As he descended the steps down into the bullpen Gibbs could still feel the rage bubbling away inside him. Sure he was angry, he was upset, he'd damn near lost the most recent occupant of that desk and for the first time in his life he was uncertain. It was this uncertainty with how to deal with the situation that just made it all worse.
As he rounded the corner to the desks, three pairs of eyes scoured him for any sign of what Vance had wanted with their boss but his grim visage and steely eyes gave nothing away but the anger he was feeling. He moved quickly to his desk, switched off the computer and without a word scooped up his car keys and wallet, turned and marched off towards the elevator.
Ellie was just about to open her mouth to speak to him when out of the corner of her eye she caught the pleading eyes of DiNozzo that were practically begging her to keep her mouth shut and let Gibbs go. A quick turn of her head towards Tim revealed a similar imploring look.
It was as if Gibbs knew too. In the final strides towards the elevator he stopped dead in his tracks, spun on his heal and to Ellie said, "Something you gotta say to me Agent Bishop?"
It was not a welcoming invite to speak. Ellie could feel the intake of breath from the other two members of the team and she would swear that the temperature in the building just took a tumble into the minus zone. Looking towards Gibbs she tried to open her mouth again but nothing came out, nothing really intelligible anyway. At most, all she managed to really say was, "No Gibbs."
Seeing the general look of despair amongst his team and knowing that he was not really looking for a conversation at this point either, he simply commanded, "Go home all of ya." With that he turned once again stepped into the elevator and was gone.
Tony was the first of the three to move or speak. He moved around his table to Bishops desk. Taking a lead from him Tim moved alongside. Ellie was still staring forlornly at the closed elevator doors simultaneously wishing Gibbs would come back so this could get sorted out but at the same time hoping to never have to deal with it and wishing it would just go away.
"Hey Bish,"quietly whispered DiNozzo, trying to break her out of the trance like state she was now in, "it'll be fine, he just needs time to calm down."
"I'm not sure Tony," responded McGee without thinking and without realizing that Tony was just trying to calm Ellie down, "I've not seen him this mad in a while not since you…."
He got no further in his explanation as DiNozzo delivered a Gibbs style head slap to him to shut him up before he caused Ellie to break down completely.
"Hey, what did you do that for," retorted McGee raising his hand to rub at the spot Tony had contacted just milliseconds before. Tony did not reply instead he simply nodded his head in Bishops direction as if to guide McGee to the same conclusion he had already drawn. "Oh sorry," came the response. He could almost hear DiNozzo's eyeballs rolling in their sockets as he finally realized what Tony was trying to achieve.
Tony turned his attention to Bishop again. "So have you and Gibbs spoken about what happened yet?" he enquired.
"No, he doesn't really even seem to want to acknowledge me," she replied.
"Look in my experience of getting in a mess like this, and there have been a few, it's best to let him cool off a bit first, take it out on his boat with a sanding block and then deal with it," advised Tony, hoping to get across to her that their Boss would calm down given a bit of time.
"That's just the point though," Ellie responded, "I don't know how he is going to deal with this. This is big and I'm not sure he will want me around anymore."
Tony shot Tim a puzzled look and then turning back to Ellie said, "surely he has dealt with you in the past for mistakes made?"
"Not really, no. He just looks disappointed at me. He knows I'm not as good an agent as you two and he treats me differently. I know that he treats you as his sons and…" she got no further as Tim interjected.
"Sure he doesn't treat you any differently Ellie," he stated, "it's just that he has known us a lot longer and we have probably given him more to deal with than you."
"Its not that," she muttered in a defeated tone, "he told me some time ago when I got the Probie eval he had been training me and treating me differently than he did you and Tony. He said it was something to do with losing the two previous occupants of my desk. I asked him not to go easy on me and all he did was stop me sitting on the floor and made me use my desk."
She could see two pairs of eyebrows practically knit themselves into a confused frown in front of her.
"What he's never.." there was a pause in Tony's response. How to ask her this without giving away what he and Tim received by way of punishment? He didn't need to finish the sentence.
"Spanked me? Taken his belt to me? No." Ellie finished his thought for him.
"Then how do you know that's what he does to us?" enquired Tony.
"Come on guys, I've seen you get marched off to the conference room, and seen you return later looking as if you never want to sit down again in your life. I know the signs of corporal punishment, I grew up on a farm with three older brothers who were always in trouble, got into some myself, and had to deal with parents who would set us right, Still would." She informed them. "But Gibbs just doesn't deal with me in that way. I don't know what to do." She hung her head and the first telltale signs of tears began to trickle down her cheeks. "He's bound to chuck me off the team, perhaps out of the Agency." Trickling tears turned into huge great sobs and Tony and Tim were at a loss for what to do.
Moving around the desk to comfort her, Tim place a brotherly arm around her shoulders. Tony knelt down in front of the desk to get to her eye level.
"Hey come on don't cry, we'll help you. Perhaps we can talk to him on your behalf first." Tony said this more in an attempt to calm down her tears than anything else, truth be told he had not seen Gibbs this angry for sometime and was not really relishing the idea of confronting his Boss on this one but if someone had to it was better him than Tim.
"Perhaps he is just worried about spanking you like he does us," volunteered Tim. "You know perhaps it is that he knows that you have parents who care a lot about you, and you are married to Jake. Perhaps he thinks he can't step into the father role with you like he can with Tony and I."
"Why not?" sniffed Ellie, clearly not following Tim's line of logic.
"Well when he met me and Tony, neither of us was married or in a relationship and lets just say our real families were something of a distant memory. My Dad was never really there to support me or correct me as I got older. I was just a disappointment to him cos I'd not gone into the Navy. You on the other hand have a loving family that does care. Perhaps Gibbs feels like it would be wrong to assume the same role with you," explained Tim.
Seeing the logic in what Tim was saying Tony joined in, "perhaps you need to let him know you would be alright with it, that you would prefer that as an option to formal written reprimands and the like."
It took Ellie a moment to compute all that Tim and Tony were saying to her, but her tears stopped and she looked up to them, "I'm not sure how to," she almost whispered, "will you guys come with me?" she begged.
Simultaneously both of her team mates gulped down their own worry and nodded. "Come on little sis, lets get this sorted."
