A/N1: I'm back with some more Bubba verse. Enjoy. Thank you Bunny for the beta! And Velveteen, this is to hush you up for a couple of days. You can put the whip down now.

Summary: Tony's in time out for saying a naughty word. Who did he learn it from? Tony is about 3 years old in this one.

Everyone knew LJ Gibbs had rules. Several of them, it seemed. His son knew a few of them, but didn't really understand them.

Like 'always carry a knife'. Tony wasn't allowed to even play with, much less carry around, anything that sharp.

Or 'never be unreachable'. He was always within reach of somebody. He had what he thought was a very big family -his daddy, Uncle Toby, Abby, Aunt Kate, Uncle Tim...he even had three grandpas - Grandpa Ducky, Grandpa Jack, and Grandpa Mike, although Grandpa Mike always acted funny and made grumbly noises when Tony called him that. So, he was never out of reach, one or more of them was always around to help him when he was unhappy or hurt, or just wanted to share something fun.

But some of the other rules he did understand - and he usually obeyed them - but today, just now, for some reason unknown even to him, he didn't. In an unthinking ramble of thoughts to his dad, he had said a naughty word! And now he was staring at a corner of the dining room. Forever. His dad had said twenty minutes, and for an almost-three year old, that was an eternity. Nothing to do but sit. And sigh. And tap his foot and fingers to the song in his head. But he couldn't sing it out loud. No talking, no singing, no turning around, those were the rules for time out. Yup, his daddy had a lot of rules. He sighed again. Twenty minutes was a lo-o-ong time. Boring. Not even anything in his pockets to play with. Not allowed, anyways.

His dad was in the kitchen making dinner, and even though his back was to Tony, he knew things. He would know even if Tony turned around. So Tony didn't. He just watched a little spider making its way up the joint in the wall. He smelled chicken cooking. He loved his daddy's chicken. Really, he loved anything his daddy cooked, or did. Except punish him, of course. He followed the spider up the wall and it made him think of another song his daddy sang to him sometimes.

"The eensie-weensie spider climbed up the water spout. Down came the rain and -"

"No singing, Bubba!" his dad's voice called out from the kitchen.

He was singing? He didn't even realize it. He pressed his lips together tightly. No more singing. That would get him more chair time. And it wasn't a comfortable chair. It was an old, hard kid's chair his dad had found somewhere just for that corner, just for time out. He sighed again. And waited.

"Five more minutes, bud. Yer doin' great, though!"

Tony felt a warm feeling in his tummy from that. His dad praised him even when he was in time-out. He knew, even as young as he was, that his dad was different than other dads. He didn't know how, or why, or how to say it in words. Just now, he had wanted to say 'Thank you, daddy,' but he wasn't allowed to talk yet. He'd tell him later. In five minutes. His dad came in and set the table, and tousled Tony's hair on his way back out.

"Grandpa Ducky's coming fishing with us tomorrow, hope you don't mind. Do you want milk or juice with dinner? You can tell me, you won't get in trouble."

"Milk, please."

Gibbs got the milk out of the fridge, poured two glasses and put it away. He came out and stood behind his son, leaned over him, and kissed him on the top of his head. "You know why I put you in time-out, don't you, Bubby?"

"Yes, daddy."

"I know you know better than to do it, can ya tell me why ya did?"

"I - it just slipped out before I could stop it."

"It's not a little kid word and you know that, so why'd ya say it? More importantly, who'd you hear it from?"

Tony didn't answer. He didn't want more time out for tattling. But if he kept not answering he'd for sure get more time out. And no dinner. And like always, he was hungry.

"Tony, I asked you a question."

Tony swallowed hard. He didn't have a choice now. "From - from you, Daddy, I - sometimes when you get mad you - I know it's a big person word, but it was - stuck in my head and when things get stuck in my head they have to come out and sometimes I can't stop them like my hands when I talk! I'm sorry, daddy, I swear I will never say it again!"

Tony's little shoulders were shaking with sobs at his confession, and Gibbs knew he wasn't acting. He picked his boy up from his chair and turned him around to face him. "Aahhh, Bubba. I'm sorry. This is my fault, I shouldn't say those words in front of you if I don't want ya repeating them." He squeezed Tony to him, rubbing the back of his head. "Sshh, you'll get yourself too upset to eat and I made your favorite."

"Yer -yer not mad at me?" Tony asked in a wavering voice as he pulled back from his dad's shoulder.

"No, I'm not mad at you." He brushed hair out of Tony's teary eyes, and almost flinched at what he saw in them - abject misery at having been thought lacking in some way by his dad, and then having to tell him where he'd heard the bad word. He almost stumbled on his words as they caught in his throat, but he knew he had to make this right. "Bubba, you did the right thing by telling me who you learned it from. I try really hard not to say those words in front of you, but I've said them for too many years, and now it's a very bad habit."

"Mrs. Lewis from daycare says some mommies and daddies wash their kid's mouths out with soap when they say bad words. I think time-out is better."

Gibbs smiled and brushed tears off his son's cheeks with a crooked finger. "Maybe Daddy should get a time-out for being naughty and saying that word in front of you."

Tony laughed through his tears. "You in time-out, Daddy? I don't think it would be a good idea."

"Really? Why not?"

"Because, silly, my chair isn't big enough for you, you'd break it!"

Gibbs smiled at his son and waited for the light bulb to click on over his head. It took all of eight seconds.

"But if you broke it, I wouldn't have a time-out chair anymore and -"

"Yeah, I was waiting for that, Bubba. What if I told you I'd sit on the floor and save your chair for you? 'Cause I'm pretty sure you're gonna need it again before you outgrow it."

"Daddy, you have an answer for everything!" Tony huffed, patting his father's cheek. "Aunt Katie told me one time you think you know everything. Do you?"

Gibbs struggled to keep his roar of laughter down to an amused chuckle. "As a matter of fact I do, and you just tell your Aunt Katie it's true the next time you see her!" He kissed his boy's cheek and carried him over to the dining table, settling him in his booster seat.

"Daddy, I didn't wash my hands!"

"So you didn't, Bubba, here, catch!" Gibbs tossed the wet dishcloth to Tony and landed it smack on his face. Tony burst into hysterical laughter.

"Good shot, Daddy, now I don't have to wash my face!" He wiped his little hands down with the damp cloth and waited patiently for his plate of food. "I'm glad Grandpa Ducky's coming with us tomorrow, he needs to fish with us more often. I like it when he tells his stories."

"Huh. Well, that's good, Bubba. He appreciates you listening to them."

"I love Grandpa Ducky, I'm very lucky to have him for a grandpa. And to have you for a daddy."

Gibbs swallowed the instant lump in his throat to find his voice. He tried to sound matter-of-fact, but his words cracked a little.

"Oh yeah, why's that, Bubba?" Considering I just punished you for something that was actually my fault.

"'Cause you always tell me why I'm being punished, and you tell me I'm doing a good job, even when I've been bad. I try really hard not to be bad for you, Daddy. But sometimes I just can't help it. And you still love me anyways."

Gibbs crouched down beside his son's chair and picked up his little hand, kissing the back of it. "I will always love you, Bubba, no matter what, even when you're bad. And I know you try really hard not to be, I see you thinkin' all the time about what's the right thing to do. And I know that sometimes you can't help being naughty, just like sometimes I can't help saying naughty words. Just as long as we learn from our mistakes, right, Bubby?"

He kissed the little hand and fingers again and then stood up on creaky knees to go fix his son a dinner plate. Never know what's gonna come out of that boy's mouth, he mused to himself. Now if he could just monitor what came out of his.


A/N2: We can all speculate at what the word was out of Bubba's mouth and why he said it! One can only imagine...