Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters.
Chapter 3
Jennifer looked towards the closed kitchen door from where she was sitting at the table. "What's he going to do to her?"
"Don't look so worried Jennifer, he's just going to spank her." Patricia scooped some coffee into the machine and switched it on.
"Spank her?" If she'd have known that, she never have encouraged the kid. Jennifer was actually quite shocked. "He's going to hit her? We're not living in the dark ages!"
"Taylor knew there would be consequences when she made the decision to take the ring." Patricia turned to face her. "Haven't you ever been spanked before?"
Jennifer flinched when she heard Jethro start to spank. "No." She wanted to run, or at least cover her ears. Each cry from Taylor produced a nasty blow to her conscience.
"So what happens when you get into trouble."
"Nothing." Jennifer admitted.
"Nothing?" That was hard to believe. Alright Jennifer spent most of her time at boarding school, but still someone had to take an interest in what she was up to.
Jennifer thought again. "My dad took my credit card away once because I stayed out all night, but I think he was more upset because he had to donate money to the school to stop them suspending me."
After a minute or two, the noise from the living room stopped, but it was a good ten minutes before the door opened and Jethro stormed into the kitchen.
o
Jethro didn't make his usual stop at the coffee pot before he confronted Jennifer. "How does it feel to sit in here and let Taylor take full responsibility for what happened?"
Jennifer blushed and stared at the table.
"What do you mean Jethro?" What had she missed? Patricia put a hand on his arm to calm him down. "Taylor admitted everything. You know how she can get when she's bored."
"I know, but it doesn't make any sense." He paused to glare at Jennifer. "If she was that bored she just would have given Jennifer the slip and hightailed it out of there. There's no way Taylor would have stolen anything without some other form of motivation." He put both hands on the table and leaned in closer to the girl. "So what was it? A dare? A bet? Or did you tease her by telling her she was too scared to try?"
Jennifer tensed.
"You did. You goaded her into it!
"Jennifer?" Patricia pulled out the chair beside her and sat down.
"I'm sorry! I only wanted to make it more exciting for her. I didn't think she would feel guilty and try to take the ring back."
"Were you shoplifting too?" Patricia asked, already knowing the answer.
Jennifer nodded ever so slightly.
Jethro took a chair opposite. "Empty your pockets."
Jennifer hesitated.
"Do you want me to do it for you?"
She shook her head. "No." Slowly standing up, Jennifer emptied one pocket at a time. When she had finished there was quite a selection of items on the table. None of them obtained honestly.
"You have receipts for these?"
"No. I stole all of it." Everyone seemed to be making such a big deal about shoplifting, Jennifer was actually starting to feel guilty about the stealing aspect, not just getting Taylor into trouble.
"Taylor watched you?" Patricia asked.
Jennifer reached out and lifted the bracelet from the pile, absently feeling the texture of the beads. "Yes. I wanted to show her how to do it."
"Why?" Patricia took the bracelet from her and returned it to the pile.
Jennifer looked at her, puzzled. "Why what?"
Patricia pointed to the little stash. "You can easily afford all of this, so why steal it? "
She shrugged. "Because I can."
"Well, from now on you can't. It stops now." Jethro was still fighting to keep control of his temper.
"Why? What difference does it make to you what I do?"
"We don't want to see you getting into trouble Jennifer" Patricia glared at her husband warning him to calm down. He seemed to get the message.
Jennifer pulled her credit card out of the inside pocket of her blazer which was hanging over the back of her chair and slid it across the table towards Jethro.
"What's that for?"
Patricia, realising what Jennifer was doing, put a hand on her shoulder. "I need to have a word with Jethro, could you wait in the living room please?"
Grateful for the opportunity to escape she nodded. Leaving the card on the table Jennifer, left them to decide her fate.
"What's going on?"
Patricia lifted the card. "This is how Jennifer is normally punished. Her dad takes this off her for a while."
"How's that going to work this time?" He stared at the little piece of plastic. "She doesn't need that if she can just steal whatever she wants, and what the hell is a sixteen year old doing with a credit card anyway?"
"I understand that Jethro, and I have a good idea what you're going to do. Just keep it in mind, that's all."
Jethro took the card from his wife and headed into the living room.
O
Jennifer gave off an aura of calm as she sat waiting. Waiting for what, she wasn't sure, but her outward appearance was at odds with how she was really feeling. It always was. Inside, Jennifer was just a scared little girl. A lifetime of insecurity, fear and rejection had that little girl curled up tight, just waiting for the next blow. She wanted to run, but not from where she was right now. She wanted to run from herself. There was only one way she could do that, and subconsciously Jennifer's hand went to the inside of her upper arm, fingers tracing the fine scars underneath the fabric of her shirt. She closed her eyes, visualising the blade as it cut into skin. Pain driving everything else from her mind and providing what she craved for most. Escape.
"You okay?"
Jennifer jumped at the voice. She hadn't even heard the man come onto the room. In an instant her shields were back up. "Yes."
Jethro handed her the credit card back and sat down beside her.
She was confused. "Aren't you going to punish me?"
"Yes, but that's not how we do things."
"Then how?" He was going to ground her?
"The same way I deal with Taylor."
The image of Taylor over his knee flashed through her head. "I don't think so!"
"Fair enough! I won't. Not if you give me an acceptable reason why you should be treated any differently."
Jennifer stared at the Jethro. "You're not serious are you?"
He raised an eyebrow.
"You are! If that's the case I'll start packing." She stood up and had just turned away when he spoke again. "Don't you feel guilty?"
That hit a nerve. Getting Taylor into trouble was already eating her up. Something else to add to her long list of failures. "Of course I feel guilty. I didn't mean to hurt anyone, least of all Taylor." She whispered, more to herself than to Jethro.
"So why are you trying to avoid taking responsibility for your actions?"
She turned to face him, not sure what he was getting at. "What do you mean? I can't turn back the clock, so what else am I supposed to do?"
"Why do you think I spanked Taylor?"
Thinking it was a trick question Jennifer hesitated, but when he seemed to be waiting for her to reply, she answered. "Because you were angry."
Jethro shook his head. "I was angry, but that's not why I spanked her."
"Then why?" She was lost.
"Taylor knew what she was doing was wrong, but she did it anyway. The next time she's in that position I want her to remember the spanking and hopefully she'll decide it's not worth the consequences. So it's not only a punishment, it's also a deterrent." He let that sink in before continuing. "Once the punishment is over, that's it. She can move on, she's paid the price and she doesn't have to feel guilty any more. All she has to do is try to make the right choice next time."
"So you're not angry with her anymore?"
He shook his head. "No. It's like you said, I can't turn back the clock either. I can only help Taylor make the right decision in the future."
Jennifer couldn't believe she was actually considering letting the man spank her, but what he said about the guilt had struck home. The guilt was already eating her up, and the chance to ease that was tempting. It might just be worth the embarrassment and it couldn't hurt that much, could it?
Jethro watched the girl struggling with her conscience. He knew she regretted what she'd done, every time he'd mentioned Taylor the guilt had been clear, not only in her expression, but her body language too.
"Okay." Jennifer's mouth was dry so the word was barely audible, but Taylor's dad heard it and nodded.
Standing up Jethro held out his hand and waited for Jennifer to come to him. When she put her hand in his he sat down and gently eased her over his lap. Unlike his daughter, Jennifer did not struggle or put up a fight. "Why are you getting this spanking?"
Still trying to adjust to the strange position Jennifer didn't answer.
"Jennifer we're not going to get this over with until you understand why I'm doing this."
"Because I made Taylor steal."
"What else?"
Her mind went blank. What else was there? "I don't know."
"Think."
"I didn't do anything else to her."
"It has nothing to do with Taylor."
"Oh." Then it struck her. "You mean because I was shoplifting?"
"That's it. You're better than that Jennifer, you know it's wrong, and every time you do it you're just hurting yourself. Do you understand?"
She did. What Jennifer didn't understand was why he cared how she felt. She nodded.
Jethro lifted her skirt out of the way and brought his hand down on her cotton panties. The girl jumped but remained silent.
Jennifer was actually shocked when she felt the first smack. It stung a hell of a lot more than she'd expected. Her brain had just enough time to process the information before another slap landed a little bit lower than the first. Then another and another. All she could think about was the burn slowly building up on her backside, but she was determined not to cry. When Jethro lowered his left leg a little and raised his right to target her sensitive sit spots, Jennifer forgot all about not wanting to make any noise, and began to whimper. A few more swats had her openly crying. Then just when she thought she couldn't take any more, he stopped and instead of smacking, she felt him gently rubbing her back. This made her cry even harder. The punishment she'd expected, but not the comfort. He hadn't lied, he really wasn't angry with her anymore.
When she'd calmed down a little Jethro helped her up, then stood up himself, pulling her in close. At first he thought Jennifer was going to push him away, but she rested her head on his chest, not saying anything, just taking ragged little intakes of breath. He held her there until Jennifer felt calm enough to step away and passed her a tissue. 'Think you'll live?"
Jennifer nodded, embarrassed by her inability to control her emotions.
"Do you feel any better now?" He was genuinely curious and hoped he'd read the kid right.
That was the strange thing, apart from the throbbing in her behind she actually did feel a bit better. Maybe it was because she knew no one was angry with her now. Still not trusting herself to speak she nodded again.
"Good." He grinned at her. "Now everything's sorted you can go wash up, we'll be eating soon, and believe me you don't want Taylor to get to the food first."