Thankyou so much for all the lovely reviews and alerts that I recieved from those that are enjoying the story. I know that the story itself is OOC. I write the characters as I see them or sometimes as I would like them to be. I had a look at the posting rules and as far as I can see, I haven't broken any. So it comes down to choice. If you don't want to read my story because the characters are off for you, that's fine. Feel free to go and find a different story. I won't be offended.

I do however really appreciate all the people who do like the story and occasionally make a suggestion. That's fine. Always happy to hear from you :)

Chapter 14

Going home in the car that night Jess was very quiet. She stared out of her window and tried to ignore Dylan who was persistently poking her.

"What did you do?" he was silently mouthing.

Jess didn't answer him she just continued staring out of her window. She wondered what Maddie was doing and if she was still her friend. It wasn't easy for Jess to make friends and in Maddie she thought she'd found a friend who was like wasn't easy for her to be good all the time. The good girls in the class didn't understand kids like Jess and Maddie. She knew her Mommy and Daddy didn't like her playing with Maddie but she knew that was just because they didn't really know her. She could be nice. Well not to many people but she was nice to Jess.

Dylan poked Jess again. "What did you do?" he mouthed again silently.

"Leave me alone and stop poking me!" she said very loudly. Dylan rolled his eyes. Great now the brat was gonna get him in trouble.

Abby turned around "Just stop. Both of you. Your Dad's trying to drive the car."

"Listen to your Mom." Tim said from the driver' seat.

When Abby had turned back around, Jess poked her tongue out at Dylan. He poked his out back and poked her in the leg. She poked him back. Next he pushed her and she pushed him back. Dylan gave her a light slap low down on her leg to make sure it wouldn't be seen from the front seat. She returned the favour. This went on for about five minutes with the kids thinking that their parents were oblivious. Abby turned around swiping at both of them. "Do we have to stop this car?" They both shook their heads. "Good. Then look out your windows and don't talk to each other, poke each other or hit each other at all." Silence reigned and Abby and Tim actually thought they might make it home without another fight breaking out. Ha!

"Mommy!! He's looking out my window!"

"Am not."

"Are too. I sawed you."

"Was not ya big baby!"

"I'm not a baby!"

"Yes you are. Your a big tattling baby. You should wear a diaper." That was it Jess swung and managed to land a punch to Dylan's arm even though he dodged, the seatbelt made it difficult. He gave her a hard push this time that sent her sideways almost hitting her head on the window. And the fight was really on. Abby was completely turned around now trying to stop the fight while Tim was doing his best to get off the freeway. Finally, he was able to get off and he pulled the car over.

As soon as they felt the car stop, the kids stopped fighting. Sadly it was too late for them. Opening Dylan's side of the car Tim yanked him out and landed a half a dozen smacks to his backside. "Don't you ever do that while you're in the car again. We could have had an accident. It's very dangerous." Jess was so intent on enjoying this show that she didn't notice until it was too late her own door being opened and herself being yanked out of the car. Before she knew what had happened, her Mommy had landed some hard smacks on her own bottom. "You heard what Daddy said to Dylan, the same goes for you. No more fighting in the car." She said plopping Jess back into the car and fastening her seat belt.

With a big sigh Tim and Abby got back in the car and they drove off. Dylan turned to Jess and mouthed silently "I'm sorry." She mouthed back. "Me too."

Abby and Tim both smiled. Parents do really have eyes in the back of their head, and a rear vision mirror.

When they finally got through the front door, Abby smelled cooking. Sarah had started dinner. Abby could have kissed her. Actually she did kiss her after she'd given her a big hug. "You don't know how grateful I am to not have to cook tonight Sar." She said.

"Bad huh?" Abby nodded. She had rung Sarah earlier and let her in on what was going on.

"She ok?"

"She's fine. Do six year olds really understand what being suspended is? She doesn't have to go to school. I don't know if she'll look on that as a punishment."

Tim came into the room then. "Kids are up stairs doing their homework. Jess actually thought she didn't have to do hers because she wasn't going to school." Tim said shaking his head.

"See?" Abby said ,pointing towards Tim but talking to Sarah.

"Oh well. Been there. A few days at the bullpen with Gibbs and she'll know that she's in trouble."

Upstairs, Jess was sitting at her little table writing out her words. She was mad. This was dumb writing out stupid words. She wasn't even gonna be at school when they did the test. She felt like scribblin all over it. Her bottom was still stinging from where Mommy spanked her though so she didn't think that was a good idea. I bet Maddie's Mommy isn't making her do dumb spelling words. Or her Daddy. Maddie never got spanked never ever. It wasn't fair. She'd write the dumb words but she wasn't gonna bother to do them neat.

Abby opened the door to Jess room and found her writing out her words. Thank God. She thought. I don't know if I can take another confrontation, she thought. Going over to check Jess's work she sighed. "Jess. You can't read these words. Is this your best writing?"

Jess shook her head. "It's stupid anyway. I shouldn't have to write them when I don't hafta go to school."

"Well you're going to do it and your going to do it properly. Here's what I'm going to do. I'll erase these messy words and you can try again but if you do it messy again, you'll have to do it again twice. If you keep doing it messy then tomorrow you can sit with Gibbs and do it neatly at his desk. And Gibbs likes things done right."

Jess thought about that. She watched while her Mommy erased the work she'd done and sighed. She was getting tired. She may as well just do it and be finished. Besides Mommy didn't look like she was going anywhere, and she had her arms folded. That meant she was gonna make her no matter what. Jess picked up her pencil and started writing. Within five minutes she had her words neatly written out. Abby got her book out of the special bag and opened it for Jess to read. She flew through most of the pages only stumbling on a couple of words which Abby helped her to sound out. Fifteen minutes later they were all finished.

Abby ran Jess a bath, adding special bath wash. She came back into the room and helped Jess undress piling her hair up and putting it in a shower cap so it wouldn't get wet. In about ten minutes she had her out of the bath, dried and in her pyjamas. "You can go downstairs if you like and see Daddy and Sarah while I see how Dyl's going with his homework."

Abby knocked on Dyaln's door and then entered. "Hey Dyl." She said.

"Hey Mom." He said still writing his words.

"You nearly finished?"

"My spelling is nearly done, but I still have Math to do and I have to read."

"Anything I can help you with?"

"Na. It's ok, Dad said he'd help me with my math homework after dinner."

"Ok, well when you've finished your spelling, have a shower and come down for dinner ok?"

"Yeh." He smiled and got on with his work. "Mom?"
"Yeh Dyl?"

"Sorry about in the car."

"That's ok." She smiled back.

The next morning, they dropped Dylan and Sarah to school and drove to NCIS. Jess had her back pack that Abby had packed school work in that she had to do and Tim had packed sandwiches, juice and snacks. They had decided that she would start in the bullpen and if Tim had to go out on a call he would bring her down to the lab.

The morning didn't start out too bad, she did some of her work but got bored after a while. That's when she started looking for things to do that weren't school work. She really wasn't trying to be naughty. She was just making a necklace when she joined all of Ziva's paper clips together and She didn't think that Tony would actually fall over when she tied his shoelaces together. She was just practicing. She was supposed to practice new things. That is how you get good at things her Mommy had told her. Gibbs wouldn't even believe that it was an accident when the peanut butter and jelly from her sandwich got all over his chair. Now she was standing in the corner and her bottom hurt all because of that cranky Gibbs.

"Over here Jess." Gibbs said. "Your Daddy will be back from helping Mommy in the lab soon. Now I want you to be a good girl and write out those numbers .OK?"

"That's boring."

"No it's not. Your Mommy and your Daddy both know a lot of stuff about numbers and they're two of the smartest people I know. Do you want to be smart like them when you grow up?"

"I'm gonna be a princess."

"Well, to be a princess and have nice things, in this country, you have to earn good money." Or marry someone and take all his, he thought sarcastically. "So you have to do your school work, so that you can get a good job."

"Princess's don't work silly."

Gibbs sighed and glared at Tony who was enjoying Gibbs losing a debate with a six year old. "Back to work Dinozzo!" he barked.

"On it Boss." He said trying to hide his grin.

"Jess?"

"Yes Gibbs."

"Go....and....do....your....school......work.....now!" he said.

"On it Boss." She said grinning and went back to her work.

Gibbs got up. "Goin for coffee Tony. Watch Jess." He said getting out of there fast, before he laughed in front of her.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think that Abby gave birth to that child." he said to himself chuckling as the elevator doors closed.

After a while Tim came and took Jess down to the lab for a break. For everyone else as much as her. "Hi Honey!" Abby said as she walked into the lab holding Tim's hand. "Were you good Jess?" she asked.

"Kinda, but don't ask Gibbs cause he doesn't think I was." She said honestly.

"Really! And why is that?"

"Cause he thinks I joined up all of Zivas paper clips on purpose, and he thinks I tied up Tony's shoelaces so he would fall over and he thinks that I squished the peanut butter and jelly all over his chair so he would sit on it."

"Did you do all those things?"

"I was making Ziva a present and I was practicing tying shoelaces like you told me and I was trying to eat my sandwich and the stuff just fell out."

"Mmm. And what did Gibbs do about all those things?" Abby asked.

"He smacked me three times and he made me stand in the corner." She pouted. "Mommy I'm hungry."

"Well maybe you should have eaten your sandwich instead of putting it all over Gibbs chair."

"I didn't. I told you it just fell out. Can't we go to the mall?" Just then Jimmy made an appearance.

"Hi Abby, Jess. Amber and I are going to the mall for lunch we could take her." Jimmy said to Abby helpfully.

"I don't know Jimmy....... She's in trouble....... You don't get to go to McDonalds when your in trouble." She winked at Jimmy slyly.

"Oh. Ok." He said playing along.

"Of course, if she was to have a sandwich with some salad on it, I guess she could go with you."

"Please Mommy,please? I promise I'll eat anything Jimmy tells me too. I'll be really good. Please?"

"Oh alright. You better behave though or Jimmy might just surprise you with how mean he can be. Right Jimmy?"

"Yeh sure." He said not even believing that himself. But that was alright, no one else in the room believed it either. Jimmy held his hand out to Jess and she took it looking up at him with her face alight.

When the doors of the elevators closed Jess looked up at Jimmy and smiled. "We really are gonna go to McDonalds aren't we Jimmy?" she said with her cutest smile. Jimmy looked at those big blue eyes and didn't know what to say. We'll just go to the mall and meet Amber and go from there he thought. But Jess was looking up at him waiting for an answer.

Choosing the old fallback his mother used to use he said "We'll see honey." Looking at the look of triumph on her face he groaned internally. Ok. Maybe that wasn't the right answer. What the hell had he done.

TBC