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Chapter 50
Abby sat down and started eating her dinner and she motioned to Jess to do the same. Maddie, who as usual was lacking in the self preservation department, decided she didn't like what was on her plate. She didn't say anything but she kept looking over at her Mommy. Kim mouthed back. "Eat." Maddie shook her head. Gibbs turned to the little girl next to him.
"Problem Maddie?" he said.
"I don't like this stuff." She said grumpily as she pushed the food around with her fork, eventually dropping the fork in disgust.
"You do. It's mac and cheese. You like mac and cheese." Gibbs said as he picked up her fork and tried to pass it to her. She put both her hands under the table. Gibbs sighed. He leaned in and spoke quietly. They had already put on enough of a show this evening. "You're already in trouble Maddie you don't want to make it worse. Eat." She looked at him mutinously.
"NO!." she said. "I don't like it. It has things in it." she said looking at her plate with disgust. Jess was starting to panic for her friend.
"It's nice Maddie look." she said chewing enthusiastically. Tony chuckled at the demonstration of eating and show of solidarity once again. The fact that the show was about to start again made him extremely happy. Maddie shook her head. There was no way she was putting that stuff in her mouth. She folded her arms to show him she meant business as she looked Gibbs in the eyes defiantly.
"Your choice." Gibbs said getting up.
"Stop laughing Uncle Tony, it's not funny!" she said. Tony was so shocked that she'd called him Uncle Tony that he did stop. Didn't help. She poked out her tongue at him which earned her a smacked bottom from Gibbs. Stupid dumb Uncle Tony, she thought.
"I'll take her back to the room." Kim said extremely embarrassed.
"No need." Gibbs said matter of factly. "Just because Maddie doesn't want to eat or mind her manners doesn't mean she gets to spoil our dinner." He said, taking Maddie's hand and leading her over to a corner where the dreaded fish tank met the wall. "You can stand there until we've finished eating or until you decide you want to eat your own dinner." he said. She glared at him but didn't dare say anything else. As she got more bored however, she did start to kick at the leg of the fish tank. Stupid dumb bossy Gibbs, she thought. Wouldn't even let Mommy take her back to the room. Mommy would have rung from the phone and got her something better to eat.
When Gibbs looked up from his dinner, Maddie was gone. "Did anyone see where Maddie went?" Gibbs asked.
"She's gone? How could she go somewhere Jethro when you facing her?" Kim said irritably.
"She couldn't have gone far, she was right there a minute ago." he said. Maddie covered her mouth to stop from giggling. She had crept under the table. Luckily Gibbs had taught her how to tie shoelaces. She'd fix that stupid Uncle Tony. As gently as she could, she unpicked Tony's shoelaces and tied them together.
We can't just let her roam around the hotel Jethro, someone might take her. They'd bring her back, Tony thought. Jess burst into tears. The thought of someone taking her beloved Maddie was the last straw. Gibbs leaned over and took her hand. "Nobody's taken her Jess, she hasn't been gone that long." He said standing. "I'll go and find her."
"I'll help Boss." Tony said. But as he tried to stand, he toppled backwards knocking over his chair and a waiter with a tray full of drinks. The fact that his feet were sticking up in the air with the shoelaces tied together made two things obvious; Someone must have tied his shoelaces together and Maddie was somewhere very close by. All thoughts of not putting on a show for the restaurant patrons now left Gibbs head as he roared.
"Madeline Broadbent! Front and Centre!" All eyes from everywhere inside that restaurant, even the kitchen staff were on their table waiting to see what would happen next. When the tiny little poppet with the long dark curly hair and the angelic face crept out from under the table and walked slowly towards Gibbs, nearly everyone uttered a sympathetic "Awww". Everyone who didn't know Gibbs that is. Or Maddie. Tim helped the waiter to get back up and retrieve anything that wasn't broken and then untied Tony's shoelaces and helped him up. Once he was on his feet, Tony lunged over and smacked Maddie's bottom.
"That wasn't funny." he said. "It was very naughty and very dangerous." Staff came from everywhere to clean up the broken glass and the rest of the mess. Gibbs crooked his finger at Maddie, who looked at Gibbs warily.
"What are you gonna do?" she asked, finally realising she was in big trouble now. "Can I eat my dinner?"
"Yes." Gibbs said "And then I have something for you to do. Might keep you out of trouble while we finally finish our dinner. But you haven't heard the end of this miss." Gibbs stood up and went and had a word to one of the waiters. He nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. He sat down and looked at Maddie with disappointment in his eyes.
"Are you gonna spank me?" she asked.
"What do you think?" he asked
"Uh huh." She said sadly. Gibbs nodded at her seriously and she started eating, not wanting to make matters worse than they were already.
The waiter came back out carrying some paper and a pencil. Maddie was finished, and her plate had been removed, so Gibbs handed her the stack of paper and the pencil. I want you to write some letters to people saying your sorry. Who do you think they should be to?" he said.
Maddie sighed. "Abby, Uncle Tony and Dyl." She said.
"And what about the waiter?"
"Uncle Tony knocked him over, not me." She said. Gibbs raised his eyebrows. "Fine." She said.
Kim was starting to fuss. "Jethro, she may not be able to write that much, she is only six." Gibbs looked at her seriously.
"She can do her best." he said.
"You could write it out for her or I could and she could copy." Kim said.
"Then it wouldn't be her apology, it would be from the person who originally wrote it." He tried to explain.
"But she's only six." She said.
"Tim, would you supervise this for a moment while Kim and I have a word outside?" Gibbs said.
"Sure Boss." He said sitting in Gibbs seat when he got up. "Who's gonna be first Maddie?"
"Abby I guess." She said.
"Right. So start with Dear. Capital D. e.a.r. he sounded out for her. Now try and sound out A...bb...y. That's right see. New line." Tim continued to help Maddie without actually doing it for her. It didn't take long and she was finished her first note.
"Look Kim, I'm not being mean to her and I'm not expecting more than she can give. I was gonna help her, but I want her to BE sorry not just copy down a note that says she's sorry." He said.
"I know, it's just that....." Kim started
"I swear if you say she's only six one more time, Maddie's not going to be the only one writing an apology note and you'll be writing yours standing up. She might only be six, but that was old enough to help break into Tim and Abby's room, steal the Ipod and throw it in the fishpond after tricking Zac into letting them go to the bathroom by themselves and framing Dylan." Gibbs put his hand up. "I know she didn't do all that on her own. But she was on her own just then. She wasn't too young to sneak under the table and tie Tony's shoelaces together and her actions caused that waiter to fall over with a full tray of drinks. After all that a simple few notes of apology should be a breeze."
"I guess." She said. "She was doing so well, and now she gone backwards." Gibbs opened his mouth. "And if you dare say I told you so, Jethro, you'll be sleeping out there by the pool."
"Wouldn't dream of it." He said pulling her in for a deep kiss. "Come on let's help Maddie pass out her notes and then I'll take her up to the room. Unless you want to do the honours?" She shook her head.
"I don't think I could." She said. "I know it's a cop out but...." Gibbs put his finger up to her lips.
"It's ok. I have this. When the times right, you'll know." He said.
When they came back inside holding hands, Jimmy looked at Amber and smiled. She was sure that Gibbs was outside spanking Kim. She had been ranting to Jimmy about Kim not even being allowed to have an opinion. Jimmy was glad that she was obviously wrong. He didn't think he could take anymore complaining today. "Guys, I think we'll call it a night." He said. "I'm really tired."
"And what if I'm not tired?" Amber said.
"Then you can watch television or something because I have to go to bed." Before I say something we both regret, he thought.
"Can understand that." Tony said as they walked away. "I have a new respect for Jimmy. She's nuts!" he said.
"Tony. I told you it is the hormones. She will not always be this way."
"No, only for nine months. That's not a long time to live in misery." he said sarcastically.
Maddy had finished her notes and had already given hers to Abby, who had taken Jess upstairs to bed. Next she went to the Waiter who had got knocked over and passed him his note, Dylan was next. He was in the playroom with Zac. He took the note and smiled. Last but not least she went up to Tony. "I'm sorry Uncle Tony." She said as she passed him the note. As he read it he pulled her up into a hug. Your forgiven sweetie." he said. She waited.
"Do you have a note for me?" she asked. Ziva covered her face with her hands to keep from smiling.
"What note?" He said.
"A note to say you're sorry." Maddie said. Tony looked aghast.
"What for?" he asked.
"You spanked me." She said.
"Maddie, I smacked you once, because you tied my shoelaces together and it made me fall over." He said. Her face fell. "Okay...... I'm sorry I smacked you."
Maddie smiled. Gibbs smacked Tony on the back of the head.
"What was that for boss."
"Think about it Tony. If you can't come up with anything, get Ziva to explain it to you." Turning to Maddie he extended his hand. "Come on. We have some things to talk about." He said. "I hope your not expecting an apology from me."
Upstairs Abby sat on her bed and sat Jess on her knee. Ignoring the nagging throb that was fading slightly but still there when she sat. "What you did today, made me very cross. It wasn't just one thing. There were a lot of different things you did that were all wrong. I wasn't only angry I was hurt. You stole from Mommy and you tried to blame someone else, to get them into trouble on purpose. That Ipod was important to me Jess and it made me very sad to lose it. Now I have to buy a new one and I have to put all new songs on it and it takes a long time. What if I'd believed you and I'd spanked Dylan. Would that be fair that he got a spanking for something that he didn't do?"
"No Mommy." She said sadly. "I love Dylan but I didn't want you to be happier to see him and I didn't want you to love him more."
"You have to learn to share Mommy and Daddy the same as Dylan and Sarah had to learn to share when you came along. We love you all the same."
"But I wanted you to love me the best." She said.
"Jess, there's enough love in this family for everybody. Part of that love for me as your Mommy is teaching you to do the right thing."
"You're gonna spank me?" Jess said. Abby nodded. At least it wasn't Daddy or Gibbs. They spank hard, she thought.
Abby stood her up and to the side of her and then tipped her over her knee. She flipped up her dress and taking a big calming breath she brought her hand down with a very hard slap. Jess squealed and threw her hand back to protect her bottom. "Mommy that hurt!" she yelled. Abby steeled herself and brought her hand down again just as hard. Jess started to cry in earnest. Abby found a steady rhythm and tried hard to ignore her little girl's wails as she covered every inch of her bottom with sound spanks. When Jess started sobbing Abby couldn't continue, she stood her up and pulled her into her arms and hugged her as tight as she possibly could while still leaving the child enough room to breath.
"Mo....mm....y. Mo.....mmmy I'm.......so....rr....y" Jess sobbed.
"It's ok." Abby said between her own tears. "It's all over. You're forgiven. I love you Jess."
"I love you too Mommy." She said.
"You know Daddy's still going to have to talk to you don't you?"
"Is he gonna spank me again?" Jess asked horrified.
"I don't think so. But he might give you another punishment."
"Ok." Jess said. Not really overly enthused with that prospect. No sooner were the words out of her mouth than the man himself appeared.
Gibbs took Maddie to his an Kim's room and sat on thier bed. He stood her next to him and kept hold of her hand. "Today Maddie, was really the naughtiest thing you've ever done since I've known you. Stealing is bad. Really bad. But what was even worse was to try and get someone else in trouble and on purpose too. Why would you do that?" He asked.
"Because Jess was mad at him, and Jess is my bestest friend, so if she's mad then I'm mad."
"Why was Jess mad at Dyl?" he asked.
"Because Abby was too happy to see Dyl and she hugged him and kissed him and it made Jess feel bad because she liked having her Mom and Dad to herself like I do." Gibbs had to take a deep breath to harden his resolve after Maddie's little slip of the tongue. He was feeling it himself, they were becoming a family and he needed to fullfill his part.
"So she was jealous and you both came up with the idea to take Abby's Ipod and put it in the tank and say Dylan did it."
"Yes." She said sadly.
"And after all that, you still played up over your dinner and you tied Tony's shoes together....."
"He laughed at me!" she said indignantly. When she could see she might have gone too far she covered her face and pretended to cry. Again with the fake crying, he thought.
"Stop that Maddie, I haven't even touched you yet, I'm gonna give you something to cry about in a minute." Gibbs said losing patience. The bottom line is that you are not allowed to behave that way. And if you do you get a spanking. You hear?"
"Yes Gibbs." She said quietly. He turned her over his knee and brought his hand down hard, making her yelp. When he smacked her again she started to cry. This time for real. Gibbs kept on smacking until he she started to really struggle and sob and then he stopped and pulled her into a hug. "Shhh. It's ok." He soothed. "It's all over now.
"I'm.... sor....ry." she said between hitched breaths. Gibbs picked her up and went to sit with her in the arm chair that was by the window and he rocked her gently until she was calm. There was a quiet knock on the door and Kim came in. she walked over and kissed her daughter on the head and then kissed Jethro. He pulled her onto the arm of the chair and wrapped his arm around her and closed his eyes. What a day, he thought.
Tim sat on the edge of the bed and stood Jess in front of him. "What was all this about today?" he said gently.
"I didn't want Dyl to be here. I wanted it to be just you and Mommy and me." She said putting her head down.
"What you did was very naughty. You hurt your Mommy and you hurt Dylan's feelings and you stole. AND you blamed someone else on purpose. Jess, if you were a grown up you could go to jail for that. Jess started to cry. "Tonight you're tired, so we're gonna leave it. But when we go home, I'm gonna make up a list of chores for you to do to pay for Mommy's new Ipod and you're gonna think of something nice to do for Dylan to make up for being mean to ?"
"Yes Daddy. I'm sorry."
"I know. Now it's time for bed." Tim said.
"I'll take her." Abby said, taking her hand and kissing Tim. Jess leaned over and wrapped her arms around Tim's neck.
" 'Night Daddy. I love you."
"I love you too Jess." Tim said.
Abby pulled back the covers and Jess climbed in. "Mommy will you sing sunshine for me?"she asked sleepily.
"Sure." Abby said. She laid down next to Jess and put her arm around her and started singing "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when sky's are grey, you'll never know dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away." Abby looked down and Jess was fast asleep.
TBC
