gibbs released his hold on his old friend. But he was far from consoled as he took a step closer to the medic, his eyes frosting over. "What the hell did I just walk in on? What in the hell do you think you were doing laying a hand on either of those two? Have you lost your goddamned mind?"

Ducky took a step back and for the first time, allowed the confusion that was suffocating him, show.

"Jethro, what in the devil is the matter with you? What do you think I was going to do with them?" He glanced down at the cane that was still in his hand, and back up at his steaming with rage friend. "I was merely going to correct them, not…beat them. In the same manner that I have corrected Mr Palmer more times than I care to discuss. I cannot imagine what has caused you such rage. You instructed me to keep an eye on your team. And in the process of doing just that, I came upon the two of them in the middle of a brawl. I had to physically separate them. Surely you cannot be aghast and against the merits of punishment in such circumstances? I surely can rest assured that you're not going to allow those two to get off Scott free? If that was Mr Palmer, he wouldn't sit for a week. More in fact. So, again, what in the good Lord is the matter with you?" Gibbs took a deep breath, before reaching down for the cane in Ducky's hand. Grabbing it and hurling it into the corner of the room, where it landed with a tinny clatter, he growled in his throat.

"For a start, I do not use a damned cane on either of my boys', or on any of mine."

Ducky blinked, the thought in truth, never having occurred to him. "Well," he murmured, "If it is the means that is the issue, I am afraid I must plead ignorance. I had no idea you were so opposed to such British methods, though of course, perhaps I should have. I sometimes forget that we are from opposite shores and-" He was cut off by perhaps one of the most snarling interruptions he had experienced in a long, long time. Gibbs' voice was if anything, dripping with more icy rage than it had been from the moment he walked into the room. His chest rose with the effort of his rage as he glared dangerously at his oldest friend.

"More to the damned point, I do not allow anyone and I mean anyone to lay a hand on them. Period."

Ducky blinked.

"Except you?"

Eyes widening, Gibbs nodded with all the grace of a harpooned whale. "Well yeah, Duck, except me. You know full well how I deal with them, hell, it's the only reason you started dealing with Jimmy in the same way. The problem isn't that they were about to have their asses roasted, the problem is you're the one who was about to do it. That's not your place. That's not your call. Those boys' aren't under you, they're under me. Jimmy, he's under you, you can do whatever you want with him. But you will never lay a hand on either of my boys'. You don't know a damned thing about how to handle them. You don't know that certain things freak Tony out, remind him…well, certain things freak him out. You don't know that punishing Tim alongside Tony is an absolute last resort, because he can't let himself break down in front of him. You could tan him all you like, but he won't learn anything from it, because he'll be so damned focussed on not losing face in front of Tony, who in turn, will just be eaten up with guilt that Tim is getting punished in the first place, and he won't learn anything either."

Ducky, for the first time in a long time, felt his mouth fall open. But Gibbs wasn't finished.

"You had no business laying, or attempting to lay a hand on either of them and you sure as hell didn't have any business doing it without asking me. What the hell were you thinking? Did you honestly think I wouldn't deal with them when I got back? All you had to do was call me or leave a damned post-it on my desk, hell; you could have made them tell me. What you sure as hell shouldn't have done was to take matters into your own hands." He scrubbed a hand through his hair in agitation. "Ducky, you don't touch other peoples…you don't punish other peoples…" he reddened, "What I'm trying to say is, no matter how much those two needed a hiding, I will be the one to give it. Not you, not Joe the Janitor, not anyone but me. You can lecture them until the cows come home, but that's it. that's where it ends." He sighed, the wounded look on Ducky's face suddenly registering with him. Softening his tone somewhat, he cast around for a more parallel explanation. "Ducky, how would you feel if you walked into my house, just to drop by, and I had your Jimmy bent over my workbench with a belt in my hand?"

The look that suddenly crossed over the Doctor's face was terrifying.

"I would ram it down your throat and lie blatantly on your autopsy report."

Gibbs snorted, relief that his friend finally got it flooding through him. breathing deeply, he found himself calming down another jot. Because he'd arrived just in time, no real harm had been done. He could see where Ducky was coming from, but he had very nearly done the unforgivable. He knew more than anyone how far and how hard his boys' could push someone, but there was still a line. A line that could never be uncrossed. Ducky's breathing was hitched as he allowed understanding to course through him. He looked at the silently observing Gibbs and felt regret bubble. He had been an idiot. He should have done just as Jethro had suggested, have the boys tell them himself. Sighing, he extended a hand in apology.

"I'm sorry, old friend. I see now that it was not my place. I can only hope you know I would never deliberately set out to harm those boys?"

Gibbs nodded immediately as he shook the extended hand with a warmness that was in stark contrast to his earlier and towering anger. "Never a doubt in my mind, Duck." Releasing the grasp on his hand, Gibbs suddenly felt a little sheepish. Glancing down at the angry red mark on the medic's wrist, he blanched as he pointed to it. "About that…I shouldn't have….I should have thought-" He was waved away immediately. "No matter, no matter. One expects these things when one intercedes or interferes with the runnings of a mother hen's prodigies."

Gibbs spluttered in outraged indignation.

"I am not a mother hen. I'm very masculine for a start. Alpha male, even." Ducky chuckled, a musical sound, smoothing over the temporary cracks in their well patched relationship. "Of course, of course," he lied graciously, a smile playing about his lips. "Would you care to join me for a drink, perhaps a spot of supper? I'm sure you haven't been taking care of yourself since you left Abby's watchful eye." Snorting, Gibbs nodded in admission. "You got me there; give me an hour or so? I'll meet you at the usual place; order me a steak if I'm running late."

Ducky nodded with a frown.

"You have somewhere else to be?"

Nodding grimly, Gibbs pointed to the upper layers of the NCIS offices.

"I said that you couldn't roast their butts, not that they weren't getting their butts roasted."

A/N: Fin