Tony quickly discovered that cutting hardwood by hand is tiring. The muscles in his arms and shoulders were aching. He was sweating, and he was itchy from the sawdust that had adhered to his damp skin when he'd tried to wipe away the rivulets that down his face and neck. He had been relieved when Gibbs had dragged him upstairs for dinner, but his unvoiced hope that he wouldn't be made to continue had, of course, been dashed all too soon. Now he was back at the work bench, hacking away at the hated instrument of his impending doom.

The worst part of this exercise, he decided, was how much time he had to think about what was coming next. Gibbs hadn't actually told him that he was going to be testing out the new paddle that evening, but he was pretty sure that he was going to be going home with a sore butt. And he really didn't want to think about how much it was going to hurt being spanked with this thing.

Tony was still annoyed about the way Gibbs had chosen to punish him. As he'd once told Kate, he didn't really have a problem with the fact that his boss spanked him when he screwed up. Most of the time, it was better than the alternatives. And, if he was really being honest with himself, he liked knowing that Gibbs cared enough to hold him accountable for his actions. No one had ever done that for him before. His father's punishments had been pretty arbitrary; if he managed to annoy the man enough, he'd find himself on the wrong end of his belt, but he never knew what behaviour would be enough to draw his wrath so he tended to do what he wanted and hope for the best. And then he'd been rejected entirely when he was far too young not to need a parent's guidance. Gibbs's consistent discipline grounded him more than he liked to admit. But Gibbs had never made him wait so long for his spanking, and having time to think about it wasn't an addition to the routine that he wanted to encourage. And he resented having to make the paddle that was going to be used on him.

It didn't help Tony's mood any that this was the first time he thought he didn't really deserve the spanking that Gibbs was going to give him. He'd been trying so hard to earn the ex-Marine's respect by learning as much as he could about every aspect of working for the Navy, proving that he really was planning on sticking with this job even though his usual two years were up. But he always felt insecure and out of place when he had to deal with things that were specifically military, where he couldn't draw on the skills he had learned at his various jobs in civilian law enforcement. Maybe he'd overcompensated and stepped a bit over the line, but it didn't seem fair to him that he was going to be punished for being too enthusiastic.

Ok, so maybe driving the tank was going a bit too far. But it had been exciting. Even ploughing up the shrubbery when he realised he had no idea how to stop the thing had been fun, in a way. Having that much power, driving something that won the battle with solid wood, was pretty cool. He knew he'd get head-slapped if Gibbs found out – and, let's face it, Gibbs would find out. But he hadn't really expected to get spanked for it. Despite his gruff no-nonsense exterior, Gibbs actually had a pretty high tolerance for behaviour that could be chalked up to 'boys will be boys'.

And it was just unfair that Kate had got to learn how to rappel because of Gibbs's theory that 'you learn by doing,' but he was going to be paddled for trying to figure out how a grenade launcher worked. Especially since the case turned on whether it was working properly, and whether it was being used correctly. How the hell was he supposed to know that, if he wasn't entirely sure which was the business end of the damned thing? He probably shouldn't have been such a smartass about it when Gibbs took it off him, but it still rankled.

So, as far as Tony was concerned, he was being punished for having a normal American male's interest in an over-grown muscle car, and for doing his job. Not to mention that he had hoped that his boss would be pleased by his open display of interest in all things Marine. By the time he'd finished cutting around the outline Gibbs had traced for him, he'd worked himself into a serious funk.

The last piece of discarded wood clattered to the floor. Tony looked up, and found Gibbs watching him.

'Now what?' Even to his own ears, his voice was sullen and petulant.

'Now you tell me what's wrong.'

'Gee, Boss. I'm spending a Friday night in your basement, making a goddamn paddle so you can spank me with it. What could possibly be wrong?'

Gibbs stepped closer to him, deliberately invading his personal space.

'Do you have a problem with how I discipline you, DiNozzo?'

The loud silence stretched through several seconds before Tony answered.

'Not usually, Boss.'

'But you do this time. Why?'

'Forget it. Can we just get this over with?'

Tony started to unfasten the clamps that were holding the rough paddle in place on the work bench. Gibbs closed his hand over Tony's, securing the clamps back in place, then turned the younger man bodily around to face him.

Tony's pent-up frustration burst forth in a stream of invectives that soon gave way to a fraught recounting of his dismay about being punished for trying too hard to make Gibbs proud of him. Finally, his anger spent, he turned his back on his boss and slammed his hand down hard against the unfinished paddle before slumping against the work bench.

Gibbs gave him a moment, then gently turned him around again. Tony sagged in defeat, then slid down to sit on the floor, hugging his knees, with his back against the work bench. Gibbs hesitated, then sat down beside him.

'Tony, you don't have to turn yourself into some half-assed Marine wanna-be to impress me. You're a damn good ag...'

'But...'

'No, no buts. And you should know by now that I'm proud of you, son.'

'So, is there any chance you're not gonna...'

'Nope.'

Tony sighed loudly and stretched out his legs, clearly getting ready to stand up. Gibbs put his hand lightly on his knee, keeping him in place.

'I'm not spanking you because you wanted to learn something, Tony.'

'Then why...'

'I'm spanking you because you decided that the best way to learn about an unfamiliar weapon that may or may not have been malfunctioning was to pick it up and start playing with it. I'm spanking you for putting yourself and everyone around you in danger.'

'But how else...'

'I was going to teach you how to use it properly, Tony. Safely. With appropriate supervision. Like I taught Kate how to rappel, when that was what she needed learn. I wanted to finish the interviews first, so the Marines could get back to doing what they needed to do. But as you said, we needed to check for problems with the equipment so I was going to show you what you needed to look for. I was even going to let you fire the damn thing.'

Tony looked up at his boss, a mixture of shock and disappointment clearly visible on his face.

'You were?'

'Yeah.'

'And you didn't, because I had been messing around with it, when I wasn't supposed to?'

'No. I thought you'd be back from getting the comm logs by the time I finished the last interview. I wasn't expecting you to go for a joyride in that damn LAV and then spend half an hour getting chewed out by Colonel Franklin over it. I needed to finish up while there was still enough daylight to see what I was doing, so I couldn't wait for you.'

'Oh.'

'And, of course, I'm spanking you for disobeying me about the LAV.'

'But..'

'No buts, Tony. You didn't know what you were doing, you could have done a hell of a lot more damage than what you did to those bushes, and you could have damaged the vehicle itself. We didn't have the kind of time it would take for you to learn how to drive it safely, especially since it would be purely an indulgence when it wasn't something you needed to learn today. And more importantly, when I give you an order, I expect you to obey me. You know that.'

'Sorry, Boss.' Tony felt deflated, no longer angry and resentful about being punished and starting to feel really crappy about how he'd behaved. 'I guess I really screwed up on the whole impressing you thing, huh?'

'Well, I'd have been more impressed if you'd done what I told you to.' Gibbs paused, then asked, 'You up to finishing this tonight, or do you want to continue tomorrow?'

Tony looked up, surprised.

'It's not an endurance test, Tony. You are going to finish the paddle. And I am going to spank you with it. But if you need to call it a day...'

'No. I'm fine. And I'd rather get it over with.'

Tony started to push himself up from the floor but suddenly yelped and sat back down, staring at his hand.

'What's the matter?'

'Damn thing bit me.'

Gibbs took a closer look, and saw the splinter that Tony had got from his assault on the unfinished wood but had been too distraught to notice until now. Standing up, he grabbed an old Swiss Army knife from one of the screw-top jars suspended above the work surface and, taking Tony's hand in his own, used the tiny tweezers to pluck the fragment of wood from the younger man's palm.

'Thanks, Boss.'

Gibbs held out his hand to help him up.

'Come on. I'll show you how to finish the edges so you don't get any of those on your butt.'

Tony sputtered, turning towards the offending object with renewed hatred.